BR. SPOITOBD^ ADDRESS. 



joy it in social, solemn wors-.iip ; ncr can any one know the 

 value of those Sabbaths, unless it be those who spend the week 

 in patient labour, and assemble on the seventh as a sacred holi- 

 day, to greet the countenances of their friends, and pay their de- 

 votions to the most high God. Here then we met few except 

 cultivators of the soil, prepared by their labours in the field to 

 render their tribute of gratitude to Him who gives rain from 

 heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and glad- 

 ness. Venerable fathers ! who then bowed in this sacred tem- 

 ple ! may your sons as patiently cultivate the soil you then pos- 

 sessed, and as devoutly worship here. 



You will forgive this digression, when you look around the 

 world, and see how closely connected are Christian morality and 

 Agricultural prosperity, — and you will as soon expect to gather 

 grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles, as to find a well cultiva- 

 ted farm under the superintendence of him who neither fears God, 

 nor regards man. 



Writers in all ages have been lavish in their praises of the im-^ 

 portant pursuits of the husbandman. The flowery fields, the 

 bleating herds, the rural cottage, and the domesUc fireside, have 

 furnished poets and orators with their brightest images. But 

 while they have thus been lavish of their panegyrics, few of them 

 have descended from their elevations to cleave the sod, and 

 nourish the plants, which produce all these beautiful images, 

 But at the present day nothing is more common, than for men to 

 quit our halls of legislation, our courts of justice, ships and mer- 

 chandise, or the learned professions, to seek in agricultural pur- 

 suits for that tranquil enjoyment, that health of body and peace 

 of mind, which they had sought in vain among the objects of 

 towering ambition, the eager pursuits of wealth, and the jarring 

 interests of a busy world. 



Thirty years ago Cincinnatus had many admirers, but very few 

 imitators ; but now the Cincinnati of America may be found in eve- 

 ry part of our land, and men whose names are well known to the 

 politicians and literati of our country, may frequently be found aid- 

 ing in the labours of the field. Their plans, and their pens, and 

 their instruments of labour, co-operate in the same wise and be- 



