Chap 7. An Expoñtienupon the Book of J OB. Verí. I. As the Lord cannot bear it,that any fhould murmur at fpiritual work,or fay with them in the prophet, What a wearinefs ïs it ; fo it is very difpleafìngtohinr ,to fay ofour callings and the burdens of them, What a evearinefs are they ? Why ? It is the common condition of man : Why then fhould we quarrel with that lawof labour, which is become the portion ofour mortallity ? The cor- ruption of our nature hath led us into this condition,and made us all as hirclings.Mans innocencyhad bufìnefs,but fin hath brought him to fweat, and changed his labour into toile. Man was put in- to-the garden, as Lord of it, to drefs and till it, but now he is put there, ors anhireling, to fweat and toyle at it. There is a ftampe of ferviiity and dru4gery upon all the labours,which the children of men take under the Sun. That argument, which the Apoftle ufès to fupport us,in the bitternefsofafliCtion,hath alike flrength in it to comfort us in the toilfomenefs of our labours, Ar there is no temptation bath taken holdof us, but that which ú common to man,' Cor. t o. t 3.So there is no labour laid upon anyof us inour lawful callings, but that which is common to man. Even the Saints,whom Chrifi hath made free and feperated from the world, are not freed from fervice, while they are in the world. And while Chrift would not have them careful in any thing,he would have them induftrious in every thing. That Canon of the Apoftle is clear for it, (a Cor 7.20. ) Let every man abide in the fame callingwhereinhe was called ; that is, your fpiritual calling Both not void your civil. When you have learned to drive a trade for heaven, you mutt (till drive a trade on earth. While there is any thing offnin ur, there muff be fomewhat of the hireling in us, There is not themoll ingenious, no, nor the molt fpiritual labour, we goe about, but there is fomewhat of the hireling in it ; in the dutyofprayer, in the duty ofpreaching,there is fomewhat of the hireling, that is, there is bodily pain and weariaefs, a waste up- onour ffrength,and expenceof our fpirits.Though in thefe things theSaints work notfor wages, but their very work is their wa- ges, and their labour their reward; though therebenothingmer- cenary in their fpirits, yet they feel the eúeûs of a mercenary worke, upon their bodies, even wearinefs and waste, of natural flrength and fpirits. Thirdly,Seeing the dalesofa man are as she dales ofanhireling, Obferve, Mere it a reward andwages, fornewbat follower she labour aid travel 575
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=