MAY XVI. Pleasure derived from the Cultivation of Fields and Gardens. THE cultivation of fields and gardens is one of the most delightful of all occupations, and perhaps the only one the toil of which is recompensed with much pleasure. The greater part of laborious employments confine a man to his shop, or within his house; whilst he who devotes himself to agricultural pursuits breathes always a pure air, and enjoys continually the grand spectacle of nature. The azure sky is his canopy, and the earth embroidered with flowers his carpet. Far removed from the murky atmosphere of towns, a thousand beautiful objects present themselves to his view, and he need never want a pure spring of delight, or real banquet of pleasure. Soon as the first rays of morning beam light on the earth he rises with the lark, and hastes away to his fields, brushing, as he passes, the glistening dew-drops, and inhaling the fresh unbreathed air, sweeter than the rose's perfume. The joyful songs of the birds gladden the skies, and they express their loves in a thousand sportful sallies. Their sweet carols mark the pleasure they feel in the new day, and the full chorus swells with the praises of the God of nature, whose blessings they again receive in the returning influence of the sun, in their food, and in the sweet attractions of love and gaiety. And surely no heart can remain unmoved amid this scene of joy and festivity; nor can the mind contemplate a more august spectacle than the perfection of God in the grandeur of his designs and the beauty of his works. What contributes to render agriculture and gardening more particularly pleasing is the constant variety and succession of objects always presented to us, which relieve the wearisomeness of continued uniformity and undeviating sameness. We continually observe a vast variety of plants, fruits, herbs, and trees, grow up under our auspices, and assuming every diversity of appearance. Nature leads her followers through a thousand flowery paths, ever diversified by new changes and fresh delight. One while we see plants just peeping above the ground, at another those which have arisen and are fully developed, and others which are in full bloom. Whichever way we direct our view we see new beauties. The heavens above, and the earth beneath, contain exhaustless treasures and boundless delights. Let those who are from necessity confined within the walls of cities sometimes emerge from their smoky atmosphere, and respire a purer air in the country, where their hearts may be rejoiced with a pure and innocent pleasure, and their souls rise up to heaven in aspirations of praise and gratitude to the Author of every blessing. MAY XVII. THE tulip is one of the finest formed and most beautiful of flowers; the fineness of its shape, and the brilliancy of its colours, make it the queen of the garden. And if we consider that each year millions of them blow, all differing in form and beauty, our admiration increases, and we are compelled to acknowledge that so much beauty and elegance cannot be the effect of blind chance, but must have some great First Cause which has produced them in its wisdom and beneficence, the existence of which is sufficiently proved by the tulip in full flower. Though tulips are now produced from roots, there was a time when they did not exist; and whence was derived the first bulb, and that primitive arrangement, of which all subsequent revolutions are only the development, but from some intelligent cause which we call the Creator? As much power and wisdom are displayed in the structure of a single tulip from which ten others shall proceed, as in the creation of ten at once. Whenever we see a bed of tulips then, let us not rest satisfied with admiring their beauty; let us also admire in them that wisdom which has formed them with such perfection. Though the beauties of the tulip are thus so eminently conspicuous, they lose some of their value when we consider they are only to please the sight, for not being odoriferous they cannot gratify the smell; and when we contrast them with the pink, which to beauty of form adds the most exquisite perfume, we forget immediately the richness of the tulip. And this is the case with those vain people, who endowed with personal charms, set them off with every additional ornament their vanity can suggest; whilst they neglect, and suffer to remain uncultivated, the powers of the understanding and the virtues of the heart, which alone can render them acceptable to their Maker, and amiable to their fellow-creatures. The beauty of the tulip fades, and the pride of person is laid low: but the beauties of the mind remain to cheer, to delight, and to instruct, when the graces of form are no more: and the virtues of the heart will flourish, when the elegance of shape and the vigour of body are decayed. The simple annals of plants furnish us with this useful observation, that the more beautiful a flower is the sooner it fades. We shall soon see no more of the tulip than a dry and dead stalk; its beauty and life only last a few short weeks, when its charms are destroyed, its leaves wither, its colours fade, and all that remains of what so lately struck us with its beauties is a sapless stem. Thus we learn from the tulip the little dependance that is to be placed on external advantages; we witness the frailty of beauty, and the short duration of life. For like the flower of the field man groweth up and flourisheth, and then speedily withereth away; his days are few and full of troubles. And may we so live, that when the awful period arrives, the good and the virtuous may regret our loss, and the afflicted and fatherless mourn for our dissolution. MAY XVIII. Reflections on Grass. THOUGH the flowers which the care and industry of man cultivates in the gardens are extremely beautiful, we should know little of the vegetable kingdom if we confined our at tention to the contemplation of flower-beds. Every field is equally the wonderful scene of the works of God, and equally claims our attention. Can any thing be more astonishing than the great quantity of grass which grows in one meadow? To be convinced of the prodigious number of blades of grass, we need only attempt to reckon them as they are growing in any given space, and we shall soon be satisfied of their superior fertility over all plants and herbs. All this is for the subsistence of various species of animals, of which fields and meadows may very properly be considered as the granaries. Another great advantage to be considered in grass is the little care it requires in its cultivation; and that it will grow and perpetuate itself independent of the labours of man. Since the Almighty Word of God said, 'Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, whose seed is in itself,' our fields have been uninterruptedly fertile, and wo have known no deficiency of grass. Its colour is also the most grateful; for who could have borne the dazzling lustre of white, or the brilliant glare of red? If the universal colour had been more dark or obscure, how gloomy and dismal would have been the face of nature! But the ever-bountiful Creator has neither injured our sight with colours which our eyes could not support, nor pained it by obscure gloom; on the contrary, he hath clothed the fields in colours that strengthen the sight, and please by their diversity: for such is the difference of shade, that scarcely two blades of grass can be found of exactly the same shade of green. By this arrangement of the vegetable kingdom God has not provided less for our pleasure than for our advantage, the proofs of which every where present themselves to our observation : and may we never pass them with indifference or disregard, but may our reason ever be employed in tracing out the perfection of wisdom, and the consummation of goodness, in all the works of nature! MAY XIX. Sentiments excited by the Contemplation of the Heavens. WHAT Being can have formed the superb vault of heaven? Who has given motion to those immense globes of light, whose continuance is perpetual, and velocity inexpressible? Who has commanded the vast masses of inert matter to assume so many and various forms? Whence are derived the connection, harmony, and beauty, of the whole; and who has determined their proportions, and set limits to their number? Who has prescribed to the planets laws which, during the lapse of ages, remained undiscovered till the sublime genius of a Newton unfolded them? Who has defined the vast circles in which the various stars roll in endless spheres? And who first commanded them to move, and continue their course in uninterrupted progression ? All these questions lead us to thee, our adorable Creator! Selfexisting, infinite Being! to thy intelligence and supernal power all these heavenly bodies owe their existence, their laws, arrangement, force, and influence! What sublime ideas the contemplation of these grand objects raise in our souls! If the space where so many millions of worlds are revolving cannot be measured by our understanding; if we are lost in astonishment at the magnitude of the spheres; if the edifice of the universe, which the Almighty has formed, be so immense that all our ideas are confounded in its contemplation; what must Thou be, O God, and what understanding can comprehend thee? If the heavens and all their hosts are so majestically grand and beautiful that the eye is never satiated with their splendour, nor the mind satisfied with the contemplation of their wonders, what must Thou be, O God, of whose glory these are but faint shadows and feeble images? What must be the infinity of Thy powers and the extent of Thy wisdom, when Thou seest at one glance all the immense space of Heaven, with its revolving worlds; and when Thou penetratest into the nature and properties of every existing being! Thou |