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

And then, how unfit are you and the rest of your Household for any lively and earnest Prayers, at unseasonably late hours? Do not you come to them at such times, rather as to an unwelcome Task, than as to a gracious Privilege? and accordingly they are performed; one sleeping in one corner, and another in another; God hath no Honour, you no Edification by them, which should be great Ends of all Religious Duties.

And then, how unfit are you and the rest of your Houshold for any lively and earnest Prayers, at unseasonably late hours? Do not you come to them at such times, rather as to an unwellcome Task, than as to a gracious Priviledg? and accordingly they are performed; one sleeping in one corner, and another in another; God hath no Honour, you no Edification by them, which should be great Ends of all Religious Duties.

And the other grand Omission of the Tradesman, is of the Lord's-Supper. Some of them can live to thirty, forty, fifty Years of Age, (I speak what I know) without ever once approaching the Lord's Table. And yet that blessed Saviour of ours in his last Will and Testament (and dying Commands are usually observed) commanded the frequent use thereof, to all that expect benefit by his Death. If, Do this in remembrance of me, be not a plain Command, nothing is plain in the Scripture: How can ye satisfy your Consciences in such a palpable Disobedience? Besides, you lose unspeakable Comfort and Strength, which is conveyed into the Soul of the true Believer therein. Say not, you are not worthy, but labour to be worthy, and let your godly Minister be judg in the case; certainly, that Unworthiness ⟨p. 226⟩which keeps you from the Sacrament, will also keep you out of Heaven, and where are you then? Plead not, that you are unprepared; for that is your Sin, which you should not sleep in another Night. How long, I pray, will you be preparing? No, no, the plain truth is, you are loth to be at the trouble of Self-Examination, loth to be disturbed in a sinful and slothful course, loth to settle to the Practice of serious Piety, loth to forgo the Sin you wot of, and here it sticks: but (Sirs) these are the Suggestions of your Enemy. He commonly tells Men, it is too soon, till at length it be too late: If you could make a Covenant with Death, and escape the Judgment that follows, it were another matter. But Sin must be repented, Grace must be obtained, Heaven must be ensured; and how shall these things be, unless you buckle to it, unless you use the means, whereof this is one? I do therefore earnestly advise and persuade you, to take a speedy course to come, and come worthily to the Lord's Table. Read such good Books as may direct you, apply your selves to some faithful Minister, who will gladly assist you, and above all, beseech the Lord to help you; to pardon your great Neglect, to clothe you with necessary Graces, and to welcome you afterward with a Blessing.