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A10553 The redemption of lost time Powel, Daniel. 1608 (1608) STC 20825; ESTC S105744 52,135 280

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of glorie And therefore the Holy Ghost counsaileth vs Eccli 4.20 to preserue and keepe Time as we doe gold so shall we depart from euill which is as if he had told vs that we should vse imploy it in good works not loose the least moment thereof Againe he willeth vs to be aduised by the same Ecclesiasticus Eccli 14.14 saying Defraud not thy selfe of the good day and let not the portion of the good desires ouerpas thee One trāslation hath Particula bonae diei others as likewise in the vulgar editiō Boni doni One while he saith let no part of the good day ouerpas thee for nought another while he saith of the good gift or desires The meaning is to admonish vs that we spend wel the Time and the Day yea all days for he that can wel order redres one day may by the same amēd and reforme al his life in the same man ought to do all the good he can for him selfe for his neighbors exercising himself in works of Pietie and mercie King Dauid so much feared to loose the least particle of Time so farre indeuored wholy to imploy the same wel that he striued contēded with the sun for early vprising to praise God which at lēgth the king preuented according to those words Psal 11● ver 147.148 Praeuenerūt oculi mei ad te diluculo Early in the morning do I cry vnto thee Mine eies preuēt the morning watch that I might meditate in thy words for before the Sun was vp I was occupied in the same Which according to the exposition of S. Ambrose is as much as if more clearely hee had spoken Rise earlier thou Christiā before the Sun be vp for I hold it great negligēce carelesnesse most culpable in thee that the beames of the Sunne when it riseth should find thee idle and sleeping in thy bed Thou art ignorant perhaps that thou oughtest euery day to render vnto God almighty the first fruits of thy toung and heart See thou haue a daily haruest and daily fruite in like maner And in another Psalme the Prophet saith Psal 77.4 Anticipauerunt vigilias oculi mei My eyes preuented and awaked before the watch-men and gard of the citie that is to say as S. Ierome declareth before that any body went to watch or did awake I awaked and watched at midnight and in the morning at mid-day in the euening and finally seuen times a day doe I laud my Lorde yea alwayes and at all houres haue I his prayses in my mouth Hee well knew how to obserue Time hee duely acknowledged what it was and what stood him auaileable as of a thing so pretious hee knew how to make profite thereof without loosing one iot either of the Good day or of the good gift Time saith Theophrastus is a most costly Theophrast expense Seneca Epist 1. And Seneca in his first Epistle which hee wrote to his friend Lucilius saith thus What man is he that will suffer me to set price on his Time How much thinkes hee is the day worth admitting that euery day hee were to die wherfore we do much deceiue our selues herein because we fix not our eies vpon death a great part whereof is already past all that of our age life which yet remaineth behinde death holdes in possession Wherfore my deere friend Lucilius persist still in doing of that which thou thy selfe in thy Letters didst write vnto me thou doest being a person that so well knowest the due estimation of Time imbrace al the houres so shalt thou depend lesse vppon the morrowe pointing as it were this day with thy finger not permitting the same to ouerpasse thee idlely for the life putting it selfe off with prolonging flies away passeth at random And all things els beeing estrainged alienated frō vs onely Time is ours and very naturall reason hath infourmed vs that we obtaine the possession of a very swift thing which runneth away so fast and slideth amaine yea flyes apace from betweene our hands The knowledge and discretion of mortall men is so litle and weake that they impute it a great losse incase they leaue vndone the least vilest thing or smallest trifle being indeed reuocable and amendable though pretermitted none thinkes that hee oweth or is indebted any thing for hauing receiued Time cōsidering that Time is but one sole thing which yet the gratefull mā can make no due satisfaction for that which he receiued as hee ought in regard of the high price and for that the debt is great in vndertaking the day vpon himself And in his booke of the shortnesse of life Idem lib. de breuit vitae he saith There is no man that will forgoe or part with his patrimonie or substance nor disinherite himselfe but rather will keepe it and augment it as for Time and his course of life hee will with great facility impart and bestow them many times on diuerse vaine things They are very niggard of their wealth but for Time they are most prodigall and lauish when as indeed their honest and laudable couetousnesse should be onely of Time because most truely as in the same Booke then presently after hee saith Time is the most precious thing that is and yet for al that they dispraise it and hold it of no esteeme for nought and of no worth as though it were right nought indeed bearing no price at all Not one makes reckoning of it when they haue it but if any be sicke then shall you see bowing of knees crouching before the Physitian and if hee feare the sentence of death that man will waigh him with gold for to ransome his life That blessed holy man Laurentius Iustinianus Laur. Iust de vitae solit 6.10 treating of Time and the value thereof sayeth thus Who hath that power to cōprehend or conceiue in his heart what a precious thing Time is O what grace eloquence or sweet flowing speach of man is able to declare it None knowes it but such as now want and misse the same Then all the goods of the world honours dignities and prelacies the pompe of this age corporall delights and bodily pleasures yea and all maner recreations sports and pastimes ioyes and intertainements whatsoeuer they be which are vnder the cope of heauen would bee giuen in boote and exchanged for one houre of Time if it were possible to bee obtained because in this most short space they would appease the diuine Iustice they would make glad and reioyce the Angels they would eschewe from that fearefull sentence of eternall damnation and gaine yea without al doubt they would procure life euerlasting And they are most vnhappie vpon whom the Sunne of mercie is already set who most irreuocably shall descend into that lake of miserie where there is neither order nor good course Iob. 10.15 22 but fright and horror perpetuall and with good reason shall
Sepulchre wherein vpon the Tomb or vpper stone therof were written or ingraued these words Here lieth Simil the Romaine Capitaine whose life though it were long yet for all that is reputed to liue but onely seauen yeares because in them hee retired himselfe from the Court and being freed of the cares and charge in Office which formerly was imposed vpon him he addicted himself to the studie of vertue to his owne meditations and godly exercises Damascen in his historie of Barlaam and Iosaphat reporteth Damasc histor Barla cap. 18. that when Iosaphat demanded of Barlaam of what age hee was of he made him this aunswere if I be not deceaued I am fourty and fiue yeares of age and so many yeares there are since I was borne What doest thou answere mee replied Iosaphat for thou seemest to mee that thou art past seauentie I mary sayed Barlaam if thou reckonest my yeares euer since I was borne into this world thou sayest right and art not deceaued for that I am past seauentie But those yeares doe by no meanes seeme vnto me yeares of life nor can such be reckoned in the Account which were spent and consumed in the vanities of this world because then as seruant to my sinnes I liued after the taste of my sensuality and appetite of my flesh and outward man being then without all doubt dead according to the inward mā and so I may not call them yeares of life which rather were yeares of death But after that by the grace of God I was crucified and dead to the world and the world to me and haue put off the olde man then liued I no more after my sensuality nor after the flesh being enemie to the Spirit but onely to Iesus Christ and those yeares I call yeares of life and saluation And I beleeue that all those who remaine in sinne and obey the diuell and consume their lyues in delights and vaine concupiscences are departed this life and dead because that Sin is the death of the soule Rom. 6.19.21 as affirmeth the blessed Apostle S. Paul Rom. 6.21 Godly S. Ierome expounding the first Chapter of the Prophet Haggai sayth Hieron in Agg. cap. 1. All that Time wherein we giue place to Sinne and serue our owne vices perisheth and will be lost and as though it had neuer beene shall be reputed for nought It is reported of Titus Vespasian that being one day at supper and calling to minde that in that day hee had shewed no curtesie nor rewarded any body nor had performed any good turne or done any good deede to any person hee spake with great feeling sorrow of heart to all them that were then present Oh my friends how grieuously sorie am I to haue lost this day Then let a Christian man holde for lost that day which by him is ill imployed and make that reckoning that hee shall haue nothing for it For manifestatiō of this truth that the yeares spent and consumed in vices and wickednesse are not properly OVRS Seneca saith Seneca That there are many who first must leaue to liue before they cā begin to liue Time sayeth that famous Doctor Thomas de Kempis was bestowed vpon vs Tho. de Kemp. 1. pag. Serm. ad Nouit cap. 7. to performe good works not for idlenesse nor to heare or rehearse olde tales fables vanities nor things of no value Wherefore my good Sonnes speaking to the Nouices in Religion let neither houre nor anie time ouerpasse you without some fruit and profit And when you are freely licensed to speake you are not permitted to talke or conferre about any other thing but what shall be commodious necessarie and profitable For as you are to giue reckoning to God almighty for euery idle word Mat. 12.36 so are you bound to yeeld a straite account for all the Time which you haue lost and ill imployed Ludouicus Blosius amongst other his exhortations which he giues to such as Lud. Blos purpose to leade a spirituall life aduiseth and sayth That he should regard and weigh the estimation and value of Time and esteem the least part thereof if ill spent how litle soeuer it be for a very great losse And that mysticall Thaulerus Io. Thauler amongst other documents admonitions hee giues to religious persons sayth Take heede and beware as from the most pestiferous poyson that is of the least losse of Time And so one of the Offences whereof the Remembrancers or Chequer-officers and our Accusers at the day of Iudgement shall accuse and taxe vs withall will be losse of Time according to that which the Prophet Ieremie in his Lamentations doth giue vs to vnderstand Lame 1.21 Vocauit aduersum me Tempus The Lord called Time to be witnesse against mee The which place Thomas of Aquine expoundeth of the day of iudgement Tho. de Aquin Sap. 5. because amongst other things wherof we are there to be charged burthened one will be Time Where all the whole orbe of the earth in defence of Gods honour will commence hard suite against all sottish senselesse sinners accusing thē requiring Iustice against them for the wrong and hurt they did against both their Creator the creatures by abusing and misimploying them and halling them by the haire against their wills to serue their owne lusts wicked appetites CHAP. 3. How GOD in his iust Iudgement cutteth off sinners frō enioying the benefit of Time who before made no reckoning thereof to profit themselues thereby as they ought and might haue done NOTwithstanding that solemne Oath of the Angell whereof wee spake in the first chapter that on some day Time should finish make an end of all in generall at the day of vniuersall Iudgement after which there should be no more Time to deserue either wel or ill or to make any sauing repentance And that euery man in particular in the last day of his life is to expect his owne peculiar Iudgement yet for all that it is greatly to be feared considered That God accustometh for the punishment of the heedlesse and negligent sinner to cut off Time from him to shorten his life least he should profit himselfe thereby as he ought and might haue done considering that hee hath ill imployed and mis-spent the same So teacheth that famous Bernardine de Sena S. Bern. art 3. cap. 4. and for proofe thereof citeth that place of the Apocalipse Apoc. 3.3 Si non vigilaueris veniam ad te tanquam fur If thou watch not I wil come on thee as a thiefe and thou shalt not know what houre I wil come vpon thee Whereupō God threatneth the carelesse sinner who frō day to day deferreth prolongeth his conuersion and amendment dreaming imagining that he shall haue Time enough yea to spare sayeth thus Be not negligent and carelesse neither iest nor dally thou with Time neither esteem the same so certaine so sure so long nor so at thy