Note, 1. Working, without talking, will make men rich: In all labour of
the head, or of the hand, there is profit; it will turn to some good
account or other. Industrious people are generally thriving people, and
where there is something done there is something to be had. The
stirring hand gets a penny. It is good therefore to keep in business,
and to keep in action, and what our hand finds to do to do it with all
our might. 2. Talking, without working, will make men poor. Those that
love to boast of their business and make a noise about it, and that
waste their time in tittle-tattle, in telling and hearing new things,
like the Athenians, and, under pretence of improving themselves by
conversation, neglect the work of their place and day, they waste what
they have, and the course they take tends to penury, and will end in
it. It is true in the affairs of our souls; those that take pains in
the service of God, that strive earnestly in prayer, will find profit
in it. But if men's religion runs all out in talk and noise, and their
praying is only the labour of the lips, they will be spiritually poor,
and come to nothing.