and fecuring our wealth, for managing it wifely, for em- SERM. ploying it to its proper ufes, and beft advantages, (in the LI. fervice of God, in beneficence to our neighbour, in advancing public good;) fo that we may render a good account to him who hath entrusted us with the stewardship thereof: industry is very needful to guard us from the temptations and mifchiefs to which wealth doth expose us, that it do not prove a treacherous fnare, an unwieldy burden, a destructive poifon and plague to us, throwing us into pride and vanity, into luxury, into stupidity, into diftracting folicitude, into a base, worldly, and earthly temper of heart, into a profane oblivion of God, and of our own fouls. Are we in confpicuous rank of dignity, or in honour and repute among men? Then is induftry requifite to keep us fast in that state, to hold us from tumbling from that pinnacle down into extreme disgrace; for then all eyes are upon us, ftrictly obferving what we do, and ready to pass cenfure on our actions; fo that great diligence is neceffary to approve ourselves, and fhun obloquy. Nothing is more brittle than honour; every little thing Vitrea fahitting on it, is able to break it, and therefore without ma. Hor. exceeding care we cannot preserve it. Nothing is more variable or fickle than the opinions of men, (wherein honour confifteth;) it is therefore no eafy matter to fix or detain them in the fame place. Honour cannot live without food or fuel; it must be nourished by worthy actions; without a continual supply of them, it will decay, languish, and pine away: industry therefore is required to keep it; and no less is neceffary to use it well, in a due fubordination to God's honour, and reference to his fervice, that, instead of an ornament and convenience, it do not prove a baneful mischief to us; puffing up our minds with yain conceits and complacencies, inclining us to arrogance and contempt of others, tempting us by affuming to ourselves to rob God of his due glory; to decline which evils great care is requifite; we must have a steady ballaft, and we must hold the rudder warily, when we carry fo fo great fail. Eccl. x. 1. LI. SERM. On the other hand, are we poor and low in the world; or do we lie under disgrace? Then do we much need induftry to fhun extremities of want and ignominy; that we be not swallowed up and overwhelmed by need or contempt; to fupport us under our preffures, to keep up our fpirits from dejection and difconfolatenefs; to preferve us from impious discontentedness and impatience: industry is the only remedy of that condition, enabling us to get out of it, retrieving a competence of wealth or credit; or difpofing us to bear it handfomely, and with comfort; fo as not to become forlorn or abject wretches. It is fo needful to every condition; and it is fo for all vocations; for, Is a man a governor, or a superior in any capacity? Then what is he but a public fervant, doomed to continual labour, hired for the wages of respect and pomp, to wait on his people; in providing for their needs, protecting their fafety, preserving their peace and welfare: where is he but on a stage, whereon he cannot well act his part, without vigilant attendance to his charge, and constant activity in performing all the functions thereof? He is engaged in great obligations and neceffities of ufing extreme diligence, both in regard to himself and others. Homer's defcription of a prince is a good one; One who hath much people, and many cares committed to him: Ω λαοὶ τ' ἐπιτετράφαται, καὶ τόσσα μέμηλε. He must watchfully look to his own fteps, who is to guide others by his authority and his example. All his actions require special conduct, not only his own credit and intereft, but the common welfare depending thereon. He must heedfully advise what to do, he muft diligently execute what he refolveth on. He hath the most ticklish things that can be (the rights and interefts, the opinions and humours of men) to manage. He hath his own affections to curb and guide, that they be not perverted by any finifter refpects, not fwayed by any unjust partiality, not corrupted by flattery or fear. He will find, that to wield power innocently, to brandish the sword of justice LI. difcreetly and worthily, for the maintenance of right, and SERM. encouragement of virtue, for the fuppreffion of injury, and correction of vice, is a matter of no fmall skill or flight care. Industry is indeed a quality most proper for perfons of high rank and dignity, or of great power and authority; who have special opportunities to employ it in weighty affairs to great advantage; whose undertakings being of vaft moment, do need anfwerable efforts to move and guide them. The industry of a mechanic, or a ruftic, acting in a low and narrow fphere, can effect no great matter, and therefore itself need not to be great but the industry of a prince, of a nobleman, of a gentleman, may have a large and potent influence, so as to render a nation, a county, a town, happy, profperous, glorious, flourishing in peace, in plenty, in virtue; it therefore for achieving fuch purposes need be, and fhould be proportionably great; a small power not being able to move a great weight, nor a weak cause to produce a mighty effect. Wherefore Cicero recommending Pompey for a public charge, doth reckon these to be the imperatoriæ virtutes, qualities befitting a prince, or general, wherein he did excel, Labour in bufinefs, valour in dangers, industry in acting, nimbleness in performance, counsel in providing P.And Alexander the Great, reflecting on his friends degenerating into floth and luxury, told them, that it was a moft flavish thing to luxuriate, and a moft royal thing to labour 9. And for those who move in a lower orb of fubjection or fervice, I need not shew how needful industry is for them. Who knoweth not that to be a good fubject, doth exact a careful regard to the commands of fuperiors, and a painful diligence in observing them? that to make a good fervant, fidelity and diligence muft concur? whereof the first doth fuppofe the laft, it being a part of honesty Labor in negotio, fortitudo in periculis, induftria in agendo, celeritas in conficiendo, confilium in providendo, &c. Cic. pro lege Manil. 9 Δουλικώτατόν έσι τὸ τρυφᾷν, βασιλικώτατον δὲ τὸ πονεῖν. Plut. in Alex P. 1262. SERM. in a fervant to be diligent; whence douλe tovηpè xại ôxvnpè, LI. O thou wicked and flothful fervant, were in the Gospel Matt. xxv. well coupled; and the first. epithet was grounded on the fecond, he being therefore wicked, because he had been flothful. 26. Neither can a man be a true friend, or a good neighbour, or anywife a good relative, without industry difpofing him to undergo pains in performing good offices, whenever need doth require, or occafion invite. In fine, it is palpable, that there is no calling of any fort, from the fceptre to the fpade, the management whereof with any good fuccefs, any credit, any fatisfaction, doth not demand much work of the head, or of the hand, or of both. If wit or wisdom be the head, if honefty be the heart, industry is the right hand of every vocation; without which the fhrewdest insight and the best intention can execute nothing. A fluggard is qualified for no office, no calling, no ftation among men; he is a mere nobody, taking up room, pestering and clogging the world. II. It also may deferve our confideration, that it is industry, whereto the public state of the world, and of each commonweal therein, is indebted for its being, in all conveniences and embellishments belonging to life, advanced above rude and fordid barbarism; yea, whereto mankind doth owe all that good learning, that morality, those improvements of foul, which elevate us beyond brutes. To industrious ftudy is to be afcribed the invention and perfection of all those arts whereby human life is civilized, and the world cultivated with numberlefs accommodations, ornaments, and beauties. All the comely, the stately, the pleasant, and useful works which we do view with delight, or enjoy with comfort, industry did contrive them, industry did frame them. Industry reared thofe magnificent fabrics, and those commodious houfes; it formed thofe goodly pictures and ftatues; it raised thofe convenient caufeways, those bridges, those aqueducts; it planted those fine gardens with vari LI. ous flowers and fruits; it clothed those pleasant fields SERM. with corn and grafs; it built thofe fhips, whereby we plough the feas, reaping the commodities of foreign regions. It hath fubjected all creatures to our command and fervice, enabling us to fubdue the fierceft, to catch the wildest, to render the gentler fort moft tractable and ufeful to us. It taught us from the wool of the sheep, from the hair of the goat, from the labours of the filkworm, tó weave us clothes to keep us warm, to make us fine and gay. It helped us from the inmost bowels of the earth to fetch divers needful tools and utenfils. It collected mankind into cities, and compacted them into orderly focieties, and devised wholesome laws, under Thelter whereof we enjoy safety and peace, wealth and plenty, mutual fuccour and defence, fweet conversation and beneficial commerce. It by meditation did invent all thofe fciences whereby our minds are enriched and enabled, our manners are refined and polished, our curiofity is fatisfied, our life is benefited". What is there which we admire, or wherein we delight, that pleaseth our mind, or gratifieth our fenfe, for the which we are not beholden to industry. Doth any country flourish in wealth, in grandeur, in profperity? It must be imputed to industry, to the induftry of its governors fettling good order, to the industry of its people following profitable occupations: fo did Cato, in that notable oration of his in Salluft, tell the Cat. apud Roman fenate, that it was not by the force of their arms, bello Catil. but by the industry of their ancestors, that commonwealth did arise to fuch a pitch of greatness. When floth creepeth in, then all things corrupt and decay; then the public ftate doth fink into disorder, penury, and a disgraceful condition. 12. Industry is commended to us by all forts of examples, deferving our regard and imitation. All nature is a r Ut varias ufus meditando extunderet artes Salluft. in |