THB CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 31 



tary upon that petition, " Give us this day our daily 

 bread." Surely that man who does not draw near 

 to God, whilst engaged in those operations, which 

 especially require his blessing, and which 'lannct fail to 

 remind him how many things musi work together .for his 

 good if indeed he obtains the end he seeks for, is more 

 ungrateful atid inejicusecble than even the heathen. 

 They (to use the words of the pious Fkvel) * when 

 they went to plough in the moaning, laid one hani upon 

 the plough to speak their own part to be painfulness, 

 and held up tlie ether hand to Ceres, the supposed 

 Goddess of Corn, to shew that their expectation of 

 plenty was from their supposed deity.' 



But if ic natural operations, v/e ought continually to 

 remember who it is that giveth the increase, in spiritual 

 things our duty is not less plain and striking. The 

 success of the Gospel is compared by Christ to a grain 

 of mustard- seed, " which is the least of all seeds; but 

 when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, so 

 that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches 

 thereof," And the Gospel is still ** the same incorruptible 

 seed which livelh and abideth for ever." Why then 

 should we ever doubt or mistrust its power to increase 

 and propagate its Divine doctrines when, and where, 



