Observe here, my brethren—and you will thereby see how directly this text is addressed, not to very gross and carnal offenders, but even to such as ourselves—that the Apostle does not cry out against the going into the city and proposing to buy and sell and get gain there, or even against the fixing of a particular period of sojourn; but against the doing of all this _without reference and submission to_, _without dependence upon the will and providence of_ GOD; without remembrance that there is no certainty of life, and power, and opportunity. “What is our life” “If the LORD will?” GOD does not forbid, rather He requires us to engage in worldly occupations. He has sent us into the world in need of food and raiment, which the majority of us can only get by working for them, and has endowed us with faculties and powers which have their legitimate exercise in worldly pursuits. There can be no question that by GOD’S appointment man is to labour and trade, or employ himself in some way in worldly things, for sustenance and for exercise of many of his powers. And if this is so, then neither can there be any question, that it must be lawful to think in some way of the morrow, to provide what we shall need in it, to consider and plan for our employment and gain in it. It would be quite impossible to carry on many callings—more especially those which have distinctly the approval of GOD, as husbandry, for instance—if we might not forecast, anticipate, provide, propose, and plan. And if all this may be done, then we may and must mark out particular works and places, and specific periods of time, wherein to perform what we propose. If a husbandman may not think of the harvest, how shall he do the duties of the seed time? If the merchant may not fix on a mart nor make arrangements for sojourning there till he has disposed of his goods, nor count the number of days which the ship will require for transporting them, then how shall he know what wares to purchase? how shall he persuade himself to have anything to do with merchandise? Surely, he must take for granted—or at least he must act as if he took for granted—some certainty of time and opportunity, and so he must in one sense presume upon the future. Still, brethren, the very illustrations I have chosen tell against counting on actual certainty. The husbandman ploughs in hope and sows in hope; but knows all the time that the fowls of the air may rob him of his crop, that the needful rain or sun may be withholden from it, that the worm, and the mildew, and the blast may destroy it. The merchant freights his vessel with full knowledge—(not always without fear)—that fire or storm may cause it to be lost in the sea, or that if it reaches the place of sale, there may then be no demand for it. Each is obliged to admit contingencies; to prepare and act as if all power and all time and circumstances were in his own hands, while he