ftandard; fo wilt thou judge differently and far more justly both of thyself and others. No empty pride in things that belong not to thy proper felf will inflate thy mind, no exceffive efteem for merely outward distinctions will degrade thee into a flatterer and a flave. Thou wilt efteem and love as thy brother every man who acts and thinks like a man, and acknowledge only intrinfic and fubstantial excellence as honourable in thyfelf and

others.

But here mayst thou likewise learn more justly to think and to judge of the deftination of man. When thou there confidereft how many and how various the toilfome and continued labours, how many the hands and faculties that are requifite for fertilizing the earth, for procuring food and cloathing for its inhabitants, and for fupplying their primary most preffing wants; canft thou then poffibly doubt that man was defigned for an active and bufy life, for a due application and exertion of his powers! Canft thou then poffibly think, that he fufficiently fulfills the intention of his being, when he feduloufly fhuns whatever bears the name of labour; accounts all stated, continued work as hardfhip and constraint; paffes his days in indolent repofe, in a delicate refervation of his faculties; or employs himself barely in fruitless fpeculations or idle researches, which have no influence on the welfare of human focicty? Canft thou poffibly imagine that men who thus think and act can claim any juft precedence above the hufband

man? Or canft thou then doubt of the great im portance both of him and his vocation? Canst thou refuse him the esteem and the gratitude he deferves? No, the cultivation of the earth is the first, the most natural, the moft neceffary, the noblest and most honourable condition and calling of man; and he that despises this station of life, despises the ordi nance of God, and forgets to what purposes man was defigned by his creator.

O thou who confumeft in town the products of the country, forget not from whence the food thou enjoyeft, the beverage that refreshes thee, the cloathing thou weareft, proceed, whence and by whom they are prepared and adapted to thy ufe; and despise them not who render thee this effential, this indifpenfable fervice! Honour the husbandman as thy steward and provider; opprefs him not with ri gorous fervices, with fevere exactions, and ftill lefs with the burden of contempt, fo hard to be borne; for he too has the manly, the moral fenfe, and that very frequently lefs impaired or vitiated than the generality of the inhabitants of populous towns. Honour him as thy elder brother, who provides for the whole family, profecutes their most laborious affairs, and thereby leaves his younger brethren time and leisure and ability, to provide for the conveniences rather than the neceffaries of life, and to invent and to enjoy a variety of more refined pleafures. Yes, honour agriculture, as the prime, the peculiar fource of wealth, as the firmest support of

the

the commonweal, without which neither arts, nor fciences, nor trade, without which even thy civic luxury and fplendor could not fubfift; and, if thou haft no means, no calling, no occafion, to purfue arts and fciences, trade and commerce, or to ferve in what are termed the higher ftations of the world; then hafte thee back to thy primitive vocation, to the culture of the ground; and believe that thou art more agreeable in the fight of God, thy master, and far more honourable in the eyes of thy intelligent brethren, than if, fwoln with vanity and pride, thou waste thy time and thy faculties, and require to reap where thou haft not fown!

This is not all, my christian brother! Even in a view to the fuperior destination of man when we have done with this terreftrial life, our fojourn in the country, and our converse with its inhabitants, may be very inftructive. How many mental pow ers, how many great and happy difpofitions, how many generous fentiments, wilt thou there discover, of which, in their confined and narrow fphere, in their simple and uniform train of affairs, but few can be exerted, applied, employed, or ufed in the degree and extent to which they are adapted! How many heads, which for fagacity, for ingenuity, for docility, for extending or improving fome of the fciences, or by ftate-policy, would have rendered themselves confpicuous, had they been produced in different circumftances, and in other connections! How many hearts, fufceptible of the nobleft and

most

moft effective benevolence, which might have felt and provided for the happiness of many thousands, if they were not thus totally deftitute of the proper means and opportunities! How many perfons, who live and die in the deepest obfcurity, that would have attracted the attention or admiration of all beholders, had they been placed on a more spacious stage! And fhall not these powers, thefe difpofitions, be unfolded in another life? Shall these generous fentiments never be able to exhibit themfelves in action? Shall all these active and improvable minds, all these fenfible hearts, all thefe eminently good and useful human creatures, fhallthey never be what, from the feed-plot of them, they might be and become? Has their creator made fuch great preparatives for fo poor a purpose; can he have lavished fo much power of production for fuch trifling effects? Couldst thou expect this of him whom all nature proclaims to be fupremely wife? No, the more undeveloped capacities, the more restricted faculties, the more unfinished human intellects, thou meetest among thy brethren; the more certain mayft thou be of their immortality and of thine own, of their and thine everlasting progrefs towards higher perfection.

Very instructive to the reflecting man, is thirdly his fojourn in the country, in regard to what is termed happiness. Here feest thou, o man, thou fands of thy brethren and fifters, dwelling not in palaces, not in houfes adorned with the beauties of

art;

art; who partake of no coftly dishes artificially prepared; who wear no fumptuous and fplendid ap parel; who loll on no luxurious couches; who yet in their humble cottages, with their ordinary food, in their fimple attire, on their hard beds, find much comfort and joy and nourishment and recreation, who probably find in all these a greater relifh, than thou in the enjoyment of affluence and fuperfluity. Here feeft thou thousands of thy brothers and fifters, who are daily employed in the moft laborious, toilfome, and which appear to thee the moft difagreeable and painful occupations; and who yet are cheerful at their work and contented with their condition: perfons who are totally unacquainted with all thy exquifite delicacies, and with the generality, of thy refined entertainments; and yet complain neither of languor, nor of the want of amufement and pastimes: men, whom the genial fentiment of their health and powers, the view of beautiful, nature, the prospect of a plentiful, harvest, an abundant production of the fruits of the orchard, the peaceful enjoyment of the refreshing evening breeze,. the familiar table-talk, and the festive rejoicings on holidays and fundays, more than compenfate for the want of thy fplendid diftinctions; men, in fhort, who may be very confined even in their religious notions, and probably are erroneous in many refpects; but adhere to what they know and believe, and confole and refresh themselves. by meditations on God and the world to come, on numberlefs oc

cafions,