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
faithful Servant Thou hast been faithful in a little I will make thee Ruler over much Whereas if Gods Rent be neglected he will either strain upon thee here by some severe cross or other or take out all his Arrears in Hell Where the worm dieth not and where the fire is not quenched Keep up therefore your daily sacrifices unto God both alone and with your family and there alwayes offer an upright humble and holy heart praises and prayers from thence will be prevalent with the Lord I say both alone and with your family and especially on the Sabbath About each of which it will be necessary to enlarge a little 1. Some Rent you have to pay alone for this the Scripture is as clear as can be Mat. 6.6 When thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou hast shut the door pray to thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly And to this agrees the practise of Jesus Christ and of the Saints in Scripture witness Gen. 32.24 Nehem. 1.4 Dan. 9.3 Mark 1.35 And Reason it self perswades seeing that each of you have secret sins secret wants and secret affairs with God which require private converse between God and your Souls I do not resolve that this Duty is indispensable twice a day but I assert that the neglect of it when opportunitie may be gotten argues a prophane spirit and the conscionable practise thereof is a great argument of sinceritie And in short he that loves not uses not secret prayer yea and meditation and self-examination shall never be rewarded openly Foot-steps also of the use thereof in the Morning are Psal. 5.3 And in the Evening Psal. 141.2 2. An Houshold Rent also daily must be paid I mean a sacrifice in and with your family for it is not enough you pray for them but you must pray with them So Josh. 24.15 I and my house will serve the Lord. For the clearing in some measure and setling this family worship too much neglected in the Husbandmans house let these Propositions be laid down 1. God is not only to be worshipped on the Lords day but every day This is not only typified but proved Exod. 29.38 Two Lambs of the first year day by day continually Wherein though the offering was ceremonial yet the time was moral there being as much reason for the Christians offering every day as for the Jews And as works of necessity have room in Gods day so Prayers and Duties of necessitie may command room in our dayes especially seeing we have daily wants sins and mercies and cannot tell what a day may bring forth 2. God is not only to be worshipped alone in a family but joyntly and together For every Christian family should be a little Church like that Rom. 16.5 Now it 's not enough that the members of the Church worship God alone but it ought to be done together The same reason holds in a family namely for mutual Edification that the stronger may help the weaker and that all may worship without fail It is also much for the Honour ofGod that many joyn in his service And the very tenour of that pattern of Prayer Mat. 6.11 runs plural Our Father which art in Heaven And proves beside that daily prayer ought to be used by divers together Give us this day our daily bread 3. The fittest time for family worship is Morning and Evening This time of worshiping in general the light of Nature it self dictates The morning and evening being such signal periods of time as do in their own Nature intimate to man religious duty then to be done Prayer being the Key to unlock the Blessings of the Day and to lock up the Dangers of the Night for alas we walk upon barrels of Gun-powder in the Day our snares are so many and we lie in the shaddow of death at Night our dangers are so great Also at those times we have most opportunity for such work and therefore when the Lord orders Parents to teach their Children Deut. 6.6 he times it thus When you lie down and when you rise up And the Scripture also makes it manifest Exod. 29.39 Also Numb 28.4 The one Lamb shalt thou offer in the Morning and the other Lamb at Evening And thus the Tribes Acts 26.7 are said to serve God instantly night and day that is evening and morning By which things soberly considered together with the practise of Gods people as a Commentary thereupon you may evidently see That to worship God in your families morning and evening is the will of God it is your duty nay it is your priviledge And now to return to the Husbandman This being his Duty no excuse can clear him no plea can excuse him from paying this chief rent to the most High His inability and ignorance in prayer cannot help him for one sin can be no excuse for another Besides there are Helpes for the weak till strength come And above all the Holy Ghost is a very present Help to all that ask him and a sence of sin danger will soon untie your tongues and make you if not eloquent yet effectual in your prayers Want of time or abundance of business can be no excuse for a man must have time to eat and sleep and pray whatever business stay If any thing fall out that will not let you stay to eat in that case perhaps you may omit your prayer provided you pray as well as feed the heartier next time and are truly sorry for your disappointment And you must believe or else you have not a faith to save you that God can and will make you amends for all the time is spent about your souls see Mat. 22.25 and tremble for your neglects The backwardness of your relations and families will be no excuse For Abraham did and every Child of Abraham must command their Children and their houshold and they shall keep the way of the Lord Gen. 18.19 lest God observing you can command and keep them to their work but cannot command them to Prayer see through your hypocrisie and pour out that dreadful curse upon you from which the Lord bless the poor Husbandmans house Jer. 10.25 Pour out thy fury upon the Heathen and upon the families that call not on thy name Set immediately therefore on your duty with sorrow for your former neglects and a setled resolution for the time to come and be assured that God will meet and bless you as he hath promised and what you take in hand shall prosper Our work on earth is done best when our work in heaven is done first The Philosopher could say he had rather neglect his means than his mind and his farm than his soul. And remember good Job though his charge and business was far greater than yours yet Job 1.5 was constant in his religious duties Thus did Job continually 3. And then for the Sabbath Remember it before it
From the weeds in his Garden 174 4. From the Bees in his Garden 175 Sect. 6. The Husbandmans Lessons from his House 177 1. From the inconveniencies of â—…is house 178 2. From the conveniencies of his house 179 CHAP. VII The special Graces requisite for the Husbandman 181 Sect. 1. Patience 182 1. To Wait. Ib. 2. To Bear 183 Sect. 2. Discretion 185 1. In his Affairs Ib. 2. About his Family 186 3. About his Estate Ib. 4. In Religion 187 Sect. 3. Heavenliness 188 Sect. 4. Vprightness 190 Sect. 5. Love to his Neighbour 193 Sect. 6. Contentedness 197 1. With his Calling Ib. 2. With his Portion in his Calling 199 Sect. 7. Faith 200 CHAP. VIII The Abuse of Husbandry 205 Sect. 1. By Drunkenness and Gluttony 1b Sect. 2. By cruelty to the Creature 208 Sect. 3. By drudging 210 Sect. 4. By rash Swearing 214 Sect. 5. By Covetousness 218 Sect. 6. By Base or wrong Ends. 221 How far we may make Riches c. our end 222 CHAP. IX The Husbandmans Designs 224 Sect. 1. The Glory and Pleasing of God 1b Sect. 2. The Salvation of his Soul 227 Sect. 3. The Publick Good 230 Sect. 4. The Education and Provision for his Children 232 Sect. 5. To pay unto every man his own 235 Sect. 6. Ability to do good and to Communicate 236 CHAP. X. Râ—…es for the Husbandman in his Calling 240 Sect. 1. Learn Prudence and Diligence in it 241 Sect. 2. Submit unto Providence 244 Sect. 3. Make a Treasure of God 246 Sect. 4. Vse the World as not abusing it 249 Sect. 5. What you would that men should do to you do ye to them 252 Sect. 6. Endeavour after a chearful heart 256 Sect. 7. Take a special care for the good of your Children 258 Sect. 8. Purchase some choice Books and read them well 263 Sect. 9. Pay your great Land-lord his Rent 266 1. In secret 268 2. In your Families A discourse about Family Duties 269 3. On the Sabbath 272 Sect. 10. The Conclusion 274 ERRATA PAge 2. Line 26. Read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 14. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did p. 20. 1 26. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 24. 1. 14. r. Artificers p. 27.1.3 r. Egypt p. 40.1.12 r. vivit p. 41. 1. pen. for 〈◊〉 r. and. p. 59.1 12. r. have made him p. 70.1.18 r. how p. 75.1.23 r. heart p. 79. 1. 17. r. groan p. 87.1.29 r. affected p. 1381.14 r. this p. 145. Mar. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 212.1.3 r. cruel p. 225.1.30 r. deporting p. 226.1.29 r. Gold p. 231. 1. 13. r. die p. 254. 1. 12. r. then Marg. for 〈◊〉 r. Tables p. 262. 1. 32. r. your CHAPTER I. The Text propounded and explained some previous observations premis'd Genesis Chap. 2. Verse 15. And the LORD GOD took the Man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and 'to keep it SECTION I. INtending some useful Instructions for the Husbandman I thought it best to take him as God at first left him This Scripture being best able to speak for the Antiquity and Excellency of his Calling though others will prove more apposite to speak to his present Duties and Temptations The First Chapter of this Book is a most certain History of the Ancient Things the Author infallible the Matter important the Style majestick the Method exact and succinct the Pen-man learned and honest A Chapter to be often read with much Faith and great Thankfulness This second Chapter reviews and dilates upon the latter part of the former for all that is said herein must needs be done in the sixth day And a great dayes work it was in that day our Mother Eve was made Eden planted and our Father Adam put into it to dress it and to keep it Well for us if there had been no more work done that day but the best of it is the bones our Father Adam broke our brother Adam the second of that name hath so pieced that they are stronger than before But to be short as our Historian is when God had instituted a Sabbath vers 2. 3. recapitulated some of the Creation vers 4 5 6 7 8. and described the garden of Eden before which in order of time the subsequent story of the womans creation should come in He brings our first Parents in this Text and settles them in a calling So that this Scripture is a narrative of the first imployment of the first Man in the world Ancient matters are the Subject of mens scrutiny Here is a piece of Antiquity The Arcadians long since would impose a belief upon the world that the Moon was their Junior and were therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But here is a true History of a Man that was but two dayes younger than the Moon and you have him here disposed into a Calling Wherein observe I. The Author of his imployment The Lord God The Author of our Being is fittest to be the Author of our Calling And the Lord God took the Man and put him c. Jehovah Elohim the Eternal Being Father Son and Holy Ghost He took him that is as the most judicious from the place where he was created though others hold that he was created in Paradise and put him The word in the Hebrew signifies a gentle leading as a mother leads her child Kings may possibly cause the poor to be put apprentices but they keep their state and do it rather out of pity than out of love But the great God conducts this worthy creature Man This Man into his new imployment What love was there between God and Man before Sin came between The Lord his God brought him to house he brought him to his farm and permitted to him almost all the profits thereof for his labour II. Here 's the Place of his imployment The Garden of Eden The sweetest place on earth Described at large in the seven precedent verses 1. By its Name that signifies Pleasure it self 2. By its Nature a Garden not for the Quantity thereof being no doubt a Demesne of sutable largeness for the greatest Prince then on earth but for the sweetness and goodness of the place Described further 3. by its Scituation Eastward to receive the first and most healthy rayes of the â—…un And then so wooded and watered as no place must ever expect the like There was every Tree pleasant to the sight and good for food There was the Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden and the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil And a most famous four-brancht River that watered the Place And here was our father Adam seated as well as heart could with All which particularities argue no doubt that such a real place there was and is however defaced not so high as the Moon or middle Region of the air as some have thought nor that it comprehends the whole Earth as others for whither then was Man driven upon his fall
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
are onely in Wisdomes left hand yet he hath length of dayes which is in her Right and that 's better Prov. 3. 16. Hence it is probable that Vzziah 2 Chro. 26. 3. lived and reigned longer than any King before him for vers 10. it is said He loved Husbandry a calling it seems not unworthy the love of a King Sixteen years old when he began to reign and he reigned fifty two years in â—…erusalem which though we cannot peremptorily ascribe to his love of Husbandry yet considering their wholesome imployment and the refreshing scents from the earth it self together with the long life of most of that calling we may fairly guess at it It is a true saying comparatively taken Qui mediâ—… vivit misere visit He is a woful slave that 's bound to the rules of Physick when a man cannot rise nor walk nor eat without exactest circumstances This is the life of many a Noble Man and sickness is worse than this a Cottage with health is better than a Crown with sickness But our Husbandman is mostly freed from both these he is feasted and physick't too most of the year with the sweet smells of fragrant flowers in the field rare tunes of the sweetest and cheapest Choristers of the Woods refreshing sights of a fair crop and finds more taste in his dinner of herbs than many others in their variety of dainties And when God hath blest him in the labours of the day he can come home and sing and rejoyce with his Wife and Children at night as if he had a set of Minstrels Psal. 147. 12 13 14. Praise the Lord for he hath blessed thy Children within thee He maketh peace in thy borders and filleth theewith the finest of the wheat It is a chearful Calling When Envy gnaws upon the heart of the Great man and fear and care upon the rich Merchant this man commits his affairs to God and layes down his cares with his cloths by his bed side And you shall hear more hearty I am sure more innocent laughter by his fires side than by his Landlords And after all Eccles. 5. 12. The sleep of the labouring man is sweet whether he eat little or much SECT XI THe Eleventh Excellency of the Husbandâ—… mans calling is That it stands on safer grounds than most others The highest steps of Greatness are usually the most shppery and all the ambitious man gets by his climbing is that he hath the further to fall The greatest Statesman stands at the mercy of his Prince and of his Enemy and if he fall he never rises again they meet with martial law where a man can offend but once But the Husbandman if he fall his corn miss or his cattle dye he makes shift to get up again in time Et qui cadit in terram non habet unde cadat his fall is not so high as to break his bones The Merchant he meets with certain losses and uncertain gains one puff of wind sometimes undoes him one Pirate makes him a beggar now the Husbandman hath a ship sayling in his field which though it go slower yet oft moves surer than the other and the Mariner comes for more Collections abroad than the Husbandman If men would be quiet the Lawyer would be troubled and if they would be temperate the Physitian would be sick So that if the World should grow wise in her old age those two callings would be in great hazzard but as long as the world lives it must have meat and the trade of plowing will never be out of request Nay the Husbandman hath many sweet promises for his security God hath promised that the Earth shall increase and multiply that seed-time and harvest shall not cease Gen. 8. 22. That he will give the former and the latter rain in its appointed season That the diligent hand shall be made rich yea that his Oxen shall be strong to labour his sheep shall bring forth thousands in the streets that he shall eat of the fruit of his labour and that it shall be well with him SECT XII The Twelfth Excellency of this Calling of an Husbandman is That it is a greater friend to Piety than most other Callings Others may have more time but this hath as much opportunity to get to Heaven Others may have more religious Notions but he hath more religious Motions Others may out-wit him in Religion but few shall out-pray him The Gentleman his neighbour will have a finer Bible but he will use it oftner to his Comfort His learned Minister will dispute better for the truth than he but he will suffer for the truth as much as he And if you trace him you shall find as Devout a Prayer in his family as feeling a Grace at his Table as where there is a finer House and a fuller Table Nay when others put off God with any scantling of Prayer That day hath seldom past wherein there hath no Chapter been read and Psalm sung among his family Nay his very Calling furthers him much herein Noah that was so perfect and upright a man in that forlorn Generation He Gen. 9. 20. began to be an Husbandman Though I may not say his Calling made him an upright man yet they agreed marvellous well together His Religion is not perhaps so plausible but it is most sound and what he wants in Wording it he hath in Hearting and in Doing the whole will of God I say his calling furthers him in it He hath such need of Gods daily goodness and so duely heares from him in his Mercies That prayers and praises are his constant fare He is pretty well wearied in the world and so Prayer is welcome to him It is an ease and refreshment 〈◊〉 him which is work and trouble to others As sleep is welcome to a labouring man not sâ—… to Children that care not for going to bed because they are not weary So Death is welcome to the Religious Husbandman because henceforth he rests from his labours And while he lives his Dross is onely upon the Earth but his golden precious spirit is soaring into Heaven His spiritual estate like his temporal is herein fully as good as it seems and in short when the Power of Godliness is lost every where you may find it in his house and heart Hence it is probable he hath the name of a Good-man incorporated into his very name Goodman such a One as if the Quintessence of Innocency and Piety were chiefly in the Husbandman And thus you have a view of some of the Excellencies and Advantages of this Calling which I have put down not to puff up the Husbandman with pride he will meet with cares and labours enough to keep him down nor to reflect any disgrace upon other Callings whose honour ease and profit will hold up their hearts well enough but for the Glory of that most gracious God that led our Father Adam into it and for the Comfort and
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
or dumb must men of old be so many years onely to learn the principles of Phylosophy and can you commence Christian and scarce study the Principles thereof a month Shall your brains be studied more about the sorriest Trade than about that great Calling that teaches to live for ever What variety of instructions do you give your Children for Husbandry Every day you are at it and will less a doe make them wise for Heaven than Earth Tell me not of your mean Birth and Education God requires not from you what he he doth from some others but doth he therefore give you a Patent for gross ignorance He expects not you shall resolve all the Questions in the Schools but doth it follow you should not know all the Principles of your Catechism And though your business be great yet remember still that one thing is necessary Though your hands and time be full yet I hope you 'l find leisure to go to Heaven You must discharge your debts attend your markets pay your rents and bring up your children And must you not get your blindness eurâ—…d your leprosie healed and your soul saved The busiest of you if you break a bone or be sick will have time to seek help Are ye too busie to go to Heaven God forbid What though you are poor Are not many poor men rich in knowledge Must not poor men go to Heaven and can they come thither hood-wink't Though thou art but an Husbandman yet thou must be a Christian and to be a Christian without knowledge of the Scripture is like being a Philosopher without learning Though thy Understanding be dull yet when the Holy Ghost is the School-Master it is possible to learn If no man learn any thing that he is dull at first about how few would have skill in any thing The first line in the Horn-book is the hardest the further you learn the easier Prayer and Diligence will make it easie And the Husbandman's God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him Isa. 28.26 He that teacheth you to know the properties of the Earth will teach you also the passage to Heaven He that teacheth you to Plow when you endeavour it will teach you to Pray when you endeavour that And though others abuse their knowledge are better Schollers and worse Christians than thou yet this will be no excuse to thee Their sin doth not ease thee of thy duty They shall go to Hell for their uneffectual knowledge and thou shalt go to Hell for thy affected Ignorance But alas you argue not thus in the Case of riches or other things you do not say my Neighbour yonder hath great riches and mispends them therefore I will resolve to be poor he is proud of his fine clothes and therefore I 'le go in rags Urge then no more others abuse of knowlege but seeing it is necessary do thou obtain it and use it better 2. Be resolved in the means of procuring saving knowledge Prov. 2.2 3. If thou incline thine ear unto wisdome diligently hear the instructions of the wise and apply thy heart unto understanding set thy heart upon it as Schollars upon their Books or Tradesmen on their Trades yea if thou cryest after knowledge and liftest np thy voice for understanding Earnestly and continually pray for it if it be not worth asking it is worth nothing If thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasure if thou usest all good means readest in every book makest out to any good Minister or Christian that can help thee then shalt thou find the knowledge of God pains must be taken or no good done I cannot chuse but wonder to hear illiterate men sometimes O I would give all the Cattel I have that I could but read who yet might with half the pains which they would bestow to get one of them learn to read sufficiently and yet will not endeavour it Alas they speak as they think but a deceived heart turns them aside even so you will hear some ignorant men express themselves I would I had given all I am worth for that knowledge which such have and yet when they are directed to the means they suddenly are weary and shew thereby they did but dally Notwithstanding all your business you have one whole day every week How rich in knowledge would you quickly be if every minute of that day were put to the best Some Divines have collected the material points of Religion into fifty two heads for each Sabbath one now if the poorest Husbandman in the Land would fix each Lords day on one of these and any good Minister would set you in and in the spare time thereof read or hear others read to him or ask questions and confer with his honest Neighbour about it and as he hath occasion the week following drive in the same nail What a blessed crop of saving knowledge would he reap when the year is expired This is to seek knowledge as silver and it 's worth more pains than this in that there 's no going to Heaven without it If you lived in Countries where no Bibles must be read where there be no Ministers to teach you and to know Christ were criminal there were some excuse for ignorance but what plenty of precious Bibles have we what store of excellent Books Catechisms and principles of Religion what choice of Ministers that long to teach you And to run through all this light into eternal darkness what excuse can you bring how great will be that darkness Up therefore and be doing let your future diligence compensate your former negligence lest you hear that fatal sentence when it is too late to reverse Isa. 27.11 This is a man of no understanding and therefore he that made him will not save him and he that formed him will shew him no favour Now God forbid that the poor harmless Husbandman should after his painfull life be thus sentenced into a more painful state that for want of outwards he should be poor here and for want of inwards be poor for ever Why then prevent it while there is time The markets yet are open good eye-salve to be had The richest pearles to be had for a little labour God himself will be the Master and who will not be proud to be his Schollar O taste and see how good the Lord is apply your selves to him and he will teach you the fear of the Lord so shall you be rid of this temptation SECT X. X. THe Tenth Temptation of the Husbandman is Wrong unto his Neighbour Though most other imployments exceed this in temptations hereunto yet this Calling wants not its temptation This wretched Self is of such powerfull influence that it draws the plain Husbandman himself to strain a point of Conscience sometimes to fulfill the lusts thereof Hence it comes to pass sometimes I hope it is not oft that you may observe deceit and dissimulation in his bargains though not
puts them in his bosome and both feeds his senses and feasts his Soul by the same Creature 2. The Second Lesson the Husbandman learns in his Garden is from the watering of his Garden And thence he learns the benefit of Ordinances He finds that his choicest flowers must have water either by the hand of man or from the hand of God or else they wither When the bottles of heaven fail the flowers on the earth hang their head And this clears it to him That inherent Grace without auxiliary grace will be green but a while That the Soul lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God And this he finds by his constant Experience that the work-dayes are the spreading time for his Grace and the Lords day his storing time and therefore he thinks the week long and the Sabbath short and in his heart cryes out O when shall I come and appear before God Alas he knows that a Garden without a fountain or showers will have beauty or fragrancy but a while And even so he feels his â—…bul to hunger for supplies from heaven and the disappointment of an Ordinance is a sensible want to him and the enjoyment therefore doth manifest it self quickly in his renewed beauty and vigour Isa. 58.11 The Lord shall satisfie thy soul in drought and make fat thy bones and thou shalt be like a water'd Garden Here I have set my flowers but they must have water Here my gracious God hath planted the sweet flowers of his grace and now I must see them watered And though he be weary with his hard labour yet up he rises early and labours hard on the Sabbath in the heavenly trade of Religion and comes home at night glad and merry in heart for the goodness of the Lord. His Garden is watered and his Graces are revived 3. The Third Lesson the Husbandman learns in his Garden is from the Weeds therein He finds a little Garden hath many weeds many kinds and many of every kind and they come up without planting and spring much faster then herb or flower He sees if care be not taken they will over-top the flowers and herbs and that it will coâ—… both observation and industry to pluck them up and when at length the Garden is rid of them and is clean and fair yet they will peep up and spring again and renew his trouble over again and this endless business he hath with it onely the winter helps him and pinches these weeds at the roots but yet in the spring they revive again and give him the same trouble he had the year before And this teaches him the Difficulty of a clean heart and the industrious life of a serious Christian. He finds his Garden within as bad as his Garden without What variety of sinful motions and affections are rising there Divers that he knows not whence nor how they come How speedily have some Lusts got a head His pride hath sprung faster than his Humility by the half His passion is at a great height in comparison of his Patience He wonders at the strange growth of his Corruptions he concludes that without a speedy and effectual course his Garden will be a Wilderness and therefore he awakens watchfulness and falls to serious mortification repentance and reformation of his spiritual estate he gets to his Knees prayes and weepes over his evil desires pursues them into every corner and at length hath a clean heart created in him hopes now all is well The old man is dead and gone but ere long he descryes that he was but asleep his corruption returns and exercisesh im in the same trade he was at before Till some happy affliction comes and that with Gods blessing doth break its heart and Death at length puts an end to this weary life Faith is a Rose that growes between two nettles Presumption and Despair And so Humility and Patience Every Flower hath two weeds two extreams about it which are like to grow with them but must not grow over them And this is the good Husbandmans task His Garden findes him work to weed as long as he lives 4. The fourth Lesson that the Husbandman learnes in his Garden is From his Bees He sits down by his Bees and sees their carriage He observes they are ever busie either fetching materials without or working them within they hate a droan they seem to delight in their work they grudg not to fulfil their place they are most industrious in getting most curious in keeping and most provident in spending their wealth and provision And hence again he learns Diligence in his calling and so away he goes and imployes his strength most willingly therein and repines no more at his lot He is loth to be idle any time if he be not labâ—…g witâ—… his hand he is travelling in hiâ—…â—…d anâ—… indeavours to be ever doing oâ—… receivinâ—… good He invents â—…nd finds imployment for every one in his family and except infant that make work he will have all the rest 〈◊〉 some work or other that there may be honey in the hive in winter for them to liâ—… upon And this he doth in obedience untâ—… God He resorts to his Bees at the next lâ—…sure and falls to his Book again And there he takes notice that the Bee gets somethiâ—… out of every Flower visits them for a littâ—… while but dwells upon none yea the veâ—… weeds afford her something but she reâ—… no where till she return to her Hive theâ—… is her place And thence he learns the uâ—…satisfaction of the creature and that God anâ—… Heaven are the only rest of the soul. It mâ—… sometimes fly abroad in the world but theâ—… it extracts what spiritual sweetness will bâ—… gotten from both Flowers and Weeds but 〈◊〉 cannot rest till it return to the Ark tâ—… God alone who is the Center and refuge 〈◊〉 the soul. The Husbandman is angry at himself thâ—… he cannot as well as the Bee suck some advantage out of the weeds of others evil example and actions which he daily sees but he 〈◊〉 far from sucking poyson fron the objects 〈◊〉 goodness In a word his Bees do feed hiâ—… more and more constantly with sweet lessoâ—… and instructions than with their sweetest hoâ—… ney SECT VI. VI. THe sixth Book wherein the Husbandman learns something of God is his House And though he studies to be cheerful at home and be too weary to learn much yet he steals some notes and gathers instructions now and then in his habitation though he have no Study but the Fire-side From the loving obedience of his Wife he learns the like carriage to Jesus Christ his heavenly Head and Husband By the disobedience of his Children he is minded of his own unto God his heavenly Father and laments them with grief The frowardness and follies he sees in them do bring him to remember his own at their age which otherwise he had forgotten but their easie
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
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
much among the Creatures He must study the Earth as well as the Heavens and you know the hired Servanâ—…â—…hat are out in the fields may more easily forget their Lord than they who wait on him in his chamber There are many in the world that have little else to do but think of God and their Souls but the Husbandman he hath many things to think on many things to care for besides and the Moon of the world doth interpose and hide from him the sight and beams of the Sun of Righteousness and because God is out of sight he is too much out of the mind of the Husbandman If the year be fruitfull he is ready to give the honour thereof to the goodness of the Ground or to the skilfull husbandry thereof If it be unfruitful he is apt to conclude such and such a thing was the cause not looking to the First Cause the Mercy or Justice or Providence of God which doth order and govern the growing of every grasse pile and the blasting of every single ear of corn upon the earth But none saith where is God my maker who giveth Songs in the night Job 35. 10. When the rain distills and makes the fields to smile dow readily does the Husbandman cry out O the sweetness of this rain but how unready is he to break forth and say O the sweetness of that God that gives it And to help on this neglect of God most languages have made those words Impersonals that signifies Rain Snow and the like which must have no Nominative case It Rains it Freezes c. as if men were loth to acknowledge God in those peculiar works of his Providence When this part of his field misses he is far proner to take notice of the badness of the Earth than of the Anger of Heaven When his Cattle mismarry his eye is quicker upon the improvidence of his Servants than on the Providence of his Master in Heaven But none saith where is God my Maker And so because we cannot discern his finger he is constrained next time to lay on his hand and awaken us to feel and see him Thus the Honour also which is due to God is often laid at the feet of second Causes and men blesse the hand that reaches and not the Hand that sends it If Grace be not predominant in our Husbandmans heart you shall more commonly hear him when he is reaping his Corn commend the goodness of his ground than the Goodness of his God and declare to his neighbours his own skill with great freedome and frequency but speak of Gods blessing which was All in All seldome and with much straitnesse The Autidotes against this Temptation are 1. A full Perswasion of the General Providence and particular influence of God the First Cause over all and into all Second Causes hence they are called Second Causes because of their relation and dependance on the First See the Genealogy of Corn and Wine resolved into God Hos. 2. 21 22. Hence some of the very Heathen when they went to plow in the morning they laid one hand on the Plough to speak their own part to be painfulness and held the other hand up to Ceres their Goddess of Corn to testifie their expectation of plenty from her It is God alone that crowns the year with his Goodnesse Psal. 65. 〈◊〉 He bringeth the wind out of his treasures he giveth the former latter rain in their season he causeth his wind to blow and the waters flow Psal 147.16 Not a drop of rain but he makes and sends it and tells it where it shall fall When the Sun shines or showers fall do but draw by the curtain and by faith you may see God in the thing Deut. 11. 15. And I will sendgrass in thy fields for thy Cattel that thou mayest eat and be full Does thy Grass grow well God from heaven sent thee that grass Does it wither parch and fail God hath sent for thy grass away and that he never does without good reason And therefore under the Law Exod. 23.16 19. God called for the first fruits of their land partly to let them know who it was that gave them and charges his People Deut. 8. 18. Beware least thou say in thy heart my Power and the Might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth but thou shalt REMEMBER the LORD thy God for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth And all thy Endeavours without his Blessing are as Caesar said of Senecas writings Arenâ—… sine calce they fall asunder Look thou therefore at God in all things The Finger of God may be seen by an eâ—…e of Faith There is no Event so great nor any so â—…nall but the hand of God is in it And O how canst thou forget God when thou mayest hear from him and see him every minute Though you see not his face yet you may discern his foot-steps Go into the field and he hath been there return into thy house among thy children and there hath he â—…en before thee Thou may'st meet him in every mercy and feel him in every Judgment As the Wife therefore is somtimes angry with what the Servant is doing till he tell her that his Master appoynted him then she sayes no more So when cross Accidents fret thee and second Causes walk contrary to thee remember the First Cause hath bidden them and rest content If the Bottles of Heaven be stopped knock at Gods door and he will open them Jer. 14. 22. Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain or can the Heavens give Showers Art not thou He O Lord our God Therefore we will wait upon thee for thou hast made all these things Three Keyes the Jewish Rabbins often give him The Key of the Wâ—…mb the Key of the Grave and the Key of the Clouds implying that none but He can unlock these Learn then to see God to seek God in all things Satan cannot enter into an Hogg without divine appoyntment VVhat can one think more casual and independent on God than the Sabeans and Chaldeans taking away Job's Cattle and yet he looks beyond them at God The Lord hath taken away and this contents him This opens our mouths to praise him for mercies and strikes us dumb from repining against him in crosses I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou dâ—…dst it Look through all Creatures and Providences as through a Glass and behold God disposing thee and them with infinite wisdome so wilt thou meet God every step and keep correspondence with him though mediately all the day long As it was with Saul and his fellow travellers Acts 9. 7. They all heard a voice but none save Saul saw Jesus Christ So any man perceives the external sensible effects of providence but it 's the Christian Husbandman that sees God in them and adores him Every Rivulet guides him up to the fountain and seeing his works he presently ascends to