The trades-man's calling being a discourse concerning the nature, necessity, choice, &c. of a…

1. It is your Duty; commanded by God and commended by him: Commanded, Numb. 5. 6, 7. When a Man or Woman shall commit any Sin that Men commit, to do a Trespass against the Lord, [mark, though your Neighbour be the immediate Object, yet it redounds to the Lord] and that Person be guilty: then they shall confess their Sin which they have done, and he shall recompense his Trespass with the Principal thereof [that is, the just Value of the Thing wherein he hath wronged his Brother] and add unto it the fifth Part thereof [both as a Penalty for the Wrong, and also to make the Satisfaction full] and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed. Now the Moral Equity which is contained in any of these judicial Laws, binds every Man to the End of the World. See also Levit. 6. 5. Hereupon Samuel saith, 1 Sam. 12. 3. Whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? and I will restore it you. This Nehemiah called for, Nehem. 5. 11, 12. and the People presently yielded to him. And this is Commended in Zacheus, Luk. 19. 8. Lord, if I have taken any thing, [mark, any thing of what kind soever, of what quantity soever] of any Man [good or bad, rich or poor, King or Subject] by false Accusation, I restore him [not I'll do it at my leisure, when I have a greater Estate to do it with, but upon the nail I restore him] fourfold: I'll be the Loser, he shall have fourfold. And if ever Salvation come to your House, and the Dominion of Grace into your Heart, you will go and do likewise.

2. It is your Interest to make Restitution. For what you have got by Wrong, will never do you good. The Gain of Deceit lasts but a while; or if it do, it stays with you in Wrath. If it abide with you till you die, yet the Curse of God stays with it; and lies, if not visibly upon your Estate, Body, or Children, yet really on your poor Souls, which is worst of all. It adheres to all you have, as the Plague to a rich Suit of Clothes; they are gay and rich, but Death is in them: and who, that's wise, would wear the richest Suit with the Plague in it? course Sack-cloth were much better. So it were better for you a thousand times to live poor and just, and die blessed, than to live and die with a Curse. Now is it not Wisdom to part with that which will do you no good but harm? What, run a hazard of losing all your honest Gain, by keeping some little which is dishonest? What, and venture Hell-fire, rather than part with some of your Estate; when as (if God say the Word tonight) you must part with it all before Morning? Is it not better to bring it back and be saved, than to have it fetched, and you be lost? I tell you, if ever your Eyes be savingly opened, you will make as much haste to restore what you have wrongfully gotten, as ever you did to get it; and shake it out of your Skirt, as you would brush a Spark of Fire off your Clothes. Think not hereby to lay up Estates for your Children, alas! this is not the way; for if you could rise out of your Graves but one fifty Years after your Death, you would see that the Canker of your Deceits and Injuries had consumed it all; and that those Riches which ruined your poor