Tradesman's Calling in general which they should thankfully acknowledg and which should render them very well content with their Condition Besides every Tradesman should study and collect the particular Advantages of his own Calling If it be laborious then it 's usually more free from Cares and less subject to Losses if you spend your time in buying and selling only then you have commonly more Time and less Toil. In some Trades you are brought into great Acquaintance with the Mysteries of Nature in others with the Curiosities of Art in some you learn to know Men in others Things Now the Tradesman should muster up and survey all these Excellencies and Advantages of his Calling both to demonstrate and to further his Contentment therein and so should conclude I am well if I can see it my Calling is but too good for me 3. This Contentedness is to be shewn in a patient bearing of the Losses and Disappointments that befal him in his Trade And here our Tradesman hath occasion for all Grace he hath For sometimes he meets with great losses in his Goods themselves perishing either by their own Corruptibility or by the Carelesness of his Servants sometimes he hath great Losses by the Breaking of his Chapmen or Correspondents and sometimes meerly by the Providence of God permitting either dreadful Storms at Sea or wicked Pirates to swallow them up Now if God's Grace do not support his Spirits under these Losses he frets himself in pieces with impotent Vexation he falls out with his Trade with Men yea with God himself and injoys nothing of what he hath left because he is deprived of what he hath lost He inlarges upon the Folly of Trading he condemns all Mankind because he finds some of them dishonest he extols every Man's Calling but his own he frets at the Providence of God nay almost questions whether there be any Providence because it frowns upon him quarrels with his Meat his Drink his Servants his Wife yea with himself because forsooth he could not prophesy he could not fore-see and fore-tell how the Seas or Men would prove whereas by virtue of Christian Contentment the Tradesman tho he be not insensible of his Losses yet he labours to digest them and things looking ill he will not make them worse by his own Folly He considers the Uncertainty of all worldly Imployments and of all human Affairs and that there is no sure trading but to Heaven he concludes that tho he will not do it yet God hath set Bounds to his Estate how much will do him good and that he takes nor suffers others to take any way but what he knows would do him hurt He knows that when he bears a Loss with Chearfulness God will the sooner make it up than when he murmurs He remembers that he undertook this his Calling with a supposition of such Events as these Tho he smart and have loss by the failing of his Neighbour yet he thanks God that he is not the Bankrupt himself and accordingly if he find him not dishonest extends Compassion towards him He knows that Indeavours belong to him but Events belong to God who he is sure is more careful of his good than he is himself And therefore when he hath examined his own Heart and Ways and mourn'd for the Sins which have deserved and procured the Affliction he satisfies himself in the Will of God refers the matter wholly to him and rests contented eats and drinks and sleeps as chearfully as before Thinks he if my Happiness did lie in these things I might repine at my Losses or if Man's Life did consist in the abundance of what he possesses I were in a forlorn Condition but my Happiness is in God he is the Strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever Or if my own Vices had brought me low my Idleness or Debauchery my Pride or Lusts there were cause enough of Dolour and Discontent But the Faults of others shall never make me fall out with my self And therefore whatever Losses or Disappointment I meet with I 'l be content 4. This Contentedness is to be exercis'd in watching against the contrary Temptations Those Vices which do oppose and thwart this excellent Temper And they are 1. Ambition whereby you will be tempted to reach at things too high for you When a Man's Heart is too big and too high for his Calling he is never at ease The Shoe is uneasy but it is because the Foot is swell'd This ruin'd our first Parents and this ruines many of their Posterity It is true a Tradesman may modestly aim at a convenient Pitch yea so that he do it soberly and honestly let him hopefully endeavour to attain the highest degree of Greatness attainable in his own Calling but this Indeavour so qualified will not make him restless and uneasy in his present Condition He is very well but yet hopes for better that he may be in a better Capacity to do good and rectify what he sees amiss in the Imployment He does not he ought not to aim only at himself herein His greatest Ambition is to do good in the World and to get well to Heaven 2. The Tradesman ought to watch against Envy whereby a Man hath an evil Eye at those that seem to be in a better Condition than himself There 's one in more Credit than I another gets far more Money than I such and such live without Care and Pains Riches flow in upon them they have what Heart can wish Sure the World is unequally divided we are as skilful and diligent as honest as they but they go away with all the Wealth and we sit down with all the Labour See what a House and what rich Furniture yonder is how they can lay up and how they can spend how they And what is all this to thee Is thine Eye evil because God's is good A little Modesty would teach thee that he hath Wisdom to know where to bestow his Gifts Alas he sees that thy Neighbour's high Estate and thy high Spirit would undo thee he knows what 's fit for him and he knows what 's fit for thee he knows that a Competence and Heaven at the end of it is enough for thee if thou be his Child and it is too much if thou be his Enemy While you have more than you deserve you need not care what God bestows upon others And then for those you envy you know not the Burdens they lie under you see their seeming Happiness but you see not their real Miseries You envy their brave Houses but you see not the Cares the Fears and Discontents that commonly lodg within them you are vext at the bravery of their Apparel but you would pity them if you knew the Diseases that are under it Their Cares and Troubles are proportionable to their Estates and so are their Temptations A wise Man would not have their Estates a Year for the Temptations they have in an Hour Temptations to Pride to
the Tradesman's the Well-being of Man's Life The Substance and first Principles of our Food and Rayment are conveyed to us by the Care and Labour of the Husbandman the Tradesman moulds and fits them for our immediate Use and Service 4. Some again are imployed for Man's Delight and Convenience as Musick and divers other Arts wherein also several Trades have some Concern 5. Some Callings there are again which are conversant about the Defence of Mens Bodies and Estates such as Souldiers and all those Imployments that relate to Military Affairs And lastly some are imployed for the Publick Peace and Safety of Mankind as Princes and Magistrates of all kinds and degrees whose Calling also is of God for there is no Power but of God the Powers that be are ordained of God Rom. 13. 1. And here let us make a stand and behold 1. The Folly of Man in reference to what hath been said 1. Of those that mind neither their Spiritual nor Temporal Callings As for their general Christian Calling they were born and bred in it it is true and so do profess it and if they had received their Birth and Education under Paganism or Mahumetanism they had yielded up themselves to those Religions For as they have never searched into the Foundations and Reasons of Christianity so they never study nor set themselves to the Practice of the great Duties of it but their whole business is to please their Appetite and to promote their Interest in this World and do wholly neglect the World to come A lively Faith sound Repentance constant Holiness Self-denial and undissembled Love to God and Man they are Strangers unto and some of them for Temperance Justice Patience Friendship might go to School to Heathens and have only to support them a Form of Godliness but in the mean while they deny the Power thereof And the same Persons are equally mindful of any Temporal Calling that is they no way promote the Good of Mankind they have Parts but improve no Science with them have Strength and Health but use no Art or Faculty Talents but hide them in a Napkin O how will these give account to the Judg of Quick and Dead Do ye think that he will never reckon with you because he delays his coming Or that he will be put off with the Story of your Extraction or Education You have Abilities to ridicule Religion and to do Mischief you have Strength enough to drink to hunt to whore ye are only wise to do Evil but to do Good ye have no Knowledg Wo to you if ye reform not ye have a long Arrear and he that is gracious and merciful and slow to Anger yet by no means will clear the Guilty And therefore bethink your selves grant your selves but Leisure to consider what ye have done for God what for Mankind and what for your own Souls and upon a serious Reflection you will find that ye have been all this while asleep in a pleasant foolish Dream and that it is high time to awake to Action and Imployment who knows but that you may receive your Penny tho you come into the Vineyard at the eleventh Hour 2. Their Folly is here taxed that neglect either of their Callings Perhaps they are very diligent in Reading and Hearing in Prayer and Fasting and do run from one Sermon to another all the Week long but do nothing in any Particular Calling they serve God but serve not their Generation by the Will of God as David did Acts 13. 36. and as they ought to do But these People live as if they were all Soul and no Body or as if they were born only for themselves and for no body else And if some of their Ancestors had taken no more care of them than they do for Posterity they must have fasted out of necessity instead of fasting out of choice Against such as these holy Augustin wrote a whole Book of old who are but a sort of Secular Monks and Nuns that forget the old Canon 2 Thess 3. 10. That if any let them be who or what they will will not work being capable of it they should not eat On the other hand there are a far greater number that are very diligent in their worldly Imployments that rise early sit up late and eat the Bread of Care Labour and Sorrow but apparently neglect the Welfare of their Souls and the Care of the World to come No labouring to get Knowledg Faith or Holiness no reading or hearing of God's Word or Prayer but only such as is meerly superficial and customary busy at the Exchange at Noon but sleepy in their Prayers at Night exhausting all their Strength and Spirits in their Shops and quite heartless in their Closets and Families that live as if they were all Body and no Soul or as if after this short Life there were not a far longer to come yea the very Sabbath that Sacred Day of Rest which should be a Delight is a Grief to them and in their Hearts they cry When will it be over that we may to our worldly Business again yea in that very Day tho the Law doth bind their Hands from Labour yet their Souls are filled with Cares and Contrivances about temporal things But why do ye separate those Callings which God hath joined what Blessing can you expect upon an Estate that is gain'd without Godliness or What will it profit you to gain the whole World and lose your own Souls You might work hard and pray hard also you may gain enough of both Worlds if you would mind each in its place whereas if you neglect the main God may justly as he hath frequently rent away the Earthly and lock'd up the Heavenly Riches from those who value not a grain of Grace above a world of Gold Trust him therefore who never deceived you saying Seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all other things shall be added to you Mat. 6. 31. 3. Their Folly is manifest who respect not the Author of their Callings to wit Almighty God That seek not his Advice that mind not his Blessing It is most certain that all Persons and Things are governed by the Providence of God that there is nothing so great nor any thing so small which is not directed thereby Now if this be really believed surely it concerns all Men in their weighty Affairs to have recourse to Him to consult his Will and to crave his Blessing else we neglect him we make nothing of him and he may very justly neglect us and be unconcern'd about our Welfare Learn of Abraham's Servant Gen. 24. when he went about his Master's Son's Affair how earnestly he craves the Direction of God in that matter and how well he sped thereafter Learn of Jacob Gen. 28. when he set forth into the World how he prays and vows and how the Lord blest him exceedingly And that Apostle who forbids distracting Care in any matter commands that in
Nothing will pass in any Man's Accounts except it be done in the way of his Calling Object The truth is I cannot work as that sorry Steward said Luke 16. 3. I cannot dig to beg I am ashamed Answ I take not upon me to be Judg of Men's Capacities or Abilities but are you fit for nothing have ye neither Nerves nor Brains God is too wise and good to make any Man wholly unprofitable Do not you render your selves useless lest ye be dealt with like unsavoury Salt which being good for nothing is cast out and trodden under Foot of Men. Object I cannot attain any Calling I would be in an Imployment but cannot meet with any Answ 1. See that this Disappointment be not a just Judgment of God upon you for your Negligence heretofore Perhaps you have been unfaithful or unthankful in your former Station and therefore God now justly keeps you out of his Service and you are to be readmitted only upon your sound Repentance 2. See that Pride or Sloth be not now the true Hinderance Your Purse is too low for an high Imployment and your Spirit too high for a low one Or it may be you would have a Livelihood without any Labour you would injoy Plenty but would take no Pains whereas you should resign your selves to God's Disposal and be contented to be an Hand yea a Finger yea a Toe in the Body rather than to be an Excrescence and no useful Part of it If they who make these Excuses did want Bread and Friends to supply them they would soon throw away these Crutches these lame Excuses and fall to work 2. By way of Counsel and Exhortation 1. To Parents Educate your Children for Callings dispose them into some honest Calling Isaac was a great Man yet he disposed his Sons Jacob and Esau into several Callings Our Kings themselves disdain not to be listed in some of the Trading Companies of the Great City So was King James of the Cloth-workers King Charles I. of the Merchant-Taylors and King Charles II. of the Grocer's Company The Turkish Emperor hath ever some manual Occupation wherein he imploys himself Why then should any of you neglect or scorn to settle your Children in some fix'd Imployment Otherwise the Estates you leave them will prove Fewel only that will feed their Lust and at last consume them And you of the poorer sort who plead your Poverty in bar to this Command do your Children an irreparable Injury you betray your Trust and implicitly direct them the way to the Gallows whereas by placing them in some honest Calling they might come as many have done to be excellent Instruments in the Church or State and great Comforts to all their Friends 2. To Children and Youths Get into Callings as you tender your own Happiness here and hereafter Rouse up vour slothful Spirits imagine not that such noble Souls were given you for such worthless Lives mind your Books and then you will be fit for something Importune your Parents to put you into a Way consume not your greener Years in Sports and Trifles Idleness is sweet but the Bread of Idleness hath no Taste Your Time wasts and Opportuities are losing all this while Others will step before you into those Professions which would inrich and adorn you In your Races he that stays a little behind will hardly recover his lost Ground Every thing is restless till it be in its place He that is out of a Calling is out of place Therefore up and be doing and the Lord be with you Yet make not more haste than good speed for tho you should be resolute to have a Calling yet you should take good Advice about the Choice of your Calling which leads into the third thing to be handled which is about the Choice of a Calling CHAP. III. Of the Choice of a Calling THE third thing then to be handled is about the Choice of a Calling which commonly belongs to Parents or Guardians not excluding the Inclination of the Party to be dispos'd who must spend his Life in it And here both must agree to chuse First A Calling that is lawful For God calls us to no other neither can we expect his Blessing in any other Nay every Minute we spend in any other we offend and provoke God and whatever Riches or Honour we purchase therein comes with his Anger and Curse which very often cleaves to Posterity that do inherit them How then may we know a lawful Calling A lawful Calling is that which some way tends to the Glory of God and consequently doth some way further the true Happiness of Mankind either Temporal Spiritual or Eternal If the Calling do thus tend to the good of Mankind it undoubtedly pleaseth and glorifieth God Demonstrate therefore the latter and then you conclude the former For our infinitely good God hath instituted no Calling but what is for his Creatures good From the Chief Good nothing but Good can come Far sooner may the Sun dart down Clouds and Darkness than the Holy God appoint or call any Man to a mischievous Imployment Not that every Calling promotes the Happiness of every Individual but it must be either for the particular or general Good And so the very publick Executioner that takes away Mens Lives yet is a Calling for the Publick-Good Yea it must tend to the real Happiness of Mankind and this respects both Soul and Body and comprehends both the Life that now is and that which is to come So that any Calling that doth really minister to the Health of the Body to Man's comfortable Subsistence to his lawful Pleasure and Delight to his Honour and Reputation to his Defence and Safety is a lawful Calling Again any Calling that serves for the inlightning of Man's Mind for the refreshing of his Spirits for the restoring the Decays of his Faculties for the increase of Knowledg in the Word or Works of God is a lawful Calling And then doubtless that Calling which directly tends to reconcile Man to God to restore the Image of God in him to direct a Man how to conquer his Lusts and Passions to guide his Life in true Piety and Vertue and lastly how to attain eternal Felicity is a lawful and noble Calling All and every of these Callings are justified by that of the Apostle Tit. 3. 14. And let ours also learn to maintain good Works for necessary uses that they may not be unfruitful And on the other side we may hereby discern which are unlawful Callings Namely 1. Such as directly tend to God's Dishonour as the Craft of Demetrius that consisted in making Silver Shrines for an Idol Acts 19. 24. And those curious or magical Arts mentioned Vers 19. of that Chapter I say which have this explicite and plain Tendency for otherwise a Man may be innocently imployed in those things which others may wickedly abuse as may be instanced in most Callings in the World So 2. Such Callings as directly tend to the hurt of Man
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 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
your Affections on things above not on things on the Earth Coloss 3. 2. When the Soul leans thus the right way you will be ready to every good Work it will be a marvelous Advantage to you upon every occasion How often might you have opportunities to meditate or pray or to reprove a Fault which you will lose for want of an honest frame of Heart And this is a thing too much neglected People think it sufficient to observe their Words and Actions but few do mind the Temper and Frame of their Souls as they ought Our Conversation saith the Apostle is in Heaven We are Citizens of another and better City and we must be always driving a Trade there No sight to such a Soul like a Throne in the Clouds No Musick like the Arch-Angel's Trumpet no Song like Awake ye Dead and come to Judgment 2. The Tradesman's Religion lies in the due Exercise of Faith Without this you can no way please God in your Calling If you have not a Ground and an Heart to believe that your Calling is pleasing to God every step you take in it is guilty Hereby you believe that there is a Divine Providence which governs all Men and all their Actions which will quiet you in all Events whatsoever When others fret and fume under their Losses or swell and stroke themselves in their Success this will discern the Hand of God both in giving and taking away and so quiet and fix the Soul aright Thou wilt keep him in perfect Peace whose Heart is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee Isa 26. 3. Hereby you will be able to live upon God's Promises for outward Supplies and will be incouraged to use the means to obtain them yea when the Providence of God seems to contradict his Promises when all things seem to conspire against you by Faith you will see a Bow in the Cloud God's Promise and Covenant to do you good by all 2 Sam. 23. 5. Altho my House be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my Salvation and all my Desire altho he make it not to grow Whereas if ye only depend upon Second Causes you shall see what you may expect Jer. 17. 5. Cursed is the Man that trusteth in Man and maketh Flesh his Arm and whose Heart departeth from the Lord When a Man works and cares so as if he had no need of God he shall be like the Heath in the Desert and shall not see when good cometh as it follows there He that trusts in Man makes him God he that distrusts God makes him Man This Faith will free you from that Anxiety which torments carnal Men who have perhaps the greatest part of their Estate floating upon the Sea and therefore can scarce eat or drink or sleep by reason of their unworthy Fears Now Faith depends upon God is not afraid of evil Tidings for his Heart is fixed trusting in the Lord Psal 1 12. 7. I 'l do my Duty and let God do his Will And then for Spiritual Mercies which the Tradesman hath daily need of Faith is all in all What 's the Scripture or God or Christ without Faith How shall he obtain Mercy and Pardon or find Grace and Comfort in time of need without Faith In a word the Christian Tradesman must live by Faith and breath by Prayer 3. The Tradesman's Religion is to be exercised In the right Performance of Religious Worship For the same Light of Nature Scripture and Reason which prove there is a God do with equal strength evince that he is to be worshipped He that doubts of this disputes against Principles The Tradesman is obliged to this as well as other Men. How can he be said to abide with God in his Calling that comes not near him By Prayer we approach to God and by his Word he comes near â—o us The Tradesman must know that he hath two Landlords one on Earth and another in Heaven that he holds his House and Shop of Man but he holds his Health and Life of God to whom a due Rent of Prayer and Praises must be daily paid Rouze up your selves therefore in the Morning and lay the Scripture next your Hearts read some part of it with Understanding and Application and then kneel you down and lift up your Hearts to God in sincere and serious Prayer And at the fittest hour but the sooner the better let you whole Family come together unless any be unavoidably hindred and there let a Psalm and a Chapter be read and then joyn together in Prayer And the like course hold at Night withal remembring to sing the Praises of God and let no Company or Business unless of present necessity tempt you either to omit these Duties or to do them unseasonably Reckon that Almighty God is staying for you at your due hours and will not excuse your neglect unless you can conclude in your Conscience that he himself by his Providence with-holds you Do you think in earnest that when your Family at eleven or twelve of the Clock at Night are some of them in Bed and the rest half asleep it will satisfy an all-seeing God to hear you excusing your selves with a story of such Company that held you or such unseasonable Recreation kept you from his Service or any other Business which might have been dispatched or deferred to another time Say not that ye want time for this Work for a Man must have time to eat and sleep and pray whatever other Business stays And all this excellent Work needs not go away with an hours time in the whole day for it is not the length but strength of Devotion that carries it with God Be but serious and sincere God will accept a little from you that have not time for more Plead not your Weariness in your Calling that you are quite tir'd before Night remember you cannot plead this in the Morning that you have no Strength nor Spirits left you For immoderate Labour may be sinful as well as immoderate Meat or Drink God requires no more nor accepts nor will bless such toiling as is inconsistent with the Ability of your Bodies or the good of your Souls You should Reason thus with your selves Have I taken pains all day for a little Money and shall not I strain my self a little at night for Pardon and Grace If I have tir'd my Legs about the Earth shall I not weary my Knees to get to Heaven If I have wearied my Arms to get a Living here shall I not stretch out my Hands to get a Crown hereafter O if you had but a spark of Zeal you would answer your selves Zeal revives the languishing Spirits infuses new Spirits makes a Man all Spirit for a time This in a false Religion will raise up a Man to his Orisons at Midnight will send him some hundreds of Miles on Pilgrimage c. It 's true it works
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