damage himself; but he must be watchful that he is not injured in any kind by his fellow-servants and others; and be sure to do what in him lies to prevent or discover it to his Master; for he cannot be indifferent or careless in such a case, or connive and conceal any thing of this kind, without breach of covenant, and incurring the guilt and shame that is due to unfaithfulness.

Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Ephes. v. 11.

Beware of evil workers, and be not thou partaker with them.

Thou shalt not suffer sin in thy brother, but by any means reprove him. Phil. iii. 2.

When thou sawest a thief thou consentedst with him. Psalm 1. 18.

He shall not commit fornication. This vice has been the bane of so many young men in all ages and places, that every one's memory must furnish him with divers instances of its fatal effects; the Sessions papers are filled with numberless accounts of unhappy persons who are brought by it to public shame and infamous ends; and indeed nothing is so destructive to the morals and happiness of youth, as the having any kind of commerce with lewd and shameless women; for such conversation infallibly destroys the health, consumes the fortune, blasts the credit, and extinguishes that modesty which is the principal ornament and surest preservative of youth from the vices and dangers they are most exposed to.

Flee fornication: He that committeth fornication, sinneth against his own body. 1 Cor. vi. 18.

Keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of the strange woman: lust not after her beauty in thy heart, neither let her take thee with her eye-lids; lest thou give thine honour to others: lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed. Prov. vi. 24, 25.-Prov. v. 10, 11. Let not thy heart decline to her ways, for her house is the way to hell. Thou goest after her as an ox goeth to the slaughter, till a dart strike through thy liver; as a bird

hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for bis life. Prov. vii. 25, 27, 22, 23.

Neither fornicators nor adulterers shall inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Cor. vi. 9.

Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Heb. xiii.

4.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matt. v. 8.

Nor contract matrimony within the said term. Marriage is a very improper state for Apprentices, but is too often entered into rashly without consideration, or the consent of friends and relations; and therefore is very seldom advantageous, and generally unhappy. The necessary expense and charge which attends a growing family, must quite consume a small fortune, very much lessen a good one, and entail heavy debts and lasting misery on the generality of married Apprentices, who cannot hope to avoid a jail; and it is well if that is their worst misfortune. At best such a marriage is an act of great disobedience and contempt towards parents and friends, of injustice towards the Master, and must be attended with the loss of their esteem and friendship, if not with their heavy displeasure. It is a direct violation of this covenant, a forfeiture of their right to the freedom of London, and tends to unsettle and alienate the mind from business, and to disable the Apprentice from ever becoming a complete master of his trade.

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He shall not play at cards, dice, tables, or any unlawful game, wherely his said Master may have any loss. All sorts of gaming for money is prohibited by this covenant; it being a habit of the most pernicious consequence. Those who have an itch for gaming, very rarely have any relish for business; the dispositions and qualifications for the one, being quite inconsistent with the other. Modesty, caution, industry, frugality, and strict integrity, are indispensably neces sary to the forming a good and successful tradesman ; but no man ever made his fortune by play, without corrupting his morals and forfeiting his character; for the gamester must be bold and adventurous, extra

vagant and profuse, fraudulent, tricking, and deceitful, of scandalous life, and infamous reputation; and such will the unwary and thoughtless Apprentice soon become, who is addicted to this vice; who begins with it under pretence of amusement, but suffers the love of it to grow on him till it becomes habitual; and what assurance has he, that the loss of his own money, and the flattering hopes of better fortune, will not tempt him to steal and hazard what is his Master's? What hopes can he have that he shall escape the rock on which so many have perished? The Apprentice therefore who would not expose himself to guilt, to shame, punishment, and ruin, must religiously observe this prohibition.

Wo unto him that buildeth his house by nnrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong. Jer. xxii, 13.

Wo unto them that have made dishonest gain of their neighbours, by extortion, or by the iniquity of their traffic. Ezek. xxii. 12.

My soul come not thou into their secrets, unto their assemblies my honour be not thou united.Gen. xlix. We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, therefore let us not walk in craftiness. (For) better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues without right. 2 Cor. iv.

Wealth got by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase. Prov. xiii. 11. If sinners entice thee, consent thou not. Walk not thou in the way with them; lest thou learn their ways, and get a snare to thy soul. Prov. i. 10, 15.-Chap. xxii. With his own goods, or others, during the said term, without license of his said Master, he shall neither buy nor sell. The apprenticeship is a time of labour and improvement, not of gain; it is the season wherein youth are to acquire a thorough knowledge of trade, and to establish in themselves such habits as will enable them to carry it on hereafter with pleasure and profit. A liberty for the Apprentice to trade on his own account, would, in most instances, be rather a snare than an advantage to him; it would oftener increase his acquaintance and expenses than his fortune; it would furnish him with excuses for absenting

himself from his Master's house and business, under pretence of promoting his own; and lead him into company-keeping, and a large acquaintance, before he hath judgment to make a proper choice; and it is to be feared, would sometimes be the occasion of his being unfaithful, and create continual jealousies and misunderstandings between him and his Master. Upon all which accounts this prohibition is for their mutual advantage; and the breach of it on no account to be connived at by the Master, nor practised by the Apprentice.

If ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?

He shall not haunt taverns or play-houses, nor absent himself from his said Master's service day or night unlawfully. I have joined these three prohibitions together, because of the connexion they have; the Apprentice cannot commit the two first without being guilty of the last, which is a great act of injustice; for the Master has not a better title to his own money or goods than to the time of his Apprentice. He therefore must not upon any pretence whatsoever absent himself day or night from his Master's house, without his consent. He must not, when the common business of the day is over, think himself at his own disposal, and take the liberty of going on his pleasure, without permission. Many things may occur which require his presence: business sometimes offers very unexpectedly; and the Apprentice should be always ready for his Master's service. Add to this, that the house, the shop, and effects of his Master, are continually under his care, and the looking well after them a duty always incumbent on him; which such a one can never faithfully discharge who lists himself in clubs, or haunts taverns, or any other kind of tippling houses, or who frequents play-houses, and such like diversions. These habits are not only attended with a great waste of the Master's time, but with an expense which few Apprentices can afford, and will probably lead him from wrong to robbery, when the Master's

money becomes as necessary to his pleasures as his time; for, he who scruples not to waste the one, will not be long before he makes free with the other. It is therefore the interest and happiness of youth, to be restrained from frequenting these places, where they can only associate themselves with the young and giddy, the raw and inexperienced, the loose and disorderly; for discreet and prudent persons will not encourage Apprentices in such unlawful haunts, by keeping them company. And what must be the fruits of such society? what, but noisy empty mirth; loose and licentious discourse, riot, intemperance, and disorder; of the same pernicious kind are the pleasures they receive from plays, interludes, and such like diversions. These, to youthful and unsettled judgments, are but vain and airy entertainments, which fill the head with romantic and unnatural ideas of life and the world, and tend only to alienate the mind from business, which is its proper, and ought to be its chief entertainment; and to expose youth to the danger of being corrupted by lewd and vicious persons of both sexes, who always crowd such places. Upon the whole, then, it is evident, the Apprentice cannot haunt taverns, that is, any kind of public tippling-houses, or frequent play-houses, nor absent himself day or night from his Master's service, without breach of covenant, nor indeed without exposing himself to the loss of reputation (for such as his companions and pleasures are, such will his character be) and contracting vicious and expensive habits, which will probably bring him to want and misery, to shame and punishment.

He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much; and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much. Luke vi. 10.

That which is altogether just shalt thou follow. Deut. xvi.

20.

Blessed are those servants, whom their Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Luke xii. 37.

Be ye therefore ready also. Luke xii. 40.

I wrote unto you not to accompany with fornicators. 1 Cor. v. 9, 11.