346 INATTENTION TO PROVIDENCE. 



early and latter rain must soften his furrows ; the 

 snow, as wool, must cover the soil ; the hoarfrost, 

 like ashes, lighten his glebe ; the sunshine animate 

 the sprouting shoot ; and winds evaporate noxious 

 moisture ; insects and blights, that hover around, 

 or circulate through the air, must be guided away, 

 or our labours become abortive, or are consumed : 

 we see the bud, the blossom, leaf, and germ, all 

 progressively advance, to afford plenty or yield us 

 enjoyment ; we see these things accomplished by 

 the influencing interpositions of a beneficent Pro- 

 vidence, and in no way effected by the machinery or 

 artifices of our own hands ; and it should operate 

 more powerfully, in disposing those who witness 

 them to particular resignation and gratitude, than 

 others who cannot behold them, but view the in- 

 genuity of man as the agent and means of his pros- 

 perity ; yet how it happens that this principle is 

 not in more active operation within us, I cannot 

 perceive. 



Every age has been the dupe of empiricism ; 

 and the greater its darkness, the more impudent 

 appear to have been the pretensions of knavery. 

 We may even now, perhaps, swallow a few- 

 matters, the arcana of the needy or the daring, in 

 the various compositions of powders, draughts and 

 pills, which are not quite agreeable to our palates 

 or our stomachs ; but our forefathers had more to 

 encounter, as they had more faith to support them. 



