The patriarchs, those persons of renown, were eminent for taking pains, they did not eat the bread of idleness. How frequently and how ardently doth the word call upon us to be working in our particular callings! What precepts doth the Scripture give for it, ‘That you do your own business, and work with your own hands, as we commanded you,’ 1 Thes. 4:11. What promises doth God make to it: ‘He that tilleth his land, shall be satisfied with bread,’ Prov. 12:11, 24. ‘The soul of the diligent shall be made fat,’ Prov. 13:4. That arm which is most used groweth stronger and bigger than the other: the more the vine spreadeth itself against the wall, the more it receiveth of the sun’s warmth and influence.

George Swinnock