only that some even Particular Callings as that of Ministers are conversant about Spiritual Matters tho they are distinct enough from our Christian Calling Our General or Spiritual Calling then is whereby a Person is called of God to believe and obey the Gospel which being revealed under the Notion of a Covenant of Grace is named Vocatio ad Foedus And this when the Word is accompanied with the Spirit is Effectual Calling and leads to Salvation according to that 2 Tim. 1. 9. Who hath saved us and called us with an holy Calling But here I shall discourse no more of this save only to note wherefore it is term'd our General Calling namely because this is common to All Christians requires of All the same Duties assures to All the same Promises and obliges All to the same Conditions So that as no Man may undertake any Particular Calling that is inconsistent with his General so in case of Competition in any Instance of present Duty that must humbly give place to this for every Man ought to manage his Temporal Calling in Subordination to his Spiritual and must remember that in the throng of all his Business he is a Christian A Particular or Temporal Calling is a setled Imployment in some special Business of God's Appointment for our own and others good And this is term'd Vocatio ad Vitae institutum vel ad munus The former and this latter are both elegantly mention'd in one Verse 1 Cor. 7. 20. Let every Man abide in the same earthly Calling wherein he was called by his heavenly Calling No Man should think that God likes him either the better or the worse meerly for his outward Calling and therefore let every Man contentedly abide in the same Earthly Calling provided it be a lawful one wherein his Heavenly Calling found him In the abovesaid Description consider 1. The Author of a Particular Calling which is God So the Apostle 1 Cor. 7. 17. But as God hath distributed to every Man as the Lord hath called every one so let him walk Hence certainly these Imployments are named Callings because every Man must be called of God unto them He directs Men to them he inclines them he enables them for them Now God calls unto them 1. Immediately by himself so he called Adam to be an Husbandman Gen. 2. 15. Amos to be a Prophet Amos 7. 15. Paul to be an Apostle Acts 9. But this Method he rarely useth in these latter days They that will pretend to an immediate Calling must produce extraordinary Gifts and Qualifications else it is but Conceit and Delusion 2. God calls Men mediately by Instruments such as Parents Guardians and in some cases Magistrates By those that have a Right either by the Law of Nature or Municipal Laws to dispose of others God doth as really call to this or that Imployment as if he did it immediatâ—ly For tho the Lord God who hath sole Right and Authority over all his Creatures doth never demise his Property to any other yet he doth delegate Parents and such Superiors to act under him and to dispose those that are under their Care according to his Will and he ratifies all that they regularly perform in that behalf There is besides also an inward Call of God which consists in Abilities of Body and Mind and Inclinations of which more hereafter 2. The second thing in the Description of a Particular Calling is the Essence of it which is a settled Imployment in some special Business For it is not enough to be doing something sometimes no Man is so idle but that he is sometimes doing but a Calling is some constant Business which fills a Man's time and it is requisite that it be a Man 's own his proper Business for we read of those that did not work at all yet are called Busy-bodies 2 Thess 3. 11. whom the Apostle notes for disorderly Livers that is they were busy Intermedlers in others Affairs but did not imploy themselves in any constant Business of their own And 1 Thess 4. 11. he exhorts them to study to be quiet and to do their own Business For the great Governour of the World hath appointed to every Man his proper Post and Province and let him be never so active out of his Sphere he will be at a great loss if he do not keep his own Vineyard mind his own Business 3. The third thing is the End of a Particular Calling the next End is a Man 's own Good That with quietness they work and eat their own Bread 2 Thess 3. 12. A Man 's own Bread tasts pleasantly to an ingenious Man tho never so course Yea a Person may design to gain such an Estate by his Calling that he may live comfortably that he may have whereon to live and wherewith to give Let him labour working with his Hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth Ephes 4. 28. Another End is the Common Good For we are in this World as the Members are in the Body where each must be useful for the whole and where each preserves its self it 's true but 't is with regard to the whole And therefore it is a brutish Selfishness to design no bodies Good but our own and that Proverbial Speech is very unchristian if it be understood exclusively viz. Every one for himself No as the Community hath need of thee so thou hast need of the Community And the Eye cannot say unto the Hand I have no need of thee nor again the noble Head to the poor Feet I have no need of you 1 Cor. 12. 21. But the highest End of all being understood tho not exprest in the Description is the Glory of God For as of him and through him are all things so to him must the Glory of all things be intended and ascribed Rom. 11. 36. If the honest Tradesman desire a competent Estate it is that he may live not to himself but to the Glory of God if he get any thing more his aim is therewith to educate his Children so as they may honour God In short as the most religious Actions of an Hypocrite being trac'd to the utmost do end in self so the meanest Labours of a true Christian resolve themselves into the Glory of God And so much for the Description of a Particular Calling The Kinds of Callings are diversified by the different Objects about which they are conversant For 1. Some are imployed chiefly about the Soul as School-masters Tutors in Arts and Sciences and particularly Divines which tho they be often poor Trades yet are always rich Callings 2. Some are imployed only about the Body as Physicians Chirurgions Apothecaries and all that depend on them tho these oftentimes have fair Opportunities if withal they have but Hearts to suggest saving Counsel to their Patients Souls 3. Some Callings are for Man's Subsistence such is the Husbandman and the Tradesman The Husbandman's Calling indeed concerns the Being and
Law and yet offend or stumble in one point he is guilty of all If the Fear and Love of God did induce you to other good Duties they would also oblige you to this and you would no more plead Inability Bashfulness or Business but seriously set about it Till then you live in danger of that Fury which is prepar'd for the Heathen and for the Families that call not upon his Name Jer. 10. 25. Better were it for you to break through these petty Obstacles and either with a Book or without it render to God a Morning and Evening Sacrifice with your Families For tho you may perhaps read and pray alone yet 't is great odds some others who are under your charge have no time or mind to it and so live without Prayer and without God in the World And then why will you that pray with them only at night thereby curtail half the Homage and Rent that is due to God Doth not the same Scripture that commands the Evening Sacrifice require the Morning Sacrifice also Exod. 29. 38 39. Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the Altar two Lambs of the first Year day by day continually The one Lamb thou shalt offer in the Morning and the other Lamb thou shalt offer at Even And have not you as much cause to bless the Lord together for your Sleep and Safety in the Night as for your Mercies in the Day Nay have you not greater need to beg divine Assistance Protection and Grace when you go out into the World than when you only go to bed Think of it and answer these things in your Consciences if you can And then how unfit are you and the rest of your Houshold for any lively and earnest Prayers at unseasonably late hours Do not you come to them at such times rather as to an unwellcome Task than as to a gracious Priviledg and accordingly they are performed one sleeping in one corner and another in another God hath no Honour you no Edification by them which should be great Ends of all Religious Duties And the other grand Omission of the Tradesman is of the Lord's-Supper Some of them can live to thirty forty fifty Years of Age I speak what I know without ever once approaching the Lord's Table And yet that blessed Saviour of ours in his last Will and Testament and dying Commands are usually observed commanded the frequent use thereof to all that expect benefit by his Death If Do this in remembrance of me be not a plain Command nothing is plain in the Scripture How can ye satisfy your Consciences in such a palpable Disobedience Besides you lose unspeakable Comfort and Strength which is conveyed into the Soul of the true Beliver therein Say not you are not worthy but labour to be worthy and let your godly Minister be judg in the case certainly that Unworthiness which keeps you from the Sacrament will also keep you out of Heaven and where are you then Plead not that you are unprepared for that is your Sin which you should not sleep in another Night How long I pray will you be preparing No no the plain truth is you are loth to be at the trouble of Self-Examination loth to be disturbed in a sinful and slothful course loth to settle to the Practice of serious Piety loth to forgo the Sin you wot of and here it sticks but Sirs these are the Suggestions of your Enemy He commonly tells Men it is too soon till at length it be too late If you could make a Covenant with Death and escape the Judgment that follows it were another matter But Sin must be repented Grace must be obtain'd Heaven must be ensur'd and how shall these things be unless you buckle to it unless you use the means whereof this is one I do therefore earnestly advise and perswade you to take a speedy course to come and come worthily to the Lord's Table Read such good Books as may direct you apply your selves to some faithful Minister who will gladly assist you and above all beseech the Lord to help you to pardon your great Neglect to cloath you with necessary Graces and to welcome you afterward with a Blessing 2. Let all Tradesmen be hence exhorted to introduce Piety into their Callings I beseech you to abide with God in your Callings You cannot be truly rich you cannot be safe you cannot be happy without it It is a poor House that hath no Fire in it it is a poor Shop that hath no Goods in it but tho you have Fire and Meat enough in the House and Goods sufficient in your Shop yet it is a miserable a cursed House and Shop that have no Religion in them You may I grant get Estates dispose your Children live deliciously c. Go on and prosper but you will die like Fools and these very Estates as you have been often told will help to sink your Posterity in the spending that have ruin'd your Souls in the getting of them Remember your Profession remember your Baptismal Vow remember Eternity and be wise for your own Souls If you abide with God in your Calling he will abide with you and then you shall be happy here and happy for ever Happy are the People that are in such a case yea happy is that People whose God is the Lord Then will your Callings be better for you and you will not be worse for your Callings Say not again it is impossible to be religious in your Calling for tho it be more difficult to walk with God in some Callings yet it is possible to do it in any In the Apostles times they that were Servants yea Slaves to very Heathens are required to abide with God even in that Calling There is no lawful Calling under Heaven but there have been holy Men in it and if you be not so it is the fault of the Person and not of the Calling To this end be restless until you have a sense of Religion in your Hearts Embrace Christ there yield up your Souls to him take his Yoke upon you Accept of him in all his Offices and resign your Souls to him with all its Faculties and then you are past the strait Gate It is said Mat. 22. 5. They made light of it and went their ways one to his Farm another to his Merchandize Miserable is that Merchandize that keeps Men from Jesus Christ If you are too busy to go to Heaven your Money will perish with you But if laying aside every weight and the Sin that doth so easily beset you you immediately set upon the Work of Repentance and Holiness you will have Fruit unto Holiness and the end Everlasting Life Prov. 4. 7. Get Wisdom get Vnderstanding You are all for getting here 's Gain without hazard a great Bargain without Money And now what say you What Answer shall I return to him that sent me As the Levite said of old Consider of it and take Advice and
every Man of what Birth or Parts or Grace soever he be let him abide in the same outward Calling wherein he was inwardly called Tho it be mean let him stoop to it tho it be laborious let him buckle to it yea tho he be a Bond-Slave yet let him be quiet till God that called him into it call him out of it Like the famous Epictetus of whom it was said that he was Servus mutilus pauper sed Diis Charus And here I shall I. Give a Description of this Requisite II. Give some Reasons for it III. Shew you wherein the Practice of it is exprest in a Man's Trade and Calling IV. Make some Vse of the whole 1. For the Description of it as it relates to this Subject It is a chearful Satisfaction in the Place and Calling wherein God hath set us There is a natural Stupidity in some Persons and a moral Obstinacy in others and there is a meerly Rational Contentment in others but this which I am speaking of is a work of God's Spirit a Mystery which is learned only in the School of true Religion whereby the Soul the whole Soul is inwardly satisfied with God's wise and holy Will whereby he hath chosen a Man's Profession for him his Satisfaction doth not so much proceed from the Excellency of his Calling as from the declared Will of his heavenly Father who hath placed him therein He is at rest in his Mind as far as it fit to be at rest in this sinful and miserable World This is that hard Lesson which the Apostle Paul had learn'd Phil. 4. 11. For I have learned in whatsoever State I am therewith to be content And an hard Lesson it is to Flesh and Blood and rarely learn'd Ever since our Father Adam was unsatisfied with all the Delicacies of Paradise none of his Posterity could be well content with their Condition unless God by his Grace renew their Nature and limit their Desires Men may think and many have imagined that if they were in another Estate in another Condition they should be well and never desire more but they have found that the Heart of Man is herein like a Bladder which the more it 's filled the more it stretches And you will scarce find an individual Person unless truly mortified that is at full ease in his present State but hankering after some absent Injoyments The Child in love with the Liberty of the Parent weary of his Restraint the Parent 's weary of his Cares and Labours the Vnmarried not content with their Condition and the Married less with theirs the Poor envies the Plenty of the Rich and the Rich admire the Ease and Quiet of the Poor and so it is among all other sorts and amongst the rest our Tradesman is not free He is prone to prefer not only the Gown or the Sword before the Apron but this and that Trade before his own So that it is evident that Contentedness is an hard Lesson and not to be learn'd but from the holy Spirit of God and that there is some need to assist the Tradesman in this difficult Point We shall therefore demonstrate the great Reasonableness and Necessity of it II. The Reasons to inforce this Requisite are either 1. In respect of God Or 2. In respect of our selves There are many other Topicks whereby to urge it but I shall content my self with these 1. In respect of God 1. His plain Command of this frame in general Heb. 13. 5. Let your Conversation be without Covetousness and be content with such things as ye have For he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee No Command can be more plain nor any Reason to a Christian more strong than God's Command Be content with such things as Ye have not such things as Others have others have this and that such a Trade such a House such a Table such Clothes but be ye content with such things as ye have Again think not what things ye have had you have lived so and so have fared better and lived every way higher before your Marriage before the Fire in your younger days but be content with such things as ye now have Again he saith not be content with such things as ye would have say not If I had but a better House a better Trade greater Custom lesser Hazard more Acquaintance I should do well I should be content but be ye content with such things as ye have and adds a most satisfactory Reason For I have said I will never leave thee nor for sake thee I am enough he that cannot be content with Me my Favour and Grace is hard yea impossible to be pleased 2. His wise Providence which hath placed you in this your Calling in particular Your Parents or Friends who disposed you therein were directed or permitted by the all-wise God who knew what Calling was best and fittest for you None of these things are brought about without God and if you belong to him your Condition is good for you and if you do not it is but too good for you All things and then all Callings work together for good unto them that love God Besides he hath Soveraign Dominion over you and all his Creatures and accordingly where he placeth them there they must chearfully abide As the Souldier must stand in the rank or post where his Captain placeth him how difficult or dangerous soever much more must you be satisfied with the standing your heavenly Lord and Master allots you you know not what Service God hath for you to do in that Capacity or what Blessings you are there to receive Psal 47. 4. He shall chuse our Inheritance for us And when he hath chosen it shall we enter our Dissent question his Goodness or correct his Wisdom 3. The Glory of God is another Reason You should be contented in your Calling because you may glorify God in it There is no lawful Calling but God is honoured and served in it Your Wisdom your Patience your Diligence your Uprightness do glorify God exceedingly for all men must know that every good thing every vertuous Disposition every good and perfect Gift if you trace them up to their proper Spring they come from the Father of Lights and consequently they infallibly prove him to be holy and wise and good and so they glorify him Hence even Servants are said Tit. 2. 10. by their shewing all good Fidelity to adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour The meanest Trade may as truly contribute to the Honour of God as the least Finger or Toe doth to the Beauty and Welfare of the Body It is not only the Beams and Pillars but the very Pins that are serviceable in the Building And therefore while you may bring Glory to God in your Calling you should be very well content in it For that 's the highest End and Honour we can reach unto in this World to set forth the Praises of him who hath called
stays Hearken to the Voice of God Prov. 23. 4 5. Labour not to be rich cease from thine own Wisdom Wilt thou set thine Eyes upon that which is not For Riches certainly mark that certainly make themselves Wings they flee away as an Eagle towards Heaven What Wise-Man will fall in love with a Bird on the House-top and such are Riches Unless you find that you are ready according to your ability to any good-work and that you can find in your Heart to eat and drink and wear Apparel sutable to your Estate the World is in your hearts and you must ply the work of Mortification quickly and lift up your Affections from things below to the better things that are above 8. The Religion of the Tradesman is to be exercised in the frequent use of holy Ejaculations An Ejaculation is the darting up of the Heart unto God in a short and lively Prayer And they may be used either by way of Confession as that God be merciful to me a Sinner O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death Or by way of Petition as that of Neh. 13. 31. Remember me O my God for good Or by way of Deprecation as David O Lord turn the Counsel of Achitophel into Foolishness Or by way of Intercession as O that the Salvation of Israel were come out of Zion Or by way of Thanksgiving as that of Christ I thank thee Father Lord of Heaven and Earth c. Now this is the excellency and advantage of these kind of Prayers that as they will dispatch much business in Heaven so they will hinder no business upon Earth they are like a well-plac'd Parenthesis they hinder not the Sense they may be interlin'd not only in a Sermon but in the throng of your Imployments Nehemiah could list up such a Prayer while the King and Queen were all in Presence Neh. 2. 4. Especially you that are Artificers whose Imployment lies in manual Operation what excellent opportunities have you to step often to Heaven by these kind of Prayers and Praises And that you may see this is not a new Invention or piece of modern Preciseness hear what holy Augustin says De Opere Monachorum As vain Men have their Fables and filthy Songs at work quid ergo impedit Servum Dei manibus operantem in Lege Domini meditari psallere nomini Dei altissimi Cantica divina cantare etiam manibus operantes facile possunt ipsum laborem tanquam divino celeumate consolari that is God's Servants should while they are at work sing the Praises of God When the Heart is inditing a good matter the Tongue will quickly be as the Pen of a ready Writer By these you will keep in the fire of Grace between your set-times of Prayer by these you may meet with and quench a Temptation on the sudden When Satan is at his Injections and Injaculations have you recourse to your Ejaculations When you feel the Guilt of Sin to pinch you or the Sense of any Mercy to affect you or of any Danger or Difficulty to affright you this will be a present Relief till you have opportunity of more solemn Prayer And as no Ship is so laden but one may thrust in two or three small Jewels into it so no Man's Business is so throng but he may interline an holy Ejaculation And of the like nature are Soliloquies wherein we speak to our own Souls either to rouze up our dull Spirits or to revive our drooping Souls as we find holy David frequently Psal 42. 62 c. Hereby you may make Company of your selves when as in some Callings you are working alone all the day and it is a sad thing that a Man shall know how to confer with Men yea how to converse with God and yet cannot tell how to commune with his own Heart 9. This Religion or Godliness in a Tradesman is shewed In exercising of Grace in his Calling It is not enough to have all Organs of a human Body without a vital Principle and vital Acts what 's a Hand if it work not or an Eye if it see not and what signifies your Grace within if it be not actually imployed Joh. 4. 14. But the Water that I will give him shall be in him a Well of Water springing up into Everlasting Life A Well is always springing up and true Grace should be still in Activity Most Men act only according to their natural Humour all the week long and others consult only their worldly Interest but the Christian Tradesman hath not so learned Christ He must every day act the Graces of Spiritual Wisdom Zeal Self-denial Patience Charity and particularly that Truth Justice and Contentedness which hath been described to him you will have more Comfort in the review of this than of all your other Gains You will be frequently provoked by your Servants and others here ye must act both Wisdom and Patience you will see too much Sin and Dishonour done to God every day here 's Work for your Zeal you will be often presented with poor Objects there 's occasion for your Charity In short you will have occasion to buy or sell every day there 's Work for your Veracity and Equity And the acting of these Graces is so necessary that you are but dead Christians without it and so pleasing to God that every such Act both strengthens the Habit and opens the charitable Hand of God to give you more And without these you will be but the World's drudg here and that 's sad and the Devil 's hereafter and that 's worse A pious Tradesman may act Grace as much as the greatest Rabbi Famous is the Story of a Primitive Saint in Egypt Who having for many Years retired himself from the World and chiefly imployed himself in the Acts of Mortification and Devotion and being thereupon tempted to think himself among the holiest Men on Earth and long'd to know who should sit next him in Heaven was warned to inquire for a Man in Alexandria who was holier than himself and who should that be but when he had found him but a poor Cobler that work'd hard most of the day but was so circumspect in his Life so just in his Dealings so thankful with his Wife for his mean fare and then so truly devout in the Worship of God that the poor Hermite return'd crest-faln to his Cell and found that the honest Tradesman was like to sit above him in Heaven So that the Exercise of Grace should be no uncouth Business to a Christian Tradesman 10. The Tradesman's Piety must be shewed In the sincere promoting of Goodness and discouraging of Sin As it is the Honour of God that he is good and doth good so he ingraves the same image upon his Children Whatsoever doth regularly tend to the advancing of God's Honour or the Spiritual and Temporal Good of Mankind Religion inclines the honest Tradesman to further it to his utmost