A61391:195
The husbandmans calling showing the excellencies, temptations, graces, duties &c. of the Christian husbandmanThe husbandmans calling shewing the excellencies, temptations, graces, duties &c. of the Christian husbandman
The husbandmans calling showing the excellencies, temptations, graces, duties &c. of the Christian husbandman : being the substance of XII sermons preached to a country congregation / by Richard Steele.The husbandmans calling shewing the excellencies, temptations, graces, duties &c. of the Christian husbandman : being the substance of XII sermons preached to a country congregation / by Richard Steele.
London: printed by M.S., 1668
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Thus the Honour also which is due to God, is often laid at the feet of second Causes, and men bless 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 freedom and frequency, but speak of Gods blessing, which was All in All, seldom, and with much straitness.
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 Antidotes against this Temptation are,
The Autidotes against this Temptation are,
1. A full Persuasion 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 dependence 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 plough 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 testify their expectation of plenty from her. It is God alone that crowns the year with his Goodness,