206 



Quincy^s Address. 



Vol. X. 



opportunities of exercising the virtues, are 

 not the only facilities that an agricultural 

 life offers for the formation of an elevated 

 character. The scenes that surround it, the 

 unceasing regularity of cold and heat, sum- 

 mer and winter, seed-time and harvest, can- 

 not but lead the observing mind up to their 

 Author. In no crowded workshop his time 

 is spent. The broad fields and the high 

 mountains, and the running streams, diffuse 

 health and cheerfulness around. No smoky 

 lamp sheds a doubtful glimmer over his task ; 

 the glorious sun sends his rays for millions 

 of miles to warm, and enlighten, and glad- 

 den his path. The religious sentiment is 

 nowhere so naturally developed as among 

 rural scenery. How great is the charm that 

 agricultural allusions throw over sacred po- 

 etry ! It was a youth spent in rural scenes, 

 that enabled the sweet singer of Israel to touch 

 a chord, responsive to every human heart. 



The voice of the son of Jesse is always 

 sweet, but how different its tones from the 

 various situations of his eventful life. The 

 shepherd-boy, keeping his father's sheep, is 

 filled with adoration as he gazes on the ma 

 jestic scene above, and exclaims, " what is 

 man that thou art mindful of him, or the son 

 of man that thou visitest him?" Or, rapt 

 with love at the care of the Creator, remind- 

 ing him of that which he himself exercised 

 towards the objects of his charge, he bursts 

 out, " the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not 

 want." His voice, too, comes to us from the 

 palace and the camp; from the t^tatesman 

 and the warrior; but in a tone how altered. 

 The innocence and faith of the shepherd- 

 boy, have not preserved him in more trying 

 scenes. The wailing of the adulterer and 

 the murderer; the prayer for deliverance 

 from blood and guiltiness; the rem.orse, the 

 despair of conscience, are there. And well 

 may ho exclaim, as he looks back upon his 

 early days and his later career, " Oh ! had I 

 wings like a dove, then would I fly away and 

 be at rest." 



But some one, smarting under ills that are 

 common to every lot, may say, in descrip- 

 tion, a ftirmer's life may be poetic and de 

 lightful ; but we want to be rich ; we want 

 to be powerful ; we want to look down upon 

 others. That is happiness; that is the use- 

 fulness to which we aspire. I am ambitious, 

 and avaricious and envious. I have no scope 

 here : I can never be happy as a farmer. — 

 And in what position can you be happy ? 

 Where do these feelings produce aught but 

 misery 1 An ambitious, avaricious, envious 

 farmer, cannot be hapjiy on his farm, for it 

 is a law of man's nature that no outward 

 situation shall satisfy a disordered mind. And 



of agricultural pursuits no more can be said 

 than is alleged of godliness by the apostle, 

 " with contentment, it is great gain." 



What, then, is the conclusion of this whole 

 matter '? The agricultural life is one emi- 

 nently calculated for human happiness and 

 human virtue. But let no other calling or 

 pursuit of honest industry, be despised or en- 

 ed. One cannot say unto another, " I have 

 no need of thee;" and to everyone there are 

 compensations made that render all, in a 

 great degree, satisfied with their lot. Envy 

 not the wealth of the merchant; it has been 

 won by anxities that you never knew, and is 

 held by so frail a tenure as to deprive its pos- 

 sessor of perfect security and perfect peace. 

 While your slumbers have been sound, his 

 have been disturbed by calculating chances, 

 by fearful anticipations, by uncertainty of 

 results. The reward of your labour is sure. 

 He feels that an hour may strip him' of his 

 possessions, and turn him and his family on 

 the world in debt and penury. 



Envy not the learning of the student. The 

 hue on his cheek testifies of the vigils by 

 which it has been attained. He has grown 

 pale over the midnight lamp. He has been 

 shut up from the prospect of nature, while 

 sound sleep and refreshing breezes have been 

 your portion and your health. 



Envy not the successful statesman. His 

 name may be in every one's mouth. His 

 reputation may be the property of his coun- 

 try ; but envy and detraction have marked 

 him. His plans are thwarted, his princi[)les 

 attacked, his ends misrepresented. And if 

 he attain to the highest station, it is to feel 

 that his power only enables him to make one 

 ungrateful, and hundreds his enemies, for 

 every favour he can bestow. 



Envy no one. The situation of an inde- 

 pendent farmer stands among the first, for 

 liappiness and virtue. It is the one to which 

 statesmen and warriors have retired, to find, 

 in the contemplation of the works of nature, 

 that serenity which more conspicuous situa- 

 tions could not impart. It is the situation 

 in which God placed his peculiar people in 

 the land of Judea, and to which all the laws 

 and institutions of this great lawgiver had 

 immediate reference. And, when in fulness 

 of time, the privileges of the chosen seed 

 were to be extended to all his children, it 

 was to shepherds, abiding in the field, that 

 the glad tidings of great joy were first an- 

 nounced. Health of body, serenity of mind, 

 and competence of estate, wait upon this 

 honourable calling; and in giving these, it 

 gives all that the present life can bestow, 

 while it opens, through its influence, the path 

 to Heaven. 



