Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	let_v	life_n	write_v	2,795	5	5.7299	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56656	Divine arithmetick, or, The right art of numbring our dayes being a sermon preached June 17, 1659, at the funerals of Mr. Samuel Jacomb, B.D., minister of the Gospel at S. Mary Woolnoth in Lumbardstreet, London, and lately fellow of Queens Colledge in Cambridge / by Simon Patrick ...	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1659 (1659)	Wing P792; ESTC R11929	59,678	90

must certainly live and therefore why do you not let your thoughts be more upon eternity than upon a few uncertain dayes in time Why do not your minds which love to count so unboundedly the dayes of this narrow life extend themselves into eternity which is without any limits at all Tell the torments of an everlasting fire tell the aking thoughts if you can of a burning soul number the sighs and groans of a heart that fries in the wrath of God to eternall ages Then reckon the joyes of Heaven number all the sweet notes of Heavenly quire tell all the Songs and Hymnes of Praise which they sing And if thou hadst an head as big as Archimedes and couldst tell how many atomes of dust were in the Globe of the Earth yet think that such a vast number is but as one little atome in compare with those endless sorrows and those endless joys Seeing thou canst look so far as to the very end of thy daies seeing thou art prone to run in thy thoughts as far as it is possible take one step further then eighty years and then thy thoughts are in eternity go a little further then the end of thy life and there let thy thoughts lose themselves Let this be thy Impress or Motto let this be writ upon thy mind that a Learned man writes upon all his Books Aeternitatem cogita Think of eternity Johan Meu sius This will make thine account more exact when thou lettest thy thoughts run thither whither thy time is running into all Eternity 9. Though our time be little yet let us account that it is great enough for what we have to do in time I said that our life was short of it self yet let us reckon that it is long enough to serve all the ends of living We have day enough to do our reall business We have time enough to prepare for eternity We must alwaies account that we have daies enough to number our daies and make up our accounts and what can we desire more If we will charge our selves indeed with unnecessary things to bring about some great design and accomplish some covetous desire and raise our estate to such an height we may not have time enough to execute out purpose But must we therefore whine and complaine and say nature hath dealt hardly with us No. Vita si scias uti longa est life is long enough if thou knowest the use of it If thou considerest what thou hast to do thou hast time enough to do it There is time enough to moderate those worldly desires to break off those impertinent imployments to throw away those designs to subdue thy passions to cultivate thy mind to submit thy will to God to know the intention of the Son of God his appearing in the world to work out thy salvation and to make ready for his coming again Though we have not time to resolve all Questions that are started in the world yet we have sufficient time to resolve this great one What shall we do to be saved Heaven may be got in that time that the world cannot Why then do we murmur at the shortness of life why do we sigh that we can number no more daies what would men do with them and to what use would they imploy them is it their souls they would save they need no more daies then God hath assigned them for that purpose Is it an estate they would get or pleasures they would enjoy they have too much time for such ends seeing they are not the goods of a man Would they know all the secrets and subtilties in Learning two or three Ages will not suffice for that and seeing that knowledg will dye it is not worth living so long for it Would they be able to determine all Controversies in Religion How absurd a thing is this for a wicked man to take up his time in disputes when he lets the Devill without any quarrell run away with his soul It is as preposterous a thing as for a man that is in a deep Consumption to consult with his Physician for the curing of a cut finger But this is the misery of it that the fashion of the world is not to mind Religion Most men and especially great persons are led by the opinion of the world now vulgar people do not expect that we should be godly and so they mind every thing but only that and then complain that they are straitned in their time People expect that we should keep open house and let them eat and drink their fill c. And so they tempt their Landlords to think that it is below them to live Let us correct our selves in this mistake and when we account the daies are short we must mean no more but this We have one thing necessary to be done To do the will of our Father to get ready for Heaven this must be constantly and seriously minded and we have no spare time to throw away without any reference to this business Our life runs away so fast that unless we take good heed we shall not be able to do the work for which we live It would be accounted a piece of madness if when the enemy is at the Walls when the storm is ready to be made when the Bullets fly about the Streets A man should sit considering whether a Bow will carry further then a Gun and whether more were killed by the Ancient weapons then by the modern Armes And yet just such is the folly of mankind When death is at their back and life flies before their faces when they are beset with evils in the world and have little strength to resist them when they are in the straits of time and yet have a huge deal of work to do they are thinking with themselves whether it is best to hunt to day or to Hawke whether they should visit a friend at this town or the next c. and then spend their time as though they had too much and yet at last cry out upon the brevity of life Come come let us be honest and reckon right De brev vitae cap. 1. Non exignum temporis habemus sed multum perdimus as Seneca well said It is not a little time that we have but it is not a little that we lose God hath not given a little but we throw away much Our portion is not small for what we are to trade but our mispense is exceeding great Non accepimus vitam brevem sed fecimus We did not receive a short life but have made it so Not God but we our selves have made our time little He is not niggardly and sparing but we are prodigall and make a lamentable wast of our houres Just as when a great estate and faire possessions come to an unthrifty Heir they are presently consumed and spent whenas a little Portion well husbanded increaseth to large demeans so it is with our life They that have

more in our hearts for the heavenly Country The travell and toyl here would make us have a care top rovide for our rest with the people of God and these black nights of affliction for the eternall day that knows no night at all We should not be so much in love with life if we did reckon upon the evils of it nor so much in fear of death if we considered how many wayes we die daily What pleasure is there in living when we are eighty year old when we are a burden to our selves and too oft to others what contentment can we have What chear can there be when those that look out of the window are darkned when the sound of the grinding is low and we rise up at the voice of every bird and al the daughters of musick are brought down i. e. when we have lost our eyes and teeth and voice and sleep and are but a little distance from a clod of earth what joy can we feel in our hearts And yet this is the time that we would fain live to though we creep to it upon our hands and feet through a world of mire and dirt Si vita humana esset 500 aut 600. annorum omnes desperatione vitam finirent Card. de vita prepria and swim through the waters of many afflictions to be more miserable I am of Cardans mind that if the life of man should last five hundred or six hundred years many a one would make away themselves out of madness and desperation there are so many miseries that befall them and yet we are now madly desirous to live till we be weary of life Let us think that life if it be long may be but a kind of death and nothing will comfort us then but the hopes of another life It was a sharp saying of Caesars to one of his Guard that by reason of his craziness asked his leave that he might cause himself to be put to death Dost thou think then that thou art alive Alas such a decrepit thing as man is when he comes to Old age is but a walking Carcase that is ready at every step to stumble upon its Graves Yea death is preying upon us every day he gets a mouth full of our flesh every moment and sometimes by a sickness even eats us to the very bone and then though we recruit again and repaire our bodies yet we do but make food for new diseases It is said to Adam In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye which teaches us that we are next dore to death every day and that we do not so much live as borrow something from death and if we live long it will make us pay intollerable usury for not paying our lives sooner As these things will correct our mistakes about the length and quality of our daies so I shall now adde some things that will teach us better the use of them 6. We must reckon our daies by our work and not by our time by what we do and not by what we are Let us account that the longest day which is best spent and that the oldest life which is most holy Plutarch Consol ad Apollon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A long life is not the best but a good life As we do not commend saith he him that hath played a great while on an Instrument 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or made a long Oration but him that hath played and spoken well and as we account those Creatures best that give us most profit in a short time and every where we see maturity preferred before length of age so it ought to be among our selves They are the worthiest persons and have lived longest in the world who have brought the greatest benefit unto it and made the greatest advantage of their time to the service of God and of Men. Let our Conscience therefore be the Ephemeris or Diary of our life Let us not reckon by the Almanack but by the Book of God how much we live And let us account that he who lives godlily lives long and that other men live not at all We must not say that a man hath lived seaventy years if he hath done nothing worthy of a man but that he hath been so long Diu fuit sed parum vixit he had a great many daies but lived few or none In one sense most men may count their lives by nights rather then daies for they are as men asleep and do nothing at all that is the business and intent of life They are as Childish in their desires as weak in their fears as unreasonable in their hopes as impertinently and vainly imployed as if they were but newly come into the world and had not attained to the use of their Reason Shall we think a man hath lived because he is a yard higher then he was is this enough to denominate us men that we have hair growing upon our Chin No there are more Children then those that are in Coats and while we look no further then the present life we are but great Infants and are at play with Babies And alas if we account the right way by our work and improvement of our selves in true understanding Conscience and godliness the best of us must reckon fewer years then eighty for how little of this time do we truly live When we do no good we may say as the Emperour did Diem perdidi I have clearly lost a day I had as good not have been to day you can scarce say that I was if you look at the purpose of being For to acknowledg God and get acquaintance with him to govern our selves in conformity to him to do good to others c. are the great businesses of life and of him that minds not these chiefly you may say that there is such a thing called by such a name and that hath an existence but you cannot say that the man lives Shall we say that he sailed much who was taken in a storme as soon as he put out to Sea who was tossed by contrary winds in a Circle to and fro and in conclusion is brought just where he was De Brev. vitcae cas 8. when he first launcheth forth Non ille multum navigavit sed multum jactatus est as Seneca well saith He did not Saile much but was tossed very much Shall we then say that a man hath lived much whose soul was filled with Aire and vanity as soon as he was born who had tumbled to and fro in variety of business in the Sea of this world and is never quiet in the pursuit of earthly affairs Alas when he comes to the end of his daies he is as far from his part as when he first began them Heaven is as far out of his reach and further too as when he lay in his mothers Womb. He was much busied but he did nothing He was much employed but he lived idly For as I told you

abundance of time given unto them through their grofs improvidence and mispense are utterly undone and whine like beggars as if they had had none whereas carefull and diligent persons so improve a little that thanks be to God they are rich in good works and say it is enough let God call for them when he pleaseth Tenthly Let us reckon death to be the best accountant and so number our daies now as we shall do when we come to dye Then a day will appear a pretious thing then will a covetous man offer all that he hath got in his whole life for one day then will a voluptuous man be ready to purchase a day with any pains though it were all rainy and he were forced to spend it in tears But it is a sad reckoning when a man must reckon twice and one of them must be when he hath no time to mend his errors and mistakes It will go very ill with us if we make one account in our life and another at our death If we should see then that there are as many faults as there are daies and that so many lines as there are in our life so many blots we must make how fearfully shall we be amazed in what perplexity of spirit shall we see our selves so foul and black in the midst of such grosse and damnable errors Let us therefore see and consider now what account dying men make of their time and take their reckoning as most certainly true Though men now be lavish of their time and play away their houres though they give all or most to the world and little or nothing to God yet come to a dying man and he will tell you that daies were good for something else then for a man to eat and drink and trade in he will tell you of feeding and nourishing the Diviner part or providing for a soul of dressing it for the Bride-groome by constant acts of godliness besides all those of temperance and sobriety of justice and mercy He will tell you of a Book more worth your reading and studying then all that ever you turned over And as for a day of grace at what rate would he purchase such a pretious season He will tell you he is ashamed that he ever sate at his dore talking vainly among his neighbours on the Lords day He will tell you that he cannot sleep now for the aking of his heart that he should sleep at a Sermon He praies that he might but live and Pray with his Family Evening and Morn Yea let him be a good man that hath made a good use of his time yet he will tell you that such an houre he might have spent better in such a company he might have done more good at such a time he might have been more solicitous and industrious about Heavenly things and he will Pray as a good Bishop did Lord pardon my sins of omission ●p Vsher And therefore let us now judg as sensible and good men do when they are taught by death that cannot flatter That is a sterne Master but very just and faithfull he speaks with a dreadfull voice but things that are infinitely true and serious He cuts their very heart whose accounts they leave him to write but he will truly state them Let us then learn of those that he teaches and not stay till we be taught when perhaps we shall be past Learning Let us imagine that the roome is darkned that the Physician stands by our bed side that we hear our friends sigh and groan that we feel the approaches of death and then conceive that our Books of account are brought to us and we have our pen in our hand What now shall we write Let us eat and drink and be merry Let us take our ease for we have goods laid up for many years will you reckon thus our time is long enough let us take care for nothing but to please our selves why not thus now I pray you when perhaps two or three daies agon this was your language Oh! but now eternity eternity appears and therefore set down so many houres for prayer to God if we live write down so much pains to understand the Word of God and we make account that so much time must be spent in meditating of the will of God Make a golden letter at the Lords Day for that must be more pretious time c. Whosoever thou art that readest this do the same now that thou maist do perhaps three daies hence Do that which now thou canst which ere long thou wilt wish to do and canst not This may be more then an imagination before the morning and be sure one day it will be a reality unless thou shalt be struck dead without any warning and have no leave for one deliberate thought and therefore now reckon after the same sort set down the same things in thy resolution yea ingrave them and cut them upon thy heart that so thy death beds account may agree with that in thy life Be sick now in thy thoughts that thou maist find thy self well then And seeing then we shall think that we have lived so much as we have done good and as we have designed the glory of God let us now think that we do not live unless these be in our hearts and lives Eleventhly If we would number aright let us every day cast up our accounts Let us so number our daies as at the foot of every day to write the total Summe Let us say thus long have we lived perhaps we may live no longer nor turn over another leaf let us see therefore how our accounts stand Say as Pythagoras taught his Scholars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. What sinne have I committed What good have I done What good have I neglected What stand all these actions for Are they figures or cyphers Have I lived or only been Doth my work go on or am I running in arrears Do I live as if I were going to die Is eternity in my thoughts and the great account that I must give If we could call our selves to such a reckoning then we might correct any fault we find betime before it be grown to such a number that it will be beyond our thoughts and give up our account more fair and in order when God calls for them and might hope they would be accepted by him And for the doing of this it is necessary that we account every day as if it were our last Which is a maxim in this divine art of numbering that flows from the first Proposition Seeing our time that is to come is in Gods hand therefore we must live this day as though we had no more dayes to live And a Heathen could say That it is impossible for a man to live the present day well Musonius apud Stob. Serm 1. Epist 52. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That doth not propose to himself to live it as his last And so Seneca