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

(1.) When it pleaseth God to disable a Man's Mind. Not that every trouble of Mind shall excuse a Man from following his Vocation: No, Means must be used and Remedies applied, the Physician and the Divine must be consulted, and still the Plough must go: yea, perhaps an honest Diligence in your Callings, may prove the best cure for it. But I mean, when Reason is utterly clouded, or when the Faculties are so enfeebled, that there is no present, nor prospect of future Capacity, whereby to manage a Man's Calling, then God releases him. Let all Tradesmen, therefore, while all is well within, and that their Faculties are in due frame, take care of their Intellectuals. Be humble, be temperate, abuse not your Parts, provoke not God, beware of worldly Sorrow, pore not upon any Loss or Disappointment, maintain a harmless Cheerfulness in every Condition, meddle not with abstruse Speculations, nor things that are too high for you; grasp not after more Business than your Head can well bear; for at these Doors doth Melancholy and Distraction often enter, and then farewell the World, and all the true Comfort of it. You must then leave your Callings, you cannot help it.

(1.) When it pleaseth God to disable a Man's Mind. Not that every trouble of Mind shall excuse a Man from following his Vocation: No, Means must be us'd and Remedies applied, the Physician and the Divine must be consulted, and still the Plough must go: yea, perhaps an honest Diligence in your Callings, may prove the best cure for it. But I mean, when Reason is utterly clouded, or when the Faculties are so enfeebled, that there is no present, nor prospect of future Capacity, whereby to manage a Man's Calling, then God releases him. Let all Tradesmen, therefore, while all is well within, and that their Faculties are in due frame, take care of their Intellectuals. Be humble, be temperate, abuse not your Parts, provoke not God, beware of worldly Sorrow, pore not upon any Loss or Disappointment, maintain a harmless Chearfulness in every Condition, meddle not with abstruse Speculations, nor things that are too high for you; grasp not after more Business than your Head can well bear; for at these Doors doth Melancholly and Distraction often enter, and then farwel the World, and all the true Comfort of it. You must then leave your Callings, you cannot help it.