12 INTRODUCTION. [\0. 



Can it be religion to regard, as marks of his grace, 

 the poverty and misery that almost invariably attend 

 our neglect to use the means of obtaining a compel. 

 in worldly things? Can it be religion to regard as 

 blessings those things, those very things, which God 

 expressly numbers amongst his curses? Pov 

 never liml> a place amongst the blessings promiseffl 

 by God. His blessings are of a directly op 



corn, wine and oil ; a smiling 



land ; a rejoicing people ; abundance for the body anJj 

 irladnrxv of tii these are the blessings which 



istrious, the sober, the careful, 



and tin- upright. Lrt no man. then, believe that, to 

 be poor ami v :' God's favour; tnJ 



let no man remain in ii; if he, by any honest 



ids to all sorts of evil consequences. 

 Want, horrid want, is the great parent of crime. To 

 have a dutiful family, the^ father's principle of rule 

 must be love not fear. His sway must be gentle, on 

 he will have only an unwilling and short-lived obediJ 

 ence. But it i uen to be gentle and] 



good-humoured amidst the various torments attendant] 

 on pinching poverty. A competence is, therefore, the! 

 first thinj to be thought of ; it is the foundation of all 

 good in tne labourer's dwelling; without it little but] 

 misery can be expected. " Health*, peace, and compeJ 

 fence," one of the wisest of men regards as the only I 

 things needful to man : but the two former are scarcely I 

 to be had without the latter. Competence is the! 

 foundation of happiness and of exertion. Beset with! 

 wants, having a mind continually harassed with fears I 

 of starvation, who can act with energy, who can] 

 calmly think ? To provide a good living, therefore,! 

 for himself and family, is the very first duty of every I 

 man. "Two things," says AGDR, "have I ask 

 deny me them not before I die : remove far from me 

 vanity and lies ; give me neither poverty nor riches ; 

 feed me with food convenient for me : lest I be foil 

 and deny thee ; or lest I be poor and steal." 



19. A grxyd limng therefore, a competence, is th* 



