Bridge's remains, being VIII sermons

Fifthly, I shall give you some motives and encouragements to provoke you to this work of walking with God in your callings.

First, therefore I say, A good calling is a great mercy; it is a great mercy for a man to have an honest, good, and a lawful calling: whether you take the word calling for the calling of condition, or for the calling of employment, it is a great mercy to be planted in an honest and a lawful calling. For,

First, This was the condition of Adam in the State of Innocency; then the Lord set Adam for to Till the Ground; he gave him an employment in the State of Innocency, and there was nothing given him in the State of Innocency, but mercy; whatever God ⟨p. 49⟩called him to, or put him upon before the Fall, was mercy: now in that state God put an employment upon him, Employment did not come in by the fall. It is not a badge of that conquest that the Devil made upon us by the fall; Therefore an honest calling is a great mercy. For thereby,

First, This was the condition of Adam in the State of Innocency; then the Lord set Adam for to Till the Ground; he gave him an imployment in the State of Innocency, and there was nothing given him in the State of Innocency, but mercy; whatever God ⟨p. 49⟩called him to, or put him upon before the Fall, was mercy: now in that state God put an employment upon him, Imployment did not come in by the fall. It is not a badge of that conquest that the Devil made upon us by the fall; Therefore an honest calling is a great mercy. For thereby,