THE FARMER'S LIFE. 49 



and to keep it," and of course He was not inflicting upon him 

 a degrading service, but simply prescribing a course of life 

 which would be in good keeping with his exalted and holy 

 nature. Now, the simple fact that our Maker ordained agri- 

 culture to be the employment of a perfectly virtuous man, 

 shows most conclusively its honorable nature. 



Another consideration that goes to show the same fact, is, 

 that agriculture is labor bestowed on what God has furnished 

 to man ; I mean, on that earth which came immediately from 

 his own creating hands. He who devotes himself to the culti- 

 vation of the earth is laboring pre-eminently on God's premises. 

 He is doing, as His tenant, just what he would have him do. 

 He is working for his heavenly proprietor, and with materials 

 that liave been prepared to his hands by Him who was able to 

 furnish the best, and who has promised to give success in using 

 them for the purpose for which He made them. 



The agriculturist is working in the immediate employment 

 of his Maker, who created the earth expressly for man to culti- 

 vate, and who put it in a condition that he might do it to the 

 best advantage. And is not this an honorable employment ? 

 Wiio need feel himself degraded in pursuing God's plan in 

 getting a living ? And then again, it is honorable to engage 

 in cultivating the earth, because no one can do it successfully 

 without unceasing toil. I speak especially with reference to 

 the rocky coasts and rugged hills of such a country as our own 

 New England. This fact, considered in connection with the 

 absolute necessity of this branch of business, must invest with 

 honor those who are willing to engage in so laborious an occu- 

 pation. They dig in the earth that others may figure in the 

 counting-room, or at the bar, or in the halls of legislation, or 

 launch out in commercial or manufacturing pursuits ; and that 

 every other branch of useful and lucrative business may be 

 carried forward for the good of the country. 



Narrow-minded as the man devoted to the cultivation of the 

 earth may be, there is a sense in which he does not live to 

 himself, and this, considering the unremitted toil to which he 

 must be subjected, would he make his employment successful, 

 invests it with honor. Moreover, it is honorable because an 

 honest employment. Not that the agriculturist may not be a 

 knave and a cheat, yet I believe it must be acknowledged that. 

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