S. Let designs be projected with the greatest prudence, and com- mitted to the management of the fittest instrument ; all is nothing as to success, without the concurrence of health, strength, favourable winds, security from the hands of enemies, and perils of the deep. If any of these be wanting, the design miscarries, and all our projects fail. How often are hopeful and thriving undertakings frustrated by the failure of any one of these requisites ? " Go to now, ye that " say, to-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and remain " there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain ; whereas ye know " not what shall be on the morrow : for what is your life ? It is *' even a vapour that appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth " away," Jam. iv. 13, 14. How soon are the purposes of men's hearts broken off, and their thoughts perish in one day ? They think to send or go to such a place, and there enrich themselves, and re- turn prosperous ; but sometimes death, sometimes captivity, some- times cross winds, dash all their hopes.
4. Proper seasons must be observed, else all success and expectation of increase is lost. " There is (saith Solomon) a season for every *' thing, and a time to every purpose under the sun," Eccles. iii. 1. This being taken, gives facility and speedy dispatch to a business ; and therefore he gives this reason, why man miscarries so frequently, and is disappointed in his enterprizes because he knows not the time; Eccl. ix. 11. ' He comes (as one saith) when the bird is flown.' It is a wise and weighty proverb with the Greeks, ' That there is much ' time in a short opportunity !' That is, a man hitting the season of a business, may do more in a day, than losing it, he may be able to do in a year. This is of a special consideration in all human affairs, and is the very hinge upon which success turns : So that to come before, is to pluck apples before they are ripe ; and to come after it, is to seek them when they are fallen and perished.
5. Lastly, in getting wealth the leaks of our estates must be stop- ped ; else we do but put it into a bag with holes, as the prophet's phrase is in Hag. i. 9. If a man lose as much one way as he gets another, there can be no increase. Hence it is, that many are kept low and poor all their days : If one design prospers, yet another miscarries ; or, if all succeed well abroad, yet there is a secret con- sumption of it at home, by prodigality, riot, luxury, or a secret curse upon it, which the scripture calls Goers hlozcing upon it, Hag. i. 3. If therefore by any of these ways our gains moulder away, we do but disquiet ourselves in vain, and labour in the fire for very vanity. Thus you see what things are requisite to the advancement of an estate upon a prudential account.
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Now let US particularly observe what a dependance there is upon Providence in all these things ; and then it will be clear that our good is not in our hand, nor success at our beck, but it is the Lord that gives us power to get wealth. For,
As to the moulding and projecting of a design, we may say, both of the prudent merchant and ingenious seaman, what the prophet doth of the husbandman, Isa. xxviii. 10. "It is his God that in- " structs him to discretion, and teacheth him."" There is, indeed, a spirit in man, " But it is the inspiration of the Almighty that giveth " understanding,'' Job xxxii. 8. The faculty is man's, but the light of wisdom, whether natural or spiritual, is God's : and the natural faculty is of itself no more capable of directing us in our affairs, with- out his teaching, than the dial is to inform us of hours without the sun's shining upon it. And because men are so dull in apprehending, and backward in acknowledging it, but will lean to their own under- standings, thence it is that prudent designs are so often blasted, and weaker ones succeeded.
And no less doth Providence manifest itself in directing to, and prospering the means and instruments employed in our business: it is of the Lord that they prove ingenious, active and faithful servants to us ; that your factors abroad prove not malefactors to you ; that every design is not ruined by the negligence, ignorance, or treachery of them that manage it. If God qualify men to be fit instruments to serve you, and then providentially direct you to them, his hand is thankfully to be owned in both. It was no small mercy to Abraham, that he had so discreet, pious, and faithful a servant to manage even his weightest affairs so prudently and prosperously for him. Laban, Pharaoh, and Jethro, never so prospered, as when Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, had the charge of their business. Laban ingenuously acknow- ledged, " That he had learned by experience that the Lord had bles- " sed him for Jacob's sake," Gen. xxx. 27. A heathen you see is more ingenuous in owning the mercy of God to him in this case, than many professed Christians are, who sacrifice all to their own net, and burn incense to their drag, i. e. idolize the means and in- struments of their prosperity, and see nothing of God in it.
And then as to the preservation of those that go down into the sea to do our business in the great waters ; who can but acknowledge this to be the peculiar work of God ? Doth not daily experience shew how often poor seamen are cut off in the prosecution of our de- signs, sometimes by sickness, sometimes by storms, and sometimes by enemies, to whom they become a prey ? If they escape all these, yet how often do they lie wind-bound, or hindered by cross accidents, till the proper season be over, and the design lost ? Certainly, if pro- vidence shall so far favour men, as to prevent all these ; command winds fit for their purpose, 'estrain enemies, preserve life, and carry them safely and seasonably to their ports, it deserves a thankful ac«
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knowledgment ; and those that do not acknowledge providence, do disoblige it.