h righteousness, or lives to do good, is born of
God.' 'By their fruits ye shall know them.' Good trees will bring forth
good fruit, bad trees will bring forth bad fruit. 'Every tree that
bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the
fire.'

But to give all the practical passages the Bible contains you must quote
the substance, the soul, the bulk of the whole Book. It is all of a
piece. It has one aim and one tendency from beginning to end, to kill
sin and foster righteousness, to crush selfishness and develop
philanthropy. It consists of a multitude of parts, written in different
ages, by a great variety of authors, in a great variety of styles, but
it has one spirit, the spirit of truth and righteousness. And the last
oracles it contains are like the first: 'Blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord; they rest from their labors, and their works follow them.'
'Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have a right
to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city.'

Under the influence of this most rational, common-sense, practical Book,
what could I do but become a thoroughly practical preacher? What could I
do but drink in its blessed, god-like lessons, and make it the great
business of my life to teach them and preach them to my hearers, and
urge them on their consciences as the governing principles of their
hearts and lives?

The book of nature preaches the same practical Gospel as the Bible.
There is not a creature on earth that is not required to work. Birds,
beasts and insects must all labor, or die. The birds must build their
nests, and gather supplies of food for themselves and their young, or
they would all perish. The cattle must graze, or browse, or burrow, or
dive, or lack their needed supplies of food. The beaver must build its
dam, and the wolf must dig its hole, and both must labor for their daily
food. The bee must gather her wax, and build her cell, and fetch home
her honey, or starve. The ant must build her palace and look out for
food both for herself and her family. The spider must spin her thread,
and weave her web, and watch all day for her prey. All seek their food
from God, and obtain it at his hands as the reward of their industry.

Every organ in man's body has to work, or the body, with all its organs,
would die. The lungs must be continually breathing, and the heart
incessantly beating, and the blood perpetually running its mysterious