and his principle is known to suffer the greatest injury rather than offer the least and therefore he comforts himself that it will not last alwayes and so rests content Yea hâ—… suffers even from his Inferiours and must many times be his servants servant The heaviest burdens also and impositions do usually fall respect had to his mean estate most heavily on him and in publick Calamities where-ever the storm is brewed yer usually it lights on the Husbandman Like his sheep he is often shorn yea almost flead somtimes When he hath gotten a little wool on his back it stayes there but a while his Rent day comes and sweeps all away Quest. And what Remedy hath he for this Inconvenience Answ. For this he useth Faith and Patience which like two Bladders keep up his heart from sinking and dejection 1. He doth and must believe that these things are ordered by the wise Providence of his heavenly Father That men are Gods Hand as it is Psal. 17. 14. The men of the World are his Sword He believes also that even this shall work for his good that his burdens keep him humble when freedom would make him proud he believes that Heaven will put an end to all and make amends for all As holy David said Psal. 27. 11. I hadfainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living So the Husbandmans spirit would fail but that his faith is strong and sees these are but clouds that will quickly pass away And in the mean time among other provision in his house he provides 2. Patience with this he eats and sleeps and smiles under all his load resolving if he can possess nothing else yet he will possess his soul with Patience and so with the Prophet Jer. 10. 19. Wo is me for my hurt my wound is grievous but I said truly this is a grief and I must bear it God hath laid it on and God alone shall take it off SECT IV. A Fourth Inconvenience in this Calling is That he hath many cares and troubles in the flesh he hath a succession of cares and troubles in this world he deals in those things that have not their name for nought vanity there 's their Substance and vexation of spirit there 's their Accident He hath his house to build or to repair that almost ruines him then his ground to manure that costs him much trouble and care then his Rent or Fine to pay this falls heavy on him and comes oft he hath hardly got up his back but the half year returns and his Rents squeeze him down again so that between the cares of his mind and the pains of his body he hath load enough for one And then his children must be educated though he cannot read yet they shall read and write because he feels the want thereof and then they must be provided for and this creates him new cares and troubles so that though he have not so much fleshly trouble yet hath he troubles in the flesh one upon another It is true he may thank the fall of our father Adam for many of these but however he came by them now he hath them Indeed this advantage he hath by them that they make him long for Heaven his hard work here makes him long to be at rest and though the world thus use him yet hereby he grows out of love with it and is estranged to it in his heart that useth him thus as a stranger Quest. But what Remedy can be given to this Inconvenience Answ. No way in this world to avoyd them the way therefore is to get them sanctified and sweetned Seeing this load cannot be cast off carry it as easily as you can Let prayers therefore be mingled with your cares and cordials with your troubles When you design your cares ultimately at the glory of God and manage them with holy hearts you sanctifie them and a feast on the Promises must be mingled with a meal upon troubles And consider that all men have their Cares as well as you yea perhaps the Gentleman your neighbour hath his head full of cares to make provision for his lusts while your cares are to make provision for your Families And be confident that their way of sin is a worse life than your way of labour and that you will rest from your labours when they shall not rest from their pain SECT V. THe Fifth Inconvenience of the Husbandmans Calling is That he bath more Will then Power to be a publick Good to mend what is amiss in the World To be a publick Good is the highest pitch of happiness in this world and herein only the High and Mighty have the advantage of the poor Husbandman The one may have as long life as good health as much comfort in the Creatures as cheerful an heart and as happy a life as the other with less danger here and a less account hereafter but here is the Husbandmans disadvantage he can but little promote any publick good nor hinder little publick evil he cannot build Hospitals endow Churches erect Schools enact good Laws preach Sermons nor encourage piety Nor on the other hand can he reform Sin if his life lay on it he sees them drunk when he goes to Market and he hears them swear and beholds the Sabbath broken but he cannot remedy it he doth as far as he can he where he sees it likely attempts to them and where it is otherwise mourns for them he comes home oft with a sad heart and wonders at the Patience of God that lets men alone and when he cannot bow the hearts of others can break his own about it As Lot good man could vex his righteous soul when he could not cure their unrighteous ones Our Husbandman hath a publick Spirit though he cannot be of publick use and where many have more power than will which will make for their Judgment he hath more will than power which will make for his comfort Quest. But what Remedy is there for this Inconvenience Answ. No help but his Prayers It was the Character of a Bishop that he could not preach but he could make Preachers by his liberal maintenance and education of persons for that Calling So though the Husbandman cannot preach yet he can help to furnish out Preachers by his Prayers Ephes. 6. 19. And for me also you must pray that utterance may be given unto me By his prayers both Magistrate and Minister are furthered in their Vocations and he visits them twice a day at least and presents them at the Throne of Grace He sees much amiss every where and though he be not so conceited as to think were he in place he could amend it yet he refers it to God and earnestly presses him to mend it And God will do much at the request of an upright Husbandman and when he hates the proud hypocrisies of formalists to this man he will
provide for them That God who hears young Ravens will hear young Children Though Ishmael was no better then he should be yet God heard the voice of the Lad Gen. 21.17 for the old love that was between himself and Abraham And he often thinks with comfort on that Psal. 37.25 I have been young and now am old yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his Seed begging bread And he hath need of Faith to hold up his heart under his many wearisome cares and troubles Faith will find honey in the Lion and comfort in the Bible when there 's none on earth and therefore when the Husbandman comes home tired with his hard work he takes the Bible and there finds that every condition all things shall work together for good to them that love God That when flesh and heart faileth yet God is the strength of his heart and his portion for ever He finds that tribulation works patience and patience experience That affliction is better than sin That it is better to be worn out with labour than to be given up to lust He believes the day how dark soever will end well O the Husbandman cannot live a day without faith He cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God And lastly he hath need of Faith for his poor soul in the world to come If ever any man sure he may say Psal. 27.13 I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living This is his refuge when nothing else will serve when his body and spirits are spent when his cares and crosses prevail against him Heaven will put an end to this Now I am plowing in the Earth but shortly I shall be reaping in Heaven This sweating life will be over and my singing life will begin yet a while and I shall be sent for post to Heaven There is but one life between me and a great Estate my troubles will have an end but my joy will never have an end and my short afflictions which are but for a moment are all this while working for me an exceeding great and eternal weight of glory And this I believe I have not onely some sleight and groundless hopes of it but I have an Evidence for it I find my Name in the Scripture and so know it is in the book of Life And therefore my heart is glad my glory rejoyceth my flesh also that hath little rest here doth rest in hope my possessions are little but my reversions great He that shall be rich for ever may be content to be poor a while And thus you have heard what special Graces the Husbandman should have and which I earnestly in Gods behalf perswade you to strive for with all your might leave no means unused no strength unspent for the attaining of these Graces It is possible to get them its profitable to have them its perillous to be without them without these you live but little above your beasts you do but drudge O therefore go to the God of grace for them and never leave him till you have them CHAP. VIII The Abuse of Husbandry SECTION I. WE are come now in the Eighth place to Discover the Abuse of Husbandry And pity it is that so honest and innocent an Imployment should be abused but abus'd it is by many But that 's the fault of the men not of the Calling the Calling shall be had in honour when they shall dye in shame What Calling more Excellent than the Ministry and yet alas how is that Calling abused but wo to them by whom offences come let that holy Calling stand innocent and honourable notwithstanding Our worthy Calling of Husbandry is defaced by too many but for all that remains Excellent Yet these Abuses we must detect that you may see the extreames and never fall into them SECT I. THe First Abuse of the Husbandmans Calling is by Drunkenness and Gluttony So we find Gen. 9.20 21. And Noah began to be an Husbandman and he planted a Vineyard and he drank of the Wine and was drunken Here we have Noahs Imployment and his Infirmity His imployment he began to be an Husbandman Though all the world was his and his heirs for ever yet he chose to have a Calling and he chose this Calling And then here is his Infirmity where there are two extreames in opinion Some making it an unpardonable crime that an aged wise and holy man should thus miscarry not charitably considering that it was not Intemperance but Inexperience that caused his fallâ—… And others holding it was no sin at all because Involuntary and of Ignorance but this annihilates it not extenuate it may it was ill done but recorded purposely to warn us from the like Patriarchae nos docent non soluâ—… Docentes sed Errâ—…tes The Patriarchs Errors teach us as well as their Instructions O let this instance teach the Husbandman never to abuse his Calling thus by drunkenness and Gluttony I mean immoderate eating and drinking when men eat or drink more than doth good not onely when it is too much for their heads or stomacks but when it is too much for their time or too much for their estate which God will account Drunkenness at the last day Though there be degrees of it and some worse than other and it is worse in some men than in others and beseems an Husbandman as ill as most others in the world And yet he is prone to think there is no Recreation but an Ale-house no way to quench his Cares but by strong drink no exercise on a Festival but quaffing and smoaking But this is a fearful Abuse in thy Calling Thy hard labour will never excuse thy hard drinking thy field groans that bears the grain which thou thus abusest Why this is a beastly and deadly sin Other sins 't is true in their nature are many of them worse than this but few beyond it considering the inseparable effects of it namely the rendring the man or rather the beast liable to all sins A sin that by degrees will steal all the money out of thy purse all the comforts out of thy house all thy credit and all thy conscience and leave thee nothing but stinging sorrow O rectifie therefore this Abuse Hast thou no Recreation but thy Ruine no pleasure but in Sin no way to refresh thy body but by wounding thy soul hast thou so many houses neer thee where thou may'st be chearfull and welcome for thy company and will none serve thee but the Alehouse where thou art welcome onely for thy money Think as thou entrest in those doors Doth God call me hither Can I give account of this Is God to be met with here would I be found thus by Death Shall I gratifie my flesh to provoke my God Shall I sadden my Conscience to chear my Appetite I 'le away I 'le stay here no longer Depart
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
look to him that is poor and contrite and that trembles at his word Isa. 66. 2. SECT VI. THe Sixth Inconvenience of the Calling of an Husbandman is The infelicity of a rustick unrefined Breeding and his inability to help his children with any better We are naturally like the wild asses Colt A Colt is a rude creature much more an Asses Colt and most of all a wild Asses Colt Education breaks us Breeding and Behaviour do pollish that rude mass in which man comes into the world And as in the Creation God did let in Light and put beauty upon the Original Chaos so right breeding opens a Casement into the mind and sayes Let there be Light and there comes Light let there be shape order and beauty and behold it comes accordingly And this is a great mercy to those that have it and improve it It pares off that roughness of disposition and ruggedness of carriage it moralizes it civilizes yea it almost spiritualizes the party that one can hardly discern where Nature leaves and where Grace begins Now the Husbandman seldome meets with this ingenuous breeding in so much as in respect of understanding he is rather-ignorant than knowing in Wisdom rather simple than Judicious in his Will rather surly than malleable in his behaviour rather rude and homely than smooth and polite In Learning the highest degree he hath taken is in Writing and Arithmetick and by reason of his hand-work and small estate he can seldome bring up his children further and no small pains he takes to help his children to write and read and then puts them to a Trade and it is good Mr Dods phrase gives them each a Bible and God be with them Not but that excellent Parts are somtimes found in persons and children of this rank and excellent Schollars have proceeded hence that have honoured every of the Liberal Arts and the more honourable imployments but the usual genius and breeding of the Husbandman is but rustick Quest. If you ask what Remedy there is for this Inconvenience Answ. I answer The wealthier sort must be advised to accomplish their children with better breeding that being a portion as far beyond richâ—…s as the Soul is beyond the Body as an entailed estate is beyond a few moveable goods They who read the History of the Worthies of England shall find some of our greatest Divines Lawyers and Physitians had their Originals from the Plough and why may not God do as much for yours and thereby make them more publick Goods to their Generation But for your selves and for them that are born and likely to live and dye Rusticks you must make up your want of outward accomplishment with inward integrity The less smooth and pollisht you are in behaviour the more sincere and plain be you in your heart It was the Character of the Athenians that they could speak well there was the University of Learning but the Character of the Lacedemonians was that they could do well So though you cannot speak eloquently yet if you can walk uprightly and faithfully you will be Courtiers in Heaven at the last Though you cannot read a letter in the book yet if you can by true Assurance read your Name in the Book of life your Scholarship will serve Though you cannot couch your words in order to men yet if you can say your Errand unto God he will accept you If you cannot write a word yet see you transcribe the fair Copy of a godly righteous and sober life and you have done well Christ Jesus was not Magister Scholae ' sed vitae And if you never get to be good Scholars yet see you be good Christians and then you 'l fit above your Landlords in Heaven if they do not look about them And thus you see the Inconveniences of the Husbandmans Calling which I have described to be an allay to ballast him lest he should be proud of his Excellencies and forget himself lest being so well on earth he should forget Heaven And that by feeling the effects he may be sensible of the evil of our first Fall and mourn for it which hath made his labour painful his gain doubtful his troubles great and his ability small And yet if he lift up the Scales he will perceive the comforts of his Calling many and the Inconveniences few and that the Lord hath tempered his Cup with great wisdom and loving kindness and left the best for him in the bottome CHAP. V. The Temptations of the Husbandman and the Preservatives WE are now arrived at the Fifth Head which is to inquire into the Temptations incident to this Calling Paradise it self was not without them and in every Calling he must expect them There are Temptations to suffering and Temptations to sin the one mentioned James 1. 2. The other vers 13. It is cause of joy when we fall into temptations of suffering especially for Christ many account it all joy when they escape such temptations but we should rather account it all joy when we meet with them It 's cause of sorrow when we are tempted to sin though we are apt to think our selves made with such Temptations And many of these have invaded the harmless Calling of the Husbandman But to be forewarn'd is the way to be fore-arm'd and though he be assaulted yet he is not forsaken He hath a Father that will not lead him into temptation which is not only his daily prayer but his chiefest care That though his Mothers children have him Keeper of the Vineyards yet his own Vineyard may be kept SECT 1. THe First Temptation of the Husbandman is Earthly-mindedness The Earth is his Element therein is his business and there he is in danger to lose his heart as it is said John 3. 31. He that is of the Earth is earthly and speaketh of the Earth The Husbandman is sprung as it were out of the Earth and the frame of his heart is prone to be earthly and his words are much of the same subject As it is impossible to behold the Heavens above us with one Eye and Earth under our feet with the other so it is a very hard business to have the Eye of the Soul upward and the Eye of the Body downward at the same time â—…e World looks little when one is in Heaven a great way off it but while on it it looks vast and great On a Mountain whole Fields at a distance look no bigger than a leaf of this book but he that is at them finds them bigger And a small Hatt held near our Eye will hinder our sight of the Sun more than a great Mountain at a distance O Sirs the Husbandman is near the Earth and it looks great in his eye and indangers to fill the heart and all it swallows up his heart and devours his time and dulls his spirits he is ready to account these things the greatest things because they are next him and
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