Two Sorts of Personal Callings
unless he condescends to hear Mass, he will either burn at the stake, 9 Now the servant, seeing the malicious purpose of his master, and not finding himself able to bear the brunt of a trial in this case he departs and withdraws himself for a time. And the question is whether he does well to do this, or not? The answer is, he does. And in such a case, he may lawfully flee from his master; or carry a faggot.
for a servant that is bound to an earthly master by a personal calling, is further bound to God by a general calling. And the particular calling of any man is inferior to the general calling of a Christian.
And when they cannot both stand together, the particular calling must give way, because we are bound to God in the first place, and to man under God — and only so far as we may also keep our bond with God.
And so much for the five general rules that are to be practiced in every particular calling.
Two Sorts of Personal Callings To proceed, PERSONAL CALLINGS are of two sorts.
The first sort are all those callings which are of the essence and foundation of any society, and without which the society cannot exist. As in a family, there is the calling of a master, and the calling of a servant; the calling of a husband and wife; of parents and children.
And in the Commonwealth, the calling of Magistrates and subjects.
And in the Church, the calling of the Minister and the people.
The second sort are all those which serve only for the good, happy, and quiet estate of a society. And these are of various sorts, some of them serving for the preservation of the life of man, such as the calling of a husbandman, or of a Merchant, etc.; some serving for the preservation of health, such as the calling of a Physician, and of the Surgeon, etc.; some serving for the outward peace, such as the calling of a Soldier, or of the Lawyer, etc.; some serving for the clothing and attiring of the body, and they are almost as many as there are parts of