Don't put the cart before the horse
Charles Spurgeon · John Ploughman's Pictures; or, More of His Plain Talk for Plain People
THE HORSE.
NOBODY will ever take that fellow to
be a Solomon. He has no more
sense than a suckin^ turkey; his wit will
.never kill him, but he may die for want
(178)
CART BEFORE THE HORSE. 179
of it. One would think that he does not
know which side of himself goes first, or
which end should be uppermost, for he is
putting the cart before the horse. However,
he is not the only fool in the world, for
nowadays you can't shake your coat out of
a window without dusting an idiot. You;
have to ask yourself what will be the next
new piece of foolery.
Amusing blunders will happen. Down
at our chapel we only have evening meet-
ings on moonlight nights, for some of our
friends would never find their way home
down our Surrey lanes of a dark night. It
is a long lane that has no turning, but ours
have plenty of turnings, and are quite as
long as one likes them when it is pitch dark,,
for the trees meet over your head and won't
let a star peep through. What did our old
clerk do the other Sunday but give notice
that there would be no moon next Wednes-
day night in consequence of there bein^
no service. He put the cart before the
horse that time. So it was with the young-
parson, of very fine ideas, who tried to make
us poor clodhoppers see the wisdom of
Providence in making the great rivers run
i8o JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
near the large towns, while our village had
a small brook to suit the size of it. We
had a quiet laugh at the good man as we
walked home through the corn, and we
wondered why it never occurred to him that
the Thames was in its bed long before Lon-
don was up, and our tiny stream ran through
its winding ways long before a cottager
dipped his pail into it.
Dick Widgeon had a married daughter
who brought her husband as pretty a baby
as one might wish to see. When it was
born, a neighbor asked the old man whether
it was a boy or a girl. " Dear, dear," said
Dick, " here's a kettle of fish! I'm either a
grandfather or a grandmother, and I'm sure
I don't know which." Dick says his mother
was an Irishman, but I do not believe it.
All this is fun, but some of this blundering
leads to mischief Lazy fellows ruin their
trade, and then say that bad trade ruined
them.
Some fellows talk at random, as if they
lived in a world turned upside down, for
they always put things the wrong side up.
A serving-man lost his situation through
his drunken ways ; and, as he could get no
CART BEFORE THE HORSE. l8l
character, he charged his old master with
being his ruin.
" Robert complained ttie other day
His master took his character away :
'I take your character,' said he, ' no fear,
Not for a thousand pounds a year.' "
The man was his own downfall, and now he
blames those who speak the truth about
him. *' He mistakes the effect for the cause,'*
as our old schoolmaster says, and blames
the bucket for the faults of the well.
The other day a fellow said to me, " Don't
you think Jones is a lucky chap ? " " No,^*
said I, " I think he is a hard-working man,
and gets on because he deserves it." " Ah,"
was the man's answer, " don't tell me ; he
has got a good trade, and a capital shop,,
and a fair capital, and I don't wonder that
he makes money." Bless the man's heart ;
Jones began with nothing, in a little, poking
shop, and all he has was scraped together
by hard labor and careful saving. The shop
would never have kept him if he had not
kept the shop, and he would have had no
trade if he had not been a good tradesman ;
but there, it's no use talking, some people
i82 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES,
will never allow that thrift and temperance
lead to thriving and comfort, for this would
condemn themselves. So to quiet their
consciences they put the cart before the
horse.
A very bad case of putting the cart before
the horse is when a drinking old man talks
as if he had been kept out of the grave by
his beer, . though that is the thing which
carries people to their last home. He hap-
pens to have a strong constitution, and so
he can stand the effects of drink better than
most, and then folks say it was the drink
which gave him the constitution. When an
old soldier comes alive out of battle, do we
think that the shot and shell saved his life ?
When we meet with a man who is so strong
that he can be a great drinker and still seem
little the worse, we must not say that he
owes his strength to his beer, or we shall
be putting the plough before the oxen.
When a man thinks that he is to make
himself good before he comes to Jesus to be
saved, he is planting the fruit instead of the
root ; and putting the chimney pots where
the foundation should be. We do not save
ourselves and then trust the Saviour ; but
CART BEFORE THE HORSE. 185
when the Saviour has worked salvation in
us, then we work it out with fear and
trembhng. Be sure, good reader, that you
put faith first, and works afterwards ; for,
if not, you will put the cart before the horse.