12. I observe, ' He obeyed, not knowing whither he went.'
Doct. Upon a divine call we must obey, though we do not know what will come of it.
This is of excellent use to christians that are yet in the twilight of grace, between grace and nature ; they do not know what will come of it, yet they venture upon Christ. The master calls ; you are invited to grace, and you should make an essay. We owe God blind obedience. Blind men will follow their guides over hills and through dales fearing nothing ; so should we follow God. Carnal reason will be full of objections, but ia such cases we should not dispute but resolve ; and let us cleave to Christ, and hang upon Christ, though we do not know what will come of it ; as the lepers : 2 Kings vii. 4, ' If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there ; and if we sit still here we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall into the host of the Syrians ; if they save us alive, we shall live ; and if they kill us, we shall but die.' So also in dischai-ging our duty ; when we know not what success we shall have, still we must perform it ; as the prophet in his public contests with an obstinate people gains acceptance with God, though not success with men : Isa. xlix. 4, ' I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain ; yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work witli my God.'
Secondly, I come now to apply the text to a particular calling, to some office, employment, and course of life wherein to glorify God. And here I shall inquire —
(1.) How we shall know that we are called to such an employment, now oracles are ceased, and God doth not so immediately speak to us as he did to Abraham. (2.) How must we behave ourselves in that calling ; what is the obedience of faith. (3.) I shall handle some cases incident to this matter.
1. How we shall know that we are called of God. It is a matter necessary to be known, that we act in faith and obedience. A man cannot expect God's blessing but in God's way. And the general rule is, eirov &e(p, follow God. Now how shall we do to see God in our call- ing, that we may walk with him foot by foot ? It is said, Isa. xli. 2, ' Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called liim to his foot.' By way of answer to this necessary question, I shall lay down several propositions.
[1.] That every man must have a particular calling. Life was given us for somewhat ; not merely to fill up the number of the world, or to grow in stature — so life was given to the plants, that they may grow bulky, and increase in stature ; not merely to taste pleasures, that is the happiness of beasts, to enjoy pleasures without remorse. God gave men higher faculties of reason and conscience ; reason to manage some work and business for the glory of God ; and conscience, that he might review his work, and mind his soul. The rule is general, that all
VeR. 8.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 233
Adam's sons are to eat their bread in the sweat of their brows : G-en. iii. 19, 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.' I know it doth not bind in the rigour of the letter ; the priests were not to sweat : Ezek. xliv. 18, ' They shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat ; ' yet in the intent it binds to some honest labour, the sweat of the body or of the brain. Adam's two sons were heirs-apparent of the world, and the one was employed in tillage and the other in pasturage. The world was never made for a hive for drones, and the word giveth no privilege to any to be idle. It is true, there is a difference between employments ; some live more by manual labours, others in more genteel employments, as the magistrate, the minister, and those that study for public good. Manual labour is not required of all, because it is not a thing that is required propter se, as simply good and neces- sary, but propter aliiid, as for maintenance and support of life, to ease the church, to supply the uses of charity. When the ends of labour cannot otherwise be obtained, then handy labour is required. A minister is forbidden travail and labour, it being a means of distrac- tion ; but he is to be laborious and diligent in his calling. A gentle- man is to fit himself to do his country service, either iu magistracy or ministry; if need be in the ministry, it is not beneath them. The first-born were the priests, that is, the most noble, the most worthy, the most potent, ere God settled it in the tribe of Levi. Diligent they are to be in doing their country good one way or other, and to spend the more time in spiritual exercises, the less they need handy labour ; but when' their whole life is spent in eating, drinking, sporting, sleeping, it is bestial. Idleness was one of Sodom's sins : Ezek. xvi. 49, ' Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom ; pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters.' It makes you lose your right to the creatures — ' If any would not work, neither let him eat,' 2 Thes. iii. 10. Gentlemen are but robbers that live idly and without a calling; though they are freed from servile and handy labour, yet they are not freed from work and business. If any man might be allowed to be idle, then one member would be lost in the body politic. Man is born a member of some society, family, city, world, and is to seek the good of it ; he is ^coov ttoXltlkov. We see in the body natural there is no member, but it hath its function and use, whereby it becometh serviceable to the whole. All have not the same office, that would make a confusion ; but all have their use, either as an eye, or as a hand, or as a leg, and it must be employed. So in the politic body no member must be useless, they must have one func- tion or another wherein to employ themselves, otherwise they are but unprofitable burdens of the earth. Again, every man is more or less intrusted with a gift, which he ie to exercise and improve for the common good, and at the day of judgment he is to give up his accounts ; Mat. XXV. 19, 'After a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them.' If he hath but one talent, it must not be hidden in a napkin. Well then, if every man hath a gift for which he is accountable to God, he must have a calling : 1 Cor. vii. 17, 'As God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk,' and choose his state of life. Besides, a calling is necessary to prevent the mischiefs of idleness, and those inconveniences