from the commencement to the close of the Scriptures, in which the glory of God is disjoined from the falvation of man; and then fhall your queftion become entitled to confideration. To live unto Chrift is to glorify God. To glorify God through Christ with your body and your fpirit, which are His, is the appointed method of attaining the falvation which Chrift has purchased. As a practical believer in Christ Jefus, labour that in all things God may thus be glorified: and you shall receive the end of your faith, even the falvation of your foul.

II. Advert to the general lines of human labour, and to their attendant temptations.

The most obvious and the most comprehenfive of the divifions of human labour is that which, from the inftrument principally employed, is denominated manual. To men occupied in this branch of exertion belongs, in its literal import, the primeval fentence; In the fweat of thy face fhalt thou eat bread. Under this class are included all the toils of agriculture; and all the ruder arts of life, by which the earth is fubdued, reduced under the dominion

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minion of man, and rendered, fo far as is dependent on his induftry, a secure and comfortable abode. In the profecution of thefe objects the frame advances in robuftness, and is inured to patient endurance. The hand is hardened by the fpade, the arm ftrengthened by the hammer. The mind, in the mean time, though neceffarily fummoned into action, and in no refpect excluded from its proportion of employment, experiences lefs exercife and cultivation than the body. Its powers grow torpid; and habit steps into the place of reflection. Hence, unless the heart in its proclivity to evil be stayed by fupernatural grace, proceed roughness of manners, harshness of temper, covetoufnefs, fenfuality, brutish ignorance. How can he get wisdom that boldeth the plough, and that glorieth in the goad; that driveth oxen, and is occupied in their labours; and whose talk is about bullocks? Every carpenter, and work-mafter, the Smith fitting by the anvil, the potter turning the wheel; all their defire is in the work of their craft (e). That ftupid unconcern which extinguishes the defire of mental improvement, not seldom extends it felf to the in

(e) Eccl'us, xxxviii. 25-34.

terefts

terefts of eternity. The welfare of the foul yields to the accommodation of the body. The man is abforbed in the cares of the hour. Toiling for daily fubfiftence, he labours not for the bread of life. If any man would not work; it is beyond a question that neither should be eat. We command and exhort by the Lord Jefus, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread. Do your own business, and work with your own hands (f). Yet labour not primarily for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him bath God the father fealed (g).

The next leading branch of labour is that which, exercifing the faculties of the mind more extenfively than the powers of the animal frame, may be denominated mental. To this branch may be referred, among other ramifications of active life, fome of the ornamental arts, many of the researches of science, the duties of liberal profeffions, the functions of elevated office. Over perfons dedicated to pursuits of this defcription, no lefs than over those who are funk in manual toil, impends the danger of becoming the

(ƒ) 2 Theff. iii. 10. 12. I Theff. iv. II.

(g) John, vi. 27.

flaves of a worldly fpirit, of panting for thing's temporal and forgetting things eternal. Among the temptations by which, if not exclusively affailed, they are more severely or more confpicuously encountered, are the thirst for fplendid diftinctions, and the pride of intellectual attainments. But how crieth the warning voice? All flesh is grafs; and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grafs withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. If any man think that he knoweth any thing; he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. The Lord giveth wifdom: out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up found wif dom for the righteous (h).

In each of the claffes which have been noticed, the general ftimulus to labour is the defire of gain; in the former nearly unmixed, in the latter commonly blended with eagerness for elevation. There is a third clafs in the middle and the higher walks of fociety, whofe labour is oftenfibly more spontaneous; a clafs confisting of those persons, whom wealth or competence relieves from the neceffity of lucrative

(b) 1 Pet. i. 24, 25. 1 Cor. viii. 2. Prov. ü. 6, 7.

toil. Are you of this defcription, and do you conceive yourself privileged to be idle? If the fupreme benefactor has said to you, as Pharaoh faid to the brethren of Joseph ; The good of all the land is yours: if, as Pharaoh planted them in Goshen, in the beft of this favoured land God has made you to dwell of you He alfo demands, as Pharaoh demanded of the objects of his bounty; What is your occupation? On ́you, no less than on your brethren, every day urges its title to employment. On you, no less than on your brethren, rest the general obligations of life. On you, in proportion as you are exonerated from inferior tasks, the general obligations of life press with augmented claims. The neighbour, the friend, the fon, the brother, the husband, the father, the master, is called upon to behold in his comparative leisure new ties to the affiduous performance of his duties. In his comparative leisure the landlord is fummoned to recognise new motives for directing the administration of the property with which Heaven has entrufted him to the good of his dependents, and the diffufive encouragement of knowledge and piety. To you, in a special meafure, are confided the execution of various