N02451:54
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.
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.
IV. You must not think much of it, if you find Repentance to be a Laborious thing. If you will do any thing at ploughing, you must not be they whose Hands refuse to labour. The Sluggard will do nothing in Repentance, that will avail any thing. What a miserable Soul, will be the Field of the Slothful? O Soul void of understanding! Lo, 'Tis all grown over with Thorns; Nettles cover the Face thereof; and the Stone wall thereof is broken down. We read, 2. Tim. II. 6. The Husbandman laboureth. If the Life of Husbandry be Laborious, a Life of Repentance is no less Laborious. GOD will be a Rewarder to none but those who diligently seek Him. The Business of Repentance is to seek Him. A Diligence must be found in the performances with which we manage it. It is with all our Might that we are to do what our Hand finds to do. We are to Toil at it, yea, to Sweat at it. It is to the Repenting Believer, as well as to the Laborious Husbandman, that it has been said, In the sweat of thy Face thou shalt carry on, what thou hast to do. Things very tedious, very tiresome, to Flesh and Blood, are to be encountered in a life of Repentance. O Repenting ⟨p. 15⟩Soul, Thou shalt often be weary in well doing; I trust; Never weary of it.
IV. You must not think much of it, if you find Repentance to be a Laborious thing. If you will do any thing at plowing, you must not be they whose Hands refuse to labour. The Sluggard will do nothing in Repentance, that will avail any thing. What a miserable Soul, will be the Field of the Slothful? O Soul void of understanding! Lo, 'Tis all grown over with Thorns; Nettles cover the Face thereof; and the Stone wall thereof is broken down. We read, 2. Tim. II. 6. The Husbandman laboureth. If the Life of Husbandry be Laborious, a Life of Repentance is no less Laborious. GOD will be a Rewarder to none but those who diligently seek Him. The Business of Repentance is to seek Him. A Diligence must be found in the performances with which we manage it. It is with all our Might that we are to do what our Hand finds to do. We are to Toyl at it, yea, to Sweat at it. It is to the Repenting Beleever, as well as to the Laborious Husbandman, that it has been said, In the sweat of thy Face thou shalt carry on, what thou hast to do. Things very tedious, very tiresome, to Flesh and Blood, are to be encountred in a life of Repentance. O Repenting