MR. stone's ADDRESS. 43 



sense of that boundless love which has made such provision 

 for our enjoyment, and for the gratification of a pure and re- 

 fined taste 1 Who can see the sun rising in his glory, as all 

 good farmers are wont to do, — or can behold him sinking in 

 his gorgeous pavilion — who can look upon the magnificent 

 heavens, which only can be seen in the country, and not feel 

 awed into reverence before Him who made them all, and ex- 

 claim, as did the shepherd of Israel, — ' When I consider thy 

 heavens, the work of thy hand, — the moon and stars which 

 thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him, 

 or the son of man, that thou visitest him ! ' Who can listen 

 to the ' charm of the earliest birds,' as they dart from their 

 nests and mount to the topmost sprays at dawn, and not join 

 their notes of grateful praise to him who notices the sparrow's 

 fall, and whose providential care extends to all his works'? — 

 And where shall we learn our dependence on divine Provi- 

 dence so efiectually, as in an occupation where his visible 

 presence seems manifest, in his imparting the influences of the 

 sun and of showers in such succession as to crown with success 

 the labors of our hands — who withholds the needful blessings 

 only so long as is necessary to make us feel, that ' it is God 

 who giveth the increase 7 ' "* 



It was this devout spirit, which makes the works of God the 

 medium of communion with him, that imparted the brightest 

 lustre to the character of Mr. Saltonstall. The religious senti- 

 ment was deeply seated in his soul. His reverence for God, 

 Christ, the Holy Scriptures, and the institutions of Christiani- 

 ty, was of the profoundest kind. He was, as his pastor has 

 testified, " a good parishioner, and one of the best of good hear- 

 ers — a whole-hearted, devoted, sincere, pre-eminent christian. 

 He was a christian everywhere, and in all the relations of life." 

 He made, indeed, no display of his religion; his piety was too 

 humble to seek notoriety; but the closing scene of his life, 

 which for moral sublimity has scarcely had a parallel since the 

 death of Addison, was the truest exponent of the christian's 

 walk, as it was the noblest vindication of the christian's /ai/A. 



* Address at Andover, 1843. 



