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
you go into a Potter's Shop and see a great Company of earthen Pots and should ask the Owner which of these would break first he would tell you Not that which was first made but that which first got a Fall 'T is common for them to go first to the Winding-sheet who came last from the Womb. We are earthen Vassels brittle Ware and may quickly get a Knock or Fall and crack and break How many Persons have lost their Lives by very strange and sad Accidents Some and great ones too have fallen suddainly by an Ehud's Dagger a Ravilliack or Felton's Knife A poisoned Torch did serve to light the Cardinal of Lorrain to his long home Fabius surnamed the Painter as [k] Bp. Taylor in his great Exemplar p. 557 558. See also Dr. Patrick's Div. Arithm. p. 26 27. a learned Bishop has with variety remarked out of History was choaked with an Hair in a Mess of Milk Adrian the fourth with a Flie Anacreon with a Raisin Drusus Pompeius with a Pear Casimir the second King of Polonia with a little Draught of Wine Tarquinius Priscus with a Fish-bone Lucia the Sister of Aurelius the Emperour playing with her little Son was wounded in her Breast with a Needle and died The great Lawyer Baldus playing with a little Dog was bitten upon the Lip instantly grew mad and perished So far that great and excellent Author A little Bruise on the Toe is said to have killed Aemilius Lepidus I have heard of several that have died by the cutting of a Corn upon their Toe a Place remote from the Heart and have read of a Person who after sixteen Years Travel and enduring much Hardness abroad returning home died of an Hurt in his Thumb [i] Mr. Edward Terry Mr. of Arts and Student of Christ's-Church in Oxford in his Voyage to the Eust-Indies Anno Christi 1615 ells us of a Nobleman in the great Mogul's Court who fitting in Dalliance with one of his Women had an Hair pulled by her from his Breast This little Wound made by that small and unexpected Instrument of Death presently festred and turning into an incurable Cancer killed him God needs no bigger a Lance than an Hair to kill an Atheist as this dying Lord acknowledged Purchas Pilgrims vol. 2. The plucking but a single Hair off the Breast of a Nobleman in the Great Mogul's Court caused an incurable Cancer in his Flesh and proved as mortal as the tearing out his very Heart [k] See Instances in the Gr. Exemplar p. 558. How many Persons have died in the midst of Sport and Merriment excessive Laughter and too great a Joy and what a Number have been found unexpectedly and suddenly dead in their Beds We are obnoxious to numerous perilous Diseases subject to various violent Passions and exposed to a thousand Casualties and Contingencies any one of which may quickly be the Death of us We are in Danger of perishing by falling into the Water or into the Fire by the firing or Fall of some Part of an House by the Fall of a Coach the Fall of an Horse or a Fall off an Horse We know not how soon a Vein may break and let out our Blood and Life How soon an Ague may shake us to Death as [l] 27. Jan. 1402. Knolles's Hist of the Turks p. 235. it did the great Tamerlane in the midst of his great Hopes and greatest Power when he was preparing for the utter rooting out of the Othoman Family and the Conquest and Overthrow of the Greek Empire We know not how soon a Dropsie may drown us how soon a Fever may burn us up how soon a Quincy may stop our Breath how soon an Apoplexy may bereave us of our Senses and of our Lives how soon we may groan under deadly Gripes how soon the Pestilence may smite us and cleave unto us till it has quite consumed us Every Pore in our Bodies is a Door at which Death may enter in If we had as many Hands as Hairs on our Heads they would not be able to stop up all those Passages at which Death may creep in unawares We know not but that some Disease is now breeding in our Bodies which will shortly make an End of us Blessed be God we are now free from Pain but ere long we may be even distracted with it To day we are well and in good Health but to morrow we may be sick heart-sick sick unto Death and the next Day laid in our Coffins and lodged in our Graves Many are gone before us who were likely enough to ontlive us and who knows but our turn may be the very next This Night mine thy Soul may be requied of us and to morrow Morning the Bell may give notice of our Death We are apt to imagine that we may continue in the World till we have effected all we design and yet we have no Promise of God's nothing but our own Presumption to secure us of longer Life And to be sure the Greatness and Multitude of our Sins give us Cause to fear the Fewness of our Daies and Shortness of our Lives to fear lest every Sickness should prove our Death and lest our Death should prove our Damnation If we consider how little need God has of us how many better than our selves go before us how useless and worthless how unprofitable and unserviceable we are in the World what an hgih Provocation our heinous Sins are unto God's infinite Holiness and Justice and how many Waies there are of snatching us away and removing us hence we cannot but confess that it is a thousand to one if ever we reach to an old Age. You that are old indeed have reason to conclude that your Time is sufficiently short your Pulse can beat comparatively but a few Strokes more your Sun draws low is almost set your Glass is almost run your Life is almost done you have one Foot in the Grave already you stand upon the Brink of Eternity and tread upon the borders of another World And will you be guilty of such prodigious inconsideracy still [m] San. de brev vit cap. 4. velut ex pleno abundanti perdere when you have but a few Daies or Hours remaining to spend as extravagantly as if you had all your Years before you You that are weak and infirm sickly and crasie have reason to reckon your Time uncertain and not to flatter your selves and say that threatned Folk live long You that are more eminently useful and holy zealous and forward in the Profession and Practice Maintenance and Defence of the Christian and Reformed Religion your very Religion which will save your Souls may possibly cause you to lose your Lives For your Activity in your Duty to God and your Country you may be [n] Preached on the Lod's-Day after the Discovery of the Murder of Sr. Edwund Berry Godfrey strangled or stabbed by the barbarous Hands of the butcherly bloody Papists But especially you that are
hearty Thankfulness to Christ for it your Obedience to your Lord who does not only vouchsafe it as a Priviledge but command it as a Duty Do this in Remembrance of me Perform this easie sweet Command of thy dying Lord and Saviour who has freed and delivered thee by his Death from the heavy Yoke and grievous Bondage of Jewish Sacrifices and Observances O let our Hearts at such a Time be broken and bleed at the Remembrance of our Sins which brake Christ's Body and shed his Blood Behold in the Sacrifice and bloody Death of Christ represented in this Sacrament the odiousness and baseness of your own Sins and resolve to be the Death of that which was the Death of Christ and rather to die than willingly to do that for which Christ died Abhorr the Thoughts of wilfully choosing so great an Evil as once brought so great a Punishment upon so great a Person as the holy Jesus the well-beloved Son of God Consider seriously upon this Occasion that if God would not spare Christ when he who knew no Sin was by voluntary charitable Assumption of our Guilt to answer for our Sins to be sure then he will not spare us if we wilfully run on in Sin and obstinately allow our selves therein notwithstanding so convincing a Demonstration of his sin-hating Holiness and vindicative Justice Upon due Meditation draw this Conclusion which is the excellent Reasoning of the [p] Facilis est collectio si Deus ne resipiscentibus quidem peccata remittere voluit nisi Christo in poenas succedente multò minùs inultos sinet contumaces Grot. de Satisfact Christi learned Grotius that if God would not pardon the Sins no not of penitent Persons unless Christ did substitute himself in their Room and stand in their Stead to bear the Punishment much less will he suffer unreclaimable Rebels and contumacious Sinners to go unpunished When Christ is set forth in this Sacrament crucified before your Eies think how he intended and aimed at our Mortification and Sanctification in his Death and Passion * Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works †Pet. 2.4 Who his own self bare our Sins in his own Body on the Tree that we being dead to Sin should live unto Righteousness Let us yield that Christ should have his End in his Death and never allow our selves to live in Sin which will render us uncapable of receiving the Benefit of Christ's Death Think how the Unholiness of our Lives is a greater wrong to Christ than the Jews being the very Death of him because as the [q] D. Jackson Vol. 3. p. 343 344 345. learned Dr. Jackson notes it is more against the Will and Liking and good Pleasure of our Saviour whose Will was regulated by Reason and was a constant Rule of Goodness for though a painful shameful Death and that inflicted by his own People went much against his human Will yet he chose rather to die and to suffer the most afflictive Circumstances of Death for us than to suffer us to live and die in our Sins and in the Servitude and Power of Satan Shall we pretend when we approach to the Table of our Lord affectionately to remember a loving dying Saviour and to desire to have his Memory continued and transmitted to Posterity and yet so much forget him upon the return of any Temptation as to repeat that which was the Death of him Shall we weep at the Sacrament and seem to be hugely troubled for those Sins which were the Cause of Christ's Sorrows and yet go about again to destroy and to crucify Christ afresh Shall we commemorate at the Lord's Supper our wonderful Redemption by the precious Blood of Christ and when we have done shall we do the Devil more work and service than the Lord Christ O what a Reproach is this to Christ and what a Sport to the Devil that they that pretend to remember Christ's Dying for them should not find in their hearts to live to him [q] Ego pro istis quos mecum vides nec alapas accepi nec flagella sustinui nec crucem pertuli nec sanguinem fudi nec familiam meam pretio passionis cruoris redemi sed nec regnum illis coeleste promitto nec ad paradisum restitutâ immortalitate denuò revoco Tuos tales Christe demonstra vix tui meis pereuntibus adaequantur qui à te divinis mercedibus praemiis coelestibus honorantur Cypr. de Opere Eleemosynis p. 220. St. Cyprian brings in the Devil boasting and bragging against our Saviour and insulting over us silly and sinful Wretches in this manner I have endured no Buffetings nor born Smitings with the Palms of Men's Hands I have suffer'd no Scourgings nor under-gon the Cross for any of these nor have I redeem'd my Family with the Price of my Passion and Blood-shedding yet shew me O Christ so many so busy so painful so dutiful Servants of thine as I am able to shew thee every where of mine Bring forth if thou canst such a Number of Persons who devote themselves and give their Labours Estates and Time to thee as I can easily produce of those who do all this to me When thou professest to remember that Christ died for thee O die to that for which he died Offer thy self to him and lay out thy self for him who once offered himself for us and in the Sacrament offers himself to us Think no Duty too much for him For Shame for Shame do not serve any longer a bloody Murtherer instead of a blessed Saviour and merciful Redeemer Let our Thoughts and Meditations dwell upon the Demonstration given us in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper of Christ's exceeding incomparable Love to Mankind See there how contrary the sweet and kind Nature of Christ is to the cruel and execrable Nature of the old Tyrant the Devil For as the learned [r] His Mystery of Godliness p. 133 245. Dr. More very well observes whereas the Devil who by unjust Vsurpation had got the Government of the World into his own hands tyrannizing with the greatest Cruelty and Scorn that can be imagined over Mankind thirsted after humane Blood and in most Parts of the World required the Sacrificing of Men which could not arise from any thing else but a salvage Pride and Despight against us This new gracious Prince of God's own appointing Christ Jesus was so far from requiring any such villainous Homage that himself became at once one grand and all sufficient Sacrifice for us to expiate the Sins of all Mankind and so to reconcile the World to God Shall not all this disengage us from Sin and Satan and win and gain us over to Christ And let Christ's Death make thee study to do something answerable to the dearest Love of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has
should worship him in the Christian Religion upon more mild and moderate more gentle and favourable Terms than others have done that we should serve him in quiet peaceable prosperous Circumstances and that we should please him only with the Purity of our unspotted Actions and with the Sanctity of an undefiled Life So that our Faith and Devotion is the more deeply indebted to him because he exacteth less of us and yet hath vouchsafed more to us And therefore since our Princes are now professed Christians and we are not under any Persecution from the higher Powers and our Religion is not disturbed we that are not forced to make Proof of our Faith by harder Experiments ought certainly to study the more to please our Lord and Master by being faithful in those cheaper Services and less costly Duties that lye before us and are incumbent on us For he that fulfils his lesser Offices does give some proof and pledg thereby that he would be ready to perform his Duty in higher Instances and harder Matters if the Case required it and if he were called to it So far that ancient and excellent Father And truly how reasonable is' t and how becoming that if God do not call us to suffer so great and terrible worldly Evils in the Cause of the Gospel and the reform'd Religion we should therefore readily and cheerfully bear and sustain Troubles and Exigencies of less Weight at his Desire and Request That we should confess him by Integrity and Fidelity in his Service and please him by Abstinence from unlawful Pleasures of what kind soever none of which can be so dear to us as is our Life That we should speedily part with our Lusts when we are not commanded presently to part with our Lives That we should regulate and reform our Lives when we are not required to lay down our Lives and to shed and sacrisice our Blood Thanks be to God we are free from the Magistrate's Persecution in the Cause of Religion But beside such Persecution arising from the Civil Magistrate meerly upon the Account of Christianity or of the Profession of the Reformed Religion there is another Persecution proceeding from wicked Men whereby they persecute those that are good these two Ways 1. By their injurious Carriages towards them in Particular 2. By the Wickedness and Ungodliness of their Lives in General 1. By their Injuries and Indignities offer'd and done to good Men in Particular * Isa 59.15 He that departeth from evil maketh himself a Prey He that will not do as others is in Danger of being undone by others He cannot be safe that will not be wicked It is not enough that the Wicked will not be the better for the Good but the Good shall be some way the worse for them If they cannot corrupt and deprave them they will molest and disquiet them If they cannot draw them into Sin they will if possible bring them into trouble and create them Suffering and Sorrow enough They will endeavour some way or other to infringe their Liberty to disturb the Peace and Quiet and to destroy the Comfort of their Lives They will sometimes sin if it be but of purpose to grieve them as by beginning and offering to impose Healths in drinking out of a Design to displease and dissatisfy or ensnare and entangle some part of the Company who they know will either refuse and deny it or be drawn with Reluctancy and unwillingly to it So likewise by customary Swearing and by repeating and multiplying their Oaths to vex and trouble a sober Reprover And in like manner by railing reviling vain and idle speaking frothy and filthy Communication on purpose to cause Vexation and Affliction Of all which Course and Carriage of theirs you may take this double Account The Wicked have a Frejudice and an Antipathy against the Righteous and these are the Reasons of their Dealing with them in this manner 1. The Wicked have a strong Prejudice against them They have a wrong Opinion of them They judg amiss concerning them He that departeth from evil is counted a mad Man or causeth himself to be counted a mad Man [w] See Mr. Gataker in the Engl. Annot. So some render that Place Isa 59.15 * 2 Kings 9.1 as Elisha's Minister was called a mad Fellow Again Ungedly Men count those that are good the Troublers of Israel and postilent Fellows the Causes of Calamities and Procurers of Judgments an Imputation which we shewed you out of Tertullian was cast of old upon the Primitive Christians They reckon those a very Plague and Curse that are a Blessing to the Places where they live and under God the grand Preservers and chief Supporters of them They judge those unworthy to live of whom †Heb. 11.38 the World is not worthy and to whose living and dwelling among them they themselves do sometimes ow their very Lives They deem those as the ‖ 1 Cor. 4.13 Filth and Off-scouring of the World who are indeed God's (*) Mal. 3.17 Jewels and the (†) Psal 16.3 Excellent in the Earth and (‖) Prov. 12.26 more excellent than their Neighbours They look upon good Men as troublesome and vexatious proud and imperious because they reprove them 2. The Wicked and Ungodly have an Enmity and Antipathy against good Men They are * 2 Tim. 3.3 Despisers of those that are good It is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not Lovers of the good [x] Omni immonorum hestes qut ob morum discrepantiam ab amicitia bouorum abhorrent Opposium ei laudi quam habemus Tit. 1.8 Estius in 2 Tim. 3.3 Haters and Persecuters of all good Men So Dr. Hammond paraphrases upon that Place They are displeased with them because they study to please God and are careless of them because they have a care of their Time a care of their own Souls [y] Quibus ipsum nomen vsrutis odio est Sen. de vit beat cap. 19. They hate Holiness and the Righteous for it †Amos 5.10 They hate him that rebuketh in the Gate or in publick And as it is expressed Isa 29.21 They make a Man an Offender for a Word and lay a Snare for him that reproveth in the Gate and turn aside the Just for a Thing of nought by falsehoods make the Cause of the Righteous go the wrong Way They cannot endure the Dispositions and Affections nor bear the Livers and Conversations of the Godly which they find as contrary to their own Humours and Manners as can be We have a notable lively Character and Description of them Wisd 2. from the tenth to the End Let us oppress the poor righteous Man say they let our Strength be the Law of Justice let us lye in Wait for the Righteous because he is not for our turn and he is clean contrary to our Doings he upbraideth us with our offending the Law and objecteth to our Infamy the Transgressings of our Education
their publick prophane Plaies and often uttering very false and proud and hard Words against them And according as they meet with Occasion and find any Opportunity how do they persecute with the Hand * Mich 7.3 Do evil with both Hands earnestly How ready are their Hearts to rise against them and their Hands to be lifted up to strike at them and to pull them down to the very Ground that so they may be trampled upon and troden under Foot Yea how do they persecute them by their Lives continually vexing their pious Souls with their unlawful Deeds grieving and wounding paining and piercing their very Hearts The wilful Wickedness of the bold and daring Sinners of the Times in their open dishonouring God and Religion is a cruel Torment to serious Souls and makes their Lives a wearisome pressing Burthen to them They that live godly do suffer daily the sad Persecution of wicked Mens offensive afflictive Lives and Manners What a Persecution is this to force good Men to cry out with David †Psal 120.5 Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar to cause ‖ Psal 119.136 Rivers of Waters to run down their Eyes as they did from David's because Men keep not God's Law Now since we live in such evil Daies in which there is such inveterate Enmity against the Practise of Piety and such a b Omne tempus Clodios non omne Catones feret Seneca Ep. 97. malignant persecuting Spirit reigning and raging in the Breasts of the Wicked against the Good let us keep a (*) Amos 5.13 prudent Silence in an evil Time Let us take care that we do not unnecessarily [c] Quia dies mali sunt h. e. quia periculosa sunt tempora bonis adversa ut cauè hî sit agendum ne crabrones quod dicitur urites Crellii Ethica Christiana pag. 32. provoke and exasperate them for we know not what their Malice may grow to nor give them any just Occasion of furious vexatious Opposition Let us see that we do not * 1 Pet. 4.15 suffer as Evil-doers from them nor as rash and heady imprudent and unwary Persons In evil Daies Evil will come soon enough upon us and we have no reason to accelerate and hasten our own Suffering Let 's labour therrfore by all discreet and wise direct and innocent Means to keep our selves out of their Hands to prevent their taking Advantage against us and endeavour to solace our selves in God and to preserve the Comforts of a good Conscience To be patient under and to glory in our Sufferings from them To consider with our selves that it is far better to be troubled by the Wicked than to be Troublers of the Good and to be thankful and joyful that we are not guilty of their Wickedness nor deserve such Usages at their Hands And let us study and endeavour to render †Rom. 12.17 21. 1 Thess 5.15 not Evil for Evil but still to return good for evil to the very Worst and Wickedest of them And whatever Measure we receive from them let us not be disheartned and discouraged and dish'd out of Countenance by them nor suffer our selves to give Way to their Wickedness to be wearied out of our Holiness to be laughed and jeered and sconed out of our Religion but let 's run the Race that is set before us though all the Dogs in the Street bark at us Let us with Zeal and Courage bear up against them and bear Witness against them and if we cannot win and gain them at least shame and silence them judg and condemn them by an holy unblameable exemplary Life as Noah * Eeb. 11.7 condemned the Old World Like Stars let us appear most clear and bright in the sharpest and coldest Night And let the Vexation we meet with from the Wicked here drive us the oftner to God to make our Complaint and Moan to him and cause us to long the more earnestly for Heaven where we shall be for ever out of the Reach of Satan and all his Instruments and out of all Danger of any Enemy Persecutor or bad Neighbour And so we have fully considered the Reason in the Text the Force of which even as to our selves lies plainly thus The Daies are such wherein yeare in Danger of Infection by the wicked Errours and damnable Heresies of the Times In Danger of Corruption by the common Sins and reigning Vices of the Times and in Danger of Persecution by the injurious Carriages and grievous wicked Lives of the profligate and desperate Sinners of the Times and therefore redeem the Time because the Daies are evil in these respects These various Evils must not make us give place to Unfruitfulness but make us much more careful and watchful to take every good Occasion [d] See Mr. Bayne on the Text. If an Harvest-Day be cloudy and windy or prove catching Weather as well call it Men will not therefore keep in but work more diligently and warily Good Opportunities in evil Times are [e] Qusa dies mali sunt hoc est quia tempus ab hominibus plerumque malis rebus transigitur it aut nonfacile sese opportunitas offerat eos arguends officii commonefaciendi Crell Eth. Christ p. 31. few and scare The more rare these Commodities grow the more we should engross them And as some kinds of good Opportunities are hard to come by so not like to abide and continue long with us in evil Times and therefore while the Occasion lasteth we should strive to make the utmost Advantage and Improvement of it CHAP. IV. Six other Reasons added to that in the Text. We ought to redeem the Time 1. Because our Time is afforded us by God to this very End and Purpose 2. Because we have all of us lost much Time already 3. Because the Time that remains is very short and uncertain and our Special Opportunities far shorter and more uncertain and the Work we have to do very great 4. Because we can neither bring Time back when once it is past unimproved nor any way prolong and lengthen out the Daies of our Lives when Death comes to put an End and Period to them 5. Because we shall all be certainly called to an Account for our Time 6. Because this Time is all we can redeem and upon this short Moment of Time depends long Eternity BUt besides the Reason in the Text I shall farther shew you that we ought to redeem the Time upon a six-fold Account The first Additional Reason We must redeem the Time because our Time is afforded us by God to this very End and Purpose that we should improve and apply it to rational and religious Vses [a] Ego non quaeram quae sint initia universorum quis rerum formator quis sit artisex hujus munde quâ ratione tanta magnitudo in legem ordinem venerit unde lux tanta fundatur Ego nesciam
of it but fail in the Principle and Manner of the Duty and never look to the [g] The end of all Exercises of Piety and Devotion is more and mine to dispose our Hearts to the Love and our Wills to the Obedience of our blessed Creatour and Redeemer And busying our selves in any of them without this Design may well be counted in the Number of the fruitless and unaccountable Actions of our Lives Thus to do is prodigally to waste and mis-spend our Time as the Jews were upbraided by one of their Adversaries with doing upon the account of their Sabbath saying They they lost one Day in seven Dr. Fowler 's Design of Christianity pag. 186. End of the Duty have no real Design and hearty Intention to please and glorify God thereby and to gain and encrease in true Holiness of Heart and Life If you act not out of a Principle of Love and inward Life and Liking but only out of some external respect If you perform your Services not out of a filial ingenuous Disposition but merely out of a Slavish Fear of being beaten or of losing the Wages you expect for your Work If you use only a careless and supine Devotion If you matter not at all how little you do for God or what is the Frame of your Minds and Hearts in what you do If you give way to vain Thoughts in holy Duties If you be not intent in your religious Services but instead of using the World as if you used it not you use good Duties as if you did not use them observe the Lord's-Day as if you observ'd it not confess and repent as if you did no such thing hear as if you heard not and pray as if you prayed not If you pray only out of Custom and do not mind and well consider what you say nor are affected with what you speak nor desire what you ask If you pray and reade and hear only because you are brought up so to do and have taken up such a Practice or because you would satisfy natural Conscience and have the good Opinion and Word of all in your Families and be commended by your Neighbours for religious Persons and do not pray to this necessary End that so you may enjoy Communion with God and get and obtain Pardon and Grace and Strength from God nor reade the Scripture and good Books and hear the Word preached that so you may know your Duty in Order to the Practice and Performance of it all the Time that is thus spent in Duty is in a manner Time lost and mis-spent in so doing you lose your Duties and you lose your Time too But especially if any shall dare to do nothing but whisper and talk and laugh to mock and jeer at the Word and the Minister of it to be undecent and rude and profane in their Carriage and Behaviour in a Christian Assembly in the Time of Divine Worship in the [i] Vae mihi quia ibi pecco ubi peccata emendare debeo Bernard de interior Domo c. 33. Presence of the great God and in the Sight of the holy * 1 Cor. 11.10 Angels This is to lose the Time of publick Duty if it be to be lost at all This is to lose the Time of Duty with a Witness And so I have done with the third Vse namely of Reproof and Rebuke to several Sorts of Persons who are guilty of the Loss the lamentable Loss of their precious Time and unvaluable Opportunities CHAP. VI. The fourth and last Vse is of Exhortation to Magistrates Ministers the People in general Six quickening Motives to press the Duty of Redemption of Time 1. Consider how notably Jesus Christ redeem'd the Time when he was here in the World 1. He redeem'd the Time to save us 2. He redeem'd the Time to be an Example to us 2. Consider further that as Christ did once redeem the Time to save us So the Devil does daily redeem the Time to destroy us 3. Consider how very notably many of the Saints and Servants of God have improved and redeemed their Time 4. Consider that it is an Act of spiritual Wisdom to rodeem the Time and mere Madness and gross Folly not to redeem the Time 5. Consider that if now thou losest and squanderest away thy Time thou wilt at last be forced thy self to condemn thy foolish Neghgence and to justify the Care and Diligence of others that were wiser for their own Souls then thy self 6. Consider that do what we can to redeem our Time we shall never repent at last of any Care we have had to redeem it but shall certainly blame and find fault with our selves for being so careless of our Time so negligent of good Opportunities as we have been Serious considerative Christians do blame themselves for their Loss of Time even in their Life-time but they are especially sensible of it and exceedingly ashamed of themselves for it at their Death THe fourth and last use shall be of Exhortation to put you upon the Duty of Redeeming Time Let Magistrates vigorously redeem the Time in the faithful Execution and impartial Administration of governing Justice and in being active and zealous bold and couragious in the Cause of God and Goodness * Rem 13.3 in being a Terrour to Evil and not to good Works and in acting for the †i Pet. 2.14 Punishment of Evil-doers and for the Praise of them that do well in repressing Vice and checking Profaneness and daily dashing Sin out of Countenance and in countenancing and encouraging nourishing and cherishing Sobriety and Temperance Vertue and Godliness Holiness and Religion Let Ministers industriously redeem the Time in ‖ Acts 20.27 not shunning to declare to the People all the Counsel of God in urging Truths upon their own Hearts and pressing and enforcing them upon others Souls in labouring abundantly in the Lord's Vineyard in (*) Verse 28. taking heed unto themselves and (†) 1 Tim. 4.16 to their Doctrine and to all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made them Over-seers in feeding the Church of God with the wholsome Food of sound Words in (‖) Heb. 13.17 watching for Souls as they that must give Account in [*] Acts 20.31 daily warning Sinners with Tears in perswading Men with Earnestness and Importunity as those that well [†] 2 Cor. 5.11 know the Terrour of the Lord in endeavouring to [‖] 1 Tim. 4.16 save themselves and them that hear them to () Jude 23. save some with Fear pulling them out of the Fire in taking all possible Care lest they [] 1 Cor. 9.26 beat the Air and * Gal. 2.2 Phil. 2.16 run in vain and labour in vain left their Peoples †Ezek. 3.18 Blood be required at their Hands and lest when they have preached to others they themselves should become * 1 Cor. 9.27 Cast-aways in discharging their Duty so painfully and faithfully that though
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