of glorie And therefore the Holy Ghost counsaileth vs Eccli 4.20 to preserue and keepe Time as we doe gold so shall we depart from euill which is as if he had told vs that we should vse imploy it in good works not loose the least moment thereof Againe he willeth vs to be aduised by the same Ecclesiasticus Eccli 14.14 saying Defraud not thy selfe of the good day and let not the portion of the good desires ouerpas thee One trāslation hath Particula bonae diei others as likewise in the vulgar editiō Boni doni One while he saith let no part of the good day ouerpas thee for nought another while he saith of the good gift or desires The meaning is to admonish vs that we spend wel the Time and the Day yea all days for he that can wel order redres one day may by the same amēd and reforme al his life in the same man ought to do all the good he can for him selfe for his neighbors exercising himself in works of Pietie and mercie King Dauid so much feared to loose the least particle of Time so farre indeuored wholy to imploy the same wel that he striued contēded with the sun for early vprising to praise God which at lēgth the king preuented according to those words Psal 11◠ver 147.148 Praeuenerūt oculi mei ad te diluculo Early in the morning do I cry vnto thee Mine eies preuēt the morning watch that I might meditate in thy words for before the Sun was vp I was occupied in the same Which according to the exposition of S. Ambrose is as much as if more clearely hee had spoken Rise earlier thou Christiā before the Sun be vp for I hold it great negligēce carelesnesse most culpable in thee that the beames of the Sunne when it riseth should find thee idle and sleeping in thy bed Thou art ignorant perhaps that thou oughtest euery day to render vnto God almighty the first fruits of thy toung and heart See thou haue a daily haruest and daily fruite in like maner And in another Psalme the Prophet saith Psal 77.4 Anticipauerunt vigilias oculi mei My eyes preuented and awaked before the watch-men and gard of the citie that is to say as S. Ierome declareth before that any body went to watch or did awake I awaked and watched at midnight and in the morning at mid-day in the euening and finally seuen times a day doe I laud my Lorde yea alwayes and at all houres haue I his prayses in my mouth Hee well knew how to obserue Time hee duely acknowledged what it was and what stood him auaileable as of a thing so pretious hee knew how to make profite thereof without loosing one iot either of the Good day or of the good gift Time saith Theophrastus is a most costly Theophrast expense Seneca Epist 1. And Seneca in his first Epistle which hee wrote to his friend Lucilius saith thus What man is he that will suffer me to set price on his Time How much thinkes hee is the day worth admitting that euery day hee were to die wherfore we do much deceiue our selues herein because we fix not our eies vpon death a great part whereof is already past all that of our age life which yet remaineth behinde death holdes in possession Wherfore my deere friend Lucilius persist still in doing of that which thou thy selfe in thy Letters didst write vnto me thou doest being a person that so well knowest the due estimation of Time imbrace al the houres so shalt thou depend lesse vppon the morrowe pointing as it were this day with thy finger not permitting the same to ouerpasse thee idlely for the life putting it selfe off with prolonging flies away passeth at random And all things els beeing estrainged alienated frō vs onely Time is ours and very naturall reason hath infourmed vs that we obtaine the possession of a very swift thing which runneth away so fast and slideth amaine yea flyes apace from betweene our hands The knowledge and discretion of mortall men is so litle and weake that they impute it a great losse incase they leaue vndone the least vilest thing or smallest trifle being indeed reuocable and amendable though pretermitted none thinkes that hee oweth or is indebted any thing for hauing receiued Time cōsidering that Time is but one sole thing which yet the gratefull mā can make no due satisfaction for that which he receiued as hee ought in regard of the high price and for that the debt is great in vndertaking the day vpon himself And in his booke of the shortnesse of life Idem lib. de breuit vitae he saith There is no man that will forgoe or part with his patrimonie or substance nor disinherite himselfe but rather will keepe it and augment it as for Time and his course of life hee will with great facility impart and bestow them many times on diuerse vaine things They are very niggard of their wealth but for Time they are most prodigall and lauish when as indeed their honest and laudable couetousnesse should be onely of Time because most truely as in the same Booke then presently after hee saith Time is the most precious thing that is and yet for al that they dispraise it and hold it of no esteeme for nought and of no worth as though it were right nought indeed bearing no price at all Not one makes reckoning of it when they haue it but if any be sicke then shall you see bowing of knees crouching before the Physitian and if hee feare the sentence of death that man will waigh him with gold for to ransome his life That blessed holy man Laurentius Iustinianus Laur. Iust de vitae solit 6.10 treating of Time and the value thereof sayeth thus Who hath that power to cōprehend or conceiue in his heart what a precious thing Time is O what grace eloquence or sweet flowing speach of man is able to declare it None knowes it but such as now want and misse the same Then all the goods of the world honours dignities and prelacies the pompe of this age corporall delights and bodily pleasures yea and all maner recreations sports and pastimes ioyes and intertainements whatsoeuer they be which are vnder the cope of heauen would bee giuen in boote and exchanged for one houre of Time if it were possible to bee obtained because in this most short space they would appease the diuine Iustice they would make glad and reioyce the Angels they would eschewe from that fearefull sentence of eternall damnation and gaine yea without al doubt they would procure life euerlasting And they are most vnhappie vpon whom the Sunne of mercie is already set who most irreuocably shall descend into that lake of miserie where there is neither order nor good course Iob. 10.15 22 but fright and horror perpetuall and with good reason shall
Sepulchre wherein vpon the Tomb or vpper stone therof were written or ingraued these words Here lieth Simil the Romaine Capitaine whose life though it were long yet for all that is reputed to liue but onely seauen yeares because in them hee retired himselfe from the Court and being freed of the cares and charge in Office which formerly was imposed vpon him he addicted himself to the studie of vertue to his owne meditations and godly exercises Damascen in his historie of Barlaam and Iosaphat reporteth Damasc histor Barla cap. 18. that when Iosaphat demanded of Barlaam of what age hee was of he made him this aunswere if I be not deceaued I am fourty and fiue yeares of age and so many yeares there are since I was borne What doest thou answere mee replied Iosaphat for thou seemest to mee that thou art past seauentie I mary sayed Barlaam if thou reckonest my yeares euer since I was borne into this world thou sayest right and art not deceaued for that I am past seauentie But those yeares doe by no meanes seeme vnto me yeares of life nor can such be reckoned in the Account which were spent and consumed in the vanities of this world because then as seruant to my sinnes I liued after the taste of my sensuality and appetite of my flesh and outward man being then without all doubt dead according to the inward mā and so I may not call them yeares of life which rather were yeares of death But after that by the grace of God I was crucified and dead to the world and the world to me and haue put off the olde man then liued I no more after my sensuality nor after the flesh being enemie to the Spirit but onely to Iesus Christ and those yeares I call yeares of life and saluation And I beleeue that all those who remaine in sinne and obey the diuell and consume their lyues in delights and vaine concupiscences are departed this life and dead because that Sin is the death of the soule Rom. 6.19.21 as affirmeth the blessed Apostle S. Paul Rom. 6.21 Godly S. Ierome expounding the first Chapter of the Prophet Haggai sayth Hieron in Agg. cap. 1. All that Time wherein we giue place to Sinne and serue our owne vices perisheth and will be lost and as though it had neuer beene shall be reputed for nought It is reported of Titus Vespasian that being one day at supper and calling to minde that in that day hee had shewed no curtesie nor rewarded any body nor had performed any good turne or done any good deede to any person hee spake with great feeling sorrow of heart to all them that were then present Oh my friends how grieuously sorie am I to haue lost this day Then let a Christian man holde for lost that day which by him is ill imployed and make that reckoning that hee shall haue nothing for it For manifestatiō of this truth that the yeares spent and consumed in vices and wickednesse are not properly OVRS Seneca saith Seneca That there are many who first must leaue to liue before they cā begin to liue Time sayeth that famous Doctor Thomas de Kempis was bestowed vpon vs Tho. de Kemp. 1. pag. Serm. ad Nouit cap. 7. to performe good works not for idlenesse nor to heare or rehearse olde tales fables vanities nor things of no value Wherefore my good Sonnes speaking to the Nouices in Religion let neither houre nor anie time ouerpasse you without some fruit and profit And when you are freely licensed to speake you are not permitted to talke or conferre about any other thing but what shall be commodious necessarie and profitable For as you are to giue reckoning to God almighty for euery idle word Mat. 12.36 so are you bound to yeeld a straite account for all the Time which you haue lost and ill imployed Ludouicus Blosius amongst other his exhortations which he giues to such as Lud. Blos purpose to leade a spirituall life aduiseth and sayth That he should regard and weigh the estimation and value of Time and esteem the least part thereof if ill spent how litle soeuer it be for a very great losse And that mysticall Thaulerus Io. Thauler amongst other documents admonitions hee giues to religious persons sayth Take heede and beware as from the most pestiferous poyson that is of the least losse of Time And so one of the Offences whereof the Remembrancers or Chequer-officers and our Accusers at the day of Iudgement shall accuse and taxe vs withall will be losse of Time according to that which the Prophet Ieremie in his Lamentations doth giue vs to vnderstand Lame 1.21 Vocauit aduersum me Tempus The Lord called Time to be witnesse against mee The which place Thomas of Aquine expoundeth of the day of iudgement Tho. de Aquin Sap. 5. because amongst other things wherof we are there to be charged burthened one will be Time Where all the whole orbe of the earth in defence of Gods honour will commence hard suite against all sottish senselesse sinners accusing thē requiring Iustice against them for the wrong and hurt they did against both their Creator the creatures by abusing and misimploying them and halling them by the haire against their wills to serue their owne lusts wicked appetites CHAP. 3. How GOD in his iust Iudgement cutteth off sinners frō enioying the benefit of Time who before made no reckoning thereof to profit themselues thereby as they ought and might haue done NOTwithstanding that solemne Oath of the Angell whereof wee spake in the first chapter that on some day Time should finish make an end of all in generall at the day of vniuersall Iudgement after which there should be no more Time to deserue either wel or ill or to make any sauing repentance And that euery man in particular in the last day of his life is to expect his owne peculiar Iudgement yet for all that it is greatly to be feared considered That God accustometh for the punishment of the heedlesse and negligent sinner to cut off Time from him to shorten his life least he should profit himselfe thereby as he ought and might haue done considering that hee hath ill imployed and mis-spent the same So teacheth that famous Bernardine de Sena S. Bern. art 3. cap. 4. and for proofe thereof citeth that place of the Apocalipse Apoc. 3.3 Si non vigilaueris veniam ad te tanquam fur If thou watch not I wil come on thee as a thiefe and thou shalt not know what houre I wil come vpon thee Whereupō God threatneth the carelesse sinner who frō day to day deferreth prolongeth his conuersion and amendment dreaming imagining that he shall haue Time enough yea to spare sayeth thus Be not negligent and carelesse neither iest nor dally thou with Time neither esteem the same so certaine so sure so long nor so at thy
in olde and decrepit age and is not so secure nor of such confidence and assurance Yet others expound them to the purpose we now treate of that is to say in other tearmes O Lord I feare and tremble that for my demerits and sinnes and for hauing so ill imployed my Time my life be cut off or shortened which is a punishment thou art wont to inflict vpon some who runne on in their wickednesse not regarding the exceeding infinite finite worth of Time And therefore do I earnestly entreate thee that I be not vnseasonably cut off taken away in the middest of my dayes but that thou suffer and permit me to inioy fully to accomplish the residue of my yeares which thou in thy determination hast appointed I should liue if I persisted obedient in thy seruice as I ought That holy and blessed man Iob the mirrour and patterne of all patience also saith speaking of the sinfull man Iob. 15.32 Antequam dies eius impleantur peribit c. Before that hee accomplish his dayes hee shall die and his hand shall be cut off as the vine in the bud that is to say God will take him away and shall cut him off in the blade being young and tender and shall fade and wither away before his time and in the middest of his dayes shal be bereaued of his life as being an vnworthie and vniust possessour thereof Ouer besides THIS being a great punishment in this life in the other the remembrance of Time which they enioyed suffered to passe away without any profit shall be a great paine and grieuous torment to the condemned ones and therfore shall then though all to late beholde and bewaile the lack and want of so precious a iewell Holy S. Bernard Bern. ser de fallâ—â— praesentis vitae Sap. 2. in a Sermon intituled of the fallacie and deceipt of this present life very elegantly declareth how it bewitcheth and deceiueth Sinners sometimes protracting and making their lyues long large whereby they might so defer and prolong their conuersion and amendement in such sort as they neuer afterwards amend indeede or are reclaimed and othertimes abridging it and making it short whereby they may truly say That life is short is but a blast and therefore let vs make hast to glut our selues with all maner of delights pleasures of the worlde Wherupon he saith that God amongst other things cutteth off such persons in the middest of their greedie appetites and licentiousnes for their impudencie in offending and bereaueth theÌ„ both of Time and of their lyues because such who of their owne accord haue no regard to leaue their wicked wayes GOD cutteth off before their time and chargeth them with death and by force constraineth them to forbeare to sinne any further And for that respect many sinners die verie improuidently vnwillinglie which the worlde iudgeth to happen vnto them by some accident or hidden indisposition or for some manifest casuastie pretending besides that those daies wherein they liued not in sinne were not true daies nor the life that they leade true life but painted and appearing Whereupon they are called in the holy Scripture Dead sinners 1. Tim. 5.6 Apoc. 3.1 The Widdowe saith the Apostle who liueth in pleasure is dead while she liueth And our Sauiour saith in the Reuelation vnto a certain Bishop who liued not as he ought Thou hast a name that thou liuest and the world thinkes no lesse but thou art not liuing but dead and for such I repute thee to be coÌ„sidering that thy soule remaineth dead within that liuing body of thine So as the sinner hath no life in deed but onely a name that he liueth To conclude therefore if that Time which the wicked vainely misspend and abuse cannot properly be termed a Time of life and that God oftentimes shorteneth the life and dayes of the wicked then doe they not nor shall LIVE as the worlde imagineth but shall be very poore sparing of dayes that is They shall die very timeously and speedily Contrariwise vpright and iust men shall be full of dayes and shall liue farre longer then the world supposeth for the Lord will not gather them into his barne vntill it be due season CHAP. 4. He that now inioyeth the benefit of TIME must with great feruencie and zeale labour to imploy it altogether well IF Time bee such a precious iewel bestowed vpon vs to do good workes and to labour in the vineyard of our Sauiour all the day long vntill Sunne set And if we profit not our selues therewith we may feare and tremble that it will be taken away from vs and that we shall want the same when we most desire and haue neede thereof It is good reason therefore that we imploy it well and that in the meane time with great earnestnes and zeale we labour in our vocation So Ecclesiastes aduiseth vs saying Eccles 9.10 Let thy hand labour ALL that it may and that with earnestnesse diligence feruencie and hast he sayth All as if he had sayd Let no good thought or imagination ouerslippe thee which thou mayst obtaine nor any good word which thou mayest heare Omit not any thing thou oughtest to vtter nor any good worke thou mayest performe forgoing neither occasion opportunitie nor time to do good And further he saith That which THY hand and not that which a stranger or another mans hand doth because thou must not rely or repose thy saluation vpon the hands power or streÌ„gth of any other neither oughtest thou imagine that thy seruant or thy friend or any other worldly person ought to gaine Heauen for thee thy selfe playing the Trewant and continuing lazie Thy hand and thy arme are to performe it and are to labor with greedinesse earnestnesse carefulnesse and zeale because life flits away and when thou least suspectest Thy Sun will set Reioyce that thou hast laboured much because thy rest and reward shall be so much the greater And the reason which the Preacher yeeldeth for al aboue sayd is because that after this life no worke either of reason or of vnderstanding or any act of will or of any other power shal be of worth nor of profit to gaine thereby grace or glory The seuen fertile yeares prefigured by the seuen fat kine Gen. 41.2 which king Pharao saw in his dreame do signifie the time of this life which by weekes whereof euery weeke comprehendeth seuen dayes goeth on with an alternatiue continuation succession wheeling about prosequuting his path but afterwards will come other seuen yeares which wil be al that which shall remaine in the other life which is without end prefigured by the seauen leane and hunger-starued kine Vers 3. barren and without fruit of desert For which cause in imitation of that discreet and wise man Ioseph Exod. 16.16 Now Brother fill thy granarie and storehouse make prouision against the time of want and famine because if thou