A Body of Practical Divinity

EXOD. XX.9, 10. Six Days shalt thou labour and do all thy Work, but the Seventh Day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt do no manner of Work, &c.

Six Days shalt thou labour—God would not have any live out of a Calling; Religion seals no Warrant for Idleness. 'Tis as well a Duty to labour Six Days, as to keep Holy Rest on the Seventh Day; Six Days shalt thou labour. 2 Thess. 3.11. We hear there are some among you walking Disorderly, [Greek or Hebrew], working not at all. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus, that with Quietness they work and eat their own Bread. A Christian must not only mind Heaven, but his Calling. While the Pilot hath his Eye to the Star, he hath his Hand to the Stern. Without labour the Pillars of a Common-wealth will dissolve, and the Earth will be like the Sluggards Field, over-run with Briars, Prov. 24.31. Adam in Innocency, tho he was the Monarch of the World, yet God would not have him idle, but he must dress and till the Ground, Gen. 2.15. Piety doth not exclude Industry. Six Days shalt thou labour. Standing Water putrefies. The Inanimate Creatures are in Motion: The Sun goes its Circuit, the Fountain runs, the Fire sparkles: And Animate Creatures; Solomon sends us to the Ant and Pismire to learn Labour, Prov. 6.6. Chap. 30.35. The Bee is the Emblem of Industry; some of the Bees trim the Honey, others work the Wax, others frame the Comb, others lie Sentinel at the Door of the Hive to keep out the Drone. And shall not Man much more inure himself to labour? That Law in Paradise was never yet repealed, In the Sweat of thy Brows shalt thou eat Bread, Gen. 3.19. Such Professors are to to be disliked, who talk of living by Faith, but live out of a Calling. They are like the Lilies which toil not, neither do they spin,