4. Take heed of the sins which attend your particular callings. A calling you must live in ; Adam in Paradise tilled the ground ; God never sealed warrants to idle- ness ; but every calling hath its snare ; as some sin in living out of a calling, so oth- ers sin in a calling. Remember how dead- ly an evil sin is ; avoid those sins which you may be exposed to in your trade ; take heed of all fraud and collusion in your deal- ings, Mat. vii. 12., " Whatsoever ye would
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tliat men slioulJ do to you, do ye even so to tliem."
(1.) Take heed of a deceitful tongue in selling. The scripture makes it the char- acter of one that goes to heaven, Ps. xv. 2., " He speaketh the truth from his heart." It is the custom of many to say, the com- modity stands them more, yet take less. This is hardly credihle.
(2.) Beware of a deceitful hallance, Hos. xii. 7., " The ballances of deceit are in his liand." Men by making their weights litrhter, make their accounts heavier.
(3.) Beware of sophisticating, mingling and embasing commodities, Amos viii. 6., " They sell the refuse of the wheat." They would pick out the best grains of the wheat, and sell the worst at the same price as they did the Iwst ; to mix a coarser com- modity with a fine, and yet sell it all for fine, is no better than deceit, Isa. i. 22.
(4.) Beware of stretching your con- sciences too far, or taking more for a com- modity than it is worth. Lev. xxv. 14., " If thou sellest ought unto thy neighbour, ye shall not oppress one another." There is a lawful gain allowed, yet one may not so advantage himself as to damnify another. Let that be the tradesman's motto, Acts xxiv. 16., " A conscience void of offence, toward God and toward man." He hath an hard bargain, that doth purchase the world with the loss of his soul.
(5.) Sin being so deadly an evil, " take heed of the appearance of sin." Abstain not only from apparent evil, but the ap- pearance of evil: if it be not absolutely a sin, yet if it looks like sin, avoid it. He ■who is loyal to his prince, not only forbears to have his hand in treason, but he will take heed of that which hath a shew of treason. Joseph's mistress tempted him, and he fled and would not be with her, Gen. xxxix. 12. An apj)earanee of good is too little, and an aj)pearance of evil is too much. 1. The appearance of evil is oft an occasion of evil ; dalliance is an appear- ance of evil, and oftentimes it occasions e- vil. Touching the forbidden fruit, may occasion tasting: dancing in masquerades, hath often been the occasion of uncleanness. 2. The appearance of evil may scandalize another, 1 Cor. viii. 12., " When ye sin a-
gainst the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ:" sinning against a member of Christ, is a sinning a- gainst Christ.
Thus you see sin being so deadly an e- vil, we should avoid all sin, — sins of omis- sion,— secret sins, — complexion-sins, — sins that attend our particular calling, — yea, the appearance of evil.
Quest. JVhat means shall ice use to be kept from the acts of sin ?
Ans. 1. If you would be preserved from actual and scandalous sins, labour to mor- tify original sin. If you would not have the branches bud and blossom, smite at the root. I know original sin cannot in this life be removed, but labour to have it sub- dued. Why do men break forth into actu- al sins, but because they do not mortify heart sins ? Suppress the first risings of pride, lust, passion ; original sin unmorti- fied, will prove such a root of bitterness, as will bring forth the cursed root of scanda- lous sin.
A. 2. If you would be kept from actual sins, think what an odious thing sin is. Besides what you have heard, remember, sin is ' the accursed thing,' Josh. vii. 13. It is the abominable thing God hates, Jer. xliv. 4., " O do not this abominable thing that I hate ! ' Sin is the spirits of witch- craft ; it is the devil's excrement ; it is cal- led ' filthincss,' James i. 21. If all the e- vils in the world were put together, and their quintessence strained out, they could not make a thing so filthy as sin doth. So odious is a sinner, that God loathes the sight of him, Zech. xi. 8., " My soul loath- ed them." He who defiles himself with a- varice, what is he but a serpent licking the dust? He who defiles himself with the lust of uncleanness, what is he but a swine with a man's head ? He who defiles himself with prid'S what is he but a bladder, which the devil hatli blown up? He who defiles him- self with drunkenness, what is he but a beast that hath got the staggers ? To consi- der how odious and base a thing sin is would be a mean to keep us from sinning.
A. 3. If you would be kept from actual sins, get the fear of God planted in your hearts, Prov. xvi. 6., " By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil." Cavcbis si
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