2' 



and setting sun invigorating and adorning the earth; cvery 

 field glistening with sparkling dews or the ripening harvests ; 

 every clear sky that smiles above, opening the distant heavens 

 with their everlasting worlds ; and every gale that sweeps with 

 its deep tempests over the forests, and hangs its lightning diffus- 

 ing clouds on the hills and mountains ; — all, all announce to the 

 husbandman the presence of God, the Almighty Sovereign, and 

 call forth feelings of gratitude, adoration and praise. If it be 

 true that an undevout astronomer must be mad, more true is it 

 that hn undevout farmer is an unthinking and an unintelligent 

 man. 



In the city a thought of God is a foreign idea, for except in 

 the heavens we see none of his works as he made them. We 

 talk to each other, not to God ; we read the acts of each other, 

 not God's lessons in nature ; we live by each other, and do not 

 go to God for original productions ; Ave govern each other by 

 systems of fashion and policy, and are not left alone with the 

 law of God for our rule. Forgive us, therefore, if in our bor- 

 rowed life, you can say of the city, as Cromwell said of the 

 British Parliament — for years God has not visited that place. 

 But how can we forgive you, children of the soil, living alone 

 with God, walking in his smiling fields and flowery meads, 

 down his verdant lawns, along his water courses that babble as 

 they go, and in his shady groves — the solemn cathedrals of 

 the ancient woods, which we enter with reverential awe — how 

 shall we forgive you, if you do not maintain a high standard of 

 inorals, a good degree of personal purity, a patriotism that is 

 akin to religion, and a love of the Most High ; and if you do 

 not so instill pious thoughts into the hearts of your children, 

 that when they come to the city, they will renew the life thereof 

 spiritually and morally, as they must physically and intellect- 

 ually, or we die. To you is given the duty to reinvigoratc the 

 race, preserve the national liberties, and protect the ark of the 

 Lord. 



