N02451:143
Agricola. Or, The religious husbandman: the main intentions of religion, served in the business…
Agricola. Or, The religious husbandman: the main intentions of religion, served in the business and language of husbandry. A work adapted unto the grand purposes of piety; and commended therefore by a number of ministers, to be entertained in the families of the country. : [One line from I Corinthians]Agricola. Or, The religious husbandman: the main intentions of religion, served in the business and language of husbandry. A work adapted unto the grand purposes of piety; and commended therefore by a number of ministers, to be entertained in the families of the countrey. : [One line from I Corinthians]
Boston: printed by T. Fleet for D. Henchman, 1727
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Georgica Sacra. The SOWING Of the Field. › The Stony Ground.
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.
First, There will be the more general Temptation of Adversity, to try the sincerity and perseverance of them that seem to Receive the Word of GOD. We read, Mat. IV. 17. Affliction ariseth. Many may have the Vanity to expect little Affliction, when their ways are once directed for keeping the statutes of GOD. O vain Dream! When our SAVIOUR has expressly forewarned us, In the world ye shall have Tribulation! But, by Adversity, there will be a Trial made of us, whether we really Receive the word of GOD as we say, we do. Self-denial is what the word of GOD in the first place, indispensably calls for; Tis, the First Lesson of the word. When Adversity comes, it lays the Cross on us. It is now Tried, how we can bear it, and whether we can patiently deny our selves of every thing at the Call and for the sake of, our Lord. If under Adversity we suitably, quietly, fruitfully bear the Cross, and forego what we must part ⟨p. 46⟩withal; then we have Received the word of GOD aright. But if under Adversity, we grow weary of serving our Lord, and of waiting on Him, and of sitting under His Discipline; then the word of GOD was never well received in our Souls. Oh! that being Tried we may come forth as Gold; And by Learning the statutes of GOD from it, and becoming more f••m in our Adhering, and more full in our Conforming unto them for it, we may find it Good for us that we have been afflicted.
Secondly; There will be the more special Temptation of Persecution, to try our sincerity and perseverance. We read, Mat. XIII. 21. Persecution ariseth because of the Word. Cain's Club walks about, unto this very Day; and we have a fair premonition; All that will live Godlily in CHRIST JESUS shall suffer Persecution. Until the second Coming of our great GOD and SAVIOUR, the World will never see a Day, wherein a Man may be an Holy Man, and suffer nothing for being so. For, Satan will not be Bound, until the second Coming of the Lord. And until Satan be Bound, we cannot imagine, that he will cease to give Trouble unto all that Love the Lord JESUS CHRIST in sincerity. The Third Chapter of Genesis, will never cease to operate, until we come to the Twentieth Chapter of the Revelation. Where the Persecution of the Hand is Restrained, and wicked Men have not their Tools to work withal, yet the Persecution of the Tongue, and the Methods to express much Unkindness, much Aversion, will never fail. But as in the Days of Ishmael, even so it is now. The genuine Children of GOD, must be hated, and mocked, and wronged, by the Children of the wicked one. By this