y to ourselves, Should it please
the Lord to lay me on a bed of sickness, or keep me otherwise by reason
of infirmity, or old age, or want of employment, from earning my bread
by means of the labor of my hands, or my business, or my profession, he
will yet provide for me. Because we who believe are servants of Jesus
Christ, who has bought us with his own precious blood, and are not our
own, and because this our precious Lord and Master has commanded us to
work, therefore we work: and _in doing so_ our Lord will provide for us,
but whether in this way or any other way he is sure to provide for us,
for we labor in obedience to him; and if even a just earthly master give
wages to his servants, the Lord will surely see to it that we have our
wages, if, in obedience to him, we are engaged in our calling, and not
for our own sake.

How great the difference between acting according to the word of God and
according to our own natural desires, or the customs of the world, will
be plain, I trust, by the following case: Suppose I were engaged in some
useful trade. Suppose I had the certain human prospect that within the
next three months my labor would bring me in nothing, for certain
reasons connected with the state of mercantile affairs. As a man of the
world I should say, I shall not work at all, because my labor will not
be paid; but as a Christian, who desires to act according to God's holy
word, I ought to say, My trade is useful to society, and I will work,
notwithstanding all human prospects, because the Lord Jesus has
commanded me to labor; from him, and not from my trade, I expect my
wages. In addition to this, the Christian ought also to say, Idleness is
a dreadful snare of the devil; he has especial opportunity to get an
advantage over the children of God when they are unoccupied; and,
therefore, I will work though I have no human prospect of obtaining
payment for my labor, but shall get only the cost price of the material,
and shall have to give my work for nothing. Moreover, the Christian
ought to say, Though according to _human_ probability I shall have to
labor for nothing during the next three months, yet I will work, because
the Lord may speedily alter the state of things, contrary to all human
expectation; but whether he be pleased to do so or not, I labor because
I am the Lord's, bought by his precious blood, and he commands me to
labor.

But there are motives still lower than to be engaged in our earthly
cal