than any man, and has a low, degraded spirit. Indeed, there are many things in his calling calculated to produce this evil. Constant watchfulness of the progress of crops, attention to details in economy, bargaining at fairs, and the like, all help to lower the mind, harden it, and make it worldly. These lessons of nature are appointed to help him; and, if they fail, he is worse off than ever, more hardened, dead, and earthly than I can describe, or wish to realise. "And now let me give you a sort of sketch of a succession of thoughts, arising from our temporal condition, and the creation by which we are surrounded, which might well come into your mind from morning to evening, and you will then judge of the power and importance of such considerations. "You would rise, when accustomed to such meditations, with the thought of the Resurrection, of the day in which your work must be done, of the Sun of Righteousness, whose emblem is lighting up the earth. You would remember, during your dressing, sin, and the healing waters of Baptism, and the admonition to approach God, having the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience. You would think of the shame of sin, that requires to be hidden; the clothing of humility, the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, of the man who was found without the marriage garment, and of the white robes of the saints. You would, after your devotions, descend to the lower work of earth, and remember how Christ came down for us, to sanctify earth to us, and us by the use of it. You would be reminded of heavenly truths, by your family and household. You would go forth into the fresh air, and be put in mind of the freshness and strength of the Spirit blowing whithersoever He listeth. The dew would be upon the grass, speaking of the dew of God's blessing. Every thing would be seen doing its appointed work, and shall man alone neglect his? Every living thing receiving its meat from God, appears an admonition of the entire procession and dependence of all creation. You see the lark rising to Heaven's gate. It is praising its God, and soaring as near to Heaven as earth allows. It descends, for the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things; and hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth, and with labour do we find the things which are before us; but the things that are in Heaven who hath searched out?' You go forth into the corn fields, and there, perhaps, you pass through a longer course of thought. The wheat is now up, but a few weeks back it was sown in weakness, even as now it rises in power; it was sown bare grain, it is now that body that it should be; and all death, and your dear brother's death and life, come before you. And whence is your hope? You return again to the thought, 'Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground ་ and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.' "For even thus our Saviour was trodden into earth in death, a single grain, but He arose, bearing the fruit of the whole world into the garner of Heaven. And you may go on to think of Him in his Sacrament as the food of the world, broken, divided, yet one; given, taken, eaten, making all His people one, and preserving their souls and bodies unto everlasting life. And you can meditate upon the parable of the sower, and think of the fruit which you may be expected to present. "The day draws on with you, just as life does; evening approaches, and all the time the state of the heavens, the flowers, the rain, or drought, have reminded you of some heavenly truth. As the day closes, you see the shepherd gathering the sheep together, and think with deep emotion of the good Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep, of the lost sheep in the wilderness, even yourself, and of the one fold, and of the unity of the Church, which you will never quit to follow a strange voice; and that now in such blessed peace you go in and out, and find pasture.' "Then the dew falls, quiet and blessed like the Incarnation of our Lord, as it was typified upon the fleece of Gideon, according to the seventy-second Psalm: 'He shall come down like the rain into a fleece of wool, even as the drops that water the earth.' And then night succeeds, night, in which no work may be done, and you review your day as you review your life, and sleep closes all, admonishing you of the sleep of death, but you fear it not; it is peaceful and secure, because you can use the words of your Redeemer, as He spake, by the Psalmist, of His own death and rising, 'I laid me down and slept, and rose up again, for the Lord sustained me.' "Such are your privileges, William. By them you may become I cannot say how blessed, and for them you will have to give an account; for a Christian man may not be blind to these things, since Christ has anointed the eyes of the blind, and caused us to see. We behold; only let us think, and feel, and live according to, such thoughts and feelings as as our life, explained by the word of God, produces in a simple heart." CHAPTER XI. Winter. "Though night approaching bids for rest prepare, BLOOMFIELD'S FARMER'S BOY. WILLIAM was now quietly and his duty, and improving himself. consistently doing He read a certain several to read and great difficulty and he made considerable He induced his father poor; he made ar time every evening, and often aloud to his father. He formed a school of his men under Mr. Lee's advice, in which he taught write and, in spite of the disappointment of his task, progress with his scholars. to give allotments to the rangements, also, by Mr. Blake's permission, according to which the crow boys, who were set to watch the corn, were no longer allowed, as is culpably and grievously general, to be absent for a |