my brethren, be ye fteadfast, unmoveable, always abounding SERM. in the work of the Lord, forafmuch as ye know that your LII. labour is not in vain in the Lord?

May it not alfo much encourage us to industry, to be afsured, that not only the kind of our work, but the degree of our labour fhall be confidered and requited, in juft proportion; fo that the harder we work, the higher we shall be rewarded; for to each one, faith our Lord, the Axidwou ixásw. Son of man fhall render a reward κατὰ τὴν πράξιν αὐτῷ, ac- Matt. xvi, cording to his performance. Every one, faith St. Paul, 27. fhall receive ἴδιον μισθὸν κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον κόπον, his proper re- s. ward according to his proper work; whence we have rea- Rev. xxii. fon to obferve St. John's advice, Look to yourfelves, that Matt. xxv. ye lofe not those things which ye have gained, but that ye Luke xix. receive a full reward.

1 Cor. iii.

12. ii. 23.

21.

12.

• Μισθόν πλή

ρη ἀπολά

2 John 8.

To be negligent or flothful in fuch a cafe, for want of a little care and pains to forfeit fuch advantages, what ars. pity, what a folly is it! Were an opportunity prefented, by a little minding our business, and beftirring ourselves, to procure a fair eftate, or a good preferment, would not he be deemed mad or fottifh, who fhould fit ftill, and forego that his advantage? How much more wildness is it to be drowsy and sluggish in this cafe, thereby lofing eternal blifs and glory! Well therefore might the Apostle fay, How Shall we efcape, if we neglect fo great falvation ? Heb. ii. 3. How shall we escape, not only the fin and guilt of basest ingratitude toward him that graciously doth offer it, but the imputation of most wretched folly, in being so much wanting to our own intereft and welfare?

Is it not a fad thing, a woful fhame, to obferve what pains men will throw away upon things of fmall or no concernment to them? yea, what toil and drudgery they will fuftain in the fervice of Satan, in pursuit of fin, in the gratification of their vanities and lufts?

What pains will a covetous wretch take in fcraping for pelf! How will he rack his mind with carking folicitude to get, to keep, to spare it! How will he tire his fpirits with reftlefs travail! How will he pinch his carcafe for want of what nature craveth! What infamy and

SERM. obloquy will he endure for his niggardly parfimony and fordidnefs!

LII.

1 Cor. ix. 25.

Chryf. άνδρ.

17, 20.

How much labour will an ambitious fop undergo for preferment, or vain honour! To how many tedious attendances, to how pitiful fervilities will he fubmit! What fore croffes and disappointments will he fwallow! What affronts and indignities will he patiently digeft, without defifting from his enterprise !

How will a man, as St. Paul observed, wávτa éyxpaтEÚJa, endure all painful abstinence and continence, in order to the obtaining a corruptible crown, a fading gar land of bays, a puff of vain applausfe!

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 fustain, 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 spend as much care and pains in the fervice of our God! O that we were as true friends of ourfelves! O that we could be as induftrious for our falvation! that is, in the bufinefs of our general calling: which having confidered, let us proceed to the other bufinefs belonging to us, which is,

II. The business of our particular calling; that in refe1 Cor. vii. rence whereto St. Paul doth prescribe, Every man 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 difcharge the duty of it; the doing which otherwhere he termeth wgáσσey тà ïdia, to do our own business, (working with our hands,) and enjoineth it in oppofition to those two great pefts of life, floth and pragmatical curiofity;

1 Theff. iv.

Eph. iv. 28.

or the neglect of our own, and meddling with other men's SERM. affairs. LII.

This the Apostle nameth our calling, because we are called or appointed thereto by divine Providence; for he supposeth 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 Providence fairly doth translate him, 1 Cor. vii. and during his abode therein diligently to execute the 22. work thereof.

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 referred likewise to the former,) that God hath fet the members every one in the 1 Cor. xii. body, as it pleafeth him; and as it is in the natural, fo it 18. is in every political and spiritual body, every member hath

its proper use and function; All members, faith St. Paul, Rom. xii. have not Thν auτη paw, the fame office, or the fame work 4. and operation; yet every one hath fome work. There is no member defigned to be idle or ufelefs, conferring no benefit to the whole; but the whole body, faith the Eph. iv. 16. Apoftle, fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint fupplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increafe of the body, unto the edifying itself in love; each member doth conspire and cooperate to the strength, nourishment, thriving, and welfare of the whole.

1 Cor. vii.

Every man (who continueth a man, in his fenfes, or in 'Exás ás iany good degree of natural integrity) is by God endowed is. with competent abilities to discharge some function useful 17. to common good, or at least needful to his own sustenance; 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, without

SERM. being injurious, offenfive, or burdenfome to others; for LII. their living they must either follow fome trade, or they must shark and filch, or they must beg, or they must ftarve.

And the reft are obliged to do fomewhat conducible to public good, that they may deferve 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 disclaim a reasonable title of living among men, and fharing in the fruits of their industry; he, in St. Paul's judgment, fhould be debarred of food, for 2 Theff. iii. this, faith the holy Apoftle, we commanded you, that if any man would not work, neither should he eat.

10.

Such an one in the body of men, what is he but an unnatural excrefcence, fucking nutriment from it, without yielding ornament or use? 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; so justice and ingenuity, corroborated by divine fanctions, do require of him, that in commutation he, one way or other, fhould undertake some 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 thrash, another grind, another labour at the forge, another knit or weave, another fail, another trade, another supervise all these, 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 useful to each particular member; every man fo reciprocally obliging and being obliged; the prince being obliged to the husbandman for his bread, to the weaver for his clothes,

to the mason for his palace, to the fmith for his fword; SERM. those being all obliged to him for his vigilant care in proLII. tecting them, for their security in pursuing the work, and enjoying the fruit of their industry.

So every man hath a calling and proper bufiness; whereto that industry is required, I need not much to prove, the thing itself in reason and experience being so clearly evident for what business can be well dispatched, what success can be expected to any undertaking, in what calling can any man thrive, without industry? What bufiness 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, so in all affairs, Nihil movet non motum, nothing moveth without being moved.

Our own intereft fhould move us to be induftrious in our calling, that we may obtain the good effects of being fo in a comfortable and creditable fubfiftence; that we may not suffer 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 transaction of our business his fervants, we do 1 Cor. iv. 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 master?

2.

1 Cor. vii.

St. Paul doth enjoin fervants, that they fhould in all Col. iii. 22. things obey their masters, with confcientious regard to Eph. vi. 5. God, as therein performing service to God, and expecting 22, 23. recompense from him: and of princes he faith, that they, in dispensation of justice, enacting laws, impofing taxes, and all political administrations, are the minifters of God, Rom. xiii. nрooxaρrepоuvres, attending conftantly upon this very thing: and if these extremes, the higheft and lowest of all vocations, are fervices of God; if the highest upon that score be tied to so much diligence, then surely all middle places,

6.