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 <lll)c i5«3banbman'3 Depcnbaucc upau :7llmig!)t2 C^ob. 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 J 
 
 I 
 
 PREACHED IN ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, ETOBICOKE, 
 
 23rd OCTOBER 1S53, 
 
 BEING THE SUNDAY F0LL0\7INO THE ANNUAL EXHIBITION OP THE 
 AQRICULTUaAL SOCIETY OF THE TOWNSHIP. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. H. C. COOPER, B. A. 
 
 EECTOR OF CHRIST CHURnil, MIMIC3. 
 
 TORONTO: 
 II, ROWSELL, nilNTER, KING STREET. 
 
 1863. 
 
I 
 
 l»' 
 
 - i 
 
&\)t luslinniiunn'ij D^pnikiirt ttpon almigljtii M. 
 
 " Neverthelegs he left not himself without witness, in that he did 
 good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our 
 heart's with food and gladu. s/'— Acts xiv. 17. 
 
 Though the Lord is good and bountiful at all limes, yet 
 there are occasions which indicate that goodness with 
 peculiar force, and whicli call for a more marked acknowledg- 
 ment of His bounty on the part of those who are its 
 rational recipients. 
 
 The text directs our thoughts to tiie goodness of God as 
 it is shewn in the annually recurring supply of those things 
 which arc indispensable for our bodily sustenance— that 
 supply which every season brings, and in which is read 
 the ruifihiicnt of lint ^rreat and universal promise, that 
 " while the earth rcmaineth, seed-time and harvest, and 
 cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, 
 
 shall not cease." • 
 
 This great purpose of the divine beneficence is efTected 
 by the laws which God has impressed upon the material 
 universe, and by the properties, situations, and allinities 
 which he has assigned to the elements and to various sub- 
 stances of the earth. Fnuri these spring results, conducive 
 to the happiness and existence of the human race, and of 
 the whole animal creation. 
 
 But it is not on^y, or altogether, to the laws of inanimate 
 matter tb.at these results are owing. Another principle is 
 concerned— namely, that of God's continued providence and 
 superintendence, by whicli, without changing or arresting 
 
 ^ 
 
4r 
 
 the laws of nature, or doing violence to nian's freedom, he, 
 from time to time, so rules and modifies ihot^'C results as to 
 increase or to diminish the blessings with which he sur- 
 
 Bounils us. 
 
 Had those processes of nature \v which the harvests of 
 
 the earth are produced, been capable of no variation — had 
 
 the results of those laws and processes been susceptible of 
 
 no foreign or exterior influence — had th<^ fruits of the earth 
 
 been alike in every succeeding season, i.ian uould perhaps 
 
 have gathered them with feelings but little higher than the 
 
 instinct with which the lower animals. -ati-fy their wants upon 
 
 the repast which nature spreads before them. The returns 
 
 of the soil would have come into his hands as a thing ol 
 
 course ; and he would have been more apt to take them in 
 
 that light, with less acknowledgment of the unseen hand 
 
 that bestowed them : he would have had Icr^s sense of his 
 
 own indebtedness not only to a sy-tem of beneficent 
 
 natural laws, l)ut also to the pervading governmt'nt and 
 
 direction of a most wii-:e and bountiful Providence. 
 
 Almighty God has so ordered, that while the operations 
 of nature seem to follou' the track of certain fixed principles, 
 still there is space for the intervention and action of Provi. 
 dence in completing and perfecting the results. This holds 
 true throughout, that it is Hc"who,^e never-failing provi- 
 dence oidercth all things both in heaven and earth." It is true 
 both in the moral and material uorld : though the manner of 
 God's intervention, and the exact mode in which His provi- 
 dence controuls and regulates all things, may to us be deeply 
 mysterious. 
 
 While the philosopher aid student of nature seek to 
 penetrate into the secret chambers of her operations, tracing 
 the continuous chain of causes and eflects, and noting the 
 sequence of certain results from certain previous conditions — 
 while in viewing the wide range of secondary and material 
 causes, and the adaptation of various means to specific endr, 
 each cause under the like circumstances producing the like 
 
Il 
 
 result — while in endeavouring to ascertain what nre ap- 
 parently the guiding principles of nature's proceedings and 
 in expatiating upon the many thousand ways in which design, 
 and mechanism and combination are displayed, while in doing 
 this the coldest philosophy may be warmed into admiration 
 at the multiplicity and intricacy, the beauty and grandeur of 
 nature's plans and works, it is the othce of religion, and of the 
 religious teacher to see that all our sense of what is wonderful 
 and impressive should not rest upon nature alone, but that our 
 minds should be carried forward to that great God of whose 
 power and intelligence nature is but the visible manifestation 
 and exponent. Nature itself is but an effect— the produc- 
 tion of the Omniscient Artificer ; and the homage of man's 
 h3f:rt and reverential feelings is due, not to the works of 
 nature, wonderful though they are, but to him whose off- 
 spriig nature is — to whom nature owes both its origin and 
 :*s ptrmanence. 
 
 Wo a.e permitted, keeping God in view, to admire what 
 are ^/opularly called the works of nature, both for the beauty 
 with which He has clothed them, and as evidences of His 
 being and wisdom; and while we search into her various 
 departments, we may, if not wilfully blind, discover in every 
 one rich store-houses of testimony to his glory. But there 
 is often found in the human heart a disposition to rest upon 
 what is tangible and material, to substitute philosophy for 
 religion, and to make an idol of nature, instead of worship- 
 ping Him who has said " the heaven is my throne, and the 
 
 earth is my footstool For all those things hath mine 
 
 hand made." We are too prone to stop where observation 
 stops, instead of rising upon the wings of faith to Him who 
 has been revealed to us as the great Author of all things. 
 
 Many acknowledge the wonders of nature, for all who 
 examine must wonder, but some refuse to go beyond. They 
 think it solution enough of every wonder to say, it is natural 
 — it is always so ; not asking themselves, who has caused it 
 to be so — by whose fiat has nature been subjected to all 
 A 2 
 
6 
 
 these laws— whose will is she obeying? But while we are 
 thus conversant with invisible nature, let not the vaslness of 
 what is before us hide from our conception Him who is behind, 
 who " made the world and all things therein,"' and in whom 
 « we live, and move, and hav3 our being." 
 
 Some of the laws of nature seem to be more invariable 
 than others. Such are those which govern the system of 
 the universe, and which regulate the revolution both of our 
 own earth and of those heavenly bodies which are inacces- 
 sible to us but through the medium of partial observation. 
 These, among which are found the sources of light and heat, 
 and of our days and nightsand years, have an uniform unchang- 
 ing course. But there are other laws ar.-l processes of nature, 
 which lie more upon the field of man's iiabitation, and with 
 which he is familiarly conversant— laws which he is per- 
 mitted to interfere with, to deal with, and make use of for 
 his own especial purposes. In these we see much variation, 
 .hat they are susceptible of change and improvement, and 
 that the results are dependent upon many contingencies. 
 Thus, it is a law of nature that seed under certain conditions 
 will germinate and bear fruit, but with what success, and in 
 what'' proportion, depends greatly upon the application of 
 human skill and science. Such a distinction in the great 
 departments of nature accords with these words of Scripture : 
 « All the whole heavens are the Lord's ; the earth hath he 
 given to the children of men." 
 
 In those processes of nature upon which the fruits of our 
 fields and our harvest depend, while there is an average 
 CvTtainty, there is also a definite range of nuctualion, and 
 there are various circumstances more or less aflecting the 
 desired results. In this is alTordod room for the working of 
 an invisible but ruling Providence. He may give or with- 
 hold « the former and the latter rains"—" a fruitful land he 
 may make barren for ihe wickedness of them that dwell 
 therein :" ngain— " he may make the wilderness a standing 
 water, and water-springs of a dry-land." 
 
It • » 
 
 This space for fluctuation God may be supposed to have 
 assigned to that department of nature with which man's sus- 
 tenance is bound up, in order that in the results we may read 
 the evidence of His hand, and may acknowledge our depen- 
 dence upon Him, and may feel that it is He who " gives us 
 rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts v/ith 
 food and gladness." 
 
 In this circumstance of fluctuation and change to v^hich the 
 productions of the soil are liable, another wise provision is 
 apparent— namely, that it aflbrds scope for the exercise of 
 many of mun's best qualities both of mind and body. He is 
 thus enabled and permitted to bring his power to bear even 
 upon nature herself; not only animate but inanimate creation 
 is placed to a certain extent under his dominion : he can 
 make his science and energy tell even upon those processes 
 which are hidden beneath the soil ; he becomes a fellow- 
 worker with nature— by iUe application of his faculties, by 
 his industry and skill, increasing her canabilitics, and doubl. >g 
 her returns. 
 
 In casting our eyes over the earth, and noting its climates, 
 its productions and inhabitants, this rule seems to hold good— 
 that where, through favorable circumstances of soil and 
 climate, nature does the most in the supply of human wants, 
 there man does the least, and the races of men are observed 
 to be the lowest in intellectual development and civilization. 
 But where nature does not yield her productions so spon- 
 taneously, and where the soil has to be -nrefuUy wrought, 
 and ditTiculties of climate have to be watched and contended 
 against, there not only do the powers of man, both mental 
 and physical, seem to attain their highest standard, but 
 there also does nature herself yield the most abundantly, pour- 
 ing into man's bosom the riches of her prodigality, appearing 
 only to wait till they are unlocked by human industry and skill. 
 In this is furnished both the stimulant to his toil and its gratify- 
 ing issue— the charm of industry and its recompense, 
 "in the pursuits of the agriculturist there is this peculiaiity, 
 
 r 
 
that — unlike the mechanic, who receives but his material 
 from tlie hands of nature and must carve and fashion it, 
 inch by inch and piece by piece, to such form and purpose 
 as he desires— wlfde he, the agriculturist, can do much 
 towards efleciing impro^^ed results, he cannot do «//; while 
 in the several departments of his occupation, his cattle, his 
 grain, his fruits, his herbs, he can increase and improve their 
 quality and quantity — while in everything that he touches, 
 and to which he applies the faculties that God has bestowed 
 upon bin, he may reap the benefit.'! of well-directed judgment 
 and perKCverance, yet he must leave much — very much, to 
 nature ; there are processes in which he cannot interfere — 
 operations conducted by an unseen hand, and perfected bv' 
 a secret power, which is active when man is weary, and 
 working while man must ::leep. 
 
 Although in aim-ng at the highest results ir agriculture 
 man mav bring much skill and science to his aid, making 
 himse!- acquaintc.i with the properties of various subs'iances, 
 learning by e::penment what chemical combinations best 
 promote the growth of the plants in which he is interested, 
 and what preparation of the field is requisite — though he 
 may learn to scatter his seed upon the soil, and In the 
 season most favorable to its vegetation and perfect develop- 
 ment, watching and assisting its progress with the artificial 
 appliances and helps in wiiich observation has instructed 
 him — though he may gather round himself the herbs of other 
 regions, and may naturalize within the limits of his farm the 
 grains and fruits indigenous to distant quarters of the globe, 
 • making a hundred lands contribute to the prosperity and 
 comfort of that home which is the abiding place of his 
 heart's aflections, and in which his happiness and honorable 
 pride are centred — though in this way he may do much, 
 yet it is still to nature that he is indebted at every step: if at 
 any one stage her action be arrested, his ])rogress must be 
 stayed also; if a limb be withered he cannot restore it : the 
 fruit which is prematurely delayed he cannot cause to recover 
 
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 » m I 
 
 its bloorn and soundness : nor can he give life to the seed; 
 whose hidden principle of vegetation has been by any 
 means destroyed. He may go unfh nature, but lie canrot 
 go without her. It is iiis pnvilege to accompany nature — 
 to work with her — n xy, more, to contribute to the triumphal 
 display of nature's excellences ; but still he is but nature's 
 assistant, und he may not arrogate to himself all the honor 
 of her produclicns. 
 
 It is not fit's hand that causes the seed beneath the soil to 
 sprout — not his the power that fills the swelling ear with 
 precious food, nor '"- it human art that ripens the waving 
 fields of corn. O' may plaint and another may water, 
 " but it is God that giveth the increase." Man casts his 
 seed upon the e?rih, where, fit emblem of his own com- 
 miital to the dust a^d resurrection unto life, in the hare grain 
 which he has sown " he soweth not that body that sf;;!; be, but 
 God givelh it a body as it hath j)leased him, a.iu to every 
 seed his own body." 
 
 Thus to the devout and rigl;t-minded tiller of the soil, 
 nature is but another name for nature's God, and he acknow- 
 ledges His work ip the growth and maturity of the herbs of tlie 
 field and of the tree yielding fruit after Ins ' "nd, and in the 
 increase of his flocks and herds. Every year brings to him 
 tiie renewal of God's gifts; ami in the ('ulture of his fields he 
 V itnesses tiie reality of those hcly and heart-moving words 
 with which the worship of the sanctuary has familiarized 
 his lips. " Thou visitest the earth, and blessest it, thou 
 makest it very plenteous. The river of God is full of water : 
 thou prepares!; iheir corn, for so thou provides! for the earth. 
 Thou waterest her furrows : thru sendest rain into the little 
 valleys thereof: thou makest it soft with the drops of rain, 
 and blessest the increase of it. Thou crownest the year 
 with thy goodness, and thy clouds drop fatness. They shall 
 drop upon the dwellings of the wilJerness ind the litde hills 
 rejoice oa every side. The fields shall be AiU of sheep ; the 
 valleys also shall stand so thick with corn that they shall 
 laugh, and sing." 
 
10 
 
 The subject of thit, discourse lias been suggested to me, 
 as you u'ay already have surmised, by lht3 agricultural 
 exhibitions which at this season are generally held through, 
 out the Province, and which may be looked upon as festivals 
 which both indicate and celebrate the prosperity of the 
 country, and also encourage those who nre f ngnged in, or 
 connected WMth agricultural pursuits, to exercise their utmost 
 care and industry, and to apply all the resources of skill and 
 science to the improvement and perfection of the various 
 productions of the land. 
 
 In these respects such institutions as Agricultural Societies 
 are laudable and deserving of countenance and support. 
 But while the cultivator of the soil thus learns how mucb 
 may be eirected in his great department of national pros- 
 perity by industry and science, let him not be forgetful of 
 the great Author of all prosperity. In admiration of 
 nature's productions let him not lose sight of Him who has 
 given to nature all that fertility and capability of increase 
 upon which man reckons, and which is found to respond so 
 surely to the application of man's care and knowledge. 
 While in the lluctuations of the season, and in the atmos- 
 pheric influences which materially alTect his returns, he sees 
 causes at work over which he has no control, let him be 
 sensible of his dependence upon a Higher Power, and pursue 
 his avocations with prayerful hope, receiving unfavourable 
 dispensations with submission, gathering in his fruits with 
 thankfulness, recognizing in the produce of his fields that 
 witness which God has 'eft us of himself, and acknowledg- 
 ing that it is He who doeth us good, and gives us rain from 
 heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and 
 gladness. 
 
 In conclusion, I may take this occasion to say Mat it 
 afforded me much gratification to see that the great duty of 
 thankfulness to Almighty God for these testimonies of His 
 goodness was not overlooked at the recent Agricultural 
 assemblage in this township, and that, while the sense of the 
 
11 
 
 Divine bounty without doubt pervaded nnany hearts, a 
 resolution containing a special acknowledgment thereof and 
 an application to the government to appoint a day of thanks- 
 giving for the agricultural prosperity of the Province, was 
 moved and seconded by two members of this Congregation.