great House of the Universe with useless and fuperfluous Goods. All that he made was very Good. Gen. 1. ult. that is, very useful in its kind, and fit for the ufe which God defign'd it for. The infinitely wife God made nothing ufclefs, altho it may be we, fich is our blindness, understand not the ufe of all things; yet it becomes us to fay with the Pfalmift, Pfal. 104. 24. O Lord, how manifold are thy works? are thy works? In Wisdom baft thou made them all. Neither doth God delight to have a houseful of vain Servants, for Shew more than for Service, and who have nothing to do, but to confume what he hath provided, and rather make their Mafter minifter to their Lufts, than employ themfelves in any bufinefs, whereby they may ferve him. He hath appointed every one of us our work, and committed fomething to our Charge, which he expects we should take care of. This, if we do not, we are unfaithful Stewards, and are faid to wafte his Goods. And thus we may do more ways than

one,

1. By mifufing, or abufing, any part of his Goods. If we make a wrong ufe of them, fuch as he alloweth not, we abufe them. If in the ufe of them, we follow not his Directions, and, the Orders which he hath given us, we mifufe them. We cannot be ignorart, unless we be careless, and mind not what's faid unto us, what these Directions are. They are some of them written in the very nature of the Things themfelves, and all of them in his holy word. We are there taught how toufe every Thing to God's honour and glory, and to the good both of our Neighbours, or Fellow Servants, and of our felves. If then we confult not God's honour in every Thing,

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Thing, if we do not in the first place ferve him with his own, not by bringing him in any real advantage or profit, that's impoffible, but by doing his Will and Pleasure with every Thing, which is to give him his due honour, we abuse, and waste his Goods. The Rule is plain. Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Cor. 10. 31. When therefore we make the Goods of God Inftruments of Sin against God, we most abominably abuse and wafte them. We have again another Rule as plain as the former. Gal. 6. 10. As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all Men. When therefore we do hurt to any one with the Goods God hath given us, we abuse them. We have alfo a third Rule, which Nature it felf, tho' we had it not exprefly fet down in God's Word, will fufficiently reach us. Phil. 2. 12. Work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling. When therefore we hurt our felves, or obftruct our own happiness with any of God's Goods, we abuse them. In fhort then, when we ferve the Devil with any thing we have, doing his Will; when we gratifie the vain Humours of foolish Men with them, doing their Will; when we feed and pamper our Lufts with them, doing the will of the Flesh; when we grow proud of them, and give not God all the honour of them, as the Author of all; or when we idolize them, fetting them up in our Hearts in God's ftead, and giving them our Love, we wafte them in abufing them

2. We wafte them by not using them, and neglecting to improve them to the ends for which God beftow'd them upon us. We muft not only take heed that we do no hurt with a

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ny thing, but we muft alfo take care to do good with every thing. Every thing is given to profit with. It is not enough, that the Fig tree brings forth no bad, or poifonous Fruit; it must allo bring forth good Fruit, fuch as is useful to the World, and it was made to bear; or else it is to be cut down as a Thing good for nothing, and cumbersome to the Ground. Luk. 13. 7. Every thing which God gave us, is a Talent to be improved, as in the Parable, Luk. 25. God delivering to us any portion of his Goods, V. 14. expects we fhould husband the fame to the best advantage, and gain what we can by Trading with them; and he that doth not fo, wafts his Talent. It was not enough that the flothful Servant had his 'Talent laid up carefully, but because he had done no good with it, his Mafter called him wicked as well as flothful, v. 26. and commanded him to be caft into outer darkness, because he was an unprofitable Servant. V. 30. He then that doth no good with his Master's Goods, is accounted a water of them.

3. We wafte our Lord's Goods, when through negligence and carelessnefs, we fuffer them to be loft, or broken, or fo fpoil'd and marred, that they become ufelefs and unferviceable. When we are not watchful over every thing we are trufted withal, nor take that care which we ought to keep and preserve every thing in fuch good order, that it may be ready on all occafions, and fit for prefent ufe, this is one kind of wafting of Our Master's Goods, as may be fhew'n more fully hereafter. This, at present, may fuffice to make us understand how the Steward may wafte his Lord's Goods.

Before we proceed to the third thing to be enquired into, I mean the Accufation of the waftful Steward to his Mafter, it will be fit that we make fome Reflection on our prefent Carriage and Behaviour towards God, and the ufe that we ge nerally make of his Goods. Let us but impartially examine every one himself, let every one fet himself at the Bar of Confcience, and answer faithfully to the charge which there may be brought against him, and every one must confefs himself guilty in many things, whereof we are apt to take too little notice. Ever fince the Devil taught our first Parents the art of wafting, Mankind hath been a very waftful thing, and we our felves will, at this day, it may be fear'd, be found to be as waftful a Generation as any that went before us. Tho' our firft Parents having wafted fo much, hath left us all in comparison of them very poor, and in all reafon fhould make us more thrifty, and better Husbands of that little which they have left us, yet go we on fill very confidently in their waftful way; and our Poverty it felf will not teach us good Husbandry, but we generally live, as tho' we were to live by wafting.

In the first place; how do we wafte those Outward Worldly Goods, which in any measure God hath given us? What good ufe do moft of us make of them? Nay, what ill ufe do we not make of them, to the dishonour of God, the wronging of our Neighbours, and the hurting of our Selves? Do we indeed, as we are commanded, bonour the LORD with our Substance, and with the first Fruits of our increase? Prov. 3. 9. And as we have opportunity, do good especially to the Houshold of Faith? Gal, 6, 10. How freely and liberally

berally are we wont to communicate unto him that teacbeth in every good Thing? Gal. 6. 6. Do we not indeed ferve the Devil a great deal more than God with thefe Goods? Are we not much more free of them in upholding the Service of the Devil, than the Service of God? Do not we make them the Inftruments of Sin, and of thofe Works of the Devil, which the Son of God was manifefted that be might destroy? 1 Joh. 3. 6. This we certainly do, whilft with our Wealth we minister to the Pride and Luxury either of our felves, or others, which is a thing very common amongst us. Do we not very ordinarily gratifie the extravagant Humours of vain Men with our Wealth, and whilst we moft finfully comply with their Lufts in Feafting, Drinking, and all Excels of Riot, endeavour to chriften our Wafte by the name of Hospitality ? Are we not daily feeding our Lufts with our Goods, and contrary to the command, Rom. 13. ult. making Provifion for the Flefh, to fulfil the Lufts thereof? How many of us glory in our Riches? Are we not proud of our felves, accounting our felves fo much better than our poor Neighbours, as we are richer than they, tho' indeed we be fo much the worse than they, taking the advantages which our Wealth gives us to opprefs, crush, and ruin them? How many again idolize their Riches, loving, and trufting to nothing fo much, nor fearing fo much to offend God by breaking his Commandments, as they do to lofe, or diminish their Riches? Thus many of us waste them in the very worst way of wafting them, making them the means and helps to us of doing most wickedly. How many more of us abuse them another way, that is, in doing none, or very little good with them? We are

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