tenth of Ecclesiastes Vers. 2. A wise mans heart is at his right hand but a fooles heart is at his left the meaning is this when a businesse is to be done the right season for it the wise man a gracious man hath his hand ready and his heart to joyne with his hand he is alwayes dexterous at it but a fooles i. e. a wicked mans heart when his businesse is to bee done his heart is at his left hand every finger is a Thumbe hee cannot manage it but more clearely Solomon expresseth this Prov. 17. Vers. 16. Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a foole to buy wisedome seeing he hath no heart to it Let a wicked man have opportunities give him wealth give him honour give him meanes of grace give him any thing that may helpe to wisedome hee hath no heart to it So also saith Daniel Dan. 12.10 speaking of understanding the times none of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall the godly shall Thus I have done with the Doctrinall part of it and by this time I hope you all grant that it is a matter of wonderfull concernement of admirable wisedome and commendation to have understanding of the times and seasons so as rightly to discharge their owne duties I now come to the Application of it wherein I shall onely insist upon two Uses the one is For Humiliation in reference to time past to seasons and opportunities which are past and lost The other shall be For Exhortation in reference to the time to come that wee may learne this excellent wisedome to know the times and seasons so as to lose no more of them For the first Is it such a singular commendation so excellent a wisedome a matter of so great moment and consequence to know the times in reference to duty O what cause of lamentations is there First In generall to us all a man might in this case fill such a booke as Ezekiels roule was wiâ—h weeping and lamentation and mourning Here is a great Assembly gathered together to mourn upon a day of mourning and if ever any Doctrine that ever I have preached might call for mourning at all your hands I am perswaded this doctrine calls for it from every one of us God bee mercifull to us wee have all been fooles we have not knowne the times of our visitation wee have knowne the times to talke of them sometimes to inveigh against them crying out they are the worst times that ever were but for this knowledge of my Text wherein true wisedome should appeare to know the times in reference to our duties I feare I may say as Paul said of the Corinthians hardly one wise man to bee found amongst us One said I know not how truely of the Helvetâ—ans that he travelled through their Country and found that there are toti pagi repleti fatuis whole Villages inhabited by none but fooles Truly beloved not onely our Country Villages but our market townes and our Cities and I pray God it prove not that our Parliament and Assemblies are all filled with fooles in this great point few or none of us know the times in reference to our duties Let mee speake freely to you God hath cast the lot of all of us in such times as have been filled with such administrations as the like could not have been in the space of these 1000 yeers and confident I am that hee that loses these times wherein we have lived would never have redeemed any time and yet notwithstanding have not wee O have not wee all usually put off to the future the duties that belong to the present time and done in the present time the things that should never have been done at all Have not most of us lived all our dayes as if God had made us for the World as Leviathan for the Sea onely to take our pleasure in it others of us to fill our shops with commodities our purses with money our houses with stuffe and provision as if there had been no better things to have been regarded when in the meane time for the admirable opportunities wee have had for the glorifying of God and the saving of our soules as if these had been nothing worth woe unto us wee have done any thing rather then make improvement of them and as rich people will give any poore people leave to goe into their Pease-fields to gather lapfulls of their Pease as being things of little worth so have wee allowed any thing to take up our time sporting and eating and prating and sleeping and such things that are of little concernment O how much of our pretious time have they devoured and wee regard it not what cause have we to tremble at the thought of it I beseech you tell me if God should come now and say to any Nobleman Gentleman Minister Citizen or other that is here I have given thee 20. yeers 40. yeers threescore yeers of time I have filled thy time with glorious opportunities as excellent as ever I gave to any the least of them worth a world give in your Bill of accompt what you have done with these what improvement you have made of them how have you walked I beseech you what accompt could you make would it not appeare that you have spent many houres and dayes in riot and wantonnesse sporting and playing in swearing and cursing in contriving and acting that which is evill and mischievous and very few minutes for your God for your soule for obtaining eternall life happinesse or doing good to your brethren God bee mercifull to us wee could not answer him one word for a thousand wee have all cause to lie in the dust and acknowledge we have been fooles and not knowne the things that belonged to our peace not regarded the time of our visitation But Honorable and beloved give me leave to bring this lesson nearer to you who have called mee this day to preach and let me make a more through enquirie after your wisedome in this particular because you are look'd upon as the wise men of the Land that know the times better then others I am confident you doe not desire to bee flattered any day but this day I hope that will bee most acceptable which in a way of God could most effectually humble and abase you and you have put a necessitie upon mee to deale freely and faithfully with your soules Have not you honored and worthy Patriots and Senators infinite cause to bemoane this that you have not knowne the times in reference to your duties First be pleased to view the times you lived while you were private Gentlemen before you were called to these publique services when you lived in your severall Countries where I know by reason of your wealth and parts and interests and states you had abundance of opportunities more then other people had to have done much service to have made the times and places
better for you Did you then thus know the times did you then walke as wise men redeeming the times did you know what God expected from you in your places and have you done it O blessed yee if you have But I beseech you will it not rather appeare upon a true search that many of you in those dayes walked in the wayes of riot in uncleannesse in drunkennesse possibly in swearing in prophaning Gods holy time in opposing and scorning Religion was it not thus it behoves you to search did you not make your owne Families the Townes and Lordships where you lived the worse for you as so many Jeroboams causing Israel to sinne did not you thereby helpe to pull downe those judgements that have beene like to devoure and destroy this whole Land and if so have you beene humbled under these things have you since repented of them or do they still stand upon your score before that God that keeps an exact accompt of all the Talents that ever hee hath put into your hands I beseech you enquire into it but let me goe further and enquire whether since the time that God hath separated you from your brethren and by a notable providence called you out to be the heads of all our Tribes have you since that time knowne the times in reference to your duties It is now above six yeers since many of you have beene called to this worke one of the greatest workes that mortall men have beene imployed in these many hundreds of yeers a work wherein you have beene assisted not onely with the prayers and teares of those that feare God throughout the Christian world but with the states and blood of many and God himselfe hath carried you in his bosome and made you the most remarkable handfull of men that I thinke this day breath upon the earth in regard of the mercies that hee hath shewed you and in this time certaine I am hath put into your hands as many golden opportunities not onely required as many duties but put as many golden opportunities into your hands to establish our wretched kingdome and to rescue a decayed lukewarme Apostatized Church as ever were put into the hands of a Parliament Now beloved have you known your times and taken your opportunities I know it well that you have wrestled with huge difficulties infinite oppositions and I know that oft-times the perversnesse of a Patient poysoning his owne disease or wounds may frustrate the care of the best Physitians and God forbid that that which is onely your misery should ever bee imputed to you as your sinne but suppose upon a diligent search any of you that are called to bee our wise men to know the times for us that at your doore it should lie in great part that our miseries are not yet healed how sad would that bee To this end I most humbly pray you inquire if upon a diligent search there should bee found among you any who at this day live in the same sinfull riotous ungodly wicked conversation that they led before God called them to this publique service that after your solemne oath with your hand lifted up to the most high God for the reformation of your wayes that you should bee found still with Zimri and Cozbi to live in those sinnes for which God is judging this Nation Were this to know the times and what Israel hath to doe Suppose further there should bee found amongst you any such as should ordinarily neglect the publique service and turne your backs upon it to attend your own private affaires after that the Kingdome hath put into your hands whatsoever under God is pretious and deare unto them were this to know the times and what Israel hath to doe Suppose there should bee found amongst you any that should seeke advantage to themselves out of publique calamities or should sinfully helpe to undoe those for whom they are called to bee Saviours were this to know the times Suppose that any of you should bee found unjust in judgement and favour an unrighteous man in his cause either for corrupt gaines or out of opposition to them you like not and so prostrate the untainted honour of the Parliament to the reproach of the adversaries the scandall of the Nation the teares and griefe of them who love you were this to know the times and what Israel hath to doe Suppose it should bee found that there should bee any that in matters of Religion should side with a partie for corrupt and sinfull ends and make Religion but an Engine to carry on some other sinfull designe were this to know the times and what Israel had to doe Suppose yet further that upon a diligent search there should be found among you any that doe retard matters of the greatest moment that the setling of Religion should bee obstructed by you that many people abroad are remisse in it because they judge you have no heart to it were this to know the time and what Israel hath to doe Suppose that the cries and teares of the oppressed I meane not the fatherlesse and widowes whom I am confident the Houses of Parliament would helpe this very day if it lay in their power but the cries of some oppressed by Committees or others in the Countrey should come up to you and seeke for succour and it should bee found that some of you should patronize the wrong-doers and keepe them off from comming to a hearing and thereby from redresse were this to know the times and what Israel had to doe Honorable and Worthy doe not mistake mee I am farre from saying it is so I onely suggest these things to your owne search and if in naming the particulars I mistake any of them God knowes it is with the same singlenesse of heart wherewith Job sanctifyed his Children sacrificed for them saying Peradventure my sonnes have sinned and cursed God in their hearts sure I am it concernes you all to search and try for if it should be so wee are all like to smart for it for as he said of the Roman Senate Ita nati est is ut bona malaque vestra ad rempub. pertineant Your condition is such that your good and your evill is the good and evill of the Commonwealth it belongs to us all and should the great God find any of you walking thus unworthy of the great trust hee hath committed to you when hee hath put as it were the fates of his Church and Kingdome in your hands under him to dispose of them hâ—s wrath would bee kindled against you these things would lie very heavy upon your score and wee and you should dearely rue it Sure I am there is not a man of us but for some or other of these things hath just cause to lay his hand upon his heart with sorrow and to put his mouth in the dust and this day to bee very deepely humbled and abased before God And this is the first Use a Use of
times of most prodigious wickednesse horrible abominations in mens manners I am confident never such abominable drunkennesse and generall loosenesse in that kinde never more universall liberty of whoring Incestuous mariages oppressions cruelty injustice malice revenge and every thing that might fill a Land with ungodlinesse Since wee or our fore-Fathers were borne never was there a greater deluge of wickednesse then in these our times and what have the Heads of Israel to doe at such a time Certainely you and all others at such times are called to mourne for all the abominations of the Times and you and all others are called to walke more exactly in that time to redeeme the time when the dayes are evill But You above all others are called out by God in such times to be his instruments to oppose these things the Ministers of God to execute vengeance upon those that do evill For these things I think you shall not need to trouble your selves to make new Lawes as excellent Lawes are already made against them all as I thinke any Common-wealth in the world hath but it concernes you to see that these bee put in execution It concernes you in times of oppression to deliver the poore and the oppressed out of the Talons and Pawes of them who teare them and crush them in pieces It concerns you to see that the Justices and other officers in the Countrey set not up these houses of Sinne Alehouses and Tavernes nor that when some well-affected put them downe Great men set them up againe and so in other abominations it concernes you to see that incestuous Mariages and such ungodlinesses go not unbranded and unpunished the Lord kindle zeale in your hearts that you may doe it that is one Our Times are times of abominable wickednesse Secondly Our times are times of Errors horrible Errors I meane not such Errors as are to bee found among Gods people to whom hee never hath given an equall light and notwithstanding which Errors himself beares with them and would have his people bear one with another but I meane our times are times of such Errors as are heretical and blasphemous such as concern our Christian faith and holy conversation in a very high degree it would weary you but to tell you the things that are generally knowne to spread as a Gangrene a new generation of men are risen up and spread all the points of Arminianisme universall Redemption Apostasie from grace Mans free-will multitudes of others cry downe the Law as not having any thing to do with Gods people others denying that the Saints of God should ever any more confesse sinne to God in prayer others questioning whether there bee any Church or Ministery this day upon the face of the earth and whether there shall bee any till new Apostles arise Nay beyond all these many denying the Lord Jesus that bought us with his blood to bee God or the Holy Ghost to bee God others denying the three Persons in the Trinity and consequently affirming that we and all the Christian world with us doe worship Idols in stead of God for if these men bee right they are Idols whom wee worship These and abundance of such horrid things as these are doe spread and scatter like wilde-fire every where in all corners of the Land to the great provocation of Gods wrath our reproach through the Christian world And what have our Heads to doe at such a time Certainly you and al others ought to mourn for these things and teare your clothes and your haires and your hearts that God should be so dishonored but for your duties who are in high Places for what is peculiar to you I 'll not dispute any controversie at this time but set down Two things which I know you must yeeld to One is Certainly you must search diligently into the Scriptures and enquire whether Jesus Christ would have you oppose your selves against these things that are so opposite to him If upon a diligent search you finde that hee hath not authorized you doe not you arrogate any authority that Christ hath not given you my Lie will never honour God though I should tell it for Gods glory and your thrusting your selves into an office Christ hath not called you unto will never be accepted by him But if Secondly Upon a diligent search it appeares hee hath given authority unto you then I am as assur'd that hee hath not left it to your arbitrement whether you 'll use it or no hee hath not left it to your will whether you will punish them but if you have power to stop them and doe not hee will lay them all at your doores and require them at your hands therefore search diligently what you have power to doe and then let not these things goe on to Gods dishonour But supposing you have authority What then is to be done I answer you must not take Blasphemies Errors and Heresies to bee such upon the reports of other men but as the Lord ordered them in the 13 of Deuteronomie so likewise must you doe Search diligently whether indeed such and such things are done and when they appeare to bee done out of the zeale of God doe that against them which the Lord would have you doe let not your Religion be thus contaminated suffer not your children to whom you ought to bee nursing Fathers to bee thus poisoned by such corrupt Doctrines nor devoured by such wolves This I know you will all subscribe unto This I desire above all may sticke with you that if the Lord hath given you power hee hath not given you libertie to forbeare such men God in mercy make you zealous for him that hath been zealous for you in all your troubles Thirdly Our times are times of wrath a great deale of wrath from the Lord is gone forth you know what dreadfull Vialls of wrath have been poured out in blood terrible quivers of destroying arrowes have been shot out in Pestilence all which tell you God is angry And what then have our Heads and Leaders to doe certainly all people should tremble when God is angry The Lyon roares what beast doth not tremble and every one must labour to pacifie him when hee is angry but you whom the Lord hath placed under him in such high place and authority must with Moses at such a time call to Aaron to run with his Censer you must labour to enquire out the Causes of it and execute the judgement and vengeance that God would have executed upon them who have procured it You must with Josiah 2 Kings 22.13 inquire what will appease him and with the King of Nineveh call upon every one to turne from the evill of his doings and your selves bee examples to the rest Fourthly Our times are times of Warre terrible warres unnaturall warres bloody warres as ever England knew and as yet the Armies are in the Field and though there bee no open Enemy