_Persons that are free from the necessity of labour and employments, are to consider themselves as devoted to God in a higher degree._
1. GREAT part of the world are free from the necessities of labour, and have their _time_ and _fortunes_ in their own disposal.
But as no one is to live in his _employment_ according to his own humour, or to please his own fancy, but is to do all his business in such a manner as to make it a service unto God; so those who have no particular employment, are so far from being left at liberty to live to themselves, to pursue their own humours, and spend their time and fortune as they please, that they are under greater obligations of living wholly unto God in all their actions.
The _freedom_ of their state lays them under a greater _necessity_ of always chusing and doing the best things.
They are those, of whom _much will be required_, because _much is given unto them_.
A _slave_ can only live unto God in one particular way; that is, by religious patience and submission in his state of slavery.
But all ways of holy living, all instances, and all kinds of virtue, lie open to those who are masters of themselves, their time, and their fortune.
It is as much the duty, therefore, of such persons, to make a wise use of their liberty, to devote themselves to all kinds of virtue, to aspire after every thing that is holy and pious, and to please God in the highest and most perfect manner, as it is the duty of a _slave_ to be _resigned_ unto God in his state of slavery.
2. You are no _labourer_, or _tradesman_; you are neither _merchant_ nor _soldier_; consider yourself therefore as placed in a state, in some degree like that of _good angels_, who are sent into the world as _ministring spirits_, for the general good of mankind, to _assist_, _protect_, and _minister_ for them who shall be heirs of salvation.
For the more you are free from the _common_ necessities of _men_, the more you are to imitate the _higher_ perfections of _angels_.
Had you, _Serena_, been obliged to wash cloaths for your maintenance, or to wait upon some _mistress_, that demanded all your _labour_, it would be your duty to glorify God, by such _humility_, _obedience_, and _faithfulness_, as might adorn that state of life.
It would then be recommended to your care, to improve that _one talent_ to its greatest height; that when the time came for mankind to be rewarded for their labours by the great Judge of the quick and dead, you might be received with a _well done good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord_.
But as God has given you _five talents_, as he has placed you above the necessities of life, as he has left you in the happy liberty of chusing the most exalted ways of virtue; as he has left you nothing to do, but to make the best use of variety of blessings, to make the best of a short life, to study your own perfection, the honour of God, and the good of your neighbour; so it is now your duty to enquire how the most eminent saints have lived, to study all the _arts_ and _methods_ of perfection, and to set no bounds to your love and gratitude to the bountiful author of so many blessings.
3. It is now your duty to turn your _five talents_ into five more, and to consider how your _time_, and _leisure_, and _health_, and _fortune_ may be made so many happy means of purifying your own soul, improving your fellow-creatures, and of carrying you at last to the greatest heights of eternal glory.
As you have no _mistress_ to serve, so let your own soul be the object of your daily care and attendance.
Nourish it with _good works_, give it peace in _solitude_, get it strength in _prayer_, make it wise with _reading_, enlighten it by _meditation_, make it tender with _love_, sweeten it with _humility_, enliven it with _psalms_ and _hymns_, and comfort it with frequent _reflections_ upon future glory. Keep it in the presence of God, and teach it to imitate those _guardian angels_; which tho’ they attend on the lowest of mankind, yet _always behold the face of our Father which is in heaven_.
This, _Serena_, is your profession. For as sure as God is one God, so sure it is, that he has but one command to all mankind, whether they be bond or free, rich or poor; and that is, to act up to the _excellency_ of their nature, to live by _reason_, to walk in the _light_ of religion, to glorify God in all his _gifts_, and dedicate every condition of life to his service.
This is the _one common_ command of God to all mankind. If you have an employment, you are to be thus reasonable, and holy in the exercise of it; if you have time and a fortune in your own power, you are to be thus reasonable, and holy, in the use of all your time and all your fortune.
4. The right use of every talent, is the indispensable duty of every being that is capable of knowing right or wrong.