The Husbandmans Calling, Chapter 3

The Husbandmans Calling · Chapter 3

p. 19CHAPTER III. Cap 3. The Excellencies of the Husbandmans Calling.The Excellencies of the Husbandmans Calling.

ANd now let us advance a step higher, Some things premised.and for the Glory of God, and the incouragement of the Husbandman, observe the Excellencies of this Calling; yet before I proceed I would lay down these Premises.

1. That it hath Inconveniences also; for the wise God hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him. The imployment without inconvenience is in Heaven: There's Harvest without VVinter, a fair Crop and no sweat, an House without decayes, and Ground paved with Rubies.

p. 202. Upon some Callings God hath set a fairer stamp of Honour, than on the Husbandmans. Though his first created Son were a Tiller of the ground, yet his first Begotten Son was an Husbandman of Souls, and did sow for Heaven. And the Husbandman will now willingly give precedence to the Magistrate and Minister, for the Authority of God vested in the one, and the Work of God managed by the the other; as considering that the Magistrate is a more publick good than he, and the Soul (wherein the Minister labours) more worthy than the body.

3. The Difficulties of a Calling do not prejudice the Dignity thereof. 2 Cor. 6. 1. We then as workers together with him]. The Ministry is a most difficult work, able to tire an Angels arms; but yet being workers together with God, this dignifies the Calling again. It is a worthy attempt to seek out the Philosophers Stone, which would convert Dust into Gold, but no attempt is harder. In a pit of Marle or Limestone the Husbandman finds it, and makes a quicker return of gain by that, than the Chymist doth by the other; The poorest things are fullest of ease, foreign, the more honourable, the more hard.

4. I must premise further, That the most profitable Callings are not alwayes the best. The Merchant fetches home greater riches, but he brings a Disease oftentimes with them; The Lawyer makes greater purchases; but somtimes purchases a curse with them; The p. 21Tradesman somtimes leaves a greater Estate behind him, but then often takes a wounded Conscience with him. Lot Gen 13. 10. had a Plain to live in, that was even as the garden of the Lord, yet was it the sink of sin, and shortly after a Lake of Brimstone. The sweetest meats are not alwayes the wholsomest; Profit is not the measure of Goodness; That is a rich Calling that inriches God himself, that is, which most glorifies him.

5. Though Husbandry be a brave Calling, yet the Christian Husbandman makes it much better. In this sence also that is true, 1 Tim. 4. 8. For bodily increase profiteth little, but Godliness is profitable unto all things. Thy weary dayes and pamful nights profit but a little, and for a little while; but Godliness with them brings universal and eternal profit. As he that makes Instruments of musick, hath a fine imployment, but he who hath the Art of Musick, that can tune and use them, far outstrips him: So naked Husbandry is a worthy Calling, but the Christian Husbandman that knows how to use it to the best, and makes heavenly Musick out of it, hath a great advantage. Caius Sejus bonus vir, et eo melior quod Christianus. The meanest Calling is honourable, if God be in it. Christ in the lowest heart, and Christ in the lowest Calling makes it happy.

6. Yet no man shall be saved by his Calling. You must not conclude from any thing said, or to be said, that a man of such an excellent p. 22imployment must needs be saved. No, no; thy harmless Calling without an holy heart will not save thy soul; It is Christ in you, that is the Hope of Glory. The Crown it self cannot keep from death, nor can your Calling save you from hell, without the grace of God.

The Ministers Calling (one would think) were sure to save him, one purposely imployed to describe Heaven and Hell to the life, whose proper Subject is Christ, and the Soul, and another world; yet alas! all they are not saved, Mat. 7. 22. We have prophesied in thy Name, [VVe have opened the Gates of Heaven to others, and must we be shut out our selves?] And in thy Name we have cast out Devils, [and must we be cast to the Devil?] yea, sayes Christ, I do not know you, nor never did, if you have been workers of iniquity. The poor Prophet, 1 Kings 13.24. that had substantially warned others from the Devil, could not escape himself from the Lion, when he disobeyed. And therefore how excellent soever the Husbandmans calling is, yet he may go to Hell from the Plough, if he have not saving Grace. And these things to prevent mistakes being thus premis'd, let us view the Excellencies of this Calling.

p. 23SECT. I.§. 1.

The First Excellency of the Calling of an Excel. 1. God was the immediate Author of it.Husbandman is, That God himself was the immediate Author of it. So saith the Text, The Lord God put him into the Garden, to Dress and to keep it. Here are his first Indentures drawn in the state of Innocency. And when he had forfelted these, and broken one material Clause therein, about eating the forbidden fruit, yet we find God again, after the fall of our Father Adam, putting him into this Calling Nil ta… r… gale videtur quam studium Agri colendi. Xenoph. And tells that Cyrus that great King sowed himself a Field, & set Trees with his own handagain, Gen. 3. 23. So the Lord sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So that this Calling was of Gods own invention. We read Gen. 4. 20, 21, 22. who were the Fathers or Authors of this and that Calling, but the Husbandman is Apprentice to none but God. Isa. 28. 24, 26. Doth the Plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?—His God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. And he must be well taught that God teaches. Let us advise, sayes God, what Calling shall we pitch upon for this worthy Creature? How shall we dispose most nobly of him? what imployment is worthy of him that wears our Image upon him? Then falls in this excellent way of Husbandry; He shall be an Husbandman. Now it is a maxime, A summo Bono nil nisi bonum. p. 24The Sun may sooner send out a Cloud, then the Chiefest Good authorize any thing, but what is excellent. As on the contrary, The sin of Lying hath this base preheminence, that it was the first-born of the Devil, He is a liar and the Father of it; He stands the first Liar on record; So our Husbandmans Calling hath this high preheminence, that God was his only Master, and he his first Apprentice. And therefore of all imployments, he hath most reason to stand up for God, and depend on him.

It was the highest ambition of the heathen Artificer, to derive their Arts from some of their Gods, but alass their Gods were men, the most vile and wicked men: and if they accounted it an honour, to receive the original of their Occupations from such, how much greater honour hath the Husbandman, who hath the Maker of Heaven and Earth, for the Author and Inventour of his Imployment?

SECT. II.§. 2.

A Second Excellency of the Husbandmans Excel. 2. The Holy Ghost brings most comparisons from it.Calling is, That the Holy Ghost brings most Comparisons from it. Most Books in the Scripture full of them. Plowing, Planting, feeding, &c. The Husbandman hath scarce a Tool, but it is put into the Canon of holy VVrit. If the Holy Ghost would teach by a p. 25Parable, he goes to the Husbandman, Mat. 13. A Sower went forth to sow. If Jesus Christ, would threaten by a Parable, the Husbandman shall be an instance, Luke 20. A certain man let forth his Vineyard to Husbandmen, &c. If the Holy Ghost would Comfort by a Parable, he goes still to the Husbandman, James 5. 7. Be patient therefore, Brethren, to the Coming of the Lord: Behold, the Husbandman waiteth, &c. God in these descending unto us, because we cannot easily ascend unto him, and making use of this world to instruct us about another. So that every business of the Husbandman, may well be a Sermon to him, seeing God himself hath taken the Text. And this I think is one Design of Parables, not only to bring down heavenly things to our Understandings, but to scrue up our Hearts by our sight of things below, and imployment herein, to heavenly thoughts and applications. So that it appears a great honour, that God hath done to Husbandry, to inoculate it so into the Scripture, and to ennoble the same, by applying it so much to heavenly Uses.

Yea the Lord himself hath taken the Name of an Husbandman upon him, John 15. 1. I am the true Vine, and my Father is the Husbandman, &c. As the King will be free of some Company, and a great honour it is unto them. As King James was free of the Clothworkers Company. K. Charls I. of the Company of Merchant Taylors. K. Charls II. of the Company of Grocers. So the King of Heaven p. 26seems to choose to be free of the Company of Husbandmen, and that is much for their Honour, Profit, and Instruction; so that he who reproaches the poor Husbandman, doth in a sort reflect upon God himself, who will uphold the Company of Husbandmen to the end of the world.

SECT. III.§ 3.

The Third Excellency of the Husbandman Excel. 3. He depends most on God.is, That he lives and depends most upon God. From Seedness to Harvest, he is bound to a constant dependance on God, and from Harvest to Seedness again. He wants Rain, and he goes to God; next he needs fair weather, and to God he must go again. This month he would have Frost, it will cherish his Corn: Another Month the Frost would spoyl his Orchard; One while he should have Snow, it would keep his ground as warm as Wool, at another time it would starve his Cattle; At one time he longs for Wind, to purifie the Air, at another time he is afraid of it, least it beat down his Corn: And this continual need sends him unto God, who giveth his Snow like wool, and scatt…reth the hoary Frost like ashes, who giveth his Wind to blow, and the Waters flow, and fitleth him with the finest of the Wheat, Psal. 147. 14, 16, 17. So that we may say of the Husbandman, as 'twas said p. 27of the Land of Canaan, Deut. 11, 11, 12. The Land is a Land of Hills and Vallyes (not like E…ypt, which being a Plain, depended upon the constant overflowings of Nilus, to make it fruitful, but this) drinketh water of the Rain of Heaven, a Land which the Lord thy God careth for, the eyes of the Lord thy God are alwayes upon it, from the beginning of the Year to the end of the Year. Even so the Husbandman hath a Calling, that the Lord must care for him, from the beginning of the Year to the end of the Year, And this is the Excellency of it. They are base Callings that depend on Man, (though many cringing Courtiers will not think so) but they are royal Callings that depend on God. Servants know their wages, but the Child depends; and who hath the more excellent place, think ye? The good Husbandman exercises, his Faith and Patience every day. Some Callings find exercise for Corruption, but this Calling finds exercise for Graces; And he when he cannot pray for Grace for his Soul, yet can pray for fair weather for his business. Of all men he had need to learn to pray, and that in earnest.

SECT. IV.§ 4.

A Fourth Excellency of Husbandry is, That Excel. 4. It is au harmless Calling.it is an harmless and deceitless Calling. There is not naturally nor usually that fraud p. 28and cunning in the Husbandman, as in other men. In many Callings, deceit is half the Trade; but plain dealing is the genuine frame of the good Husbandman, Gen. 25. 27. Esau, he was a cunning Hunter, but Jacob was a Plain man, dwelling in Tents; void of dissimulation and deceit; And he, we must not lose him, he was an Husbandman in our large acceptation, for our Father Adam was not set only to dress the earth, but to keep it too, and all that fed thereon. A plain man is the very description of an Husbandman. The Statesman deals in policy, the Souldier in cruelty, the Trades-man in dissimulation; the deepest policy of the Husbandman is to get bread for his Family, and pay his Rent; his greatest cruelty is to dig into the Bowels of the earth, his cunningest dissimulation is in fraying the fowls from his Corn, and to trappan and draw in a Rivulet to water his Medow…: Those are his Designs. If he can but ensnare the Birds that harm him, hee'l never over reach his B… thren that hurt him not. If he can learn cunning to sow his ground in the fittest time, he never contrives to …eap where he did not sow. And so though his income be not great, yet it is as solid as it seems; he hath shorter Commons, but others have a larger reckoning; and that estate which comes too soon, seldom stayes too long with any man.

Indeed in this Iron Age, too much fraud is stollen under this coat offreeze, but in the beginning it was not so; nor yet can the Husbandman p. 29cogg and flatter and circumvent with that impudence which others have: he Plowes not with the subtle Fox, but with the laborious Oxe; and if he cannot thereby reach a livelihood, hee'l rather fare hardly, himself, than deal hardly with his Brethren. Here, says he, I might sell bad for good, or less measure for full measure, but so might my next Crop be blasted; and if I deal deceitfully with men, my Kine and Sheep might next time cast their Young, and deceive me. I will be just and honest, sink or swim. Plain dealing is my only Jewel, and though by using it I dye a beggar, yet shall I be one of Gods poor, and then I care not.

SECT. V.§. 5.

A Fifth Excellency of this Calling is, That Excel. 5. It was the first Calling.it was the first Calling in the World, and sustains all others. There hath been great strife about the Antiquity of Countryes, and many Arguments have been tost. The Egyptians somtimes shewing fair, Cards for their praecedency, and then the Phaenicians other grounds for theirs: But in Antiquity of Callings, A mistake that Saturn taught it … to Janus & the Italians after Jupiter had expell'd him Crete, and that there was none in the Golden Age. See Plin. de invent. Agricult. l.7none can contend with the Husbandman: for ere the Sun had gone three dayes Journey, he was busie in the field; so that the Spade or Plow is the most ancient Coat of Armes that can be given by Herald. And then p. 30our Father Adam liked the Calling so well, that he put his eldest Son on this imployment Gen. 4. 2. But Cain was a Tiller of the ground. And so from Father to Son this Calling hath past to this very day in a lineal succession. And these Callings that now outbrave him, were at first Colonies and derivations from this their Founder. For man must have Raiment, and hence the Clothier; and an house to dwell The chief estFamilies in Rome had their names first from their skill in Husbandry and Corn. As the Bubulci, Pilumni, Fabil, Pisones, &c. Id. l. 18. c. 3.in, and hence the Builder; and tools he must have for his business, hence the Artificer in Brass and Iron; and some recreation when he is weary, and so Jubal must have his Custom, Gen. 4. 21. But his Plow maintains them all. From his sweat comes the Trades-mans living, and through his painful hands comes his Landlords Silver-lace. Yea Eccl. 5. 9. The Profit of the earth is for all; the King himself is served by the Field. As it is with a Ship, for all the rich lading and gallant passengers that are in her, for all the curious works, Cabbins, and carving on her, without the Rowe…s below and the Wind above, she is but a fine Cypher, and an useless Bulk: So all the Tradesmen, Statesmen, and Gallants in a Nation, would signifie very little, without the cares and labours of the Husbandman; If Gods Providence above, and his Plough below stand still, we must all shortly beg or starve.

It is reported of Willigis, a Wheelers Son, (Nephew to the Husbandman) that being made Arch-Bishop of Mentz and Elector of the Empire, he gave in his Coat of Armes, p. 31Three Wheels with this Motto (written in his Bed-Chamber in great Letters) Willigis, Willigis, recole unde veneris, Remember from whence thou camest. It little becomes the Child, when advanced to honour, to forget his honest poor and aged Parents; seeing without their concurrence he had never received a Being: And it doth as little become our splendid Gallants, or richest Merchants, to despise or look big on the first of their Line, the poor Husbandman, This is to forget the Rock whence they were hewen, and the hole of the pit whence they were digged.

SECT. VI.§ 2.

THe Sixth Excellency of the Husbandmans Excel. 6. It is a Calling of less Temptation than others.Calling, is, That it is a Calling of less temptation than others. Not that he is without temptations, as you will hereafter see, but his Temptations are not so strong, as in most other Callings. For 1 John 2. 16. We read of many Kings that have embraced this Calling, whenthey have left theirKingdomes; as Dioclesian, Attalus, Hero, Archslaus, …, Vlysses father.All that is in the world, is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Now his labour keeps down his lust, and his poverty helps to quell down his pride, and sure his worldly Desires cannot compare with those of vaster Estates, seeing the more a man hath, the more unsatisfied are his Desires. Joseph and Benjamin were own Brothers, but Joseph is exalted at Court, and Benjamin is seated in p. 32the Country; and now whether proves the safer? why, Benjamin he comes to Egypt humble, and modest, and sober; but Joseph, though 'tis like the better man, yet he is gotten into the Court fashion, and hath by the Life of Pharaoh at his tongues end. Nay one and the same man, holy David, who more chast and innocent in the Countrey, among his Sheep? but he was not so at the Court: So that as many great Oaks and Cedars fall, when Shrubs do keep their standing in a storm, so the great and rich and mighty ones of the world are often entrapped in lust, envy, pride, and Atheism; when the poor honest Husbandman is kept innocent and cleer.

I do not say but he hath an Heart too like other men, and perhaps would be as bad as they, if he had wherewith: But he hath not so great temptations, his God doth not give him Wind and Tyde, least he should drown himself: The Lace on a proud Tradesmans Cloak, would suit the Husbandman all the Year, and one of his Dinners would find his house the Month about; but yet he is adorned with the orient Jewels of Grace within, and tasts more Covenant comforts at an Ordinance, than the other doth in seven years. He hath not his Beauties in the Windows to allure him, nor the sparkling Wine to entice him, the newest Fashion is so far from entangling him, that it's ugly in his eyes; the charms of Musick do not inchant him, he is more taken with the musick of his Bees than p. 33any other. His Children are his usual Recreations, and his spare time he spends with them. And his Dinner of herbs with the love of God feeds him more safely, than a stalled Oxe, and Gods hatred with it.

SECT. VII.§ 7.

THe seventh Excellency of the Husbandmans Excell. 7. God may be most read in his Creatures herein.Calling is; That God may be read most in his Creatures therein. So that when others are studying self in their Callings, he is studying God in his calling. Though it may be he cannot one letter on the book, yet he can study God in the two-fold Glass of his Ordinance and his Creatures. And he hath an advantage herein above most other callings, in that his Business lies among trees, and flowers, & grass, and cattel, and even all the creatures of God. And Gods creatures are a book in Folio, each creature is a word, and each part of it a letter, out of which an holy heart may spell exceeding much of God, and converse with him, as in an Ordinance, all the Day long.

So our Father Adam did; Loving Father, sayes he, Here is thy wisdome, there thy mercy, in yonder Heavens thy Power and Glory, the whole Earth is full of thy Riches. And thus as the Sun is best seen in the water, so doth the religious Husband-man better and oftener fee God in his creatures, than many p. 34Philosophers and Divines in their books. Famous is that instance of the honest Poor man, whom One of the Ancients found weeping over a Toad; to think of the wonderful goodness of God, that had made him a reasonable creature, and not such a Toad; whereat the learned man cryed out, Rapiunt indocti coelum—these unlettered Country-men run away with heaven, while we do onelyonly talk thereof.

The School-men say, there is four wayes of knowing a man, and so of knowing God;

1. In vestigio, by the print of his foot, so we know that he is a man, but not who it is in particular.

2. In umbra, by his shadow or picture, here we know how tall and great he is.

3. In speculo, In a glass, so man saw God at his first creation.

4. In Filio, In his Son, so we know a mans name and nature very much.

Certain it is, that an Heavenly heart meets God in his way in every thing: he sees the footsteps of his power, wisdome and mercy in the creatures, his very picture in his Saints, his glory in the glass of his Ordinances, his very bowels in his Son.

The husband-man can read in a morning a sweet lecture of Dependance on God, upon the fowles of the air; of the Providence of God, in the lillies of the field; of the wisdome of God, in ordering the rivers to water the earth; of the power of God in preserving his corn, and p. 35bringing it up. Presentem que refert quaelibet, herba Deum.

SECT. VIII.§. 8.

AN Eighth Excellency of Husbandry is, Excell. 8. This Calling makes neither to… Rich nor Poor.That it makes a man neither too rich nor too poor. And this was a wise mans choice and prayer. Prov. 30. 8. Give me neither poverty nor ri…ches: not but that God can make either of them blessings, and many a man hath gone to Heaven out of a Palace, and ve…y many out of a Cottage; but the middle state is the safest, and that is the Husband-mans condition; his state is above Pitty, and below Envy. They that pity him, know not his comforts and contents; Herod. lib. 1. p. 12. The … at Delphos did adjudge one Aglaus most happy, who labouring a little … in Arcadia, never went out of it, and desiring little wealth, had little Trouble in his life. …. ….and they who envy him, know not his cares and labours, I dare say never paid his Rent. Solon accounted Tellus the Athenian, the most happy man, for living privately on his own Lands; and thus the Husbandman is happy. That food is best, that makes a man neither too lean and languid, nor too fat and foggy; and that state is best, that gives a man food convenient for him.

For as for Riches, they are mercies, but they are dangerous mercies; Sin never prospers more then in prosperity; it doth emasculate and effeminate the spirits, and nourisheth so many weeds, that the winter of affliction hath much adoe to master them: How loth are men p. 36to deny themselves, when they have a great self to deny? how loth to dye, that have so much to leave? what cares must needs invade their prayers, and break their Rest, that have abundance? And how hard is it to be full and not forget the Lord, grow lazy in Religion, and love the present world? So that a wise man will be as much afraid to be rich, as others are to be poor. Now the Husbandman is seldom sick of a surfet; If he can reach wholesome meat and cloaths, and pay his rent, and put his children in a way to live, he hath his desire.

And then on the contrary, Poverty is a wofull Disease, makes a man unuseful, heartless and burdensome, and hazzards him on unlawfull courses; He may be tempted to distrust providence, and so steal, and take Gods name in vain; and except mens hearts were softer, more will pity him than relieve him: Now the Husbandman, though his fare be be hard, and his rayment course, yet he is kept from stealing; instead of begging he relieves the beggar, and makes amends for the smallness of his Alms, with the smiles that go with it. As our Holy Statist saith, though he wear Fu…ler H. S.tin in his buttons, yet hath he silver in his pocket, and if he wear russet clothes, yet he makes golden payment.

p. 37SECT. IX.§ 9.

THe Ninth Excellency of Husbandry is, Excell. 9. It is a Calling of greatest necessity.That it is a Calling of the greatest necessity. It is none of the trades that the world might well live without. Some callings serve the Delight of man, some his Fancy, some his Lust, but this serves his Necessity. Now Necessity sets the price on things. Sole & Sale nihil utilius. The Commonness of the Sun in Heaven, or the Salt upon Earth, doth not diminish from the worth of them, because they This is a good work for necessary uses, Tit. 3. 14.Titus 3:14are so necessary: So the multitude of Husbandmen abates not their excellency, we cannot live without them. You would read but faintly, nor I write this that you are reading, but for some. Husbandmans sweating last harvest. How should God have his Rent for all these creature comforts, but through his help? Or how should man have a livelihood without his fore-cast? The Earth would quickly return to her bryars and thorns without his culture. Instead of Roses we must have Nettles, and instead of Corn, brambles: And therefore let him have his honour, we cannot live without him.

As Grace is the one thing needful for the Soul, it lives not a day in a true sence without it; so Bread is the one thing needful for the body, and it dyes without it: without the p. 38staff of bread we fall to the ground; and who can provide for bread without the Husbandman? Plutarch tells of one Pythis, a great Prince, that having discovered some rich mines in his territories, imployed so many of his Subjects there, that tillage being neglected, a general dearth followed. His prudent Queen, being sensible of the calamity of the Country, when her Husband came hungry to dinner, had procured the Bread and Meat to be artifi…lly made of Gold. The King was delighted with the deceit, till being throughly hungry, he called for real meat: Nay, (says she) if you imploy all your Subjects in your Mines, you must expect to feed upon Gold, for nothing else can your Kingdome afford. So that the digging in the mines must give place to the Husbandmans digging in the ground, else they'l dig but a while. You remember that pretty Fable, of all the members mutinying against the Belly, for that they did all the work, and she devoured all the meat; wherefore they resolved to cut her short, she should labour as well as they, or fast for it. Accordingly they deal with her, all the members refuse to help her: but e're long the hands languish, the legs grow feeble, the eyes dim, and the head light, and soul and body had like to have taken leave: At length they see their errour, and perceive that the belly maintain'd them all, and for all its … they could not live without it, and so renewed their care thereof, and then their strength was renewed p. 39even so, though the Husbandman have but a low situation in the body politick, yet' if he be discouraged, neglected, or should surcease, all degrees of men would be at a loss, and from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, the body politick would be sick.

SECT. X.§. 10.

THe Tenth Excellency of the Husbandmans calling is, That it is an healthful and Excell. 10. It is an healthful and chearfull Calling.chearfull Calling. His labour is his Physick, and he purgeth through all his pores; A Doc…our is seldome seen in his house, he lives above them, and mostly lives without them, unless it be that Colledge of Physitians, Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. Merryman, as you use to term them. He hath no superfluities at his Table to beget crudities in Fons, speculum, gramen … sunt alleviamen.his stomack, is not inflamed with Sack, nor drown'd in Green grass, clear glass, and fountains pure, Refresh eye sight, long to endure. Mr. Austen.flegm, nor sunk with poring Melancholy. He is singing at his work, when others are puling in their chambers. And though he have not riches and honour, which are onelyonly 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 p. 40before 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 …erusalem, which though we cannot peremptorily The vapours of fresh earth by digging condense & refresh the spirits. Bacon Hist. of Life and death, pag. 207. 28. Who saith, That moderate exercise, fresh airs, …leasant odours, and wholesome meat and drink, all profitable to long life, pag. 179 180. The Husb…ndman hath all these. A certain great Lord who lived long, had every morning at his awaking a clod of fresh earth laid under his nose, for the smell thereof. Id.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 medi… 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 p. 41sing 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.§ 11.

THe Eleventh Excellency of the Husband… Excell. 11. It is a sa…e Galling.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. ††—Tolluntur in altum ut lapsu graviore ruant. Claudian. …. 1.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 p. 42is 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.§. 12. Excell. 12. This Calling is a great friend to Piety.

The Twelfth Excellency of this Calling of an Husbandman is, That it is a greater p. 43friend 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. ††Aegidio, a Spanish Divine, was Dr. and Reader of Divinity in two Universities, yet was no body at Preaching till he was instructed by a plain Countreyman. Mr. Clark Mart. pag. 225.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 p. 44to him; It is an ease and refreshment … him, which is work and trouble to others As sleep is welcome to a labouring man, not s… 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 onelyonly 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.Cato reports, that if one were call'd by the name of a Good husbandman, he was prailed in the highest d… gree. Plin. lib. 16. c. 3.

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 O fortunatos nimium, bona si sua norint, Agricolas. Virgil.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 p. 45of 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.