therefore to learn your Catechism and carry it not only in your Trunk but inyour Head into your Calling and look it often over alone if so be it your Superiours do neglect to examine you therein That Neglect in Publick and Private is such as sadly threatens the Vitals of our Religion The Jesuits confess that by catechising we did spread and fix the Reformation we had need be careful lest we drop it by the Neglect thereof and therefore though you may by good Advice carry other good Books with you and sometimes read them yet the way to be a settled and conscionable Christian is to converse much with the Principles of Religion which well digested breed the purest Blood in the Heart and produce the most savoury Fruit in the Life and Conversation 3. You must carry with you a Capacity for the Calling you undertake Then you will go on smoothly with it and what ever Difficulty is therein will be compensated with the Delight that will attend it He that attempts a Calling without a Capacity for it loses his Time frets his Instructors and blunts those Spirits which might be sufficient for another Imployment Tutors and Mastâ—â—s therefore should very carefully observe the Capacities of Candidates during their time of Probation and faithfully represent them to those who have intrusted them otherwise they will injure both the Parents the Children and themselves 2. The other necessary Qualification for a good Entrance into a Calling is Grace in the Heart When the Heart is sanctified and sincerely devoted unto God then he will preserve you teach you and bless you he will interess himself in all your Concerns supply the Absence of Parents support you under any Difficulties or Severities you may meet with and crown your Endeavours with a prosperous Success so far as it is good for you O Sirs it is as much a Man's Interest as his Duty to be holy yea and to begin betimes otherwise you may fall into such Snares and Temptations in your Youth of which you may never be cur'd while you live And indeed it is scarce possible for a young Man or Woman in this wicked World and in that slippery Age to escape the Contagion of evil Company without a Principle of saving Grace More particularly I commend to you these two 1. Humility When you are going into a Calling the best and fittest Garment you can go in is to be clothed with Humility An humble Heart within accounting others better than your self not reckoning your self too great or too good for any honest Imployment and shewing its self in a modest and respectful Carriage and Behaviour will make God and Man to be in love with you A meek and quiet Spirit is in the sight of the Lord of great Price This will make you content in your Condition This Work and this Fare tho it may be hard yet saith the humble Soul it is rather too good for me The Neglects yea the Contempts cast upon me alas they are nothing to what I deserve What care I for fine Cloths or any great Respect that am conscious of my own Unworthiness This Grace will make you ready to be commanded easy to be pleased hard to be provoked and generally to be beloved Yea every one will heap Respect on him that flees it and will honour those that are mortified to Honour Whereas carry what Parts Education or Accomplishments you will into your new Calling yet if you carry a proud Heart with you you will neither be acceptable to others nor easy to your selves You 'l be disputing when you should obey you 'l be fretting when you should submit envying whom you should respect disdaining whom you should cherish and justling with those Equals whom you should imbrace Every Task will be too hard every Reproof too galling every Hour a Year till ye be at liberty and then you will carry your Chain with you for he can never be at liberty that is a Slave to his Pride and Passions 2. Fidelity 1. In Word Be sure that you hate a Lie or any thing like it Well may a Liar be rank'd among Idolaters Whoremongers and abominable Persons Rev. 21. 8 27. For as there is unspeakable Malignity Atheism and Debauchedness of Conscience in it so it prepares and disposes a Man to all Wickedness It ruines all Human Conversation by taking away that Confidence to Mens Words which is necessary to it And therefore fix this Resolution to speak Truth what ever it cost you Dare to be true nothing can need a Lie A Fault that needs it most grows two thereby Mr. Herbert Rather hazard the Anger of Man than the Wrath of God Veracity and Truth may mitigate the Rage you fear but a lying Tongue will be but for a Moment and here remember that Saying of Eli to his Sons If a Man sin against another the Judg shall judg him but if a Man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him 1 Sam. 2. 25. 2. Shew the same good Fidelity in Deed. Resolve to be just and faithful to those that intrust you In their Affairs in their Secrets in whatsoever belongs to them shew all good Fidelity Tit. 2. 10. Then tho your Skill and Parts prove short of Expectation your Faithfulness will procure for you both Love and Esteem A true Heart will make amends for a weak Head or a slow Hand Natural Weakness all will pity and pardon but Moral Obliquities being Faults of the Will are ill resented by God and Man And therefore whatever Necessities you may be under whatever Conveniences nay whatever Temptations you may have be exactly punctual and honest for the true God hates the Man that 's false whether it be in Word or in Deed. Thirdly For the happy Entrance into a Calling you must take with you firm and good Resolutions For you must exspect both Temptations and Difficulties in every Place and Calling which you have not met with before These will be like to stagger you if you go not forth with a steady Resolution If your Calling depend most on the Head and Brain you must not be discouraged with the Crabbedness of your Studies but seeing God hath indued you with Capacity and Parts as is before supposed it is possible and a resolute Industry will make it facil to overcome all If your Calling depend on the Labour of the Hand still resolve to buckle with it every day it will be easier than other and that which now you tremble at shortly you 'l play with You must also expect to meet with some Severities harsh Looks harsh Words harsh Usage but let none of these things terrify you All this shall turn to your good It is the wise Providence of God to permit all these things for the taming and subduing that Wantonness and Pride in young People which is for the most part inseparable from that Age. Settle your Resolutions therefore at your Entrance to suffer what is sufferable in your Calling still hoping
every thing by Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving we make our Requests known unto God Phil. 4. 6. How dare any then chuse their Calling without God's good liking or rush into it without earnest Prayer On the other side With what boldness and chearfulness may one proceed in his Imployment when he can aver that he was called to it by God himself who will therefore stand by him and carry him through it Prov. 3. 6. In all thy Ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy Steps 4. Their Sin and Folly is no less that mistake the Ends of their Calling Aiming therein only at their Wealth Ease and Honour and not at the Glory of God and the Publick Good as well as their own Subsistence The End is that which enobles or imbases any Action A right Principle Rule and End sanctifies every Step and Passage of a Man's Life but if any of these be wanting the thing is spoiled Grant the Calling to be never so lawful yet if ye imbark in it with an eye only to Self ye may get Wealth and Honour but therein you have your Reward You proceed herein but like prudent Pagans who may be as Industrious as Rich as Just as You but ye do no way shew forth the Praises of him that hath called you out of Darkness into his marvellous Light The Motto of Christians is Rom. 14. 7 8. None of us liveth to himself and no Man dieth to himself but whether we live we live unto the Lord c. He that liveth only to himself lives like a Beast he that lives to the Publick lives like a Man but he that lives also to the Lord lives like a Christian and that Man shall die to the Fruition of that Lord to whom and for whom he hath lived 2. Behold the Wisdom of God And that 1. In the Variety and Kinds of Callings suited to the various Necessities of our Human Life Hath Man a Soul there 's a Calling provided and sanctified for the Instruction and Salvation thereof Hath he a Body there 's a Calling fitted for the preserving and restoring the Health of that And then his Body must have Food and Rayment how many Callings are ready to prepare these Some for the Head some for the Hands some for the Feet every Member almost hath a Calling to attend it some for Necessity some for Delight all for the Comfort and Welfare of Mankind And 2. The like Wisdom in qualifying and inclining some to one Imployment and some to another One Man shall have a Fancy to travel to fetch in Materials from abroad another shall delight in working them up at home this Man shall have a subtile Head that a curious Hand the other a brawny Arm Skill in one Strength in another Prudence and Care in a third and all for the good of the whole Just as it is in the Natural Body the wise God hath placed every Part and Organ in its proper Situation and disposed them for their several Functions and each is at Ease and Content in its place even so in the Body Politick the infinite Wisdom and Goodness of God shines forth in distributing to every Man his Function and in qualifying and inclining some to one Office and some to another for the general good of all And his Providence is signal in making Men generally pleas'd with their several Imployments as it is in Habitations he that lives in the Champian wonders how the Inhabitant of the barren Mountains can indure it and he that inhabits a sweet Air admires how any can live comfortably among the Fens and yet so it is each Man is inamoured of the place of his own Birth and Breeding and sits and sings under his own Roof And as the most ignoble Parts of Man's Body do quietly and readily perform their Offices without Discontent or Envy at the rest so the Divine Providence hath most sweetly temper'd the various Minds of Men to chuse and use in this variety of Callings what is most acceptable to themselves and useful to the whole And as any anomalous and useless Part of the Body would be asham'd were it capable of Shame to adhere to the Body to no end or purpose so should that Man or Woman be out of Countenance that is not in some Calling useful to their Generation Which leads us to the second Head of Discourse upon this Subject which is of the Necessity of a Calling CHAP. II. Of the Necessity of a Particular Calling I Proceed then in the second place to shew That every Man and Woman that is capable thereof should have besides their General and Spiritual a Particular and Temporal Calling This I prove 1. From the Light of Nature this teaches us That every Man must endeavour to live that Sustenance drops not immediately out of the Clouds that it is unreasonable to live upon others that Motion is natural to Mankind so that if Idleness were enacted by Authority it is thought very many would pay their Mulct that they might work that Man is not only an active Creature but he hath Brains and Strength which were given to no Man to be useless and the very Pagans will addict themselves to some Imployment or other for their own and others good Hence Pharaoh's first Question to Joseph's Brethren was What is your Occupation Gen. 47. 3. This instructed Jubal to teach Musick and Tubal-Cain to be an Artificer in Brass and Iron Gen. 4. 21. In a word God's giving Men Hands as well as Mouths tells us that they who eat should also work And the Inclination and Aptitude to this or that Imployment which the God of Nature hath put into Men's Minds if they would observe and excite the same is a plain Indication and Proof that every Man should settle himself to be some way useful in the World 2. From the Light of Scripture And here we have 1. The Ordinance and Institution of God to Adam both before and after the Fall Before the Fall when Adam was in the State of Innocence yet the Wisdom of God chose a Calling for him Gen. 2. 15. And the Lord God took the Man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it He was God's high Steward over all the Earth and might if any Man have lived at Ease yet was obliged to an Imployment He that was greater and wiser and holier than any of his Off-spring the second Adam excepted must have a Calling Let no Man therefore plead his Birth Estate his Parts or Graces to justify an idle Life After the Fall Gen. 3. 19. In the Sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat thy Bread till thou return unto the Ground He must into the same Calling again tho he found more Difficulty in it than he had before as a broken Tradesman that sets up again with a less Stock in worser Times And having two Sons they were each of them fixt in a Calling Gen. 4. 2. Abel was a Keeper of Sheep
with his Creditors induces them to accept a part of their due Debt for the whole and inriches himself with their Spoils How false and base a course is this How many damning Sins dost thou wilfully commit for the compassing a little momentary Gain Here 's Lying here 's Stealing here 's notorious Hypocrisy and Dissembling Distrust in God and Injury to Man How canst thou hope to escape the Curse of God upon thy Soul Nay upon this thy fraudulent Estate is not this the defrauding thy Brother and is not the Lord the Avenger of all such 1 Thess 4. 6. These Men can have no Refuge but direct Atheism or else that Conscience must be in a deep Lethargy that is not affrighted with such Threatnings of the Almighty But let all such Men know that their Iniquity will find them out sooner or latter The Prisons they take cannot keep out either Sickness Terrors or Death And that 's a poor Relief that only reaches the Body and that also but for a few moments 3. This Justice consists in using exact Weights and Measures And that not out of fear of the Officers but out of love to Justice For without these your Commerce is a perfect Cheat the Buyer goes away satisfied that he hath so much as he bargain'd for for his Money when indeed he hath not See how punctual the Law of God is in this matter Deut. 15. 13 14 15 16. Thou shalt not have in thy Bags divers Weights a great to buy with and a small to sell with Thou shalt not have in thy House divers Measures a great and a small But thou shalt have a perfect and just Weight a perfect and just Measure shalt thou have that thy days may be lengthened in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee For all that do such things and all that do unrighteously are an Abomination unto the Lord. Here 's the Law and the Sanction The Law shines with its own Evidence so just and honest and yet to strengthen it the greatest Incouragement is given to the Obedience of it and the greatest Check to the contrary The Lord is a God of Justice and there is no Unrighteousness in him He hates all such Workers of Iniquity And as the Seller should use no other but exact Weights and Measures so the Buyer should be contented with them and not desire or indeavour to have more than he buys for thereby he strives to his Ability to make them greater as the Seller would make them less than the Law requires which is equally abominable unto God For the same Law of Justice and Equity should govern both of them and what Arts or Tricks soever are used by either of them for their own Advantage to the Prejudice of the other are criminal before the Lord. Hearken what he saith Ezeck 28. 16. Thou hast defiled thy Sanctuaries by the multitude of thine Iniquities by the Iniquity of thy Traffique therefore will I bring forth a Fire to devour thee c. And among other Frauds False Lights are justly reckon'd when Men do so contrive the Lights in their Shops as to represent their Commodities to be better than they are when the honest Chapman comes home they are quite another thing What can be more fraudulent It is no other than picking thy Neighbour's Purse of so much as is extorted hereby from him above the real worth of that Commodity How can you rejoyce or sleep with such dishonest Gain Is not the Lord the Avenger of all such Be not deceived God is not mocked tho thy harmless Neighbour be trapan'd If thy timely Repentance and Restitution prevent it not he will take thee from thy false Lights and thrust thee without Bail or Main-prize into true and endless Darkness 4. This Justice doth oblige a Tradesman to the right working of all Manufactures The Municipal Laws indeed do generally make excellent Provision for this but unless Men be under the awe of God and their own Consciences they may easily find Evasions and trample the Laws under their Feet And the Law reaches not to innumerable Cases of this nature Tho it bind him that makes the Cloth yet it reaches not him who makes up the Apparel tho it obligeth him that tans the Leather yet it reaches not him that makes up the Shoe and so in many other Instances now here Justice comes in and teaches the Tradesman to do all such Work for others as he would chuse to have them done for himself It 's true it may not be necessary to bestow equal care and labour upon each piece of Work the Stuff the Price the design of it may not require it but Equity requires you to give to every Manufacture the Perfection requisite to its kind and not through Sloth or multiplicity of Business or any other selfish respect render things useless or unserviceable Much less may you deceitfully thrust in a baser Stuff or Metal instead of a better hereby cheating you Customer in the Price tho he should never come to know it yea tho it should do him equal Service for this is to impose upon his Ignorance and to extort from him a Price above the true value of the Commodity Say not that the common Price will not allow that you should bestow any more Care or Pains about your Work For it is the Slightness of the Work which in many cases hath abated the Price which if you would generally reform you might and would in a short time raise up the Price to the just value of your Work and this Tract is design'd to rectify not only one or two Tradesmen but the Generality and particularly all such as desire to walk honestly and to procure the Blessing of God 5. This Justice consists in making conscionable Bargains And herein lies all the Imployment of divers Tradesmen to wit in Buying and Selling. Now Justice doth incline a Man neither to buy too cheap nor to sell too dear but to deal with others as he would desire to be dealt with So that here 1. It requires only a reasonable Proportion of Gain from what you buy or sell It is not easy to determine by any particular standing Rule the measure of that Gain which a Tradesman may receive For it cannot always be measured by what the Commodity Cost him which he is about to sell sith he might by surprize or otherwise buy it too dear and why should another pay for his Folly Or he might by some special Providence obtain at an under-value and why should he causelesly make another partaker of his Advantage For without doubt a Man may take greater Gain at one time than at another and may take the Advantage the Providence of God puts into his hands so be it he use it moderately The Rates at which some Others sell cannot always be a measure of a Tradesman's Gain for many of them may be necessitated to sell at an under-rate and why should other Mens Indigence prejudice him Or some
of that Saying What shall it profit a Man if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul And 2. If you have wronged any Man and dealt unjustly with him make speedy Restitution For you cannot be said truly to repent of your Sin unless you have at least a real Purpose to restore whatsoever you have unjustly gotten This is both your Duty and your Interest 1. It is your Duty commanded by God and commended by him Commanded Numb 5. 6 7. When a Man or Woman shall commit any Sin that Men commit to do a Trespass against the Lord mark though your Neighbour be the immediate Object yet it redounds to the Lord and that Person be guilty then they shall confess their Sin which they have done and he shall recompense his Trespass with the Principal thereof that is the just Value of the Thing wherein he hath wronged his Brother and add unto it the fifth Part thereof both as a Penalty for the Wrong and also to make the Satisfaction full and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed Now the Moral Equity which is contained in any of these judicial Laws binds every Man to the End of the World See also Levit. 6. 5. Hereupon Samuel saith 1 Sam. 12. 3. Whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed and I will restore it you This Nehemiah called for Nehem. 5. 11 12. and the People presently yielded to him And this is Commended in Zacheus Luk. 19. 8. Lord if I have taken any thing mark any thing of what kind soever of what quantity soever of any Man good or bad rich or poor King or Subject by false Accusation I restore him not I 'll do it at my leisure when I have a greater Estate to do it with but upon the nail I restore him fourfold I 'll be the Loser he shall have fourfold And if ever Salvation come to your House and the Dominion of Grace into your Heart you will go and do likewise 2. It is your Interest to make Restitution For what you have got by Wrong will never do you good The Gain of Deceit lasts but a while or if it do it stays with you in Wrath. If it abide with you till you dy yet the Curse of God stays with it and lies if not visibly upon your Estate Body or Children yet really on your poor Souls which is worst of all It adheres to all you have as the Plague to a rich Suit of Cloaths they are gay and rich but Death is in them and who that 's wise would wear the richest Suit with the Plague in it course Sack-cloth were much better So it were better for you a thousand times to live poor and just and dy blessed than to live and dy with a Curse Now is it not Wisdom to part with that which will do you no good but harm What run a hazard of losing all your honest Gain by keeping some little which is dishonest What and venture Hell-fire rather than part with some of your Estate when as if God say the Word tonight you must part with it all before Morning Is it not better to bring it back and be saved than to have it fetcht and you be lost I tell you if ever your Eyes be savingly open'd you will make as much haste to restore what you have wrongfully gotten as ever you did to get it and shake it out of your Skirt as you would brush a Spark of Fire off your Cloaths Think not hereby to lay up Estates for your Children alas this is not the way for if you could rise out of your Graves but one fifty Years after your Death you would see that the Canker of your Deceits and Injuries had consum'd it all and that those Riches which ruin'd your poor Souls in the getting of them had ruin'd the Souls of your Posterity in the consuming of them The Father damn'd by injurious Getting an Estate and the Son or Grand-child at furthest damn'd by the ungodly Wasting of it How many Houses have you seen ruin'd where an Oppressor where a Knave hath dwelt in a few Generations their Names are blotted out and they who preferr'd Earth to Heaven have neither Earth nor Heaven at last and can you go by their Houses and not receive Instruction will you see and know this and yet follow them Resolve then from this Day to restore what you cannot honestly or safely keep Make your selves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness Take thy ill-gotten Goods in thy Hand as that Philosopher did his Estate when he threw it into the Sea and resolve 't is better that these Things be lost for me than with me What shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul Perhaps you will plead your Inability that if every Bird had its own Feathers you should be left absolutely naked and in short that your whole Estate would not recompense those whom you have wrong'd Answ Total Inability excuses Restitution in the Kind but yet there must be Restitution in the Mind The Will you must have at present and the Deed except remitted if ever you be able In the mean time you ought to mourn that you have wrong'd your Neighbour in Actions and can only right him in your Wishes And sure there is some just Hand of God in it that your Estate though increas'd by your wronging of others should be brought to such an Ebb that you are now unable to make just Restitution Surely God hath blown upon it with his Curse already and you may find by this that no Industry or Cunning can assure ill-gotten Goods And as sure as this Curse follows you externally so surely without Repentance and Restitution will it follow you eternally And therefore you are quite out in your Arguing you cannot restore because it will make you poor for if you do not restore you will be poorer still And then it 's better to be poor with God's Blessing than poor with his Curse And grant it do bring you low to restore every Man his own alas it doth only deliver you from that Estate which would do you hurt and strip you of some Garments that would keep you too hot However the Event Duty must be done whether we grow rich or poor by it Poverty and Piety are better company than Riches and Sin And if you can trust God and otherwise you cannot be saved he can and will if it be for your good make you amends for your Self-denial and give you Goods and a good Conscience also 2 Chron 25. 9. The Lord is able to give thee much more than this Howbeit if the present Restitution should be to your utter undoing which may be avoided by some reasonable Delay acquaint the Party injured with your purpose who will in Charity allow you some space of Compensation and praise your Integrity Obj. It may be you will say I shall be shamed my Name will be posted up for Dishonesty and my Credit which is a
you in these your Callings Did not he preserve you in your Apprentiships from many Dangers Diseases and Temptations Hath not he supported you in your Trades when many that had better Foundations have bin ruin'd Hath not he given you all that Estate ye have and if that be too little is not he ready to give you such and such things Hath not he pluck'd you out of divers Dangers Pains Diseases and kept you alive when some of your Neighbours round about you are hid in the Grave Besides the great things which he hath done for your Souls and for your Families Now for all this what doth the Lord your God require of you Only fear the Lord and serve him in Truth with all your Heart considering what great things he hath done for you 1 Sam. 12. 24. So that in point of Gratitude it behoves the Tradesman to be truly Religious 3. There is the soundest Comfort in it There is it 's true a kind of Pleasure in sinful Ways which bewitches those that follow them but as it cannot affect the whole Soul for there is Conscience in the most profligate which as it is vexed in them in the midst of their Follies and consequently their Satisfaction cannot be intire so it leaves a Sting which is both inseparable and unsufferable and when all is done this Pleasure is mortal and commonly is but momentary it is but like the crackling of Thorns under a Pot which makes a great noise but is soon extinguished But now Religion as it doth permit to you all innocent Pleasures you may have an equal Liberty with others to all that is worth the having in them so it fills the Soul and entertains all the Faculties thereof with those Delights that are most congruous to them and also feasts it with the sweet review of an holy Life The Fear of the Lord is clean rejoycing the Heart It affords Laughter without a Sting Mirth without a Reckoning It will support and comfort you under your Losses and give you Songs in the Night while others are eaten up with their Cares or wallowing in their Puddle And therefore it is your real Interest to be truly Religious 4. There is the greatest Necessity of it Our wise and blessed Saviour told Martha Luke 10. 41 42. Thou ant careful and cumbred about many things but one thing is needful which you see was the business of Religion hearing the words of Eternal Life For as sure as you have mortal Bodies so sure it is that you have immortal Souls and as sure as there is you see a visible World with respect to the Body so certain is it that there is an invisible World for the invisible Soul Now if you must needs care and labour to sustain the Body and it is your common cry Rent must be paid Bread must be had so let me oppose our must against yours God must needs be serv'd the Soul must needs be saved and in order to it Knowledg must needs be got Sin must needs be pardon'd and mortified a new Heart must be procured and a new Life led and here 's Religion Yea it is necessary for the procuring a Blessing upon all your Affairs for Godliness is profitable to all things having the Promise of the Life that now is 1 Tim. 4. 8. If you will truly serve him he will certainly bless you He will establish the Work of your Hands upon you yea he will establish it if you earnestly seek it Psal 90. 17. All that he doth shall prosper Psal 1. 3. Survey the Book of God and you will generally find when the Kings were most religious they were then most prosperous 2 Chron. 26. 5. And as long as Uzziah sought the Lord the Lord made him to prosper See the whole 112th Psalm Indeed one may prosper by other Courses but that Gain is clear Loss and the Prosperity of such Fools shall destroy them And you should do well to consider whether many of your Losses and Crosses and Decays be not the just Punishment of your Neglects in Religion For when the People of God of old neglected God's Service Hag. 1. 6. He that earned Wages earned Wages to put into a Bag with Holes God can easily blast your most effectual Endeavours about this Life if you be negligent about the things of a better and so you may come to lose two Worlds for want of one Religious Heart Object 1. It may be you will object the Difficulty of Religion that the Lessons of it are too hard and that the way to Heaven is too narrow for you Answ But I answer There is nothing so hard in Religion but the Grace of God will make it easy Your Trades seemed very hard at first but now you find them easy enough As a new Suit of Cloaths pincheth you a little at first but in a few days they are easie enough so being a while habituated to a godly Course the Difficulty will vanish and the Suavity will abide To live in Idleness and perish for hunger looks easy but who will therefore chuse it No you 'l work and sweat and die with Labour rather than live in want And why should Difficulties in Religion only fright you But if you will believe God you must acknowledg that his Yoke is easy and his Burden is light that his ways are ways of Pleasantness and all his Paths are Peace Or if you will credit those that have tried them they will unanimously avouch that there is more Comfort in the Hardships of Religion than in the Pleasures of Sin But what do we dispute about Difficulty when Necessity is in the case you must be holy now or miserable for ever and you that cry how hard a thing it is to get into Heaven will find it an harder matter to get out of Hell Object 2. O but you object it will be prejudicial to us It will take up our Time hinder us in Business and cut off some ways of Gain which now we live by We would gladly read such a good Book go and confer with a good Minister but we have not time for these things Answ This is but the old Song when Israel should go to sacrifice than Pharaoh calls to work But 't is a meer Evasion how much time do many of you squander away in sleeping eating smoaking and visiting You can stay with any body but with God and can find time for any thing but the saving of your Souls How busy soever you are your Work on Earth will be done best when your Work in Heaven is done first You would not like it that your Apprentice should tell you he could not do your Business because he had some Business of his own to do You are the Lord's and your time is his and to postpone his Work for any thing else is a far greater Affront to him And tho the Fear of God may check you in your indirect ways of Gain yet it will make you treble amends by
more languidly in a true Religion Men swim faster down than up the Stream yet when a Man considers that the success of his Affairs depends upon God and that he cannot keep Friendship with him if he hold not Correspondence and that most certainly he can and will make the Tradesman amends by the Years end for every minute that he sincerely devotes to his Service This should bear down all Difficulty and oblige him to the constant Worship of God 4. The Tradesman's Religion is exercised in Observing a right Rule and End in all his worldly Affairs And here he guides not his Behaviour by the Example of others nor of his Master that went before him nor by the current of his particular Humour Appetite or Interest but by the holy Word of God and such Dictates of sound Reason that are agreeable thereunto You must not conclude thus and thus I 'l do for so do others or so did my Master before me or it is my Humour or it is for my Interest but what saith Moses and the Prophets what saith Christ and his Apostles and what would they do if they were in my place and this must be your Rule And in case of doubt and difficulty you must consult the wise and honest and so be determin'd They asked Counsel at Abel and ended the matter 2 Sam. 20. 18. And this Care and Pains before is much better than to wound your Conscience and give ill Example to others He that doth Truth cometh to the Light that his Deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Joh. 3. 21. Your Deeds must be wrought in God And Religion must teach you the like care in the End which you should aim at in all your Business which should be to please and glorify God For none of us Christians liveth to himself and no Man dieth to himself and indeed he that liveth to himself will be likely to die to himself But whether we live we live unto the Lord Rom. 14. 7. This is Man's greatest Duty this is his highest Priviledg We reckon it a great Honour to that Nobleman that shall put the Crown upon the Head of a King O how much greater is it to put the Crown of Glory upon God's But of this before Only you may ask May not a Man aim at Riches by his Calling that he may have Ease in his old Age c. Answ An End is subordinate or ultimate a next end or a last end You may design to get an Estate but not meerly for your own sake but chiefly for God's sake not so much that ye may live at ease but that ye may do good thereby A Man may desire a good Horse or a good Boat to carry him to his Friend Every step of a Religious Tradesman being trac'd to the utmost ends at God He would not care for himself but that he may be of use to glorify God 5. The Tradesman's Piety is shewed In spiritualizing his Calling There is in every Calling a Temporal and a Spiritual respect The outside of them is the Object of Sense a brutish Man may comprehend that and get his Living by it but there is an inside which only the gracious Eye can read There is scarce any thing which you trade in but a Religious Heart may learn something of God out of it And this surely is one end of Similes and Comparisons so frequent in the Bible not only that God may come down by them to us but that we may by them ascend unto him he hath translated the World into the Scripture that we may think of the Scripture in the World This is the safest and richest Chymistry whereby you may extract the purest Spirits out of the grossest Bodies As the Bee can gather Honey out of every Flower yea out of the very Weeds so may and should the Religious Tradesman gather some Spiritual Lessons out of his temporal Wares and Imployments Thus the Merchant may learn something from Mat. 13. 45. And all that buy and sell from Mat. 25. 16. and Luk. 29. 15. The Writer from Psal 45. 1. They that work in Wooll from Isa 1. 18. and Psal 147. 16. The Apothecary from Eccles 10. 1. The Carpenter from Isa 10. 15. and Zech. 1. 20. The Founder from Jer. 8. 29. The Refiner from Mal. 3. 2 3. The Baker from Hos 7. 4 6. The Fisher from Jer. 16. 16. and Mat. 4. 19. The Weaver from Job 7. 6. The Potter from Isa 6. 8. and Jer. 18. And I think these are all the Trades expresly mention'd in Scripture by which the Holy Ghost directeth us to spiritual things There are also mention'd the Goldsmiths Neh. 3. 8. The Silversmiths Acts 19. 24. The Spice-Merchants 1 King 10. 15. The Masons 1 Kings 12. 12. The Mariners Ezek. 27. 9. The Calkers Ezek. 27. 9. The workers in fine Linnen 1 Chron. 4. 21. The workers in Needle-work Exod. 26. 36. The Smiths Isa 54. 16. The Ingravers and the Imbroiderers Exod. 35. 35. The Tent-makers Acts 18. 3. The Tanner Acts 9. 43. The Copper-smith 2 Tim. 4. 14. The Cook 1 Sam. 8. 13. The Barber Ezek. 5. 1. The Fuller Mark 9. 3. In general the Chapmen 2 Chron. 9. 14. and the Cunning Artificers Isa 3. 3. And those are as far I can find all the Trades mention'd in the Scripture But as it is said Isa 28. 26. concerning the plain Husband-man His God doth instruct him to Discretion and doth teach him so will the Spirit of God teach the ingenious Tradesman to learn spiritual Lessons from his Temporal Calling An ingenious Head indeed is a great help herein but an heavenly Heart is all in all This inspir'd our blessed Saviour to make a Sermon out of a Vine Joh. 15. 1. and to raise Instruction from a barren Fig-tree As we see on the contrary how wickedly witty a naughty Man will be to collect base and sinful matter out of the Objects that come before him and turn all to Poison surely it is as possible and much more noble to extract the Gold than the Dross Do but keep open the Eye of Faith to see Invisibles pray for Skill and fall to Practise and it will come The Profit will ballance the Pains He that turns Earth into Heaven hath an Heaven upon Earth 6. This Religion will teach the Tradesman To observe the Christian Sabbath in a holy manner Indeed this is one of the first things that God's Grace reforms in a serious Christian No sooner doth he begin to look towards Heaven in sober Sadness but he begins to value and use the Lord's-day in another manner than before Hence Ezek. 20. 12. I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them Remember the Sabbath before it comes And if possibly you can dismiss your Affairs a little the sooner the day before that you may have time over night to reflect on your Works the Week
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