10 MR. king's address. 



association, too welcome and beautiful lo be overlooked. We 

 hail these signs as omens of good for the future, not doubtful nor 

 uncertain. From the examination of all these fruits and flowers, 

 the products of the earth, the beasts of the field, the beautiful 

 specimens of the cunning workmanship of ingenious hands — all 

 made for man's use and enjoyment — from the liberal abundance 

 of those well furnished tables, we have come up into this tem- 

 ple of the Lord to offer Him the incense of deeply affected and 

 grateful hearts. By hymns and solemn prayer and thanksgiv- 

 ings, we have testified our gratitude for the regular return of 

 summer and winter, seed time and harvest, for His loving kind- 

 ness which has crowned the year, and for His tender mercies 

 which are over all his works. But our professions of gratitude 

 are like false blossoms on the vine, beguiling us with the hope 

 of fruit, if they are not accompanied by grateful conduct as well 

 as by grateful affections — they are like fungous ears on our corn 

 stalks, fair in their outward appearance, but within full of all 

 uncleanness, if they are not followed by obedient, virtuous lives. 

 To a benevolent benefactor, a proper improvement of the gift 

 is the most acceptable acknowledgment. Have we as farmers 

 made such a practical acknowledgment for the blessings by 

 which we are surrounded ? Have we no neglected corner over 

 which the lazy demon of sloth has long brooded in sluggish in- 

 activity, and which the busy hand of industry would make as 

 blooming and fruitful as a garden ? Have we no meadow aban- 

 doned to bulrushes, flags, and croaking frogs, which a little 

 draining and dressing would cover with valuable crops ? Are 

 not our pastures infested with briars, thistles and bushes ? Are 

 there not in our fields hosts of weeds contending with the 

 corn and potatoes for the mastery, and which will certainly 

 gain the victory unless we come to the rescue ? Are there by 

 our walls no belts of bushes, every year making wider and 

 wider encroachment upon our cultivated lands ? Are there in 

 our fields no loose rocks and heaps of stones, obstructing the 

 plough and the scythe, and like blotches on the fair face of 

 beauty, disfiguring the prospect ? Have we no ruinous, dilapi- 

 dated fences, tempting cattle otherwise orderly and well behav- 



