e upon the
living God for customers. He is robbing his soul not only in not
taking the customers as from the hands of the Lord, but he is also
obliging his heavenly Father, in the very love of His heart, to cause
him to be disappointed, because he is not trusting in Him. If the
child of God were saying and acting thus: the best situation would
cost me 50l. a year more rent, than one which is not really
inconvenient for my customers, nor in an improper neighbourhood, and
the like, this 50l. I dedicate unto the Lord, to be paid in
instalments for His work, or His poor saints, whenever the rent day
comes, such a brother would find himself to be no loser, if this
indeed were done in dependence upon the Lord, and constrained by the
love of Jesus. But if the 50l. more is paid for rent, and yet the
living God, in the very love of His heart, should be obliged to
withhold prosperity from His child in His calling, because He sees
that he is laying undue stress upon the situation of the house, then
not only the 50l. extra rent per year is lost, but also that which
the Lord is obliged to withhold from His child besides, in order to
teach him the lesson; and thus year after year, by our own fault, we
may have scarcely any thing to give for the work of God. 7, The next
obstacle to prosperity in our calling which I now would mention is,
That children of God often use such expressions as these with
reference to their calling: "this is our busy time," or "this is our
dead time," which implies that they do not day after day deal with
God about their calling, but that they ascribe their having much or
little to do to circumstances, or to times and seasons. That the
people of the world should do so is not to be wondered at; but that
the children of God should act thus, who in the most minute affairs
of life should seek the help of God, and deal with God about them, is
a matter of sorrow to the spiritual mind, and is altogether
unbecoming saints. But what is the result. The Lord, according to the
expectations of His children, allows them to be without employment,
because they say, "this is our dead season." "He did not many mighty
works there because of their unbelief," contains a truth which comes
in here. But what is the right way of looking at the matter? It is
this: the child of God should say, though generally about this time
of the year there is little employment to be expected, looking at it
naturally, yet as a want of employment is