the workman and finds his God in all things and all things in his God 2. A second Antidote is the Consideration of the folly and danger of depending on Second Causes Folly for nothing can move much less help without God a vain thing to stir the ballance of the Clock or Watch except the Spring and great Wheel stir All Creatures are but poor little Wheels that can do you no Good without the first Cause God must say the word if he hiss to the flies they come amain and therefore lose thy time no more in solliciting poor second causes or depending on them but knock at the right door and you will find God still within Some trust in Chariots and some in Horses but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God In vain is Salvation looked for from the hills from God the Lord is the salvation of his people Make thy Ground as good as thou canst but then trust not in the goodness of thy Ground but in the goodness of thy God for a plentifull crop Non Solum sed Caelum facit fructum It 's not the Earth but the Heaven that sends the Corn. Manure and prune thy Trees with all thy Art but then depend on Gods blessing for store of fruit for the Creature can but do what it 's bidden and therefore its folly to depend thereon And consider the danger also for when it s depended on it is in danger of a blast and you are in danger of a cuâ—…e God will not give his Glory to another nor suffer his Creature to wear his Crown and therefore he many times smites the Field the Beast the Horse whereon you depend too much If you make but a Trench for water and have no dependance on God he takes it ill Isa. 22. 11. Ye make a ditch also for the water of the old Pool but ye have not looked to the Maker thereof neither had respect to him that fashioned it long agoe Hereby also you invite a Curse upon your selves for God hath said Jer. 17. 5. Cursed is the man that maketh flesh his arm that trusteth in man and whose trust departeth from the Lord. And if you run such an hazard by trusting in man how will you escape for depending on any other inferiour creature below God himself Read and believe the whole truth of this and nothing but the truth Psal. 144. 10 12 13. It is He that giveth salvation unto Kings that maketh our Sons as Plants our Daughters as Corner stones our Garners full our Sheep fruitful our Oxen strong Let the Husbandman therefore make God his friend and then he is at league with the very stones of the Field and whatsoever he doth shall prosper Be sure that he be sollicited every day by prayer and crowned with praises and then second Causes are thine own Use means but trust not in them Let not your Faith stifle your Industry nor your Industry blind your Faith Let your hands be busie in the second causes but let your heart be first on the First And as the sweet Psalmist advises Psal. 37.3 Trust in the Lord and do good So mark So and not otherwise thou shalt dwell in the Land and verily thou shalt be fed SECT IV. IV THe Fourth Temptation of the Husbandman is Envy at his Superiours And by this Temptation fell the second Husbandman in the world Abel sat above Cain in the favour and acceptation of God Gen. 4.4 5. and for this Cain was wroth and his countenance fell He that should have blest God for his Brother and examin'd himself he takes it ill at God and ill of his Brother and is the death of him as envy useth to pursue its object to death he kills him down right because he was exalted in Gods esteem above him And ever since the spirit that is in the Husbandman is prone to lust unto envy His Landlords temptation is to despise him and his temptation is to envy his Landlord He can hardly come to Town but he envies the ease of the Tradesman He can hardly see the fine house of the Gentleman his neighbour nor the fine cloaths of his Wife or Children without an envious eye nay the painful life of his faithful Minister he is apt to envy as if he had a degree of ease and honour above himself yea except grace prevent and mortifie there lies at his heart a perpetual grudg and secret spite at all Magistrates Ministers great and wealthy men all which he thinks do him wrong because he sweats and they do not he payes the money and they receive it he gets it and they spend it though most of it returns through his hands again He knows no reason why such being made of the same mold and perhaps born of the same Stock with himself should live in such brave houses wear such costly apparel and fare at such an high rate when he hath his head full of cares his bones full of pain and hath hardly meat to eat or time to eat it when his Landlords Horses lye in a finer House then he and his meanest servant wears a cloth beyond him This Temptation meeting with a proud temper doth much disfigure our Husbandman and makes him speak reproachfully and unadvisedly with his lips This one fellow came in to sojourn and he will needs be a Judge said they of Sodom to Lot the wealthy Gen. 19. 9. What are these idle Gentry good for See their intollerable pride and height What needs such decking of a walking Dunghil worser cloaths might serve Would they were tyed a while to our fare Never good world since there was such a distinctionâ—… between Princes and Peasants between rich and poor Nay if their humour were not curb'd by grace within or fear without they would actually dispossess their Superiours of their right and deal as Abimeleck by Isaac Gen. 26. 16. Go from us sayes he for thou art much mightier than we The rich they are sick of their poor neighbours and the poor are as sick of their rich Superiours and there is a levelling Principle in the hearts of common people that can endure no Superiour as there is an ambitious one in Great Ones to abide no equal Nay the Husbandman is apt to think that he hath Reason on his side yâ—…a and God Almighty also that God loves none that are richer than he and because he finds that the Gospel hath included the poor he thinks to exclude the rich and comforts himself after all with this that in Heaven he shall sit above them if at least any of them come there Thus he pleases but mostly frets himself at the Grandeur of Superiors and instead of chearing himself he torments himself at the comforts of his betters But doth he well this while Is he indeed in the right and hath Providence done him wrong or doth God throw down riches and greatness winking and bestow honours at adventures Nay my Beloved this is but his Temptation The
mourns for his folly and opening his eyes sees Gods hand in all and blesseth the Name of the Lord. Preservatives against this Temptation to Discontent are Discretion Supplication and Consrderation 1. Discretion Most of your vexations are the effect and consequence of your indiscretion hence many of your straits come had you ordered business wisely you had never been in them hence many of your losses many trespasses and the vexations from them have flowed and therefore you must study to be wise Psal. 112. 5. A good man guides his affairs with discretion and so comes to be able to shew favour and lend A wise man discerneth time and judgement orders things in their season and so layes in little fuel for discontent whereas the foolish man by his rashness leaps into troubles and straits and then fumes and roars like a wild Bull in a net all the house cannot hold him And especially young House-holders that have leapt into that condition hand over head erre herein The rashness of their youth layes up for the discontents of their old age And Parents are too blame herein that do not fill their children with advise and all kind of wisdome before they lanch out into this sea of worldly troubles They send them away with Portions and Estates but how few are they that spend a day or an hour in directing them with wise counsel whereby they may live well here and better hereafter A little wisdom would prevent a great deal of Discontent 2. Supplication Beg of God a meek and quiet Spirit which is of so great price in the fight of God and watch after your Prayers not only how the Lord answers but how you endeavour He that prayes against Discontent binds himself to watch and strive against it or else his prayers are sin Beg an humble heart of God The humble man is seldome discontent he thinks the least of mercies is good enough for the chief of sinners Here 's a poor house course fare hard lodging unkind usage but 't is good enough for me Any thing that 's abated of Hell is meer courtesie If I may have but bread to eat and rayment to put on it 's fair for such a one as I. And then beg a mortified heart to all that is in the world When the heart is dead to the world worldly troubles do not trouble him When the Souldiers saw Christ our Lord was dead they would not break his bones He that 's dead to the world will save his bones whole when crosses straits and troubles come upon him why they return to God saying yonder man is dead already to the world his heart is crucified to it he feels nothing so as to be distempered by it When they strip dead men they struggle not you may take all they trouble not at it O beg such an heart that God may do what he will with thee That his will may be done and this prayer will procure patience and help against Discontent 3. Consideration of the Evil and Folly of this Sin It strikes at the Soveraignty Wisdome Power and Love of God at one blow Against his Soveraignty as if he rulâ—…d not things well or knew not what to do with his own Hence this sin is call'd Rebellion Num. 16. 14. with 17. 10. There God calls them Rebels and why because said they thou hast not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey nor given us inheritances of fields and vineyards Thus thousands in their hearts reproach God and say Alas my lot is fallen ill I have neither house nor ground nor clothes as are fit for me Take heed go on no further in thy complaint This is Rebellion It wounds the Wisdom of God as if he knew not what to do for us and with us We would abhor to say this of God but in effect we proclaim it by our Discontent His wayes are sometimes dark but alwayes just sometimes intricate but alwayes wise Naomi thought that she and hers were quite undone but even then God was providing a stay for her in her old age No sayes the male-content if things had sorted to my mind it had been far better than it is as if you should say If God had taken my way he had hit it Also this puts a check upon the Power of God Can God give flesh Can he help me in this or that strait O I am undone there is no remedy As if his wayes and his thoughts were like thine and mine How oft hath he helped thee at a dead lift when the Lease was to takâ—… â—…hy Rent to pay thy Children to dispose And therefore why should you fret or repine at the straits and crosses that do befall you as though his hand were shortned or his car heavy Sure he that helps Kings can help Husbandmen in their need And then it strikes at the love of God No Father can be so carefull of the good of his Child or Husband of his Wives happiness as God is of each of you that belong to him And why will â—…e be displeased at his proceedings towards you Hear what he saith Jer. 32. 47. I will rejoyce over you to do you good and will plant you in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul as if he should say I am glad in my heart when I can have a fit opportunity to do you good and I do it with my whole heart and soul. Nay sayes the discontented man Things falls out with me to the worst spite it self could not order worse for me such unexpected such intollerable troubles and vexations How doth this grieve Love it self that is ordering every thing for thy Good and thou cryest All these things work against me And here 's the evil of it And the Folly also of Discontent is manifest for it produces no good and procures much evil No good comes of it I report me to your experience whether ever your Discontent did mend the matter From the chieâ—… Evil Sin no good can come What folly is this for a man to fret and stamp and play the Bedlam an hour or two to no purpose 〈◊〉 matters nothing at all the better Nay it procures much Evil disheartens thy Wife discontents thy Family distempers thy self and wounds thy soul and grieves away the Good Spirit of God and all to no purpose O consider of these thingâ—… and never be discontent again SECT III. III. THe Third Temptation of the Husbandman is Forgetting God and Depending upon second Causes His Calling lying among the Creatures at some distance from God he is prone by trading with things seen to forget things unseen like a man in a Mill cannot hear the voice of God for the clacking and noise it makes It is the peculiar happiness of the Minister that his very Calling lies about God He dwells at Court every day he needs do little else but contemplate God and perswade others to him But the Husbandmans business lies
Why among the Herdmen of Tekoa Amos 1.1 And where was Elisha when the Lord called him to his own work why plowing with twelve Yoke of Oxen before him and himself with the twelfth 1 Kings 19.9 O therefore use thy best Art and Industry Adam's sin hath hardened the ground and now thy sweat must soften it but this is thy comfort it is sanctified sweat and every drop of it spent in a right manner and to a right end shall be rewarded with a thousand years in Glory And thy Diligence on Earth will make thee long to be in Heaven SECT II. II. THe Second Rule for the Husbandman in his Calling is Submit unto Providence Be convinced that there is a Supream Providence that directs and orders all and every event in the world and be satisfied therein as that which is best for you Psal. 115.3 Our God is in the Heavens he hath done whatsoever he pleased Read more in the Book of Gods Providence and less in the books of mens Prognostications And this I do purposely instance in because the common use of these books is most foolish and fallible for how can One of them tell the whole Nation of rain such and such a day when there is usually rain in one Country and fair weather in another the same day Besides the Lord doth very often alter the Scene of these things either upon the prayers of his people or the sins of his enemies Hence that Challenge Isa. 47.13 Let now the Astrologers the Star-gazers the monthly Prognosticators stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee And this was spoken to the Chaldeans the best in those Arts in all the world And yet there is a good use to be made of them for signs and seasons and days and years but as to any certain foretelling of weathers or other events that depend on casual or voluntary causes they are matters beyond their line And if you can know your present Duty no matter for fore-knowing future Events And then submit to the same hand of God in all things It 's mans Prudence to submit to Gods Providence Labour to sec God in every thing is thy promising Crop blasted it's Gods wisdome that hath done it Doth the Rain cross thee why the rain that hindred thee hath furthered some greater affairs There is mention Ezek. 1.16 of a Wheele in the middle of a wheele It is thought to set forth the invisible Providence of God that acts and over-rules all second causes for good ends And you must still remember that Rom. 8.28 All things shall work together for good to them that love God and therefore say and that withall thy heart Father thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Alas Sirs will your repining make the matter better Is Sin a proper cure for Affliction No no. The ordering of Gods affairs belong to God and of your affairs to you let it rain when God will let snow and ice come when God will and then heat and drought when he will for that belongs to him And do you plow and sow when you can and reap when you can for this is the will of God that you be dependent creatures and live on him seeing you cannot live upon your selves Let not a grudging thought therefore arise in your hearts against the Providence of God I say not a grudging thought for even that doth plainly tax his Wisdome and Government Who can send a drop of rain without the direction of God Jer. 14. last Are there any among the Vanities of the Gentiles that can cause Rain as if God should say where are they let them come forth and answer now if any such there be or can the Heavens give showers alas not a drop art not thou he O Lord our God therefore we will wait upon thee for thou hast made all these things Repine not therefore in the least at any of these Events It is the Lord let him do what seems good to him Do thy part and he 'l be sure to do his Nay in those injuries that are put upon thee the over-ruling and well ordering hand of Providence doth guide and dispose the same to the best 2 Sam. 16.10 Let him curse saith David of Shimei that reviled him bitterly without a cause because the Lord hath said to him Curse David who then shall say wherefore hast thou done so O study Providence believe Providence submit to Providence God is Righteous in mens Unrighteousness and he never permits any evil to befall thee except he can bring out of it some greater good SECT III. III. THe Third Rule of the Husbandman in his Calling is Make a treasure of God You are likely to be but mean and poor in the things of this World O labour to be rich in the possession of that God that made it Your harvest is doubtful your comforts are uncertain O make sure of God and then you have something sure A few hard years will bring the Husbandman to bread and water had not he need then to be sure of Christ He whose treasure is above can never be undone It was the saying of an Holy Man to one whose crosses and troubles were so great that he cried out O I am quite undone why says he is not God in Heaven Who can sink that hath Caesar with him in the ship or be miserable that hath the possession of happiness it self Hab. 3.18 Although the Fig-tree shall not blossome neither shall fruit be found in the Vines the labour of the Olive shall fail and the Fields shall yield no meat the Flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no Herd in the stall yet I will rejoyce in the Lord and will joy in the God of my Salvation O blessed frame O divine Spirit like that of God himself that is content and satisfied in and with himself though there were nothing else in the world And thus the holy and mortified Husbandman sits down with God and sings chearfully The Lord is my portion saith my soul therefore I will hope in him If I had nothing in the world if there were no world at all yet my soul is compleatly happy in my God I have enough and enough and enough Thus a true Saint is under his condition by Humility but above it by Faith and can make a living not out of bread only but out of every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God And therefore he fears God in prosperity and loves him in Adversity he trembles the more for his mercy and loves him never the less for his frowns And when the Barn is empty then he can live by Faith My God is riches enough for any man The Lord is my Shepheard I shall not want One Jewel is worth an hundred load of lumber Others can boast of their fair houses large demesnes Noble Alliances and numerous Friends and I can glory in the Lord that