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
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
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