ADDRESS. 23 



of purpose and feeling will such a family labor ; and how 

 cheerfully and liberally will they impart of the fruits of their 

 toils to every good cause ! So, too, when trials and afflictions 

 come, what a talismanic power is there in the religion of that 

 family, to blunt their keenness, and to infuse sweetness into 

 the bitter cup of sorrow ! And let not the farmer, in the pride 

 of a stern independence, fancy that the time will never come, 

 when he shall need the power of piety to buoy up his sinking 

 spirit. For the hour is at hand, when, at the withering touch 

 of disease, his strong nerves, shall tremble like the aspen, and 

 his quailing spirit can find no resting place, but in a genuine, 

 humble, spititual piety. If, then, religion be so important as 

 a balance wheel and regulator in his secular affairs, and the 

 only rock on which he can stand amid the billows of disease 

 and misfortune, he does not show the shrewdness and wisdom 

 of a New England farmer, who fails to secure the precious boon. 



The subject teaches us that all other professions in society 

 should lend their efforts to give increased prosperity to agri- 

 culture. The principle of mutual dependence, which I have 

 illustrated at this time, will not indeed allow that agriculture 

 should be exclusively fostered. But there is less danger of 

 aiding this branch of humin industry too much than any other ; 

 first, because this is confessedly the most important of all, and 

 secondly, because improvement in husbandry will increase our 

 population by increasing their means of support, and thus open 

 new fields for the expansion of other arts and professions. It 

 is certain, that he who contributes even a mite to improve the 

 cultivation of the soil, is aiding to swell the tide of human 

 happiness ; for we have seen that these pursuits are decidedly 

 favorable to personal and domestic happiness, as well as to 

 morality and religion. 



Let this Society persevere in pursuit of the noble object 

 they have in view. Do any ask what that object is ? It can- 

 not be any thing less, it ought not to be any thing less, than 

 to double the produce of this region before the close of this 

 century, and, of course, to double its population, while the 

 standard of education, morality, and religion, shall be raised? 



