will he fwallow! What affronts and indignities will S ER M. he patiently digest, without defisting from his enter- XIV. prize! How will a man, as St. Paul obferved, Távτa iy-1 Cor. ix. xpaтtúra, endure all painful abftinence and conti- 25. nence, in order to the obtaining a corruptible crown, a fading garland of bays, a puff of vain applause! What diligence will men ufe to compafs the enjoyment of forbidden pleasures; how watchful in catching opportunities, how eager in queft of them will they be! What difficulties will they undertake, what hazards will they incur, what damages and inconveniences will they fuftain, rather than fail of fatisfying their defires! What achings of head and heart; what pangs of mind, and gripes of confcience; what anxieties of regret and fear will every worker of iniquity undergo ! So faithful friends hath this vain and evil world; fo diligent fervants hath the accurfed lord thereof; fo careful and laborious will men be to deftroy and damn themselves. O that we could be willing to Chry. fpend as much care and pains in the fervice of our God! O that we were as true friends of ourselves! O that we could be as induftrious for our falvation! that is, in the business of our general calling: which having confidered, let us proceed to the other bufinefs belonging to us, which is, ἀνδρ. θ. 17, 20. II. The bufinefs of our particular calling; that in reference whereto St. Paul doth prefcribe, Every man 1 Cor. vii. as the Lord hath called him, fo let him walk. Let every man abide in the fame calling wherein he was called; let him fo abide, as faithfully to profecute the work, and discharge the duty of it; the doing which otherwhere he termeth nearσ rà idia, to do our own bufi- 1 Theff. iv. nefs (working with our hands), and enjoineth it in op- Eph. iv. 28, pofition to those two great pests of life, floth and pragmatical curiofity; or the neglect of our own, and meddling with other men's affairs. This the Apostle nameth our calling, because we are 11. XIV. SER M. are called or appointed thereto by divine Providence; for he fuppofeth and taketh it for granted, that to each man in this world God hath affigned a certain station, unto which peculiar action is fuited; in which station he biddeth him quietly to abide, till 1 Cor. vii. Providence fairly doth translate him, and during his abode therein diligently to execute the work thereof. 22. 18. 4. Every man is a member of a double body; of the civil commonwealth, and of the Chriftian church : in relation to the latter, whereof St. Paul telleth us (and what he faith by parity of reafon may be re1 Cor. xii. ferred likewise to the former), that God hath fet the members every one in the body, as it pleafeth him; and as it is in the natural, fo it is in every political and fpiritual body, every member hath its proper use and Rom. xii. function; All members, faith St. Paul, have not v auτny meat, the fame office, or the fame work and operation; yet every one hath fome work. There is no member defigned to be idle or useless, conEph. iv. 16. ferring no benefit to the whole; but the whole body, faith the Apostle, fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint fupplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying itself in love; each member doth confpire and co-operate to the ftrength, nourishment, thriving, and welfare of the whole. Εκάςω ὡς ἐ μέρισεν Θεός. 1 Cor. vii. 17. Every man (who continueth a man, in his fenfes, 6. or in any good degree of natural integrity) is by God endowed with competent abilities to discharge fome function ufeful to common good, or at least needful to his own fuftenance; to every one some talent is committed, which in fubordination to God's fervice he may improve, to the benefit of the world, God's temporal, or of the church, God's fpiritual kingdom. It is plainly neceffary, that the greatest part of men fhould have a determinate work allotted to them, that they may fupport their life and get their food, food, without being injurious, offenfive, or burthen- s E R M. fome to others; for their living they must either XIV. follow fome trade, or they must shark and filch, or they must beg, or they must starve. And the reft are obliged to do fomewhat condu cible to public good, that they may deserve to live; for a drone should not be among the bees, nor hath right to devour the honey. If any man doth pretend, or prefume that he hath nothing to do but to eat, to fleep, to play, to laugh, to enjoy his ease, his pleasure, his humour, he thereby doth as it were difclaim a reasonable title of living among men, and sharing in the fruits of their industry; he, in St. Paul's judgment, fhould be debarred of food, for this, faith the holy Apoftle, we commanded you, that if any man 2 Thess. iii. would not work, neither fhould be eat. Such an one in the body of men, what is he but an unnatural excrefcence, fucking nutriment from it, without yielding ornament or ufe? What is he but a wen deforming and encumbering the body, or a canker infefting and corrupting it. As no man (at least with decency, convenience, and comfort) can live in the world, without being obliged to divers other men for their help in providing accommodations for him; fo juftice and ingenuity, corroborated by divine fanctions, do require of him, that in commutation he, one way or other, should undertake fome pains redounding to the benefit of others. So hath the great Author of order diftributed the ranks and offices of men in order to mutual benefit and comfort, that one man fhould plough, another thresh, another grind, another labour at the forge, another knit or weave, another fail, another trade, another supervise all thefe, labouring to keep them all in order and peace; that one fhould work with his hands and feet, another with his head and tongue; all confpiring to one common end, the welfare of the whole, and the supply of what is ufeful to each par ticular 10. " SER M. ticular member; every man fo reciprocally obliging XIV. and being obliged; the prince being obliged to the hufbandman for his bread, to the weaver for his clothes, to the mason for his palace, to the smith for his fword; those being all obliged to him for his vigilant care in protecting them, for their fecurity in pursuing the work, and enjoying the fruit of their industry. So every man hath a calling and proper business; whereto that industry is required, I need not much to prove, the thing itself in reafon and experience being fo clearly evident; for what business can be well difpatched, what fuccefs can be expected to any undertaking, in what calling can any man thrive, without industry? What business is there that will go on of itself, or proceed to any good iffue, if we do not carefully look to it, fteadily hold it in its course, constantly push and drive it forward? It is true, as in nature, fo in all affairs, Nihil movet non motum, nothing moveth without being moved. Our own intereft should move us to be industrious in our calling, that we may obtain the good effects of being fo in a comfortable and creditable fubfiftence; that we may not fuffer the damages and wants, the disappointments and difgraces enfuing on floth: but the chief motive fhould be from piety and confcience; for that it is a duty which we owe to God. For God having placed us in our station, he having apportioned to us our task, we being in tranfaction 1 Cor. iv. of our business his fervants, we do owe to him that neceffary property of good fervants, without which fidelity cannot fubfift; for how can he be looked on as a faithful fervant, who doth not effectually perform the work charged on him, or diligently execute the orders of his mafter? 2. Col. iii. 22. 1 Cor. vii. St. Paul doth enjoin fervants, that they should in Eph. vi. 5. all things obey their mafters, with confcientious regard to God, as therein performing service to God, and expecting recompence from him: and of princes he 22, 23. 6. faith, that they, in difpenfation of justice, enacting S ER M. s laws, impofing taxes, and all political adminiftra- XIV. tions, are the minifters of God, gooxapTECTES, attending conftantly upon this very thing: and if thefe extremes, Rom. xiii. the highest and lowest of all vocations, are services of God; if the higheft upon that fcore be tied to fo much diligence, then furely all middle places upon the fame account of confcience toward God do exact no less. If he that hath one talent, and he that hath ten, must both improve them for God's intereft; then he that hath two, or three, or more, is obliged to the fame duty proportionably. Every one fhould consider the world as the family of that great Paterfamilias (of whom the whole family in Eph. iii. 15. heaven and earth is named), and himself as an officer or fervant therein, by God's will and defignation conftituted in that employment, into which Providence hath caft him; to confer, in his order and way, fomewhat toward a provifion for the maintenance of himfelf, and of his fellow fervants. Of a fuperior officer our Lord faith, Who is that faithful and wife fervant, Matt. xxiv. whom his Lord hath made ruler over his houshold, to give the xiis them their meat in due feafon? So the greatest men are 42. as ftewards, treasurers, comptrollers, or purveyors; the reft are inferior fervants, in their proper rank and capacity. 45. And he that with diligence performeth his refpective duty (be it high and honourable, or mean and contemptible in outward appearance) will please God, as keeping good order, and as being ufeful to his fervice; fo that, upon the reckoning, God will fay to him, Well done, good and faithful servant, thou hast been 1 Cor. xiv. faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over Matt. xxv. many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. But he 21. that doth otherwife (behaving himself carelessly or fluggishly in his bufinefs) will offend God, as committing diforder, and as being unprofitable. He committeth diforder, according to that of St. X |