stedfastly resolvest and earnestly endeavourest to work the Work of God now when there is some Opportunity remaining and Power left which if thou wouldst thou couldst employ in the Devil's Work if indeed this be thy case if truly it be thus with thee then be of good comfort for I dare assure thee that God in Christ will graciously accept thee and gloriously reward thee Remember and consider that they that were hired about the * Mat. 20.9 12. eleventh Hour received every Man a Penny and were made equal unto those which had born the Burden and Heat of the day This indeed gives no Encouragement to any that study to delay from day to day because these Persons in the Parable were never call'd before the eleventh Hour they stood no longer idle but went into the Vineyard as soon as they were call'd without any the least delay Nor does it afford sufficient comfort to a [m] As concerning the man which was called the last Hour of the day to labour in the Vineyard I pray you take notice that this man was a Labourer and though he took pains but for a short time yet Labour he did whereas he that shall defer his Repentance and Amendment of Life till his last Hour if he indeed prove sorry for his Sins yet labour he cannot the best that he can do is to make Offers and Resolutions to work the good VVork of God if it shall please him to snare him Life But that those Resolutions of his shall be accepted with God instead of real very Labour indeed I find no Commission to assure you Chillingworths serm 6. on Luke 16 9. p. 397. Death bed Penitent because these Persons that went in late laboured soundly and wrought full hard for the space of an Hour before they received their Pay which Death-bed Penitents have no time to do But yet this Passage gives good ground of great Comfort to all such Persons as timely think upon their Waies turn their Feet unto God's Testimonies and enter into the Race of Godliness when they could stand idle a while longer or still continue and run on further in foolish Waies and sinful Courses To conclude all I exhort and beseech you and let me effectually perswade and prevail with you by all that with any reason has been offer'd to your consideration to [n] Quare vis procrastinare propositum tuum Surge in instant â—â—ncipe die Nunc tempus est faciendi nunc tempus est pugnandi nunc tempus est emend indi A Kemâ—is l 1. c. 22. n. 5. break off all your Delaies Excuses Discouragements and to give all speedy careful chearful Diligence to redeem the Time to work out your Salvation and to make your Calling and Election sure by bringing forth the seasonable proper plentiful Fruits of an undelayed Repentance Take the excellent Counsel of the wise Son of Sirach * Ecclus 18.19 10 21 22. Vse Physick or ever thou be sick Before Judgment examine thy self and in the day of Visitation thou shalt find Mercy Humble thy self before thou be sick and in the time of Sins shew Repentance Let nothing hinder thee to pay thy Vow in due time and defer not until Death to be justified Follow likewise the Advice and practise according to the profitable Direction of the Learned Gerhard Timely and faithfully [o] Vtamur mediis conversionis salutis vivamus in vero timore Dei insistamus precibuâ— resistamus peccatorum principus ne cogitatio prava delectationem delectatio consensum consensus opus gignat opus consuetudinem consuetudo necessitatem necessitas pertinaciam pertinacia desperationem desperatio damnationem pariat Gerhard Harm c. 201. p. 2000. use the means of Conversion and Salvation live in the true Fear of God pray without ceasing resist the Beginnings of any Sins lest an evil Thought raise Delight Delight draw on Consent Consent produce an evil Work evil Works beget an evil Habit an evil Habit induce a kind of Necessity of sinning and such Necessity breed Pertinacy Pertinacy cause Despair and Desperation end in Damnation FINIS
but only Death for I did not think I should have died so soon How troublesome will it be to thee when thy Soul is about to be divorced from thy Body to be at best uncertain then what will become of thee To express thy self with dying Aristotle [u] Dubius morior quò vadam nescio I die doubtful not well knowing whither I am going Or with the Emperour Adrian [w] Animula vagula blandula Hospes com esque corporis Quae nunc abibis in loca Pallsdula frigidula nudula Nec ut soles dabis jocos Ah dear departing wandring Soul the old and sweet Companion of my Body into what Region art thou now going surely thou wilt never be so merry and pleasant as thou hast been How intolerably vexatious will it be to change for Vncertainties or to make a certain Change for the worse To die unsatisfied what will become of thee as to thy future unchangeable State Or sure and certain that thou shalt enter into a worse State and Place and shalt be miserable to all Eternity To see then but a Step but a Breath between thee and everlasting Death To have all the horrid and heinous sins of a whole misled and misspent Life fiercely fly in thy very Face and thy enraged furious guilty Conscience to be then most active to torment thee the nearer thou apprehendest thy self approaching to the End of thy mortal Life As usually bodily Aches and Wounds do prick and pain and shoot most the nearer it draweth unto Night What a lamentable sad Case was that of Cardinal Wolsey to cry out in his extreme unhappy Circumstances Had I been as careful and diligeut to please and serve the God of Heaven as I have been to comply with the Will of my earthly King he would not have left and for saken me now in my gray Hairs and old Age as the other has done So think what a doleful Case it will be for thee in thy last Hours to pour forth thy Soul in such Words as these If I had served my God as earnestly and unweariedly as I have constantly served the world served diverse Lusts and Pleasures served the Devil himself Had I been at Church when I was in Bed been in my Closet upon my Knees when I was sitting tippling upon the Ale-bench or was quaffing at Tavern and drinking of Healths upon my Knees Had I satisfied the Reason of a Man as I gratified my brutish Appetite and sensual Desire Had I done the Will of God and of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as I have done the Will of the Devil the Will of the Flesh and fulfilled my own carnal corrupt Will I had then been own'd by God and approv'd by my own Conscience inwardly strengthned and supported and sweetly comforted and refresh'd who now am deserted and rejected by God and miserably perplexed and disquieted rent and racked torn and tormented in my own Conscience Then thou wilt certainly count and call thy self unhappy and him the only happy Man who as dying [x] Beatus es Abba Arseni qui semper hanc horam ante oculos habuisti Bibl. Patr. Theophilus said of devout Arsenius has had the Hour of his Departure ever before his Eyes That is the first Conider what a dreadful Thing it is to be found unprovided at the Hou◠of Death When Friends and Physicians cannot keep thee and God and his good Angels will not take thee O then O then what will become of thee 2. Seriously think on the other hand what [y] Considera quà n pulchra res sit consummare vitam ante mortom deinde expectare securum reliquam tempor is sui part m◠Sen. ep 32. an happy and comfortable Thing it will be to find your Time well improved and your self prepared to die before you die 'T is a true Saying of the Wise Man that to a good man the * Eccl. 7.1 Day of Death is better than the Day of his Birth For is not that Day which perfectly frees and fully delivers a good Man from the many Vanities and great Vexations which the Life of Man is obnoxious to and the Troubles and Sufferings which the Life of a Christian is expos'd to far better than that Day which let 's him into the Possession of them Again The Time when a Person has attain'd the End of his Being made good the Hopes of others answer'd god's and Man's expectation concerning him walked himself in the Fear of the Lord brought up Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord walked worthy of his Vocation fill'd up every Relation with suitable Duties and Graces serv'd his Generation according to the Will of God liv'd and acted with reference to Eternity The Time when he most willingly leaves this wicked World and leaves an holy Seed to stand up in his room and stead leaves a good Name and a good Example behind him and goes to Heaven to the Spirits of just Men made perfect goes to God his heavenly Father and to Christ his Redeemer to receive the gracious and glorious Reward of all his Works and Labours and the Crown he has striven and contended for Surely the Day when this falls out which is the Day of his Death gives cause of more abundant Comfort than can the Day of his Birth together with all the Daies of his Life Is not that Day better wherein a Man has truly and really answered the Ends of Life than that in which he only began at first to live Is not that Day better in which he has fully and compleatly acted his Part well quitted and behav'd himself like a Man and Christian and is gone off the Stage of this lower world with Credit and Esteem Approbation and Applause of God himself good Angels and Men than the Day of his first appearing upon the Stage or Theater of this World in a way of Probation and Trial and in Hope of his future good Performance Is not the Day of his actual Admission and honourable Reception into a blissful Condition and happy Mansion far better than the Day of his Entrance into a State of Preparation for it Think well with thy self what a joyful Day what a [z] Cùm ecquid lumen molestiae afferret rogarent pectus tangens Oecolampadius abundè lucis est inquit Melch. Adam in vita Oecolamp p. 56. lightsome Hour what a Time of refreshing it will be to thee to be able to say with thy Saviour a little before thy Departure * Joh. 17.4 Father I have glorified thee on Earth I have finished the Work which thou hast given me to do And with the Apostle St. Paul †2 Tim. 4 6 7. The Time of my Departure is at hand I have fought a good Fight [a] Vixi quem dederat cursum fortuna peregi I have finished my course I have kept the Faith ‖ 2 Cor. 1.12 My rejoicing is this the Testimony of my Conscience that in
Violation of your Baptismal Vow You promis'd at your Baptism that you would obediently keep God's holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the Days of your Lives But how apparently do you break this part of your Vow by living in a long continued course of Disobedience to this so reasonable Command of Christ Yea this unchristian Practice of yours is by interpretation a kind of Renunciation of your Baptismal Covenant entred into in your Infancy you do in a manner openly disown and disavow it when you will not yield at Years of Discretion to renew and confirm it though often minded of it frequently required and called upon in the Name of Christ to do it in the Use and Celebration of this Sacrament And by being so utterly averse and unwilling to bind your selves by this means to Christ and to ratify and strengthen your Covenant with him you seem to quit your Part in Christ and to disclaim all Interest and Propriety in the precious Benefits purchased by his Blood and Death and to be guilty of the basest Ingratitude and greatest Unkindness imaginable in refusing to remember in a solemn manner your Blessed Saviour who has so lovingly remembred you and been with so much charge and cost so great a Benefactor to you and in unworthily undervaluing the inestimable Benefits of his Death and Passion sealed and exhibited in the right Use of this Sacrament When Christ has said in plain terms Do this will you in effect dare to say We will not do this we will break a known Law and will not regard the Authority of Christ Will you persist in such Omission as you cannot justify but are forc'd if reason'd with to condemn your selves for Can you be so weak and short in your reasoning as to think you reserve to your selves a freedom and liberty to sin for the present without any great Danger to you by absenting your selves from the Sacrament which would closely tie and straitly bind you up to a stricter way and more exact course of Life never considering that by your relation to God and dependance upon him by your early Covenant made in Baptism by all your hearing or reading the Word of God and by every Prayer you have in all your Life put up to God you are already strongly obliged to all that Duty which the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper would further engage you to perform Will you put off this Sacrament from Time to Time and satisfy your selves at present that you purpose to prepare and receive hereafter why this is just as foolish and absurd as to resolve that when you have very greedily swallowed much more Poison then you will take the benefit of an Antidote that when you have stuffed your selves with trash and fill'd your selves with abundant crudities and by so doing weakned and destroyed your Appetite or by long Fasting quite lost your Stomach then you will hasten to a Feast That when you have further despised the Riches of Divine Goodness and Grace made more light of Christ and of his pretious Blood and Benefits and grieved his Spirit by longer Deâ—ays and Non-improvement of Gospel-seasons and golden Opportunities then you will seek Reconciliation to God Union to and Communion with Christ Purgation from Sin by the Blood of Christ and the Consolation of the Spirit of Christ You may delude your selves with Intentions and Resolutions to remember Christ in the Sacrament at some convenient Season hereafter but if you neglect and closer it now you may lose your Senses and Memory before ye have another Occasion offer'd you of remembring Christ in this Sacrament You may die and depart and Christ may come to you in particular Judgment before you can enjoy another Opportunity of 〈◊〉 to the Table and Supper of your Lord We may tell of your Death and shew to others where you lie low in your Graves before the Times comes that you should shew forth your Lord's Death in the celebration of the holy Communion And ifyou should communicate upon a Death-bed the Sacrament so late sought and receiv'd is very unlikely to assure Heaven to you when you die when it was never desired and used by you as a necessary Means of helping you to Holiness and so of leading you on to Happiness all your Life long Let not humble honest-hearted Christians debar and deprive themselves of this Ordinance by over-looking or mis-judging their own Qualifications But finding that they regard no Iniquity in their Hearts and feeling in themselves vehement Longings and earnest Breathings after Christ and continual Hungrings and Thirstings after Righteousness let them own with thankfulness any measure of Grace discernible in themselves and not deny to themselves what Christ so freely affords and offers them but when invited to this Spiritual Feast draw near with Faith and take this holy Sacrament to their Comfort and use it as a means of supplying their spiritual wants and needs Come yea frequently come to the Lord's Table The Sacrament of Baptism is the Symbol and Seal of our Regeneration or New Birth and therefore it is to be received but once But the holy Communion is the Symbol and Seal of our spiritual Nutrition and therefore in reason we are to receive it often When Christ appointed that this should be done in remembrance of him can you think he intended only a single or seldom remembrance Did not Christ himself in giving that Command and enacting that Law intimate insinuate and suppose a reiterated frequent remembrance of himself when he said * 1 Cor. 11.25 26. as oft as ye drink it the Apostle subjoining as often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup Will he then accept and take it kindly at your hand if ye do it so seldom as is next to a total Omission of it Did the Primitive Christians communicate every day or at least every Lord's-Day and can you content your selves to live many Weeks Months and Years without it Did you but know and understand consider and meditate of your own spiritual great necessities Wants Weaknesses and of the certain considerable Advantages of a frequent Participation of the holy Communion you would quickly find a Law within your selves to bind and oblige you a strong Argument and Impellent within your own Breasts a pressing powerful Motive in your own Bosoms to draw you to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper you would as soon forget to take your daily Bread as neglect to receive this blessed Sacrament upon any good Occasion and fit Opportunity offer'd to you Among all your Cares take special care to feed and nourish to strengthen and comfort to cleanse and save your Souls Among all your Employments find some leisure to remember your Saviour to meet with your dearest Lord and to receive the seasonable plentiful rich * Phil. 1.19 Supplies of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Will you pretend to value a Sermon and yet unworthily slight the Sacrament seem to make conscience of
hearty Thankfulness to Christ for it your Obedience to your Lord who does not only vouchsafe it as a Priviledge but command it as a Duty Do this in Remembrance of me Perform this easie sweet Command of thy dying Lord and Saviour who has freed and delivered thee by his Death from the heavy Yoke and grievous Bondage of Jewish Sacrifices and Observances O let our Hearts at such a Time be broken and bleed at the Remembrance of our Sins which brake Christ's Body and shed his Blood Behold in the Sacrifice and bloody Death of Christ represented in this Sacrament the odiousness and baseness of your own Sins and resolve to be the Death of that which was the Death of Christ and rather to die than willingly to do that for which Christ died Abhorr the Thoughts of wilfully choosing so great an Evil as once brought so great a Punishment upon so great a Person as the holy Jesus the well-beloved Son of God Consider seriously upon this Occasion that if God would not spare Christ when he who knew no Sin was by voluntary charitable Assumption of our Guilt to answer for our Sins to be sure then he will not spare us if we wilfully run on in Sin and obstinately allow our selves therein notwithstanding so convincing a Demonstration of his sin-hating Holiness and vindicative Justice Upon due Meditation draw this Conclusion which is the excellent Reasoning of the [p] Facilis est collectio si Deus ne resipiscentibus quidem peccata remittere voluit nisi Christo in poenas succedente multò minùs inultos sinet contumaces Grot. de Satisfact Christi learned Grotius that if God would not pardon the Sins no not of penitent Persons unless Christ did substitute himself in their Room and stand in their Stead to bear the Punishment much less will he suffer unreclaimable Rebels and contumacious Sinners to go unpunished When Christ is set forth in this Sacrament crucified before your Eies think how he intended and aimed at our Mortification and Sanctification in his Death and Passion * Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works †Pet. 2.4 Who his own self bare our Sins in his own Body on the Tree that we being dead to Sin should live unto Righteousness Let us yield that Christ should have his End in his Death and never allow our selves to live in Sin which will render us uncapable of receiving the Benefit of Christ's Death Think how the Unholiness of our Lives is a greater wrong to Christ than the Jews being the very Death of him because as the [q] D. Jackson Vol. 3. p. 343 344 345. learned Dr. Jackson notes it is more against the Will and Liking and good Pleasure of our Saviour whose Will was regulated by Reason and was a constant Rule of Goodness for though a painful shameful Death and that inflicted by his own People went much against his human Will yet he chose rather to die and to suffer the most afflictive Circumstances of Death for us than to suffer us to live and die in our Sins and in the Servitude and Power of Satan Shall we pretend when we approach to the Table of our Lord affectionately to remember a loving dying Saviour and to desire to have his Memory continued and transmitted to Posterity and yet so much forget him upon the return of any Temptation as to repeat that which was the Death of him Shall we weep at the Sacrament and seem to be hugely troubled for those Sins which were the Cause of Christ's Sorrows and yet go about again to destroy and to crucify Christ afresh Shall we commemorate at the Lord's Supper our wonderful Redemption by the precious Blood of Christ and when we have done shall we do the Devil more work and service than the Lord Christ O what a Reproach is this to Christ and what a Sport to the Devil that they that pretend to remember Christ's Dying for them should not find in their hearts to live to him [q] Ego pro istis quos mecum vides nec alapas accepi nec flagella sustinui nec crucem pertuli nec sanguinem fudi nec familiam meam pretio passionis cruoris redemi sed nec regnum illis coeleste promitto nec ad paradisum restitutâ immortalitate denuò revoco Tuos tales Christe demonstra vix tui meis pereuntibus adaequantur qui à te divinis mercedibus praemiis coelestibus honorantur Cypr. de Opere Eleemosynis p. 220. St. Cyprian brings in the Devil boasting and bragging against our Saviour and insulting over us silly and sinful Wretches in this manner I have endured no Buffetings nor born Smitings with the Palms of Men's Hands I have suffer'd no Scourgings nor under-gon the Cross for any of these nor have I redeem'd my Family with the Price of my Passion and Blood-shedding yet shew me O Christ so many so busy so painful so dutiful Servants of thine as I am able to shew thee every where of mine Bring forth if thou canst such a Number of Persons who devote themselves and give their Labours Estates and Time to thee as I can easily produce of those who do all this to me When thou professest to remember that Christ died for thee O die to that for which he died Offer thy self to him and lay out thy self for him who once offered himself for us and in the Sacrament offers himself to us Think no Duty too much for him For Shame for Shame do not serve any longer a bloody Murtherer instead of a blessed Saviour and merciful Redeemer Let our Thoughts and Meditations dwell upon the Demonstration given us in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper of Christ's exceeding incomparable Love to Mankind See there how contrary the sweet and kind Nature of Christ is to the cruel and execrable Nature of the old Tyrant the Devil For as the learned [r] His Mystery of Godliness p. 133 245. Dr. More very well observes whereas the Devil who by unjust Vsurpation had got the Government of the World into his own hands tyrannizing with the greatest Cruelty and Scorn that can be imagined over Mankind thirsted after humane Blood and in most Parts of the World required the Sacrificing of Men which could not arise from any thing else but a salvage Pride and Despight against us This new gracious Prince of God's own appointing Christ Jesus was so far from requiring any such villainous Homage that himself became at once one grand and all sufficient Sacrifice for us to expiate the Sins of all Mankind and so to reconcile the World to God Shall not all this disengage us from Sin and Satan and win and gain us over to Christ And let Christ's Death make thee study to do something answerable to the dearest Love of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has
People are obliged to a strict observation of the Lord's-day The Gentry in comparison rest all the Week long their Cheeks are not moistened with Sweat their Hands are not hardened with hard Labour they are not tired and wearied out with pains-taking They who take their Pleasure and recreate themselves every Day in the Week have nothing to plead for Recreations on the Lord's-day Though for my own part I should be far from indulging a Liberty to any to take such Recreations as hinder the Devotions due to any part of the Lord's-day and are Impediments to the Sanctification of it aright Let all industriously redeem the Lord's-day And take we heed we redeem it not by halves but let 's religiously observe and covetously redeem the whole Lord's-day We are bound in justice to God to do it because God has set a Day not a Piece of a Day apart for himself and requires this Portion and Tribute of Time to be paied to him who has graciously given us all our Time We should be as much yea more afraid to steal God's Time than Mens Goods Do not only observe the former Part of the Day repairing to the Church or Chappel in the Morning but commonly and customarily absenting your selves and growing quite weary of any such Duty in the After-noon for God has allotted and appointed a seventh Part of our Time for his own Worship and Service but if you keep only one half of the Lord's-day you give God but a fourteenth Part of your Time Nay of one Day in seven I fear too many spare him no more than that Time only which their Morning-Attendance takes up in publick on the Lord's-day And here I appeal to their own Reason whether it be a meet and fit Thing that rational Persons created by God and redeemed by his Son should afford to the Worship and Service of God and Christ and the great concerns of their immortal Souls but two Hours at most of the whole Lord's-day and it may be no more of the whole Week and shall spend those Hours in a formal customary cold and heartless Worship of an infinitely holy and just Deity the tremendous impartial Judg of Angels and Men. Grudg not to give God one whole Day in seven who largely and liberally grants and allows six whole Daies in seven to you and who designs a greater Benefit and Advantage to you by your Observation of this one Day than possibly can accrue to you by the carefullest and painfullest worldly Improvement of all the rest O believe and consider that the taking out of this one Day and setting it apart for such an excellent Service and high Employment as you are called to in it is certainly the greatest Gift of all How can you be loth to spend one Day in seven in Familiarity with Heaven in communion with your Maker and Fellowship with your Saviour Let us all call the Christian Sabbath the Lord's-day a Delight take as much Contentment and Satisfaction in doing on this Day the Exercises of Religion as Men usually take in doing the Works of their ordinary Calling take as much Pleasure in God's Service as others take in Sin and Vanity Let us spend the Lord's-day as becomes those who profess that they love God better and delight in him more than in any Thing in the World Spend it as they that are glad of so honourable and profitable and pleasurable an Employment as the publick and private Worshiping of God Let us go to the House of God with Joy Let the Church on the Lord's-day be a Banquetting-house and not a Prison to us Do but bring your selves to spend the Lord's-day with Delight and then you will keep it to the End of it The Jews were bound to keep a whole Day holy in a grateful Memory of the lesser Benefits of the Creation and their Deliverance out of Aegypt And shall not we solemnly observe the whole Lord's-day in a thankful Remembrance of greater Blessings not only of the Goodness of God in our Creation but of his Grace and Mercy in our Redemption and Deliverance from Hell and Death eternal We have greater Engagements to do it than they not only greater Motives but greater [a] See Mr. Cawdrey's Sabbathum redivivum p. 563 564. Means too We have greater Variety of publick Exercises on the Lord's-day than they had on their Sabbath We have more Scripture to reade in private than they had We have the Old and New Testament many Expositors upon them many good Practical Theological Tractates written We have more Knowledg afforded us than they had more Grace offer'd us to do the Duties incumbent on us Now we that have more Means and Helps how can we offer to put God off with less Duty and smaller Service and shorter Performance Nay the very Heathens guided by the Light of Nature held it reasonable that the Daies consecrated to their Gods should be devoutly and totally observed with Rest and Sanctity [b] Saturn l. 1. c. 7. Macrobius tells us that on their holy Daies the People came together to spend the whole Day in learning Fables to be conferred upon and will you that call your selves Christians refuse to come together on the Lord's-day to spend one Hour in the Morning another in the After-noon in learning the Mysteries of the Gospel and in receiving saving Instructions out of the Word of God You that give your Bodies two Meals every Day will you feed your Souls but once on the Lord's-day Give me leave to deal with you in the winning Words of that sweet Singer of our Israel Speaking of the Lord's-day saies he [a] Church-porch p. 14. Twice on the Day his due in understood For all the Week thy Food so oft he gave thee Thy cheer is mended bate not of the Food Because 't is better and perhaps may save thee Thwart not th' Almighty God O be not cross Fast when thou wilt but then 't is gain not loss Consider that your own and your Families spiritual Necessities do require and call for a most strict Observation of the whole Lord's-day and a faithful Improvement of all the Helps and Advantages of it The Works of your Callings and your worldly Occasions and Employments do in a manner take up six Daies of the Week and you have but one whole Day in seven to provide for the Needs of your immortal Souls Now the Necessities of your Souls are far greater than those of your Bodies your spiritual eternal Estate is of nearer and higher Concern than your outward and temporal Estate And will you not labour then to improve every Hour and endeavour to redeem every Minute of this one Day Do but seriously think with your selves how much work you have to do in this one Day and then tell me whether in reason and Prudence you can spare any Part of it yea or no. What have you to do for God for your selves What for your Families for your Children and Servants How
many and great Mercies of God towards you and yours and all Mankind are you bound to recount and to be affected with on this Day Ought you not still on this Day to remember and consider and solemnly and heartily to bless God and Christ for the capital Mercies of Creation and Redemption and for the gracious seasonable Sending of the Holy Ghost and to spend some Time in speaking highly and honourably of these Benefits to the Praise of your Maker and Glory of your Redeemer Are not you ignorant of many Things in which you ought to be informed and have not you need then to spend some Part of the Lord's-day in reading the Bible and some select Books of sound Divinity in hearing the Word preach'd and in Conference with godly understanding and well-experienced Christians Are you not too great Strangers to God and your selves and have not you need then to improve some Portion of this Seasonn in Meditation and Self-examination that you may get more Acquaintance with God and your own Hearts Have not you the Sins of the whole Week past to confess to God in secret and to beg the Pardon of every Lord's-day when you have leisure from your bodily Labour is it not fit you should take some pains in conquering the Corruptions and mortisying the Lusts of your own Hearts and in wrestling with God in Praier for his Strength and Grace Can you idle away your Time and take your Pleasure on the Lord's-day when you have Families to inform and Children and Servants to catechize and instruct Let your Consciences tell me whether it be better on the Lord's-day to spend your Time in unnecessary Divertisements in fruitless Visitations in vain and frothy Discourses to talk freely together of worldly Businesses to judg the Preacher to censure your Christian Neighbour Or to commune with your selves and to labour to edify your own Families To teach your Children the Doctrine of Adam's Fall and of the Redemption wrought by Christ To acquaint them what Sin and Corruption they brought with them into the World and how they have encreased it since they came into the World That the Wages of Sin is Death To tell them what Christ has done and suffered to free and deliver them from Sin and Death and what they must do to be capable of partaking of Christ's saving Benefits To ground your Servants in the Principles of Religion To take account what they remember of the Sermons they heard that Day and to examine how they have profited by the publick Ordinances You see what a great deal of Work you have to do and what a little Time you have to do it in You have but one whole Day in seven It concerns you then to be very saving of this whole Day [c] Quicunque hisee sacris ita seriò se excicent ut ipsorum familiae necessitas plani postulat locum nullum relictum esse quaestioni ists carn â—liter de larantium invenient An licitum sit die Dominâ—co aut oftari aut ludere aut epu is aut inanabus aut mundanis non planè necessariis tempus sacrum conterere Et qui serpsum alaos werè novit ut diei negotia commoda oblata verbo divino de rebus sparitio libus aeternis verè credit ipsius altorum ex vera necessitate ut â—â—â—tate interesse percepiet diem totum quantùm fieri potest in sacris colocare neque frustra sine fruge horae moment um essluere sinet Neque niâ—â—ges quaestionem movebit An liceat ludis vel aliis manibus ad perdere quà m An laceat sanguinent sâ—um inaniter fundere aurum oblasum respâ—ere in canum projicere Carnalis quippe pe animus sui rerum spiritualium ignarus disputationum talium author est plerumque promus-condus Baxter Method Theol. part 3 c. 14. P. 172. To be as far from disputing whether it be not lawful to use Recreations and Sports on some Part of it or to employ some Hours of it in any unnecessary worldly Businesses as from putting the Question Whether it be not lawful vainly to spill your own Blood or to make a refusal of Gold that is offer'd you and to cast it contemtuously into the Dirt. 'T will but little avail you to make the utmost worldly Advantage of all the other six Daies if you make not a sufficient spiritual Improvement of this which is more considerable than all the rest What would it profit you if as God made the World in six Daies so you could gain the whole World by working hard the six Daies if by gross neglect of the Lord's-day you at last lost your own Souls The Church of England in her pious and useful Homily of the Time and Place of Praier declares that in the fourth Commandment God has given express Charge that his obedient People should use our [d] And truly it is strange that some who have a dearness yea fondness for some VVords of Jewish Extraction Altar Temple and the like should have such an Antipa by against the Sabbath Fuller's Church-Hiâ—â— B. 11. p. 144. Sabbath-day which is now our Sunday holily and rest from their common and daily Businesses and also give themselves wholly to heavenly Exercises of God's true Religion and Service And in his Majestie 's Royal Proclamation for the Observation of the Lord's-day all his Majestie 's Subjects are bid to take notice that by the Law the resorting to divine Service enjoined on that Day does comprehend the entire Day and entire Service both Morning and Evening Yea every Lord's-day Morning you your selves make this open Confession and publick Praier in the Congregation after the Reading of the fourth Commandment Lord have Mercy upon us and encline our Hearts to keep this Law As much as to say Lord we acknowledg we have neglected this thy Day We pray thee pardon all our unchristian Sabbath-breaking for the Time past and give us Grace to observe the Christian Sabbath better for the future Now will you confess in the Fore-noon and transgress in the After-noon Will you beg pardon in the Morning and sin again the very same Sin before Night Will you open your Mouths to ask God's Grace to sanctify and keep holy the Sabbath-day and it may be profane it in a graceless manner as soon as you are out of the Congregation If the Lord's-day ought to be observed at all it is to be kept both Parts of the Day And for those that commonly stay away in the After-noon I would ask them what their Employment is at home in the mean Time Do not some of them spend the After-noon in sleeping or walking or talking or drinking or gaming while others are jointly confessing and praying and praising and hearing If God requires a Day is this to sanctify a Day to the Lord to worship God in the Morning and to dishonour God and serve the Devil and divers Lusts in the Afternoon
you go into a Potter's Shop and see a great Company of earthen Pots and should ask the Owner which of these would break first he would tell you Not that which was first made but that which first got a Fall 'T is common for them to go first to the Winding-sheet who came last from the Womb. We are earthen Vassels brittle Ware and may quickly get a Knock or Fall and crack and break How many Persons have lost their Lives by very strange and sad Accidents Some and great ones too have fallen suddainly by an Ehud's Dagger a Ravilliack or Felton's Knife A poisoned Torch did serve to light the Cardinal of Lorrain to his long home Fabius surnamed the Painter as [k] Bp. Taylor in his great Exemplar p. 557 558. See also Dr. Patrick's Div. Arithm. p. 26 27. a learned Bishop has with variety remarked out of History was choaked with an Hair in a Mess of Milk Adrian the fourth with a Flie Anacreon with a Raisin Drusus Pompeius with a Pear Casimir the second King of Polonia with a little Draught of Wine Tarquinius Priscus with a Fish-bone Lucia the Sister of Aurelius the Emperour playing with her little Son was wounded in her Breast with a Needle and died The great Lawyer Baldus playing with a little Dog was bitten upon the Lip instantly grew mad and perished So far that great and excellent Author A little Bruise on the Toe is said to have killed Aemilius Lepidus I have heard of several that have died by the cutting of a Corn upon their Toe a Place remote from the Heart and have read of a Person who after sixteen Years Travel and enduring much Hardness abroad returning home died of an Hurt in his Thumb [i] Mr. Edward Terry Mr. of Arts and Student of Christ's-Church in Oxford in his Voyage to the Eust-Indies Anno Christi 1615 ells us of a Nobleman in the great Mogul's Court who fitting in Dalliance with one of his Women had an Hair pulled by her from his Breast This little Wound made by that small and unexpected Instrument of Death presently festred and turning into an incurable Cancer killed him God needs no bigger a Lance than an Hair to kill an Atheist as this dying Lord acknowledged Purchas Pilgrims vol. 2. The plucking but a single Hair off the Breast of a Nobleman in the Great Mogul's Court caused an incurable Cancer in his Flesh and proved as mortal as the tearing out his very Heart [k] See Instances in the Gr. Exemplar p. 558. How many Persons have died in the midst of Sport and Merriment excessive Laughter and too great a Joy and what a Number have been found unexpectedly and suddenly dead in their Beds We are obnoxious to numerous perilous Diseases subject to various violent Passions and exposed to a thousand Casualties and Contingencies any one of which may quickly be the Death of us We are in Danger of perishing by falling into the Water or into the Fire by the firing or Fall of some Part of an House by the Fall of a Coach the Fall of an Horse or a Fall off an Horse We know not how soon a Vein may break and let out our Blood and Life How soon an Ague may shake us to Death as [l] 27. Jan. 1402. Knolles's Hist of the Turks p. 235. it did the great Tamerlane in the midst of his great Hopes and greatest Power when he was preparing for the utter rooting out of the Othoman Family and the Conquest and Overthrow of the Greek Empire We know not how soon a Dropsie may drown us how soon a Fever may burn us up how soon a Quincy may stop our Breath how soon an Apoplexy may bereave us of our Senses and of our Lives how soon we may groan under deadly Gripes how soon the Pestilence may smite us and cleave unto us till it has quite consumed us Every Pore in our Bodies is a Door at which Death may enter in If we had as many Hands as Hairs on our Heads they would not be able to stop up all those Passages at which Death may creep in unawares We know not but that some Disease is now breeding in our Bodies which will shortly make an End of us Blessed be God we are now free from Pain but ere long we may be even distracted with it To day we are well and in good Health but to morrow we may be sick heart-sick sick unto Death and the next Day laid in our Coffins and lodged in our Graves Many are gone before us who were likely enough to ontlive us and who knows but our turn may be the very next This Night mine thy Soul may be requied of us and to morrow Morning the Bell may give notice of our Death We are apt to imagine that we may continue in the World till we have effected all we design and yet we have no Promise of God's nothing but our own Presumption to secure us of longer Life And to be sure the Greatness and Multitude of our Sins give us Cause to fear the Fewness of our Daies and Shortness of our Lives to fear lest every Sickness should prove our Death and lest our Death should prove our Damnation If we consider how little need God has of us how many better than our selves go before us how useless and worthless how unprofitable and unserviceable we are in the World what an hgih Provocation our heinous Sins are unto God's infinite Holiness and Justice and how many Waies there are of snatching us away and removing us hence we cannot but confess that it is a thousand to one if ever we reach to an old Age. You that are old indeed have reason to conclude that your Time is sufficiently short your Pulse can beat comparatively but a few Strokes more your Sun draws low is almost set your Glass is almost run your Life is almost done you have one Foot in the Grave already you stand upon the Brink of Eternity and tread upon the borders of another World And will you be guilty of such prodigious inconsideracy still [m] San. de brev vit cap. 4. velut ex pleno abundanti perdere when you have but a few Daies or Hours remaining to spend as extravagantly as if you had all your Years before you You that are weak and infirm sickly and crasie have reason to reckon your Time uncertain and not to flatter your selves and say that threatned Folk live long You that are more eminently useful and holy zealous and forward in the Profession and Practice Maintenance and Defence of the Christian and Reformed Religion your very Religion which will save your Souls may possibly cause you to lose your Lives For your Activity in your Duty to God and your Country you may be [n] Preached on the Lod's-Day after the Discovery of the Murder of Sr. Edwund Berry Godfrey strangled or stabbed by the barbarous Hands of the butcherly bloody Papists But especially you that are
grow pale to sweat again and to call out to his Son [c] Maxime curre Maxime curre nunquam tibi aliquid mali feci in fidem tuam me suscrpe Maximus to come quickly to save and help him When his Son and Servants came they could see nothing but he himself turn which way he would could see nothing else but those evil Spirits which he could not endure to see and in a despairing Manner at last cried out Inducias vel usque manè inducias vel ujque manè Let me have respite but till to morrow respite but till to morrow Morning And in this Perplexity he died immediatly The same Father makes this Use of it The Vision did him no good says he but let it do good to us upon whom God's Patience waits yet a while longer [d] Nos ergo sratres chartssimt nunc solicitè ista cogitemus ne nobis in vacuum tempora pereant tunc quaeramus ad bene agendum vivere cùm jam compellimur de corpore exire Let us seriously think upon 't that we may not lose our Time says he and then beg to live that we may do our Duty when we are forc'd to die whether we will or no. The fifth Additional Reason We should diligently redeem the Time because we shall be certainly call'd to an Account for our Time Eccles 11.9 Rejoice O young Man in thy Youth or because thou art young healthy and strong the wise Man here speaks Ironically and let thy Heart cheer thee in the Daies of thy Youth and walk in the Waies of thy Heart and in the Sight of thine Eyes take thy Course do what thou pleasest live as thou listest lay no restraint upon thy self deny thy self nothing that Heart can wish please thy Eye gratify thy Phansie satisfy thy Appetite and let thy sensual Heart give Law to thy whole Man take thy Swing thy Fill of Lust and Pleasure get Gain heap up Riches acquire Honour grow great in the World enjoy thy self take thine ease eat drink and be merry But take along with thee this sad and severe yet seasonable Premonition Know thou that for all these Things God will bring thee into Judgment Know thou that is consider an think well of it till thy Heart be warmed with the Thoughts of it Let this so necessary weighty Doctrine not only enter into and then slip out of thy Head almost as soon as in it but let this Truth take up and dwell in thy Thoughts and move and stir thy Heart and Affections and rule and govern thy Life and Actions Thus know thou that for all these Things for all the Vanities and Excesses Follies and Extravagancies of thy Youth for all those Things which are now so grateful and delightful to thy Senses God [c] Bp. Reynolds in loc whose Word and Fear thou now despisest from whose Eye thou canst not hide thy Sins from whose Tribunal thou canst not absent thy self This God will bring thee bring thee perforce whether thou wilt or no send his Angels to hale and drag thee when thou shalt in vain call and cry to Mountains and Rocks to hide and cover thee Bring thee into Judgment to a particular Judgment immediatly after Death and to the general Judgment the Judgment of the great Day as St. Jude speaks call'd by St. Paul the Terrour of the Lord. Thou fond and foolish thou daring venturous Sinner know that there is an After-reckoning a Time when thou must come to an Account when thou must think and hear of what thou hast done and left undone and must surely pay very dear for all They that live their Time in the Flesh to the Lusts of Men says * 1 Pet. 4.2 5. St. Peter they shall give Account to him that is ready to judg the Quick and the Dead [d] Bp. Taylor 's Serm. 1. Vol. p. 294. We are as sure to account for every considerable Portion of our Time as for every Sum of Money we receive [e] Qus unum capillum capitis non dimittit non numeratum unum momentum temporis dimittes non computatum If the very †Mat. 10.30 Hairs of our Heads and †Mat. 10.30 all our Hairs are numbred then certainly our very Hours and all our Hours too And above all our special Hours our Sermon-Hours and all providential Opportunities with all our Neglects and Non-improvements are exactly computed and reckoned up by God our Judg. God puts down in his Catalogue this is the first this the second this the third time that I have warn'd that I have woed such an one He strictly observes how long he has waited upon us how often he has treated with us by his Mercies by his Judgments by his Word by his Spirit by his own Ministers by our own Consciences or our Christian Friends God counts and casts up every Minute of Patience spent upon us He reckons and registers every Sand of Long-suffering run out by us God now takes special particular punctual Notice of all in order to a future final and full Account We must one Day reckon for all those Hours which now we idle and tride away and make so little and light of Time is now a Burthen to many of us and lies upon our Hands and we know not almost how to spend it or which way to get rid of it And therefore sometimes we use evil Arts to pass it away But oh what an intolerable Burthen will the Guilt of mâ—s-spent Time be when it shall be charged home upon a Soul at the great and dreadful Day What have you done with all your Time will God then say Is it true that you have spent so much in Dressing so much in Revelling so much in Dressing your self every Day Were these the Things I gave you Time for what will the Sinner be able to answer to these Things When our righteous Lord who delivered the Talents of Time and manifold Opportunities to us shall come to reckon with us he will require and call for some answerable good Improvement of every such Talent And the more of these Talents were concredited and committed to us the richer Return and greater Improvement will be expected and demanded of us [f] Crescunt dona crescunt rationes donorum Our Reckoning will rise according to the Largeness of our Opportunities and Receits And the longer it is before God calls us to a Reckoning our Account will certainly be the sadder and our Doom and Punishment much the heavier if we have been unfaithful Stewards of our Time and Talents What Account will the old Sinner give of three or four-score Years spent in Vanity Sin and Folly What will he be able to say for himself that his gray Hairs were found in the Way of Vnrighteousness It will be a fearful Audit when God shall call the inconsiderate careless Sinner to appear before his great Tribunal Then he that has but hid his Talent shall hear that sad and
our Time was bought into our Hands not with corruptible Things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ for we had forfeited our very Lives and space for Repentance is the Fruit of the Death of Christ Consider 2. How precious Time is in regard of the Vse and End to which it serves how Time bringeth Advantages with it for the compassing of the greatest Undertakings and for the perfecting of those that are most imperfect Time is not an empty Duration God hath filled Time with Helps to Eternity and with Means sufficient to know him the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent whom to know is Life eternal Consider 3. What precious Thoughts the more improved Heathens had of Time [a] Poteras hasce horas non perdidisse Pliny seeing his Nephew walk for his Pleasure called to him and said You might have found somewhat else to do you needed not have lost your Hours thus It is the Commendation given by Aelian of the old Lacedamonians that they [b] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. were exceeding frugal and parsimonious of their Time taking care to employ it in serious urgent Businesses not allow or permitting any Citizen to waste and consume it in Idleness and Sloth or vainly to throw it away by spending it on such Things as did not at all appear to minister to any Vertue For a Testimony of which the Historian gives this Instance That when it was told the Ephori that the People of Decelia did use to walk in the Afternoons those vigilant diligent Magistrates presently sent to them to prohibit their customary Walking meerly to take their Pleasure For they reckon'd [c] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aelian var. Hist l. 2.9.5 it became the Lacedemonians to get and preserve good Health not by taking such idle Recreations but by giving themselves to some profitable Exercises which might train and fit them for publick Use and Service Were they so thrifty only for the Profit and Commodity of their City And shall not we make much of our Time be sparing and saving of our Hours that we may employ them in the Worship and Service to the Honour and Glory of our God for the Safety and Welfare of our immortal Souls and the securing to our selves a celestial City and an heavenly Country The judicious Plutarch acknowledges that [d] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. Time is of all the most costly Expence The considering and understanding Seneca was more sensible than many of the Worth of Time had himself appretiating Thoughts of it and reproves the common Sort of Men of their great Ignorance of the Preciousness and Usefulness of it I am apt to wonder says he when I hear some Men ask others to spend their Time and bestow their Hours on them and observe those that are thus ask'd to be so easy to part with theis Time to them [e] Quasi nihil petitur quasi 〈◊〉 datur re omnium pretiosiâ—mà luditur c de brev vit c. 8. 'T is ask'd as a very small matter and given away as if it were worth nothing Men plainly play with the most precious Thing that is But this deceives them says he That Time is an incorporeal Thing nd cannot be perceived with bodily Eyes and is therefore made of little reckoning or no account with them And in his first Epistle he thus complains to his Friend Lucilius [f] Quâ—m mihi dabis qui aliquod pretium teâ— ori ponat qui diem â—stimet Sen. ep 1. Where will you find me a Man says he that sets a due Price a right and true Estimate and Value upon his Time Most Men are careful of an Hour-Glass but careless of their Hours Men throw away their Time because they have mean and low Thoughts of it They know not the Worth of this Jewel and therefore they are easily cheated of it and are ready to part with it upon the cheapest terms Many Christians may learn of some of the wisest Heathens not to make light of their precious Hours but to value their Time at an higher Rate 4. Let those that yet have Time in their hands learn to prize it by considering how those that want it judg of it They that have quite lost their Time Oh! what would they give to redeem it Men too commonly little think that Time is of any great Value I am sure the most of us live as if we did not believe so But I pray consider what damned Spirits and dying Persons who have not made their peace with God think of Time Consider 1. What precious Thoughts lost damned Souls have of Time who suffer such extremity of Misery for slighting and abusing it What would not they give if it were possible for our Time and Opportunities and those Seasons of Grace which we enjoy but do not improve which God indulgeth to us but we are not thankful for nor careful of What would not they offer or yield to to have a new Price put into their hands to have farther advantages of redeeming Time Could they be admitted to live in this World again and to act here another Part would they ever grudg to do any spiritual Duty would they ever think any religious Exercise tedious would they be tired at a Sermon or weary of a Prayer would not they be willing to pray every Day till they were even hoarse again to pray till their Knees were as hard as the Boards upon which they kneel'd Would not their Heads be Fountains of Waters and would not they be ready to weep out their very Eyes in the Confession of their Sins Could they be releas'd and restor'd would they be any more afraid to resist the Temptations of a carnal Friend to refuse an ensnaring Invitation to deny a Cup immodestly pressed and unseasonably urged to reprove a bold and daring Sinner and to own and side with God and Religion in any Company whatsoever With what undaunted Courage and Resolution would they be forward to bear Witness against the reigning Sins and common Vices of the World With what Force and Violence would they endeavour to take the Kingdom of Heaven and how would they labour to lead others into and to help them on in the Way to Heaven How would they speak with yearning Bowels of tenderest Compassions to the Souls of their sinful Friends and Relations and seek the Conviction Conversion and Salvation of the sensual worldly careless ungodly Neighbourhood round about them How would every Word that proceeded out of their Mouths be Heart-deep How patiently would they conti nue in well doing to make sure of an endless glorious Happiness And how contentedly would they endure and cheerfully suffer any thing here to escape the intolerable eternal Torments of Hell and to fly from the Wrath to come Consider further 2. What high and precious Thoughts a dying Man who has not made his Peace with God has of Time The fore-mentioned
smell of Remember and consider 1. That Death thy Death is certain 2. That the Time of thy Death is very uncertain 3. That when Death comes a great change will be made by it 4. and lastly Consider seriously what a sad and uncomfortable Thing it will be to be found unprepared to die at the Point of Death And how sweet and happy a Thing it will be to be in a readiness and preparation at the Hour of Death Consider 1. It is sure and certain thou must die at last Death entred into the World by Sin The Wages of thy Sin is thy Death It is now appointed unto Men to all Men once to die Death is the way of all the Earth Every Thing plainly points thee to it Thy very Sleep is an Image of thy Death The very Meat thou eatest as it breeds thy Nourishment so it breeds thy Diseases Thou hast apparently died already in thy Friends and Relations Neighbours and Acquaintance Thou hast lost thy Parents or Husband or Wife or Children or Servants and therefore thou hast reason to think thou shalt one Day lose thy own Life and certainly die in thy own Person Some one it may be that lately lay in thy Bed and lay in thy Bosom is now laid out of thy Sight laid in the Grave and Time will come when as lively and brisk as thou art thou shalt lie by them and be gather'd to them Surely every Sickness every Disease every Tooth-ach Head-ach every Pain and Distemper and bodily Weakness is an Harbinger and Fore-runner of thy Death and a plain Remembrancer to thee of thy latter End Thou seest enough in others thou findest enough in thy self to make thee to know thy own Frame and to cause thee to remember that thou thy self art but Dust Xerxes viewing his vast Army wept over them to think how within a few Lustres of Years there would be none of them all remaining Be affected to think how a few Years will wear out and carry off thy self and all thy Family the numerous Company of thy Friends and Relations Neighbours and Acquaintance The close Meditation of the Certainty of thy own Dissolution this will keep thee from living here as if thou wert to live here alwaies which is a common Fault among Men reprov'd and censur'd of old by [h] Tanquam semper victuri vivitis Seneca de brev vit cap. 4. Seneca And from building here as if thou shouldst here continue for ever as [i] Diogenis dictum est Megarenses obsonant quasi crastinâ die morituri aedificant verò quasi nui quam morituri Tert. Apolog. c. 39. Diogenes once severely charg'd the Megarenses When thou rearest thy Building this Course will cause thee to think of thy own Tomb and Grave and that thy earthly House of this Tabernacle must be dissolved And this will enable thee to live loose from the temporary Enjoyments of this present World and to have lower Thoughts of all earthly Pleasures which are but for a Season and would engage you to be [k] Vivere totâ vitâ discendum est quod magis fortasse miraberis totâ vita discendum est mori Seneca de brev vit cap. 7. learning to die as long as you live The frequent Thoughts of thy latter End would prompt thee to say thus to thy self How shall I dare to live in Jest who am sure I must die in Earnest Am I afraid to die and yet shall I use all Means I can to make Death dangerous and terrible to me Shall I venture [l] St. Jerom said well He deserves not the Name of a Christian who will live in that State of Life in which he will not die Bp. Taylor 's great Exemplar p. 558. to live in that State of Life in which I would not die 2. Consider farther That the Day and Means of thy Death is as [m] Ah stulte quid cogitas te diu victurum cùm nullum diem habeas securum Quam multi decepti sunt irsperatè de cerpore extracti Quoties audisti à dicentibus quia ille gladio cecidit ille submersus est ille ab alto ruens cervicem fregit ille manducando obriguit ille ludendo finem fecit Alius igne alius ferre alius peste alius latrocinto interiit sic omnium finis mors est vita hominum tanquam umbra subito pertransit A Kempis l. 1. c. 23. n. 7. uncertain as thy Death it self is certain Think when thou art eating that then thou maiest be digging thy Grave with thy Teeth and when thou art drinking that then thou maiest find and meet with Death in the Cup or Pot. When thou art ready to take thy Rest consider that God this Night may require thy Soul of thee and before Morning may take away the [n] Vine's Essex's Hearse p. 12. diry Difference between Sleep and Death Here practise according to Seneca's Direction [o] Dic tibi dormituro possum non expergisci Dic experrecto possum non dormire ampliùs Dic exeunti possum non reverti dic redeunti possum non exire Sen. ep 49. Cùm mane fuerit putate ad vesperum non perventurum vespere autem facto mane non audeas tibi polliceri Semper ergo paratus esto taliter vive ut nunquam te imparatum mors inveniat A Kempis l. 3. c. 23. n 3. Say to thy self when thou goest to sleep it may be I shall never wake again and when thou risest it may be I shall never sleep again Say to thy self when thou goest out it may be I shall never return home and come in alive again And when thou comest in at any Time say to thy self It may be I shall never go out of doors again Consider when thou art going a Journey that thou maiest be going to thy long home When thou art riding upon the Road that thou maiest be posting unto thy Grave that the Horse thou ridest on may be the pale Horse and his Name that sits upon him though unseen may be Death Conclude with thy self I must die shortly I may die instantly This Day may be the last that I shall see this Hour the last that I shall spend this Word the last that I shall speak this Deed the last that I shall persform this Place the last that I shall breath in When thou goest into any Company consider that it may be the last time that ever thou shalt come in the Company of those Persons that therefore it behoves thee to behave thy self among them and to spend thy Time and bestow thy Hours with them like a Man and a Christian not like a Beast or an Heathen to demean thy self there soberly and temperately and with good Government of thy Appetite and Passions and with the Exercise and Improvement of thy Reason and of Grace in some useful Discourse and profitable Converse not childishly and unmanly intemperately and luxuriously rudely and uncivilly wildly and
extravagantly The often renewed Meditation of the great Vncertainty of the Time of the Departure This will be a Means to hasten thy Repentance which if defer'd may prove too late And will surely help thee so to carry thy self continually [p] Id ago ut mihi instar totius vitae sit dies Sen. ep Ille qui nullum non tempus in usus suos comfert quiomnes dies tanquam vitam suam ordmat nec optat crastinum nec timet Idem de brev vit c 7. as one that reckons and uses a single Day as if it were a whole Life To live every day as if it were [q] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Musonius apud Stob Serm. 1. â—ic ordinandus est aies omnis tamquam cogat agmen consummet atque expleat vitam In somnum ituri loeti hilar ésque dicamus Viâ—i quem dederat cursum fortuna peregi thy very last Not to promise thy self a Morrow and to neglect thy present Work in Hope and Expectation of it but to order thy self immediately as if thou didst never look to see and enjoy it and to count it as [r] Crastinum si adjecerit Deus laeti reciptamus Ille beatissimus est securus sai possessor qui crastinum sine solicitudine expectat Qussquis dixit vixi quotidie ad lucrum surgit Sen. ep 12. pure Gain as may be if God shall be pleased to afford thee the Light and Benefit of a new Day As the Bird guideth her Flight with her Train and the Ship is governed at the Stern or hindermost Part so the Life of Man is directed and ordered by frequent Meditation of his latter End 3. Think moreover of the great Change that will at last be made by Death which is lively represented in a Story related by a learned [s] Bishop Taylor in his rule and Exercise of holy Dying c. 1. §. 3. Doctor of a fair young German Gentleman who while he lived often refused to be pictured but put off the importunity of his Friends Desire by giving way that after a few Daies Burial they might send a Painter to his Vault and if they saw cause fo rit draw the Image of his Death unto the Life They did so and found his Face half eaten and his Midriff and Back-bone full of Serpents and so he stands pictured among his armed Ancestours Think how the Case will shortly be much alike with thee that Death in a Moment will turn thy Colour into Paleness thy Heat into Coldness thy Beauty into Lothsomness and will so alter and disfigure thee that thy ver Husband or Wife or Child will stand afraid and start at thee That thy nearest dearest kindest Friends who delighted in thy Company whilst thou livedst took thee to their Board took thee to their Bed and put thee in their Bosom will as soon as thou art dead take a speedy Course to remove thee out of their Sight yea to put thee under Ground because by Death thou wilt become not only useless but offensive to them And what a frightful Spectacle thou wouldst be if thy Body should be viewed when once the Vermin have bred in it and shall have devoured and consumed some Parts of it Think how Death will make a Change in thy Body a change in thy Mansion Habitation Companions That when thou art dead thou shalt quickly change thy Bed for a winding Sheet thy Chamber for a Coffin thy House for a Grave thy Friends for Worms This Consideration will be hugely instrumental to beat down Pride of any beauty Health Strength or Ornaments of the Body and be useful to cause thee to walk humbly and soberly and will instruct thee to say to thy self Why should I glory in any such transitory Enjoyment As fair and fine as I may be apt to think my self I know I shall be but a sorry Creature when Death comes Why should I delight to stand long at the Glass and there to view my own Face and Features and Dresses now since Death will one Day so change me that my most intimate loving familiar Friends will hardly endure to behold me Why should I pride my self in any rich Attire and brave Apparel who must ere long be strip'd to a winding Sheet Why should I bestow so much cost upon that Tenement which I shall dwell but a while in and which will decay and fall to utter Ruin when I have done all I can Why should I make my Belly my God which must be destroyed and be Meat for Worms Why should I be so high and stately as to think no House good enough no Room fine enough no Fair dainty enough for me who must quickly be brought as low as the Grave and be forc'd to make my Bed in the dark and to lay my Head in the Dust to lodg yea dwell in a black lonely desolate Hole of Earth to say to the Grave Thou art mine House to say to Corruption Thou art my Father and to the Worm Thou art my Mother and my Sister Why should I spend all my time in pleasing and pampering this base Flesh and in over-caring for this changeable vile Body which must shortly suffer Rottenness and Corruption Shall I not rather take care to beautify and adorn my inner Man to get a Change wrought in my Soul by the good Spirit and Grace of God before I suffer a Change in my Body a Change by Sickness a Change by Death and so to live that when I am dead it may not be said of me Here lies one that was dead while he lived and whose Soul then stank worse by sinful Corruption than his Body now stinks by Putrefaction 4. Consider once more What a sad and uncomfortable Thing it wil be to be found unprepared to die at the point of Death and how happy a Thing it will be to be in a readiness and preparation at the Hour of Death 1. Think well with thy self how miserable a Thing it will be to be wholly unprepared for Death when you come to die indeed [t] Cù a illos aliqua imbecillitas mortalitatis admonuit quemadmodum paventes moriuntur non tanquam exeant de vita sed tanquam extrahantur Seneca de brevitate vitae cap. 11. to be driven away in thy Wickedness as the * Prov. 14.32 Wise Man speaks and forced to go to thy own Place whether thou wilt or no. To say as Theophrastus of old Dii boni nunc Good God must I go now How discompos'd and disorder'd amaz'd and terrified wilt thou be when thou art surpriz'd What a disconsolate Condition was that of Cesar Borgia who when through the Errour of a Servant he had unawares drunk of the poison'd Wine which he and his Father Pope Alexander the sixth had mingled and prepared for some rich Cardinals and verily expected it would prove his Death is said to have broke out into this or the like Expression I had made Provision against all possible Disasters
Rel. p. 170. rule and govern the rational World by giving notices of future Rewards or Punishments which all must unavoidably be adjudged to And that God may one day salve the Honour of his own Attributes that though Things seem to be carried very unequally here in this World and Judgment be never fully executed here but the Wicked are often suffered to escape and the Good and Upright are frequently afflicted and evil-intreated yet all may be rectified and regulated at last and God may openly and evidently appear to be just in punishing the Wicked and Ungodly and good in owning and rewarding every truly vertuous and righteous Person And so may not only vindicate and right himself but justify and right his People too in the Eye and Face of all the World And then go on to think of Scripture-evidences and Testimonies That * Heb. 9.27 after Death the Judgment immediatly after Death a particular Judgment Think of that awakening startling Summons †Luke 16.2 Give an Account of thy Stewardship for thou mayest be no longer Steward Alcibiades in Plutarch coming to Pericles his Door and hearing that he was busie and solicitous about making his Accounts to the Athenians [c] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. Apophthegm p. 180. said It rather concer'd him to study how he might best put by his Accounts and avoid the giving of them up But assure thy self there is no declining of it here Consider that God has * Acts 17.31 appointed a Day a Day of general Judgment in the which he will judg the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained And that we †2 Cor 5.10 must all appear and ‖ Rom. 14.10 stand before the Judgment-seat of Christ not only appear in Person as those do that are cited into a Court but be laid open and made manifest as the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies have our Heart and Life ript up and all our Thoughts Words and Works presented to our own view and expos'd to the view of others disclosed and discovered before Men and Angels That (*) Rev. 20.12 the Books shall then be opened the Book of God's Omniscience and the Book of every Man 's particular Conscience That the Rolls or Records of all our Actions shall be produc'd and we shall be judg'd out of those Things that are written in the Books That we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the Things done in his Body that is the due Reward of the Works done in his Body or in the State of Conjunction with the Body according to or by way of Retribution to what he hath done whether it be good or bad The sober serious Consideration of a most impartial Judicature and Tribunal will mightily awe thy Soul Felix himself trembled when St. Paul reasoned (†) Acts 24.25 of a Judgment to come I have read a [d] M. Marshal's Serm. on 2 Kings 23 25 26. p. 20 21. Story of a certain King of Hungary who being on a Time marvellous sad and heavy his Brother would needs know of him what he ailed Oh Brother saies he I have been a great Sinner against God and I know not how I shall appear before him when he comes to Judgment His Brother told him they were but melancholy Thoughts and made light of them The King replied nothing at the present but in the dead Time of the Night sent an Executioner of Justice and caused him to sound a Trumpet before his Brother's Door which according to the Custome of that Countrey was a Sign of present Execution This Royal Person hearing and seeing the Messenger of Death sprang pale and trembling into his Brother's Presence beseeching the King to let him know wherein he had offended O Brother replied the King thou hast loved me and never offended me and is the sight of my Executioner so dreadful to thee and shall not I so great a Sinner fear to be brought to Judgment before Jesus Christ The frequent Meditation of a Judgment to come will exceedingly move and affect thee and cause thee to live and act suitably and answerably to thy belief of it 'T will keep thee from spending thy Time and talk in rashly judging others * Mat. 7.1 lest God severely enter into Judgment with thee 'T will awaken thee to endeavour to do every Thing as one that is [e] Semper it a vivamus ut rationem reddendam nobis arbitiemur Tussius apud Lactant. de veto coltu l. 6. §. 24. accountable for all he does 'T will put thee upon examining and calling thy self to an Account and cause thee to get all thy Accounts ready against the great Audit 'T will help thee to judg thy self here that thou maiest not be judged and condemned hereafter at the great and last Day It will excite and stir thee up to Repentance and provoke thee to the Performance of a course of new and sincere Obedience to make that Law the Rule of thy Life which God will make the Rule of his Judgment The Wise Man makes this an Argument to induce Men to * Eccl. 12.13 fear God and keep his Commandments that God will bring every Work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil St. Paul very earnestly press'd the Athenians to Repentance by this most powerful and cogent Argument drawn from the Certainty of a future Judgment †Acts 17.30 31. God now commandeth all Men every where to repent because he hath appointed a Day in the which he will judg the World in Rigteousness And this was the Reason of the Apostles Labour of all his Ambition and Design to be ‖ 2 Cor. 5.9 10 11. acceptable to God whether living or dying because we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ Yea this was the Ground of all his Industry and Painfulness in the Ministry Knowing therefore the Terrour of the Lord we perswade Men saies he Considering the Dreadfulness of this Appearance of God we strive to bring Men to embrace the Truth and to live as those that are thus to be judged And in Hope of a Resurrection to a Judgment of Absolution (*) Acts 24.15 16. herein did he exercise himself to have alwaies a Conscience void of Offence toward God and toward Men he knew if Conscience absolv'd him in this Life it would also under God acquit him in the other Thy †Tit. 2.12 13. earnest looking for the glorious Appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ is apt to engage and prevail with thee to deny Vngodliness and worldly [f] Nec me revoeabat à profundiore voluptatum carnalium gurgtte nisi metus mortis futuri judicit tut qut per varias quidem opiniones nunquam tamen recessit de pectore meo Aug. Conf. l. 6. c. 16. § 1. Lusts and to live soberly righteously and godlily in
before Death and Judgment and to live idly loosly and voluptuously all the Daies of thy Life till the very last But surely thou wilt reckon now That the great Vncertainty of Christ's coming is a notable Spur to Vigilancy and Watchfulness That now not being secure any one Moment 't is thy Wisdom to stand upon thy Watch continually lest Christ come at a Time when thou doest least expect him and find thee in a Posture uncapable of Mercy from him unqualitied to receive Benefit by his Coming Frequently and intently think that the Time of thy Death and particular Judgment is very uncertain That thou * Mark 13.35 knowest not when the Master of the House cometh at Even or at Midnight or at the Cock-crowing or in the Morning whether he will call thee in the Daies of thy Youth or in the Midst of thy Daies or in elder Years Whether he will take thee in thy Bed or at thy Table or in a Journey At what Time or by what Means he will cite and summon thee to leave this World and to come to Judgment Consider that thou maiest drop into thy Grave before the fall of the Leaf from the Tree Yea that though now in perfect Health thou maiest be dead [l] Qend in die judicii futurum est omnibus hoc in singulis die mortis impleter Hier. in c. 2 Joelis Tunc unicuique veniet dies ille don venerit ei dies ut talis hinc exeat qualis judicandus est illo die Aug. ep 80. and doomed and damned before the next Lord's-day that this very Day this Hour thy Soul may be required of thee and be presently judged to Heaven or Hell and pass immediatly into an unchangeable State and Condition And that the particular Judgment will consign thee over to the general Judgment which will be conform to and a Confirmation of the former for ever And this will raise and quicken thee to watch alwaies lest coming suddenly he find thee sleeping secure in thy Sins lest that Day come as a * Luke 21.35 Snare upon thee and when thon shalt †1 Tless 5.3 say Peace and Safety then sudden Destruction come upon thee as Travail upon a Woman with Child and thou canst not escape This will cause thee to take heed to thy self lest at any Time thy Heart be over-charg'd with Surfeiting and Drunkenness and the Cares of this Life and so that Day come upon thee unawares To dread the Thoughts of being surprized and taken unprovided by the great and just Judg of Angels and Men. This will help thee to be constantly careful as to thy Person that it be such as may find acceptance in that Day and careful as to thy Employment that it be such as is suitable to thy Expectation of Christ's Coming and sit to be approved by thy Lord To be alwaies in a readiness to receive thy Summons and give up thy Accounts To reason and argue thus with thy self It Christ's Coming should surprize me in such a Course of Sin what a woful Case should I then be in Shall I dare to live in that State which I shall tremble to be found in at the Day of Judgment Represent thy Judg as standing at the Door and this will excite thee to watch and pray alwaies that thou maiest be * Luke 21.36 accounted worthy to escape the Sentence of Condemnation and to stand before the Son of Man To pray God to make thee such a wise Virgin as may timely take care to trim thy Lamp to furnish thy Vessel with the Oil of Grace to put on the Wedding-garment and to get thy self arraied with that fine Linen which is the Righteousness of the Saints that so thou maiest gladly go out to meet the Bridegroom and when others are unprovided and miserably excluded thou being ready maiest be admitted by him and enter with him into the Marriage-Chamber The third of the four last Things proposed as the subject Matter of Meditation in order to the right Redemption of Time III. Let Heaven and its Joys be the subject Matter of thy Meditation And here 1. Think of the happy Condition of a pious Soul in the State of Separation Consider seriously that Christ hath †2 Tim. 1.10 brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel [m] Hodie experiar an animà sit immortalis said Paulus Quintus when he was about to die A brave infallible judg indeed that doubted of the Soul's Immortality Nonne vobis videtur animus is qui plus cernat longius vidâ—rese ad meliora proficisci ille autem cujus obtusior sit acies non videre Cie de sen That thy Soul will subsist after the Shipwrack of this Body and that in the State of Separation it shall not droop in an unactive Lethargy nor be numm without Sence void of all Apprehension and Operation and in a drousy sleepy joyless comfortless Condition till the Resurrection An erroneous Opinion which Pope John the 22th was so stiff and peremptory in that he not only taught it himself but procur'd an Order in the Vniversity of Paris that none should take his Degree in Divinity unless he held it Do thou believe and consider that if thou beest a faithful Person thy Soul at its Departure shall change its State for the better and have a delightful Sense and joyful perception of its good Condition be * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 23.43 quickly with Christ in Paradise †2 Cor. 5.8 immediately present with the Lord and ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 14.13 forthwith blessed be (*) Luke 16.22 carried by a Convoy of Angels into Abraham's Bosom received to him and entertain'd with him That as Ambassadours when they arrive at forreign Courts are conducted thither by the Masters of Ceremonies so thy holy Soul shall be translated by good Angels into a blessed Mansion and with Lazarus be (†) Verse 25. comforted in that Condition That if thou art a just Person thy (‖) Heb. 11.23 Spirit shall then be made perfect thy Vnderstanding be cleared from Ignorance and Errour enlarged and illustrated at thy Departure thy Will be endowed with exact Conformity to the Will of God and with perfect Liberty from all Servitude of Sin and be troubled no more with doubtful Choice but fully embrace the Chief Good thy Affections be duely and firmly plac'd thy Spirit be [n] The Oracle told Amelius enquiring what was become of Polinus 's Soul that he was gone to Pythagoras and Socrates and Plato 'T was a comfort to Socrates that after Death he hoped to see Homer Hesiod O praeclarum diew cùm ad illud animor um concilium 〈…〉 sear cùm ex hac taròa colluvione discedam 〈…〉 seu de Sâ—n. Socrates Critoni Amicos inquit hinc diseedens in eniam vobis aut similes aut eâ—â—am meliores ne vestrà quid m 〈◊〉 diu curiturus quandoquidem ros 〈…〉 estis
of Satan and Instruments of the Devil which is to them an evident Token of Perdition but to thee of Salvation and that of God The Consideration of a sure full everlasting heavenly Reward will keep thee from sticking at any Suffering Satan can never terrisy and dishearten thee with the Fear of Death or temporal Torments but thou wilt be able patiently to endure and cheerfully to go through any Suffering if thou doest but weigh the Recompense of Reward and well consider that eternal Salvation will richly compensate the suffering Christian That is the second Advantage of the fore-mentioned Meditations The Consideration of a perfect State of heavenly Glory will help and enable thee to resist and repel the taking or terrible the flattering or affrighting Temptations of Satan 3. The due Consideration of a perfect State of heavenly Glory will enable thee to live in an holy Contempt of this present World and in the serious real visible Exercise of constant heavenly-mindedness 1. The often renewed Thoughts of a future perfect heavenly Happiness will effectually provoke thee to live in a manifest rational holy Contempt of all external and earthly Things and in quiet Contentment with what Share and Allowance God allots and affords thee of outward Comforts and Accommodations here in this World 'T will cause thee to slight and undervalue the Things of the World which God in the Gospel has so disgraced and disparaged To despise and contemn them in thy Judgment Affections Speeches Actions in comparison of the nobler richer Things to be enjoyed in the other World The raised Thoughts of a celestial Happiness will teach thee to take all sublunary Glory for a Shadow or a Dream and move thee to complain of the World's Dotage in the pathetical Words of that divine Poet [r] Herb. Poems Dotage But Oh the Folly of distracted Men Who Griefs in earnest Joies in jest pursue Preferring like brute Beasts a loathsome Den Before a Court ev'n that above so clear Where are no Sorrows but Delights more true Than Miseries are here These Thoughts will preserve thee from being so foolish as to mind Baubles and to follow after Butter-flies from being excessively fond and greedy of a tickling transient Pleasure from catching earnestly at a Vapour a Puff of Honour from stooping low to a base and filthy Clod of Earth from striving over-eagerly for any of this World's Goods which thou must certainly soon part with and which if thou couldst hold never so fast and keep never so long thou couldst find no solid real rational Happiness in From envying those that have * Ps 7.14 their Portion in this Life And will cause thee to dread the Thoughts †Luke 16.25 of receiving thy good Things ‖ 6.24 thy Consolation here To tremble to think of going shortly out of this World and leaving all thou hast behind thee and of having nothing at all that is truly good to reap and receive in another World The Meditation of heavenly Provisions and Enjoyments will wean and loosen thy Heart from deaden and disaffect it to the drossy or kexy Things of this base and dull Earth which are wholly unworthy of the choice Affections of thy heaven-born Soul It will direct thee to use this World as if thou didst not use it to use earthly Things but not to mind them nor with thy whole Heart to desire them nor to place thy Happiness in them nor to dull thy Appetite to heavenly Things by them To consider seriously that God has provided such Riches and Treasures in another World for thee this is a likely Means to free thee from affecting inordinately Worldly Greatness and to moderate thy Desires and Endeavours after earthly Things to enable thee to live without them to live above them to have thy Conversation here without Covetousness and to be content with such Things as thou hast in thy Passage and Way to Heaven since Heaven will make up all at last Reckoning with thy self that the Discontent of thy Life would be a kind of rude Blasphemy against Heaven a pronouncing and proclaiming of all the promised Glory of Heaven what Solomon does of all earthly Glory that this also is Vanity A telling all the World that thou verily thinkest either there is no Heaven at all or that Heaven is not enough to satisfy thee The fixed Thoughts of a promised heavenly Reward will serve to consirm and stablish thy Heart against worldly excessive Fears and Cares and immoderate Labours for outward and earthly Things and will prompt thee to argue thus with thy self Why should I fear the Loss of any Thing here in this World when it is my Father's good Pleasure to give me a Kingdom and why should I doubt of earthly Necessaries when God has allotted and apportioned an heavenly Kingdom to me If he hath promised me an heavenly Kingdom he won't withhold such temporal Supplies as are necessary for me in my present Pilgrimage And what need I cark and care labour and sweat toil and trouble my self for meer Vnnecessaries and vain and hurtful Superfluities 2. The Meditation of a perfect heavenly Happiness will help thee to live in the serious real visible Exercise of constant heavenly-mindedness to seek and care for to * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 3.1 2. savour and set thy Affections on Things above to have thy Soul like the Flame of a Candle alwaies aspiring upward to live by Faith to affect the Kingdom of Heaven which the primitive Christians had so much in their Hearts and Tongues that the Heathen [s] Just Mart. Apol. 2. ad Antonium suspected they affected Caesar's Empire To desire a better that is an heavenly Countrey and to look for a City which has Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God To have thy Conversation in Heaven to lead and frame thy Life according to heavenly Rules and Patterns To order and to judg of every thing with respect had to these heavenly Things To be so taken with their Beauty and Excellency Sweetness and Pleasantness as to thirst after them with an unsatiable Desire and to refer every thing to the obtainment of them 4. And lastly If God hath wrought such due and requisite Qualifications in thee as may fit and prepare thee for an heavenly State thy Meditation then of a perfect State of heavenly Happiness will provoke thee to live in daily thankful delightful Fore-thoughts and sweet refreshing comfortable Foretastes of a perfect State of heavenly Glory and blessed celestial Immortality It will invite and constrain thee to think and speak well of God and Religion to laud and magnify the Divine Munisicence to admire and extol the Bounty of God who sweetly and kindly allures thee to Piety by a most ample and inestimable Reward and ingages to give thee such great Wages for so little Work eternal Life for the Labour and Service of a few Years an exceeding eternal weight of Glory for such small Pains spent in a
voluntary Crimes and according to the measure of them And think again That as thou shalt suffer variety of Punishment Punishment of Loss and Punishment of Sense so thou shalt undergo extremity of Torment That thou shalt be forc'd to depart into Fire †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 25.41 the Fire emphatically which whether it shall be material or metaphorical speaks the sharpness and severity of thy Torment That thou shalt be cast into Fire prepar'd suffer a contrived Punishment that falls under the solemnity of a Preparation Prepared by God the wise and just Lord and Judg For the Devil and his Angels A great and inevitable Punishment such as the Devils must suffer and such as thou must suffer with the Devils That if thou servest the Devil here thou must dwell with him in Hell-fire And if it be so great an Affliction to the People of God who have a true Sense and a right Judgment of Things to be necessitated to live among * Ps 120.5 the Wicked here in this World Think then what a grievous Misery it will be to thee when thy Eyes are open'd in Hell to see thy self under a necessity of dwelling continually with the Devils and cursed Fiends of Hell Think how it would [d] Shepheard's S C. p 95. scare thee almost out of thy wits to have the Devil frequently appear to thee here and what Horror then shall fill thy Soul when thou shalt be banish'd from the Face of God and Presence of Christ and from Angels Society and be joined in Fellowship with the Devil and his Angels be shut up in the darkest Den with that roaring Lion and be chained with the Devil in fiery Fetters Nor will it at all relieve thee to have Companions in all thy Pain and Distress in Hell But the more there be that shall suffer with thee there the less ease and comfort shalt thou enjoy for as [e] Dr. Jackson 3 vol. p. 495. one of profound Judgment well observes there will be no Concord or Consort there nothing but perpetual Discord which is alwaies so much the greater by how much the Parties discording are more in number It being a Thing too well known that to live in continual Discord though but with some few is a kind of Hell here upon Earth Think yet further That thy Punishment in Hell will be perpetual thy Torments be endless as well as easeless thy †Mat. 25.41 46. 3.12 Fire everlasting and unquenchable That thou shalt be * Rev. 20.10 tormented in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone day and night for ever and ever That if it were possible for one Eternity to be spent for one ever to expire and come to an End there should be another ever for thee to be tormented in That in Hell †Mark 9.44 46 48. thy Worm shall never die That thou shalt be punished with ‖ 2 Thess 1.9 everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord That thou shalt be destroyed in a moral not in a natural Sense That thy Essence and Being shall be everlastingly preserv'd but thou shalt be everlastingly depriv'd of God and Glory and of all that makes to thy well-being and everlastingly afflicted and punished with all that tends to thy ill-being That as Nero refus'd to put [f] Philostr in viâ—a Apoll. Tyanaei Apollonius to Death who was very desirous to die because he would not so far gratify him And as Tiberius Caesar when a certain Offender petition'd him to hasten his Punishment retur'd this Answer [g] Suetonius l. 3. c. 6. Nondum tecum redii in gratiam Stay Sir you and I are not Friends yet So if thou provest a damned Person that God won't be mov'd by all thy entreaty to grant a quick and speedy Dispatch to thee nor after [h] See Mr. Bolton's 4 last Things p. 107 108 109 110. If thou hadst an Head as big as Archimedes and couldst tell how many Atomes of Dust weâ—e in the Globe of the Earth yet think that such a vast number is but as one little Atome in compare with those endless Sorrows and those endless Joys Let this be thy Impress or Motto let this be writ upon the minâ— that a learned man writes upon all his Books Aeternâ—tatem cogita Think of Eternity Johan Meursius D. Patrick's Div. Arithm p. 40 41. thousands and millions of Years spent in Torments yield to let thee die at last And that the Eternity of thy Torments will be the Hell of Hell and the very Sting of the second Death That the Eternity both of Loss and Sense will even break the very Heart of thee If good Men here do grieve and mourn when God withdraws and absents himself but for a Moment from them Think then how lamentably and intolerably it will perplex and punish thee to be made sensible hereafter that God will hide his Face from thee for ever That if here thou art unable to bear a tedious Fit of the Tooth-ach Head-ach Cholick Gout or Stone what then thou wilt do to endure those akings of Heart and wounds of Spirit and convulsions of Conscience and complicated torments of Soul and Body which will be the Portion of damned Persons to eternal Ages And if it be so sad a Misery for any to be burnt to Death here Think then how incomparably greater a Misery it will be to be alwaies burning and frying in Hell and yet never to be burnt to Death there Nay if here to lie long on a Bed of Down or on a Bed of Roses and not once to rise in several Years together would prove a grievous sore Trouble and heavy Affliction what an overwhelming Thought is this then of lying in Flames to all Eternity Consider here that so great is the Folly of Man's Mind and the Hardness of his Heart and the Power of present sensual Allurements that [i] See Baxter's Reas of the Christ Rel. p. 171. nothing less than the Threatning of an endless Misery was an apt and sit Instrument of God's ruling and governing the World That Men would not have been sufficiently awed and effectually restrain'd and deterr'd from Sin and kept in order and obedience if God had not intimated and foretold that the obstinate Sinner shall certainly suffer perpetual Punishment in another World That it is too evident that the Denunciation even of eternal Pain and infinite Torment does [k] Id. ib. p. 164 170. not move and sway the greatest part of Men and therefore that the Threatning of meer Annihilation or of some lighter and shorter Punishment would surely have less prevail'd and wrought upon the World And now when everlasting Punishment is plainly threatned that the just and holy Law-giver doth not intend to affright thee with a Lie or with an uncertainty That his Threatning is not like the prediction of an Almanack It may be so it may be not But that he meaneth really to execute and inflict the Penalty of eternal
our Health and Strength to resume our old-acquaintance Sins or to * Ps 85.8 turn again to Folly Did we but answer our sacred Vows and solemn Promises we should no longer be expensive and wasteful of our pretious Hours We should not be [f] Inter caetera mala hoc quoque habet stultitia proprium semper incipit vivere Epicuri dictum à Seneca laudatum ep 13 Considera quà m foeda sit hominum levitas quotidie nova vitae fundamenta ponentium novas spes etiam in exitu inchoantium Id. ib. Malè vivunt qui semper vivere incipiunt quia semper illis imperfecta vita est Non potest autem stare paratue ad mortem qui modò incipit vivere Id agendum est ut satis vixerimus nemo hoc putat qui ordetur cùm maximè vitam Id. ep 23. alwaies beginning to live but should live indeed and in good earnest We should in time make so sure of a blessed Eternity that we should never more have cause to fear either Sickness Death the Grave or Hell The twelfth and last Direction If we would effectually redeem the Time we must not give way to any Delay but strengthen and settle our Resolution against any farther Procrastination * Luke 19.44 Know the Time of thy Visitation †Verse 42. Know in this thy Day the things which belong unto thy Peace ‖ Is 55.6 Ps 32.2 Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near (*) Job 22 21. Acquaint now thy self with God (†) Mat. 5.25 Agree with thine Adversary quickly whilst thou art in the Way with him (‖) 3.7 Flee from the Wrath to come Not go nor run but flee * Heb. 6.18 Flee for Refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before you as of old the unwitting and unwilling Man-slayer was wont to hasten to take hold upon the Horns of the Altar and to †Exod. 21.13 Num. 35.6 Deut. 4.41 flee for safety to a Sanctuary or City of Refuge when hotly pursued by the enraged Avenger of Blood Be able to say with holy David ‖ Ps 119.60 I made [a] Properat vivere nemo sntis Martial l. 2. epigr. 90. haste and delayed not to keep thy Commandments Where the Prophet expresses it both affirmatively and negatively and so the more Emphatically after the manner of the Hebrews to shew his promptitude and readiness speediness and quickness in [b] Calv. in loc comparison of those dull and lazy Procrastinators who come not at all or come but softly and slowly to God And [c] Quanquam verba sunt praeteriti temporis continuum tamen actum notant Ibid. though the Words speak of the time past yet as Calvin observes they note a continual act I made haste and delayed not and I still make haste and now do not delay to keep thy Commandments Remember how Abraham rose up early in the Morning and without objecting or disputing or letting slip the first opportunity was ready to offer and forward to sacrifice his only Son at God's command Gen. 22.3 And how Christ's Disciples at his first Call immediatly left their Nets the Ship and their Father and followed him Matth. 4.20 22. And take Example by the wise Merchant in the Parable who dispatch'd his necessary business immediatly without cunctation or delay The account there given of him is express'd all in the present Tense He * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 13.44 goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth the Field in which the Treasure was hid †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 6.10 While you have opportunity do good to your selves and do good to all Let me say to you concerning Time and Opportunity as Boaz said to his Kinsman concerning the Land ‖ Ruth 4.4 If you will redeem it redeem it Stand no longer dallying and trifling in a matter that requires haste and speed For here consider 1. The sooner the better 'T is better 1. In respect of God 2. Of our selves 1. The sooner we redeem the Time the better it is in respect of God for God is abundantly more honoured and better serv'd by it He is more honoured by it Our making haste to redeem the Time prevents the doing of much Dishonour which by great and gross misspence of our Time would many waies be cast upon God by our affronting his Authority continuing in open Rebellion against him breaking his holy and righteous Laws abusing his Creatures and misemploying his Gifts from day to day And more than so It actually and positively does much honour to him as it is a ready present obedient Answer to God's Call who cries * Heb. 3.7 13. To day while it is called to day And a real demonstration and high expression of our ardent Love and hearty Affection to him and his Laws and Waies and an open and constant Justification of their Equity Bonity Suavity and Amability in the eye of the World And it is no small Honour done to God that by making haste and not delaying we devote the best of our Time to him and put him not off with the very dregs and refuse And further yet as God is more honoured so he is much better served by it The more haste we make to redeem the Time we shall be the better disposed more adapted and sitted for the Service of God become more meet Vessels for our Master's Vse and not only acquire greater Abilities but meet with larger more frequent and various Opportunities of doing God faithful and acceptable Service The sooner we enter in the longer we shall labour in our Lord's Vineyard and do the more work for our Heavenly Master 2. The sooner we redeem the Time the better it is in respect of our selves 'T is more honour able more pleasurable more profitable to do it sooner than later 1. It is more honour able to hasten and not to delay for this is a Sign that our Acts and Deeds are free and voluntary not forced and constrained That what we do in Religion we do of good will and choice On a Sick or Death-bed a Man is scared into a sudden and unchosen Piety and frighted into sits of involuntary Devotion He that never sets himself to redeem his Time till a mighty Fear forcibly drives and impells him to it till he finds he approaches and draws near to the Gates of Death and Hell and is ready to give up his unready and unallowable Accounts to the great and righteous Judg This Man acts dishonourably for he does nothing out of disaffection to his Sins nothing at all for the Love of God and for the sake of Vertue But it is an Honour and a Credit to a Christian to redeem the Time by his own Election and to act for God out of a free and ingenuous Principle of Love 2. The more haste we make to redeem the Time it is so much the more pleasurable
render its ordinary Motions ineffectual and the common Grace of God unsuccessful Thy continued Delaies are likely to render thee more unteachable and untractable more incurable and unchangeable more full of false Opinions of God and his Waies and strong Prejudices and Heart-risings against Religious Practices more setled in sinful Waies and Courses Thy chosen Delaies will insensibly draw on sinful Habits and evil Customs which will prove and become a second Nature and be hardly left and difficultly laid down These poisonous Roots will not be easily pluckt up These * Jer. 13.23 [a] Naturalists say that Spots are so deep in the Leopard that if you take off the Skin they will appear in the very Flesh Leopard's Spots will not be quickly fetcht out Thou wilt be as unable to do it thy self as an Ethiopian is to change his Skin and it is a †2 Tim. 2.25 peradventure whether God will cure a customary habitual procrastinating Sinner Upon thy wilful long Delaies God may deny thee the seasonable Aids and soveraign Auxiliaries of his Grace suspend the Influences withdraw the Assistances cease the Motions and discontinue the Strivings of his Spirit and so all outward Means enjoyed may prove ineffectual for your Good God may withhold his special Grace in Judgment for your Non-improvement of common Grace Yea thy obstinate Delaies may provoke God to ‖ Luk. 19.42 hide the things of thy Peace from thy Eyes to deliver thee over into Satan's Power to leave thee to thy self to (*) Ps 81.12 give thee up to thy own Heart's Lusts to judicial Blindness of Mind to dreadful carnal Security and horrible [b] Illud est cor durum quod non trepidat ad nomen cordis duri Bern. Hardness of Heart to a * Rom. 1.28 reprobate Mind and a †1 Tim. 4 2. seared cauterized Conscience By way of Punishment of thy Delaies God may suffer thee to sin on till thou comst to be ‖ Eph. 4.19 past feeling and not help thee to recover any spiritual Sence in a dying Hour but at last (*) Rom. 1.28 give the Spirit of Slumber or let thee fall into the lamentable Condition of downright Desperation Of each of which a learned [c] Gr. Exempl part 3. §. 15. p. 559. Writer gives us a very notable and remarkable Example Of the former out of [d] Biblioth Frat. Pol. Tom. 3. Petrus Damianus of one Gunizo a factious and ambitious Person to whom the Tempter gave notice of his approaching Death but when any Man preached Repentance to him out of a strange Incuriousness or the Spirit of Reprobation he seem'd like a dead and unconcerned Person in all other Discourses he was awake and apt to answer And of the latter out of Venerable [e] L. 5. c. 15. Hist Gent. Anglor Bede of a drunken Monk who upon his Death-bed seem'd to see Hell open'd and a Place assign'd him near to Caiaphas and those who crucified our dearest Lord. The Religious Persons that stood about his Bed call'd on him to repent of his Sins to implore the Mercies of God and to trust in Christ but he answered This is no time to change my Life the Sentence is past upon me and it is too late There may be no room and place for Consideration and Repentance upon thy Death-bed either through senslessness and stupidity caused by the special Disease of thy Body or the sad and direful Divine Judgment or through too quick a feeling too deep a sense of pungent corporal Pain or exquisite Torture of Mind and Conscience the Tempter busily setting in with thy own guilty awaken'd Conscience to aggravate thy Sins to thy Terrour and Amazement and to load thee heavily till thou faintest sinkest and fallest crusht and broken under the Burden But suppose thou shouldst stand at that Day in much more moderate tolerable Circumstances yet thou maiest be distracted and diverted with the Thoughts of making or altering thy Will setling thy Estate disposing and ordering the Affairs of thy Family stating and clearing the Interests of thy Relatives And when thou art about to bid thy final and last Farewel to every thing in this World that is near and dear to thee and art under a strange and strong apprehension of hastily approaching Death and Judgment 't will prove a very hard task to gain and maintain a well-composed and undisturbed Mind in the management of thy great Soul-concerns But admit thou shouldst enjoy much Freedom of Thoughts and have the greatest Advantage imaginable of a quiet sedate Frame and Temper in the Procedure of that most busy Day and Hour yet is there a very formidable Danger of thy dying and departing without rational Satisfaction about the Goodness and Safety of thy State and Condition or any comfortable Evidence of the Divine Acceptance of thy Death-bed Performance 3. To delay the Redemption of thy Time is highly unreasonable and very [c] Non est crede mihi sapientis dicere Vivam Sera nimis vita est crastina vive hodie Martial l. 1. epigr. 16. Cras vives hodie jam vivere Postume serum est Ille sapit quisquis Postume vixit heri Id. l. 5. epigr. 58. foolish to put off the building of a spiritual Temple in thy Soul as the Jews excused their Neglect of re-edifying the material Temple by saying * Hag. 1.2 The Time is not come What Folly is it to [d] Perdis hodiernum quod in manu fortunae positum est disponis quod in tua dimittis Sen. de brev vit c. 9. lose the present which God has put in thy own hand and to determine and dispose of the future Time which only and wholly rests in the Hand of God and is quite out of thine To Put all to the venture of repenting and securing thy State hereafter when so many have ruin'd and undone themselves without Remedy or Recovery by lingring and loitering Delaies What a plain and apparent Self-delusion is it to except against and wave the present Time because it is present since when that Time which now is future shall become present you must then put that off for the same reason that now you put this by What a silly Cheat dost thou put upon thy self while thou dost pretend a purpose to make but a very short Delay a Desire to enjoy thy Sin but a little longer it may be but this once more and a Resolution then to part and shake hands with it for ever when as the very next touch may deadly infect thee the very next taste poison thee one other Closure with sensual Pleasure will in all probability more deeply enamour thee one farther embrace of Sin more bewitch and fascinate inebriate and intoxicate thee one step more presently carry thee into a Snare that will entangle and hold thee fast for ever Is it likely that thou wilt leave thy Sin when thou shalt be more in love with it more enslaved to it and
in another World Consider 5. That the [x] Vid. Chryfost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good Thief redeemed and improved his Time at last in so notable and wonderful a way and manner as no Man ever did or can beside Surely thou canst never hope to do that Honour to God and Christ upon a Death-bed which the Thief did in a short time upon the Cross The Thief brought more Glory to God and Christ at the time of his Departure out of this World than another Man 's whole Life can do [y] See Bp. Taylor 's Great Exemp p. 581. What Age of the World can give Example of so strong a Faith or produce a Pattern of greater Piety for he believed him to be the Saviour whom the Jews accused as a grand Malefactor and Pilate condemned who was crucified by the Gentiles and vilified by the Jews and openly reviled by the other Thief He expected Life and Salvation from an afflicted suffering dying Person hanging in a publick shameful manner full of Pain upon a Cross under the Sadnesses Sorrows and Pangs of Death who was esteemed smitten and seemed to Man's Sense for saken of God whom he had alwaies profess'd to be his Father In the very Extremity of Christ's Passion the good Thief believed him to be the holy Son of God the Lord of Life able to save in Death He beheld the Beauty and Glory of Christ through the dark Ignominy of the Cross He saw him naked wounded a Partner of the same Torment upon the Tree enduring the servile Punishment of the Cross and yet was heartily perswaded Christ was a King [z] Dic ô latro ubi thronus ex sapphyro ubi Cherubim exercitus caeli ubi corona sceptrum purpura ut eum dicas Regem videsne coronam aliam quà m spine im sceptrum aliud quà m clavos aliam purpuram quà n sangutnem alium thronum quà m crucem alios ministros quà m carnifices juid ergo Regium vides Aug. Speak O Thief saies St. Austin where is the Throne of Sapphire where are the Cherubims and heavenly Hosts where is the Crown the Scepter and the Purple that thou shouldst count Christ a King Dost thou see any other Crown than that of Thorns any other Scepter than the Nails in his Hands any other Purple than his Blood any other Throne than the Cross any other Officers and Ministers than the Executioners [z] Videte quà m oculata sit sides quà m lynceos oculos habeat diligentiùs considerate Cognoscit Dei Filium in ligno pendentem cognoscit morientem siquidem latro cognoscit in patibulo c. Bern. serm 2. in Epiph. Dorn See saies St. Berâ—ard how sharp-sighted Faith is what quick and piercing Eyes it has how it apprehends and discerns Christ to be the Son of God though hanging bleeding dying upon the Cross How evidently it discovers the great King appearing in the mean form of a Servant and taking a Journey through the strait way of painful shameful Suffering into his heavenly Kingdom of Glory How far did the rare and noble Faith of this Thief excel the Faith even of all the Disciples and Apostles of Christ who now at last fearfully [a] Titubaverunt qus viderunt Christum mortuos suscitautem credidit ille quem videbat secum in ligno pendentem Aug. serm 144 de Tempore stumbled at Christ's Cross though sometime they had seen him raising the very Dead [b] Gerhard Harm in Luc. 23.40 41 42. Peter believed when he saw Christ * Mat. 14.28 walking upon the Sea but the Thief believed when he saw Christ's Feet fast nail'd to the Cross and beheld him flowing all over in Blood from Head to Foot The Apostles believed when they saw Christ †17.2 transfigur'd before them and his Face shining as the Sun and his Raiment white as the Light but the Thief believed when he saw Christ not transfigured but strangely disfigured miserably mangled and deforemed and his Face not shining but sullied and fadly besmeard with Spittle Wounds and Blood * Joh. 11.27 39. Martha believed when she saw Christ powerfully raising a dead and even stinking Lazarus from the very Grave who had been dead four Daies but the Thief believed when he saw Christ hanging in the Valley of the Shadow of Death almost expiring and very near giving up the Ghost Others believed when they saw Christ daily working divine Miracles and honoured by the People with solemn Acclamations but the Thief believed at such a Time when Christ wrought no Miracles to demonstrate his Divinity and testify his Innocency and was rejected despised and had in open derision of Men. He cleaved to him when the very Apostles and Disciples themselves forsook and fled from him He believed in Christ when he had the strongest Temptations to the coutrary when Christ was seemingly in as low a Condition as himself Verily Christ found not so great Faith no not in Israel no not in his [c] Recolamus fidem latronis quam non invenit Christus post resurrectionem in Discipulis suis August serm 144. de Tempote own Disciples even after his Resurrection All the holy Actions of another Man's Life are not likely to amount to the Service done to God and Christ by this one act of the Thief 's Faith Besides his pregnant Faith was eminently productive of many good Works [d] Vid. Daven Praelect de Just Act. p. 390. both internal and external He feared God acknowledged his own Sin and Guilt with Godly Sorrow true Contrition and hearty Repentance condemned himself justified Jesus and publickly testified that Christ was a Person perfectly just and righteous unblameable and innocent This Man hath done nothing * Luke 23.41 [e] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nibil absurdum absonum vel indetens fecit Non soâ—ùm banc crucem non est promeritus sed nec ullo etiam levissimo peccato est centaminatus Gerhard Harm in loc amiss said he He commiserated his causelesly calamitous Condition when the other vile [f] Belluinu n est non human 〈◊〉 non compati morienti Seneca brutish Thief was void of Humanity and instead of pitying mock'd and scoffed at a dying Person He maintain'd the Honour of his Saviour against the Railery and Blasphemy of his Fellow-sufferer who derided the Office especially the Kingly Dignity of Christ He called him Lord his Lord embracing him as the true Messias He honoured him whom Judas betrayed He boldly confess'd and defended him whom Peter timorously denied and fearfully forswore He plainly declared that he sought and look'd for a future State and better Life He freely acknowledg'd that this same suffering dying Person should have immediatly the Power of Paradise and Authority to place him in the Seat of the Blessed As †Dan. 6.10 Daniel prayed toward Jerusalem and the Temple when it was in its ruins and rubbish so the penitent Thief prayed to Christ when he was in the lowest State
to God p. 24. will make you more serviceable to others and prove most profitable to your selves p. 26. They that redeem the Time of their Youth are likely to redeem their riper Years p. 27. Instances of those that have redeemed their youthful Daies p. 28. 2. The Morning of the Week the first Day of every Week p. 32. Magistrates p. 47. Ministers p. 48. People p. 49. Masters p. 50. and Servants p. 52. Poor and Rich p. 54. should study to redeem this Opportunity and take heed they redeem it not by halves p. 55. Our Observation of the Lord's-Day a good help to the Redeeming of all the six Daies following both as to Temporals and as to Spirituals p. 66. and a means to prepare us to keep an eternal Sabbath in Heaven p. 68. Carefully redeem the Lord's-Day and every Day after shew in thy Life that thou hast redeem'd it p. 72. 3. The Morning of every Day p. 73. That is an Opportunity of giving God the first and best of our Time p. 74. By redeeming the Morning we are likely to redeem the whole Day following p. 76. 4. The Society and Company of the most Religious and Godly in which we have an happy Occasion both of doing and of receiving good p. 78. 5. The special Seasons of practising and performing Particular Duties of getting and encreasing acting and exercising Particular Graces must be observed embraced and improved by us p. 79. CHAP. III. The Grounds and Reasons why we ougth to redeem the Time The special Reason laid down in the Text because the Daies are evil p. 83. What to be understood by evil Daies Daies are said to be evil not inherently but adherently or concomitantly by reason of any sinful or penal Evil that befalleth in them The Evil of the Day is either General or Special General the Shortness and Trouble which does accompany the Time of this Life p. 84. The Particular Evil of the Day is when any special Evil takes place in such a Time The particular Evil of the Apostles Times threefold It stood 1. in dangerous Errours and false Doctrines p. 85. 2. In the vicious and wicked Lives of scandalous Professors of the Gospel p. 94. 3. In sharp and hot Persecutions p. 109. How far these several Evils are to be found in these our Daies p. 86 95 123. Our redeeming of the Time and endeavouring to grow better our selves is the ready way and only means to make the Evil Daies better p. 108. CHAP. IV. Six other Reasons added to that in the Text. We ought to redeem the Time 1. Because our Time is afforded us by God to this very End and Purpose p. 128. 2. Because we have all of us lost much Time already p. 137. 3. Because the Time that remains is very short and uncertain and our Special Opportunities far shorter and more uncertain and the Work we have to do very great p. 141. 4. Because we can neither bring Time back when once it is past unimproved nor any way prolong and lengthen out the Daies of our Lives when Death comes to put an End and Period to them p. 158. 5. Because we shall all be certainly called to an Account for our Time p. 161. 6. Because this Time is all we can redeem and upon this short Moment of Time depends long Eternity p. 165. CHAP. V. The Vse and Application of the Doctrine Ought we to redeem the Time Then 1. Let not the Men of the World think strange that serious and conscientious Christians do not lose their Time as desperately as they do Good Men know the Worth of Time and understand the great Consequences and weighty Concernments of well or ill husbanding of it p. 171. Vse 2. Let us all examine our selves and see whether we have redeem'd our Time or no bewail and bemoan our Loss of Time p. 172. Vse 3. A seasonable sharp Reproof of several Persons who are grosly guilty of misspending their Time 1. A Reproof of those that misspend their Time in Idleness and Lasiness p. 179. Idleness a Sin against our Creation p. 180. against our Redemption p. 182. against our Bodies and Souls against our Neighbour p. 283. and an Inlet to many other Sins p. 186. 2. Such Persons are justly censurable who misspend their Time in excessive Sleep and Drousiness which wastes not only much of our Time but the best of our Time too p. 190. Immoderate sleeping naught on any Day but worst of all upon the Lord's-Day p. 191. 3. Many misspend their Time in impertinent Employments p. 192. 4. Many lose much precious Time in vain Thoughts p. 194. 5. In vain Speeches p. 195. 6. In vain Pleasures p. 205. In Curiosity about Dressing and Trimming the Body p. 206. In making dainty Provision for the Belly p. 207. In using unlawful p. 210. or abusing lawful Recreations either using them unseasonably or else immoderately p. 211. 7. In excessive immoderate worldly Cares p. 219. 8. Some Persons are to be reproved for misspending their Time in Duties 1. By performing them unseasonably p. 224. 2. By doing them formally p. 226. Time lost in Duties by unseasonable Performance two Waies 1. When one Duty thrusts and justles out another and so the Duty is mistimed p. 224. 2. When Duty is perform'd at such a Time when we are most unfit for it p. 225. CHAP. VI. The fourth and last Vse is of Exhortation p. 229. to Magistrates Ministers p. 230. the People in general p. 231. Six quickening Motives to press the Duty of Redemption of Time 1. Consider how notably Jesus Christ redeem'd the Time when he was here in the World 1. He redeemed the Time to save us p. 232. 2. He redeem'd the Time to be an Example to us p. 233. 2. Consider further that as Christ did once redeem the Time to save us So the Devil does daily redeem the Time to destroy us p. 236. 3. Consider how very notably many of the Saints and Servants of God have improved and redeemed their Time p. 241. 4. Consider that it is an Act of Spiritual Wisdom to redeem the Time p. 252. and meer Madness and gross Folly not to redeem the Time p. 253. 5. Consider that if now thou losest and squanderest away thy Time thou wilt at last be forced thy self to condemn thy foolish Negligence and to justify the Care and Diligence of others that were wiser for their own Souls than thy self p. 257. 6. Consider that do what we can to redeem our Time we shall never repent at last of any Care we have had to redeem it but shall certainly blame and find fault with our selves for being so careless of our Time so negligent of good Opportunities as we have been p. 259. Serious considerative Christians do blame themselves for their Loss of Time even in their Life-time p. 260. But they are especially sensible of it and exceedingly ashamed of themselves for it at their Death p. 262. CHAP. VII Direction 1. If ever we would redeem
the Time we must endeavour to be throughly convinced of the great Value and real Worth of Time In respect of the Price paid for it In regard of the Use and End to which it serves p. 268. Considering what precious Thoughts the more improved Heathens had of Time p. 269. And what damned Spirits p. 271. and dying Persons who have not made their Peace with God think of Time p. 272. Direct 2. If we would well redeem the Time we must examine our selves and call our selves to a serious strict Account for the spending of our Time p. 277. This was the Precept of Pythagoras p. 278. and the Practice of Sextius Seneca p. 279. and Titus Vespasian Direct 3. That we may rightly redeem our Time let Conscience have some Authority with us and procure some Reverence from us p. 284. Stand much in aw of thy own Conscience p. 285. which will either acquit and absolve thee or surely judg and condemn thee p. 286. Direct 4. If ever we would redeem the Time we must live and act and do every thing as in the Sight and Presence and under the Eye and Inspection of God p. 286. The Apprehension of God's all-seeng all-searching Eye will be of excellent Vse and Advantage to us at four times especially 1. Actually consider that God sees you when you ordinarily visit one another and at any time feast and make merry together 2. When Buying or Selling remember you are manifest in God's Sight p. 291. that Godstands by and sees your Dealings p. 292. 3. Consider this in your secret Retirements p. 292. and in your private Families p. 294. 4. When-ever we come to the publick Worship of God let us seriously consider that we stand in his Presence and ar ein his Eye p. 295. Direct 5. That we may wisely redeem the Time let 's be sure to propound a good End to our selves in all our Actions p. 297. and do nothing deliberately but what we can safely and freely warrantably and comfortably ask God's Assistance in and Blessing upon when we go about it p. 300. Direct 6. We must be sure to give our selves to Prayer as a special Way in which and principal Means and Help by which we may redeem and improve our Time aright And here 1. Be careful to keep up set and stated Times of Prayer p. 302. of secret Prayer p. 303. and Family-Prayer p. 304. 2. Be ready to betake thy self to Prayer upon special extraordinary emergent Occasions p. 309. 3. Vse thy self to frequent sudden ejaculatory Prayers to God p. 313. This is the Priviledg of Ejaculation that it is a gaining of Time for the Exercise of Religion without any Prejudice or Hindrance to your Calling p. 318. Direct 7. We must set our selves to the frequent diligent reading and serious studying of the sacred Scriptures For 1. This is a gaining and making advantage of all the Time past which the Scripture gives us the History and Account of p. 320. 2. Our Reading the holy Books of Scripture is a well improving the present Time that is employed in this Religious Duty for 't is an honouring of God and a means of attaining divine Knowledg p. 323. heavenly Grace p. 324. and spiritual Comfort p. 325. 3. It is moreover a means and help to the right redeeming of our Time for the future p. 327. Direct 8. If we would effectually redeem the Time we must give our selves to frequent and serious meditation p. 347. Set some Time apart for this Duty p. 348. Think of the four last Things especially 1. Of Death of the Day of thy own particular Death p. 349. and of the Time of the general Dissolution of the World p. 367. 2. Of the Day of Judgment p. 376. 3. Of the Joys of Heaven p. 388. 4. Of the Torments of Hell p. 432. Direct 9. If you would redeem the Time you must labour to spiritualize even your ordinary worldly Employments and must take care that your natural as well as civil Actions partake of Religion p. 453. Direct 10. If we would wisely redeem the Time we must make a good Choice of our Friends and Acquaintance and a good Improvement of our Company and Society with them p. 463. Direct 11. We must remember and consider perform and answer our solemn Sacramental Vows Occasional Promises and Sick-bed Resolutions p. 488. Direct 12. Lastly If we would effectually redeem the Time we must not give way to any Delay but strengthen and settle our Resolution against any farther Procrastination p. 495. Errata in the Treatise Pag. 50. l. 12. read warming 64 l. 22. Assembling 143 l 4. fall l. 16. seiseth 157 l. 6 ment 270. l. 14 their 287. l. 17. be to be 334 l. 1. Mouth 349. l. 25 dele 1 Use 378. l. 27. concern'd 396. l. 30. will be 398. l. 6. Aptitude 486 l. 23. Servants 530. l. 1. use his Errata in the Quotations Pag. 63 l. 1. read Constant 112. l. 7.15 Annal. 137. l. 6. adhuc esse 331. l. 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 342. l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 390. l. 1. divinorum antmorum 459. l. 2. saturantur 484. l. 3. read p. 332. 486. l. ult 33. In the running Titles of the Epistle for Preface read Epistle Dedicatory Redemption of Time a good Duty in evil Daies Ephes 5.16 Redeeming the Time because the Daies are evil CHAP. I. The Coherence of the Words The Text divided The Doctrine propounded The Method laid down for the clearing and opening of it What it is to redeem the Time the Phrase in the Text may signify these four Things 1. To buy back the Time that is past In what Sence that may be done 2. to buy up the Time that is present that is to forgo or part with any thing for it and to make it our own and use it for our spiritual and eternal Advantage 3. Not only to buy it up but to buy it out to get it out of the hands of the Devil and the World and the distracting Cares and tempting Pleasures of it 4. To use all Wariness and Wisdom of Behaviour to secure our selves from Snares and to preserve our selves from spiritual Dangers and from running rashly and unseasonably into any temporal Suffering and Calamity THE whole Chapter contains several Exhortations some to General and others to Particular Duties 1. To General Duties such as concern and oblige all sorts of Christians from the first to the 22th Verse 2. To special and particular Duties which relate particularly to Husbands and Wives in their Carriage and Behaviour one towards another from the 22th to the End In the former Part of the Chapter he gives general Exhortations to a following of God vers 1. to a walking in Love in imitation of Christ vers 2. to the fleeing of Fornication and all Filthiness and Impurity so much as in Word or only by way of Jest from the Beginning of the third to the end of the sixth verse To have no familiar Converse no