to settle it weekly. If, it be said, I cannot ascertain how much
I have gained in the course of the week by my business, and therefore
I cannot give accordingly; my reply is this, Seek, dear brethren, as
much as possible to bring your business upon such a footing, as that
you may be able, as nearly as possible, to settle how much you have
earned in your calling in the course of the week; but suppose you
should be unable to settle it exactly to the shilling or pound, yet
you will know pretty well how it has been with you during the week,
and therefore, according to your best knowledge, contribute on the
coming Lord's day towards the necessities of the poor saints, and
towards the work of God, as He, after your having sought His
guidance, may lead you. Perhaps you say, the weeks are so unlike; in
one week I may earn three or even ten times as much as in another
week, and if I give according to my earnings from my calling during a
very good week, then how are such weeks, when I earn scarcely any
thing, or how are the bad debts to be met? How shall I do when
sickness befalls my family, or when other trials productive of
expense come upon me, if I do not make provision for such seasons? My
reply is, 1, I do not find in the whole New Testament one single
passage in which either directly or indirectly exhortations are given
to provide against deadness in business, bad debts and sickness, by
laying up money. 2, Often the Lord is obliged to allow deadness in
business, or bad debts, or sickness in our family, or other trials,
which increase our expenses, to befall us, because we do not, as His
stewards, act according to stewardship, but as if we were owners of
what we have, forgetting that the time has not yet come when we shall
enter upon our possessions and He does so in order that, by these
losses and expenses, our property which we have collected may be
decreased, lest we should altogether set our hearts again upon
earthly things, and forget God entirely. His love is so great, that
He will not let His children quietly go their own way when they have
forsaken Him; but if His loving admonitions by His Holy Spirit are
disregarded, He is obliged in fatherly love to chastise them. A
striking illustration of what I have said we have in the case of
Israel nationally. The commandment to them was, to leave their land
uncultivated in the seventh year, in order that it might rest; and
the Lord promised to make up for this deficiency by H