carried many wife and good Men unto an utter Condemnation of the Employments of the Stage, as unlawful Means of Maintenance. And whatever may be faid of the Reprefentations of the Theatre in general; yet when they tranfgrefs the Bounds of Decency, and employ their Wit and Art to make Virtue, and Sobriety, and Chastity ridiculous; when they treat the facred Laws of Marriage with Contempt, and paint out the Villain, who betrays his Friend, breaks the Laws of Hospitality, and brings to Ruin unguarded Innocence, as an accomplished Character, and fit for Imitation, there can be no doubt but the Employment is extremely wicked. And whenever the Stage is fo employed, every good Man, every good Christian, must condemn it. Poets were anciently Instructors of Mankind, and Teachers of Morality; and Virtue never went off the Stage without Applaufe, nor Vice without Contempt. Thus Heathen Poets wrote!

It may be worth inquiring, whether Gaming can be a lawful Calling or Profeffion for Men to maintain themselves by? That there is room for this Inquiry, is evident from the great Numbers who live and thrive by it,

Thofe

Those who live upon this Art may fay in their own Excufe, what the unjust Steward faid for himself, Dig I cannot, to beg I am afhamed: And I am afraid they are not unlike him in the Method they chufe to fupport themselves. Gaming may either be reduced from Chance to Art, or it may not. If it cannot be reduced to an Art, then it cannot be the Subject of an Employment to live by; for you will not fay, that a Man may be maintained by that, which, according to the very Nature of the Thing, may as well prove his Ruin as his Maintenance: And therefore if Gaming is built purely upon Chance, no Man can or ought to make it his Calling; because it can never answer the End, and bring in a conftant Supply for the conftant Wants of Life. If Gaming may by Skill and Practice be reduced to an Art, then it is a very unjust Art, and must be a dishonest Way of getting Money: For Men venture their Money upon a Suppofition that they have an equal Chance with you; but if you are Master of a Skill which can overrule this Chance, you destroy the Game by taking away the Chance, which is the Foundation of it; and you make your Advantage purely

of

of the Ignorance and Folly of others, and live by an Art which you dare not own; for were it known, you could not live by it. So that, take it either Way, to play upon the Square cannot, in the Nature of the Thing, be a Maintenance, because it may equally happen to be your Undoing; to play otherwise is a Cheat and Abufe upon Mankind, and cannot be an honeft or fair Livelihood.

From what has been difcourfed in general, and upon the particular Cases mentioned, we may collect what is an honeft Labour or Maintenance: We must follow our honeft Callings honestly. The next Thing to be confidered is, what is the Measure of this Duty; whether we are obliged to labour merely to fupply our own Wants and Neceffities; or whether there be any other Duties incumbent on us, which must likewise be anfwered by our Labour and Toil? This the Apoftle has fettled in the

Fourth and laft place, enjoining us to labour, that we may have to give to him that needeth. So that the End we ought to aim at by our Labour and Industry is to enable us, not only to fupport ourselves and our Families, but to be Contributors likewise to the

Wants

Wants and Neceffities of fuch as are not able to work and labour for themfelves. Charity has no Measure, but the Wants of others, and our own Ability. The Scripture has told us, the Poor shall never fail: There never will want Objects of Charity, and therefore we can never get beyond this Rule of the Apoftle; for the more we can get, the more we ought to give, and therefore muft conftantly labour to enable ourselves to answer this End in the best manner. But there are many Things which a poor Man ought to provide for, before he can come to éxercise Charity: The first poor Man he is to take care of is himself; his own Wants and Neceffities must be answered out of his Labour: Nor is he obliged only to provide for his present Wants, but by Industry and Frugality to lay up in Store, out of what he can spare from his present Maintenance, to provide against the Casualties and Misfortunes of Life, which he, with all Mankind, is liable to. He may be difabled by Sickness, or Lameness, or Age, and rendered incapable of following his Trade or Labour; and these being fuch common Incidents, he is bound to provide for them. This is evidently a Confequence of the Apoftle's VOL. III. Rule,

K

Rule, that we must work to ferve the Ends of Charity. The first Piece of Charity you are bound to, is to keep yourself from being a Charge and Burden upon Charity; that there may be the greater Maintenance for fuch as are truly neceffitous; and therefore it is a Breach of this Rule, instead of providing for Futurity, to spend all at present, and leave yourself to be a Burden upon the common Charity, whenever Age or Sickness difables you So that it is a Duty owing, as well to your poorer Brethren, as yourself, to keep yourself by the honeft Arts of Labour and Frugality, from preying upon their Maintenance, when your Strength and Labour forfake you. And hence it appears, that by the Apostle's Rule, you are bound as well to Thrift and Frugality, as to Labour; and therefore fuch as work hard, and fpend freely all they get, are highly to be blamed, and may be found at last to have spent out of the Poor's Stock; fince by fquandering their own, they come at laft to a Neceffity of living upon Charity; by which means others are ftraightened, that they may be fupplied.

Next to yourself you are likewise bound to provide for your Family, for

your Chil

dren,