[2.] Whenever we feel a loathness and backwardness to our work, let us set about it the more earnestly ; for the more we give way to it, the more we contract an habit of idleness and sloth. It is an industrious creature that is here set before us to shame us, a creature always busy ; so should we be. Therefore when you find any sluggishness, let not the ease of the flesh overcome you, but do you overcome it. This evil
12 SERMON UPON PBOVERBS VI. 6-8.
is best avoided by resistance ; and a duty recovered out of the hands of difficulty is the sweeter, and maketh labour for the future more easy to us ; for the more we stir up ourselves, the more we get a sedulous disposition : Isa. Ixiv. 7, ' There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.' It may be at first you will have much ado with a back- ward heart ; but urge it on, and you gain upon it, and what seemeth impossible or difficult at first becometh easy afterwards. The way to godliness is by godliness, and duty fitteth for duty.
[3.] Think oftener of heaven and hell, what we shun and what we seek after. We are so dull and lazy because we see not the rest we hope for, nor the toiments that we fear. If both were before our eyes, we should be other manner of cliristiaiis in all holy conversation and godliness. But what we see by faith should in some measure affect us, as if it were before our eyes : 2 Cor. iv. 18, ' While we look not to the things that are seen, but at the things which are not seen,^ &c. ; and 2 Peter iii. 14, ' Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blemish.'
[4.] Consider the great sin of negligence. Not to do good is to do evil , for it is an omission of necessary duties : ' Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be hewn down,' &c., Mat vii. 19. If you had a servant, though he did not steal, nor answer again with contradiction, nor drink with the drunken, &c., yet if he should sit always idle, and not do those things you require of him, he would be counted a bad servant : Mat xxv. 30, ' Cast the unprofitable servant into outer dark- ness.' Not the thief, the drunken, but ' the unprofitable servant.' If you hire a man to labour in the vineyard, will you be contented if he doth not steal your fruit, though he standeth idle all the day, and neither destroyeth the weeds, nor piuneth the vines, nor manureth the ground? Much more must neglect of God's service be a great sin.
[5.] To overcome worldly affections, consider not only how sure and near, but how great our reward is. This will make us more diligent : 1 Cor. XV, 58, ' Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmov- able, always aboimding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord ; ' that is. this will oblige you to the utmost industry and diligence in God's service. If a poor man will work so hard for a shilling a day, shall we be so sluggish when we seek after the kingdom of God and eternal happiness ? Alas ! what are all our labours to the glory that shall be revealed in us ? Our reward is great in itself, and is greater according to the propor- tion of our labour ; 1 Cor. iii. 8, ' Every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour.' So Eph. vi. 8, ' Whatsoever good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord.'
SERMON UPON PROVERBS III. 18.
.She is a tree of life to them that lay hold tipo7i her ; and happij is every one that retaineth her. — Prov. iii. 18.
The context is spent in an exhortation to wisdom, to get spiritual and heavenly wisdom. The argument is first generally proposed and particularly amplified. Generally proposed, ver. 13, ' Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding ; ' secondly, particularly amplified —
1. By the worth and excellency, ver. 14, 15, 'For the merchandise of it is hetter than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thei-eof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies ; and all the things thou canst desire are not to he compared with her.
2. From the utility and profit, ver. 16, ' Length of days is in her right hand ; and in her left hand, riches and honour.' She is repre- sented as a queen having both hands full of blessings, ' Length of days in her right hand ; and in her left, riches and honour.'
3. The pleasantness of wisdom, ver. 17, 'AH her ways are pleasant- ness, and all her paths are peace.' Which is added to sweeten the difficulties in attaining or pursuing after it, or regulating our lives and actions according to the tenor of it.
4. Here is another special benefit which we have by wisdom, or the saving knowledge of God in Jesus Christ, above all hitherto mentioned before: as pleasantness and peace during our service, so eternal life and happiness as our final reward. Here it is metaphorically expressed, with allusion to the tree of life in paradise, ' She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her.'