Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
Ver. 6. Go to the ant, thou sluggard.] Man, that was once the captain of God's school, is now, for his truantcy, turned down into the lowest form as it were, to learn his A B C's again; yea, to be taught by these lowest creatures. So Christ sends us to school to the birds of the air, and lilies of the field, to learn dependence upon divine providence, Mat 6:25-29 and to the stork, crane, and swallow, to be taught to take the seasons of grace, and not to let slip the opportunities that God putteth into our hands. Jer 8:7 This poor despicable creature the ant, is here set in the chair to read us a lecture of sedulity and good husbandry. What a deal of grain gets she together in summer! What pains doth she take for it, labouring not by daylight only, but by moonshine also! What huge heaps hath she! What care to bring forth her store, and lay it drying on a sunshine day, lest with moisture it should putrefy, &c. Not only Aristotle, Aelian, and Pliny, but also Basil, Ambrose, and Jerome, have observed and written much of the nature and industry of this poor creature; telling us in addition that in the ant, bee, stork, &c., God hath set before us, as in a picture, the lively resemblance of many excellent virtues, which we ought to pursue and practise. These, saith one, are veri laicorum libri, the true laymen's books, the images that may teach men the right knowledge of God and of his will, of themselves and their duties.