CHAPTER II. UPON THE THRIFTINESS OF THE HUSBANDMAN. The hardest lab'rers are the thriving men : OBSERVATION. INDUSTRY and diligence is the way to thrive and grow rich in the world. The earth must be manured, or its increase is in vain expected; Qui fugit molam, fugit farinam: He that refuses the mill, refuses the meal, saith the proverb. The diligent soul shall be made fat. Solomon hath two proverbs concerning thriftiness and increase in the world. In Prov. x. 4. he saith, "The hand of the diligent maketh rich." And in ver. 22. he saith, "The blessing of the Lord maketh rich." These are not contradictory, but confirmatory each of the other; one speaks of the principal, the other of the instrumental cause.— Diligence without God's blessing will not do it; and that ⚫blessing cannot be expected without diligence; therefore husbandmen ply their business with unwearied pains, they do even lodge in the midst of their labors as that good husbandman Boaz did. Ruth ii. 3. They are parsimonious of their time, but prodigal of their sweat and strength, because they find this to be the thriving way. APPLICATION. As nature opens her treasures to none but the diligent, so neither doth grace. He that will be rich, must be a painful Christian! and whosoever will closely ply the trade of godliness, shall comfortably and quickly find, "That in keeping God's commands there is great reward." Psalm xix. 11. God is a "bountiful rewarder of such as diligently seek him." Heb. xi. 6. They must not, indeed, work for wages,* nor yet will God suffer their work to go unrewarded; yea, it sufficiently rewards itself. 1 Tim. vi. 6. And its reward is twofold; (1.) Present, and in part; (2.) Future, and in full. Mark x. 29, 30. Now, in this time, an hundred fold, even from suffering, which seems the most unprofitable part of the work, and in the world to come life everlasting. If you ask what present advantage Christians have by their diligence? I answer, as much and more than the husbandman hath from all his toils and labors. Let us compare the particulars, and see what the husbandman gets that the Christian gets not also. Compare your gains, and you will quickly see the odds. 1. You get credit and reputation by your diligence; it is a commendation and honor to you to be active and stirring men: But how much more honor doth God put upon his laborious servants? It is the highest honor of a creature to be active and useful for its God. Saints are called vessels of honor, as they are fitted for the master's use. 2 Tim. ii. 21. Wherein consists the honor of angels but in this, that they are ministering spirits, serviceable creatures? And all the apostles gloried in the title of servants. The lowest office in which a man can serve God, even that of Nethinim, or door-keeper, which was the lowest order or rank of officers in the house of God, Ezek. xliv. 10. 11. is yet preferred by David before the service of the greatest prince on earth. Psalm lxxxiv. 10. It is no small honor to be active for God. 2. You have this benefit by your labor, that thereby you avoid loose and evil company, which would draw you into mischief. By diligence for God the Christian also is se * Non mercenarii sed operarii. cured from temptation; "God is with them, while they are with him." 2 Chron. xv. 2. Communion with God in the way of duty is a great preservative against temptation. The schoolmen put the question, how the angels and glorified saints become impeccant? And resolve it thus: That they are secured from sin by the beatifical vision; and sure I am that the visions of God, not only in glory, but now also in duty, are marvellous defences against sin; and they who are most active for God, have the fullest and clearest visions of God. John xiv. 21. 3. You have this benefit by your labor, that it tends much to the health of your bodies. The Christian has this benefit by his labor, that it tends to a healthful state of soul; "The way of the Lord is strength to the upright." Prov. x. 29. As those that follow their daily labors in the field have much more health than citizens that live idly, or scholars that live a sedentary life: So the active Christian enjoys more spiritual health, and is troubled with fewer complaints than others. 4. By diligence in your civil employments, you preserve your estates, and are kept from running behindhand in the world. Bailiffs trouble not such men's doors'; they usually have the forefoot of their neighbors. And by activity and diligence for God, souls are kept from backsliding, and running back in their graces and comforts.Remissness and intermission in our duties, are the first steps and degrees by which a soul declines and wastes as to his spiritual estate. 5. Your pains and diligence in the fields make your bed sweet to you at night. Eccles. v. 12. "Rest is sweet But to a laboring man, whether he eat little or much." the diligent life of a Christian makes the clods of the valley, his grave, sweet unto him. 2 Cor.i. 12. 2 Kings xx. 3. "Remember now, O Lord, how I have walked before thee," &c. Think, Christian, how sweet it will be for thee, when thou comest to die, to say then as thy Redeemer did, when near his death. John. xvii. 4, 5. "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do; and now, O Father, glorify me with thine own self." 6. The expense of your sweat fills your purses, you get estates by your diligence and labor; but what are your gains to the gains of Christians? They can get in an hour that which they will not part with for all the gold and silver on earth. Prov. iii. 14. So that compare these laborers, as to all their advantages, and you shall see, that there is no trade like that which the diligent Christian drives. REFLECTIONS. 1. Blush then, O my soul, at the consi slothful soul. deration of thy laziness and sloth, which Reflections of the is attended with so many spiritual wants! And can I wonder at it, when I refuse the painful way of duty, in which the precious fruits of godliness are only to be found? If the fruits lie upon the surface of duty, or could be had with wishes, I should not want them; but to dig deep and take pains I cannot. My desires, like those of the slothful man, kill me, because my hands refuse to labor. Prov. xxi. 25. If every duty were to be rewarded presently with gold, would I not have been more assiduous in them than I have been? And yet I know that a heart full of the grace and comfort of the Holy Ghost is better than a house full of gold and silver. O what a composition of stupidity and sloth am I! I have been all for the short cut to comfort, when constant experience teacheth, that the further way about, by painful duty, is the nearest way to it. What pains do hus bandmen take? What peril do seamen run for a little gain? O sluggish heart! wilt thou do nothing for eternal treasures? 2. If there be such great reward attending diligence in duty, then why art thou so apt, O my soul, to cast off duty, because thou findest not present comfort in it? How quickly am I discouraged, if I presently find not what I expect in duty? Whereas the well is deep, and much pains must be taken to draw up those waters of joy. Isa. xii. 3. There is a golden vein in the mount of duty, but it lies deep; and because I meet not with it so soon as I expect, my lazy heart throws by the shovel, and cries, dig I cannot. 3. If this be, indeed, the rich and thriv ing trade, why do I puddle about the poor, The worldling's low things of the world so much, neglect- reflection. ing the rich trade of godliness for it? O how much of my time and strength have these things devoured? Had I employed that time in communion with God, would it not have turned to a better account? Thinkest thou in earnest, O my soul, that God hath endowed thee with such excellent faculties, capable of the most divine and heavenly employments, or that Jesus Christ hath shed his invaluable precious blood, or that he hath sent forth the glorious spirit of holiness, and all this to fit men for no higher nor nobler employments than these? Is this the end of thy wonderful creation? Doth God whirl about the heavens in endless revolutions to beget time for this? Or doth he not rather expect that the weightiest work should engross thy greatest strength, and choicest hours? O that I could once consider, what a good Master Christians serve, who will not only abundantly reward them at night, but brings them their food into the |