with less judgment, and spends fewer thoughts about it, and yet suc- cess follows it. It shall be cast in upon some, who as they did not, so, considering the weak management of their business, had little ra- tional encouragement to expect it ; and fly from others, who indus- triously pursue it in the prudent choice and diligent use of all the proper means of attaining it. And this is not only an observation grounded upon our own experience, but confirmed by the wisest of men ; Eccl. ix. 11. "I returned, and saw under the sun, that the " race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong ; neither yet '* bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet " favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all." If two men run for a prize, reason gives the prize to the swiftest : if two armies join battle, reason gives the victory to the strongest : if two men undertake a design to get wealth, reason gives the riches to the wisest ; yea, but Providence sometimes disposes it quite contrary to the verdict of reason, and the prize is given to the slowest, the vic- tory to the weakest, the estate to the more shallow capacit}'^ ; so that these events seem to fall out rather casually than answerably to the means employed about them. And who that observes this, can doubt but it is the hand of God's providence, and not our diligence that disposes the issues of these things ? For why doth God so often step out of the ordinary way, and cross his hands, as old Israel did, lay- ing the right hand upon the younger, and the left upon the elder : I mean, give success to the weak, and disappointment to the strong, but to convince us of this great truth which I here bring it to confirm ? And because men are so apt to sacrifice to their own prudence, and disown providence, therefore it sometimes makes the case much plain- er than so : it denies riches to the industrious, that live for no other end but to get them, and casts them in upon those that seek them not at all, and indeed are scarcely competent for business. Aristides, one of the wisest men of his age, was yet still so poor, that Plutarch said, it brought a slur ujion justice herself, as if she were not able to maintain her followers. Socrates, one of the prime Grecian sages, was so exceeding poor, that Apuleius could not but note, " That ^'^ poverty was become an inmate with, philosoph?/'^ ;''' when in the mean time, the empty, shallow, and foolish, shall come up with it, and overtake it without any pains at all, which others prosecute in the most rational course all their life, and all to no pui'pose. Thus it was noted of pope Clement V. None more rich, jnone more foolish, -f And this is the ground of that proverb, Fortunafavet fatns : Fortune fa^ 'vours fools. Though the author of that proverb, in nick-naming providence, shewed as little wisdom as he that is the subject of it.
By all which, this point is in the general made good : it is not industry, but providence, that directs and commands the success of
* Paupertas est philosnphica vemacula, f Epitonu Hist. Gallic,
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business : It being much in the attaining of riches, as the apostle saith it is in the obtaining of righteousness : " The Gentiles, which ^' followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness; <' but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not " attained to the law of righteousness," Rom. ix. 30, 31. So it is here, for the vindication of the honour of providence, which men would scarcely own, if it did not thus baffle them sometimes : they that follow the world cannot obtain it ; and they attain it that follow it not ; that all men may see their good is not in their own hand ; and lest man, who is not only a covetous creature, and would en- gross all to himself, but as proud as covetous, should ascribe all to himself But this will further appear.
Secondly, Bv a particular enumeration of the ordinary causes and means of all success in business, which are all dependent things upon a higher cause.
Now, if we proceed upon a rational account, we shall find five things required to the success of our affairs : and that I may speak. to your capacity, I will instance in that affair of merchandizing in which you are employed, as the hands that execute what the heads of your merchants contrive ; and will shew you, that neither their wisdom in contriving, nor your skill and industry in managing their designs, can prosper without the leave and blessing of Divine Provi- dence. Let us therefore consider what is necessarv to the raisins* of an estate in that way of employment ; and you will find, that in a rational and ordinary way, success cannot be expected, unless,
1. The designs and projects be prudently laid, and moulded with, much consideration and foresight. An error here is like an error in the first concoction, which is not to be rectified afterwards. " The " wisdom of the prudent (saith Solomon) is to understand his way ;" that is, to understand, and thorouglily to consider, the particular designs and business in which he is to engage. Rashness and in- considerateness here hath been the ruin of many thousand enter- prizes. And if a design be never so well laid, yet,
2. No success in business can be rationally expected, except there be an election of proper instruments to manage it. The best laid de- sign in the world may be spoiled by an ill management. If the per- son employed be either incapable or unfaithful, what but trouble and disappointment can be expected.'* " Ke that sendeth a message *' (saith Solomon) by the hands of a fool, cutteth off the legs, and *' drinkcth damage." It is as if a man should send him on his busi- ness that had no legs to go ; i. e. one that is incompetent for the bu- siness he is employed about. All that a man shall reap from such a design is damage : and if the instrument employed be never so capa- ble, yet if be he not also faithful to the trust committed to him, all is lost; and such is the depth of deceit in the hearts of men, that few or none can be secured against it. Solomon was the wisest of men, and yet fatally miscarried in this matter ; " He seeing the young man
390 THE SUCCESSFUL SEAMAN.
" (Jeroboam) that he was a mighty man of valour, and that he was " industrious, made him ruler over all the charge of the house of " Joseph," 1 Kings xi. 28. And this was the man that rent the kingdom from his son, even ten tribes from the house of David. And yet, ^