lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise to think on these things 2. By his Death And so while we see a young man taken off almost in the midst of his dayes it gives a fair warning to you that survive to husband and improve your time This shews that it 's dangerous to delay and put off our work till another time or to trust to Youth or to hope for too morrow for Youth cannot secure us from death and too morrow often failes those that stay and hope for it We see here that Death hath inverted the order of Nature and the Father closing the Eyes of his Son whom he hoped might have out-liv'd him long The lesson then that his death reads us is this That life is uncertain and this should make us afraid to defer our work lest the night should steal upon us ere we are aware of it or prepared for it Let every one of us therefore resolve upon our work and set roundly to it let us take the present time which God allows us to work in and requires to be spent in his service none ever complain'd in the end of beginning this work too soon when many have perished and been lost for ever who alwayes thought it too soon yet to begin Death draws on whether we will provide for it or no and whether we work or loyter the fatal hour still approaches it cannot be far off to them from whom it is farthest and by this instance it appears it may be nearer than we are aware of Having then before us an example that proves the truth both of the Text and Sermon Let us work the works of him that sent us while it is day the night cometh when no man can work FINIS ERRATA Pag. 29. line 15. read imply'd p. 30. l. 28. r. Life only Books sold by Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside A Morning Exercise against Popery The Young Man's Instructer and Old Mans Remembrancer A large Exposition on the Assemblies Catechism By T. Doolittel 1. Forty six Sormons on the whole Eighth Chapter of the Romans 2. A Practical Exposition on the Four select Psalms viz. 4th 42 51 63. The whole being in 45 Sermons Both by Tho. Horton D. D late Preacher at St. Hellens London Childs Delight with Pictures for teaching English to which is added an English Grammar Reading and Spelling made easie wherein all the words of our English Bible are set down in an Alphabetical Order and divided into their distinct Syllables By Tho Lye Liberty for Captives By Tho. Doolitel The Plain Mans Defence against Popery wherein Popery is proved to be 〈◊〉 against Scripture fitted for the meanest capacity By a Chaplain to a Person of Honour Two Disputations of Original Sin By Rich. Baxter An Exposition on the whole Epistle to the Colossians By John Dallie A Treatise of Holy Violence for Heaven A Plea for the Godly The Duty of Self-denyal All three by Tho. Watson The Immortality of the Soul By Tho. Wadsworth The Almost Christian By Matth. Mead. Spiritual Wisdom improved against Temptation By Matt. Mead. A Method of Meditation By Tho. White The Godly Mans Ark. By Edm. Calamy The Heart-Treasury first and second parts Closet-Prayer Both by Oliver Heywood A Treatise of Quenching the Spirit By Theoph. Pawlwheel The Sinfulness of Sin By Ralph Venning Mysterial Union between Christ and Believers And Sober Singularity By Rowland Stedman John Janeway's Life Saints Encouragement Both by James Janeway The Spirit of Prayer By Nath. Vincent A Plain Exposition of the Assemblies Catechism By Tho. Lye Weaving Spiritualized or The Weaver's Pocket Book By J. C. D. D. Eighteen Sermons by William Whittaker with his Funeral Sermon By Dr. Ansley Reformation or Ruin By Tho. Hotchkis The Life of Dr. Staunton with a Dialogue between a Minister and a Stranger and a Discourse of Christian Conference Index Biblicus or A Table of the Holy Scriptures A Plain and Familiar Discourse concerning the Lords Supper By Rich. Kidder Antapologia or A Discourse of Excuses setting forth the variety and vanity of them By Jo. Sheffield
them to run to their utmost Extent and therefore David Psalm 39. 5. compares their length to a Span but of this little how much is liable to be cut off by Accidents and Incertainties or by the determinations of an all-wise and over-ruling providence that though we may be sure that at their longest they are but as a Span long yet no man can be sure that they shall be so much as a Span long to him Both which brevity and uncertainty of our Lives the Scriptures teach us while it compares our time to things that are soon done or that are very incertain in their durance The Shepheards Tent or the Weavers shuttle are fit Emblems of the shortness of our dayes and St. James tell us our life is even a vapour and the Prophet Isaiah proclaims that all flesh is Grass to shew how uncertain and unstable our continuance even in this short time is And this Incertainty of our Lives must needs be evident to him that shall but consider either the Principles we are composed of or the Accidents we are liable to or the daily Experiences we have of it The Principles we are composed of are different in their Nature and repugnant one to another hot and cold moist and dry by the Wisdom and Power of God are tempered together in the dust that makes up our Frame these discordant Humors are alwaies at variance amongst themselves and there is an Intestime War continually maintain'd that threatens the ruin of the whole Frame How easily may one Humor get the upper hand of all the rest and yet our safety consists in the equal temperature of them and if one prevail the Body is destroyed by the Tyranny and Praedominance of that one Humor so that our Lives depend upon the success of a scuffle and are uncertain as the chance of War But besides these how numerous and various are External accidents who knows what a Night may produce or what may be in the Womb of a Morning Who can say that his path is secure or that no Creature has received a Commission to day to take away his Life the very Inanimate Creatures are sufficiently armed against our Lives if God does but give the Word and the wayes to effect it are too many and too different for our Wisdom or Prudence to fore-see or prevent And to all this the undeniable proof of Experience may be added our dayes are uncertain beyond dispute for almost every day we have Instances that confirm it Death does not wait upon the course of Nature nor observe the order of Birth but shoots his arrows hood-winkt among the Herd He snatches the tender Infant from its Mothers breast and cuts off the Young-man in the midst of his strength and dayes as well as gathers the Hoary head like a Shock of Corn in his season into the Grave The Young and Old the Weak and Strong are huddled together in the Dust and there is no Age or State that can secure and make us free from Deaths arrest Here he fells the full grown Oak and there he cuts up the tender Speers and every dayes Experience makes the Proverb good viz. As soon goes the green Tree to the Fire as the dry What should man do then whom Scripture and Reason and Experience daily convince of the incertainty of his life Or to what end is he made so palpably sure that he is at no certain stay here but that he might lift up his thoughts to what is more firm and improve the present Seasons which only weare sure of to the obtaining an Eternal and Unchangeable state For since this Life as incertain as it is is in order to a Future state which once entred upon admits of no alteration that our Lives are uncertain does earnestly call upon us to hasten our Work and improve our time that we may be ready for our Change whensoever it comes That we must dye and come to Judgment makes it necessary for us to prepare for death but since we know not but that we may dye to morrow it 's necessary that we provide for its coming to day This then is the Use we should make of all the Memento's we have of Mortality or of the incertainty or frailty of our Lives and we should never see or hear of any snatcht away from us but it should hasten us in our Work and make us more diligent to prepare for our turn for who knows whose is next And to this end I have been desired to apply this sad and amazing providence that has lately befallen one of the Chiefest Families in our Parish that seeing a Young-man cut off near the midst of his dayes those that are left both Young and Old may lay it to heart and be awakened to consider by this Instance how uncertain our time is that they may be stirred up to mind their Work in the present time lest their End prevent their Preparations for it And to this end I have been directed to this Portion of Scripture as giving a sufficient Ground to build such an Exhortation upon I must Work the Works of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can Work Words that are capable of a Two-fold Application as they are the Reason of our Saviours practice and as they are Rule of ours As they are the reason of our Saviours acting so they were spoken by our Saviour of himself and have a peculiar Relation to himself but the Reason they are founded upon makes them a Rule to us and from that they are an argument reaching ever to us to be diligent and sedulous in our business Our Saviour was sent into the World to work the great work of our Redemption and as he came into the world and the Word was made Flesh that he might dye so was he while he was upon Earth to prove his Mission from the Father and by the works he wrought convince the World that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Messiah he that was to come And therefore having here found a Subject fit to manifest his power upon and by a Miracle to manifest his Mission he does not stay to dispute or debate the impertinent and erroneous Quaere of his Disciples Who sinn'd this man or his Parents that he was born blind but denying both parts of the Question hastens to the Cure and that upon this Reason I must work the works c. that is I must take all opportunities to do the Works about which I am sent into the world and make use of my present time for my death is coming by which these works must have an end Where his reason of working while it is day being founded upon the general reason of approaching death the words will be found to be of equal extent with the Reason they are built upon and are a strong Argument for the like diligence to every one that is under the like circumstances of Mortality If therefore there
not work the works of him tha◠〈◊〉 us because as he sent us to live in Holiness towards him so he has also made it our duty to live in righteousness towards our Neighbour And thus as we may be considered as men in general there are works that are incumbent on us in that relation and as we are men we have a service to do for God to Man and 't is an equal Violation of the Law of God to rob God or to wrong Man since God has equally forbidden both Much Sacrifice will not expiate that sin nor many prayers drown the voice of its cry nothing but repentance and a reformation of our Injustice and Immorality nothing but a ceasing to do evil and a learning to do the contrary good will procure our acceptance with God and therefore we have him in the Prophet expostulating with his people who were highly injurious towards man and yet pretended to be extreamly Religious towards God They even cloy'd him with the fat of their fed Beasts and even darkned Heaven with the clouds of Incense they observed exactly their New Moons and Feasts their Sabbaths and Solemn Assemblies but withall practiced Injustice and Rapine and Violence and their hands were full of Blood they had no pitty to the Poor nor mercy to the Widdow nor regard to the Fatherless Children God therefore declares his dislike of their Religious service because of their defect in these moral duties and calls them first to the practice of them and then promises to hear and accept them in the others Let us reaâ—â— and weigh the first chapter of Isaiah from the 10th verse to the 21th and there we shall fâ—nd our duty in this case and find this made good that a Religion towards God without a Conscience towards man is defective and in vain Our Work then that we are sent to do relates to Man as well as God and that as we are considered in general as men 2. But we may farther be considered as we are men placed by God in some particular Relation and Sphear to act in whether as Magistrate or Minister as Master or Servant as Husband or Wife as Parent or Child these and the like several Relations and Places call for several Works from us which are our duties as so related and as set in those places Of these a care must be had for in these alâ—o we serve him that sent us and he that is a faithful Labourer a good Christian will not nay dare not neglect these The consideration of all which shews that a Christians life was never designed for Jollity or Idleness Having given you a sight of thus much Work to be done without saying any more 〈◊〉 â—â—ve evidently proved that we have no time to spare in whâ—â— we may lawfully sit still and do nothing our Work and our Time are equally matched for as long as we live we must be doing Much less can we find any time to do evil in or to serve the flesh or to be instrumental to the carrying on of the designs of the Kingdom of darkness for God made us for himself and gave us our time to be employed in his Service and 't is no less than robbing of God and being unfaithful in our trust to give any part of it to the service of another Thus much may suffice to have spoken of the Work we have to do 2. The next thing to be considered is the time when this Work ought to be done a thing almost as material to be enquired after as the Work it self for as some mistake or are ignorant of their Work so it may be more mistake the true notion of their time and therefore defer it because they think the time not yet come to begin or set about it This time the Text says is while it is day and the meaning of that has been shown to be while the time of Life lasts for the Text plainly excludes Eternity from being a season for work for it tells us if this Life be at an end so is our work too the Night cometh wherein no man can Work Now since the time of this Life may be divided into three parts past present and to come all the matter of our Enquiry will be Which of these three is our working time in which we ought to apply our selves to our business For that which is past there can be no question made whether that be a time for Work which remains yet to be done for it is elaps'd and gone and being once lost is irrecoverable we may more easily recall the River that slides insensibly by hasting to the Ocean than recover the dayes that are silently stollen on towards Eternity there is no use to be made of the time past but only this by reflexion upon what we have lost or idly mispent to quicken and awaken our selves to the more careful improvement of what remains 'T is impertinent to wish that we had our time again since that cannot be all our wisdom in this case is to lay the faster hold upon what we yet have This therefore being granted that the time that is past is none of ours and cannot now be imployed in Work yet it may be hoped that what is to come may be counted our own and that we have a better hold of that 'T is true at present we are not disposed for Work or are otherwise imployed but we are Young or hope to live long or hope at least that we shall not dye yet and so hope we may have time enough for Work hereafter This is the usual Plea that men make for delaying their Work till the time to come and this is the ruiu of many a one and a fatal Snare in which Satan entangles many an unwary Soul while he beats them off from what is present and sure and turns them over to what is future and contingent He perswades them 't is too soon to repent and reform yet that 't is too early to sadden and damp the jollity and briskness of their Youth with the sad entertainment of sorrow and repentance or with the melancholly apprehensions of Death and Judgment another time he perswades them to be more fit for those things and that Old Age or at least an Age more solid and stayed more flegmatick and serious than the sprightliness of Youth would be a season much more proper to mind and accomplish that work But while unwary man listens to these charms the fatal hour steals on and the night comes wherein no man can work How many defer their Work till Old age that dye in the prime of their Youth and how many delay till too morrow that never live to see that day How many put off their Repentance till they come to be sick whom death never gives so fair a warning to but cuts them down unawares in the midst of their health and strength Delays are dangerous and if they are any where so then much more
be the same reason for us to be diligent in minding and hastning our work that we have to do that there was for him to mind and hasten his these words will be found to concern us and be to us as well as to our Saviour an undeniable reason of diligence in our work while we have life and time And this a short Enquiry into the sense and importance of the words will prove And in them we may consider these three things 1. That our Saviour had works to do I must work the works of him that sent me 2. That he took the present time and lay'd hold upon every opportunity that offered it self to do these Works in I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day 3. That the Reason why he did thus and so carefully lay'd hold on every season to do his Works in was least the night should prevent him the night cometh when no man can work 1. The first Consideration I shall wholly wave for thought it be worth our Enquiry what the Works were he had to do and by whom he was sent and how he that was in his own Nature God blessed for evermore could be sent by any since being God he could have no Superâ—or to send him and so upon the same Reason how the works he did he being God could be the works or by the appointment of any other but himself which may all be answered by considering the distinction of his Nature and his Office yet since the considering these is not pertinent to my present purpose the force of the words as to the business in hand lying in his diligence in working and in the reason he gives of it it may suffice to have observed that he had works to do without entring into any discourse concerning the nature of them or the accounts upon which he was obliged to perform them I shall pass therefore from this to what is more pertinent to the present purpose and consider 2. That he took the present time to do his works in and this is implyed in that expression I must work while it is day To wave here the curious Criticisms and Conjectures of some upon the day here mentioned by day here I understand the time of this life here upon earth and so our Saviour saying I must work while it is day the meaning is I must be doing the works of him that sent me now while I am upon earth now while I am in the flesh So Theophylact the day is this present life And Pisâ—ator to the same sense he compares the course of his life upon earth to a day and therefore is the time of Life called a day with an especial respect and relation to working The day is a time and the only time for work the night is appointed for rest and so is our life the only time of doing what is to be done in order to our Eternal state in death we rest from our Labours Our Saviour therefore would let no opportunity pass of doing good while it was day that is while the time of his life upon Earth lasted and that for the Reason which he gives in the next words The night cometh when no man can work And that is the thing which comes next to be considered to give an account why he was so diligent in working and the Text tells us 3. That the Reason why he did thus and so carefully lay'd hold on the present season was lest the night should prevent him the night comes when no man can work In what sense the night is here to be taken is easie to understand by what has been said of the day to which this answers For if that means the time of this life then by Night must here be meant the time of death for this Reason then our Saviour says he must work while he lived because death was coming in which we have a twofold Reason couched 1. From the nearness of it the night cometh it is not said it will come but it does come in that implying that it was now approaching and already upon his Journey towards him 2. From the effect of it when come No man can work As if he had said I must now do what I have to do while I have time and life my time is not long my death cometh and is at hand and when that 's once come these Works of mine must cease for in death no man can work parallel to which Resolution and Reason is the advice and argument of the Wise man Eccles 9. 10. Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do do it with all thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledg nor wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest And having thus briefly cleared the sence and importance of the Words and considered the reason and foundation they stand upon there is no man but at the very first sight must needs conclude that the Case is ours We are under the same Circumstances that he was and the same Reason that prevailed with him to diligence in his Work is much more urgent upon us Had he Works to do so have we Was death approaching to him and was he mortal as he was a man certainly and undeniably so are we If then it was a good Reason for him to make hast to do his Work because he must dye undoubtedly the Reason is as strong towards us for we must dye too and after death there is no more working for us in our Works than there was for him in his It cannot be denied then but the words belong to us and are a necessary Rule of our practice and a strong Reason to spur us on to diligence in the work we have to do in this present Life I shall therefore take them since they cannot be denyed me and apply the meaning of them to our practice in this Doctrinal Proposition Doct. That we ought to be Diligent in doing our Work that we have to do while we have time and life because Death cometh where no Work can be done A Lesson needful to be learn't because it is of great importance to us in order to our Eternal welfare and so much the rather needful because the practice of too many tells us that they understand not this Lesson nor are convinc'd of the necessity of it Some do not understand their Work and so though they take much pains and are very busie their Work turns to no account because though they have done much they have done nothing at all of what God sent them to do Some understand not their time and though they may know their Work yet alwayes think it too soon to set about it yet and so drive off and delay till their day be done before they begin their work Both these ought to consider and weigh this truth that we ought to be diligent in doing our work while we have time the one to consider that we ought to be employed about
our work and be doing what we were sent to do and the other to learn that we ought to lay hold upon time while we have it and work while it is day and the Reason is the same to both because of approaching death the night cometh when no man can work That therefore I may offer somewhat towards the direction of the one and the awakning of the other I shall consider and speak to this Proposition by way of Enquiry into these three Things 1. What is the Work we have to do 2. What is the time this Work ought to be done in 3. What is the Reason why those Works ought to be done at that time and not to be put off to any other 1. What is the Work that we have to do That we have Works to do may well be taken for granted for it cannot be well supposed that man should have a time given him and nothing to do with that time nor no employment for it assigned him It cannot be well supposed that man should be entrusted with many Tallents and be endued with many excellent and useful Faculties above other Creatures and yet be designed to be more idle and useless than they And yet as unreasonable as this is to be supposed there are those in the World who had need be convinc'd of this truth there are those who had need be told that God has appointed employments to spend our time in and that they need not go hunt for diversions nor invent wayes to drive on the wearisom hours that fly too fast away of themselves There are those that had need be told that God has given us a Faculty of Reason and Judgment for other ends than to be able to pass a Censure upon a Garb or Dress or to be able to give a Judgment upon anothers Gate Meen or Behaviour In short how many had need to be told that God gave us our time for somewhat else than for Play and Sport for other ends than to pamper the flesh and be wanton and that when he sent us into this World to live he never intended we should pass our dayes like Drones and be lazy I must therefore in the first place consider the works that we have to do and all the Enquiry here will be what Works those are in which this our time ought to be imployed And this enquiry would justly deserve a longer time to be spent in it then I have now to spare for surely the most of men know not their Works or are hardly perswaded what their business is or else they would never neglect it as they do nor weary themselves so much in doing nothing or in doing mischief for want of a better employment Now the Text may serve to direct us what our Work is for though the Works that our Saviour was sent to do and the Works that we have to do are vastly different as to their own nature yet in this they agree that both his Works and ours are the Works of him that sent us God is our Master and we are sent into the World upon his Errand and he that gave us our Being hath also appointed the design and end of it We are sent into the World upon business not as some Youths are sent to Travel to gaze upon the World and see Fashions and gather up the Vanities of the Times but as Embassadors to negotiate and transact some business for our Masters Honor or like Factors to Trade with and improve our Talents for our Masters advantage And having said that our work that we have to do here is the work of him that sent us I have said enough to prove the generality of the World to be idle or worse imploy'd For how easily is it seen that the works that most men spend their time in are such as they that do them dare not ascribe to God as the Author or Commander of them God never sent us hither to make provision for the Flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof he never set us to scrape for Wealth and to seek for all advantages to be Rich or Great he never made it our business nor set us this for our work to follow our inordinate affections through all those dangerous and uncouth ways in which they hurry us on he never sent us hither to be vicious or debaucht to be intemperate or unclean to be ambitious or revengful nor to set the world on Fire with the Heat and exorbitancy of our passions and yet these are the works in which the most of the World employ themselves The works of him that sent us bear his Stamp and Image upon them and are like to him that sent us to do them they are such as become him to appoint who is the Author of them and such as will make us like unto Him if we carefully practice and do them He has sent us hither to learn to know him and to be conform'd to his Image in Righteousness and True Holiness he has commanded us to learn his will and to do it to be serviceable to him in our generation and to be useful to one another in our several spheres and places he has call'd us to mortifying the lusts of the Flesh to growth in grace and all Christian vertues he has call'd us to meekness and gentleness and to the mutual acts of love and kindness one to another to seek every one the welfare of another before our own he has enjoyn'd us compassion and charity and requires that we be tender-hearted and that we forbear and muâ—uâ—â—ly forgive one another He has command us to be peaceable and quiet and rather to recede from our own right then to embroyle the world or disquiet our neighbours by our petty or inferior Concerns In short he has made this our business for which we come here to act in order to his Glory and our own Salvation which two ends he has so twined together that they become inseparably one and he that faithfully labours for the one cannot fail of obtaining the other These are the ends of our being which he that made us has appointed and this is a rough draught and a short summary of the Works we have to do in this life Such as these are the Works that God has sent us to do and whatsoâ—ves actions are contrary to these are none of our Work nay contrary to it and when we come to our account will be found to be a deceiving our Master an embezling our time and a contradicting the ends of our Creation But that we may have a more perfect Scheme and a fairer draught of our work before our eyes let us consider man as standing in a two sold Relation in the one towards God in the other towards man The consideration of which two Relations will present us with those general Hoods under which the whole duty of man is comprized It is not to be expected that I should give a distinct account of every
chuse to take up in the first place We will serve God hereafter and take his Work in hand another time let us see then to whom we dedicate the present time and who is it whom now we serve All our actions are by way of service to one Master or another as they have in them a tendency and subserviency to some end The World is divided between Christ and Belial and all men are Retainers to God or the Devil Behold then whom we serve If we serve not God we are employed in the Devils work and drudgery we serve the lusts of the flesh are slaves to our own appetites we run to Intemperance and Wantonness we serve an ambitious design or a covetous mind or things of this nature and so under pretence of pleasing our solves do really serve and are slaves to the Devil And is this a service to be chosen before that of the living God that we must serve these now and put off God till hereafter Are these so desirable Masters so good so great Benefactors that God must wait and stand by till they are served in the first place Is their service so Honorable an Employment Is it so rich and advantageous that this must have the present time Is there so much pleasure in being slaves to an unsatiable Appetite or in being ridden by an untractable and exorbitant passion that the Yoak of Christ which is easie and his burden which is light must be refused to make way for this Is the Devil so real a Friend or our Lusts so really beneficient to us that these must have the prime of our days and time Let us consider and blush let us see and be ashamed that we use our God so ingratefully here 't is God that is the Author of our time and being and his Goodness and Bounty provides for us and sweetens our being to us even the present time that we lay out upon sin is his Gift though given us for better ends and that the time that is future comes up and is present to us is the effect of his patience and mercy towards us and yet this time which he gives us for his own Service and Glory we rob him of and lay it out in the drudgeries and bondage of his Enemies This is an ingratitude that we should be ashamed of towards man how much more should we be ashamed of it towards God since here the ingratitude is infinitely greater Shame then if there be any in us in these things will prove that this present time should be given to God for if God hath it not let us but consider who hath and this may be sufficient to make us blush and tremble too And this may suffice briefly to prove that the present time is the time in which we ought to work the Works of him that sent us we must work while it is day 3. The Third Thing to be enquired into Is the Reason why we must thus work these Works in the present time and that as the Text gives it us is Because the Night cometh when no man can work the meaning of which is when death once comes it puts an end to all our working and it will be too late to do then what should have been done before A Reason that wants nothing but our serious consideration to make it invincible and surely we are not therefore lazy and negligent careless or remiss in our duty because we want either Reasons or Motives that are proper and powerful to stir us up to the doing of it but because we want hearts to weigh the force of the Reason and are either stupid or inconsiderate when we have to do in matters of this nature I shall therefore To quicken and help your consideration before I consider the reason it self by a step or two lead you to the strength and force of the Reason 1. Let this then be considered That we have Work to do for God in the time that God has given us upon Earth and therefore we are not at our own disposal and may not serve whom we please or Work or let it alone as we find our selves inclined but our Task is set our Work is appointed and woe be unto us if we do it not For he that does not his Work is idle and useless and is an unprofitable Servant and how dreadful a doom is past upon him let us hear from the Lords own mouth Mat. 25. 30. Cast ye the unprofitable servant into utter darkness there shall be weeping gnashing of teeth 2. Let it be considered That as we have Work to do so we must come to an account for our Works and we shall be examined both what we have done and how In plain terms there is a day of Judgment to come upon us all and the work of that day will be to proceed upon and according to our Works This the Parable of the Talents proves Matth. 25. 19. this the Author to the Hebrews tells us Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed unto men once to dye but after this the Judgment And this the Preacher concludes his Sermon with as being Words of great weight and as being desirous to leave them well infixt in our memories Eccles 12. 14. God shall bring every Work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil An account we must come to and that so strict that none of our neglects or loyterings can escape unobserv'd and a search so punctual and exact that it will produce the very hidden things of darkness and bring to light what we now hide so close from the eyes of men What then might be some comfort to the slothful Servant here the hopes that his Master may neglect or forget to call him to an account can be no shelter nor support in this case to him that neglects to do the Works that God sent him into this World to do for as his Work is set so also a day of account is determined and every Soul and the secrets of it shall be brought into judgment 3. Add to this That when death comes it will be too late to set about our Work that being a state in which no Work can be done and then we have the full force of the Reason apparent we have Work to do and we shall be called to an account whither we have done it and if death comes it cannot be done and therefore it follows and the reason is too strong to be deny'd that we ought to do our Works while we have time and life because of approaching death The night cometh when no man can work And now having thus considered the strength of the Reason wherein it lies let me consider the Reason it self in its parts and urge the necessity of our Working now from such considerations as the Reason it self will allow And here I shall betake my self to the words of the Text and consider the Reason as it lies there and
so it may be taken into two parts and yet either of them retain the force of a Reason to urge us to the duty under consideration 1. The night cometh 2. When it is come no work can be done in it 1. The night that is death cometh in which these things are imploy'd which may serve to heighten our diligence and to hasten us in our Work 1. The night cometh then death is certain and will undoubtedly be with us for in that it 's said it comes it undeniably proves that there is such a thing as death since that which is not cannot come And this is a thing not more certain in it self than it is evident and apparent to us That we are Mortal and when our part is acted must go off the Stage of this World constant and daily Experience teaches us and proves it to us This is the Path that is daily trodden by all sorts ages and conditions of men the Young and Old the Poor and Rich Bond and Free Male and Female all meet together in the Chambers of Death and lye down to rest in the dust This is the common fate of Man kind and that irreversible Decree past at the first Transgression from which no man ordinarily is exempt Methuselah ran a long Course yet after Nine hundred sixty and nine years he dyed and Abraham lived well and was the Father of the Faithful and the Friend of God yet after an hundred threescore and fifteen Years he gave up the Ghost and dyed And there want not dayly Memento's of our Mortality even in all those things that are daily obvious to our eyes the constant course of Winter and Summer and of Day and Night put us in mind of our putting off the Glories of this Life and of our sleeping in death The Winter strips the Earth of her glory and beauty and leaves her naked it hinders and determines her fruitful seasons and death takes down our Pride and Pomp and tyes our hands that we cannot work At night we uncloath and go to bed and how far soever we ramble in the day we then leave our Labours and confine our selves to a narrower compass to take our rest till morning And in death we strip and lye down in the Grave and our Bodies take their long sleep till dooms day morning wake us again Our great Estates and numerous Lands shrink up in death to six foot of Earth and our stately Seats and ceiled Rooms and costly Furnitures give way to a Winding-sheet a Tomb and a Coffin Thus Night and Winter are fit Emblems to us of Death and serious Memonto's of our mortal state The certainty then of this should mind us of the work we have to do and engage us to be diligent at it our time is stated and nothing is more sure than that its end will come and death will overtake us our Work is appointed and so is our time too why then do we waste or trifle away that time which hath its limits fixed and will certainly be determined by death Why then do we project great things for our selves here which death will strip us of and turn aside from that work that God has appointed us to do thereward of which no death can deprive us of This very Consideration that death is certain should make us more careful in our work and sit more loose and be more indifferent to any advantages or enjoyments of this life If our work be done death cannot rob us of the reward of that but may be embraced as an advantage being a Rest from our Labours and a refuge from every Calamity that here we are burdened with Rev. 14. 13. Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them But for all other things which are the advantages of this Life only death robs us of them all and brings the Great and Mighty into an equal state with the Poor Ignoble and Mean The Grave knows no difference and the Worm knows no distinction betwixt finer and courser flesh He that marches to the Grave in a stately array and with a solemn pomp and he that steals silently into the Chambers of death and makes no noise nor bustle at his going both find an equal Entertainment in the dust and both have the same Kindred and Relations there and both with Job must say chap. 17. 14. To Corruption thou art my Father to the Worm thou art my Mother and my Sister Our Greatness leaves us at the Grave and no distinctions remain after death but such as a faithful serving of God and a conscientious industry in our Works may give us Why then do we neglect our work that would live with us beyond death and are fond of things that perish as to us by it since the night cometh that is Death is certain 2. The night cometh Then Death is at hand it cometh Then it is hastning on towards us it 's already in the way and onwards in its journey to us And this the shortness of our Lives when they are at their longest plainly speaks If once we are born even by the course of Nature we have not long to live and threescore years and ten which is the age of a man is but a poor pittance of time if it be compared to the Eternity that depends upon it The very first step that we set into this World is onwards towards Death and to the Youngest as well as to the Old it may be said death cometh Our Life is compared to a Race as swift as short as that the starting-place is from the Womb and the Goal is the Grave and all the while between our Birth and Decease we are in our Race hasting on to death As soon as our day begins to dawn the night also begins to hasten its approaches and we do no sooner begin to live but we are going onwards towards death How should this Consideration then hasten us in our Work and make us more diligent and industrious our time is short and the end of it at hand our Work is great and we have much to do how unreasonable is it then for us to loyter or be idle and how much more for us to be doing of Evil which must be unravelled and undone again All our time is little enough for our business there can be none to spare for evil ends or for a forreign service our End draws on whither we mind it or no Prudence then would teach us to ply our Work that the end of our time and our work may meet together Let us always then be well employed that death may find us so when it comes and that time cannot be far off The night cometh that is death is at hand 3. The Night cometh And this implies that the time of death is uncertain the night cometh Then no man knows how near death may be all that is
said of it is that it cometh this makes the thing certain but there is no determination when it comes and this leaves the time of it uncertain as to us 'T is true it may be coming and yet may be a great way off and it is as true it may be at hand and just now at the door And this is a thing so daily made good to us by Experience that it justly becomes matter of great wonder that men regard and lay it to heart no more we see daily men likely to live long on a sudden cut down and their days are come to an end when we thought they had been scarcely arrived at the middle of them And we have now another fresh instance of it set before us and here is one gone to his long-home who according to the course of Nature had lived but half the Age of a man And this still adds more force to the Reason To be mindful of our business and to hasten our Work for we know not how so on we may dye Instances of sudden and unexpected Mortality are not rare which makes it the more to be admired that those that remain will flatter themselves with the hopes of a longer time here when they see so great experiences to the contrary How mad are we then that put off the doing of that Work which is so necessary to be done to that time which it is absolutely uncertain whether we shall ever have or no. That our Work be done is necessary that if we neglect the present time we shall have another to do it in is uncertain so that we venture our Souls upon a Contingency and hang our Eternal Happiness upon that which may very possibly fail us A piece of Imprudence that were ridiculous in our Worldly affairs and yet men are not ashamed thus to act in a case that concerns Eternity The Plow-man will take his Season and the Marriner his Wind and Tide the Trades man will not let slip his Market and every man thinks it wisdom to take a good Offer while we may have it for fear we should miss of the like again and yet in things of far greater Concern than these we are not aware that we egregiously play the fool's in turning off our business till hereafter and in letting slip the fair proffers and opporrunities of the present season So sad and miserable a thing it is to be blind in Spiritual things and to be habituated to Evil. An ordinary prudence would teach us to act more like men and to be more diligent in our Work in the time we have since we are not sure of any more for the night cometh and death is sure but the time is uncertain and no man knows how soon it may come And thus the consideration of Death is and ought to be a Motive to us to improve our time and work while we may for we must dye and that ere-long and who knows how soon but then we have to enquire into the reason or strength of this Motive which makes the consideration of death to come an Argument for our present diligence and that lies in these words When no man can Work 2. This is then the Second and strongest part of the Reason When the night is come no Work can be done in it We had need be diligent in our Work while we have time for if death comes it will be too late to do it or to set about it we must work now in this life or not at all Psalm 6. 5. In death says the Psalmist there is no remembrance of thee All our VVorks there cease death puts an end to every contrivance and design and whatsoever remains to do when we come to die remains undone to all Eternity for the state of death is an unalterable state As the Tree falls so it lies and as death leaves us so judgment finds us what we are then such we continue for ever for the night being once come no man can work Now our working may be considered as it is employed either 1. In doing what was never done before or 2. In mending what was ill done and in both Cases the night comes when no man can work our state is fixt by death and our works are at an end both wayes and then we can neither begin any work nor pollish nor finish what was before begun 1. VVe work in doing what was never before done but no man can work thus in death If we have not begun to serve God in this life it will be too late to set to that VVork when we are dead for that state and time is all appointed for reward and nothing at all for Work it will be too late then to begin to love or serve God for then it will be only enquired what we have already done and not what we would now do This is the time that is given us in order to Eternity and upon the improvement of this the determination of that Eternity whether it be to happiness or misery do's depend After death succeeds the Judgment and every man shall be judged according to his Works Our VVorks then are done when we die and after death nothing more remains but to receive our judgment according to them This is the time of our VVork that the time of our VVages here is our Seed time there is our Harvest Gal. 6. 7 8. And whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting This then strongly enforces upon us the duty of working while it is day for if we dye and leave our VVork undone there is no finishing of it in the Grave Let us weigh them and consider how sad their state how miserable their condition must needs be who are prevented by death and die and their work is undone VVho can lie down in Everlasting burnings and who can stand before an incensed God for our God is a consuming fire How sad would it be to see a Soul rouling in endless flames and too late cursing its own negligence and folly how sad would it be to hear him wishing in vain for the time that was idled away and mispent and to see the anguish of his Soul because his work is undone and now remains no time to do it And let us suppose this to be our case for if we are not wise betimes it will certainly be so Let us suppose our Souls in such a state as this is that we may awaken our selves betimes and while we have yet a day upon Earth may be wise to employ and lay it out for God For happy are they that see their folly betimes and are betimes convinc'd that that their work is yet to do while the time yet lasts in which it may be done Sad and unspeakably miserable are those convictions which are first found in Hell for
since they cannot there put us upon work their effects can be nothing but Eternal desperation Let us then be wise in time let us remember that there is no work in death and withall remember that the night cometh and let this excite us to diligence in our duty and hasten us to work the works of him that sent us while it is day 2. VVork may be emplyed in mending what is done ill or amiss And in this sense too there is no man can work when the night comes It will be too late then to review our works with hopes to repair their defects Alas the time for these things is at an end and 't is now too late as well to mend as to make Repentance and Amendment are the works of this life single repentance is part of the misery of the next Hell is full of Penitents for there is none that comes into that place but does soon repent him of his former negligence and that he improved his time no better that he minded no more the grand Concern and made no better provision for his eternal state but this sorrow cannot end in joy nor this repentance be to salvation for 't is a repentance without a reformation and a sorrow for sin when 't is too late to forsake it As Death is inexorable and will not be deferred by entreaties so is the judgment too and will not be altered by fruitless tears and vain promises of amendment Let St. Augustin read us our doom in this case Venturum est judicium crit tunc poenitentia sed infructuosa The judgment is coming and then men will repent but it will be fruitless It will be so in respect of the product of fruits meet for repentance the forsaking of sin and leading a new life and therefore it will be fruitless too as to the ends of repentance or as to the promises that attend upon our repentance here the blotting out of our sins and a remembring our transgressions no more VVhat we do must be done here there is no returning from the dead to reform nor is there room for repentance and reformation in the grave Let the Papist talk of their Purgatory as a middle state after death where souls make satisfaction for their neglects in this life and being purified by fire pass from thence to heaven The Scripture tells us of no middle state after death between heaven and hell and of no satisfaction but what Christ made by his obedience and sufferings When we die we are determined to one of the two and all souls pass either to eternal bliss from whence is no fear of falling or to everlasting wo from whence is no hopes of returning And what satisfaction soever can be made to divine justice for sin it must either be obtained by saith in Christ and that 's onely attainable here or else 't is made by our sufferings after death and there no sufferings of ours can suffice that are not eternal So that what-ever can conduce to our eternal welfare is onely to be done and obtained here while we live there is hope if death once seize us our state is determined our work is at an end it's necessary then that we work the works of him that sent us while it is day and that because the night cometh when no man can work Let the use of all then be to perswade us to remember and practice our duty now in time to improve the present season and to use the day while it lasts and since we have heard that there is in death no doing the work that we left undone nor any mending that which was done ill let all serve to stir us up to diligence both at and in our work 1. To diligence at our work That is Constantly to employ our selves in the works of him that sent us to let pass no opportunity of serving God either in the duties of his worship or in doing good in our generations Our work is great our time is short we had need make haste and ply it hard Death is coming and the period of our dayes is at hand where it will be too late to set about our business let us then now work the works of him that sent us and happy is he whom when his Lord comes he shall find so doing 2. Let it stir us up to diligence in our work To do well what we do for there is no amendment in the grave Let us not think that any thing will serve the turn or that God will be put off with our work slightly done As we must do the works that God hath appointed so must they be done as he requires or else we may perish for failing in the manner of our duties as well as for neglecting them as to their matter Death will be sad to the unbeliever and the lewd and prosane may well dread that day but it will be as sad with the hypocrite as with them for the hypocrite and unbeliever shall have their portion together For he that has done his work onely to be seen of men or barely to stop the mouth of conscience he that works onely for by ends and employs himself though in the works that are required yet for other ends than God appointed serves himself and not God and becomes a slave to himself and his own interest and has not done the works of him that sent him because he did his works for other ends than God allows The judgment is at hand and as we shall be judged according to our works so shall our works be call'd into judgment too and be severely scann'd what they are and happy is he and onely he whose work will abide the trial And now to shut up all in the words of the Preacher Eccles 12. 13 14. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole duty of man For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil And thus I have done with my Text but the occasion upon which it was chosen administers farther matter of discourse still As I have spoken thus much to you from these words so I suppose 't is expected I should speak something more concerning the person whose Decease gave occasion to this Sermon You are not ignorant that my usuall Custom heretofore in this Case has been either to be silent altogether or to say but little For I confess my self too little a friend to that common usage to give a fair Encomium of a person whom I knew not very well meerly because it has been a custom to praise Folks when they are dead and to conclude a Funeral Sermon with a Commendation But I know you expect that I should break both my Custom and my Silence here and this I am the rather inclin'd to do because my acquaintance with him while he liv'd makes me able to speak truth