CHEAP REPOSITORY. SUNDAY READING. ~ THE HISTORY TWO WE ALTHT 1 FARMERS^ O R, A. New Dialogue, between Mr. BRAGWELL and Mr. W0RTHT 9 PART IV. Sold by j, MARSHALL, (Printer to the Cheap Repository for Religious and Moral Tra£ls) No. 17, Queen-Street, Cheapfide, and No, 4, Aldermary Church-Yard ; and R. WHITE, Piccadilly, LON DON. By S. HAZARD, at Bath ; and by all Bookfellers, Newfmen, and Hawkers, in Town and Country. Great Allowance will be made to Shopkeepers and Hawkers* PRICE ONE PENNT. Or 4s. 6d« per 100. — 50 for as. 6c!, --is. 6d. for 25. [©ntereD at Stfattowva ©allj 1 1 \ C 8 } THE Two Wealthy Farmers, <&c. IT was mentioned in thelaft part *>f this Hiftoryj that the chief reafon which had drawn Mr. Wor- thy to vifit his friend juft at the prefent time, was, that Mr. Bragwell had a fmall Eftate to fell by aui&ion. Mr. Worthy, though he did not think he fhould be a bidder, wifhed to be prefent, as he had b.ufinefs to fettle with one or two perfons who were expend at the Golden Lion on that day, and he had put off his vifit; till he had feen th$ fale ad? vertiied in the County Paper. Mr. Bragwell and Mr, Worthy fet out early on the Monday morning on their way to the Golden Lion, a fmall Inn in a neighbouring market town. As they had time before them^ they hail agreed to ride fowly^ that they might gonverfe on fomc ufefu! (4 1 fubjeS; but here, as ufual, they had two opinions about the fame thing. Mr. Bragwell's notion of an ufeful fubjecl: was, fomething by which money was to be got, and a good bargain ft ruck. Mr, Wor- thy was no lefs a man of bufinefs than his friend. His fchemes were wife, and his calculations juft; his reputation for integrity and good fenfe made him the common judge and umpire in his neighbours 5 affairs, while no one paid a more exaft attention to every tranfaclion of his own. But the bufinefs of getting money was" not with 'hirrf the firft. much lefs was it- the whole concern of the day. Every morning when he rofe, he remember * that he had a Maker to worfhip as well as a family to maintain. Reli gion, however, never made him negle£t bufi- nefs, though it forneiimes led him to poflpone it. He u fed to fay, no man had any reafon to expeB; Cod's blefhng through the day who did not ' afk it in the morning. But he had not the lefs i,enfe, fpi- ih and activity when he was among men abroad, feecaufe he had fad ferved God at home. As thefe two Farmers rode along, Mr. Worthy took occafion, from the fiiienefs of the day, and the beauty of . the country through which they pa fled, to turn the difcourfe to the goodnefs of God and our infinite obligations to him. He knew that the tranfition from thankfgiving to prayer would be natural and eafy, and he therefore flid, by degrees, into that important fubjecl: and. be obferved that fecret prayer was a duty of univerfal obligation, vmich every man had it in his'power to fulfil, and which he ferioufly. believed was the ground-work of all religious pra&ice ? and of all devout affeOions> X 5 ) Mr. Rragwdl felt confcious that he was Very neg- ligent and irregular in the performance of this duty, he con fl.de red it as a mere ceremony, or at feaft as a duty which might give way to the {lighter! temptation of drowfmefs at night, or of bufinefs in the morning. As he knew he did not live in the confcientious performance of this practice, he tried to ward off the fubjeft, kn.owing what a home way his friend had of putting things. At laft he faid, he certainly thought private prayer a good cuft'om, efpeeialiy for people who have time, and that thofe who were fick, or old, or out of bufinefs, could not do better, but that, for his part, he believed much of thefe fort of things was not expected from men in aclive life. Mr. Worthy. I mould think, Mr. Bragwell, that thofe who are mo ft expofed to temptation ftand moft in need of prayer; now there are few methinks who are more expofed to temptation than men in. bufinefs, for thofe mull be in moft danger, at ieaft from the world, who have moft to do with it. And if this be true, ought we not to prepare ourfelves in the clofet for the trials of the market, the field, and the mop ? •Bragwell. For my part, 1 think example hs the whole of Religion, and if the matter Of a family is Orderly, and regular, and goes to church, he does every "thing which can be required of him, and no one has a right to call him to account for any thing more. Worthy, Give me leave "to fay, Mr, Bragwell, ( « ) that highly as I rate a good example, ftill I rauft fet a good principle above it. I mud keep good order indeed, for the fake of others ; but I mufl keep a good conscience for my own fake. To God I owe fecret piety, I mull therefore pray to hira in -private.— To my family I owe a Chriftian ex- ample, and for that, among other reafons, I muifc not fail to go to Church. Bragxvell. You are- talking, Mr. Worthy, as if 1 were an enemy to Chriftianitv. Sir, I am no Hea* then. Sir, I belong to the Church. I always drink profperity to the Church. You yourfelf, as ftrift as you are, in never miffing it twice a day, are Jiot a warmer friend to the Church than I am. Worthy, That is to fay, you know its value as an in- ftitution, but you do not feem to know that a man may be very irreligious under the beft religious inftU tutions; and that even the molt excellent of them are but means of being religious, and are no more religion itfelf than brick and mortar are prayers and thankfgivings. I (hall never think, however high their profeffion, and even however regular their attendance, that thofe men truly refpeft the Church, who bring home little of that religion which is taught in it into their own families^ or their own hearts, Excufe me, Mr. Bragweil. BrctgwelL Mr. Worthy, I am perfuaded that re- ligion is quite a proper thing for the poor; and I don t think that the multitude can ever be kept in order without it % and i am a bit of a politician you know. ( 7 ) Wr> thy.*Yo\iY opinion is very juft, Sis far as it goes, bat it does not go far enough, fince it does not go to the root of the evil, for while you value yourfelf on the foundnefs of this principle as a politician, I wifli you to fee the reafon of it as a Chriftia*; depend Upon it, if Religion be good for the community at large, it is equally good for every family; and what is right for a family lfi equally right for each individual in it. You have therefore yourfelf brought the moft Unanfwerabte argument why you ought to be religious, by alking how we mall keep others in order without Religion. For, believe me, Mr. Bragwell, ihere is no parti- cular claufe to except you in the Gofpel. No ex* ceptions in favor of any one clafs of men. The fame reftraints which are neceflary for the people at large are equally neceffary for men of every order, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, learned and ignorant. May I afk you, Mr. Brag* well, what is your reafon for going to Church? BragwelL Sir, I am (hocked at your queftion. How can I avoid doing a thing fo cuftomary and fc creditable? Not go to Church, indeed! What do you take me for, Mr. Worthy? I am afraid you fufpea me to be a Papift, or a Heathen, or of fome religion or other that is not what it mould be. Worthy. If a foreigner were to hear how vio- lently one fet of Chriftians in this country often fpeak againft another, how earneft would he fuppofc us all to be in religious matters : and how aftoniAied to difcover that many a man has perhaps little other proof to giva Of the nnccrky of his own religtoo^ ( 8 ) except the violence with which he hates the religion of another party. It is not irreligion which fuch men hate, but the religion of the man, or the party, whom they are fee againft. Well, you have told me why you go to Church; now pray tel.l me, why do you confefs there on your bended, knees every Sunday, that 44 you have erred and ftrayed from God's ways?" 44 that there is no health in you?" " that you have done what you ought not to do'?", 44 and that you are a miferab-le finner?" Bragwell. Becaufe it is in the Common Prayer Book, to be fure, a book which I have heard you yourfelf fay was written by wife and good men. Worthy. But have you no other reafon? BragivelL No, I can't fay I have. Worthy. When you repeat that excellent form of confeffion, do you really feel that you are 2, mi- ferable finner ? BragwelL No, I can't fay I do. But that is no objection to my repeating it, becaufe it may fuit the cafe of many who are fo. I fuppofe the good Doctors who drew it up intended that part for wicked people only, fuch as drunkards, and thieves, and murderers; for I imagine they could not well con- trive to make the fame prayer quite fuit an honeft man and a rogue; and fo I fuppofe they thought it fafer to make a good man repeat a prayer which, f'uited a rogue, than to make a% T ue repeat a ( 9 ) prayer which faited a good man : and you know it is fo cuftomary for every body to repeat the ge- neral confeffion, that it can't hurt the credit of the mod refpeclable perfons, though every one mult know they have no particular concern in it. Worthy. Depend upon it, Mr, Bragwell, thofe good DoQors you {'peak of, were not quite of your opinion; they really thought that what you call honeft men were grievous finners in a certain fenfe, and flood in need of making that humble confef- fion. Mr. Bragwell, do you believe in the fall of Adam ? Bragwell. To be fure I do, and a fad thing for Adam it was; why, it is in the Bible, is it not? It is one of the prettieft chapters- in Genefis. • Don't you believe it, Mr. Worthy? Worthy. Yes, truly I ^Lo. But I don't believe it merely becaule 1 read it in Generis. I know, in- deed, that I am bound to believe every part of the * word of God. But I have dill an additional raafon for believing in the fall of the firft man. Bragwell. Have you, indeed? Now, I can't guefs what that can be. Worthy. Why, my own observation of what is within myfelf teaches me to believe it. It is not only the third -chapter of Genefis which convinces me of the truth of the fall, but alio the finful in- clinations which I find in my own heajt^ This is { ) Grie of tliofe leading truths of Chriftiaftity of whrcfr 1 can never doiibt a moment, firft, becaufe it is abundantly expreffed or implied in Scripture; and next, becaufe the confcioufnefs of the evil nature I carry about with me confirms the do&rine beyond all ck>ubt. Befides, is it not faid in Scripture that by one man fin entered into the world* and that "all we, like fheep, have gone aftray; that by ene man's difobedience many were made tinners," .and fo again in twenty more places that I could tell you of. Bragwell. Well, I never thought of this. But is not this a very melancholy fort of doctrine, Mr, Worthy ? Worthy. It is melancholy, indeed, if we flop here. But while we are deploring this fad truth,, let Us take comfort from another, that " As in Adam all die, fo m Chrift fhall ail be made alive." Bragwell. Yes, I remember I thought thofe very fine words, when I heard them faid over my poor father's grave. But as it was in the Burial of the dead, I did not think of taking it to myfelf, for I was then young and hearty, and in little danger of dying, and I have been fo bufy ever knee, that I tave hardly had time to think of it. Worthy. And yet the fervice pronounced at the burial of all who die, is a folemn admonition to all who live. It is there faid, as indeed the Scrip- ture fays alio, " 1 am the refurreaion and thelife, whofoever believetb in me fhall never d>e but I will raife him up at the laft day.'' No w do you think you believe in Chrijl, Mr. Bragivell ? Brag-well. To be fure 1 do; why, you are always fancying me an Atheift. Worthy. In order to believe in Chrift, we mud believe firft in our own guilt and our own unwor- tbinefs, and when we do this We fhall fee the ufe of a Savior. Bragioell. Why, all this is a new wav of talk- ins. I can't fay, I ever meddled with fuch fub- iels before in my life. ^But now, wnat do you advife a man to do upon your plan of Religion? Worthy. Why, all this leads me back to the cround from which we fet out, I mean the duty ot |rayer; for if we believe that we have an evil na- ture within us, and that we ftand in need of God s grace to help us, and a Savior to redeem m, we liall be led of courfe to pray for wnat we fo much need, BragweU. Well, but don't you think, Mr. Wor- thy, that you good folks who make fo muen of Sver, have lower notions than wc of the w.fdom If ihe Ahmghtv ? you think he wants to be in- formed of the 'things you. tell him; whereas, I take for wanted that he knows them already, and . l • r ~„™1 a « he is he will give me every that, being fo good, as ne is, ne win a i ihing he fees fit to gtve me without my ahung it, Worthy. Go d 9 indeed, who knows all things knows what we want before we alls, him, but llill has he not laid, that tf with prayer and fupplica- tion we muft make known our requefts unto him/ 5 Prayer is the way in which God hath faid that his fa^aour mufl be fought. It is the channel through which he hath declared it is his fovereign will and pleafure that his bleffings fliould be conveyed to us. What afcends up in prayer defcends again to us in bleffings. It is iike the rain which jufV now fell, and which had been drawn up from the ground in vapours to the clouds before it defcended from them to the earth in that refrefning fhower. Befides, prayer has a good effect on our own minds : it tends to excite a right clifpofition towards God in us. But above all, it is the way to get the good things 'we Want. Afk," fays the Scripture, " and ye ffiall receive." Bragwdl. Now that is the very thing .which ]' was going to deny. For the truth is, men don't always get what they afk ; I believe if I could get a good crop for afking it I fhould pray oftener *han I do. Worthy. Sometimes Mr. Worthy, men " afk and receive not, becaufe they alk amifs." They afk worldly bleffings perhaps when they fhould afk fpiritu,al ones. Now the latter, which are the good- things I fpoke of, are always granted to thofe who pray to God for them, though the former are not. I have cbferved in the cafe of fome worldly things, I have fought for, that the grant of my prayer would feave caufed the mifery of my life. ( 13 ) - Bragwell. And yet you continue to pray or h I fuppofe ? • Worthy. Certainly; but then I try to mend as to the object of my prayers. I pray for God's blef* ling and favor, which is better than riches. Bragwell. You feem very earneft ©n this fubject. Worthy. To cut the matter fhort, I afk thea whether prayer is not pofitively commanded in the Gofpel. When this is the cafe, we can never dif- pute about the necelhty or the. duty of a thing, as we may when there is no fuch command. Here however let me ju.ft add alfo, that a man's prayers may be turned to no fmall ufe in the way of dif- covering to him whatever is amifs in his life. Bragwell. "How fo, Mr. Worthy ? Worthy. Why, fuppofe now, you were to try yourfelf by turning into the fhape of a prayer every practice in which you allow yourfelf. For inftance, . let the prayer in the morning be a fort of prepara- tion. for the deeds of the day, and the prayer at night a fort of obfervation on thofe deeds. You, Mr. Bragwell, I fufpect are a little inclined to covetoufnefs, excufe me, Sir. Now fnppofe after you have been during a whole day a little too eager to get rich, fuppofe, I fay, you were to try how it would found to beg of God at night on your knees* to give you ftill more money though you have ( u ) already fo much that you know not what to do with it. Suppofe you were to pray in the morn- ing. O Lord give me more riches, though thofe I have are a fnare and a temptation to me ; and afk him in the fame folemn manner to blefs all the grafping means you intend to make nfe of in the day, to add to your fubftance? Bragwell. Mr. Worthy, I have no patiencfc with you for thinking i could be fo wicked. Worthy. Hear me out, Mr. Bragwell, you turned youi good nephew, Tom Broad, out of doors you know ; you owned to me it was an aft of injuflice. Now fuppofe on the morning of your doing fo you had begged of God in a folemn aft of prayer, to pros- per the deed of cruelty and oppreffion, which you intended to commit. I fee you are flaocked at the thought of fuch a prayer. Well, then, would not prayer have kept you from committing that wickecj a&ion? In fliort, what a life muft that be* no ac% of which you dare beg God to profper and blefs,, If once you can bring yourfelf ta believe that it is your bounden duty to pray for God's blefling on your day's work, you will certainly grow careful about pafling fuch a day as you may fafely afk his blefling upon. The remark may be carried to fports, diverfions, company. A man, who once fakes up the ferious ufe of prayer, will foon find himfelf obliged to abftain from fuch diverfions, occupations, and focieties, as he cannot reasonably defire that God will blefs to him; and thus he will fee himfelf compelled to leave off either the prat* f »5 ) lice or the prayer. Now, Mr. Bragwell, f need not a£k you which of the two he that is a real Chriftia* will give up. Mr. Bragwell began to feel that he had not the belt of the argument, and was afraid he was mak- ing no great figure in tbp eyes of his friend. Lucki- ly, however, be was relieved from the difficulty into which the neceflity of making fome anfwer muft have brought him, by finding they were come to the £rd of their little journey : and he never beheld the Bunch of Grapes, which decorated the Sign of J$ie Golden Lion, with more real fatisfaftion* I refer my readers for the tranfa&ions at the Golden Lion, and fqr the fad Adventures which afterwards befel Mr. feragwejl's family, to the Fifth tm Of the Hiftory of the Two Wealthy Farmers. THE END, Qn the jy? of June % 1795, was publifhed, The Shepherd of Sali (bury Plain, Part II.— Tfep Beggarly Boy.— Wild Robert, a Ballad. On the ij of July, Danjel in the. JDen of Lions.— The Goad MotWs Legacy. —Patient Joe, a Ballad. On the if of Auguft, Hints to all Ranks of People— The Happy Waterman.-* The Riot, a Ballad.— The Plowboy's Dream, a Ballad. On the \fl of September, Tom White, Part H,— Noah's Fieod.-^Dame An<$rews, * Ballad. On tfa lj of 'Oftober. I&rveil Home.— Two Farmers, Part I.— Honeft Miller, a $allad\ Qn>th$ifl qf 4 November, The Parable of the Vineyard. — The Two Farmers,- Fart J I. —The Sorrows of Yarnba, a BaJad. On the if of December, ^The Troubles r of : JLife.— Sprnnvful Sar.... r -Merry Chrift* " mas, a Carol. On ike if' of January, 1796, New Thoughts oti the New Year. — The fj hi dry of ; Mary Wood, the Moufemaid.^Robert and Richard, aBallad. On the if of February, J " The Touchftone ;' or, the Way to know a good Chriftiaiw —The Apprentice ttirned Mafter ; m) the Two Shoe- makers, Part IF — The , Story of Sinful, Sally. Told by herfcTf a Ballad. On the if gf March. •Onefrmiis ; or, the Run-away Servant converted. — Idle Jacfc Brown ; or, the Two Shoemakers, Part III, — Shop- keeper, Part I, .« IS) On tbe 1 ft ■ of April, - U - Converfion of St. Paul. — Jack Brown in Prifon ; or, the Two Shoemakers, Part IV. — Shopkeeper, Part II, Qnjhe lfi of Mm^m The General Refurre£ion, Part. I.— The Hiflory of Charles Jones the Footman, written by Himfelf.— The Hackney Coachman ; or, the Way to get a good Fare,' a Ballad. On the if of June, Carrying Religion into the Common Bufmefs of Life. — The Cheapfide Apprentice. — The £le6Hon Song, a Ballad. • ■ • On the if of Juty, Look at Home.---Gamcfter,--Turn 'the Carpet, or, Tw© Weavers. On the if of yfu : fryf, Grand Aflizes,— Betity Brown.— Shopkeeper, Part III, . ' ' E On the if of September, ! % «• Two Wealthy Farmers, Part III.— Explanation of Scrip, B |ure :oF Baptifm,— ; Hymn of Fraife- for the abundani 'Harveft of 1796. ' , * 4ad other Fieca om aftmilar flan } on the \Jl of we 9: Month.