any thing upon them they would beare it this of old was the Genius of this Tribe but now another manner of Spirit possessed them none of all the Maritine townes nor Cities where the people are most active and fit for Negotiation went beyond or came neere to the Tribe of Issachar now I say they had learned that that makes a people happy they had wisedome and unitie they had understanding to know the times and their dutie they had many thousands of eyes to see into the true state of affaires and then they had as many thousand hands ready to execute they could presently fall upon that which belonged to them they had understanding of the times and knew not onely what themselves but what all the Country what all Israel had to doe this was the people and this strange alteration that God had made in the Spirit of this Tribe of Issachar doth afford us this excellent lesson That the Lord can at his pleasure inable and raise up the spirits of persons and people to doe worthily from whom no body would expect any thing Moses had foretold that Issachar would bee but a dull Asse but you see how the Lord had altered and raised him up to doe excellently hee went beyond all the other Tribes and God hath often done so hee takes Moses a Shepheard a man slow of speech sends him and makes him a fit man to deliver a whole nation out of bondage and captivitie at another time hee raises Gideon a private Gentleman it may bee but a Yeomans sonne from his Flayle when hee was threshing of Wheat and makes him a Captaine to route the whole Army of the Midianites and to judge his people at another time takes Saul a Private Gentlemans sonne who was seeking for his fathers Asses and makes him fit to governe a kingdome takes David a young youth from following his Ewes great with Lambe and presently enables him to cope with the Gyant Goliah and to destroy him and afterwards to bee the ruler over Gods people hee takes Amos from being a Neatheard and a gatherer of Summer fruit to bee a Prophet and to preach in the Kings Chappell takes Fishermen who were never bred in Universities and sends them into all the world with the power of the Gospel to subdue the Nations to Jesus Christ Thus the Lord hath raised up instruments and hee can easily doe it for there is a spirit in man but the inspiration which gives understanding and gifts comes onely from the Almighty the Lord hath abundance of the Spirit and powres it out where and how and in what manner hee pleaseth This may bee a great incouragement to us in all our extremities and exigents let us doe our dutie and let us never feare Gods wanting of instruments for his worke when wee are low wee presently cry out Lord by whom shall Jacob arise by whom by stones raised up to bee children and by children inabled to doe the worke of men Wee should never bee at our faiths end though sometimes wee are at our wits end let us doe our dutie and leave it to God who can easily raise up instruments to do his worke from whom wee would never expect it wee our selves have had a great deale of blessed experience of it In the beginning of our publique troubles our question was by whom shall England arise now it is thus low Wee demanded where shall wee finde Captaines and Commanders for a warre in a Nation where all men have been bred in ease and peace God hath found them and tooke Gentlemen from following their Hawkes and Dogs and Tradesmen from their shops and Husbandmen from their Ploughes to bee able to cope with the most expert Commanders in the world and now wee are at another losse now wee are demanding where shall we find Ministers for eight or ten thousand Congregations to instruct them in the way of life Feare not if God for our sinnes deny us not this mercy hee can fulfill that in the 68. Psalme The Lord will give the Word and great shall be the multitude of them that shall publish it the Lord can raise them up unexpectedly and so in all other our difficulties But this I purposely onely point at that I might not bee straightned in the second which is the singular commendations of this Tribe They were men of understanding to know the times and what Israel had to doe That it is a great and high commendation of any people especially of their Heads and Leaders to know the times in reference to their dutie These men of Issachar had understanding of the times to know what Israel had to doe this God sets downe as their high commendation in the handling of it I shall indeavour these three things First I shall interpret the meaning of it make you see what it is to know the times in reference to duties Secondly I shall indeavour to prove it out of the Scripture and illustrate the truth of it that you may see that it is a high commendation and a matter of extreme consequence and thirdly and principally I shall indeavour to make Application of it for our own good For the first What it is to know the times in reference to dutie you may please to observe that in the Scripture and in the practise of men there is found a fivefold knowledge of the times There is an Astrologicall knowledge of the times such a knowledge as the Starre-gazers do boast of a knowledg whereby a company of vaine men doe undertake out of the bookes of the Starres to tell you whatsoever God hath decreed concerning Men or States this knowledg is so condemned in other places of Scripture that none of you will imagine that this was the commendation of this Tribe Secondly There is another knowledge of the times which I may call a Diabolicall knowledge of the times whereby wicked and ungodly men do studie to improve all advantages of time to further their own lusts and wickednesses the study and knowledge of time-servers who indeavour to make the times further them in their cursed designes men who like Willowes or Bulrushes in the water will bow which way soever the streame runs and dance after the present Fiddle of the times for their owne ends I am certaine none of you think that this was the commendation of this Tribe such Temporizers Time-servers however they may for a while applaud their own wisedomes will one day know they have served but an ill Master this was farre from the Tribe of Issachar Thirdly You shall read of a Propheticall knowledge of the times that is such a knowledge as wherein the Lord by revelation doth in able some of his servants I meane the Prophets to know what shall afterwards come to passe and this kinde of knowledge though every man hath an itch after it and many doe as Nebuchadnezzar did
Lord saith in the latter end of the world when ruine shall come it will bee then as it was in the dayes of Noah and as it was in the dayes of Lot men shall bee eating and drinking and marrying wives but know nothing they should do for their salvation till utter ruine come upon them I hope now the truth of this Lesson is cleare out of the Scripture But if you please to goe a little further yet and consider the excellency and difficulty of this wisedome to know the times how much depends upon it how much is required to it you 'l bee fully satisfied that a greater commendation can never bee given of any man or any people then this that they know the times in reference to their duties and that I may open what belongs to the making up of this worke I beseech you give mee leave to open these six Conclusions out of the Scripture which all much concerne this wisedome of knowing the times in reference to dutie First That time is one of the most pretious treasures that ever God bestowes upon any man or any people 1. because time is the onely measure out of which God powres out all his administrations 2. Time it is the onely space in which men are to doe all their worke 3. It 's so pretious that God would have men value it one to another if any man had hurt another hee must not onely pay for his healing but hee must pay for the losse of his time Yea 4. God calls upon his people to redeeme it at any rate Redeeme the time redeeme the time as if there were no commoditie that the God of heaven would so commend unto men next to his truth that wee should buy so eagerly as wee should purchase time Yea 5. it is so pretious that Hee who is at that great cost to make and contrive it as to cause the Sunne every day to run about the world and all those excellent creatures in the firmament to make it their work for the continuation of time will call men to accompt for every moment for every minute of it That is my first Conclusion that time is a pretious Jewell in Gods account and ought to be so in all people's Secondly God hath joyned time and dutie inseparably one to another so that there is no dutie but it hath an appointed time for it and there is no time but it hath an appointed dutie for it it 's disputable whether there bee a vacuum in nature or no it is most certaine there is no vacuum in time No man ever lives to see that minute of time nor that ragge or cranny of time of which hee may truely say at this time I have nothing at all to doe but the Lord hath measured out to all times some dutie or other this our Saviour saith expresly Matth. 6.34 when hee would disswade men from troubling themselves to day with the duties that belong to to morrow hee useth this argument among others Trouble not your selves for to morrow for to morrow day hath trouble enough of its owne sufficient for every day is the trouble of it the care the worke the dutie of every day that passeth over our heads is enough to fill the day that is the second that God hath joyned time and dutie together Thirdly There are some great duties that are to bee concurrent in the practise of all men with every moment of their lives My meaning plainly is this the great businesse of glorifying God of saving our immortall soules of keeping a good conscience of working out our salvation these great things are not set off by God to any set time but they are to be concurrent with every moment of a mans time Trust in the Lord at all times have respect to Gods Commandements at all times Blessed are they that doe justice and judgement at all times bee yee alwayes ready for your masters comming And of those excellent men Josiah and others it is recorded that they looked to Gods Commandements all their dayes so that the great matters of glorifying God saving our soules looking for our Masters comming c. these duties are to bee concurrent with all our time Fourthly Severall times I meane the severall compositions of times or Scenes or Junctures of times have their severall and peculiar duties laid out for every man by God himselfe my meaning is this there is a time of youth a time of age a time of prosperitie a time of adversitie a time of comfort a time of trouble a time of warre a time of peace and a hundred other severall frames and compositions and junctures of time Now so often as God doth make a new Scene of the time every man hath some new duty or other to act his part requires that hee should act some new thing the Scripture is full of such expressions as these in the times of prosperitie doe thus in the time of adversitie doe thus in the time of the Gospel doe thus c. Now to know the time and the severall duties belonging to every time is one of the hardest things that belong to the taske of man this wisedome lies in the deepe it is a difficult thing to find out what the duties are that belong to the severall times But then fiftly That the Booke of God and onely the Booke of God is able to informe them who faithfully study it in all the duties that doe belong to every new posture or face of time First I say onely Gods Booke can do it there are Bookes of excellent wisedome written by other men but take them all together let a man bee never so versed in them they will never discover to him every duty that belongs to every time but the Booke of God can doe it if men have their senses exercised in the study of it there is no time so intricate no dutie so arduous but the booke of God will teach all men from the Minister to the Hearer from the Prince to the Subject to make every one of them perfect in all the workes which belong to them Psalme 19.7 it is said the Word gives understanding to the simple and in the third of the Proverbs Vers. 21 22 23 In all thy wayes acknowledge her and thou shalt walke in thy way safely and thy foot shall not stumble when thou liest downe thou shalt not bee afraid c. Doe but get wisedome into thy heart get acquaintance with Gods Word it will direct thee in all thy wâ—â—es whether to the right hand or to the left at every turning place it will say here is thy way and these must bee thy steps Sixtly and principally As there are severall times and severall duties annexed to these times so in every time for any duty there is some particle of that time which is the opportunitie of the dutie the season of the dutie there is the space
of time and there is the season of time the space of time is nothing but the continuation and succession of so many minutes and moments one of another but the season of time or opportunitie of it is time apted and fitted to doe a businesse Now these two doe very much differ one from another the one of them the length the duration of time the Greeks calls {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} but the season the opportunitie is called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which is the tempus commodum the tempestivitie of time the ripenesse of time and this indeed is properly time in reference to dutie And concerning these seasons of time or times fitted for businesse be pleased to consider these five things I shall need onely to name them because I speake to an understanding people That any worke to be done is done easily if the opportunitie be taken take opportunitie by the forelock and any businesse whatsoever is to bee done will bee done with ease not onely because opportunitie is the ripenesse of time but because in opportunities God offers to worke with us and for us Now you know any businesse that must bee done by the helpe of another is then easily done when both parties joyne in it Two Men that are to lift up a burthen if they both lift together and take the Hae now it goes up easily A vessell that is to be driven if the Watermen ply the Oares the wind tide go with them the vessell is carried easily Now I say the Lord offers himselfe to come in to a people when there is a fit opportunitie â—hen he holds up his hand and saith Now lift and I 'le lift with you now row and my Word shall blow with you such Scripture as these are frequent In an accepted time I have heard thee and I will heare thee in an acceptable time In a day of salvation I will succour thee in an opportune time God offers to come in and helpe if opportunitie bee taken This made the heathens esteeme opportunitie a goddesse As things are easie when men take opportunities so they are then beautifull the beautie and grace of every dutie both with God and man is when it is done in its fit season the righteous man in the first Psalme is compared to the Tree that brings forth his fruit in his season suum in suo his owne fruit and in his proper season God saith Solomon hath made every thing beautifull in its season all Gods works are beautifull in their season and so are all mens workes too A word spoke in season is like Apples of Gold in pictures of Silver and a good word in season O how comfortable it is Thirdly But know that these Opportunities are wondrous hard to find out very difficult it is for men to know the true season or opportunitie of a businesse men may know times and seasons wel enough in particular businesses the seasons for tilling the ground and breeding and breaking of Cattle c. In such low and triviall things in comparison seasons may easily bee knowne but in the great morall affaires that concerne God and mens soules the difficultest thing that lies before man is to finde out the true season when they are to bee done this Solomon sets downe most excellently in the eighth of Ecclesiastes Verse 6. Because to every purpose there is required time and judgement therefore the misery of man is great upon him marke that expression most men are miserable because a businesse cannot bee done without a fit season and judgement to know it as if Solomon had said thus The truth is opportunities are so rare oft-times so sudden so violent so short the wind seldome blowing long in an opportune point and men so ignorant so blinded with prejudice with vaine hopes or feares that most men are miserable in that they cannot find out the true season of a businesse and thereby intimates that in every businesse the most difficult part of the worke is the right timing of it I adde fourthly That when opportunities are past if they bee let slip they are oftentimes altogether irrecoverable and the businesse is either wholly lost or never better then halfe done it may cost more to patch up a businesse out of season then required to have done it beautifully if the season had been taken As the story goes of the Sibylls bookes they were faine to give the full price for one which would have bought all three when two of them were burnt Post est occasio calva Unlesse God make another opportunitie man can never call opportunitie back againe Opportunities are Gods fitting of time to businesse none but God can thus fit it therefore you shall find Esau would have repented and got the blessing he wept and cryed for it yet missed it he might have had it once without weeping and crying but he lost the season and the season being gone hee could never recover it with all his weeping So the foolish Virgins came with their Lampes pretending to have got some oyle and cryed Lord open to us but the season was past and there was no entrance the truth is seasons are to businesses as money is to wares hee that would buy a commoditie upon a market day when possibly the commoditie is very cheape may then have it for laying out his money lose but that market possibly ten market dayes will not helpe him againe with it and either never buy it or give a greater rate for that which is not so good as the other would have been if opportunities bee once past over without the Lord create them againe men are utterly lost in their businesses Fiftly and lastly As these opportunities are excellent and hard to find and irrecoverable if they bee lost So in the last place know that no wisedome no learning nothing but a gratious heart guided by the Spirit of God doth know how to take opportunities in time for the great businesses that concerne God and his glory no wisedome but the wisedome of grace and Gods Spirit guiding the heart doth ever know to doe businesses in their right seasons In other things as I said before they may bee taken naturall men may plow and sow in season c. Yea men may sensibly understand the times so as to mourne for the afflictions of them so as to rejoyce in the good of them and wicked men by a devillish wisedome can take the seeming opportunities to promote their owne wicked designes the harlot can take the opportunitie of her husbands absence the thiefe the opportunitie of the twilight and so every man the seeming opportunitie of things that are of the Devill for Satan helpes them but to know the opportunities of the things that concerne God and our soules nothing but a gratious heart enables a man to doe it the Scripture is very plaine for this Solomon expresses it notably in the