in their vocations to serve the Lord, and to minister to his glory but in this we differ from them, that whereas their nature worketh for the noblest, ours worketh for the most ignoble ends: to make the labour of a man as noble as that of an angel, nothing is needed but to elevate and ennoble the end for which he labours. And herein is to be found the remedy for the disasters which we this day lamented, not in discontenting the people with their humble and miserable condition, which is to pour vinegar upon their wounds, but to teach them that they have a soul as well as a body for which to be anxious, and to use exertion; that

man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God;" that "the Gospel is preached unto the poor; that Christ's invitations are to "the weary and the heavy laden;" that there is a heaven as well as an earth, an eternity as well as time, a God, a fatherly God, as well as a master man, of whom to stand in awe, and for whose sake to think and feel and act. The remedy for mortal man, blinded by ignorance, crushed with bodily labour, sickened with intemperance, and with sensuality dead, is to cheer his heart with these cordials of grace, and fill his mind with the knowledge of salvation, to gladden him with hope, and electrify his whole spiritual man groaning in oppression, with the redemption of Christ, and the regeneration of the Spirit.

But this subject of the recovery of the toilworn people is one of such extent and importance, that we cannot think of treating it slightly, and therefore we reserve it for the subject of another head of discourse; to consider how this spiritual

deadness which hath come upon the labouring classes of this and other lands, may be best removed, and their better and eternal being recovered from the dead sleep in which it is held.

III. In opening this third part of our subject, I would first clear the way, by removing certain misconceptions concerning the evil which we have set forth above, as if it arose merely from the quantity of labour, which though it have an influence of a certain kind, is very inferior to the true cause of the evil, which is the spirit in which we labour. Then I shall shew the means which men have within their own power for remedying this evil; and, lastly, open the remedy given to men by God.

This sentence of God upon his disobedient creatures, hath not only made earnest labour incumbent upon us all the days of our life, but it hath arisen from the ground, and blighted the nature of the labourer; so that it is pitiful to behold the myriads of our fellow-creatures, whose spirit fainteth in them under the hard loads and cankering cares which this arch-curse hath brought upon them,-how, at home in this land, the palace of the whole earth for wealth, and its eye for knowledge, millions of the people are drawn down from thoughts of heaven by their earthly toils, the culture of their soul thrust aside by the culture of their ingenious or laborious crafts, the very ex. istence of a soul within them seemingly unknown, the salvation of it certainly indifferent to their minds. Abroad over the earth they are sitting in darkness, and in gross darkness, ground down with oppression, or brutalized by slavery, and

belaboured all the days of their life, without light, without hope, without celestial desire. Into this condition of the laborious people, we would inquire in the following discourse, and shew the true method by which they are to be recovered into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Labour we

have shewn to be no less than the hard ordinance of God, for the obtaining of any comfort upon the earth; and it must be endured, otherwise human life will fail, or be maintained in beggarly miserable scantiness, as in the hunting or the savage state, from whence labour is so far from being absent, that though not in constant and measured succession, it is there endured in its extreme heats and most trying perils. Whosoever, therefore, goeth about to make the labouring classes discontented with their condition, and adviseth them to lay aside part of their toils, doth, as a matter of course, diminish the productions which minister to human contentment and joyfulness, unless he hath some other labourers to take up the resigned and abandoned part; in which case he doth but shift the load: or unless he have some machine to do it withal; in which case he is a great benefactor to mankind. But simply to call upon the people to relax in their industry, and to lay down their laborious work of cherishing this niggard earth, and its raw productions, and thereby think that he improveth their condition, is truly, first, to diminish the means which are possessed of health, contentment, and happiness; and, next, to injure that very condition of the people which he seeketh to amend. For industry and full occupation, are, we know, two of the best conditions for honesty and virtue. And idleness is the

deadness which hath come upon the labouring classes of this and other lands, may be best removed, and their better and eternal being recovered from the dead sleep in which it is held.

III. In opening this third part of our subject, I would first clear the way, by removing certain misconceptions concerning the evil which we have set forth above, as if it arose merely from the quantity of labour, which though it have an influence of a certain kind, is very inferior to the true cause of the evil, which is the spirit in which we labour. Then I shall shew the means which men have within their own power for remedying this evil; and, lastly, open the remedy given to men by God.

This sentence of God upon his disobedient creatures, hath not only made earnest labour incumbent upon us all the days of our life, but it hath arisen from the ground, and blighted the nature of the labourer; so that it is pitiful to behold the myriads of our fellow-creatures, whose spirit fainteth in them under the hard loads and cankering cares which this arch-curse hath brought upon them,-how, at home in this land, the palace of the whole earth for wealth, and its eye for knowledge, millions of the people are drawn down from thoughts of heaven by their earthly toils, the culture of their soul thrust aside by the culture of their ingenious or laborious crafts, the very existence of a soul within them seemingly unknown, the salvation of it certainly indifferent to their minds. Abroad over the earth they are sitting in darkness, and in gross darkness, ground down with oppression, or brutalized by slavery, and

belaboured all the days of their life, without light, without hope, without celestial desire. Into this condition of the laborious people, we would inquire in the following discourse, and shew the true method by which they are to be recovered into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Labour we have shewn to be no less than the hard ordinance of God, for the obtaining of any comfort upon the earth; and it must be endured, otherwise human life will fail, or be maintained in beggarly miserable scantiness, as in the hunting or the savage state, from whence labour is so far from being absent, that though not in constant and measured succession, it is there endured in its extreme heats and most trying perils. Whosoever, therefore, goeth about to make the labouring classes discontented with their condition, and adviseth them to lay aside part of their toils, doth, as a matter of course, diminish the productions which minister to human contentment and joyfulness, unless he hath some other labourers to take up the resigned and abandoned part; in which case he doth but shift the load: or unless he have some machine to do it withal; in which case he is a great benefactor to mankind. But simply to call upon the people to relax in their industry, and to lay down their laborious work of cherishing this niggard earth, and its raw productions, and thereby think that he improveth their condition, is truly, first, to diminish the means which are possessed of health, contentment, and happiness; and, next, to injure that very condition of the people which he seeketh to amend. For industry and full occupation, are, we know, two of the best conditions for honesty and virtue. And idleness is the