Ability It is that ingages him in Conscience if he have any concern in the Plantations beyond Sea no way to incourage that ungodly Trade of spiriting away either Christians or Infidels against their Wills but rather to indeavour the Instruction and Conversion of the poor Negros who have Souls as precious and immortal as his own and not to be indifferent about their eternal Salvation much less to hinder their Instruction as some are said wickedly to do to the great affront of the Christian Religion No he knows that no Gain can countervail the Loss of a Soul and that where Christ gains he can never be a loser This true Piety guides him in giving his voice in any Election neither any private Respects nor Inducements from others neither the Frowns of one nor Smiles of another shall sway him but his fixed Design directs him which is the Glory of God and the common Good This makes him to run among the first to further any Parish Business this makes him ready to promote the good of his Company to draw out his Purse for the Maintenance of godly Ministers and to relieve the Poor And if he be not the first he will readily second any good Work And if things go well with him the Country shall fare the better for it his Charity shall be accordingly For he knows that pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this Not only to be frequent and devout in the Worship of God but To visit the Fatherless and the Widows in their Affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the World Jam. 1. 27. And the like Zeal he will express in discouraging Sin for he that cannot indure it in himself cannot indure it any where else He first drives it out of his Family to this end reads often the 101st Psalm a Psalm it is for Houshoulders and there you 'l find that a truly Religious Man hates the Works of them that turn aside cannot abide a froward Person will not know a wicked Person indures not a Slanderer a Liar a deceitful or a proud Person If he be invested in any Office he takes that opportunity to express his hatred to Sin by due execution of the Laws against it for he considers that he may never have the like advantage again to serve God and his Generation He sets himself to detect and root up all Frauds all Debauchery and whatsoever is contrary to Justice and Holiness By this indeed he runs a hazard of contracting some ill-will from some ill Men but that he still expresses a Friendship to their Persons and lays all fitting Obligations upon them that so they cannot but see that it's Iniquity which he only dislikes and that he only prosecutes a common Enemy When they come to themselves they will give him Thanks and if they do not his Witness and his Reward is above The best of Men will applaud him and the worst of Men will reverence him Now to further a Tradesman in this his heavenly Trade it is very convenient that he be furnished with some good Books with which this Nation praised be God is richly stor'd These will be Entertainment for him in vacant Hours and on Winter-Evenings and so preserve him from Idleness and from vain Imaginations and from fruitless Company Here he may inrich his Understanding instruct his Conscience warm his Affections and increase his Graces your Shop-Books may help you to be rich for a while but your Closet-Books will help you to be rich for ever But herein take Direction 1. How to chuse them Be well-advised not to buy every Book that you fancy nor every Book that is commended to you nor that hath a taking Title nor that hath a great Bulk and small Price But consult your faithful Minister or some judicious Friâ—nd in the buying of your Books unless you have a mind to throw away your Money and which is more your Time yea and your Souls too which is most of all For as some have been corporally poison'd by reading a Letter so many have been spiritually poison'd by reading infectious Books Neither be covetous after more Books than will comport with your Estate to buy and with your time to peruse Too much variety confounds a few Books well chosen and well read will make you solid Christians Above all Books read the Holy Bible let no day pass without tasting of some heavenly Manna thence And to assist the Frailties of your Memories buy a Concordance Downham and Wickens are the least Cotton or the Cambridg-Concordance are larger and better whereby if you remember but one Word you may find in what Book Chapter and Verse the Sentence is And then to open to you what is difficult in Scripture buy Bishop Hall's Parephrase on the hard places of Scripture or which is fuller the Dutch Annotations To ground you and your Family in the Christian Doctrine you may have the Assemblies Confession and Catechisms to which you may add Mr. Ball 's Catechism with the Exposition or Bishop Vsher's Body of Divinity and also Dr. Gouge on the Lord's-Prayer Dr. Pearson on the Creed Mr. Dod on the Commandments and Mr. Vines with Mr. Dolittle on Sacrament and then the Practice of Piety and the Whole Duty of Man will be very useful both for your Instruction and Devotion Mr. Dent's Plain Man's Path-way to Heaven Mr. Shepherd's Sound Reliever Mr. Baxter's Call to the Vnconverted and Mr. Allen's Vindiciae Pietatis will all of them be of great use for the promoting the Work of Conversion in your selves and Family buy also Dr. Gouge's Book of Domestical Duties whereby Husband and Wife Parent and Children Master and Servant will be instructed in their Relative Duties read also as many of the Lives and Letters of learned and holy Men as you can whereof you have a large Collection in Mr. Clark's Lives and Martyrology You should also have Mr. Perkins Dr. Ames or Bishop Hall's Cases of Couscience to which you may resort in dubious Cases for Direction Bishop Jewel will largely and Mr. Pool's Dialogue will briefly sufficiently arm you against Popery And then for Practical Divines these following are the best I remember Dr. Preston of the New Covenant and on the Attributes Mr. Perkins Mr. Hildersam Mr. Rob. Bolton especially his Directions for a comfortable walking with God Mr. Tho. Hooker Mr. Fenner Mr. Scudder's Daily walk Mr. Capel of Temptations Dr. Harris Mr. Reyner Dr. Reynolds Mr. Gurnal his Christian Armour Dr. Tho. Goodwin Mr. Baxter's Directory and everlasting Rest Dr. Manton's and Dr. Tillotson's Sermons And because you should have some Diversion For History read Mr. Fox's Acts and Monuments Dr. Fuller's Church History of England And for other History you may have Mr. Speed's History of England The wealthier may add to these Cambden's Britannia Sir Rich. Baker's Chronicle Isaackson's Chronology and Plutarch's Lives and Morals And having the present State of England and of London in particular and a Statute-Book you are
it hath the most general and certain Influence into Men's Misery hereafter Few Men being willing to be at the pains to be saved tho all the labour in Religion be accompanied with real Sweetness and be like a Scholars Studies tho they make his Brain and Back to ake yet refresh his Mind and he had rather study than be idle What is it that hinders Men from reading whereby to get Knowledge Sloth What from Prayer from afflicting their Souls from examing their Hearts and Ways Yea from Consideration or any thing that is difficult to Flesh and Blood But Sloth Shake off this base Distemper learn of them that will be rich what pains they take they rise they run they sweat they are unwearied for false Riches and shall we sleep and freeze in the pursuit of the true Riches In the Name of God stir up thy self strive to enter in at the strait Gate and work while it is Day wheu Night comes no Man can work Let spiritual Diligence accompany your temporal and out-strip it For that 's the brave Christian in holy Mr. Dod's Judgment that can work hard and pray hard also And so much for this second Requisite to a good Tradesman to wit Diligence SECT 3. Of Justice in a Trade THE next Requisite in a Trade is Justice we discourse not here either of Vniversal Justice which the Moral Philosopher reckons to include all Vertues in their Vse or Exercise nor of Distributive Justice which consists in a due Distribution of Rewards and Punishments which belongs not to the Tradesman as such But of that which is called Commutative which is exercised in Dealings between Man and Man and of this also not only as it is directed by the Law of Nature but also as it is adopted among the Christian Graces where we shall consider I. The Nature of it II. The Necessity of it III. The Extent of it IV. Make some Vse of it I. For the Nature of it It is a gracious Habit inclining one constantly to render to every one their Right Where you see 1. It s general Nature It is a gracious Habit. An Habit and so rooted and fix'd in the Soul and will exert it self when no body is present to applaud or to disgrace an Habit and so readily inclining a Man to Actions sutable to it self For neither is the Habit within sufficient nor the Acts without they must go both together And then a gracious Habit For tho Morality may restrain unjust Actions and smooth the outward Conversation yet it cannot breed in the Heart a love of Justice as it is pleasing to God especially when the Practice of it crosses a beloved Interest No that the Spirit of God must work For the Fruit of the Spirit is in all Goodness and Righteousness and Truth Ephes 5. 9. And then 2. The particular difference of this from other gracious Habits is that this inclines us constantly to render to every one their Right It supposes that there is a Property which every Man hath in these outward things and that the World lies not in common And that an intercourse is necessary among Men for their mutual well-being that no Man can so subsist of himself but that he hath use or need of others Then steps in Justice to regulate all such Negotiations and teaches and disposes the honest Tradesman to render to every one what of right belongeth to him To Superiours Inferious Equals Relations and generally to every one that he may be able to say with holy Paul I have lived in all good Conscience before God until this day Acts 23. 1. II. For the Necessity hereof 1. It is every Man's Duty For 1. It is commanded by the Law of Nature Those strictures of Man's primitive Righteousness which are left in him do teach him this It was an Heathen Emperour that made choice of this Motto Quid tibi non vis fieri alteri ne feceris What you would not have done to you do not to another Which being rightly understood is both the Foundation and the Rule of Justice Every Man would desire to be justly dealt with and is it not equal and reasonable to render to every man that which we expect from every man It is scarce possible to obliterate this Principle out of natural Conscience and they that act otherwise do overthrow the common Principles of Nature and right Reason 2. It is commanded by the written Law of God This is the tenour of all the second Table of the Moral Law and is particularly intended in the eighth Commandment which saith Thou shalt not steal Which is nothing else but the reviving of the Law of Nature or a new Edition thereof Other Scriptures are frequent and express to this purpose Deut. 16. 20. That which is altogether just or as the Hebrew emphatically Justice Justicer shalt thou follow Which Law is strengthned with the threatnings of Punishment in case of disobedience frequently in the Scripture and clear Instances of the Performance thereof accordingly In short the Righteous God whom we worship is a Spotless Mirrour and Pattern hereof in himself He is Righteous in all his Ways Psal 145. 17. And he tells us 1 John 3. 7. Let no man deceive you he that doth Righteousness is righteous even as he is Righteous And the Righteous Lord loveth Righteousness his Countenance doth behold the Vpright Psal 11. 7. 3. It is commanded by the Law of Christ Our heavenly Saviour that died for us hath own'd and urged this Justice For he came not to destroy the Law but to press it and so hath enfranchized this Adage Mat. 7. 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye even so unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets And when the Apostle describes the great Design of the Gospel Tit. 2. 12. He tells that the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly towards our selves righteously towards others and godly towards God in this present world Wherein is contained the Sum of all practical Religion So that the unrighteous do blot out a third part of the Gospel and so are unworthy of the Christian Name 2. This Justice is every Man's Interest It is the sound and safe way to Prosperity In that Deut. 16. 20. That which is altogether just thou shalt follow that thou mayst live and inherit the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Other ways possibly may be speedier to Riches but this is the safe way Psal 5. 12. For the Lord will bless the Righteous with Favour wilt thou compass him as with a Shield Tho it please God to suffer some right honest Men to be poor and distressed in this Life to evince that there is a Judgment to come yet he doth manifestly favour others with temporal Blessings to shew that there is a Providence at the present And on the contrary the most
the 11th of France who coming incognito to discourse his Turnspit and to question him what he got in his Imployment had this Answer Says he I get as much as the King for the King has but his Life and so have I God feeds the King and the King feeds me 3. Prayer is another means Seek his Grace seek his Counsel If your Contentment be of the right kind it is won by Prayer Interrupt your disquieted Thoughts and compose your Heart to Prayer So David in his Dejections and he sped accordingly Recount to him your Difficulties and Discouragments and be sure then God will either make you fit for your Calling or provide a Calling fit for you And so much for the fifth Requisite SECT 6. Of Religiousness in a Trade THE Sixth Requisite for a Tradesman in his Calling is Religiousness or true Piety and Godliness This compleats him this crowns him Here I. I shall shew the Nature of it II. The Inducements unto it III. The Exercise of it IV. The Vse and Application I. For the Nature of it I do not consider it in this place in its utmost Latitude for so it comprehends all the before-mentioned Duties It teaches a Man to be wise diligent just true and contented but here it denotes only a Man's Behaviour towards God and we may describe it to be A due respect to God in Heart and Life The Scripture in the Old Testament describes it by walking with God Gen. 6. 9. And Noah was a just Man and perfect in his Generation and Noah walked with God He was not only just and exact towards Men but also he walked with God that is he lived in that Reverence and Respect to God as if God had walked with him upon Earth or as if he had lived and walked with God in Heaven In the New Testament it is called a walking in the Spirit Gal. 5. 25. If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit that is if we or since we live a Spiritual Life if we have a distinct Principle of Life besides that of Nature let us walk by the Quickning and Conduct of that good Spirit as on the contrary to walk after the Flesh is to be acted and guided by the Motions of our carnal Concupiscence And we find that the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation teaches us to live not only soberly and righteously but also godly in this present World Tit. 2. 12. So that it is not enough for a Tradesman that he be discreet and just c. as before but if he design to be a happy Man here or hereafter he must be a religious Man an holy Man and that both in Heart and Life II. And for Inducements hereunto 1. Nature teacheth it Religion is as natural to Man as Reason It is a Principle so firmly six'd in the Soul of Man that he can scarce possibly raze it thence And tho some barbarous Nations have mist of the true God yet there are none so savage but that a Sense of Religion cleaves to them Cicero an Heathen could say Nulla est gens tam fera nemo omnium tam immanis cujus mentem non imbuerit Deorum timor So that he must devest himself of Humanity that denies the Obligation of Religion It is this that doth most clearly distinguish Men from Beasts who have some shadow some approaches to Reason but they are utter Strangers to any thing of Religion It 's true Education doth cherish and ripen these natural Notions but if we could conceive a Man to be brought up from his Infancy without any Society or Instruction from others he would no sooner reflect upon himself and imploy his Faculties but he would be sensible of a Power above him and of a deep Respect thereunto So that this is no precarious Business we need not to inlarge at all when we propound Religion to a rational Creature He must be a Brute that denies it Now if all Mankind agree to it the Tradesman must not think that he is exempt from it whom we must suppose to be somewhat refin'd from the Dregs of Mankind 2. The Scripture teacheth it It is the great design of the Scripture to make Men Religious And to this end the Holy Ghost doth therein lay down the clearest Rules propound the most excellent Examples produce the strongest Arguments and provide the most effectual Means and Helpes that the Wisdom of God could devise or the Heart of Man desire And as Piety and Religion is there urged upon all Men in general so also it is prest upon Men as they are distinguished by their particular Callings So 1 Cor. 7. 24. Brethren let every Man wherein he is called therein abide with God Mark let him ahide with God that is cleaving to God still to whom by his religious Allegiance he is obliged Or not imagining but that he may be godly in it Or with God as if God look'd at him and at his Carriage in his Place Also with God that is in a godly manner looking at him and walking with him So that this Text which must needs include the Tradesman doth lay an unquestionable Obligation upon you to add to your Vertue Godliness Hereupon it is that the Scripture checks those severely that say To day or to morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a Year and buy and sell and get Gain Jam. 4. 13. without taking due notice of God These are some of those Words by which you may be saved and by which you must be judged at the last day 3. Reason teacheth it For 1. Religion is the truest Wisdom When that wisest of Men Solomon had search'd in vain to find out an Happiness for Man in all thâ— Honour Riches and Pleasures which the World could afford and what can the Man do that cometh after the King he concludes the whole matter in these words Eccles 12. 13. Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole of Man This is his real Wisdom this is his grand Duty this is his only Happiness For indeed there is nothing doth so conduce to our Happiness in this World as true Religion It is the most certain way to Health to Safety to Plenty to true Pleasure and to true Honour Nothing doth so much perfect and regulate the Faculties of the Soul nor crown it with that Peace and Tranquillity as the Fear of God and true Piety and then it 's plain that it and it only leads us to the Fruition of Eternal Happiness both in Soul and Body Therefore unto Man be said Behold the Fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from Evil is Vnderstanding Job 28. 28. And therefore let every Tradesman be truly Religious 2. There is the highest Equity in it And that upon the account of all the Favours and Blessings which you have receiv'd from God and which you now possess Did not that God whose Fear and Service we are now persuading place
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
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
competently provided for Books in the English Tongue Tho you may read yet you need not buy many more That Money which others spend in superfluous Treats and Vanities will in a short time furnish you with these Companionsâ— and that time which they bestow in doing nothing will serve you for this Employment which will advance both your Intellectuals and your Morals here and your Eternal Happiness hereafter But then you must learn 2. How to use these Books when you have them They must not lie by you in the dust but they must be read and read throughout not by parcels here and there and yet not too much at once for the Mind and Memory are frail and finite and you should leave them as you should your Sermons and Meals with an Appetite But besure you read with a deliberate Attention and Application of what you read to your own Souls and as occasion is offered interline holy Ejaculations to God to bless what you read unto you If the Excellency or Difficulty of matter require it grudg not to read it twice or thrice and if you have time and convenience extract and transcribe those things which most eminently concerns you or make some Index whereby to find them again Lend them also to any that will be sure to read them and restore them so you may have a Trade going of saving Souls when you are asleep Finally let not your reading intrench upon your necessary Business nor make you more contentious proud censorious but more holy and humble and useful that the Divinity of your Books may be read in your daily Practice and that your Works may commend your Authors IV. Vse 1. Then I pray cast back your Eye and review these ten Particulars and then turn your Eyes inward upon your selves and your behaviour in the Premises Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Consider your Ways Hag. 1. 5. Hath the Fear of God accompanied you into your Shops to the Exchange every where What hath been your inward frame How have you exercised Faith What care hath been taken of God's Worship What Rule have you observed and what Ends have you propounded What spiritual use have you made of earthly things in your Callings How have you kept the Sabbath what Watchfulness what Ejaculations what Exercise of Grace what Good have you promoted or what Sins have you prosecuted Of these things you will be examined when you cannot avoid answering It were better to judg your selves than to be judged by the Lord. The Day is at hand when the Secrets of all Hearts and the Ways of all Men will be discovered and impartial Sentence pronounced And if you do reflect in good earnest I conclude that you will see cause to abhor your selves and to repent in Dust and Ashes You will find that some of you have been so far from being religious in your Callings that you have been earthly in your Devotions there you can spare some Looks and Thoughts about the things of this World when in your Vocations you will scarce lift up one Look or Thought to a better instead of mixing Prayers with your Cares you have mingled Cares with your Prayers Nay in many of your Houses no Prayers at all lest you should be accounted Fanaticks you chuse to be Profanaticks Where 's any constant praying If every Door were but mark'd where there is no Prayer within I fear many Houses would stand crost as for the Plague with a Lord have Mercy upon us written upon them We have had the Gospel in Power and Purity now above an hundred and twenty Years and there is yet so much bare-fac'd Wickedness and so little of the Power of Godliness that the Lord may justly say to us as he did to the old World Gen. 6. 3. My Spirit shall no more strive with Man We preserve the Name of Christians Reformed Christians but we dishonour that worthy Name by which we are called How do we trifle in Religion God and Christ and Satan and Death are all in good earnest and we our selves do but dream O the best had need to repent and amend What then will become of them that hate and oppose all that 's serious that ridicule all Religion tho under other Pretences they dislike the Men not the Religion or only their Sins not their Sanctity and too much occasion for that Umbrage is given by many and wo to them by whom Offences come yea and wo to the World because of Offences both those that Give Offence and those that Take and improve it to the Prejudice of Religion are in a woful Condition For why should not a great deal of Goodness in a pious Man cover a little Evil as well as some little Goodness in others shall cover a great many Faults Let a Religious Man have never so many vertuous Qualities and let him have done never so many good things yet if he have any one Fault as if he be too passionate or too worldly all the worthy things in him or done by him are buried and he only hears Hypocrite and all that 's naught on both Ears But if a wicked Wretch have never so many ill Qualities and have lived in Sin all his days yet if he have but one good Property as to be good humour'd charitable or the like all his Faults are pass'd over and buried in silence and he shall be excus'd them all and cry'd up for a very fair condition'd Man Now is not here rank Partiality Do not these Men show hereby their Hatred to God Yes yes the Malignity is at God himself If good Men were less like to God they might sleep quietly with their other Faults Who ever affirm'd that the most sober and religious were without Sin and must they and Religion also be therefore hooted out of the World Who throws Stones at the Moon because there be some dark parts in it I would advise such to beware for Religion is the Cause of God who is a jealous God and if he damn them that are without it what will become of them that are against it These Arrows do penetrate Jesus Christ himself whom you might hear if you had an Ear to hear saying I am Jesus whom thou persecutest it is hard for thee to kick against the Pricks Acts 9. 5. Dread therefore hereafter as Saul there did to open thy Mouth against the unquestionable Duties of Religion and betake your selves to the Practice of that Piety without which you can neither comfortable live nor safely die But more particularly I cannot chuse but lament and reprove two great Omissions of too many Tradesmen And the one is of Family-Prayer which is wholly neglected by many partially practised that is at night only by some and unseasonably performed by others Assuredly Sins of Omission deserve Condemnation as you may see Mat. 25. throughout and all your other Profession or Vertues will not compensate for one wilful Neglect Jam. 2. 10. For whosoever shall keep the whole