the ground

Instead of making this passage of painful reproof or sharp expostulation, I shall confine my observations, on this occasion, to the sacred counsel and consolation, which the words appear intended to convey.

And first-Let us recognize the hand of God in the produce of our fields. We are all deeply interested in the fertility of the earth, whence the wants of the most powerful prince as well as those of the poorest peasant must be annually supplied. From the ground on which we tread, and out of which we were originally taken, we are obliged to fetch our daily sustenance, whether it consist of such homely food as suits the labourer's board, or of such costly delicacies as decorate the tables of the wealthy: all must come from the same humble source. And so it is with regard to every species of property known among men all is derived from the surrounding soil, gross and vile as it may appear in its uncultivated state. From the dust of the earth the poor man obtains his scanty income, and from the same unpromising origin the affluent draw their im

mense revenues. By a wonderful and indissoluble combination of circumstances, the solid globe we inhabit affords us all the employment that occupies our time, all the splendors of which we make so proud a display, and all the enjoyments which render life desirable. All this is brought about by a process at once the most easy as well as the most complicate; in every part of which it is both our wisdom and our duty to recognize the divine hand. He planned all those amazing arrangements which minister so effectually to our convenience and our comfort. The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; its rocks and its seas, its mountains and its vallies, its fertility and its beauty. His are all the fowls upon the mountains, and so are the cattle upon a thousand hills. He visits the earth, and blesseth it; he maketh it very plenteous. He watereth its furrows, he sendeth rain into the little vallies thereof, he maketh it soft with the drops of rain, and blesseth the increase of it. He crowneth the year with his goodness, and his clouds drop fatness: or to use the words of my text, He giveth rain, both the former and the latter in his season, he

reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

When, therefore, we look abroad upon our cultivated lands, and see them teeming with plenty; let us beware of attributing too much to the art or industry of man. The most experienced husbandmen may diligently plough and sow their grounds, adopting all the most approved methods of cultivation; yet all their skill and all their labour will be wholly lost, unless He, who formed the earth, is pleased very powerfully to operate upon it by his secret influence. But when his blessing accompanies our rural economy, then all succeeds according to our wish; the tender germ shoots through the heavy clod, and springs and spreads, till the ripe harvest meets our eyes in all its rich luxuriance. Let us then, my brethren, and especially at such seasons as this, endeavour to penetrate beyond every other cause to the first secret spring of all that we enjoy.

Secondly-Let us acknowledge the divine bounty. It is not enough merely to recognise the divine hand in all our possessions; but it is meet and right that his overflow

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ing goodness should be frequently acknowledged, and publicly gloried in-Not unto us O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be the praise, for thy loving mercy and for thy truth's sake.

There is a sweet and heartfelt pleasure in bearing our testimony to the Lord's goodness, and in making mention of his lovingkindness with our lips, a pleasure which seems calculated to engage us in an exercise so acceptable to God, and so suitable to the humble stations we occupy at his appointment. It is a pleasant thing to be thankful; and the allwise God hath made it so, for the very purpose of quickening us to this sacred duty. In tuning the soul to gratitude, the whole man is put into a spiritual and heavenly temper; till he appears like an angel beholding the face of God, and in the act of preparing to sound his praise abroad. When St. John was favoured with a view of the saints in a state of heavenly triumph, he especially noted that the harps of God were in their hands, as a significant emblem of the service in which they were about to engage: and such a view should every assembly of the saints upon earth present to their elder

brethren above. There are indeed seasons of trouble, when the children of the kingdom go mourning on their way, when their harps are unstrung and their spirits dejected: but when the receipt of new mercies makes it manifest, that God hath not forgotten to be gracious, and that he hath not shut up his loving-kindness in displeasure; every melancholy thought is then dismissed, and their troubles are remembered no more. The comforted mourners then exchange the spirit of heaviness for the garment of rejoicing, and call forth all their better powers to engage in an act of acknowledgment to the God of all grace. At such a season, the soul rises to a point of elevation far above her ordinary pitch, sweetly ascending to the top of her spiritual principles; where she sits and claps her wings, like a bird upon the uppermost branches of a tree, singing and making melody in the sunshine of a cloudless sky.

Every new favour received at the hand of God should call forth a new song of praise and thanksgiving. And in order to this, our growing obligations to the Father of mercies should not only occupy our private thoughts, but be made the frequent subject