A SERMON PREACHED AT GOULDSBROUGH in Yorkshire, BEFORE THE RIGHT Worshipful Sir Richard Hutton Knight, one of his Majesty's justices of the Court of Common Pleas.  LAMENT. 4.9. 
They that be slain with the sword, are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.  
LONDON, Printed by john Haviland for Richard Moor, and are to be sold at his shop in Saint Dunstan's Churchyard. 1622.   

TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL, Sir RICHARD HUTTON Knight, one of his Majesty's justices of the Court of Common Pleas.  
Right Worshipful,  
IT was the custom of the Persian Kings, when they saw their children misdemean themselves, at the first to spare them, and to punish their servants in their sight, to try if that would terrify them from their sinister courses: Thus hath the King of Kings of late dealt with us, who as we hope are his children; for noting our misbehaviour, he hath spared us, and with immoderate showers and overswelling waters he hath punished the earth that was created to be serviceable to us. Many can familiarly discourse of this, but few make any good use thereof: which I have seen and observed with sorrow. And knowing it a duty incident to my calling, to put men in mind of God's secret admonishments, I applied my meditations to that purpose, which I also delivered in your Worship's presence, and have now (according to your request) sent you a true copy of the same. The manifold undeserved kindnesses which I have received from you, do bind me to make an unfeigned acknowledgement of my love and duty to you, which I shall be ready upon every occasion to manifest, and my prayers shall always attend you and your Family.  
From Spoforth the 21. of October. Your Worships always at command, ROBERT OXLEY.   

A SERMON PREACHED AT GOULDSBROUGH in Yorkshire.  PSAL. 107.34. 
A fruitful land maketh he barren, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.  
AMongst the manifold grievances which befell mankind, for the fall and disobedience of man, it is not to be forgotten, that the Lord cursed the very earth for his sake; adjudging it to bring forth thorns, and thistles, and to become barren, according to this saying of the Psalmist, A fruitful land maketh he barren, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. Barren (I say) either bringing forth no fruits at all, or such as where Infelix lolium, & steriles dominantur avenae, such as in the growth is overgrown with darnel, smothered with choking thorns, and the purest grain spoiled with wasting cockle. The wily Serpent in his hellish conference with our Grandam Eve, 
Gen. 3.4.  promised length of days, a gift that Wisdom is said to bring in her right hand, 
Pro. 3.16.  length of days is in her right hand, and in her left riches and glory: 
Gen. 3.5.  he promised dominion, Eritis sicut dij, ye shall be like Gods, but instantly the earth, whose Lord whilom they was, denied to pay her tribute, but upon condition, scil. that they should take pains to till her; whence it comes to pass to be so with us now, that if we expect profit from the earth, than (iuncto 'bove aratra trahuntur) we must rip up the bowels of the earth: and yet this is not all, for whosoever it be that plants or waters, it is God only that gives the increase; Except the Lord build the house, the workman's labour is but in vain: Wherefore if we would have good success to follow our erterprises, if we would have our pains and labours in our callings, to yield fruits answerable to our expectation, then must we so compose our affections, and dispose our affairs, that we may walk worthy in the sight of God: which if we do, he will bless us, and that which we go about, he will prosper all our proceed: but if we misspend our time, and live impiously, wickedly, we may purpose, but God will dispose, he will so disprosper our proceed, and frustrate us of our hope, that whatsoever we take in hand shall be vain and fruitless: yea our native soil the ground that we tread upon, for our sins shall be cursed, and despoiled of her glory, (i) her fruitfulness, as here testifieth the Psalmist, A fruitful land maketh he barren for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.  
The Prophet David that sweet singer of Israel, is the unquestioned author of this Psalm: he composed it, partly to stir men up to gratefulness, in regard of God's graciousness towards them; but more specially to discover the error of those, which deny the universal and particular providence of God, in ordering and disposing the things of this world; for as (in respect of God) his creation was the mother that brought forth the world, with all things therein, so his providence is the nurse that bringeth it up: as his creation gave it a being, so his providence keepeth it in that esse: as his creation erected the whole fabric of the world, and composed and set in order all the parts thereof, so his providence keepeth it in repair, it governeth and disposeth all the particulars therein: this he doth convince, by many examples of things done, both by sea and by land, which have so come to pass, that of necessity we must grant their causes and effects to have been wholly governed by God; but his special argument, tending to that purpose, and standing in nearest reference to my text, is drawn from the consideration of those changes and alterations, which ignorance commonly doth ascribe to fate or fortune, as the fruitfulness, and unfruitfulness of the earth: which proceeds from the seasonableness & the unseasonableness of the weather. These things come not to pass as Epicures fond dream, by chance; nor as the Peripatetics hold, by a general providence; nor as the Stoics aver, only by the operation of second causes, but by God's special providence, ordinance, and appointment, whose actions are free, not bound to the observance of times, nor means, who when it pleaseth him, can send the former and latter rain in due season, who (as it is in the verse following my text) can make of a parched wilderness, a standing water, and extract water springs out of a dry ground, so that the hills shall flourish, and the valleys stand thick with grain, and grass: and again when fullness brings forth forgetfulness, and men attribute that which they have, to the goodness of their land, or greatness of their labour, and do not acknowledge God to be the Author thereof, then (as it is in the verse before my text) he turneth the flood into a wilderness, and drieth up their water springs: Then, A fruitful land maketh he barren, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.  
In these words are two things observable.  

1. A judgement.  
2. The cause thereof.   
In the judgement there is a metamorphosis, or change, of wealth into want, plenty into poverty, fruitfulness into barrenness: A fruitful land maketh he barren.  
The impulsive cause is, the wickedness of them that dwell therein. First for the first, scil. the judgement: wherein note, the Author of it, and the judgement itself. The Author of the judgement is indefinitely expressed under the pronoun ille, maketh he, that is, the Lord, by his power, maketh the wilderness a standing water, and water springs of a dry ground, and thereby causeth fruitfulness; and when he is thereunto provoked, by the inhabitants sins, than he turneth the flood into a wilderness, and maketh the fruitfullest countries become extreme barren. A fruitful land maketh he barren. So than it is the Lord that is the Author of fruitfulness and barrenness, it is he that sendeth plenty or poverty. Whence two lessons may be taken forth, seasonable for two sorts of people, scil.  

1. The rich.  
2. The poor.   
For the rich: The king may not boast of his great Babel, nor the rich man of his full barns, but as having nothing save what they have received, they should say, Not unto us Lord, not unto us, but to thy name be ascribed the glory. For the poor, they should rest contented with their portion, and legitimate Gods proceeding, for it is he, that either for trial of their patience, or to reclaim them from their perverseness, hath turned their fruitfulness into barrenness: A fruitful land maketh he barren. Thus much for the Author. Now for the judgement itself: wherein observe the matter and the manner. For the matter, it is a change of fruitfulness into barrenness. What it is to be fruitful, and what it is to be barren, is well known; and that such changes have chanced experience testifieth: and therefore we pass by the matter of the judgement, and come to the manner of it, scil. to show how the Lord effecteth this change, how he maketh a fruitful land to become barren. The Lord maketh a fruitful land barren, by one of these three means, scil. either 

First, by his supernatural power, or  
Secondly, by natural means, or  
Thirdly, by unnatural men.    
First, by his supernatural power, whereby contrary to the course of nature, he maketh the heaven as iron, the earth as brass, as he did in the days of Eliah, 
1 Reg. 17.  when there fell no rain upon the face of the earth, for three year's space, which closed up their water springs, yea that drought caused such a dearth, and that dearth was seconded with such a famine, as destroyed multitudes, both of men and beasts.  
Secondly, as the Lord maketh a fruitful land barren by his supernatural; so he can effect the same by natural means, when he useth the creatures (which were created for the use and service of man) to be the correctors and reprovers of the faults of men. To enlarge this by some instances: Amongst the elements, the fire is so necessary a creature, that without the heat thereof, neither man nor any thing made for the good of man, could grow or prosper; this, I say, at God's appointment, to man's great prejudice and hindrance, rageth with unmerciful fury, consuming to ashes, the dwellings, commodities, and the bodies of men: The air, a sweet element made for man to breathe in, which he draweth into his intrals to preserve the spirit of life; he can alter the property thereof, making it contagious, and infectious, inspiring for life, death and destruction: The waters, to which he hath set bounds that they should not pass, at his permission overflow their banks, and then without all resistance, drown corn fields, meadows, pastures, and whatsoever cometh within the currant of their streams: The earth, which was created fruitful, to make itself barren, yields thorns, thistles, and briers, which choke the growth of come; cockle, darnel, and tares, which bind it fast to the ground; caterpillars, and locusts, which eat it in the blade; mildews, which blast it in the Ear: with sundry other destructions of the husbandman's labour, for there is not any thing of that which is either sown, or planted by the hand of the husbandman, but hath some impediment and hindrance from the earth or air to annoy it; and they are all just judgements sent from God, whereby he maketh a fruitful land barren, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.  
Thirdly, the Lord maketh a fruitful land barren by unnatural men.  
1. Whereof one sort being forgetful of the saying, non nobis nati, we are not borne for ourselves only, but to do good to others, are therefore too careful for their own, and too careless for others welfare: their care is to do mischief to others, if themselves may gain thereby, for aiming at their private gain, they engross and hoard up the commodities and treasures of the land, till they have caused a public dearth; these, I say, are God's instruments, though they intent it not, & effect that unwittingly, which he willeth; they are his rod wherewith he scourgeth his people for their sins.  
2. Another sort careless both of themselves and others, like desperate Pirates endeavour to boar holes in the ship they sail in, thereby to sink it in the Ocean, like Vipers they labour to eat out the bowels of their native soil, their mother country which brought them forth, by stirring up mutinous sedition, and civil discord; during which tumults there is no time to sow the ground, nor plant vineyards; nor any opportune season to gather those fruits of increase which the earth yields without tillage, but all is laid waste, and the land made barren; and then, (when the Lord either by his supernatural power, hath shut fast the windows of heaven, by denying the former and the latter rain: or dissolved the waterish clouds into immoderate showers; 
Psal. 78. vers. 47, 48.  or when by natural means, he gives your fruits to the Caterpillar, your labours to the Grasshopper, and your Mulberry trees to the frost; or when by unnatural men, through their unnatural practices, he hath despoiled the earth of her fruitfulness, and made the land barren) than I say, what follows, but famine and pestilence; first steps in famine, than which there is no temporal punishment more pinching and miserable, insomuch that the Prophet David, 
2 Sam. 24. v. 14.  being put to his choice into which one of the three evils he would fall into, rather choosed the pestilence than it; for it is a lingering and long-lasting torment, and hath driven men to those extremities & enormities, that nothing else could do: it hath made mother's murderers, and turned the sanctuary of life into the shambles of death; it hath broken down the hedges both of nurture and nature: for in ordinary course man is not meat for man, but manchet for his maker, 
2 Reg. 6. v. 28.  yet hath famine made those wombs which gave children harbour before their births, afterwards become the place of their burial; it hath made the practices of men lamentable, and abominable, both to be pitied and abhorred. It made one, as josephus relateth, 
De bello judaico.  to cut the throat of another, that he might get the morsel he had put in his mouth, ere it was descended into his maw. When famine hath played her part, then cometh pestilence, for they two attend the one upon the other, and this latter finding such feeble and weak resistance, (the strength of nature by the former being disabled) throws whole multitudes grovelong on the ground: and thus you see that when men forget their maker, the senseless creatures, as if they were sensible of wrongs done to their Creator, come shouldering, crowding, and striving, which of them should first take revenge of us, in their master's quarrel; the fire consumes our mansions, the air infects our breath, the waters drown our fruits, the earth like an angry merchant, when it hath showed rich wares, shuts up the shop, and leaves us never the better for them; and these are the judgements of God, sent to make a fruitful land barren for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.  
But quid hoc ad rombum? What is all this to the purpose? Peradventure the Psalmist might have some cause to speak this to the people of the jews, and to the land of Israel; but what is this to us, and to the land of England? Yes (beloved) the glass reflects to us: for, for the subject, scil. A fruitful land; Such a one is this triangle Island wherein we live, and that which Moses spoke of the fruitfulness of the land of Israel, may be affirmed of the land of England; The Lord thy God, saith Moses to Israel, 
Deut. 8.7.9.  bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains, and deeps that spring out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it: a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains thou mayest dig brass. In all these respects England is fruitful as well as Israel; it affords dishes dressed with dainties; Garners fraught with grain, staules filled with fatlings, orchards full of fruits; gardens, and fields aspersed and enamuled with variety of fragrant flowers, innumerable multitudes of water-springs, whereof some show wonderful effects in curing diseases, pleasant rivers, running Meander-like along their silver shores: a sweet and wholesome air to breathe in; and what not? requisite either for the profit or pleasure of man: so that our land is as it were, the treasury and store-house of God's blessings: and we may affirm as truly as any other nation, that our lot and portion is fallen us in a good land. But what then? is our gold become dim? hath God made our fruitful land barren? no, he hath not, and therefore here I must for application, make use of that, that the Psalmist makes the burden or under-song of this Psalm, 
Ps. 15.21.31.  O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men; that they would exalt him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the seat of the elders; and so much the rather, because he hath not only given us this good and fruitful land, but withal sends us calm and peaceable times, to enjoy the fruits thereof: we are not, nor we have not this long time (blessed be God's name for it) been scared with the barkings of uncouth Wolves, but so as every man might quietly rest, and repose himself under his own vine and his own figtree; we have peace, the child of heaven; plenty, the child of peace; pleasure, the child of plenty: We are raised up to our labours by the noise of the cock, which chirping so merrily, can greet the morning, whereas others are raised up to the battle, by the sound of the trumpet: so that in this respect also, God hath blessed us above other countries. Do but look about you, and whilst you tremble at the plagues natural to your neighbours, bless God for your safety. Behold the confines, Christendom; Polonia, and Hungary, 
2 Reg. 18.  infested by the Turk, who like Senacherib, hath sent his host to defy the living Lord: Italy groaneth under the slavery of Antichrist; France sometimes a flourishing kingdom, now made wretched through her own uncivil civil wars; Germany for long time knew not what peace meant, and yet their war is not ended, but for a time by truce suspended: Ireland hath felt the fruits of her rebellion: Bohemia is made the cockpit for all Christendom to fight their battles in; only England remains like Gideons' fleece, dry and secure, when the rain of God's judgement hath wet in a manner the whole earth beside: a peaceable Prince leads us, and the Prince of peace leads him: and therefore I must needs once more say with the Psalmist, O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men. Well, but the Sun doth not always shine, neither is there any time, or day of jollity without an evening of conclusion, if no cloud of disturbance prevent it with overcasting: and therefore though all things be well with us now, and our land yet continues fruitful, yet it may be otherwise, and then, considering that God is the author of all alterations, let us examine whether we by our carriage and demeanour towards him, have not already deserved a change or no: Let us after the example of the man going to war, 
Luk. 14.31.  sit down, and take advice, whether we be able with ten thousand, to meet him that cometh against us with twenty thousand, or no: after this examination held, doubtless we shall find that we have deserved that he should withdraw his goodness from us, and that we have justly provoked him to send forth his power against us, which if he do, we are not able to answer him one for a thousand; the least and meanest of his creatures are too forcible for us, if he set them to fight: an host of frogs, an army of grasshoppers, a swarm of flies, dismayed King Pharaoh, and all his people; than si rem nostram sapimus, if we be spiritually wise, whilst the enemy is a fare off, ere God's judgements fall upon us, we will send forth our Ambassadors, our fervent prayers, and serious repentance, to desire conditions of peace: and for our former misdeeds, we should resolve, and promise amendment of life: and so much the rather should we do this, because if we do duly observe it, he hath already given us fair warning to take heed. Doth not the fire every year consume our mansions in some part of our land? Hear we not of inundations of waters? with unseasonable weather in the extremes? This may serve to testify that God is angry, and to put us in mind of the deluge of our sins: the cry of them reacheth unto heaven, and there works our woe, by turning one year into dryness, to make the land barren; and the next dissolving into liquid tears, and immoderate showers, dropping down for fatness, dearth and death. Quicquid id est, timeo: howsoever the matter is, we may well fear that it is our rebellion against God, that makes this commotion of the creatures against us: hath not the Lord of late time cast forth his ice like morsels? It will be remembered whilst Chronicles can speak, that within these few years, the earth was fast bound with a prodigious frost to England's wonderment, when Thames was paved for cart and carriage, on one day able to support a weight of wonder, and on the next dissolved into liquid waters: at that time it pierced so deep into the bowels of the earth, that the effects thereof as yet are sensible. Surely this should warn us of our zeal to God-wards, more cold than icicles on a winter's day hanging at our doors: strange it is, that so many Sunshines as have been since, and showers of God's mercies still poured upon us, should not have thawed our frozen hearts, and bred an alteration of life in us. But not to trouble you with recounting things past; observe but with me this judgement, that even now hangs over you; now is your harvest come, at which time (as the old saying is) God openeth his barn doors, and invites your labours to gather your winter provision; but doth not he himself use the blustering winds as his flail, to thresh the corn out of the ear, before you can get it from off the earth?  
Now hath God spread his table, for so I may term the earth, and furnished it with dainty cates and viands, with a rich store of corn and grass: but doth he not use immoderate showers, and unmerciful floods, as a voider to take all away, before you have stayed your stomaches? Think not that this comes by chance, nor fix your eyes upon the arrow that wounds you, but upon the hand that drew the bow; look higher than the clouds, and you shall see the finger of God in the work, for the intercourse and change of weather is ordered by his providence: 
Amos. 4.7.  I (saith the Lord) have withheld the rain from you, when there was yet three months to the harvest, I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city. And, 
Job 38.28.  Hath the rain a Father? saith job, and who hath begotten the drops of dew? 
jerem. 14.22.  And, Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? saith a Prophet, or can the heavens give showers? art not thou only he, o Lord our God? This granted, scil. that the clouds are Gods bottles, and that he only emptieth them when, where, and in what measure he will; it plainly appears, that this unseasonable season, is his messenger, purposely sent, either 

1. To try our patience, or  
2. To reclaim us from our sins.    
1. If for the former end, we ought to be so far from grudging and murmuring at it, that contrarily we should welcome it with a cheerful heart. When a man would buy an earthen vessel, he will knock upon it with his hand, and judge of the soundness of it by the sound: when God doth knock upon us by any cross, if we sound clearly and bear ourselves cheerfully, it is a hopeful sign, that we are meet for his acceptance; but if we return an hoarse noise of murmuring and repining, it is a fearful token, that we shall be rejected.  
2. But if this messenger be not sent so much to try our patience, as to reclaim us from our sins, if these immoderate showers tell us that our sins have kept no low water, the tide of them hath ever been swelling, then let us humble ourselves before God by repentance, lest he humble us with greater afflictions: and seeing that the waters of sin have descended down into our souls, let us draw them up again with buckets of sighs, and pump them out in rivers of tears: let our eyes gush forth with tears, in passion for ourselves, in compassion for others, because neither we nor they have so kept the law of God as we ought: this if we perform, happily it may be a means to prevent Gods further judgements, and to reconcile us again to his favour: and every one of us ought to perform this, because that though this judgement be not alike showed against our whole land, but some part, and therein some persons do specially feel the smart of it; yet, tunc tua res agitur, we should be so sensible one of another's miseries, that we should take these judgements that befall others, as warnings sent to admonish us. Those upon whom the tower of Siloan fell, were they greater sinners than all the rest in Jerusalem? I tell you no, saith Christ, but except you repent, ye shall likewise perish. In that any are spared, it is of his mercy: the Lord hath often heretofore, and even now hath found us securely sleeping in our sins, as David found Saul sleeping in a cave, cutting a piece of our garment, touching a corner of our land with afflictions; and though we have all deserved to feel the scourge of his judgement, yet of his mercy he leaves peace within our Walls, plenty within our Palaces, making good the proverb concerning the rainbow, scil. that God's bow is without a bolt; he threatneth much and warneth often, before he will suffer his whole displeasure to arise; what then, Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbidden: nay, God hath forbidden it, for that will enhance his wrath, and improve his anger against us; rather let us fear that the regions are not yet white for the harvest, the sins of the land are not yet mellow for God's judgements, but like a bottle cast into the water, which whilst it is but partly full, leaneth to the one side; but when it is filled to the brim, it sinketh directly to the bottom: so we ought to fear, that though in respect of God's judgements, our land yet leaneth but to the one side; yet when those waters of Mara, those bitter waters are brim full, when the sin of the land, the measure of iniquity is filled, there is then nothing to be looked for, but an utter ruin and downfall. What shall I say then? 
1 Reg. 18.44.  Arise, quoth Elias to Ahab, I hear a sound of abundance of rain, prepare thy Chariot, except thou pass quickly thou canst not pass. Here the sound of the rain prevented the danger that might have come by it: O that it would be so with us, that being forewarned, we would be fore-armed, that the sound & foretelling of the judgement, would be a means to prevent the execution thereof: doubtless our sins have justly provoked God's justice to proceed to the chastisement of sinners, yet in his mercy he first puts the axe to the root of the tree, to see if reformation of manners and amendment of life will prevent the cutting down. Let us therefore make use of God's admonitions, and be schooled by them, lest if we continue in our sins, we force the Lord to extend his wrath against us, & to turn our fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of us that dwell therein. Thus much shall serve for the judgement, A fruitful land maketh he barren.  
II. Now we come to speak of the cause of the judgement, in these words, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. Although it be true that Almighty God doth visit some of his elect people, for no cause or crime by them committed, as appears by the man that was blind from his birth: concerning whom, 
john 9 vers. 1, 2, 3.  when the question was made to Christ, whether that judgement was befallen him for his own sin, or for the sins of his parents, he answered, that it was for neither, but that the works of God might be manifested in him: yet notwithstanding this, I no where find it, that God ever bend his ire against a whole kingdom, and made a fruitful land to become barren, till he was thereunto urged by the sins of the people; but when men persist in sinning, he than proceeds to punishing. There have been four flourishing Monarchies in the world, and sin hath let down the sinews of them all, and made them barren: Lust dissolved the first Monarchy amongst the Assyrians; Prodigality supplanted the second of the Persians; Ambition dismembered the third of the Grecians; hidden hatred and private malice wracked the fourth of the Romans. Sin caused the flood that drowned the old world, brought the fire from heaven that burned Sodom and Gomorrah, opened the earth to swallow Corah, Dathan, and Abiram: and how often did it provoke the Lord to punish his own people, even his people Israel, which was dear unto him as the apple of his eye, & Signet on his finger? So that this evil is the cause of all evils, it causeth all afflictions and calamities, all pain and penury, it depriveth us of all Gods spiritual blessings and temporal benefits, and (still to put you in mind of this present occasion) doubtless it is our sins that have caused these immoderate showers and unseasonable weather, whereby the Lord makes our fruitful land barren. This being thus, it should teach us, 

1. To bewail our sins past.  
2. To beware of sins to come.    
1. To bewail sins past: Shall the young Swallows, our unbridled youngsters sing in the warm chimneys; shall the lustful Sparrows, noctivagant adulterers, sit chirping about our houses; shall the filching jays, secret thiefs, rob our Orchards, shall the Kite and Cormorant, devour and hoard our fruits? And shall not the Doves mourn, and the voice of the Turtle be heard in our land, for these enormities? Let not our hearts be so hid in the Maze of vanities, that repentance cannot find them out; shall the heavens shed tears, and the earth mourn for our sins, and shall not we be moved? Rather let us have our eyes like the fishponds of Hesbon standing full of water, that so we may appear beautiful in the sight of our beloved Spouse: let us with David put on sackcloth, and mourn with sorrow, that God may put it off and gird us with gladness. And as we should bewail sins past, so  
2. We should beware of sin to come, and specially we must for this purpose beware of these particular sins, scil. 1. Improvidence, 2. Impertinent curiosity, 3. unconscionableness in the use of God's creatures, 4. Unthankfulness; for these are special means and motives, to cause the Lord to turn a fruitful land into barrenness. First, we must not be improvident, but if we would have God to care for us, we must care for ourselves, and every one seek to live, either by the sweat of his brain, or of his brow, painfully performing the duties of his calling. And that done, for the event, and success of our labours, we must not be impertinently curious, which is the second vice to be eschewed: for when men sacrifice to their nets, 
Haba. 1.16.  attributing their thriving to their own industry, and for that cause slander the frost and the hail, and murmur at whatsoever seems to cross their hope, than they provoke God to take away the staff of their labours, I mean his blessing from their labours, without which they are but vain and fruitless. Therefore when we have providently done our best, we must patiently wait upon the Lord's pleasure for a blessing; and for the success, not be impertinently curious, but freely refer that to God's wise disposure. When God hath blessed our labours with increase, and we have the fruits thereof in our possession, than we must not be unconscionable in the using, or rather abusing of his creatures; which is the third vice to be eschewed: for if we roist and riot, and abuse God's blessings, he hath an action of Waste against us, whereby he may amerce us to such damages, as should quickly cause us see how wilfully we have forfeited the title we had unto them. 
Herodotus in Clio. Gindes is called Gihen, Gen. 2.  When the river Gindes had drowned one of Cyrus his white horses, the angry King cut so many channels, into which the river was divided, that from thenceforth it lost both depth, name, & glory. If those floods of abundance, which through God's blessing our land bringeth forth, drown not our white horses, but our souls that should be white and spotless, then know that God can divide those streams of plenty into many channels, he can drain and dry them up, convey them into other men's hands, and dispossess us both of the name and glory we had by them. When God gave his people corn, 
Ezech. 16.  and wine, and oil to use, and they abused them, he expostulated with them, why they bestowed his gifts upon their Idols. When God bestows his blessings upon us, he must needs be angry with us, if we spend them upon our vanity: you are but stewards of that you have, dispose of it wisely, so as may be to your comfort, and your master's glory, that he seeing your faithful usage, may increase your store, and augment your talon. And when you have had the full and free use of God's benefits, to your comforts and refreshing, then beware of unthankfulness, which is the fourth vice to be eschewed; be not like the swine under the tree, that look down to the fruits, but never look up to the tree from whence they came. Let not Gods blessings fall upon us, like sweet water upon a filthy sink, which returns nothing in lieu thereof but a noisome smell; for than shall our ingratitude like a parching wind, dry up the fountain, from whence Gods blessings should spring forth unto us, and deprive our land of fruitfulness. It is observed by Anatomists, that there is given unto man one muscle more in the eye, then in the eye of any other creature, whereby he hath a facility to roll, and turn it up to heaven-wards: this doubtless doth teach that man above all other creatures, after benefits received, should lift up his eyes, hands, and heart, to God in thankfulness. When the parched earth receiveth rain from the clouds, whereby her thirst is quenched and her drought slaked, it returneth vapours, and watery matter to the clouds again, and so requiteth the former benefit. When the streaming fountains, and running rivers receive supply of waters from the sea, through the hollow caverns of the earth; at length they send their waters down into the sea again, in sign of gratitude; the boughs, and branches of trees, when in the Spring time they have received sap from the root, to make them bud and blossom, and flourish with Summer fruit, at the fall of the leaf, they send it down again to the root, to nourish it in the Winter season, and thereby testify their thankfulness. Shall nature graft this affection in the senseless creatures, and shall not reason guided by divine knowledge, lead men thereunto? Surely we should glorify God for his benefits towards us, not only by word, but by works also, all the actions of our life should be like so many several voices, with a silver rhetoric sounding forth the praises of our God. Thus if you do, not being wanting to yourselves, through improvidence, living without care, and without calling; nor (through too much depending upon your own industry) impatiently murmuring at your crossed expectations; not being unconscionable in the use of God's creatures, nor unthankful to him for benefits received; then doubtless the Lord (according to his promise) will bless you, and yours: 
Deut. 7.13.  than you shall not blow the Land in vain, the Lord will say to the South, give, and to the North, keep not back; then your land shall open her bosom and bring forth her hidden treasure: and ye shall reap the fruits thereof in due season; ye shall eat your fill and dwell therein in safety. To conclude, remember this, that as you sow so must you reap. 
Hosea 8.7.  Sow not wind, saith a Prophet, for fear you reap a whirlwind for your harvest: so say I to you, sow not wickedness, lest you reap barrenness; but sow godliness, be provident, and take pains, be patiented in waiting for profit; having received, be conscionable in the using; and after use had, forget not the giver, but be thankful to God for his blessings. Hath God done great things for us? then let us give great thanks unto the Lord: Doth he fundere beneficia? then let us fundere corda; ascendat gratia ut descendat gratia: let our thankfulness duly ascend up to God, that his grace and goodness may seasonably descend down to us, that so our land may flourish, and the fruitfulness thereof not be turned into barrenness, for the wickedness of us that dwell therein.  

O Merciful God, we beseech thee to be unto our Nation according to thy name, visit with favour the vine which thou hast planted amongst us, and suffer not the wild boar out of the wood to destroy it, nor the wild beast of the field to eat it up; but spare us good Lord, spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed; pour thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the people that have not called upon thy name: but prosper them that seek the prosperity of Zion; and be propitious to them that pray for the peace and plenty of jerusalem. Forgive the crying sins of this Land, and set a full period to thy judgements that hang over it: and for the safeguard of our souls, we beseech thee to walk in the midst of the golden Candlesticks, to sound forth the bells of Aaron; to continue and enlarge the free passage of thy Gospel to us: and for the preservation of our bodies, we pray thee, o Lord, to crown with thy blessings of plenty and fruitfulness this our nation, make our land seasonably to yield forth her increase, that our threshing may reach unto the vintage, 
Levit. 26.5.  and the vintage unto the sowing time, that so thy glory may rest with us in our land, till we come to rest with thee in thy land of glory. Grant this merciful Father, we beseech thee for Christ jesus thy Son's sake, to whom with thee and the holy Ghost the blessed Trinity in unity, be ascribed honour, glory, power, praise and dominion, now and ever. Amen.   
FINIS.