If any will not work neither shall be eâ—…t God may justly say Look to your selves you live under no promise or protection of mine Let this Note stand to convince all idle and useless persons cyphers that stand for nothing but to eat and talk and dress and laugh and dye that never spend a drop of sweat unless to pursue their pleasures nor a considering thought unless to provide for them that bestow the one half of the day to deck their bodyes and the other half to defile their souls Alass Sirs what do you think on if indeed you dare think of any thing unseen If you would not be Brutes and love not to be Saints refuse not to be Men and Women refuse not to obey Reason you that scorn 〈◊〉 submit to Religion Can you imagine that such noble Souls were given you for such worthless lives will such accounts as these pass before the Judge of Heaven and Earth Item †Spent each day from five of the Clock in the Morning to Three afternoon in dressing painting and perfuming and three hours more at Night in unpasting and undressing again Item spent all one day in hunting all the next in drinking c. How would Adam admire that such Sons and Eve that such Daughters should proceed from them How would Abraham and Sarah be asham'd of them How will God and Christ be asham'd to own them or glorifie them in Heaven that never considered to glorifie him on Earth They then shall know that unprofitable Servants and Prodigals shall be packt together and he that did not his Masters will shall go to hell as well as he that crost it Receive then a word of Exhortation hence O all Parents and Children that would go to Heaven you Parents get your Children into Christs School and into honest Callings and then leave them to God whether ye be rich or poor cast imployments for them most sutable for their Outward most safe for their Inward Man When Adam had but two Sons Cain and Abel they had each a Calling though Cain was born to more Land than any man ever since yet he had an imployment Gen. 4. 2. Abel was a Keeper of the Sheep but Cain was a Tiller of the Ground And then ye Children be willing and earnest for honest Callings Idleness is sweet but the bread of idleness hath no tast Think not that your Priviledge which is your Punishment Alass on t of imployment and then you are tinder for every spark and if you be not fit for Earth you are not fit for Heaven This in General Our Father Adam iu Innocency had a Calling and let every one that descends from him write after him SECT III. But to be a little more particular from the Author of this imployment we may observe That its sweet to beled and put into a Calling by the Lord. As our Father Adam here God took him by the hand and led him into his Calling He that is disposed by the Lord is well provided for Hagar was hard pos'd Gen. 16. 8. Hagar saith God whence comest thou and whither wilt thougo She was disposing her self without her Maker or her Masters leave and so back again she is sent Now you are led into a Calling by the Lord when your Prayers and his Providence have made the way When good Jacob was turned into the wide world he goes straight to Heaven and there vowed this vow Gen. 28. 20. If God will be with me and keep me in this way that I go c. Then shall the Lord be my God Was this vow in vain In no wise for his God kept him and disposed of him well as heart could wish and sent him back in two Bands though all his stock when he went abroad was his Staff He that ventures into a Calling without God goes without his guide who hath said Prov. 3. 6. In all thy wayes acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths And so when His Providence hath led the way We have in the disposing of Isaac into the world both these together Gen. 24. 14. Prayer went before and Providence followed after And vers 50. It is agreed saith Laban and Bethuel The thing proceedeth from the Lord we cannot speak a word against it It is a sweet thing to sail with the gale of Providence and sharp to sail against it And then when thy Calling is lawful and thy ends right it strongly argues that God leads thee into it and this is a sweet thing For then you will bring honour to God and that is the honour of a Calling For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whatsoever we do it ought to be done to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10.31 God hath a greater Rent of glory from a poor Thresher then from many a Prince in the world And then when you are led into your Callings by the Lord you will better brook the inconveniences thereof for every Calling hath some of these which you will digest the better when you are led into them by such an hand The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink who can but cheerfully drink the Cup that comes out of so good an hand Lord Here thou hast put me though my work be hard fare hard usage hard yet here I 'le stay till the same hand fetch me off again And so holy Jacob Gen. 31.40 In the day the drought consumed him and the frost by night and his sleep departed from his eyes and yet twenty years he stuck to it God had disposed him there and his God should dismiss him thence for so saith the story Gen. 31.3 And the Lord said unto Jacob Return to the Land of thy fathers and to thy kindred and I will be with thee And therefore let me advise all that make any reckoning of God or of his blessing Let him carve out Callings for you and not carnal policy or carnal friends without him Crave his direction and benediction your wisest contrivances he can blast with a breath and demolish your Castles in the Air with half a word whereas if thou acknowledge him though thy beginning be small thy latter end he will make great and they that are ruled by him he will never see them want SECT IV. IN the next place let us observe from the Place of his imployment The Lord put him into the Garden of Eden That its a great priviledge to be placed in an Eden that is Comfortably Our Father Adam had the finest Seat in all the Countrey the sweetest on Earth and the nighest unto Heaven he had the dew of Heaven and the fatness of the Earth Now when your temporal corporal and spiritual conveniences are greater then their contrary inconveniences then is your scituation comfortable And God expects that you praise him more and serve him better then others Psal. 16. 6 7. The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places I will bless the Lord. The sweeter
is increased For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away his glory shall not descend after him And thus you see how much against Reason how much against Religion it is to have a rising thought of envy against your Superiours which Considerations may work with you and Prayer joyned to them will work with God to bring your spirits level with your Estates and rather to pity then envy that Crown that 's so garnisht with Pearls without and lin'd with Tears within SECT V. V. THe Fifth Temptation of the Husbandman is Negligence and Deadness in holy Duties I say this is his Temptation not that it is his usual sin if he fear God for you shall most commonly at his door hear as grave and serious and pathetical a Prayer as at the Parsons of the Parish but yet through the multitude of his business and the weariness of his spirits he is often tempted to deadness in the Service of God in his Family and in secret and somtimes to neglect and pass it over Alas you can have of a man but his strength and that ere the Sun be set is most an end spent and gone so that when he comes to Prayer his heart is a sleep and a little thing would hire him if he durst to skip over that good work by which in very deed he gets and saves more than by all his dayes work besides As when Moses spake of sacrificing to God Pharaoh still spake of work to put them off So when God calls to worship the World calls to work or the Flesh to sleep Or if the fear of God or a constant custome do engage him in his Duty he dreams through it and is contented that it s over though he have done nothing but displeased God the rein If the Day had been two hours longer he would have found strength to do more work but he hath no might for God or ability for heavenly business The Fish is scarce ever weary of swiming because the water is her Element but on the dry ground she is soon weary So our poor Husbandman hath strength for two dayes in the Earth which is his Element but hardly vivacity and ability for half an hour in the precious service of his God He is like a Bee that hath lost her sting dull and dronish Alas he hath lost his spirits and hath nothing but weary limbs and a dead heart to present to God And Soul-work never goes on unless we have a mind to work as they Neh. 4.6 They built c. for the people had a mind to work O when a man hungers for Prayer-time more then meal-time when all businesses are dry and all Companies taste of the Cask but Gods ' when a man can see more glory and beauty in one verse of the Bible than in all the Corn in his Field when the Soul doth really hasten through all other business and cry O When shall I come and appear before God! then the work of God and the Soul goes on then Duties of worship are welcome to him and well done by him And thus it is with our serious Husbandman that uses the world that he may enjoy God and not the contrary that rids his work that he may go to Prayer and rids not Prayer out of the way that he may go to work But alas all Husbandmen are not of this mold happy they for ever if they were Abundance of them think when they have supped they have a VVrit of ease to go to bed and let them pray that have nothing else to do And though they are seldome so weary but they will think upon their bodies and take their suppers with them ere they go to rest yet they dare venture to forget their souls and steal to bed without a blessing And so in the morning the VVorld calls on so hard that prayer is neglected in the Morning and at night the Flesh calls for ease that Prayer is neglected at Evening or if somthing be done that way by reason of custom or conviction alas the wife she is sleeping in one corner the child in another the servant in a third when they should all of them be wrestling might and main with God for mercy for their souls And then when the Sabbath comes the poor Husbandman lyes under great Temptations to make it a Play-day for his body and yet no Work-day for his soul. He that can rise early every morning takes his ease that morning and the Bells do hardly raise him up And then in the Assembly the easier is his seat the readier is he to sleep while his weightiest affair is in hand Or it the Church be far or the weather frown or his finger ake a small matter shall keep him at home though perhaps as it was the case of Thomas the Apostle that very day he might have seen Jesus Christ to his eternal comfort And here is the Husbandmans Temptation Negligence and Deadness in holy Duties But what Preservative can we prescribe against this temptation These two at present 1. More Zeal 2. Less Labour 1. More Zeal Zeal is Religion boyling hot And a warm heart in a weary body will be active Zeal revives the languishing spirits infuses new spirits makes a man all spirit for the time This in a false Religion will raise a man to his Orisons at Midnight send him some hundreds of miles on Pilgrimage make him sweep the Church with the Hair of his Head lame his Knees with Prayers and blind his Eyes with tears In the true Religion this works more languidly it 's true men swim faster down then up the stream but more regularly and doth animate a gracions heart wonderfully in the wayes of God makes the lame man to leap as an Hâ—…rt and the tongue of the dumb to sing The godly Husbandman remembers that his chiefest business every day is with God and the hardest of his work is on his knees and so buckles to it and is in good earnest and sweats even at his eyes The more zeal the more forward to what is good and the more unwearied in it And it is good to be alwayes zealously affected in a good matter Gal. 4.18 The service of God is the best matter in the world and it is not enough to be well affected to it but to be zealously effected in it The wise Husbandman considers that in all likelihood the load of his whole dayes work will be thrown off at night except Prayer do bind it on that he cannot be a gainer if his soul lose its spiritual life and strength he knows if he leave off his meals he must go with thin sides and if he omit his Prayers he must go with a thin soul. Alas what will you be the better to pay your Rent and to run in arrear with God to keep your time with your Landlord and break time with God your Landlords Landlord What good can your meat or clothes or estate do you if it
be not blest by prayer or how can God and you be friends if you keep not correspondence cannot he yea will not he make thee amends by the years end for an hour in a day spent with him Alas you may get more in half an hour by Prayer Psalms Reading to wit some grains of true grace than by your hardest working all your lives yea then all the world is worth and why then will you stand so with God for a little time He that gives you all will you stand with him for an inch If your servant should tell you when he hath neglected a business of concernment he could not help it for he had business of his own would it please you so neither will it please God when you omit Prayer c. that you had other business and could not heed it The very Turks though they make their slaves work hard yet afford them time for food and rest will you deal worse with your soul than with a Gally slave Hath not God said Psalm 127.2 It is vain for you to rise up early to sit up late to eat the bread of sorrows except the Lord give his blessing and how is that obtain'd but by prayer a constant blessing but by constant prayer Alas one mischance may half undoe thee and were it not best then to keep in with that God that hath all creatures and casualties in his hand You have heard of that religious Gentleman concerning whom the Witch his Neighbour made this confession at her death That she had waited seven whole years to do him a mischief but his constant Prayers had still disappoynted her until one Morning that hast of business had carryed him from home without Prayer in his Family and before his return she had bewitched four or five of his children Miracle of mercy and nothing else that God hath spared thee whose neglects in that kind have been many What if Satan had been permitted to do so by thee how many Prayers might it have cost thee for deliverance And is it not more comfortable to spend those Prayers for preventing evil than for removing it Is not that Prayer better spent that God commands than that which Sin procures Nay think when you are tempted to neglect the service of God in your Families or otherwise what an honour and advantage it is that you may thus approach God If the King should but give you liberty to come twice or thrice a day into his presence and there tell your whole case and lay out all your wants and promise a real answer to your requests how hard or many soever O how proud would you be of such a priviledge and seldom would you miss your time you would find somthing or other wanting for your selveâ—… or friends and duly improve it How much is your Priviledge greater that may come two or three times a day into the presence of thâ—… King of Kings and be heard about the greaâ—… things of eternal life O never fail your attendance open your mouth wide and he wiâ—… fill it And then get more Zeal that will heal yoâ—… of your deadness in holy duties Think seriously whom am I before my Maker and Redeemer And what am I about The eternal salvation of my soul and body And whither am I going Into that world of souâ—… and spirits that endless state whence I muâ—… never return And are these things to be 〈◊〉 in Are men asleep when they are begginâ—… for their lives in a dream when their Cauâ—… is trying O remember it is the effectâ—… fervent prayer of a righteous man that avaiâ—…eth much Though he be a righteous man yeâ—… except he put fervency into his prayer it prevaileth little Frozen suits meet with colâ—… answers from God Put therefore Fire intâ—… thy Sacrifice and then it will ascend Consider that the Lord thy God is to be loved anâ—… served with all the soul and might and strength and that he hath a curse and not a blessing foâ—… the deceiver that hath in his flock a Male anâ—… voweth and sacrificeth to God a corrupt thing Mal. 1.13 Nay sayes God I could see yoâ—… earnest enough in the Field busie in the House busie in the Barn busie every where and idlâ—… and cold only when you come to me you have in your flock a male but you think any frame any thing will serve me I have no blessing for such as you He that wrestles with me shall prevail he that takes pains shall have the Garland and no man must be crowned except he strive and strive lawfully He that hath zeal strives 2. To prevent deadness or negligence in holy Duties You must not 〈◊〉 your selves Immoderate labour may be sinful as well as immoderate meat and drink Then it is immoderate 1. VVhen it is not consistent with the strength of thy body God requires from no man more than he hath given him he doth not allow a man a weak body and exact from him strong labour this were to require Brick and deny straw When therefore thy pains in thy Calling doth quite dis-spirit or distemper thy body then it grows immoderate and for a poor accident thou hazardest the substance 2. Thy labour then is immoderate when it is not consistent with the Duties of Religion when secret or family Prayer must stand or fall at the courtesie of thy labour and business when thy spirits are exhausted and thy strength so spent that when Duties should be done thy heart like Nabals is dead as a stone thy body worn out and good for nothing but the Bed then your labour becomes immoderate And neither will it advantage thy estate nor thy dead duties advantage thy Soul and so thou makest a fair Bargain For it is certain that what a man gets by immoderate cares and labour does him no more good than what he gets by theft or oppression Hab. 2.13 The people weary themselves in the very fire and that for very vanity VVhat a piece of folly is this to weary a mans self and that in the very fire broyling in the world and all this for very vanity a poor recompence Day-labourers are to be pitied and the Lord no doubt pities them and takes up with a lesser Rent of service from them than from their Masters yet even they must remember that they have souls as well as bodies that they have a Master in Heaven as well as a Master upon Earth that a Living must be gotten for Hereafter as well as aâ—… present and they ought as Tertullian saith of eating so to work as that they remember they must to Prayer before they go to bed Lest this rise up against them that they were careful to take some warm thing in the morâ—…ing for their bodies before they went to work and neglected a warm Prayer or Chapter that were much more wholsome for theâ—… souls You should argue if I have taken all this pains all day for a little money shall I
it him again Prov. 19.17 There is his Bond. Though all be his yet he will accept of it as lent Think when the poor crave God hath sent them to borrow for him who will not take it kindly to be denyed It 's true it seems lost and you think its as good to cast it down the River as give it to them O no it is not lost it 's Book't in Heaven and shall be paid on Earth Cast thy bread on the Waters and it shall return after many dayes Eccl. 11.1 most commonly in this life but the longer it s unpaid the greater will the sum be at last The man is yet unborn that hath lost any thing by God If you can but trust him you may gain sufficiently by him And to this do all good men set their Seal That the charitable hand is blessed of the Lord and he that loves to give seldom is in need to receive Alas God doth littâ—…e less thâ—…n miracles in the Husbandmans house every day So much Rent to pay so many Children to maintain so many payments without any breathing time and yet he lives and is cheerful and for the most part dies less in debt than his Landlord Whence comes this but from the wonderful Providence and Blessing of God A man would wonder whence every peny and penyworth comes that he gives and spends and payes why the Scripture will tell you He that watereth shall be watered also himself Sirs charity is good Husbandry for it brings a certain and plentiful Harvest Let the man come forth that can say he ever was loser by Christ at the long run If every bit of bread nay if every cup of cold water nay if every cheerful word nay if every charitable thought be not now or shortly rewarded then murmure and hold your hand but till then open your purse open your hands open your hearts and hide not your self from your own flesh SECT VII VII THe Seventh Temptation of the Husbandman is Distracting Care He hath so much to do and so little to do it on much Brick to make and little straw to make it with that he is apt to be overful of cares What shall we eat and what shall we drink and wherewithall shall we be cloathed Martha and he are sick of the same disease to whom Christ thus Luke 10.40 Martha Martha thou art careful and troubled about many things Thy care divides thy heart it divides it from me it divides it from its self it is a care that troubles thee that 's naught There is a care of the Head a care of Providence Prov. 31.16 That 's commendable There is a care of the Hand a care of diligence Prov. 21.5 That 's profitable And a care of the Heart a care of diffidence Phil. 4.6 That 's abominable Much of this care molests our Husbandman many cares about his house many about his ground care fills his heart in Seed time care overfills it in Harvest but when his Rent day approaches his cares press him down care somtimes to borrow it and then care to repay it These invade him in the worship of God and make long Parentheses in his Prayers these wait upon him to his bed and somtimes trouble him in it and these visit him next his heart in the Morning When he should be full of the thoughts of Heaven these fill him with thoughts of the Earth and the Body robs the Soul of the cares that are needful for it as how it should be fâ—…d wherewith it should be cloathed or how its deadly wounds shall be healed how seldome do these break his sleep When the Husbandman is Reading or at Praâ—…r and running quite towards Heaven these like a rubb to the Bowl make him fall short of his Mark. O sayes he if this Rent were paid or if I had no Rent at all to pay how freely and cheerfully could I serve God and take care about my soul but this world this world takes me off and whatsoever my soul doth Rent must be paid and care must be taken As if he should say If I were a Gentleman I would be a Christian I would take care of my soul if I had nothing else to do It 's true care must be taken how to live in the world but not distracting care not excluding care not unseasonable care not immoderate care not distrustful care Not distracting when the mind is drawn this way and then drawn that way hurryed uncomfortably and indisposed to any good Not excluding care whereby the thoughts and cares of Heaven are shut out For as a reverend Divine sayes either men must use the world as if they used it not or they will serve the Lord as if they serv'd him not If thou hast need to pay man his due sure much more care is to be taken to pay unto God his due if care how to live thirty or forty years much more to live forty thousand years If you must take care to escape the Prison much more to escape Hell Again it must not be unseasonable care when the body should be refreshed by meet or sleep for it is comly and good for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the good of all his labour nor when the soul should be refreshed with the Ordinances of God for one thing is needful to wit that better patt Not immoderate care whereby the body is distempered or the soul unfitted for the comfortable discharge of your heavenly or earthly Callings Nor lastly distrustful care when you trust too much in your own understanding and too little in the Wisdom and Providence of God And this Temptation is so much the stronger in that it carries so fair a pretence and is really spent about honest and lawful things for about lawful things we most often miss it and endanger our souls where there seems least danger at all More men you know dye by meat than by Poyson As that great Politician used to pray that God would deliver him from his friends for he should take care himself to avoyd his enemies So we have great need to be careful about lawful things for less care will save us harmless from things plainly evil And so we shall proceed to lay down some effectual Preservatives against this Temptation of distracting care Namely 1. Learn to cast your care upon God 1 Pet. 5.7 Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you A most rare Duty and a most excellent Promise Cast not only put or lay it on in part or at leisure but cast it wholly and speedily Cast what why your care your distracting care so the word signifies your necessary cares you must grapple with as well as you can but when they squeeze torment divide distract the heart then cast them away and not one or two of them but All your care In six troubles and in seaven go the same way knock at the same door throw them on the same
if thou do not pray But he cannot trouble thee whether God will or no but God can damn thee whether he will or no. They that now terrifie thee will run to hide themselves and will none of them come between thee and an angry God for the sins thou hast committed or duties thou hast omitted by their inducement And therefore Math. 10. 28. Fear not them that can kill the body and have no more that they can do but fear him that can cast body and soul into Hell O fear him and let them talk SECT IX IX THe Ninth Temptation of the Husbandman is Affected Ignorance His Intellectuals are but obtuse and Education did not befriend him his occasions many and his time scant whereby ordinarily he wants that necessary knowledge that should light him to Heaven And the abuse of knowledge in others and the excuse his continual labours suggest to him do tempt him to rest in and defend his Ignorance and so it grows Affected ignorance In this he lives and without Gods grace herein he dies But God forbid we should charge all persons of that Calling with this evil no there are many very many have better learned Christ able with much gravity and distinctness to give an account of all material Points of Religion that want not an Argument to dâ—…end the Truth though they cannot put it in Mood and Figure yea divers that in the Arts come not short in the Languages exceed some that sit in Moses seat And as to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ that consists not so much in mental as experimental apprehensions multitudes in this are excellent Schollars that can describe Faith to the life though they cannot define it that can tell how to repent though they know not whether this or Faith precede In short that can feel more than they can speak and that have learn'd to express more in their lives than in their words And some too there are that know too much I mean that have got more notions into their head than they can rule and for want of wisdome and humility grow giddy and conceited that they rather come to the Ordinance to judge their Minister than to be judged by the Word of God and that think they could discharge that Function better than he and these are to be rankt among the most intollerable sort of that Calling of whom it were to be wisht that either they knew less that would make them less elevated or that they knew more that would make them more humble But I hope the number of these are but few Experience of their own infirmities together with further knowledge will cure them of this swelling these Rickets in the head and by degrees they will find that the most they know is the least part of what they are ignorant of No the Epidemical disease of Husbandmen is ignorance affected ignorance Many of them want time to read or think of spiritual matters their Children cry their Business cryes their Creditour cryes and hard it is to read a leaf without many avocations and distractions nay worse many of them cannot read a word they can see no more in a Bible than in a stone nor read one verse therein though the reading and ruminating of it might be as much worth as Heaven to them Ah! that ever Heaven the gate of heaven should be in a Bible and a reasonable creature a Christian should not read it and those that can yet will not labour to find it there Nay worse yet for many of this Extraction and Education are wonderful dull of capacity and apprehend matters spiritual especially with much difficulty and confusion and then such broken mâ—…mories that they can hold nothing without very much a doe so that the Prophet Jâ—…remy mâ—…ght very well conclude of them Jer. 5. 4. Therefore I said Surely these are poor they aâ—…e foolish for they know not the way of the Lord nor the judgement of their God I will get me to the great men Alas it is too manifest that ignorance prevails among that sort in all places insomuch that an Ignorant Peasant is the common Epithet Their ambition being only to know their ground their cattel their market and their seat in the Church Who could have believed the sad story that Mr. Pemble tells us in his Sermon about Ignorance if it had not an Author of credit Of an old man on his death bed that had heard in all likelihood two or three thousand Sermons in his life that being then examin'd of his knowledge concerning God should answer he thought him an old man sitting in a chair and about Christ thought him a towardly young Youth And concerning his Soul thought it was some great bone in his body c. O woful story That rational creatures who are able to give account of civil affairs with sufficient discretion and capable of the highest knowledge That professed Christians that have been brought up and taught that sacred Religion should know so little in the faith they must be saved by To expect to be saved by the Son of God and yet think him to be the Sun in the firmament as others have exprest That hope to go to Heaven and yet know neither faith nor repentance the undoubted way thither nor what it is to be justified or born again And more sad that the Husbandman should plead for this his Ignorance that any should imagine his sin should excuse him and bring him off before God That when God saith My people perish for want of Knowledge he should conclude because I want knowledge therefore I shall not perish yea and imagine that he shall speed better than the most knowing and conscionable of his Neighbours what besotted blindness is this Who can have patience to hear this confident folly but who is more bold than blind Bayard Alas it is ignorance that feeds his presumption If he did but see himself in a true glass he would abhor himself in dust and ashes And therefore its time to seek some Cure of this temptation And that is 1. Be perswaded of the absolute necessity of saving Knowledge That no man is excused by his birth poverty or dulness from getting so much knowledge in the fundamentals of Religion as will let Christ into the soul and stear it to Heaven This is certain that as no world was made without Light in the first place so no new world in the soul without the light of Knowledge Gods Method is Acts 26. 18. To turn men from darkness to light and so from the power of Satan unto God This is the way to Eternal Life John 17. 3. To know the onely true God and Jesus Christ. This is the first branch in the New Covenant A heart to know God Jer. 24. 7. not his Name but his Nature to know God in Chriâ—… to know his will Can you think any man goes to Heaven in the dark to Heaven blind Gods children are never born blind
gathereth bâ—… food in the harvest Set thy self by a mole hill and there stand and behold those small creatures how busie they are they stand noâ—… still nor go at an idle rate but run every foot they carry a burden as bigg as themselves every day they work and this with incredible cheerfulness they murmure not they quarrel not but know their place and business and that is to provide for winter And now what learnes the studious Husbandman from this Book Why here he learnes Industâ—…y and diligence a cheerful industry in his place Shall Nature teach this Ant more then Reason teaches me Shall a blind instinct make her provident and shall the Bible suffer me to be profuse See how she runs in her duty and shall I sleep or creep in mine Nay will not this poor pismire rise up to condemn me for my neglect of treasuring up for Eternity my winter is drawing on there 's no providing in the Grave and yet where 's my provision for another world I open this hillock and see the Ants provision But I open my soul and there find little or no provision Awake Osluggard up and be doing run for thy life work for eteâ—…ity treasure up that which a so u may live on in another world lest thy Harvest be past thy summer ended and thou be not saved Here 's a little creature and yet a great Politician Well I am convinced I am resolved I 'le trifle no more these Pismires are at my mercy and I am at Gods and therefore I will do what I can with all my might though I am poor in this world that I may be rich in the next These and such like Lessons may the careful Husbandman learn out of his ground whereby it yields him double profit food for his body and a feast for his soul. SECT II. II. THe Second Book of the Husbandman wherein he may read something of God is His Corn. The same word in the Hebrew that is used for an Ear of Corn signifies also a Word As if every field of Corn were the Husbandmans Book every Land or Butt a Leafe every Sheafe a Verse of praise every Ear a Word every Corn of wheat a Letter to express the praise of God and dâ—…ty of man In the same meal one man feeds his Lusts and another his Graces and in the same field one man fills his Barn and another man fills his Heart So that a good Husband hath two Crops in one year the one keeps his body the other helps to keep his soul alive And here 1. The Husbandman learns something from his Plowing for Corn. And this teaches him the use of Godly Sorrow Jer. 4.3 Break up your fallow ground and sow not among thorns What is fallow good for put in the Plough sayes God to some spiritual Husbandman I shall have no Rent hence untill the plough go here plow me a long furrow here O Lord cryes the soul I can sorrow for my sin I am broken plow deeper sayes God fetch up these weeds by the roots now he cryes An undone sinner The Law hath quite undone me my heart is rent and torn within me All the world for one smile of Christ. Now sayes God thou shalt have it I meant thee no more hurt than the Husbandman means his field Plowing is hard work but it brings sweet profit So compunction is hard work indeed letting one blood in the heart this goes near but it 's profitable the peaceable fruits of Righteousness pay for all the plough makes one sweat but the crop makes one sing and without this plowing in tears we should never reap in joy Amos 6.12 Shall Horses run upon the Rock will one plow there with Oxen no man will do it and yet sayes God there I must plow or no where I must squeeze water out of a slint and make a rocky heart mourn or never cure it Thus our Husbandman learns Humiliation at his plough and studies a broken heart while he is breaking up his ground And then his plough teaches him the need of a Watchfull Perseverance Luk. 9.62 No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God He finds the careless eye makes many a balk and it must be a staid and constant observation that makes an even furrow wherein if he fail he goes home with shame And he knows the plough will do good no longer than it 's followed and there 's no leaving it if he mean to live And this helps him to consider of the constant need he hath to observe his ways to cleave an hair and draw an even furrow in all his courses to beware of extreams in being over-righteous or over-wicked knowing that one broad furrow will require another to make it smooth or else require a narrow one to drive it even And therefore he concludes there 's no sleeping at Plough no throwing up his worthy work of Religion for any difficulty in it till his Harvest come in Heaven where he shall rest from his labours and his works shall follow him 2. The Second Lesson which the Husbandman may learn from his Corn is from the Sowing of it And hence he may learn 1. How to hear For so hath our Lord Jesus taught him hence Mat. 13. who there takes the Husbandman upon himself and reckons his and his Ministers preaching like the sowing of Seed Where he finds four sorts of ground and but one sort sound and good It is three to one in a Congregation that the hearers miscarry in hearing Here I have precious Seed sayes the Husbandman but if I should cast it in this high-way or among yonder thorns or else on the rocks what crop could I expect It would be cast away and what is my Earthly Seed to the Heavenly Seed of my Lord and God who not only scatters Seed but offers Pearls yea Blood the precious blood of Christ and it 's cast away if I bring an hard or worldly heart to the Word of God O then what need have I to prepare before and to watch in the hearing thereof lest I receive that Grace of God in vain How fruitless would that seed be that is sown on the green-sod before the ground be plowed I would not venture one handfull of Seed upon it I 'le therefore plow up my heart by Godly sorrow for my former negligences that the Lord may now Sow in Righteousness and that I may reap in mercy for I know as I sow so shall I reap when I sow Fitches I look not to reap Wheat no more must I expect to sow dead duties and reap lively returns I must not look to reap any thing but corruption if I sow to the flesh If I expect clean corn I must sow clean seed and if I look for life everlasting I must sow to the Spirit And herein also 2. The Husbandman is taught Bountiful Almes-giving for as much as he finds by experience He that
know your purse will not reach many nor your time serve you to peruse them and a few Books well read are like ground well till'd which is far better then a great Demesne that alwayes lies fallow Be sure then that you consult and advise with some judicious and pious Divine about the choice of your Books that may direct you to such as are most fit for your condition that you may not only buy such as are Good but such as are the Best because your time and money is so precious Perhaps you 'l say your Charge is great and your Rent is great and no money will be spared for these uses A hard case if you cannot spare two or three shillings in a whole year for God and your Souls when divers that have as great a Charge and Rent as you and yet can spend more than that quantity in a year vainly and wickedly and yet make a shift to live in the world Alas God tryes you hereby whether you can deny your selves and abate a little from back and belly and give it this way to your poor souls Resolve then to purchase this houshold-stuff which by Gods blessing may do both you and your children more good than thousands of Gold and Silver yea you may by a discreet lending of them to your kindred and neighbours startle and reform them also A practise which I would recommend to persons of Ability whereby they may be very instrumental in promoting the Kingdome of Jesus Christ in the world to wit by buying some numbers of awakening and practical books and engaging their Kindred and poor Neighbours to read them over in such a time and return them some account thereof And though I undertake not to determine what books are fittest â—…or your several conditions yet of those that I have perused these following may be most useful for the generality of your families which I entreat you to buy and read as soon as you can In the first place let not your house nor any of your grown children be without a Bible Though other books have much of Heaven in them this book is all Heaven And it is as unfit to be without this in your house as to be without a fire or without your houshold bread Next that you and yours may be grounded in the Principles of our Excellent Religion buy the Assemblies Two Catechismes and Confession of Faith the Shorter for your Children and Servants to learn by heart the Other for you and them to read and consider for your understanding in the good knowledge of God wherein also Mr. Ball 's Catechism with the Exposition is most excellent and useful Mr. Baxter's Call to the Vnconverted and Mr. Dent's Plain-mans Path-way to Heaven will be well worth your buying and reading for the awakening your souls and your Children to saving conversion Mr. Shepheard's Sound Believer Mr. Allen's First Part of the Vindication of Godliness and Mr. Dod on the Commandments are choice Books to help you in inside practical holiness The Practice of Piety also and the Whole Duty of Man have so many useful Instructions both about Devotion and Conversation that I would recommend them to you Dr. Goâ—…ge of Domestical Duties will be necessary to teach your whole family their Relative Duties Mr. Pool'sDialogue will be very useful to settle you in the True Protestant Religion against the Papists and if you can reach either Diodates or the Dutch Annotations on the Bible after all to help you to understand the hard Scriptures you daily meet with though you may read you need not buy many more books for your souls But when you have bought these books let them not lie dustie by you but read and lend them and read them again but be sure to mix Meditation and Ejaculation with your reading and when you shut the book consider what profit you have gotten and bless the Lord. Thus you may refresh your spirits after your hard labour and with the same exercise revive both your bodies and your souls SECT IX IX THe Ninth Rule for the Husbandman in his Calling is Pay your Great Land-lord his Rent The Lord of Heaven and Earth is Lord of the Soil and Lord of the Soul also and a Chief belongs to him This is that great Housholder Mat. 21.33 that planted a Vineyard and hedged it about and let it out to Husbandmen and went into a far Country And he hath charged a Rent over and beside your earthly Land-lords upon your estate and it concerns you to enquire what it is what Arrears there are and what course to take for the constant discharge thereof least the Lord turn you out of doors Your petty Land-lord can but turn you into the wide World but your Chief Land-lord can turn you out into Hell The former indeed may imprison you but the latter can damn you Alas how little have you thought of this one Year returns after another your Earthlie Land-lord calls for Rent and you make hard shift to pay him but your Heavenly Land-lord calls and calls again and no Rent is paid to him What will ye do in the end thereof Pray consider though you hold your Land of man yet you hold your Life of God though you have your house of some Great man yet you have the body and soul that inhabits it of the Great God you have your health of God your strength of God You hold the Gospel by a tenure in Capite of God through Jesus Christ now what Rent do you pay unto him flinch not nor start away but say what Rent have you ever paid unto God Must every one have their due but God canst thou please him only with fair words or content him with naked promises Can you pay unto men their Pounds and cannot you pay unto God his Pepper-corn what deny your Maker his pepper-corn why what is this pepper-corn I answer It 's contained in one verse Psal. 50. last He that offereth praise glorifieth me and he that ordereth his conversation aright to him will I shew the Salvation of God Your Rent then consists in Holy Worship and Holy Walking When you sit down to meal and rise my Rent says God Be sure he have cordial praises that you adore him in your hearts See your tongue be the faithful Messenger of your very heart so when you lie down and rise up when you go out and come in again in all thy wayes acknowledge him and he shall direct thy steps but this is not all your Rent you live by him you must live for him if you ever mean to live with him Go to then speak and act for God to the utmost of your Capacitie The little you can do for God do it with all your might If God will take his rent in thoughts in words and in deeds that cost you nothing O grudge it not delay it not Cry out Lord I am a poor man but here is my Rent at my day Well done good and
comes to pant after it and prepare for it Dismiss your business a little sooner the day before and discharge the very thoughts thereof till the Sabbath be past Let not the love of one sin enter with you into that holy ground but wash your hands in innocency and so compass the Altars of God And bless the Lord good Husbandman with all thy soul That God hath given thee so merciful a release from the labours of thy body and withal blest thee with a harvest day for thy soul. And in thankfulness to God in love to Jesus Christ and in care of thy poor soul rise up betime and work hard for eternal life Let no business of the world be done that day which might have been done before or may be done after without plain prejudice Command thy family from vaine stragling or foolish sports and let them spend that day in Gods house and in thy own Examine them of the state of their souls of their proficiency that day and seriously catechize the younger sort in the Principles of Religion Be resolute against worldly discourse with your Neighbours and with a Christian dexterity carry the stream thereof the other way Lose not a minute of that precious time make it as long a day as any of the rest and when it is done long for another Sabbath And now you have the Rules see you be ruled by them It may be your ease to sleight them but it will be your safety to observe them O that you would fall to practise else I lose my labour and you lose your comforts O that Parents would tell these to their Children and in-still them as you do the Rules of your Husbandry As breaking Rules turn'd the first Husbandman out of Paradise so keeping Rules would bring you into Paradise again I beseech you remember that we preach not to be applauded but to be obeyed and the hearing of these things without doing of them will make you compleatly miserable And therefore review them study them practise them SECT X. ANd now we are at shore and nothing remains save matter of Practise God forbid these things should be written or read in vain We can but reach the ear or eye He that hath his Pulpit in Heaven can teach the heart The real profit and comfort of the poor Husbandman I design O disappoint not me deceive not your selves 〈◊〉 not God These truths will help either to mend or end you Let the Lawfulness of this Calling satisfie you Though it be painful yet it 's lawful and see you use it lawfully The Law is good and so is Husbandry if a man use it lawfully God hath made it lawfull do not by your abuse make it sinful Let the Excellencies of it refresh you you have your Difficulties and you have youâ—… Dignities and God hath set the one against the other A Christian Husbandman is better than a Pagan King Bless the Lord therefore that though thy life be full of pains yet thy lines are fallen in pleasant places Think in the mid'st of thy sweat and toil It 's better to be a plow-man in the field than a beggar at the door I might have been begging at the door Alas I might have been frying faggots in Hell Let the Inconveniences in your Calling humble you If it were not for these pride would creep into the plow mans house If you should have your will God would not have his will and therefore sit down content It is better be kept sweet in the brine of tribulation than rot in the honey of prosperity you must have some thorns laid in your bed least you should sleep too sweetly here and forget your Heaven Let the Temptations you hear of in your Calling arm you Put on your spiritual armour wind up your spiritual watch for the first Husbandman that ever was fell by temptation and the second too and you must stand by watchfulness If you go out without your weapons you will come in without your Garments 1 Pet. 5.8 Be sober be vigilant for your adversary the Devil goes about roaring seeking whom he may devour The greatest part of men live as if there were no Devil to tempt at all gird about you the sword of the spirit which is the word of God so shall you not be led into temptation but delivered from evil Let the Lessons you have heard exercise you You 'l make the best of every thing do so in this That 's a good Chymick that can extract Gold out of Sand but that 's a good Husbandman that can get Heaven out of Earth Thou hast had a wicked habit to suck poyson out of flowers O get a gracious habit to suck honey out of weeds speak no more of the difficulty or impossibility thereof if you were hired with Gold for every Coelestial thought you would study for more of them you have fed too long upon the shell feast now upon the kernel A good hearing when you come home at night and say Wife I have learned one lesson from my Ground Cattel c. this day And then practise the Graces for your Calling Seek first the Kingdom of God else you will be the Worlds drudge here that 's sad and the Devils drudge in hell that 's worse you 'l be poor here and poor for ever you will take pains now and suffer paines hereafter Yea your very plowing will be sin Prov. 21.4 What an hell is this to be working all day and yet sinning all day Shine therefore in the Graces of your Calling Brown bread and the Grace of God are good fare Raggs and Christ's Righteousness are good Clothing a straw bed and a good Conscience are good Lodging Let the Abuses in your Calling warn you to beware them Adam had your Calling in it's prime but he abused it and lost it and if abuses crept into the Garden they will walk into the Field much more Watch then before least you wail after if you will not watch on earth you will wail in hell Let the foresaid Ends of your Calling act you At the beginning of every year of every week of every day level your ends afresh as you have been directed So will you please God the more and profit your selves never the less then every Charre you do will be a work for God and though you fail in your subordinate ends yet you 'l never fail in your supreame end You have a mean Calling you had need of Noble aimes a Coelestial end ennobles a Terrene employment Let the Rules rule you and let these truths live and die with you Let me say to you as that great Law-giver did Deut. 32.46 47. Set your hearts unto all the words which I testifie among you this day which ye shall command your Children to observe to do for it is not a vaine thing for you because it is your life and through this thing ye shall prolong your dayes in the Land When Lycurgus had compiled some
encouragement of the Husbandman under his burdens and troubles that he may be content with the Inconveniencies of his Lot and blesse the name of the Lord his God And these I shall observe in the next place and lay them in the other ballance least the former fly too high least trades mens shops should be emptyed and least the Husbandman should forget himself CHAP. IV. The Inconveniencies of the Husbandmans Calling and the Remedies thereof SECTION I. ANd now I come to the Fourth point which is to give you an Account of the Inconveniencies of the Husbandmans Calling where with I shall also prescribe some Remedies It is Heaven onely that is without Inconveniencies Here we would live without them There we shall live without them The wisdome of God hath so ordered it that not an house on Earth but hath some Grievance annext to it that we may long for our other House which is above It is said of the plain of Jordan Genes 13. 10. That it was like the Garden of the Lord and Lot thought he had a great bargain of it and good man he found many inconveniences in it So in Eden it self our father Adam had a Serpent Latet anguis in herbâ And if he met with Inconveniencies there let no man think to escape them It is our misery to have them It is our happiness to manage and improve them The First Inconvenience of the Husbandmans Calling is That his Business lyes in the world his greaâ—…est Enemy Indeed the world in it self is Gods good Creature but since the fall of Man as it brings forth naturally thorns and bryars to tear the flesh so by the malice of the Devil it is full of snares to catch the soul. He hath privily instigated all the Creatures to be against God and our souls and laid Rats-bane here and there upon the things the Husbandman converseth in to poyson and undo him So that he may e're he is aware fall into temptation and a snare That is a sad Curse Psal. 69. 22. Let that which should have been for their wellfare let it become a trap Sad that the Plough should be a trap and in his innocent business should be a dangerous snare As if a mans house stood in his Enemies garrison it were a great Inconvenience though his house were never so pleasant yet to enjoy it he ventures his life The world is now an Enemy to our souls yet in the mid'st of it stands the Husbandmans calling And therefore if he will be safe he must do as Nehemiah 4. 17. with one of his hands work in his calling and with the other hold a weapon The Best Remedy against this Inconvenience is To be crucified to the world Gal. 6. 14. God forbid that I should glory in any thing save in the Cross of Christ whereby the world is crucified to me and I to the world as if he should say I 'le glory in my sufferings others glory in their chains of Gold I 'le only shake my chain of iron and triumph in it by which my heart is well weaned from the temptations of the world So let the troubles and hardships which the Husbandman meets with in the world crucifie his heart to the inticements of it Get the world once under you make it a servant as the word in our Text signifies subdue it and then you may more safely trade in it And seeing it is your Enemy deal with it as an enemy have as little to do with it as you can and though you owe to it a love of Benevolence because it sustains you yet beware how far you bestow upon it a love of Complacence because it would ensâ—…are you SECT II. THe Second Inconvenience of the Husbandmans Calling is That he hath but little Time for his Soul His Landlord can get up in a morning and read as long as he will and then pray as long as he will and as oft and meditate as much as he will But he hath but little time to pray and less time to read and least of all to meditate unless it be occasionally among his work And his Life is divided between labour and rest and but that he is fully resolved the main chance shall not be neglected his soul would be forgotten He hath many dayes and yet but a little time his business calls him out and the night calls him in again And so he is apt to doubt of himself by fits because it is said Psalm 1. 2. The Godly mans delight is in the law of the Lord and in that law he doth meditate day and night He longs to read such a good Book but Harvest or Business calls and he must away longs to go and confer with his Minister about his poor soul but can seldome get leave of his business either his poor soul or his poor family must suffer And he finds it very much adoe to live in this world and yet provide to live for ever And how shall the honest Husbandman remedy this matter Your Remedy must be this you must Work the harder and sleep the less that you may pray and read the more If the Heathens can produce a Philosopher that used to work most of the day that he might be sustained to study most of the night how much more may you that hope for better things than they punish the body a little as it will bear to furnish the soul as it hath need How late and early can you sometimes be at a gainfull market and is there any market where Grace is sold Remember still that One thing and only that one thing is Needful in comparison Luke 10. 42. And then be sure the little time you can spend for your souls improve it well The shorter you must be at prayer see you be the more serious They who can do little had need to do it well And then you may be assured that as the Lord blesseth your short Commons and thin meals to as much health and strength of body as they who have their plenteous variety so will the same God bless to you your pulse and water your few but lively duties to feed your souls as if you had larger opportunities It is better to have a little communion with God and hunger for more than to have larger time and lesser appetite SECT III. A Third Inconvenience of the Husbandmans Calling is That he is lyable to many burdens and injuries He is and must be like Issachar Gen. 49. 14. an ass couching down under two burdens He must suffer from his Superiors many an harsh Lecture his Landlord reads him many a trespass and injury his Neighbour offers him many scornful terms after all their wrongs he must put up he hath neither power nor will nor skill to go to Law and so sits him down and makes his moan to God He must suffer from his equals often for he is known to be a man of peace
he lives in them and upon them he looks on his money and sees more beauty in it than in the Sun that shines and the face upon his Silver he thinks the beautifullest face in the world The lowing of his Cattel is better Musick to him than the best Musick and a good Crop more welcome suppose him yet without an Eye of Faith than all the Promises in the Bible Psal. 17. 14. Deliver me from men of this world which have their Portion in this life and whose belly thou fillest with hidden treasures When the Belly is full of the hid treasures of the Earth the Heart is often empty of the hidden treasures of Heaven Described again Phil. 3.19 Who mind earthly things To have earthly things is a mercy but to mind earthly things is a curse And this is his Temptation herein is his Calling and herein is his Temptation You know it is hard to touch pitch without defilement where both hands aâ—… full much adoe to keep the heart empty and especially when Riches increase the heart is set on them O what carnal delight hath a man of the world to see his stock of Cattle stand and increase when his fields are well grown and his barns filled The comforts of heaven only exceed it Thou hast put gladness into mine heart more than when their corn and wine increased Psal. 4. 7. The choicest of his thoughts are prone to be spent on these things and his Soul cleaveth to the dust Poor man though he be never likely to have great things in the world yet his head is full of Proclamations as we say and his heart of distractions Much adoe to dwell on Earth and live in Heaven at the same time or for him to have the heart set on the other world that hath this world set in his heart But that I may not discover the diseases of this Calling without prescribing some cure thereof I shall add to each Temptation an Antidote or two if you will resolve not onely to approve them but apply them 1. One Preservative from this Temptation will be to consider the Nature of your souls So excellent that they are capable to know and enjoy God himself they are company for an Angel they are Nobly Descended Now to degrade these to bury them in a furrow to make them stoop to the slavish service of the world is unworthy and unreasonable As if a man had Golden Mills to grind nothing but for Horse-bread with them It 's enough for the Serpent to eat the Dust all his dayes your souls are created for an higher end 2. And then consider the uncertainty of all these Earthly things you set your hearts upon Prov. 23. 5. Wilt thou set thine heart upon that which is not Mark it 's not worth looking at much less setting thy heart thereon that which is not things that fade are not they have no being worth speaking of And it follows For riches certainly make themselves wings if no body steal them or take them away yet they make themselves wings certainly they will away and flee not only depart fairly or run in haste from you but flee from you and who would mind such fading trasn They will sing you a sweet song like the bird by your window but they are gone you have them not in a Cage And who will fall in love with a Sparrow on the house top 3. Be often in the Scriptures That 's an Heavenly Book and will best cure an Earthly heart To converse with the world will make you worldly but to converse with God will make you heavenly There God will tell you the vanity and vexation that is in all earthly things There he will shew better things yea durable riches and righteousness The Devil can shew you on a Mountain all the Glory of the World but on the Pisgah of the Bible God can shew you all the Glory of Heaven You can hardly come out of the Scriptures without a divine frame if you will read them withall your heart The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of Gold and Silver Two or three Scriptum est's dash't and disgraced all the Glory of the World and the God of it also 4. Be exercised oft in Meditation As tillage changes the nature of some barren grounds and makes them better so Meditation changes the complexion of the soul finds it poor and leaves it rich lifts up the soul to converse with God familiarizes the invisible things of God to the soul and makes a man at home in Heaven and a stranger on Earth He that will think with all his heart on God can think but with half an heart on any thing in the world When the Soul hath been a while above what 's a house or field in comparison of God what 's a Crown or a World to Him that sitteth on the Throne Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there 's none on Earth I can desire like thee Psal. 73. 25. SECT II. II. The Second Temptation of the Husbandman is Discontent He hath divers crosses and these provoke him to murmure against God He hath but narrow comforts of this life and this occasions some grudgings at his own Condition His shoe pinches him and he cannot hide it Unless he be Master of much Grace he frets he fumes he thinks the world is unequally divided he takes himself something neglected and injured His house is ready to fall his children want cloaths his rent day is near and his money far off his comforts are discomforts his things are nothings and thus he grudges because he is not satisfied God himself can hardly please him The Lord hath helped him in forty things but he is in a strait again and now that is forgotten God takes no care of poor men his Lot is worse than every ones never man had such a life would he were in his grave he should then be quiet and thus poor man he thinks he hath reason on his side and that he hath cause to be angry And then the injuries caluâ—…ies and trespasses he meets with from his unjust neighbours these grate again upon his angry humour and inflame him again never man had such neighbours one trespasses on him on this side another sues him for trespass on the other side A Thief goes away with a sheep or an horse this way the Fowls and Mice they purloine away his corn another way His Landlord exacts upon him every one wrongs him and he must be a Stock or a Stoick that were insensible But these things meeting with a weak Christian weary with labour tempt him sometimes to say My soul is weary of my life I will speak in the bitterness of my soul Job 10. 1. and alas so he does if Grace prevent not his wife she is chidden his children beaten his servants turned out of doors his neighbours reviled and then after all he 〈◊〉 at himself grieves and
so much as a tradesman yet too much for a Christian unfaithfully commending what is bad when he sells and unconscionably condemning and dispraising what is good when he buys Even in the words of Prov. 20.14 It is nought it is nought saith the buyer but when he is gone he boasteth Pinching the poor either in his measure or in his price when he sells his corn and taking occasion from his straits to deal straitly with him Hence his unsound horse and unproveable cattel are brought to market with the greatest protestations of their soundness and goodness Insomuch as it is grown a distinct Art to buy or sell any thing in the market and to buy a Cow a man had need of as many friends as she hath legs lest he be defrauded And then so many fair stories nay so many equivocations nay so many flat lyâ—…s nay so many oaths nay so many perjuries swearing this price shall be the lowest and yet abating it at next word that a man would wonder men should apparently venture their consciences and eternal happiness for so small a business and yet be more astonisht that this should be done by Christians that believe the Bible and by Christian Husbandmen that are the plainest hearted of all others And then another way whereby he is tempted to wrong his Neighbour is by Trespassing upon him either his cattel being unruly and not lawfully ordered or his fence neglected for we must descend if we would amend the most inferiour things in our way and these things are neglected either through idleness or other business it is hoped out of no worse design so long that his honest neighbour is prejudiced and provoked And hence follows besides the wrong done which is the worst evil grudgings and heart-burnings and often unkind and angry expressions and sometimes long and chargeable suits How great a fire a little spark kindles Insomuch that oftentimes the nearest neighbours are lest beloved and sometimes so engaged in suits and rancour against each other that they lose the comfort of that mutual love and offices they might enjoy And this is a most sad and doleful thing to be written in tears and spoken in sighs that those people should so fail in Actions whose Religion gives lawes to the Thoughts that they should live below the Heathens who expect to be equal to the Angels that some little part of that world the whole whereof is not worth the poorest soul in it should so bewitch a man to break all bonds divine and humane to compass it Let us therefore enquire out some powerful Preservative against this temptation 1. Observe the piercing eye of Almighty God alwayes upon thee When thy heart gives thy mouth the lye in dissimulation he observes thee all the while and marvels at thy folly Would'st thou speak so falsely if he with whom thou dealest knew thy heart Why wilt thou speak so when God knows thy heart Is he less formidable than a worm wilt thou bear such awe of one that can only shame thee and not bear much more of one that can both shame and damn thee Thou wilt not affirme a thing if thou knowest a stander by can disprove thee Why God is a stander by and when thou art lying equivocating and swearing he can disprove thee every word can stop thy mouth with a thunder-bolt strike thee dumb yea dead in the place as he did Ananius and Saphira and many others since with their lye in their mouths Hearken what he hath said 1 Thes. 4.6 Let no man go beyond or defraud his brother in any matter because that the Lord is the avenger of all such If an ingenious argument will win thee He whom thou defraudis thy brother wilt thou eat up thine owne flesh If a dreadfull argument will work on thee The Lord is the avenger of all such God will sooner or later reckon surely with thee for it and therefore as thou tendrest thy safety and happiness go beyond no man in any matter God will not see one man rise unjustly on anothers ruine with any patience nor behold thy cunning to make a prey of his simplicity without a sharp revenge Object A man cannot live in the world without using his wits Other men use it more than I These shifts are common and â—…onest in comparison of others I do but make the best of my own Let them look better about them and then there 's no danger Answ. There is no necessity laid on any man to sin It 's better to be poor than sin He would make such a bargain as would undo do him that would tell one lye to gain all the world Others practise is no rule and will prove no excuse for thy wickedness God hath given thee to understand that his Word is the Rule that must guide and judge thee and that thou art to imitate not the worst but the best men and them onely in what is good You are to know that by beguiling others you make the worst of your own and hazzard all to increase a little and venture hell to gain a peny That God hath not given all men the like measure of skill and perspicacity but they are plain and simple and think every one else is like them but in that case God hath made thee thy Brothers Keeper and put him into thy hands to deal mercifully and honestly with him 2. Be confident that what is got by wronging others will never do you good the gain of deceit lasts but a while or if it do it 's given thee in wrath like a Sute with the plague in it it 's gay and fine but death is in it So is unjust gain though it stay with thee till thou dye yet the curse of God stays with it and rests if not on thy state body or children yet on thy poor soul which is worst of all And who would be fond of a fair Sute with the plague in it it were better to wear leather poor leather or russet were much better so it were better for thee a thousand times to live poor and just and dye blessed than to live rich and dye accursed The crafty Fox in the Fable hugged himself that he had cousen'd the Crow of her breakfast but when he found himself poyson'd therewith he wisht it out of his belly Prov. 21.6 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death Your design perhaps is to make estates for your Children but alas this is not the way for if you could rise out of your graves one fifty years after your death you would find the canker of your deceit and injuries had consumed it all The eye of Scripture the eye of Reason the eye of Experience sees this every day that De male quaesitis vix gaudet tertius haeres The third heir seldome enjoys ill-gotten goods What madness is this for you to lose your souls in the gaining of the world and your
danger of the rain Thou long'st till thy corn be in the barn And Christ longs till thou be in heaven He is not compleat without thee John 17.24 Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am haste home my Children unto me And at last welcome O Sons of God you have been long in coming in but out ye shall never go again 5. The Fifth Lesson the Husbandman learns from his Corn is From the Threshing of his Corn. And this teaches him the necessity of affliction He sees that Corn in the Eare will do him no good it must be beaten out by the Flaile though this work be painful yet it is needfull Threshing must be had Grace is in the husk while prosperity lasts appears little works little is little but the flaile of Affliction beats it out makes it sensible and lively How weak are we in faith till God thresh us by some disaster or other God's flaile comes and cryes Come forth thou grain of Faith and when the heart is tough he is inforced to lay on the more and greater blows Isa. 21.10 O my threshing and the corn of my floore At length that Grace that lay hid in the husk comes forth and then O the faith the humility the patience the goodness that appears even where little was dream't of before How mellow and sweet doth a fit of sickness the loss of a child or a prison make the soul to whom it is blessed The sweetest Spices enjoy their own sweetness till they be bruised then they diffuse it and all the room perceive their odour and the most precious Saints are oftentimes hid till they be bruised by the Cross of Christ. Believe every creature that afflicts thee to be Gods flaile and answer his designs therein Fly not in his face like the chaffe but fall down at his feet like the good corn Isa. 10.5 O Assyrian the Rod of mine anger and the staffe in their hand is my indignation And God knows when it's time to thresh thee and how many strokes to give Jer. 51.33 The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor It is time to thresh her Let him alone when how long to thresh his corn An hard heart will not be cured with a little labour How many work-men hath God tired out upon thy heart Repent betimes lest thou be thresht for ever 6. The Sixth Lesson the Husbandman learns from his Corn is From the Winnowing it And therefore he learns the reason of temptation Luk. 22.31 Simon Simon Behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat What an heap of grain seems to lie in the Barn but when a strong wind comes it parts it and leaves the corn in a little room Just so the number of religious persons looks great sometimes Then God suffers Satan to raise a wind of persecution and that doth so sift and fan them that they prove but few that are faithful to the death the greater half was chaff too light for the tryal and they are blown away O Sirs God will have clean wheat for Heaven not a tare that must come there Yea in the hearts of Gods own people there is a great heap but it 's grace and sin together When they are tryed the grace will be found but little and the sin great As in that case of Peter above There appeared a fair show on the floor but it was wheat and chaff together and upon the winnowing of Peter his faith and courage went into a little room and there was much chaff in him But the stronger is the wind the cleaner is the corn and so the sharper the tryal is the purer it leaves them that are upright in heart This temptation made Peter the healthier and the better while he lived and you may observe his future courage made signal amends for his former cowardize And usually one time or other Jesus Christ comes with his fan in his hand and doth throughly purge his floor and then gathers his wheat into the garner and burns the chaff with fire unquenchable And such Lessons as these the Husbandman learns from his Corn. SECT III. III. THe Third Book wherein the Husbandman may learn something of God is from his Flocks The dullest of Cattel may teach their Master somewhat The Oxe knoweth his owner and the Ass his Masters crib but my people doth not know See the misery of poor man that must go to School to the Oxe and Ass yet behold the felicity man that learns somewhat from the meanest creatures It 's sad that we have need to learn of them It 's well we have the Art to learn of them The greatest of men may learn from tâ—…e least of creatures and the silly Ass may reprove a Próphet when God sets in with it 1. The First Lesson the Husbandman may learn is from his Oxen. And there he learns 1. Patient industry He observes his Oxe that 's ignorant of the will of God or the reward of Heaven yet day by day works till he be weary keeps his place and furrow though it toyle him every step carries his yoke without grieving at it and suffers the sharp visits of the Goad without renitency or opposition and expects nothing but food for his labour And this instructs and quiets the Husbandman in his painful Calling He knows he hath as much reason to work for God as his Oxe hath to work for him and that he expects a far greater reward and therefore he is content to weary himself day by day he keeps in his place and furrow though his idle neighbour would tempt him out to vain company His yoke is somewhat heavy but he knows it will grow lighter by bearing it in his youth and though he feel the goad of domestick afflictions sometimes in his side yet he frets not but mends his pace a night will come at length when the weary are at rest 2. He learns hence Justice to his painful Minister 1 Cor. 9.9 It is written in the Law â—…f Moses Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the Corn. Doth God take care for Oxen or saith he it altogether for our sakes for our sakes no doubt this is written That he that ploweth should plow in hope The Oxe gets thy corn and thou givest him some of the straw at least And thy careful Minister whose charge is weighty and whose pains are great hath as good a right to thy Earthly things as thou hast to his Spirituals The Husbandman therefore that fodders his Oxe will not starve his Minister and therefore what the Law allows or his own heart hath purposed besides he supplies him with all possible speed and alacrity He knows in feeding his Oxe he feeds his own body and children and in supporting his Minister he feeds his own soul and the souls of his 2. The Second Lesson the Husbandman may learn is from his Kine from whom
provide for them That God who hears young Ravens will hear young Children Though Ishmael was no better then he should be yet God heard the voice of the Lad Gen. 21.17 for the old love that was between himself and Abraham And he often thinks with comfort on that Psal. 37.25 I have been young and now am old yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his Seed begging bread And he hath need of Faith to hold up his heart under his many wearisome cares and troubles Faith will find honey in the Lion and comfort in the Bible when there 's none on earth and therefore when the Husbandman comes home tired with his hard work he takes the Bible and there finds that every condition all things shall work together for good to them that love God That when flesh and heart faileth yet God is the strength of his heart and his portion for ever He finds that tribulation works patience and patience experience That affliction is better than sin That it is better to be worn out with labour than to be given up to lust He believes the day how dark soever will end well O the Husbandman cannot live a day without faith He cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God And lastly he hath need of Faith for his poor soul in the world to come If ever any man sure he may say Psal. 27.13 I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living This is his refuge when nothing else will serve when his body and spirits are spent when his cares and crosses prevail against him Heaven will put an end to this Now I am plowing in the Earth but shortly I shall be reaping in Heaven This sweating life will be over and my singing life will begin yet a while and I shall be sent for post to Heaven There is but one life between me and a great Estate my troubles will have an end but my joy will never have an end and my short afflictions which are but for a moment are all this while working for me an exceeding great and eternal weight of glory And this I believe I have not onely some sleight and groundless hopes of it but I have an Evidence for it I find my Name in the Scripture and so know it is in the book of Life And therefore my heart is glad my glory rejoyceth my flesh also that hath little rest here doth rest in hope my possessions are little but my reversions great He that shall be rich for ever may be content to be poor a while And thus you have heard what special Graces the Husbandman should have and which I earnestly in Gods behalf perswade you to strive for with all your might leave no means unused no strength unspent for the attaining of these Graces It is possible to get them its profitable to have them its perillous to be without them without these you live but little above your beasts you do but drudge O therefore go to the God of grace for them and never leave him till you have them CHAP. VIII The Abuse of Husbandry SECTION I. WE are come now in the Eighth place to Discover the Abuse of Husbandry And pity it is that so honest and innocent an Imployment should be abused but abus'd it is by many But that 's the fault of the men not of the Calling the Calling shall be had in honour when they shall dye in shame What Calling more Excellent than the Ministry and yet alas how is that Calling abused but wo to them by whom offences come let that holy Calling stand innocent and honourable notwithstanding Our worthy Calling of Husbandry is defaced by too many but for all that remains Excellent Yet these Abuses we must detect that you may see the extreames and never fall into them SECT I. THe First Abuse of the Husbandmans Calling is by Drunkenness and Gluttony So we find Gen. 9.20 21. And Noah began to be an Husbandman and he planted a Vineyard and he drank of the Wine and was drunken Here we have Noahs Imployment and his Infirmity His imployment he began to be an Husbandman Though all the world was his and his heirs for ever yet he chose to have a Calling and he chose this Calling And then here is his Infirmity where there are two extreames in opinion Some making it an unpardonable crime that an aged wise and holy man should thus miscarry not charitably considering that it was not Intemperance but Inexperience that caused his fallâ—… And others holding it was no sin at all because Involuntary and of Ignorance but this annihilates it not extenuate it may it was ill done but recorded purposely to warn us from the like Patriarchae nos docent non soluâ—… Docentes sed Errâ—…tes The Patriarchs Errors teach us as well as their Instructions O let this instance teach the Husbandman never to abuse his Calling thus by drunkenness and Gluttony I mean immoderate eating and drinking when men eat or drink more than doth good not onely when it is too much for their heads or stomacks but when it is too much for their time or too much for their estate which God will account Drunkenness at the last day Though there be degrees of it and some worse than other and it is worse in some men than in others and beseems an Husbandman as ill as most others in the world And yet he is prone to think there is no Recreation but an Ale-house no way to quench his Cares but by strong drink no exercise on a Festival but quaffing and smoaking But this is a fearful Abuse in thy Calling Thy hard labour will never excuse thy hard drinking thy field groans that bears the grain which thou thus abusest Why this is a beastly and deadly sin Other sins 't is true in their nature are many of them worse than this but few beyond it considering the inseparable effects of it namely the rendring the man or rather the beast liable to all sins A sin that by degrees will steal all the money out of thy purse all the comforts out of thy house all thy credit and all thy conscience and leave thee nothing but stinging sorrow O rectifie therefore this Abuse Hast thou no Recreation but thy Ruine no pleasure but in Sin no way to refresh thy body but by wounding thy soul hast thou so many houses neer thee where thou may'st be chearfull and welcome for thy company and will none serve thee but the Alehouse where thou art welcome onely for thy money Think as thou entrest in those doors Doth God call me hither Can I give account of this Is God to be met with here would I be found thus by Death Shall I gratifie my flesh to provoke my God Shall I sadden my Conscience to chear my Appetite I 'le away I 'le stay here no longer Depart
your Rents shall procure the adâ—…ancing of your house Remember the liberal man deviseth liberal things and by liberal things he shall stand How many by such severities have indeed gotten great wealth for their Children but Gods curse coming with it that wealth hath occasioned the ruine of these Children whereas more moderate Portions or Estates might have match't them with far more comfort yea and plentie And is there any wisdom or forecast by bringing many families to penury to store up a little Mammon of unrighteousness and therewith to undoe your own souls and your Children when you are gone For he is wise that hath said Prov. 15.27 He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house as well as all about him 2. But notwithstanding the hard bargains you have this is not the proper way to mend them God requires no more from any man than he can comfortably do If you had more Faith you would need less toyle and lively prayers would excuse much of your languishing pains and travel And therefore as the Apostle orders Phil. 4.7 Let your moderation be known unto all men I bar idleness but perswade to moderation work with less intensness for the meat that perisheth than for the meat that perisheth not make not 〈◊〉 life a slavery Eccles. 2.22 For what hath 〈◊〉 of all his labour and the vexation of his heart wherein he hath laboured under the Sun For all his days are sorrow and his travel grief and his heart taketh not rest in the night this is also vanitie A lively description of this abuse in question and the censure of wisdom upon it it is vanitie Yea this brutish humouâ—… is somtimes found in those that have no need do to it Ecc. 4.8 There is one alone and there 〈◊〉 not a second yea he hath neither Child nor Brother yet there is no end of all his labour neither is his eye satisfied with riches neither saith he for whom do I labour and 〈◊〉 my soul of good this is also vanity yea it is a sore travel Who are the greatest drudges many times but they that have enough perhaps no Child or near Relation to care for Away then with this wretched and uncomfortable life use the world as not abusing it Labour in it as being above it and serve it not with more fervency than Him that made it SECT IV. IV. THe Fourth Abuse in Husbandry is Rash Swearing I cannot say that he is alone or chief in this Sin It was more witty wicked heads that invented the Oaths which he doth but imitate he doth but trot after the furious gallop of greater Persons that go before him but however this fearful abuse hath gotten place among Husbandmen and that now adayes with redoubled force and frequency What house is free from rash Oaths a day together what shop can you pass but you may hear the buyer swear he 'l give no more as well as the seller that he 'l take no less what Market but the noise of them reacheth our ears so that we may truly and sadly say with the Prophet Jer. 23.10 Because of swearing the Land mourneth These adorn their discourse these confirme their bargains in these they please in these they pride themselves nay sometimes in their cups never Hare as Excel'ent Mr. Harris observes was worried woâ—…se and pulled in pieces by the cruel Dogs than is Gods own Son by cruel and bloody Swearers one crying sides another heart another wounds so tearing in pieces again the Lord that bought them and putting him to an open shame But the Lord that looks on will not hold you guiltless in this abuse Hath Christ said swear not such oaths at all and you his Servants speak no other language Canst thou forbear before man any word that might hurt thee as words of treason c. and darest thou venture to swear before thy God which is no less than treason against him The more easily you escape any punishment from man the more sharply will this sin be avenged by God who hath fortified this Commandment in particular with this resolution He will not hold them guiltless that take his Name in vain If you injure your Neighbours name the Judge shall judge you but if you sin thus against the Name of God who shall intreat for you words you 'l say are but wind but they are such a wind as will without repentance blow you into hell Peters words cost him bitter tears and Christ himself hath said this word thou Fool in anger is worthy of hell fire you say it 's but custom and you do it not in any ill intent but this aggravates the fault that you can neither pretend profitnor pleasure for your sin but only use and yet will use it You will continue to displease God because you are used to it As if a common Robber should plead before a Judge not Guilty because he had no ill intent onely it was his custome which indeed deserves the severer Condemnation custome can never extenuate a fault but aggravate it Perhaps you 'l say without oaths you cannot be believed but experience tells the contrary that many a man that cannot swear can obtain more belief than he that swears every word and reason tells us that he who dare be prophane against God can easily venture to be deceitful towards man And where an Oath is said to be for an end to all strife it 's not meant of that Oath which is the Corruption of Man but that Oath which is the Ordinance of God Any man will judge us of small credit if not quite bank-rupt that will pawn our Faith and Truth our best Jewels â—…or every small trifle And it 's better to want â—…redit with men I trow than favour with God better to undergo mans unjust suspition than Gods just Condemnation If you excuse it and say you use but small Oaths and do not fill your mouths with the more bloody ones You shew hereby your ignorance of the nature of an Oath which as it ought to be in truth and judgement so it is necessary if you will not swear as Pagans that nothing be sworn by but that God which knows the sincerity and can avenge the falseness of the heart which prerogative by your common Oaths you give to the creatâ—…re and so place it in the room of God which instead of lessning doth greaten your fault and make your sin the more sinful Jer. 5.7 Thy Children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no Gods Some think indeed that an Oath is an Ornament to their speech But let those know that truth and soberness are the true Ornaments To adorn your speech with that which offends God and all good men is an unworthy paint which Hell fire at farthest will melt off What dreadful instances could I give of Gods Judgement on such in this life and these all are but praeludiums to the world to come Mr. Dod used to send the swearer
excellent Lawes for his Common-Wealth he binds all his Citizens in an Oath that they should exactly observe them untill his return whereupon he willingly went into perpetual Exile that they by vertue of their Oath might for ever be obliged to their observation Will you my Candid Hearers and you the Readers also of these things enter into a Covenant and firm resolution faithfully to perform these practical Directions laid before you so should I the more chearfully submit to an Exile for terme of life so that we might meet in that better Paradise whence we shall be driven out no more and where the weary Husbandmen are at Rest. FINIS †1 Tim. 4. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § I. The coherence and explication of the Text. * 1 Chro. 4.22 23. And these are ancient things Speaking of those that dwelt among Plants and Hedges for the Kings work * Whom he made which the Greek adds here is not to be found in the Hebrew †Rivet Museul * And say the word Took may well be translated Left as it is Judg. 3. 1. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †Muse in loc * Sr. Walter Ral. Hot kins c. †Prosâ—…indere irrigaâ—… severe et stâ—… qua sunt ejusmodi Tremâ—…l n loc * To dress him that is Adam so August but the Hebr. femin makes against that †Or to keep it in tillage and in that dignity and beauty which it received thereby Tremel § 2. An Observation * Bp. Hall Contempl. * Eph. 5.16 †Isa 65 20 §. 3. A second Observation †By an Angel aâ—… Aug. Perer. § 4. A third observation Cap. 2. The main Doctrine Description and Lawfulness of Husbandry § 1. The chief Doctrine delivered The Description of an Husbandman Agricultura est Ars quae docet Usu ram cum serrafacere §. 2. II. The lawfulness of Husbandry In old Rome if a man were degraded from the Rustick to the Urbane Tribes consisting of Artisans c it was thought a great disgrace Plin l. 18. c. 3. Cap 3. The Excellencies of the Husbandmans Calling Some things premised §. 1. Excel 1. God was the immediate Author of it Nil taâ—… râ—…gale videtur quam studium Agri colendi Xenoph. And tells that Cyrus that great King sowed himself a Field set Trees with his own hand §. 2. Excel 2. The Holy Ghost brings most comparisons from it § 3. Excel 3. He depends most on God § 4. Excel 4. It is au harmless Calling §. 5. Excel 5. It was the first Calling A mistake that Saturn taught it 〈◊〉 to Janus the Italians after Jupiter had expell'd him Crete and that there was none in the Golden Age. See Plin. de invent Agricult l. 7 The chief estFamilies in Rome had their names first from their skill in Husbandry and Corn. As the Bubulci Pilumni Fabil Pisones c. Id. l. 18. c. 3. § 2. Excel 6. It is a Calling of less Temptation than others We read of many Kings that have embraced this Calling whenthey have left theirKingdomes as Dioclesian Attalus Hero Archslaus 〈◊〉 Vlysses father § 7. Excell 7. God may be most read in his Creatures herein §. 8. Excell 8. This Calling makes neither toâ—… Rich nor Poor Herod lib. 1. p. 12. The 〈◊〉 at Delphos did adjudge one Aglaus most happy who labouring a little 〈◊〉 in Arcadia never went out of it and desiring little wealth had little Trouble in his life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fuâ—…ler H. S. § 9. Excell 9. It is a Calling of greatest necessity This is a good work for necessary uses Tit. 3. 14. §. 10. Excell 10. It is an healthful and chearfull Calling Fons speculum gramen 〈◊〉 sunt alleviamen Green grass clear glass and fountains pure Refresh eye sight long to endure Mr. Austen The vapours of fresh earth by digging condense refresh the spirits Bacon Hist. of Life and death pag. 207. 28. Who saith That moderate exercise fresh airs â—…leasant odours and wholesome meat and drink all profitable to long life pag. 179 180. The Husbâ—…ndman hath all these A certain great Lord who lived long had every morning at his awaking a clod of fresh earth laid under his nose for the smell thereof Id. § 11. Excell 11. It is a saâ—…e Galling †Tolluntur in altum ut lapsu graviore ruant Claudian 〈◊〉 1. §. 12. Excell 12. This Calling is a great friend to Piety †Aegidio a Spanish Divine was Dr. and Reader of Divinity in two Universities yet was no body at Preaching till he was instructed by a plain Countrey-man Mr. Clark Mart. pag. 225. Cato reports that if one were call'd by the name of a Good husbandman he was prailed in the highest dâ—…gree Plin. lib. 16. c. 3. O fortunatos nimium bona si sua norint Agricolas Virgil. CAP. IV. The Inconveniencies of Husbandry and Remedies §. 1. Inconven 1. His business lies in the world his Enemy †ps 62.9 Men of low degree Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 terra 〈◊〉 Men of high degree called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ignu the nobler element So ps 49.2 Thy occupation like the first Adam is earthly but thy affection conversation should be like the second Adam's heavenly Mr. Swinnock §. 2. He hath but little time for his soul. §. 3. He is liable to many burdens and injuries †Deut. 28. 33. The fruit of thy land and all thy labours shall be eaten up and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway §. 4. He hath many cares and troubles †His body is the Anvil of pain and diseases and his soul the Hive of unnumbred cares sorrows and passions Sr. W. Ralcgh * Non erat laboris afflctio sed exhileratio voluntatis quùm ea quae Deus creaverat humani operis adjutorio laelius feraciusque provenirent unde Creator ipse uberiùs laudaretur Aug. de Gen. ad Lit. 1 8. §. 5. He can seldom be a publick good §. 6. He is oft unhappy in his breeding and his children * Job 11.12 C. â—…titius Serranus was sowing his Corn field when Q. Cincinnatus brought him Letters of his Dictatorship bare-headed open breasted and full of dust so that he said to him Vela corpus ut preseram Senatus mandata Plin. 1. 18. c. 3. And the old Romans were often taken from the Plough to Rule and when they have done they have returned to it again Yea it was observed there was never greater plenty in Rome then when there were Ploughs laureat and Plowmen triumphant Id. †Eâ—… casa vir magnus exire potest et ex deformi humilique corpusculo formosus animus et magnus Senec. ad Lucil. Cap. 5. The Temptations of the Husbandmans Calling and Preservatives §. 1. Earthlymindedness 1. Preservative †Rebus non me trado sed commodo Senec. de Benef. 2. 3. 4. A Saint should go through the world like one in a deep study Mr. Swinâ—…ck Meditatio quasiment is ditatio