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 l^he B^eliglous Ufc of Botanical Phikfophy^ 
 
 A 
 
 SERMON 
 
 PREACHED AT THE 
 
 CHURCFI Gx^ St. LEONARD, SHOREDITCH, 
 
 On WHIT SUN-TUESDAY, June r, 1784, 
 
 On t]:ie W i s d o rj of God, as difplayed in the Vegetable 
 
 Creation. 
 
 By W I L L I a xM J O N E S, M. a. 
 
 FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 
 
 THE SECOND E D I T I O xNT. 
 
 
 L O N D O 
 
 Prifileil for G. G. J. nr.d J. Robinson, Ptter-ncfTf r-Row ; J. F. and C. Rivingtoh> 
 St. Paul's Church-Yird ; and VV. Keymer Colchefler.
 
 SRLF 
 
 URL 
 
 sx 
 
 S/53 
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 T O 
 
 Sir JOSEPH BANKS, Bart. 
 
 PRESIDENT OF the ROYAL SOCIETY 
 OF LONDON. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 TH E following difcourfe bears an humble tef- 
 timony to the excellence of Botanical Phi- ' 
 LosoPHY, which has been honoured with much of ; 
 YOUR attention, and in which your name will always : 
 be of the firft eminence. 
 
 I thought myfelf happy in an opportunity of ex- ■ 
 
 preffing on a proper occasion my regard to a I 
 
 fcience, in which I have found great delight, from I 
 
 SS4 the I
 
 IJ 
 
 DEDICATION, 
 
 ')c time wlaen I fiiH: turned my thoughts to the 
 ■'jdy of nature: v.nd the return of every fcrifQii 
 iiiil brinrs feme new pleafure with it. Fut what 
 aie our views, Sir, who ftudj at home, when com- 
 pared with YOURS ? who, not content with the limita- 
 tions to which we lefier ftudents mud: fubmit, h.avc 
 furvcyed, [o (ar as man can do, the whole vegetable 
 kingdom ; that wonderful theatre, in ^^'hich the di- 
 vine wifdom and gocdnefs are fo largely difplayed : 
 '^ihis, Sir, has been your botanical garden ! You 
 went abroad with all the botany of your own coun- 
 try, and vou added to it thiat of the terraqueous 
 o-lobe : like a vcffel that carries out the commodities 
 
 to 
 
 of Britain, and returns laden with the riches of the 
 world. 
 
 But there is ftill a farther treafure, which may be 
 daily opening itfelf to us, in the various applications 
 of this ufeful and pleafant fcience. We are all per- 
 fuaded, that much, (perhaps the far greater part] of 
 the medicinal ufcs of plants, is ilill hidden from man ; 
 being either totally unknown, or loft and forgotten. 
 I humbly think, fome experimental enquiries might 
 be forwarded with fuccefs, for obtaining a more cer- 
 tain and extenfive knowledge of the virtue of trees 
 
 and
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 Ill 
 
 and herbs. This would be an honour to botcanical 
 philofophy ; and that no empty honour ; it would be 
 highly beneficial to mankind. 
 
 That the fcience of nature, and all the ufeful 
 learning that relates to it, may be promoted by your 
 example and labours, and encouraged by your patro- 
 nage and protection in the learned focicty over which 
 you prefide, is the fervent wifli of, 
 
 S I R^ 
 
 Your mod obedient. 
 
 and devoted 
 
 Nayland, 
 Aug, 2, 17B4, 
 
 humble Servant, 
 
 WILLIAM JONES.
 
 E R M O N, ^c. 
 
 And the earth brought forth grafsy and herb yielding feed after 
 his ki?tdy and the tree yielding fruit, whofe feed was in itfelf; 
 and God faw that it was good. Gen. i. 12. 
 
 F an author who fhould undertake to explain the proportion 
 
 of architedure, were to trouble us with along preface, to prove i 
 that eveiy houfe we fee, mufl have been the work of fome man, 
 
 becaufe no houfe could pofTibly build itfelf, or rife into form by | 
 
 accident ; I prefume, we fhould all be of opinion, that he might ! 
 have fpared this part of his labour. It feems equally fuperfluous 
 
 to infift, that the ftrudure of nature could not raife itfelf; the i 
 
 cafes being- exadlly parallel, and both felf-evident to common I 
 
 fenfe. There is a fort of fenfe, which pretends to difcover, not ! 
 only that the argument is necelTary, but that the proof is deficient. 
 
 We truft, however, that fuch fenfe neither is, nor ever will be ' 
 
 common. If t^here really be fuch a thing as ipeculative or philo- ;
 
 ( 2 ) 
 
 which the ait'edatlon of wifdoin meets tlie extremity of folly ^ and 
 it would be lofs of time to reafon with it. We therefore take it 
 iipon the authority of the text, that herbs, trees, fruits and feeds, 
 are the work of God ; and the prefent occafiou requires us to con- 
 fider how, and in what refpeds, this work is good, and difplays 
 the wifdom of the great Creator. 
 
 The goodnefs afcribed to this part of the creation is evidently 
 not moral but natural : it means, that the feveral articles of the 
 vegetable kingdom have that fort of goodnefs of which they are 
 capable ; that they are beautiful and perfecft in their kinds j won- 
 derful in their growth ; fufficient in their powers and properties ; 
 and beneficial in their ufes. In thefe capacities we are to con- 
 fider them j and to obferve how the wifdom of the Creator is 
 manifefted, 
 
 Firft, in the form and flrudure of vegetables. 
 
 Secondly, in the manner of their growth. 
 
 Thirdly in their natural ufes, for meat and medicine. 
 
 Fourthly, in their moral ufes ; for the advancement of human 
 prudence and religious faith. 
 
 Herbs and flowers may be regarded by fome perfons as objecfls 
 of inferior confideration in philofophy^ but every thing mufl: be 
 great which hath God for its author. To him all the parts of 
 nature are equally related. The flowers of the earth can raile our 
 thoughts up to the Creator of the world as efFe<5lually as the ftars 
 
 of
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 of heaven : and till we make this ufe of both, we cannot be faid 
 to think properly of either. The contemplation of nature ihould 
 always be feafoned with a mixture of devotion -, the highcft fa- 
 culty of the human mind ; by which alone contemplation is im- 
 proved, and dignified, and dired:ed to its proper objed. To join 
 thcfe together is the delign of our prefent meeting ; and when they 
 are joined, may they never more be put afunder. 
 
 In the form and ilrudure of plants, with the provifion for 
 their growth and increafe, there is a flore of matter which would 
 more than fill a philofophical treatife : I mufl therefore content 
 
 myfelf with tracing fome of the outlines of fo large a fubjed:. 
 
 The firft thing which engages the curlofity of man, and 
 tempts him to beflow fo much of his labour and attention upon 
 this part of the creation, is the beautiful form and fplendid at- 
 tire of plants. They who pradife this labour know how de- 
 lightful it is. It feems to reftore man in his fallen flate to a par- 
 ticipation of that felicity, which he enjoyed while innocent in 
 Paradife. 
 
 When wc cafl our eyes upon this part of nature, it is firfl ob- 
 iervable, that herbs and trees compofe a fcene fo agreeable to the 
 iight, becaufe they are invelled with that green colour, which 
 being exactly in the middle of the fpedlrum of the coloured rays 
 of light, is tempered to a mildnefs which the eye can bear. The 
 other brighter and more fnnple colours are fparingly beftowed on 
 tlie flowers of plants ; and which, if diffufed over all their parts, 
 would have been too glaring, and confequently offenlive. The 
 'fmaller and more elegant parts are adorned with that bright- 
 
 B 2 nefs
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 nefs, which attrads the admiration without endangering the 
 fcnfe. 
 
 But wliile the eye is delighted with the colouring of a flower, 
 the reafon may be ftill more engaged with the natural ufe and 
 defign of a flower in tlie oeconomy of vegetation. The rudi- 
 ment of the fruit, when young and tender, requires fome cover- 
 ing to proted: it ; and accordingly, the flower-leaves furround the 
 feat of frud:ification ; when the fun is warm, they are expanded 
 by its rays, to give the infant-fruit the benefit of the heat -, to 
 forward its growth when the fun fets, and the cold of the even- 
 ing prevails, the flower-leaves naturally clofe, that the air of the 
 night may not injure the feed-vefl'el. As the fructification ad- 
 vances, and the changes of the air are no longer hurtful, the 
 flower-leaves have anfwered their end, and fo they wither and fall 
 away. How elegant therefore, as well as appofite, is that allu- 
 fion in the gofpel ; / /ay unto you that Solofno?i in all his glory y 
 was not arrayed like one of thefe'^ for the flower, which is the 
 glory of the lily and other plants, is literally and phyfically a 
 raiment for the clothing of the feed-vefl^el. And a raiment it is, 
 whofe texture furpafles all the laboured produdions of art for the 
 clothing of an eafl:ern monarch. The finefl; works of the loom 
 and the needle, if examined with a microfcope, appear fo rude and 
 coarfe, that a favage might be afnamed to wear them : but when 
 the work of God in a flower is brought to the fame tefl:, we fee 
 how fibres, too minute for the naked eye, are compofed of others 
 ftill more minute ; and they of others -, till the primordial threads 
 or firft principles of the texture, are utterly undifcernible ; while 
 the whole fiibfl:ance prefents a celefl:ial radiance in its colouring, 
 with a richnefs fuperior to filver and gold 5 as if it were intended 
 
 for 
 
 Matt. vi. 29.
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 for the clothing of an angel. The whole creation does not afford 
 a more fplendid obje(a for minute examination than the leaves 
 and filaments of flowers ; even of fome flowers which look ob4 
 fcure, and promife little or nothing to the naked eye. I 
 
 But befides this richnefs of fubflance and colour, there is an ele- 
 gance of defign in the whole form and difpofition of a plant, 
 which human artifl:s, in ornamental works, are always fludious 
 to imitate. Their leaves, and branches and flowers, are thrown 
 about with that eafe, and turned into beautiful lines, fo as to charm 
 the eye with a variety of flexure, and convince us that all the ex- 
 cellence of art mufl: take its pattern from nature. 
 
 The parts generally obfervable in plants, are a root, a ftalk, 
 branches, leaves, flowers, fruit and feeds, fucceedlng each other 
 in their order, and all feeming neceflTaiy to one another. But un- 
 der the diredlion of divine wildom, vegetable life is carried on in 
 every pofTible form, and the end of frudiification is attained, while 
 the means feem to be wantino: : as if Providence meant to fhewl 
 us, that it is not confined to any particular means -, and that the 
 work of God in this refped effentially differs from the work of 
 man. The Capillary Plants, or Ferns, have neither ftalks, norl 
 branches, nor flowers, but conflfl of fmgle leaves on their pedi- 
 cles, with feeds upon the backs of them. The flower of the 
 Carline Thiftle fits upon the ground without a ilalk ; while the 
 Euphorbium, or Torch-thiflile, has nothing but a flalk, like the 
 ftaft" of a fpear. The Mclon-thifile is all fruit ; tlie Opuntia, 
 or Indian fig, all leaf; the Jcflamine has a flower without a it.Q,d.-^ 
 the Fig-tree a fruit without a flovv^er. The "tuber terrcv, or Trufle, 
 has neither leaf, fbem, branch, flower nor feed ; nothing but a 
 globular root, which thrives under ground, and does not ap- 
 pear
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 pear to be fed by fibres like other roots : yet It increafes and 
 multiplies. 
 
 It is a general rule in nature, that plants which have the fame 
 charadters have like qualities ; but where this rule would teach 
 us to expedl a poifon, we find a plant with an agreeable odour and 
 wholefome nourlihment ; as in the Solajium Efcukntmn, which is 
 of a deadly race, with all the external chara(flers of a night-lhade. 
 Are we not hence to learn, that quality does not arife from con- 
 figuration, or from any necefiity of nature ; but follows the will 
 and wifdom of the Creator ; who to every plant, as to every man, 
 <roideth fevcrally as he will. 
 
 It feems effential to trees, that they lliould be fixed in the 
 earth, and draw their nourifliment from it ; but fome will have no 
 communication with the earth ; affixing themfelves in a ftrange 
 manner to the wood of other trees, and fubfifting upon their juices ; 
 yet preferring their own peculiar nature and complexion. 
 
 Flowers are commonly expanded by the heat of the Sun ; but 
 fome are opened in the evening when others are clofed ; and break 
 forth at midnight ; particularly one, which is the glory of the 
 vegetable creation y like the nightingale, which delights the ear 
 of man, and difplays its fkill without a rival, while other birds 
 are filent and at reft. 
 
 When we furvey the plants of the fea, how difcernlble is that 
 wifdom which hath provided for their fubfiftence and fafety in 
 that element ! Such as have broad leaves, and would be forced 
 from their ftation by tides or ftorms, if their roots were fixed into 
 an earthy bottom, are faftened by the root to weighty ftones and 
 
 pebbles ;
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 pebbles ; where inftead of being driven about at random by the 
 agitations ©f the water, they lie fafe at anchor. That they may' 
 not be bruifed by lying proftrate on the ground they are rendered 
 powerfully buoyant, and kept in an ered pofition, by means of 
 large veficles of air, varioufly difpofed about their leaves or their 
 flalks, as the difference of their form and ftru6ture may require. 
 A fmiilar provifion for their prefervation is obfervable in many of 
 the plants which grow upon the land. Such as are tender and 
 flexible, and apt to trail upon the ground, are furnilhed with fpiral 
 tendrils, or other like means, by which they lay hold of fuch 
 other plants as are firm and^ upright. What an ufeful leffon is this 
 to human fociety ! where, according to the analogy of nature, 
 the ftrong ought to fupport the weak, and the defencelefs fliould 
 reft fecurely upon the powerful. How different a place would the 
 world be, if this example were religioufly followed. 
 
 And now if there are fo many effeds of the divine wifdom vifi- 
 ble to us who are confined in a climate remote from the fun ; 
 what opportunities mufl they have, what wonders of the Lord 
 muft they fee, luho go down to the fea in fiips, and make their 
 obfervations in happier regions ; where the fun, the foil, the air, 
 all things being different, vegetation is on a much larger fcale, and 
 prefents many grand and glorious objedls which can never come to 
 our fight. 
 
 In fpeaking of the growth of plants, which is the fecond 
 thing to be confidered, I mufi: forbear to attempt a theory. The 
 firft particular which meets us, is that fpoken of in the text, that 
 herbs and trees carry their feeds in themfehes : from whence it 
 feems dcducible, that the primeval tree or plant, which was con- 
 temporary with the firft father of mankind, included all the trees 
 
 that
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 ;hat fliould proceed from It to the end of time : fo that the feed 
 which is growing into an herb at this day, is but an evolution of 
 fomething which fub filled in the lirft plant at the creation. How 
 to get clear of this confequence we do not fee ; and to pu rfue it 
 we are not able : our imagination is bewildered and loft in the idea 
 of fuch a fucceflion ; the rudiments of a future forell included in a 
 fingle acorn ! 
 
 It Is not fo far beyond us to obferve, how the elements in their 
 feveral capacities are made fubfervient to the life and increafe of 
 plants. The foil on which they grow contains a mixture of prin- 
 ciples, wifely tempered together, which fupply vegetables with 
 matter for their nourlfhment ; and their root with its fibres and 
 lad:eals, which takes in this nourlfhment, anfwers the fame pur- 
 pofe as the ftomach in animals. Water is the vehicle which con- 
 veys this nourifliment into their vefTels ; while the fun and air, ex- 
 panding and contracting, keep up an ofcillatory motion analagous 
 to that of refpiration. 
 
 It is nov/ allov/ed, that there is both a vital circulation of the 
 juices in vegetables, and a large perfpiration from their pores ; which 
 latter is become a fubjedt of great curiofity and importance, from 
 the fuccefsful labours of thofe who have cultivated this part of na- 
 tural philofophy. The circulation in plants is ftrong in the fpring, 
 and languid in the winter ; in fome it is fo forcible and abundant, 
 that if their veflels are opened at an improper feafon, they will 
 bleed to death, as when an artery is divided in the human body. If 
 the finer fpirit evaporates from a plant, and it has no frefli fapply. 
 It becomes inftantly flaccid and fading, as an animal body dies with 
 the departure of its breath. 
 
 The
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 The procefs of vegetation is forwarded in a wonderful manner 
 by the viciffitude of day and night, and the changes of the wea- 
 ther. The heat of the fun raifes a moid elaftic vapour, which 
 ill Is and expands certain vefTels in plants, and fo gradually enlarges 
 their bulk ; while the colder air of the night condenfes and digell:s 
 the matter which has been raifed, and fo confirms the work of the 
 day. We complain of cold blafts and clouded fkies, by the inter- 
 vention of which, vegetation rapidly advancing is fuddenly flop- 
 ped and feems ftationary t but this may be wifely ordained by Pro- 
 vidence : the growth of herbs may be too hafty ; they are weak in 
 fubftance, if they are drawn forward too fail. A cold feafon pre- 
 vents this too haily growth ; as in the moral world fome feafonable 
 difappointment may give a falutary check to an afpiring mind, and 
 eftablilh it in wifdom and patience. Even the rougheft motions of 
 the elements have their ufe. Winds and florms, which agitate the 
 bodies of trees and herbs, loofen the earth about their roots, and 
 make way for their fibres to multiply, and to ftrike more kindly 
 into the foil, to find new nourifliment. Thus is nature more ef- 
 fectually prQgrefTive when it feems to be ftationary or even retro- 
 grade ; and all things work together for good -, which they could 
 never do but under the forefight and diredlion of an all-wife Pro- 
 vidence. 
 
 But above all, the (liowers of heaven, concurring with the fun, 
 promote the work of vegetation. They keep the matter of the 
 foil foluble, and confequently moveable ; for falts cannot aft but in 
 a flate of folution ; they furnifh matter for an expanfive vapour, 
 which adts internally and externally ; and, what is but little under- 
 ilood, though equally worthy of admiration, the rain brings down 
 with it an invigorating etherial fpirit from the clouds, which gives 
 it an efficacy far beyond all the waterings which human labour 
 
 C can
 
 ( 10 ) 
 
 can adminlrter. It is here in the kingdom of nature as in the 
 kingdom of grace j nothing can fucceed without a blefling from 
 heaven : Every good gift and every perfedi gift is from above, 
 a?id Cometh downfro^n the Father of Lights *. How commonly 
 do we fee, that fome feeds which He fbill in the ground, and can- 
 not be made to ftir by all the waterings of art, will fuddenly flart 
 up to life as foon as they are touched by a watering from the hea- 
 vens. Such is the difference between the gifts of God and the 
 gifts of man. 
 
 But, thirdly, the goodnefs of God, as well as his power and 
 wifdom, is difplayed in the ufes of plants : and it is rather a matter 
 of duty than of curlolity to confider them attentively. It is the 
 wifdom of man to learn the will of God from the ftate of nature, 
 as well as from the pages of revelation 5 and it is his happinefs to 
 follow it when known. According to the ftate of nature a prefer- 
 ence feems to be given to vegetable diet. For the ufeful and 
 harmlefs cattle, which either feed man v/ith their milk, or affifl 
 him in his labours, nothing is provided but a vegetable or farina- 
 ceous diet. Animal food is proper to wild beafts of fierce and 
 favage natures j and the man who abufes it, is too nearly allied to 
 that clafs of animals. The beafts diftinguiftied by the Levitlca] 
 law as proper and wholefome to man are very few. The inhabi-. 
 tants of the waters, which fupply a more temperate diet, are ad- 
 miniftered to us in much greater variety : but the luxuriance of 
 nature is found in the vegetable kingdom ; where the roots, leaves, 
 fruits, and feeds of plants, afford all that is moft tempting to the 
 eye, grateful to the tafte, and defirable to the appetite. The 
 fweeteil food in the world, which is honey, is a compofition ela- 
 borated 
 * James i» 17,
 
 ( It ) 
 
 borated by the bee from the flowers of vegetables. The emble- 
 matical horn of plenty is not flored with beafls, fowls, and fillies, 
 but with herbs and fruits for the fuilenance and delight of man. 
 The efficacy of a vegetable diet, for preferving the body in health, 
 and the mind in a clear and temperate ftate, hath in all ages been 
 confirmed by the experience of t«lie wiie and good. The greateft 
 inftances of longevity have been found among the virtuous and 
 the reclufe, v^ho feafted on tlie herbs and roots which their own 
 hands had cultivated. 
 
 Of the goodnefs and wifdom of God we have farther evidence 
 in the medicinal herbs. If men obtain the reputation of wifdom 
 by a judicious application of them to the cure of difeafes ; what 
 mull; that original wifdom be, which gave them their forms and 
 their faculties ? T/::e Lord, faith the fon of Sirach, /jat^ created 
 iiiedicines out of the earth, and he that is wife will not defpife 
 them. * When he conliders who is the author of them, he will 
 be perfuaded, that, if underllood, they mull be found more fafe 
 in their ufe, than the preparations of human art, he will there-- 
 fore refpedt their virtues, and give them the preference which is 
 due to them. There is certainly a momentum in mineral prepa- 
 rations, which produces fudden and great elfed:s ; but their power 
 approaches too near to violence ; while the vegetable medicines, 
 ordained to be fuch by the Creator, are more congenial to the hu- 
 man conllitution ; and thus a reafonable alliance is preferved be- 
 tween the medicine of man and the diet of man : but we never 
 eat minerals, though we ufe them in medicine ; often with fome 
 good, but alfo with the danger of fome bad efi^d:. The mineral 
 materials of a volcano will warm us, as the fuel of any other fire ; 
 but at the fame time tliey may fuffocate, or fend down ruin upon 
 our heads. 
 
 C 2 What 
 
 * Ecclef, xxxviii. 4*
 
 ( 12 ) 
 
 What poffible modification of minerals can chemiflry exhibit, 
 which will quiet a diftempered agitation of the nerves, and leffen 
 the fenfation of pain, which would otherwife be infupportable ? 
 But this definable eife(5t is wonderfully produced by the medicinal 
 juice of the poppy. The learned know that there are feveral 
 effects in medicine, which are never to be obtained but from ve- 
 getables ', and fo perfuaded are they of a fpecific falutary power in 
 them, that they apply for help even to fucli plants as are poifonous. 
 That the poifonous plants have their ufe, we mull prefume, be- 
 caufe they have the fame divine author with the reft. Every 
 creature of God is good in its proper capacity; but if we mif- 
 take its capacity we Ihall abufe it. Poifonous herbs, from their 
 great power, may do fervice internally, in very fmall quantities : 
 but we fliould rather fuppofe, from what we have heard and feen, 
 that they were intended chiefly for external application ; in which 
 they can perform wonders ; and medicine might perhaps be im- 
 proved if more experiments were made in this way. But, it is not 
 my province to enlarge here, and I have nothing but a good mean- 
 ing to plead for proceeding thus far. 
 
 It is now to be obferved, laflly, that the fame wifdom which 
 ordained the vegetable creation for the natural ufe of feeding and 
 healing the body, hath applied it alfo to a moral or intelledual 
 ufe, for the enlarging of our ideas, and the enlightening of our 
 underftandings. It joins its voice in the univerfal chorus of all 
 created things, and to the ear of reafon celebrates the wifdom 
 of the Almighty Creator. As the heavens from day unto day, 
 and from night unto night, declare the glory of God, fo do the 
 produdions of the earth, all trees and herbs, in their places and 
 feafons, fpeak the fame language ; from the climates of .the north 
 to the torrid regions of the fouth, and from the winter to the 
 fpring and the harvefl* 
 
 The
 
 ( '3 5 
 
 The holy fcripture hath many wife, and fome beautiful allufionS 
 to the vegetable creation, for moral and religious inftrudtion^ 
 The moft ancient piece of this fort is the parable of Jotham in 
 the book of Judges ; where the difpofitions and humours of men, 
 and their effecfts in fociety, are illuftrated by the different natures 
 of trees. On occafion of Ab'melech'% treachery, Jothajn tells the 
 people, under the form of a fable, that the trees went forth to 
 anoint them a king; and when all the good and honourable, 
 as the olive, the fig-tree, and the vine, declined the trouble oi 
 ruling in fociety, the bramble offered his fervices, and invitee 
 them to triiji in his jl:adow *. Thus it had happened in the 
 cafe of Abimelech : and doth not experience fhew us at this day, 
 that the moral is ftill good ? that the worfl, and mofl worthlefs, 
 are always the moil forward to thruft themfelves into power, and 
 promife great things ; how fafe and happy we fhould be undei 
 their fhadow ! As if brambles, of a nature to tear the fkin, anc 
 draw blood from every part of the body, and fit for nothing but 
 to be burned out of the way, could form an agreeable fhade foi 
 the people to fit under ; The good and the virtuous, who are 
 fruitful and happy in themfelves, would be deprived of their in- 
 ternal comforts by the hurry and danger which attend the pof 
 feffion of power : but bad men, who have no fource of content 
 and enjoyment within themfelves, are always fo forward to fee.k 
 it without themfelves, and would turn the world upfide down, or 
 tear its inhabitants to pieces, to f^tisfy their own ambition. When 
 circumflances confpire to bring thofe into adion who are mofl 
 worthy of power, then people fit under the vine and wider the 
 fig'treey in the enjoyment of peace and plenty. I 
 
 Our bleffed Saviour, v/ith a like allufion, hath referred us to 
 the natural flate and condition of plants and flowers j thence to 
 
 learn 
 
 See Judges ix, 8j &c.
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
 learn the improfitablenefs of that anxiety and diflruft, with which 
 Ave feek after the things of this world. Conjider the lilies y how 
 they grow — If God Jo clothe the grafs of the Jieldy floall he not much 
 mo7-e clothe you ? ^ As if he had faid -, ** You admire the beauti- 
 ful clothing of a flo\^Tr ; and indeed it is worthy of all admiration : 
 the God on whom you depend, is the author of its wonderful 
 contexture ; whence you ought to learn, that if he hath bellowed 
 this rich attire upon the inferior part of the creation, the grafs of 
 the field, fo fading and tranfient, he will never leave you unpro- 
 vided who are made for eternity. 
 
 The accidents to which plants are expofed in their growth af- 
 ford matter for the beautiful and inftrudtive parable of the fower, 
 which conveys as much in a few plain words as a volume could do 
 in any other form, -f* The feed of God's word, when it is fown 
 by a preacher, may fall into an honeil and good heart, as the feed 
 of the fower into a happy fruitful foil ; or it may light among the 
 thorns of worldly cares, and the rank \veeds of worldly pleafures, 
 which fpringing up with it, will choke it and render it unfruitful : 
 or it may fall into an hafty impatient mind, like feed upon a flial- 
 low rocky foil, where it has no depth of earth, and fo cannot 
 endure when the heat of the fun dries it. Other minds are open 
 to the ways of the world in public or falliionable life, and un- 
 guarded againft the dangers of fin -, fo are expofed to the depi-eda- 
 tions of evil fpirits, which rob them of what they had heard ; as 
 birds of the air pick up without fear or moleflation, the feeds which 
 
 are fcattered by the fide of a public road. 
 
 The 
 
 * Matt. vi. 22, 
 f Matt. xiii. 3, &c.
 
 ( '5 ) 
 
 The tranfient nature of plants and flowers has given occafion 
 to many ftriking reprefentations of the brevity and vanity of this 
 mortal life. " As the leaves wither and fall away from the trees 
 " and others fucceed, fo," faith an ancient poet, ** are the generations 
 "of men.*'* 
 
 How fublime and affe<fllng Is that refledion in the book of j 
 Job — '* Man that is born of a woman hath but a fliort time to | 
 live, and is full of mifery : he cometh up like a flower, and is cut 
 down-f-." In the fame figurative language doth the Pfalmifl: fpeak ; 
 of the flourifhing. fliate of man in youth, and his decay in the time , 
 of age: " In the morning they are like the grafs which groweth up, 
 in the morning it flourifheth and groweth up ; in the evening it 
 is cut down and withered." To cure us of our confidence in 
 the wealth and profperity of this world, and make way for the ' 
 ferious temper of the gofpel, nothing can be more exprefiive and ' 
 rhetorical than that fentence of St. James : ** Let the brother of 
 low degree rejoice in that he is exalted ; but the rich in that he is 
 made low 3 becaufe as the flower of the grafs he fhall pafs away : I 
 for the fun is no fooner rifen with a burning heat, but it wi- ' 
 thereth the grafs, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of i 
 the fafhion of it perilheth : fo fhall the rich man fade away in his 
 
 v/ays i ' 
 \ 
 
 * On) 'ai^ ^l;X^4,■y -ysvEr, Totr.Je y.at uti^^ioii. j 
 
 Horn. II, ^. T46. 
 
 Like leaves on trees the race of man is found. 
 
 Now green in youUi, now withering en the ground, j 
 
 Pope's Hoir,. b. 6. 1. iSi, : 
 
 f Job; xiv. 2, '
 
 ( i6 ) 
 
 ways : that is, he iliall decay in his profperity, as the flower fades 
 tiie fooner for the enjoyment of the fun-lliine. 
 
 The reviving of feeds and roots buried in the earth, though fo 
 common a fa6t, is yet fo wonderful, that it is more than a figure, 
 it is a pledge and aifurance that the dead fhall rife again. In every 
 fpring nature prefents us with a general refurred:ion in the vege- 
 table world, after a temporary death and burial in the winter. 
 The root that lies dormant under the ground ?V a prifoner of 
 hope, and waits for the return of the vernal fan. If it could fpeak 
 it might repeat (and to the ear of faith it does repeat) thofe words 
 Df the apoftle ; O grave where is thy viBory ? So plainly doth ve- 
 getable nature preach this doctrine of the refurredion, that the man 
 is fuppofed to be fenfelefs, who does not make this ufe of it — thou 
 fool, it is not (quickened except it die, 
 
 I would now only obferve, after what hath been faid, that a 
 right ufe of our prefent fubjed; in all its parts, mull contribute 
 to the dignity and to the happinefs of man. How innocently, 
 md how pleafantly is he entertained, who in cultivating the va- 
 rious productions of the earth, hath the elements working with 
 iiim and aflifting him, to perfecfb his flowers and fruits, and raile 
 I Paradife around him ! What a rational and noble employment it 
 LS, to trace the effed:s of divine wifdom in a furvey of the vegeta- 
 ble kingdom ; in the beautiful forms of plants, their endlefs variety, 
 the configuration of their organs, the diftind:ion of their charac- 
 ters ; the places of their inhabitation; by land, by fea, in rivers 
 and in lakes, on rocks and mountains, in the fields, the paftures, 
 and the woods : with their fucceflions from the fpring to the fum- 
 mer, from the fummer to the autumn ; their appearances by day 
 and by night. 
 
 How
 
 ( '7 ) 
 
 How proper is it to ufe them for health and for temperance, 
 as the wife have done, and as the Creator, ever mindful of the 
 fum of our happinefs hath appointed. What a refpedtable bene- 
 fador is he to mankind, who difcovers their virtues in medicine, 
 and applies them to the relief of the miferable; an office ever 
 grateful to a benevolent mind. 
 
 But happiefl of all is he, who having cultivated herbs and trees, 
 and ftudied their virtues, and applied them for his own and for 
 the common benefit, rifes from thence to a conterAplation of the 
 great Parent of good, whom he fees and adores in thefe his glo- 
 rious works. The world cannot /hew us a more exalted character 
 than that of a truely religious philofopher, who delights to turn 
 all things to the glory of God ^ who from the objedts of his iight 
 derives improvement to his mind, and in the glafs of things tem- 
 poral fees the image of things eternal. Let a man have all the 
 world can give him ; he is flill miferable if he- has a groveling, 
 unlettered, indevout mind. Let him have his gardens, his fields, 
 his woods and his lawns, for grandeur, ornament, plenty and gra- 
 tification ; while at the fame time God is not in all his thoughts. 
 And let another have neither field nor garden : let him only look 
 at nature with an enlightened mind ; a mind which can fee and 
 adore the Creator in his works -, can confider them as demonflra- 
 tions of his power, his wifdom, his goodnefs, his truth : this man 
 is greater y as well as happier, in his poverty, than the other in 
 his riches. The one is but little higher than a beaft, the other 
 but little lower than an angel. 
 
 We ought therefore to praife thofe who in their life-time made 
 this ufe of the natural world, and gratefully to remember that 
 piety, which direded our minds to an annual commemoration of 
 
 D God's
 
 ( i8 ) 
 
 God*s wifdom in the works of the vegetable creation : a gi 
 fubjed, in difcourfing on which, I have only fcattered feme feeas, 
 to be opened and perfe(5ted by your future meditatio n; in which 
 may the grace of God affifl us all, through Jefus Chrift our 
 Lord, 6cc, 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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