Idleness is the Burial of a living Man an idle Person being so useless to any Purp ses of God and Man that he is like one that is dead unconcern'd in the Changes and Necessities of the World and he only lives to spend this Time and eat the Fruits of the Earth like a Vermin or a Wolf when their Time comes they die and perish and in the mean Time do no good they neither plow nor carry Burthens all that they do either is unprositable or mischievous Bp. Taylor 's Rule and Exercise of hol Liv c. 1. §. 1. Otium sine literis mors est hominis vivi sepultura Sen. ep 82. useless and grievous to others who yet were born for the Good and Service of others If we would spend our Spare-time in visiting the Sick in reading to them and conferring with them in reproving open bold Sinners in comforting afflicted distrened Consciences in succouring and assisting tempted Persons in catechizing and instructing and praying with and for our several Families how many would rise up and call us blessed and praise God for us and pray for us 5. Once more Idleness is an [m] Nihil agendo malè agere disces Catonis oraculum quo nihil verius Colum. deterust Fugiendum est otium nam qui nihil agunt male agere discunt cùm animus sit irrequietus ubi ad honesta non ducitur in mala sertur Ciell Eth. Aristorel p. 27. Inlet to many other Sins The Son of * Ecclus. 33.27 Syrach informs us that Idleness teacheth much Evil. It is well observ'd by [n] Pareus Comment in Gen. 2.15 Pareus that if our first Parents had been employed in dressing the Garden according to God's Command instead of talking idly with the Serpent they had not then been seduced unhappily into Sin How much more says he is Idleness now to be shunned and avoided by Man since out of Paradise he is every way exposed to the Snares of the Devil and is by nothing deceived more easily and dangerously than by sluggish Idleness †1. Sam. 11.2 When David was [o] Quaeritur Aegysthus quare sit factus adulter In promptu causa est desidiosus erat idly walking upon the Roof of his House Lust quickly kindleed at first Sight of a pleasing beautiful Object An idle Person lies open and exposed to all the Temptations of Satan Nay he is not only tempted by him but a Tempter of him What we bnd spoken in ‖ Ezek. 38.11 another Case the same may Satan say of idle Persons I will go to them that are at rest When the Bird sits still then the Fowler takes his aim and shoots but the flying Bird is seldom hurt Indulge not thy self in Idleness lest Satan take Advantage against thee 'T is good Advice that [p] Facito aliquid operis ut te semper Diabolus inveniat occupatum Hieron ad Rusticum ep 4. St. Jerom gives thee Still be doing some warrantable Work that the Devil may always find thee well employed If thou canst find nothing to do thy self sure enough the Devil will quickly find thee somewhat to do If thou beest once idle he 'll presently employ thee and set thee a-work The idle Person has no Defence and Safeguard against Satan But he that is lawfully busied is not at leisure to attend and listen to Satan's Temptations If Men be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as work not at all they quickly become * 2 Thess 3.11 Wanderers about from House to House Tatlers also and Busy-Bodies speaking Things which they ought not medling out of their Calling and enquiring into Things that concern them not Which Courses and Carriages are the [q] Bp. Taylor 's Rule and Exerc. of Hol. Liv. chap. 1. §. 1. Rule 1◠Canker and Pust of Idleness as Idleness is the Rust of Time Well then take this short Lesson from [r] A Kempis l. 1. c. 19. n. 4. a devout Person Be never altogether I de but still either reading or writing or praying or meditating or labouring and endeavouring to do somewhat that may be useful and profitable conducive and ordinable to common Good and Benefit Take Example from the heathen [s] Nullue mthi per otium dies exit c. Sen. ep Quid in otio facio ulcus meum curo ld ep 68. Moralist I pass not away one Day in Idleness says he When so much Work is necessary to be done in so little a Time or you are for ever certainly undone will you stand as Men that cannot find their Hands You that are rich have of all People the least Cause to be idle [t] See Mr. Baxter's Preface to Mr. Whately's Redemption of Time God gives you more than others and is there any Reason then that you should do less for God than others and make your whole Lives only a long Vacation Would you think your selves well fitted if those very Servants should presume to do you the least Work to whom you give the largest Wages Hearken diligently to that sober Counsel and seasonable Reproof which the holy [u] Church-porch p. 3,4 Mr. Hethere gives you Fly Idleness which yet thou canst not fly By dressing mistressing and Complement If those take up thy Day the Sun will cry Against thee for his Light was only lent O England full of Sin but most of Sloth Spit out thy Phlegm and fill thy Breast with Glory [w] I sind that in our old Saxon Language a Gentleman was called an Idle-man perhaps because those who are born to fair Estates are free from those Toils and hard Labours which others are forced to undergo I with the Name were not too proper to over-many in these Daies wherein it is commonly seen that those of the better rank who are born to a fair Inheritance so carry themselves as if they thought themselves priviledged to do nothing and made for mere Disport and Pleasere Bp. Hall's Remaining Works p. 227. See Bp. Taylor 's Rule and Exerc. of Hol. Liv. c. 1 § 1. the 11th and 12th Rules for imploying our Time Such Gallants as live in no setled Course of Life nor do any Thing for the good of humane Society let them know there is not the poorest contemptible Creature that cryeth Oysters and Kitchin-stuff in the Streets but deserveth his Bread better than they and his Course of Life is of better Esteem with God and every sobert wise man than theirs Bp. Sanderson's Serm. 1 V. p 196. Thy Gentry bleats as if thy native Cloth Transfus'd a Sheepishness into thy Story Not that they all are so but that the most Are gone to Grass and in the Pasture lost Don't they deserve to be reprov'd who squander away their Time in a soft and delicate Lasiness And they too who though they seem to be full of Employment yet do nothing at all of the Work of a Man of Christian but spend their Time in an [x] Quorundam non otiosa vita
a kind and merciful Providence has restored them all that look'd so lively and lovely has quite vanish'd and come to nothing these fairly promising hopeful Penitents have afterward fallen to their old Biass prov'd as vile and vicious as bad and worse than ever they were before And it may be thou thy self hast been in the like case and done as much heretofore as now and hast reason to remember thy false deceitful treacherous dealing with God in former Instances on the like Occasions how many of thy own Purposes and Promises have fail'd and been quite lost and hast cause enough to suspect and question the Truth and Goodness of all the present fairest shews and goodliest Appearances of thy Repentance And here this great Difficulty will at last unavoidably lie before thee whether thou dost not seek return and enquire after God only because he now begins to * Ps 78.34 slay thee in good earnest Here will be the doubt and dispute How thou wilt be able to determine that the Confession of thy Sins and Condemnation of thy self thy Resolutions and Promises of better Obedience in case of longer Life are not all the meer effect of slavish Fear and only the product of trouble of Mind and terrour of Conscience rather than the genuin proper issue of a vehement hatred of Sin for the Turpitude and Unreasonableness of it of a strong Affection to God and his Laws and a hearty Love to Holiness when thou hast no time to make sufficient Proof and due Trial of the Truth and Sincerity of thy Faith and Repentance And what comfortable joyful security canst thou have that God will certainly and infallibly save thee by an act of extraordinary Grace and Favour in the want of the Actions of a vertuous and holy Life which he requires in the Gospel as ordinarily necessary to Salvation It is here but a may be a peradventure †Mat. 20.15 It is lawful indeed for God to do what he will with his own but the possibility of an extraordinary Grace is not likely then to bring thee that clear and full Light of sweet Peace and solid spiritual Comfort which an early diligent Improvement of the Grace of God ordinarily vouch-safed in the course of thy Life and time of thy Health and Strength would in all probability have produced If therefore thou wouldst wisely provide for thy Peace take no encouragement to delay the Redemption of thy Time from the Instance and Example of the Thief upon the Cross who was sincerely converted to Christ and fully ascertain'd of Salvation by the infallible Oracle of the Mouth of his Saviour in the very close of his Life the final and ultimate Hour before his Departure Obj. But some or other may be ready and apt to say Alas I have deferr'd so long already that though I entertain some serious Thoughts of redeeming the Time and use my honest Endeavours yet I fear do what I can it is now too late for me to obtain Eternal Salvation Answ I answer Hast thou made very long Delaies spent and wasted a very considerable part of thy Life the most of thy precious Time in the Service of Sin and Satan Why truly thou hast reason to be so much the more humbled the more sorry for it the more ashamed of it the more penitent at present and the more obedient for the future great cause to purpose and intend to give unto God the whole remainder of thy Time And though thou hast but a small Time but a few Years more to live here in this World yet let this be the Frame and Temper the setled Disposition and invincible Resolution of thy Soul that if God should prolong thy Life beyond thy expectation that if thou hadst never so much Time to spend upon this Earth thou wouldst by the help of God compose and set thy self to the study of knowing and an endeavour of doing the Divine Will to a Renunciation of thy past Life and Actions and a Conformation of thy Affections and Manners to the Rule and Prescript of the Gospel of Christ that thou wouldst employ thy whole Time expend and lay out all thy Strength in the Service and to the Glory of God only And here consider for thy Comfort that there are to be found several sorts and degrees of late Penitents and there is so much the more Hope for thee that thou art not of the lowest rank and form of all Indeed if thou wert a death-bed Penitent though I will not say thy case would be absolutely hopeless utterly helpless and altogether desperate yet because it is so seldom and rare a thing that so late Repentance proves sound and serious thy Condition would be exceeding [l] Poenitentia quae ab infirmo petitur insirma est Paenitentia quae à moriente tantùm petitur timeo ne ipsa moriatur Aug. de Temp. serm 57. dubious and very dangerous and thy spiritual Comfort extreamly uncertain if not ordinarily impossible and supposing thou wert to begin thy Repentance upon a Death-bed I should .... 2 occurences found not much wonder if thou shouldst almost begin thy Hell there But as [m] Vis te de dubio liberare vis quod incertum est evadere age poenitentiam dum sanus et Si enim agis viram poenitentiam dum sanus es invenerit te novissimus dies fecurus es Ergo curre ut reconcilieris si sic agis securus es Quare securus es quia egisti poenitentiam eo tempore quo peccare potuisti Si antem vis agere poenitentiam ipsam tune quando peccare non potes peccati te dimiserunt non tu illa Aug. Tom. 10. de verè poenitentibus Hom. 41 ex 50. Amb. exhortat ad Poenitentiam St. Austin discourses wisely and judiciously if now thou for sakest thy Sins and turnest to God while thou dost enjoy some measure of Health and Strength and chusest to serve God when yet thou couldst serve Sin and Satan if thou couldst here is some room and place for strong Comfort such as may quiet the troubled Mind and satisfy the afflicted Conscience of a Sinner Though thou beast but a late Penitent yet if thou couldst be an older Sinner and wilt not if thou art willing to break off from Sin when thou hast yet some Time to sin and Strength to sin and Occasions of Sin offer'd thee and Temptations to Sin lying before thee and pressing upon thee When thou art invited and it may be provoked to it and thy Faculties are not yet so weaken'd and disabled but that thou mightest several waies with Pleasure sin if thou wouldst if now thou refusest and wilt not it is a sign thy Repentance though late Repentance yet is true Repentance for all that Thou who couldst go over thy old Sins again if thou dost heartily cast them off when thou couldst commit them afresh If thou deliberately leavest thy Sins before thy Sins leave thee If thou
will use all Diligence and good Conscience in their Calling and Trading on the Week-day And their Pains-taking and honest Dealing is likely to bring God's Blessing on their outward Estates Besides They that faithrully worship God on the Lord's-day will seek to God for a Blessing on the Week-day and they that seek it are likely to find it Once more God won't be wanting to those who would not be wanting to him God will bless you six Daies for your Blessing and Serving him one whole Day in seven 2. Our Observation of the Lord's-day as it is a spiritual wise redeeming of that special Season so it is a good Help to the spiritual Redeeming of all the six Daies following The more Liberty Men allow themselves upon the Lord's-day the more loose their Hearts are and negligent of good Duties and religious Exercises all the Week after They that pray not on the Lord's-day will hardly so much as say a Praier all the Week long They that hear not a Sermon on this Day will searcely read a Chapter the whole Week They that rob God of his due on the Lord's-day will rarely deal justly and honestly with their Neighbour on the Week-day But if we keep holy the Lord's-day then every Week-day will have a Tincture and Savour of the Lord's-day Our being Spiritual on the Lord's-day will put us into a very good Frame of Heart will awaken Principles of Conscience compose our Minds six our Wills call in and set in order our Assections Our Sanctification of this Day will season and sanctify us sit and dispose us for a close and holy Walking with God all the Week after If we attend upon God and converse with him on this special Day of his own Appointment we shall find a sensible spiritual Vigour a divine Power and heavenly Strength to carry us through all the Duties of the whole Week following relating either to God or Man If we earnestly redeem the Lord's-day the Observation of that Day will have a strong and mighty Influence on our Lives on other Daies too We shall endeavour to carry our selves after it suitably to it to live and walk and act continually as those that have newly or lately enjoyed so blessed and happy an Opportunity as those that have heard of God heard from him spoken to him had to do with him we shall labour to live in pursuance of the End and Design of the work and Business of the Lord's-day Mot. 2. Our Sanctification and good Improvement of the Lord's-day will fit and prepare us to keep and enjoy a blessed Rest and eternal Sabbath in Heaven They that delight in God here will much more delight in him hereafter and those whom God delights in here he will delight in for evermore They that keep holy the Christian Sabbath here shall be translated and admitted to sanctify and celebrate an everlasting Sabbath in Glory hereafter [g] The Church-porch p. 15. He that loves God's Abode and to combine With Saints on Earth shall one Day with them shine But on the other side your gross continued Neglect and wilful resolved Profanation of the Lord's-day will unfit and unqualify you to keep a glorious festival and a joyful happy Holy-Day in Heaven God can take no Complacency and Delight in you if you can take no Complacency in him no Delight in his Sabbaths no Pleasure in his Worship and Service They that refuse to sanctify a Sabbath and totally to rest on that Day from their worldly Labours and secular Negotiations have reason to fear lest God sware in his Wrath that they shall never enter into his Rest. They that will not rest from their Works and Pleasures on this Day have cause to conclude that in Hell they shall have no Rest neither Day nor Night They that will do their own Works on the Lord's-day may expect to suffer for their evil Deeds in the Day of the Lord. They who wilfully absented themselves from God's House on God's Day have no ground to hope that God will receive them to Communion with himself in his heavenly Kingdom And as God can take no delight in you so if you pollute and profane break and violate the Lord's-Day neglect Religion contemn the Worship and despise the Service of God if you changed your place you would there no more delight in God than you do here Heaven would be a Burden Heaven would be an Hell to the unsuitable Spirit of an irreligious profane voluptuous Person Thou that art weary of Praiers and Praises here what wouldst thou do in Heaven tro there is nothing else there You that are sick of a Sabbath here and long till it be over and can't endure to think of spending a whole Day in Religious Exercises what wilt thou do in Heaven where there is a perpetual Sabbath to be kept for ever Thou that hatest the Communion of Saints here I wonder what thou wouldst do in Heaven where next to the Fruition and Enjoyment of God in Glory the best Entertainment will be the Company and Society of the holy Angels and of the blessed and glorified Saints to all Eternity I have given you some Motives to perswade and engage you to the due Observation and right Redemption of the Lord's-Day Now what are you resolved upon Shall your former Profanation of this Day be the present Burthen of your Spirits and Sadness of your Souls Will you live as those that are convinced that Religion depends upon the Sanctification of this Day and your Salvation upon Religion Will you forbear any more to break into God's Inclosure to encroach upon God's Propriety sacrilegiously to engross God's Day to your selves or to make bold with any Part of it for worldly Employments or vain Pleasures or such Recreations as are apt to prove Lets and Hindrances of your Duties and Devotions and be careful to give God that Portion of Time which is his due Will you for the future sequester your selves from worldly Cares Affections Affairs on this Day and henceforth dedicate the Lord's-Day to the Honour of God and Christ Will you not only cease to censure those serious Christians who dare not lose this choice Time and precious Opportunity as profanely and desperately as formerly you have done But will you so consider the Worth of this Time and so far weigh the great Consequences and weighty Concernments of the well or ill spending of it as to count it honourable and keep it holy without intermixing of secular Matters or indulging profane Thoughts and introducing inconvenient improper Discourses in any part of it Will you labour to walk accurately exactly precisely on this Day and not be afraid of being [h] He keeps the Lord's-day best that keeps it with most Religion and with most Charity Bp. Taylor 's Rule and Exerc. of Hol. Lif chap. 4 sec 6. rul 8. Hypocrites are out disputing the Obligations to their Duty and asking How do you prove that it is a Duty to pray in my Family
He professeth to have the Knowledg of God and he calleth himself the Child of the Lord. He was made to reprove our Thoughts He is grievous unto us even to behold for his Life is not like other Mens his Waies are of another fashion We are esteem'd of him as Counterfeits he abstaineth from our Waies as from Filthiness he pronounceth the End of the Just to be blessed and maketh his Boast that God is his Father Let us see if his Words be true let us examine him with Despitefulness and Torture let us condemn him with a shameful Death c. The Wicked are so ill-natured as to render to the Righteous evil for good to vex and abuse their Physicians Chirurgians Advocates Guardians Friends To use them harshly and unkindly that endeavour to benefit them by their Counsels to better them by their Examples and labour by earnest Praiers to God for them to keep off many a Judgment that hangs over their Heads from falling upon them They watch and study to harm those that are really ready to help them to grieve and break their Hearts whose Bowels yearn towards them to vex and torment their Souls which is a great Misery than to persecute and afflict their Bodies 2. The Wicked persecute those that are good as by their Injuries to them in particular so by the Wickedness and Vnholiness of their Lives in General The ill Conversation of the Wicked is a spiritual Persecution of the Godly It is Matter of exquisite Torment to them It wounds and rends the very Souls of the Righteous It plainly cuts them even to the Heart and makes their very Heart bleed I find z August Hom. 10. inter 50. St. Austin in a Discourse of his upon my Text insisting pathetically and particulary on this very kind of Persecution applying and accommodating that of the Apostle Tim. 3.12 All that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution Behold here says he because the Daies are evil there is no living for the Righteous without suffering Persecution But ye says he are ready to say thus to me What when we enjoy Peace among us when the Judges of the Provinces honour the Church when Kings and Princes do not appear and carry themselves as Enemies to the Church and when all the Laws are in favour of the Church pray how do they that live godly suffer Persecution His Answer is that they that live among wicked Persons do suffer Persecution for all this Why so Because all the Wicked do persecute the Good Nonferro lapidibus sed vitâ moribus though not with Fire and Fagot though not with Swords and Stones yet by their Lives and Manners Did any persecute righteous Lot n Sodom says he No Man troubled or molested him We reade indeed of no Rudeness of theirs towards him of no Assault made upon him but only of one done just before his Departure out of Sodom And yet that good Man suffer'd continual Persecution Non vapulando sed inter malos vivendo not by being beaten and smitten of them but by living among those vile and vicious proud blasphemous lewd and debauch'd Persons For whoever is truly righteous and holy saies he when he sees any to live wickedly to serve Luxury to carry Things unjustly to follow Pride and Vanity to disregard Charity when they that are good see any live after this manner they mourn and grieve are sadned and afflicted for with the Apostle they bewail many that have sinn'd already and have not repented It is said that * 2 Pet. 2.7 just Lot was vexed with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked The Word which we render vexed is in the Original a Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat opprimi fatigari graviter affligi Gerard. in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he laboured under it as an heavy Burthen was oppressed wearied grievously afflicted with it And as Lot was burthened with the loose and lawless Lives of the Sodomites So good Jeremiab was wearied out with the wicked and exorbitant Courses of the Jews and constrained to cry out under the Pressure and Persecution of them †Jer. 9.2 3 5. Oh that I had in the Wilderness a lodging Plate of wayfaring Men that I might leave my People and go from them to wish with all his Heart that he might withdraw himself from his People and live in any solitary Desart and in any sorry Traveller's Lodg or Shed there rather than among them whose wicked Lives were such a continual Eye-sore and daily heart-sore to him for tey proceed from Evil to Evil saies he from one Evil to another or from one Degree of it to another they grow daily worse and worse and weary themselves to commit Iniquity take Pains to do wickedly and tire out themselves in it Alas the Wicked little think how they vex God in vexing his Servants and that God will one Day sorely vex them for it and make them weary of wearying his People that he will torment them in Hell hereafter for tormenting his People here on Earth They little think that the Righteous themselves will one Day heavily vex those that have given them such Occasion and Cause of Vexation vex them in the Day when the * 1 Cor. 6.2 Saints shall judg the World Yea they little think that they shall torment themselves hereafter for making good Men torment themselves here That if they do not grieve in Time with a penitent Grief they shall certainly grieve with a desperate Grief to all Eternity for being a Grief and Heart-break to the Godly Now this Persecution which in the Waies forementioned is managed and carried on by the Wicked as it is the Evil in some measure of all Ages so more especially and remarkably of the Times and Places in which we live 'T is true that now we suffer nothing barely for owning the Name of Christians There is no Persecution in our Nation merely for the outward Profession of the Christian and of the Reformed Religion But was ever the other Persecution hotter among us than in these Daies How do the Wicked persecute with their Eye looking upon the sincerely Godly with an evil a scornful a malicious Eye How do they persecute them with their Tongues which are as so many †Psal 57.4 sharp Swords b Nemo plus videtur aestmare virtutem nemo magis il'i esse devotus quam qui boni viri famam perdidit ne conscientsam perderet Sen. Ep. maliciously standering reproaching reviling the Godly as a Company of weak [c] Vt sis beatus inquit Socrates te alicui stultum videri siue Id ep 71. Plerumque boni inepti inertes vocautur Mihi contingat iste dersus AEquo animo audienda sunt imperitorum convitit ad honesta vadends contemnendus est sste contemptus Idem Fools and conceited Fanaticks frequently making them their very Songs in their drunken Meetings and even mocking their very Praiers in
cause to fear and in their Old Age almost ground enough to despair I may here take up the Complaint of the devout [i] Quid prodest din vivere quando tam parùm emendae nur Ah long a vita non semper emendat sed saepe culpam magis auget Vtinam per unam diem bene essemus conversati in hoc mundo multiannos computant conversionis sed saepe pâ—rvus est fructus emendationis A Kempis l. 1. c. 23. n. 2. A Kempis What does it avail us to live long when we are so little better'd by it Ah long Life says he does not alwaies mend our Manners but does often the more encrease our Crimes Would we had a alked but one Day well in this World Many reckon Years of their Conversion but there is too often but little sign of a new Conversation Had we not been grosly wanting to our selves how much might we have known of God and of his Mind and Meaning in his Word and Works How much might we have done for God and received from god by this Time what a Stock of Grace might we have gotten before now What a Treasure of Experience might we have heaped up What a good Foundation might we have laid of a sound solid and well-setled Peace and Comfort to stand us in stead in a Time of Need What ground might we have gotten against our Corruptions What Growth in Grace What Strength in the inner Man What Skill to discern and avoid the Wiles and Snares of the Devil What Love to and Delight in the Law of God What Readiness to every good Word and Work What Ereedom and Enlargedness might we have attaineed to in God's Service How truly might it have been our very Meat and Drink to do the Will of God our constant Course daily Use and chosen cheerful Exercise to run the Waies of God's Commandments How forward might we have been in the Way to the spiritual Canaan who have it may be been greatly guilty of many Retrogradations How might we have been of another Spirit than we are of at present How publick-spirited might we have grown How zealous for the Glory of God and the good of Souls How active in the Cause of God and Religion How careless of the Pleasures that are but for a Season How spiritual and heavenly-minded How ready to die How ripe for Heaven O let this Consideration be laid to Heart by us and serve deeply to humble us that we have had much Time but have redeemed little or none that we have liv'd long to little to bad Purpose that we have trifled and squandred away those Seasons of grace that can never be enjoyed again and lost those Opportunities that can never return back again Let us put our selves to the Trial and bring our selves under Examination whether we have discharged our Dutyin Redeeming the Time yea or no. The third Vse by way of Reproof Is every Christian bound to redeem the Time Then here is a Word of seasonable serious sharp Reproof to several Persons who are grosly guilty of mis-spending their Time and divers Waies do foolishly cut this precious Commodity to waste Particularly to these following The first Sort of Persons reproved To such as mi-spend their Time in Idleness who lose their Time nihil agendo in doing just nothing or nothing at all worthy the naming Who live in Neglect of all honest and Useful Employment or do not sedulously exercise chemselves in the Duties of their Place and [a] There dwelled in Belsted a small Village some three Miles from Ipswich a Tanner who being very busie in tawing of a Hide Mr. Carter came by accidentally and going sostly behind him being familiarly acquainted with the good Man merrily gave him a little Clap on the Back The man started and looking behind him suddenly blushed and said Sir I am ashamed that you should find me thus To whom Mr. Carter replied Let Christ when he comes fiad me so dotag What said the man doing thus Yes said M. Carter to him saithfully performing the Duties of my Calling The Life of Mr. John arter inserted among Mr. Clark's Lives of ten Eminent Divines pag. 13. Calling How sharply may God reprove and say to many among us * Mat. 20.6 Why stand ye here all the Day idle What Cause have Ministers to complain of their People with the Apostle and say †2 Thess 3.11 There are some which walk among you disorderly working not at all To how many may we use the VVords of the VVise Man ‖ Prov. 6.6 Go to the Ant thou Sluggard 1. Idleness is a Sin against a Man's very Creation God did not so curiously work and accurately frame us to sit still and fold our Hands and give our selves to our ease and to [b] Desidea somnium vigilantis dream when we are awake Our Maker intended and fitted us for work To what End did God furnish us with so many useful instruments as the several members of our Bodies and endow us with those nimble and active Faculties of our Souls but that we might up and be doing and vigorously prosecute and pursue some worthy and good End in the diligent Use of sit and proper Means Adam even in Paradise was not allowed to be idle but before he feil we appointed and ordered to * Gen. 2.15 dress the Garden and to keep the Ground in which Employment he should have [c] Oberatus fuisser agrievlturâ non laboriosd sed deliciosa ad voluptatem experientiam Synops Crit. taken Delight and gain'd Experience And afterward when he had sinn'd not light and case but hard and painful tedious and wearisome Labour was enjoined him as a perpetual Penance for his Transgression and Offence and imposed as a [d] Andr. River Exercit. in Gen. p. 157. Bridle to rest rain the Flesh which by reason of Sin is now become wanton and rebellious against the Spirit (*) Gen. 3.17 19. In sorrow shalt thou eat all the Daies of thy Life In the Sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat thy Bread * Job 5.7 Man says Eliphaz is born unto Labour troublesome Labour †Psal 104.23 Man says David goeth forth to his Work and to his Labour until the Evening This is the Course which God has set him But by their Idleness Men attempt to overthrow the Purpose and Design of God and to frustrate the End whereto Man was created and plainly thwart and contradict cross and controul God's Curse while only in the Sweat of others Brows they eat their Bread and cast off the Means which God has ordain'd for repressing and taming the petulant and unruly Flesh Were these so wise as to accept of the Punishment threatned and inflicted and to become painful and laborious in their Places and Employments the Curse of God would by a Miracle of the divine Mercy be turn'd into a [e] The Labour and Sweat of our Brows is so far from being a
extravagantly The often renewed Meditation of the great Vncertainty of the Time of the Departure This will be a Means to hasten thy Repentance which if defer'd may prove too late And will surely help thee so to carry thy self continually [p] Id ago ut mihi instar totius vitae sit dies Sen. ep Ille qui nullum non tempus in usus suos comfert quiomnes dies tanquam vitam suam ordmat nec optat crastinum nec timet Idem de brev vit c 7. as one that reckons and uses a single Day as if it were a whole Life To live every day as if it were [q] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Musonius apud Stob Serm. 1. â—ic ordinandus est aies omnis tamquam cogat agmen consummet atque expleat vitam In somnum ituri loeti hilar ésque dicamus Viâ—i quem dederat cursum fortuna peregi thy very last Not to promise thy self a Morrow and to neglect thy present Work in Hope and Expectation of it but to order thy self immediately as if thou didst never look to see and enjoy it and to count it as [r] Crastinum si adjecerit Deus laeti reciptamus Ille beatissimus est securus sai possessor qui crastinum sine solicitudine expectat Qussquis dixit vixi quotidie ad lucrum surgit Sen. ep 12. pure Gain as may be if God shall be pleased to afford thee the Light and Benefit of a new Day As the Bird guideth her Flight with her Train and the Ship is governed at the Stern or hindermost Part so the Life of Man is directed and ordered by frequent Meditation of his latter End 3. Think moreover of the great Change that will at last be made by Death which is lively represented in a Story related by a learned [s] Bishop Taylor in his rule and Exercise of holy Dying c. 1. §. 3. Doctor of a fair young German Gentleman who while he lived often refused to be pictured but put off the importunity of his Friends Desire by giving way that after a few Daies Burial they might send a Painter to his Vault and if they saw cause fo rit draw the Image of his Death unto the Life They did so and found his Face half eaten and his Midriff and Back-bone full of Serpents and so he stands pictured among his armed Ancestours Think how the Case will shortly be much alike with thee that Death in a Moment will turn thy Colour into Paleness thy Heat into Coldness thy Beauty into Lothsomness and will so alter and disfigure thee that thy ver Husband or Wife or Child will stand afraid and start at thee That thy nearest dearest kindest Friends who delighted in thy Company whilst thou livedst took thee to their Board took thee to their Bed and put thee in their Bosom will as soon as thou art dead take a speedy Course to remove thee out of their Sight yea to put thee under Ground because by Death thou wilt become not only useless but offensive to them And what a frightful Spectacle thou wouldst be if thy Body should be viewed when once the Vermin have bred in it and shall have devoured and consumed some Parts of it Think how Death will make a Change in thy Body a change in thy Mansion Habitation Companions That when thou art dead thou shalt quickly change thy Bed for a winding Sheet thy Chamber for a Coffin thy House for a Grave thy Friends for Worms This Consideration will be hugely instrumental to beat down Pride of any beauty Health Strength or Ornaments of the Body and be useful to cause thee to walk humbly and soberly and will instruct thee to say to thy self Why should I glory in any such transitory Enjoyment As fair and fine as I may be apt to think my self I know I shall be but a sorry Creature when Death comes Why should I delight to stand long at the Glass and there to view my own Face and Features and Dresses now since Death will one Day so change me that my most intimate loving familiar Friends will hardly endure to behold me Why should I pride my self in any rich Attire and brave Apparel who must ere long be strip'd to a winding Sheet Why should I bestow so much cost upon that Tenement which I shall dwell but a while in and which will decay and fall to utter Ruin when I have done all I can Why should I make my Belly my God which must be destroyed and be Meat for Worms Why should I be so high and stately as to think no House good enough no Room fine enough no Fair dainty enough for me who must quickly be brought as low as the Grave and be forc'd to make my Bed in the dark and to lay my Head in the Dust to lodg yea dwell in a black lonely desolate Hole of Earth to say to the Grave Thou art mine House to say to Corruption Thou art my Father and to the Worm Thou art my Mother and my Sister Why should I spend all my time in pleasing and pampering this base Flesh and in over-caring for this changeable vile Body which must shortly suffer Rottenness and Corruption Shall I not rather take care to beautify and adorn my inner Man to get a Change wrought in my Soul by the good Spirit and Grace of God before I suffer a Change in my Body a Change by Sickness a Change by Death and so to live that when I am dead it may not be said of me Here lies one that was dead while he lived and whose Soul then stank worse by sinful Corruption than his Body now stinks by Putrefaction 4. Consider once more What a sad and uncomfortable Thing it wil be to be found unprepared to die at the point of Death and how happy a Thing it will be to be in a readiness and preparation at the Hour of Death 1. Think well with thy self how miserable a Thing it will be to be wholly unprepared for Death when you come to die indeed [t] Cù a illos aliqua imbecillitas mortalitatis admonuit quemadmodum paventes moriuntur non tanquam exeant de vita sed tanquam extrahantur Seneca de brevitate vitae cap. 11. to be driven away in thy Wickedness as the * Prov. 14.32 Wise Man speaks and forced to go to thy own Place whether thou wilt or no. To say as Theophrastus of old Dii boni nunc Good God must I go now How discompos'd and disorder'd amaz'd and terrified wilt thou be when thou art surpriz'd What a disconsolate Condition was that of Cesar Borgia who when through the Errour of a Servant he had unawares drunk of the poison'd Wine which he and his Father Pope Alexander the sixth had mingled and prepared for some rich Cardinals and verily expected it would prove his Death is said to have broke out into this or the like Expression I had made Provision against all possible Disasters
but only Death for I did not think I should have died so soon How troublesome will it be to thee when thy Soul is about to be divorced from thy Body to be at best uncertain then what will become of thee To express thy self with dying Aristotle [u] Dubius morior quò vadam nescio I die doubtful not well knowing whither I am going Or with the Emperour Adrian [w] Animula vagula blandula Hospes com esque corporis Quae nunc abibis in loca Pallsdula frigidula nudula Nec ut soles dabis jocos Ah dear departing wandring Soul the old and sweet Companion of my Body into what Region art thou now going surely thou wilt never be so merry and pleasant as thou hast been How intolerably vexatious will it be to change for Vncertainties or to make a certain Change for the worse To die unsatisfied what will become of thee as to thy future unchangeable State Or sure and certain that thou shalt enter into a worse State and Place and shalt be miserable to all Eternity To see then but a Step but a Breath between thee and everlasting Death To have all the horrid and heinous sins of a whole misled and misspent Life fiercely fly in thy very Face and thy enraged furious guilty Conscience to be then most active to torment thee the nearer thou apprehendest thy self approaching to the End of thy mortal Life As usually bodily Aches and Wounds do prick and pain and shoot most the nearer it draweth unto Night What a lamentable sad Case was that of Cardinal Wolsey to cry out in his extreme unhappy Circumstances Had I been as careful and diligeut to please and serve the God of Heaven as I have been to comply with the Will of my earthly King he would not have left and for saken me now in my gray Hairs and old Age as the other has done So think what a doleful Case it will be for thee in thy last Hours to pour forth thy Soul in such Words as these If I had served my God as earnestly and unweariedly as I have constantly served the world served diverse Lusts and Pleasures served the Devil himself Had I been at Church when I was in Bed been in my Closet upon my Knees when I was sitting tippling upon the Ale-bench or was quaffing at Tavern and drinking of Healths upon my Knees Had I satisfied the Reason of a Man as I gratified my brutish Appetite and sensual Desire Had I done the Will of God and of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as I have done the Will of the Devil the Will of the Flesh and fulfilled my own carnal corrupt Will I had then been own'd by God and approv'd by my own Conscience inwardly strengthned and supported and sweetly comforted and refresh'd who now am deserted and rejected by God and miserably perplexed and disquieted rent and racked torn and tormented in my own Conscience Then thou wilt certainly count and call thy self unhappy and him the only happy Man who as dying [x] Beatus es Abba Arseni qui semper hanc horam ante oculos habuisti Bibl. Patr. Theophilus said of devout Arsenius has had the Hour of his Departure ever before his Eyes That is the first Conider what a dreadful Thing it is to be found unprovided at the Hou◠of Death When Friends and Physicians cannot keep thee and God and his good Angels will not take thee O then O then what will become of thee 2. Seriously think on the other hand what [y] Considera quà n pulchra res sit consummare vitam ante mortom deinde expectare securum reliquam tempor is sui part m◠Sen. ep 32. an happy and comfortable Thing it will be to find your Time well improved and your self prepared to die before you die 'T is a true Saying of the Wise Man that to a good man the * Eccl. 7.1 Day of Death is better than the Day of his Birth For is not that Day which perfectly frees and fully delivers a good Man from the many Vanities and great Vexations which the Life of Man is obnoxious to and the Troubles and Sufferings which the Life of a Christian is expos'd to far better than that Day which let 's him into the Possession of them Again The Time when a Person has attain'd the End of his Being made good the Hopes of others answer'd god's and Man's expectation concerning him walked himself in the Fear of the Lord brought up Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord walked worthy of his Vocation fill'd up every Relation with suitable Duties and Graces serv'd his Generation according to the Will of God liv'd and acted with reference to Eternity The Time when he most willingly leaves this wicked World and leaves an holy Seed to stand up in his room and stead leaves a good Name and a good Example behind him and goes to Heaven to the Spirits of just Men made perfect goes to God his heavenly Father and to Christ his Redeemer to receive the gracious and glorious Reward of all his Works and Labours and the Crown he has striven and contended for Surely the Day when this falls out which is the Day of his Death gives cause of more abundant Comfort than can the Day of his Birth together with all the Daies of his Life Is not that Day better wherein a Man has truly and really answered the Ends of Life than that in which he only began at first to live Is not that Day better in which he has fully and compleatly acted his Part well quitted and behav'd himself like a Man and Christian and is gone off the Stage of this lower world with Credit and Esteem Approbation and Applause of God himself good Angels and Men than the Day of his first appearing upon the Stage or Theater of this World in a way of Probation and Trial and in Hope of his future good Performance Is not the Day of his actual Admission and honourable Reception into a blissful Condition and happy Mansion far better than the Day of his Entrance into a State of Preparation for it Think well with thy self what a joyful Day what a [z] Cùm ecquid lumen molestiae afferret rogarent pectus tangens Oecolampadius abundè lucis est inquit Melch. Adam in vita Oecolamp p. 56. lightsome Hour what a Time of refreshing it will be to thee to be able to say with thy Saviour a little before thy Departure * Joh. 17.4 Father I have glorified thee on Earth I have finished the Work which thou hast given me to do And with the Apostle St. Paul †2 Tim. 4 6 7. The Time of my Departure is at hand I have fought a good Fight [a] Vixi quem dederat cursum fortuna peregi I have finished my course I have kept the Faith ‖ 2 Cor. 1.12 My rejoicing is this the Testimony of my Conscience that in