ar of God and according to the revealed will
of God; and if we cannot say in honesty of heart, I do carry on my
business, I am engaged in my trade, or art, or profession, as a
servant of Jesus Christ, whose I am, because He has bought me with
His precious blood, and He has commanded me to work, and therefore I
work: I say, if we cannot say this in honesty of heart, but must
confess that we work on account of lower motives such as, that we may
earn our bread, or on account of still lower motives, and such which
are altogether unbecoming a child of God, who is not of the world but
of God, such as, to obtain a certain sum of money in order to be able
to live on the interest without having to work; or, to provide
something for old age; or, to obtain a certain amount of property
without intending to give up business: if these are our motives for
being engaged in our calling, I say, can we be surprised that we meet
with great difficulties in our business, and that the Lord in His
abounding love to us, His erring children, does not allow us to
succeed? But suppose this second point is scripturally settled, and
we can honestly say that, because we are servants of Jesus Christ, we
are occupied as we are--we have further to consider: 3, Whether we
carry on our business, or are engaged in our trade, art, or
profession as stewards of the Lord. To the child of God it ought not
to be enough that he is in a calling in which he can abide with God,
nor that he is engaged in his calling, because it is the will of his
Lord and Master that he should work, but he should consider himself
in his trade, business, art, or profession, only as the steward of
the Lord with reference to his income. The child of God has been
bought with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, and is altogether
His property, with all that he possesses, his bodily strength, his
mental strength, his ability of every kind, his trade, business, art,
or profession, his property, &c.; for it is written: "Ye are not your
own; for ye are bought with a price." I Cor. vi. 19, 20. The proceeds
of our calling are therefore not our own in the sense of using them
as our natural heart wishes us to do, whether to spend them on the
gratification of our pride, or our love of pleasure, or sensual
indulgences, or to lay by the money for ourselves or our children, or
use it in any way as we naturally like; but we have to stand before
our Lord and Master, whose stewards we are, to seek to as