their old Age may be accepted of God tho they spend their Youth in sinning against him What an unparallel'd presumption For a Man to neglect to make provision for his everlasting Bliss at present only because 't is not absolutely impossible that he may do it in time to come To refuse the present improvement of the Time of Grace God is now pleas'd to allow him because the Divine Goodness can afford him the like advantage hereafter tho 't is very improbable that he will grant it to so presumptuous a Criminal Will any Man fall without fear upon the point of his Sword because 't is possible he may not receive a mortal Wound by it Is any Man so mad as to poison himself with the most subtile Venom because he thinks there is some possibility of his obtaining an Antidote Or will any one in his Wits carelesly suffer his Body to languish under a violent Disease without seeking for Cure till his strength is almost quite exhausted and he 's ready to expire thinking himself secure enough of Recovery because 't is not utterly impossible that a Man may be restor'd to Health when almost reduc'd to the last Gasp by violent Sickness No Men are more careful of their Bodies than to hazard 'em at this rate how careless soever they are of their Souls They are prudent in the Affairs of this Life but act after the most absurd and improvident manner about the great Concerns of the World to come But whether we will act reasonably or no what has been argu'd does abundantly demonstrate that it is both highly reasonable and advantageous for young Persons to devote themselves to the Service of their Creator in the Days of their Youth and that 't is as dangerous as 't is unreasonable to defer that important Work to the Days of old Age which are very uncertain in that we know not whether we shall attain them or not and if we do will prove so evil if this great Business of our Lives be till then neglected that we shall have occasion to complain that we have no pleasure in them I shall now endeavour to improve the things I have insisted on by way of Application And shall address my self 1. To those that are advanc'd in Years 2. To those who have not yet exceeded the Days of Youth First As for you that are advanc'd in Years What has been said must needs offer you an occasion to enquire of your own Consciences Whether you have dedicated your selves to the Service of God or not Whether you have yet remember'd your Creator in the sense of our Text and are truly converted to him If you have not so remember'd him consider 1. How extremely dangerous your Case is Can you be secure on the very brink of Destruction Surely 't is more than high time for you to awake lest you sleep the sleep of Death It will be a Miracle of Grace if ever you be recover'd out of the Snare of the Devil who have been so long led Captive by him at his Will It has been your great folly to defer to Lay up in store for your selves a good foundation against the Time to come till now but your folly in deferring it longer will still increase together with your guilt and danger of which if you are sensible seek immediately to escape Fly from the Wrath to come which is hastening toward you for tho you may carelesly slumber your Damnation slumbers not but will soon overtake you if you don 't speedily awake to righteousness and to the serious remembrance of your Creator for the Wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the Nations that FORGET God If any of you have vainly flatter'd your selves all your Days with the presumptuous thoughts of having still time enough before you for the great Work of your Conversion Let me warn and exhort every such person in the words of the Apostle Peter to Simon Magus Repent of this thy Wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine Heart may be forgiven thee For I perceive that thou art in the gall of Bitterness and in the bond of Iniquity And to Day while 't is call'd to Day remember your Maker lest any of you be further harden'd through the deceitfulness of Sin 2. If you are convinc'd of the folly and sinfulness of your Neglect Do not absolutely conclude 't is now too late to obtain Mercy nor continue that neglect by Despair which you have long persisted in by Presumption As you cannot set limits to the Iustice of God so neither can you measure his Long-suffering and Goodness Therefore you ought not now to say His Mercies are quite gone for ever and he will be favourable no more Encourage your selves to turn to God and to rely on his Mercy at least with the same Argument the famish'd Lepers us'd to engage one another to throw themselves on the Compassion of the Syrian Army Why sit we here say they until we Die If we say we will enter into the City then the Famine is in the City and we shall Die there And if we sit still here we Die also Now therefore come and let us fall unto the Host of the Syrians if they save us alive we shall Live and if they kill us we shall but Die Reason with your selves after the like manner Why sit we still in a state of the greatest danger If after the sense of our danger we return to our former Course of Life we must perish if we remain in our present posture and neglect to try the Father of Mercies whether he will commiserate such inveterate Sinners we inevitably perish too Let us cast our selves at his Feet if he 'll save us we shall live eternally if he refuse we can but perish Say as David did in another case It may be the LORD will look on our Affliction Venture to prostrate your selves at the Throne of Grace as Queen Esther did at the Feet of the Persian Monarch with an If I perish I perish And who knows but the Scepter of Divine Mercy may yet tender you a Pardon 'T is possible that the Prodigal may be accepted tho he return late to his Father's House and that God may place you among the rare Instances of his free and soveraign Grace And if you are deeply sensible of your past Iniquity and earnestly groan for a Change in your Souls for a New and Pure Heart and a right Spirit 't is to be hop'd that God whose Compassions are infinite has now at last open'd your Eyes that you might not sleep the sleep of eternal Death has made you hunger and thirst after Righteousness with a design to satisfy you and has wounded your Spirits by a Godly Sorrow with a purpose to heal them with the Oil of Ioy with the Comforts of his Free Spirit You have run a strange Venture to
Advice to the Young OR THE REASONABLENESS AND ADVANTAGES OF AN Early Conversion to GOD DEMONSTRATED In Three DISCOURSES On Ecclesiastes xii 1. By JOSEPH STENNETT MICAH vii 1. My Soul desired the first-ripe Fruit. LONDON Printed by I. D. and to be sold by Andrew Bell at the Cross-Keys in the Poultrey MDCXCV TO THE READER THE following Sermons were preached above a Year ago to a Congregation in London and since transcrib'd partly from some brief Notes I had reserv'd in my Study and partly from the Prints of some remaining Ideas not quite worn off my Memory while new Occurring Meditations here and there interspers'd supplied the place of those which Time and other Thoughts had effac'd This was done to gratify a worthy Friend who as he was not displeas'd in hearing them so was desirous to read 'em too And after that would not be denied the Liberty of making 'em publick I hope it will not be thought that I have treated on God's Relation to Man as his Creator in the first Sermon after a manner too abstracted and Philosophical for a practical Discourse when 't is considered that we live in an Age wherein some Men will hearken to no other kind of Arguments and wherein the Minds of others can't be too well fortified against the Contagion of Atheism especially seeing I have taken up but a few Pages in pursuing that Vein of reasoning the greatest part of which has been added in transcribing What is advanc'd in these Discourses I have labour'd to sustain both by Scripture and Reason and endeavour'd to speak to the Understandings as well as to the Affections of my Auditors and now of my Readers Those who apply themselves with seriousness and attention to the reading of them I hope will not think their Time and Labour entirely lost I 'm sure I shall not repent mine in composing 'em if it shall please God to make 'em the means of converting one Sinner from the error of his Way and so of saving a Soul from Death and of hiding a multitude of Sins To which great End that they may succeed I humbly commit 'em to the Guidance of his Providence and to the Conduct of his Spirit with my earnest Wishes and Prayers J. S. ERRATA P. 32. l. 1. f. the r. that p. 67. marg r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 113. marg f. wrote r. written p. 126. l. 8. r. Tabernacles l. 10. f. it r. them THE Reasonableness Advantages OF AN Early Conversion to God DEMONSTRATED SERMON I. ECCLES xii 1. Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth while the Evil Days come not nor the Years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them HOW much soever the Thoughts of Youth are busied with the amusing Entertainment of the many sensible Objects that accost 'em and thereby render'd unapt for serious Reflections on the Vanity of the World and on the Excellency and Happiness of a Spiritual and Heavenly Conversation Yet one would think when Reason Experience and Religion all conspire to bespeak their Attention as they do in our Text and indeed in this whole Book it might reasonably be expected that many would have the Justice or Prudence or at least the Curiosity to give three such Monitors a hearing When a Prince excelling all other Men in Wisdom and other Monarchs in Wealth and Splendor has so much Charity for Mankind as to turn a Preacher Who would not be ambitions to become his Auditor The News of his Wisdom and Grandeur drew the Queen of Sheba from the utmost parts of the Earth to become an immediate and admiring Witness of what she had before at a distance and but imperfectly heard Fame it self which uses so mightily to inhance the Glory of other Princes having it seems detracted from his which so far exceeded the common Standard that its Lustre was lessen'd by those Encomiums which might have been justly counted strain'd Hyperboles when applied to others Who would not then at least so far imitate that Generous Princess as to recollect his roving Thoughts from the ends of the Earth whither they are prone to wander to fix them on a Subject which the Great and Wise Solomon recommends to Youth with the greatest Advantage of Reason and Strength of Argument Curiosity if no other Consideration should would undoubtedly prompt many to desire with the Queen of the South to hear his Wise Speeches if he were now alive and to undergo the Charge and Fatigue of a long Journey to that end Ought we not then to put a High Value on his Writings wherein we have that very Sense which so much astonished his Hearers when he spake to them and by which as 't is said of Abel being Dead he yet speaks to us Nor have we need to traverse the Mighty Waters to hear him or to say as Moses speaks concerning the Law Who shall go over the Sea for us and bring his Words to us that we may hear them and do them seeing they are so very near us in the Divine Treatises he has written And as his extraordinary Knowledg promises us much so his large Experience may justly raise our Expectation still higher This makes a Man speak both more feelingly and with more Demonstration Besides 't is not only the Experience of a Man endow'd with a vast Stock of Wisdom and good Sense who consequently was able to make very curious and exact Remarks on the Event of Things but of one who by the Advantage of his elevated Station in the World and of his Immense Riches was also capable of furnishing himself with whatever the World could yield or his large Curiosity desire And tho it was his great Unhappiness and Sin to give his Heart to know Madness and Folly after that criminal manner he confesses he did Yet even this may make way for his Advice since he that here decries a loose and sensual and commends a strict and vertuous course of Life is one who had thorowly try'd what Pleasures the World could afford and upon a just Estimate pronounces them all not only Vanity but Vexation of Spirit at the beginning of this Book and at the latter end of it from his happier Experience of the Worth and Sweetness of a Religious Life recommends it as the only way to Happiness So that since these Thoughts are the Result not only of his Speculation but of his Experience too and that an Experience so dearly bought at the Expence of so much Thought and Invention unhappily employ'd in making Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof of so much Time and Treasure and which is infinitely more at the Expence of his Innocency and Peace of Conscience and this with the great and apparent hazard of his Soul How much does it behove those that are Young to become Wise at his Cost and to attend to the Testimony of his Experience as well as to the Evidence
see such a one weep at a transient glance on Death and Iudgment in a Sermon or at a general reflection on the Sufferings of Christ for Sinners while the cered Consciences of those that have been long harden'd in Sin hold proof against the most pathetick and awakening Discourses of the certainty of Death the dismal Circumstances that attend a Sinner at the approach of it and the great consequences that depend on that amazing Change or against the most lively description of the most Cruel and unexampled Sufferings wherewith our Blessed Saviour was tormented for our Redemption That makes no impression on the Adamantine Heart of the latter which is often found to effect a deep compunction of Mind in the former and the Eyes of the one can hardly be kept open by a Discourse that dissolves those of the other into Tears The affections of Fear and Hope Ioy Sorrow Compassion and the like more easily move the tender Minds of Youth and consequently make way for lasting impressions of Piety to the purposes of which these Affections when guided and regulated by an enlighten'd Mind do mightily conduce 4. The Zeal and Resolution which the warm Temper of Youth enages them in for what they embrace renders a thorough Conversion to God more easy to them than to the old who by having either tasted much of the Afflictions of the World themselves or by having been Witnesses to the Miseries of many others often retain so terrible an Idea of Worldly Troubles that the Mortification and Self-denial prescrib'd to the followers of Christ gives them a strange disgust for a strictly Religious Life Besides the abatement of their natural heat and vigour a good degree of which is useful to any great enterprize makes 'em with the Sluggard continually complain of a Lion in the way But the Young who have not been so baulk'd with Disappointments nor felt or seen so many Miseries and who have also a great sense of Honour and are commonly ambitious of high Atchievements and disdain to have their Attempts defeated are hereby dispos'd more readily to take up the Cross of Christ and to fight the good fight of Faith that they may lay hold on Eternal Life Add to this that that Disease of Covetousness that so often attends the Aged who from experience either in themselves or others of the difficulty of getting and keeping and the danger of losing and the inconveniency of wanting the things of this World become more tenacious of them then when they are nearest the unavoidable necessity of parting with them that this Disease I say which is the root of all evil which is Idolatry and therefore opposite to the true Service of God and which renders it almost impossible for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven does not so usually reign amongst the Young who are rather apt to run into the contrary extreme so that their motion in the ways of God is not clog'd with this dead weight which so mightily incumbers those whose Hearts have taken deeper root in the Earth Thus we see how much more easy the Work of Conversion is likely to be when we engage in it in our tender Years than if we defer it to Old Age. But all this while I would not be thought to make the work of Conversion consider'd as the Act of God who alone can turn a Soul from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to himself to be more difficult in one Subject than another for all things are equally possible to him but I have hereby made an Essay to shew that the Heart of an old Sinner is a Subject much more untractable and obstinate in it self than that of one who by reason of his Youth is yet but a Novice in Vice That the work of Mortification and Sanctification is commonly begun with less difficulty and carried on with more ease and speed on the Young than on the Old and that a greater degree of Grace is necessary to reform the latter than the former and whether the Almighty will grant such an extraordinary measure of his Grace to one that is grown old in wickedness may well be doubted as we shall shew hereafter Since then the work of Conversion is of the greatest consequence as it is for our truest interest both in this World and that to come certainly it ought to be perform'd in Youth seeing that is the most seasonable Time as will further appear 2. In that much Good is lost and much Evil contracted by deferring our Conversion to Old Age but much Evil on the contrary is prevented and much Good obtain'd through the Course of our days by an early turning to God 1. Much Sin is prevented and consequently much Spiritual good obtain'd by an early Conversion which will appear to be no small advantage For seeing Sin as it is directly opposite to the pure Nature of God is the worst of Evils and seeing the Excellency or Vileness of a Creature is to be measur'd by its likeness or contrariety to God who possesses absolute perfection in himself it necessarily follows that nothing can so deform a Creature nothing can so defile it nothing can debase it so much and set it at so great a distance from Excellency and Perfection as Sin does It must then certainly be our Interest to break off our Sins by an early Repentance since every sinful Act and much more a continuance in a course of Sin does so much corrupt debase and deform the Soul And if we desire the meliorating of our Nature and would become more excellent Creatures than we are instead of degenerating and becoming worse It highly concerns us to begin early to extirpate that which has strip'd the Soul of much of her Intellectual and which is worse of her Moral Excellency and will render her by so much the more Vile by how much the longer we indulge it and to devote our selves betimes to Religion and Holiness which is the principal Beauty and Glory of a Rational Soul and that which chiefly makes a Man resemble his Creator 2. Much Sorrow and Trouble is hereby prevented and much Ioy and Pleasure obtain'd and secur'd For tho' some Examples may be found of Wicked Men who in respect of their Temporal prosperity for a little Time may be said to spread themselves like a Green Bay-Tree not to be in Trouble like other Men and to have more than Heart could wish Yet God does not leave himself without witness of his Displeasure against Sin in that he often wounds the heads of his Enemies and the hairy Scalps of them that go on still in their Trespasses by signal Judgments in this World as all Places and Ages can testify Nor has the Divine Providence been wanting to signalize the Righteous by frequent Instances of peculiar Temporal Blessings which it has conferr'd on them However the Anguish of a guilty and self-accusing Conscience which the Wicked
draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them TO the Disadvantages of delaying Conversion till the evil Days of old Age and the Advantages of devoting one's self to the Service of God in Youth which we have already insisted on we have this one farther Consideration to add viz. That 4. Our Eternal Interest is extremely hazarded by deferring Conversion to old Age and best secur'd by an early change For 1. We are always uncertain of future Time for the accomplishment of this Important Work Our Time is at the Disposal of our Maker and he has not entrusted our lavish hands with the whole stock of this precious Treasure but only suffers it to run through them by Moments so that we can recal no past nor can we command any future Time 't is therefore our Business to improve the present being ignorant how long the Divine Bounty will continue our Time in this World Upon this account the wise Man instructs us well not to boast our selves of to Morrow seeing we know not what a Day may bring forth And the Prophet Isaiah reprehends the folly of those that encourage one another to go on in sinful Excesses by profanely promising themselves that to Morrow should be as the present Day and much more abundant The Apostle Iames also shews the Vanity of such foolish Presumptions Go to now says he ye that say to day or to morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a Year and buy and sell and get Gain whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your Life It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away For that ye ought to say If the Lord will we shall live and do this or that And Experience as well as Scripture assures us that every Man walks in a vain shew and that Man in this respect even at his best Estate is altogether Vanity That some die in their full strength being wholly at ease and quiet their Breasts being full of Milk and their Bones moisten'd with Marrow As others die in the bitterness of their Souls and never eat with pleasure That they lie down alike in the Dust and the Worms cover ' em 'T is evident to every one's observation that Youth does not exempt us from Death nor ensure to us any farther portion of Time than what we at present enjoy But on the contrary that the far greater number of Mankind go early to the Grave and for one that reaches to old Age a multitude fall short of it Nor is it an uncommon thing for Persons of the most vigorous and hardy Constitution of Body to be suddenly snatch'd away into the other World by some violent Disease or otherwise For so many fatal Strokes are we obnoxious to and so frail is the Texture of our Earthly Tabernacle that some of the least and most contemptible things in the World are capable of giving it a mortal shock and the very Pores of the Skin sometimes prove Breaches wide enough for the King of Terrors to enter in at This is well enough known and often enough thought upon by the generality of Men to engage them to use Precautions to secure themselves or their Posterity as much as they can from the prejudice their temporal Affairs might otherwise receive from sudden Death And the Rate an Estate for Life is usually valued at sufficiently shews that to such purposes as these Men need not be taught to know their End and the measure of their Days what it is that they may know how frail they are And if there be no comparison between Earth and Heaven between the uncertain Wealth of this World and the durable Riches of the other between this Life and that which is to come Then 't is infinitely more imprudent for a Man to neglect but for a moment to make his Calling and Election sure whatever future Time here his Youth and Strength may seem to promise than for him carelesly to suffer the security of his temporal Estate to depend merely on the uncertain Life of another Man when he need not put it to that hazard or to expose his Posterity to Poverty and Misery by omitting to make due provision for them against his own Mortality when he has a fair opportunity of doing it 'T is Folly and Madness to leave that undone to day which must be done at one time or other or else we are ruin'd for ever and which may for ought we know be impossible to be perform'd to morrow To neglect to improve the present Time in doing that on which our eternal Bliss depends when the precious opportunity of doing it may the next moment by sudden Death or some stupifying Disease become irreparable Even the Impious Atheist and the Profane Epicure make speedy provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof from the consideration of the shortness and uncertainty of their Time in this World and seek to gratify and indulge their Senses to day because they are not sure of doing it to morrow Let us eat and drink say they for to morrow we shall die And they have so far reason on their side in that they act in Conformity to their Principles because their Hope is only in this Life and they profess not to expect another How unaccountably stupid then are they who tho they believe there is a future State after this Life and tho they know that they shall die and that they know not how soon yet in their vain Imaginations put the evil Day of Death afar off and defer from time to time the great Work of laying up Treasure in Heaven till the Season of doing it is irretrievably lost And in vain is so precious a Talent as Time put into the hands of such Fools who have no heart to improve it If the wise Man argues rightly when he excites to diligence even in the ordinary Affairs of this Life because of the speedy approach of Death This Reason infinitely multiplies its force when apply'd to our present purpose and may therefore most fitly be used to stir us up to an early and diligent improvement of the Time of Youth in the Service of God Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do says he do it with thy Might for there is no Work nor Device nor Knowledg nor Wisdom in the Grave whither Thou goest For Man also knoweth not his Time as the Fishes that are taken in an evil Net and as the Birds that are caught in the Snare so are the Sons of Men snared in an evil Time when it falleth suddenly upon them 'T is therefore our prudence and interest to work while 't is day seeing we know not how soon the night may come upon us wherein no Man can work But further 2. If our Time were in our own hands as it is in the hand
Ierusalem was threaten'd with till the expiration of his Religious Reign God was pleas'd to honour his early Zeal with a peculiar protection given for a Time to the Nation under his Conduct for his sake and would not fill his Reign that was so famous for his Piety with those Scenes of Horrour and Misery which darken'd the Times of his unhappy Successors The Divine Compassion would not suffer him to see that City stain'd with the Blood of its Inhabitants which he had been so industrious to purge from Superstition and from the Worship of Idols And as his Life was honourable to himself and of the greatest advantage to his Subjects so his Death was attended with their solemn and universal mourning an Honour which was refus'd to his profane Successor and his Funeral celebrated with the Lamentations of a great Prophet and his Memory preserv'd fresh and eternally fragrant in the sacred History of the Kings of Iudah As Iohn the Baptist first devoted his Youth to the picus Meditations of a retir'd Life and then to the publick Service of God in his Generation So he was invested with the honorary Title of MESSENGER to the Messiah to prepare the way before him who says he was not only a Prophet but much more than a Prophet and that among those that had been born of Women there was no greater Prophet than he The early Piety of Timothy who was well acquainted with the Holy Scriptures from his Childhood was honoured with the most endearing Love of the great Apostle of the Gentiles and with an eminent Station in the Church of God wherein his prudent and Religious Deportment secur'd his Youth from Contempt and made the Apostle give him that singular Character to the Philippians when he assures them that he had no Man like-minded who would naturally care for their State The beloved Disciple is reported to have been very young when proselyted to the Doctrine of Christ and perhaps this was not the least occasion of his being made the Bosom-friend of his Divine Master Nay most of those who were dignified with the sacred Office of Apostleship seem to have been converted in the Flower of their Time by several Circumstances of their History in the Gospel and by the many Years some of them spent in Travels and other hard Services and Sufferings after the Ascension of our Saviour On the contrary we find not like Instances of Persons being call'd to such eminent Services for God and receiving such distinguishing Marks of Honour from him in old Age after a flagitious Life almost quite wasted in the sordid Drudgery of Sin What a generous Emulation then should these illustrious Examples we have mentioned kindle in the Breasts of you that are Young With what an Holy Ambition should they inspire you to become the early Candidates of Religion Who knows in what eminent Services it may please your Maker to employ You And who knows what signal Favours and Tokens of his Divine Love he may confer on you if you consecrate to him the first of your Strength and the best of your Time But the Example which of all others shines with the greatest Glory and communicates the sweetest Influence that is most capable both of raising your Wonder and of exciting your Imitation is that of our Blessed Redeemer who came into the World to teach us by his Life as well as to save us by his Death He was pleas'd to honour the Youthful state of Life by passing through it in the Days of his Flesh while he dwelt with Men and did not defer his Father's Work to old Age a Stage of Life which he never vouchsaf'd to enter on in his very Childhood he wax'd strong in Spirit was filled with Wisdom and the Grace of God was upon him His Soul advanc'd in Divine Knowledg as his Body did in Stature and so he grew in favour with God and Man At Twelve Years of Age he was found reasoning with the Iewish Doctors in the Temple with that Sense and Understanding that amaz'd all the Auditors and with that Zeal that became him who made it his Delight to be about his Father's Business All the time he liv'd amongst Men may be properly enough call'd the Time of Youth for there 's reason to conclude from his History in the Gospel that he accomplish'd the whole of his Work before he was advanc'd much beyond Thirty Years And what a glorious Example does his short Life present us a Life without spot or blemish without the least sign of any inclination to Sin without the least shew of Injustice or Uncharitableness towards Men or the least appearance of Disobedience or Indevotion towards God Nay a Life spent in the greatest Acts of Charity to Mankind and in the highest Elevations of Piety to his Father A Life that consum'd it self in the Zeal of his House that expir'd in a Sacrifice to the Glory of God and for the Salvation of the Souls of Men. So that you have not only the Precept but the Prescription too of your Creator to engage you in your Duty He by whom you were made by whom you are preserv'd by whom alone you can be restor'd from a state of Sin and by whom you must be finally judg'd was pleas'd to assume humane Nature to be made Man in all things Sin only excepted on purpose to exemplify the Duty in our Text by his Life as well as to conquer Sin and Hell by his Death And since he calls you to learn of him to bear the Yoke to which he meekly condescended to bow his own sacred Neck in his tender Years surely 't is good for you to stoop to that Yoke in your Youth too Ought you not to apply your selves as well to his Example for Direction as to his Sufferings for Salvation And is it not both for your Honour and Interest to be conformable to that blessed Life that was first taken up to instruct you and then laid down to redeem you 2. Consider how small that Oblation is which is requir'd of your hands when your whole Life is claim'd as the Right of your Creator seeing 'tis but a part of it that can be directly and immediately offer'd to him The Secular Affairs that the Necessities of your Bodies engage you in and Sleep together with the other Reparations of Nature that are requisite to make those frail Tabernacles Tenantable divide between 'em so great a share of the Time of Life that 't is but a little portion of it that can be allotted to Pious Exercises how soon soever you apply your selves to the practice of 'em and will you grudg your Maker this small share of your Time for the whole of which you entirely depend on him Can you think much to allow a part of every day to Devotion to the immediate Service of God and for the Welfare of your Souls when he allows you