Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

drink more than they desire, or their natures will well bear. It is unquestionably lawful for a man sometimes to exceed in his provisions for his friends, but lawful at no time to exceed the bounds of sobriety and moderation himself, or to solicit others so to do. The royal example of Ahasuerus, an heathen king, the spirit of God has recorded to the shame of many that call themselves christians, Esther i. 7. 8. When he made a magnificent feast for the princes and nobles, he commanded, that every man eat and drank according to his own pleasure, and not be compelled.

6. Let every one labour to understand what is most conducible to his own health, and let that be the ordinary measure of his diet; both for quantity, quality, and time. It is every man's duty to observe the temper of his own body, and to understand his particular constitution, in order to the preservation of life and health, and that a healthful body may be assistant to a holy soul in the service of God.

7. Often consider with thyself what a dangerous sin the sin of intemperance is. It is an inlet to all sin, and for that reason perhaps is not particularly forbidden in any one of the commandments, because it is contrary to them all. Drunkenness may be called a breach of every one of the commandments, because it disposes men to break them all: What sin is it that a drunken man stands not ready to commit ? Fornication, Murder, Adultery, Incest; what not? and how doth this sin transform a man into a beast; and make him the shame and reproach of human nature? Of the two, it is much worse to be like a beast than to be a beast: The beast is what God has made it, but the drunkard is what sin and the devil hath made him. Add to this, that the intemperate man is his own tormentor, yea, his own destroyer:

as it appears by the many diseases and untimely deaths which surfeiting and drunkenness daily bring upon men. For as temperance and sobriety is the nurse and preserver of life and health, so excess is the occasion of self-murder; it is like the lingering poison, which though it works slowly, yet it destroys surely. Consider lastly, that intemperance is a sin which a man cannot presently repent of, as soon as he has committed it: A drunken man is no more fit to repent, than a dead man; and what assurance hath any man, when drunkenness closes his eyes over night, that he shall ever open them again in this world? Consider how many have died in drunken fits, without being sensible of their condition, till they have been miserably surprised by the inconceivable torments of hell-fire.

8. Think it neither unlawful nor indecent to intermingle innocent and harmless mirth with your eating and drinking, but always remember to keep within the hounds of modesty, decency and sobrieety. It is certainly a melancholy reflection, that in the thing we call society and conversation, the gentleman and the christian, mirth and religion, should be thought inconsistent; that men, to flee preciseness, must run into debauchery and profaneness. Cannot sourness and moroseness be banished our conversation, but modesty and sobriety must be banished too? Must our entertainments of one another at our tables administer either to sin or sullenness? Surely it is possible to observe the rules of conversation better, without running into either extreme. A virtuous and wise man at his table may let his tongue loose in innocent pleasantness, but at the same time he scorns to be guilty of the least indecency: Ephes. iv. 29. "Let no filthy communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good, to the use of edifying."

As touching Intemperance and Excess in Sleep, necessity cures most of you that are poor of this evil, and it may be happy for you that it doth so; for how many thousand hours have some that are rich to account for, which were spent in sinful excess of sleep! And, O how earnestly will such persons shortly wish for those hours to spend over again, which were thus consumed!

1. Let prudence direct you about the measure of your sleep, and piety instruct you to mind the ends of it; which are the repairing of nature, the refreshing of the spirits, the supporting of our frail bodies, which continual labour and toil would soon worry and wear out. But now a moderate degree of sleep best serves these ends, namely, to fit us for business, and enable us to serve God by an active obedience.

2. Often consider what a great time-waster immoderate sleep is; for all that time a man's reason lies idle and buried, all his wisdom and knowledge is of no use or advantage to himself or his neighbour.

3. Remember how very injurious immoderate sleep is both to thy body and soul: To thy body, in filling that full of diseases, and making it a very sink of pernicious humours: To thy soul, by bringing a stupifying dulness on its faculties, and thereby rendering it unfit for holy services.

4. Remember also the grand importance of the business of your souls, which lies continually upon your hands; and let the consideration of the greatness of your work rouse and raise you from a bed of sloth. If you have a journey to go, or some extraordinary business to do, you can rise early at a particular time; why not then every day, when you have much greater business to do for God and souls?

your

5. Remember that your morning hours are the flower of your time, and that early rising makes at

once both the body healthful, and the soul holy. The morning is the best time for enjoying God and ourselves; then our spirits are fresh, and our hearts free from worldly cares.

6. Believe yourself certainly accountable to God for the time you spend in sleep; this will make you, with holy Hooper, sparing of your sleep, more of your diet, and most sparing of your time.

CHAP. V.

Of glorifying God in our Civil Employments, and Labours of our particular Callings.

A

Lmighty God has sent no man into the world to

be idle, but to serve him in the way of an honest and industrious diligence. He that says, " Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy," says also," Six days shalt thou labour;" either with the labour of the mind, or of the body, or with both. Riches and a great estate will excuse none from labouring in some kind or other, in the service of their maker; for he that receives most wages, surely ought to do some work.

1. Labour to understand, and be thoroughly sensible how much you are beholden to God for the benefit of a calling. Thousands are now blessing God in heaven, for the benefit of a calling here on earth, by which multitudes of temptations are prevented: How many sins doth a life of idleness expose a man unto!

2. Be diligent and industrious in the way of thy calling, and that from a principle of obedience to the

divine command.

He that says," Be fervent in prayer," says also, "Be not slothful in business."

3. If thou art called to the meanest and most laborious calling, as that of a husbandman, murmur not at it because it is wearisome to the flesh; but eye the command of God, and in obedience thereunto be diligent in thy place; and then thou glorifiest God as truly when digging in the field, as the minister in his pulpit, or the prince upon his throne.

4. Be strictly just, and exactly righteous in the way of thy calling, and with a generous disdain and resolute contempt, abhor the getting of riches by unrighteousness: Cursed gain is no gain. How sad is it to be rich on earth, and roar in hell for unrighteous riches! he that cheats and over-reaches; he that tricks and defrauds his neighbours, is as sure to go to hell, without repentance and restitution, as the profanest swearer or drunkard in a town. 1 Cor. vi. 9. " Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?"

5. Be very careful that thy particular calling as a private person, does not encroach upon thy general calling as a christian: The world is a great devourer of precious time, it robs the soul of many an hour which should be spent in communion with God, and in communing with our own hearts. How many are so taken up with their trade on earth, that they forget to converse with heaven? Verily there is a holy part in every man's time which the daily exercise of religion calls for, and which it is our daily duty to keep inviolable from the sacrilegious hands of an incroaching world.

6. Labour after an heavenly frame of spirit in the management of thy earthly business; and take heed that thy worldly employments do not blunt the edge of thy spiritual affections; but endeavour to keep thy.

« AnteriorContinua »