yet the Lord deliuereth him out of them all Psal 34.19 And the Apostle S. Paul speaking of the afflictions which came vnto him at Antiochia at Iconium and at Listri saith but from them al the Lord deliuered me 2 Tim. 3.11 The Church stories afford vs a large reading in this argument and the booke of God is plentifull in this matter also I haue spoken sufficiently hereof already for comfort But now if wee will haue our parts with iust and vpright men in these deliuerances and in their peace we must walke vprightly and by steps of righteousnesse come to receiue our parts in them with the people whom God will saue The Lord that promised his Angels to vs in our wayes Psal 91.11 hath made vs no promise of safetie by them in other wayes In the good way of a Christian life we are sure to be kept but it is the Diuell that tels vs wee shall be so in any way Math. 4.6 The vpright and iust men shall haue peace shall it therefore be well to the wicked Wee haue heard God by Salomon to say no and Esay saith there is no peace to the wicked Esa 57.21 that is none either with or for them Had Zimri peace who slew his Master 2 King 9.31 Iezebel that painted dogges-meate could tell he had nor And indeed what peace as Iehu said to Iehoram where Iezebel and her fornications the wicked and their wicked deedes are 2 King 9.22 Doe men gather grapes of thornes Math. 7.16 That is will the grape of peace grow vpon the thorne of wickednesse Let there be no roote among you saith Moses that bringeth foorth gall and wormewood Deut. 29.18 And why no such roote of bitternes among them He after giues the reason because there is no blessing in it it is that roote of sinne whose doome is the curse and whose end is to be burned Heb. 6.8 For he saith Moses when he heares the words of the curse blesseth himselfe in his heart saying I shall haue peace though he walke in the stubbornes of his heart and adde drunkennesse to thirst But shall it bee so Shall he haue peace that walketh in his sinnes stubbornely No saith that man of God the Lord will not be mercifull to him but the wrath of the Lord and his ielousie shall smoake against him and euery curse that is written in the booke of the law shall light him till it haue put out his name from vnder heauen Deu. 29.19.20 Therefore it is but the poison of flattery a poison which striketh to the heart that perswadeth the sinner that he may liue in sin and die in peace For God by Ezechiel telles vs that seeing he hath so done he shall die the death and his blood shall bee vpon him Ezech. 18.13 And how can wee thinke that hauing had all our life time warre with God in our sinnes we should easily bee reconciled to him on our death bead Yet fooles and vnwise so thinke or what is their hope when they lie a dying Surely their hope is as the dead hope of a Malefactor in prison who puts of the getting of his pardon till the Iudge be come to condemne him But we are called to a better hope let vs therefore walke as the vpright man and not put off as sinners so shall our end be peace when theirs shall bee in destruction In this mind and course though the world shall count vs vnhappie yet we must thinke our selues and the wise will iudge vs the most happie men And I pray you who was more happie Lazarus going from his sores and pouerty to heauen or the rich man that went frō his purple and delicate fare to Hell Luk. 16.22 23. We say that the end makes all Philosophy saith that no man is either happie or miserable that is truely so before his end If we cannot bee so wise as Christians should yet it is shame to be more foolish thē the heathen were And what reason then to iudge of men by their present states when it is not the present but future nor this temporal but that other eternall condition of blisse or vnhappines that must giue vs our iust standard or measure in these matters And therefore it is said to good purpose by the Prophet further in this verse Marke and behold c. These two words are added as a bridle to keepe vs in that we runne not into rash judgement when wee heare of the many troubles of the godly and of the few of those that offend euen with purpose of heart to doe wickedly For great foolishnesse is bound vp to our iudgements so farre foorth as wee consist of flesh and see as naturall men our reason is exceeding weake and for our naturall light what is it but darkenesse and errour And therefore great need we haue of this bridle or bit from hastie opinion Great need I say lest wee binde a false note not onely to mans courses which we vnderstand not but euen to Gods most wise counsels which no man can know For this cause the Prophet bids vs to marke and behold as it were to looke with both eyes diligently to consider and faithfully to lay vp the experience that we gather in such high matters not to take things as they appeare presently but as the end leaues them When a man runnes very fast and swiftly his eyes will dazle at things so will they not when hee goes faire and softly or with a deliberate pace In like manner let vs goe deliberately and wisely forward in our iudgements and they will not dazell at the prosperitie of the wicked that are suddenly set vp and where others make more haste then good speede to salute them as happie wee will take leasure and time to our opinion of them and say their end is not yet From hence wee learne not to iudge any man by his present outward estate to be happie or miserable For whatsoeuer we see in men to day may be much altered to morrow and the last may be first Matth. 20.16 And this true iudgement in things and of persons if it were rightly considered and if wee would wisely iudge of them by their ends and not as they seeme would stay vs from being offended to a fretting at the wicked for their sudden prosperitie or to a condemning of the iust for their present distresse The contrary must needes make vs stumble in iudgement and to be offended with our troubles when they continue long I say stumble in iudgement for what man if hee should iudge of Iobs election by that which he sometimes spake and of Dauids by that which he once did the one when hee spake so vnaduisedly against God Iob 3.6.10.13 chapters the other when he lay in so foule sheetes hauing defiled his bed with adultery and the murther of his dearest seruant Vriah 2 Sam. 11.4 5.15.17 or if he should weigh Ieremie at the rate of that which he spake in his distemper and Christ himselfe at
neither is there any liberty without this Citie nor inheritance but in this family to which necessity there commeth this dignitie as it were recompence that this Citie is the fellowship of Saints and this fellowship of Saints the very houshold of God And what greater prerogatiue seeing that hereby he who dwelleth aboue the heauens vouchsafeth to haue an habitation vpon his footstoole the earth and by such a consociation with his people to vnite the true members of this earthly house to that Ierusalem which is aboue and free the mother of vs all And albeit there be in this Citie many times enemies as well as friends and strangers as Citizens also vessels of honour and dishonour children of promise and children of wrath yet of this Citie there are none nor of this house but they that are sealed with the bloud of the Lambe and with the word of his testimony to newnesse of life and to be holy and without blame before him in loue Ephes 1.4 who because they are the true members and liuely parts of this spirituall habitation of God therefore and for their sakes it is called the Citie of the Saints and houshold of faith and by Dauid the Prophet the congregation of the iust Psal 111.1 the benefit whereof howsoeuer they that little know doe lesse regard yet they that haue any feeling of the Spirit must needes confesse and say with the same Prophet that they are blessed that may dwell in this house and that for the time one day in those Courts is more worth then a thousand yeares elsewhere Psal 84.4.10 yea here they will wish rather to be doore-keepers that is meanest in office and least in place then to be great or highest in the tabernacles of wickednesse ver 10. the reason is here the Lord God is sunne and shield vnto them their sunne in the mists of aduersitie and their shield of defence in trouble ver 11. here they may behold the beautie of the Lord is to see his goodnesse in the face of Christ and to be satisfied with his pleasures is to receiue of his fulnesse that grace or measure of grace that causeth true ioy and bringeth entire and sound comfort with it to the perplexed spirit of man both which imply a change of our vile estate and as it were a new birth in it by the which not onely the blinde eyes of our vnderstandings are opened and the old man cast off with his workes but our hard hearts are softned to the will of God and the new man raised vp in vs to righteousnesse and true holinesse in the obedience of faith according to the Gospell They that thus behold the beautie of the Lord are no longer in darknesse for in his light shall we see light and as it fared with the children of Israel who had light in their quarters when the rest of Egypt was couered with palpable darknesse so howsoeuer the Prince of darkenesse doth cast a mist of errour and spread a cloud of ignorance vpon the children of vnbeliefe yet the Sunne of righteousnesse in this Citie of his spirituall Israel and in the proper horizon of the children of faith shall make continuall day-light so scattering all clouds mists and ouer-castings that no night shall be therein neither any going downe of the Sunne Esay 60.20 which Sunne because he shineth in our mindes and giueth his word to this Citie as his beames in our hearts therefore would he haue vs to frame our selues to this cleare light of the Gospel which is preached to vs and to walke as in the day furnished with the armour of the light in the true knowledge of the same Gospell with faith and sound obedience and warring against the darknesse of our ignorance and the Prince thereof so as we may be called no longer darknesse but light in the Lord Eph. 5.8 And therefore the Church in the Reuelation is said to be cloathed with the Sunne and to haue the Moone vnder her feet Apoc. 10.1 so the inhabitants in the Church must be cloathed with Christ and his workes and tread downe the world and his vanities as contemptible things They that doe so that is put on Christ doe fully by that faith they haue in him enioy all the liberties and whole freedome of this Citie as that there shall be no condemnation to them Rom. 8.1 that all things euen their very sinnes and the diuell their tempter to sinne shall worke to the best for them that they haue the right of sonnes and by such right a lawfull interest to Christ and his merits that the hand-writing or obligation of Lawes that was against them is done away and an acquittance sealed to them in his bloud and death who tooke vp their bond and as a booke vtterly cancelled fastned it to his Crosse neuer to be of force any more that they behold a most seuere Iudge in the face of a Sauiour and by him may challenge their generall pardon in his death that they haue free accesse to God the Father by Iesus Christ and may be sure to receiue whatsoeuer they aske in his name that besides large immunities from all kinde of bondage to sinne they are endowed plentifully and richly with the graces of the spirit to righteousnesse that by the Word and Sacraments rightly administred they get and retaine that peace of conscience that no man euer well conceiued but he that first receiued it and in a word that they haue for assurance of saluation in the God of their saluation these are and are sure to be the franchises of Citizens and sons that are in Christ and are followers of Christ And who rightly considering this in heart may not cry out with the Apostle O altitudo O the deepenesse of the riches both of the mercy and loue of God to mankinde Rom. 11.33 that when we were nothing he should make vs and when we were worse then nothing hee should doe so much so exceeding much for vs that when we lay polluted in our bloud hee should wash vs with his owne precious bloud and when we were sold vnder sin redeeme vs with a price from the condemnation of sinne that he should giue himselfe for so vile creatures and vndertake so shamefull a death for so shamelesse offenders or as Cyprian notes he should be that which we are that we might be that which he is It is a strange thing that the Poets faine of Amphion that with the sweetnesse of his Musicke he drew trees and stones together to the building of Thebes the morall is that by his wisdome and sweet elocution which was as musicke to their cares he drew a rude people that dwelt in woods to ciuilitie and manners and to liue in societie that liued sauagely before That which the Poets haue fained of Amphion and Thebes is most true in Christ and his Church for with his word as with the musicke of heauen he called the Gentiles and of them as of stones raised vp children to
were by Moses to them in sundry tipes figures and shadowes of things to come Exod. 4.10 But to vs hee hath spoken plainely by Christ in the Gospel So that wee haue the same Word that they had but more legible and in a fairer letter and they haue the same Law that we haue but more vailed with ceremonies and darker to them then it is to vs. The Church and people of Rome who say with those Iewes which pursued Christ to death wee haue a Law Ioh. 19.7 Haue another rule not drawne vpon the ground nor according to the rule of faith neither yet built vpon the foundation that is here spoken of but of Popes and Councels The great things of Gods Law they count as a strange thing or thing they much respect not Hos 8.12 only their owne dreames please them But there is enough least written for the guiding of euery true beleeuer to Christ and to life in him Iohn 20.31 and they that will not heare Moses and the Prophets how shall other things perswad them Luke 16.31 Here also we haue no building but vpon the Apostles and Prophets Ministers and Christ the Master vpon their Doctrine and his person and what warrant then for additions to these by such as they were of whom God complaineth by Ezechiel that they set their threshold by his thresholds and their posts by his posts Ezech. 43.8 I speake of our aduersaries who adding to that which is written so many vnwritten fabulous vanities to which they giue the countenance of Scripture doe set the threshold of tradition by the threshold of the Word written making the Lords siluer drosse and mingling his Wine with worse then water Esai 1.22 But wee that haue a most sure Word of the Prophets let vs take heede vnto it 2 Pet. 1.19 and be wise in that not aboue that with Heretickes nor against that with Atheists that is able and therefore sufficient enough of it selfe to make vs wise to saluation 2 Tim. 3.15 Let vs not with the Papists whom we heare condemned make it onely a partiall rule of our liues but impartially set our wayes to it with respect to all Gods Commandements Neither let vs presume to giue our selues a dispensation for any thing forbidden by it though neuer so small which is but to erect a court of faculties in our owne bosomes against it For some will commit a sinne and then stretch the Word to make it a little sinne if it bee great and if it be little to make it nothing But good Christians must be builded as well in their conuersation as faith vpon the Apostles Prophets and Christ that is vpon the whole Word of God that they may bee absolute being made perfect vnto all good workes 2 Tim. 3.17 that is made perfect indeed and furnished thorowly to the power of godlinesse And therefore they are iustly reprooued who seeke to any thing in their corporall and spirituall distresse rather then to the Scriptures In the worship of God some more esteeme their owne opinion and the tradition of their Elders then the rules of the Word If they bee sicke they will goe first to carnall meanes and lastly to Scripture In their apparell they are rather led by the fashion in their recreation by the company in eating and drinking by their appetite then the Scriptures And generally in their liues it is esteemed a course too strict and of too much nicenesse to stand to the direction of the Scriptures Gods intent in writing and giuing his Word was the setling of our hearts in the truth and the grounding of our affections by the nature thereof if therefore wee care not to build our faith vpon it by the Ministerie nor to direct our course by it in our ordinary way that it may bee said though in a better sense this was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled Iohn 19.36 we frustrate Gods purpose of inditing holy Scripture and make our selues guiltie of a prodigious sinne or a sinne as bad as the sinne of Witchcraft 1 Sam. 15.23 Besides in our obedience this way our owne good is sought but wee ouer throw it and our selues by odious disobedience Therefore the Lord by Ezechiel speaketh thus Statutes and ordinances haue I giuen them which if a man doe he shall liue in them Ezech. 20.11 Loe the doing of them is our life or our gaine as the not doing of them must needes be and iustly our destruction Lastly not to build vpon the Word is to build vpon ignorance and so to build Popery in vs which in stead of building in Conscience is to build in Hell for there is no conscience that is good conscience without it and without good conscience what are we but vnconscionable sinners So much for our building vpon the foundation but what manner building must this be for the manner it must be a coupling together and for the end it must be a holy Temple in the Lord as it followeth VERS 21. In whom all the building coupled together groweth vnto an holy Temple in the Lord. THE common knot that coupleth vs to God and one to another is the spirit and in the spirit this building must be coupled as with the foundation by Faith so in it selfe by loue for it commonly falleth out that that which is diuided in it selfe is easily from it selfe diuided also And therefore as we haue one God and Father of all which is aboue all and through all and in vs all one Lord one Faith one Baptisme Ephes 4.5 so must we prouide to be knit together in one minde and in one iudgement 1. Cor. 1.10 and to be as the primitiue beleeuers were of one heart and of one soule Acts 4.32 endeauouring to keepe as much as we may the vnitie of the Spirit in the bond of peace Ephes 4.3 They dwell neere together that inhabit in one Citie but Christians who are holy Citizens are Citizens with the Saints should dwell neerer in heart then men doe in their houses The communion of Saints is as an vndiuided Citie and Cities in vnitie are goodly Cities so is it a goodly thing for brethren to dwell together in vnitie Psal 133.1 Againe Christs Coat had no seame and shall his body be diuided was Ierusalem compact in it selfe and shall Ierusalems Citizens iarre must her buildings touch together Psal 122.3 and shall not Christian brethren touch neerer who are linked in faith and ioyned in Christ must our houses be vniforme and shall wee that liue in such houses liue in no agreement One saith well the Church leaueth to be when she leaueth to be one And therefore they doe not a little deceiue themselues who thinke they can grow in the root and be torne from the branches or hold the foundation and be rent in the roofe for the branches must be vnited that will grow in the root and the roofe must be sound and well coupled that will any while keepe the foundation This would be considered of all
walke no longer in the flesh but in the spirit or good way of life and lanch foorth Luke 8.22 or saile forward as a Ship gone out of the Hauen from the shore of the new birth to the Hauen of our peace in death Many are at a stand in knowledge and rather goe back-ward then forward in the way of grace Such grow but vntowardly and prooue dwarfes and not men of any stature in Christ But in viâ virtutis non progredi est regredi in the way of true vertue not to goe on is to goe backe and as it cannot be a member of a growing body that groweth not as the body doeth so neither can it bee any liuely member of a true Church that prospereth not as that Church doth with the increases of God All non proficients therefore in the degrees and schoole of regeneration are bad Christians and not members growing into Christ but members pro forma that is for fashion onely and so are as farre from the end as they fall short of the meanes of being as it followeth An holy Temple in the Lord c. For how can that bee a fit Temple or habitation for God by his Spirit to dwell in which groweth not into a building What man can conueniently and will contentedly dwell in a house that is but begun to be built and before it haue any either roofe or couer And will the high God dwell in any house in his Ierusalem below whose neither wall is builded nor roofe couered but to proceede the words that follow haue two points in them of speciall consideration as the qualitie of this Temple it must be holy and the reason thereof it is the habitation of God by his Spirit It is called a Temple by allusion to the Temple that was at Ierusalem which was a type of the spirituall Ierusalem and Church of Christ and this is either of all the stones together which is the Church framed with the corner-stone which is Christ or of the stones considered separately by themselues euery one of which makes a singular temple as all together makes an vniuersall in Christ So many Christians therefore so many liuely stones toward the building of the generall Temple and yet euery true Christian is a Temple to God 1 Cor. 3.16 6.19 And this Temple both the whole and euery stone in it must be holy that is endewed with holinesse and purged from the lust of concupiscence which was the lust of those which knew not God 1 Thes 4.4 5. which worke of reformation though it shall be hindred by many as the second Temple at Ierusalem had many aduersaries Neh. 4.1 2 7 8 2.19 20. yet shall it proceede to the perfection of the body of Christ as that other building went forward and was finished notwithstanding all that either malice or craft could doe against it Onely let vs not hinder it our selues by liuing in vncleannesse and by neglecting to purge our selues that wee may be a peculiar people to God zealous of good workes Tit. 2.14 And what we beleeue let vs practise wee beleeue a holy Catholique Church let vs therefore practise holinesse that our practise be not against our faith Let vs labour to be holy as hee is holy that hath called vs. 1 Peter 1.15 16. And seeing hee hath washed vs who hath giuen himselfe for vs let vs not plunge our selues againe in the mire Ephes 5.25 26. to wit in the mire of our first corrupt nature VERS 22. In whom you all are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit FOr who will prepare for a great man his friend in a foule house or lodge him in a stable And is any person greater or friend better to vs then God Or is any house or roome of the house fowler then an vnpurged conscience And what stable is more loathsome then the loathsome stable or rather stie of a wicked heart But how doeth God dwell in vs Resp Ministerially by his Word and Sacraments and principally by his Spirit For his Word therefore seeing hee dwelleth in vs by it wee must resolue to giue to it as to himselfe our best entertainement lodging it in the best roome of the house the heart and not in the out-house of the eare And for the Sacraments chiefely that of the Supper the chamber must be trimmed wherein Christ will eate that Sacrament with his Disciples Marke 14.15 16. And for that which is chiefe and expressed in my Text the Spirit seeing it is the Spirit of God and very God wee must take heed how wee sinne against it that is the good motions of it in our hearts wilfully and dispitefully for that is a sickenesse to death for which there is no Phisicke by repentance This is a sinne of men enlightned with the trueth The Gentiles without God cannot commit it neither the Iewes that are without Christ A sinne wherein a man falles away generally and malitiously from God yea for euer and vtterly from him in all the effects of a reprobate heart and heart that cannot repent This is that great sinne which Satan hath so blacked that it can neuer bee made white a sinne that shall not bee forgiuen to a man either in this World or in the World to come that is neuer Mat. 12.32 Quest But is not the sinne against the holy Ghost a sinne against the Father and Sonne as well as him Ans This sinne if we consider the person of the holy Ghost it is no more against it then it is against the persons of the Father and the Sonne but because the holy Ghost immediately both conuinceth conscience and enlightneth it therefore when we sinne against knowledge and the light of our hearts we are said properly and directly to sinne not against the Father or Sonne but holy Ghost But a Christian may sinne against the Spirit though in a farre lesser degree of sinne against him then by this which is so bitterly offensiue against all his graces in our hearts To know how wee must first know how and in what respect the holy Ghost may be said to dwell in a Christian or God by him And this is not in regard of substance for the whole substance of the holy Ghost which cannot bee diuided cannot bee shut vp within the body or soule of man but in respect of some particular worke or operation Now a Christian may sinne against this worke of the Spirit in him either when grace is offered and not accepted of or accepted of and not well vsed For example grace was offered to the old World by Noah and hee warned them for a hundred and twenty yeeres by preparing the Arke but they had neither eares to heare it nor hands to receiue it and so the Arke that is the time of repentance offered by it condemned them Heb. 11.7 Sodom was exhorted to repentance by iust Lot and a pleasant land yet shee reiected the Spirit that spake by these vnto her 2 Pet. 2.6
benefits of God are so much more then we can deserue or conceiue not to receiue so great grace in vaine nor to thinke where we can deserue nothing we can serue more or better then wee ought or to play the vnthrifts with so rich a treasure committed to our keeping and vse He that hath committed to vs our life and his money to be recalled at his pleasure and hath diuided amongst vs his blessings and his talents to occupie till hee come will one day most certainely require againe his coine of life that he lent vs and reckon with vs particularly for the seuerall peeces of his stocke of grace both which we haue ill imployed and which we haue not imployed to their best end which is his glory then neither the hiding of our talent in the ground by an vnprofitable life shall be able to deliuer vs from our account to damnation nor the smalnesse of his gift and of our receit as it were the single talent excuse vs if we haue bin vnfruitfull in the least matters nor others ill vsing of greater graces be a cloake for vs but the secrets of all hearts as it were the bookes of the Lords accounts shall be laid open euery leafe of them and hidden thing in them and a iust I doe not say equalitie but proportion of increase shall be exacted at our hands according to the measure of grace which wee haue receiued for as it is in the fift of the second to the Corinthians ver 10. We must all appeare before the iudgement seat of God that euery man may receiue the things which are done in his body according to that hee hath done whither it be good or euill and therefore they doe not a little deceiue themselues who hauing a greater measure of grace dealt vnto them and more of the Lords money in their hands then others doe abuse all that bountisulnesse of the Lord and turne his grace into wantonnesse and yet thinke they shall as easily passe their accounts as they who haue receiued smaller summes both of time and spirituall riches to answer for as if to receiue much were rather a priuiledge to greater securitie then the charge of a greater burthen But it fareth not with the heires of heauen as it doth with the Lords of the earth who because they are borne to greater rents and possessions then others are thinke they may liue more idlely then others and as they vse the matter more wickedly but the more that euery one receiues here the more will be required of him and the better his calling is the more seemely must his walking be in it for wee are all of vs vnprofitable seruants euen the best of vs when we haue done our best are so and if wee were many degrees better then we are we were many more degrees worse then we should be And in this respect we are called stewards of God not owners of his gifts and therefore not to abuse them to our pleasures but to answer for not vsing them in his sernice But as we are to take heede to our Christian life that it be godly and righteous in respect of the causes that should moue vs so to doe so in regard of the many occasions that stand in our light and way to withdraw vs from a good course we should take this paines for the ordering of our Christian life much more for how many are they and how many wayes offered I would we were as willing to preuent them as wee are sure they doe daily nay euery houre and moment of our life circumuent vs for who can open his eyes and not see his eares and not heare occasions of euill in all places who can thinke and not amisse walke and not walke in death or which is lesse but steppe out of doores and not steppe into a great puddle of sinne Not onely by the corruption of our vile nature by which we are carried to all euill but also by the subtile inticement of our old enemie who hath spred his nets of deceit ouer all the world and baited his hookes with euery part of our flesh and hath so many lures of imposture for our eyes charmes for our eares vaine thoughts for our hearts and by-wayes for our feet we are so engirt and beset daily on euery hand and side of vs that wee are easily caught and no sooner assailed then taken neither is he sure that thinkes hee commeth into this field of assaults best appointed for them the world what is it but a Sea which swelleth with pride fometh with lust boileth with desires and hath many contrarie tydes and tempests to turne vs from the port to which wee saile Our life what is it but a life of battels and a perpetuall warfare in the which we are to strine against the world and the Prince thereof yea against our owne flesh and the lusts therein and not to haue one minute of truce with them but in a calme to looke for a tempest and to be most distrustfull when the enemy seemeth most quiet and still for besides those many weapons which Sathan hath to assault vs the many occasions that he hath to withdraw vs his skill in vsing his weapons his policie in applying and taking his occasions he is well acquainted with the humours not of euery age onely but of euery estate also and therefore can fit euery one with and in that to which hee is most inclined He tempteth young men with beautie middle age with glory and old age with money he stirreth vp contempt in superiours enuie in inferiours and malice in equals If any be strong in faith hee will teach him to presume and if any be weake he will driue him to despaire He cloatheth his foule practises with tolerable names making lust but a tricke of youth ambition a spur to vertue desire of money honest prouision and whatsoeuer is of it selfe euill and for it selfe hatefull a thing meerely indifferent yea where he cannot hinder the course of godlinesse he will so aduance it in the followers that hee will make them proud of that they doe And to be short when he perceiueth that hee cannot worke so grosely in the children of light as to perswade them that darknesse is light and light darknesse hee fetches about vnder hand to perswade them that though they may not doe as the wicked doe yet it is no harme to keepe them company and though they be ashamed of many things in the light yet in the darke they neede not seeing no man sees them Further to this his skill and policie hee addes no lesse diligence and for this hee is said to be a Dragon that neuer sleepeth and Lyon that neuer lyes still seeking whom he may deuoure hee sowes tares in the night and attendeth their growing in the day he gaines the time that we loose and where we are carelesse he workes what wee scatter he gathers and what opportunities wee giue hee takes And what hee doth in
moneths yet we shall one day pay to God the shot of time in the strict account of our houres when our poore soules shall bee committed to torments and bodie and soule shall bee cast into hell This should make vs enter into a trembling consideration with our selues about our great arrerage of time as to thinke how much is vpon the booke for excessiue sleepe for immoderate gaming for our carnall fellowship for much idle talke vaine thoughts and inordinate worldlinesse and finding so much lost and spent already do as wise husbands in such a case should do that is grieue for that which is past and bee better husbands hereafter of all our houres redeeming the time behind and beginning prouidently to saue before all be gone Seuenthly let vs consider and call to minde the example of Christ whose doings as our light wee should follow and to whose person as our best precedent wee should conforme hee saith Iohn 9.4 I must worke the workes of him that sent mee while it is day he saith hee must and it is sure he did for hee spent the day in teaching and the night in prayer Luke 6.12 21.37 Let vs eightly consider that as God hath appointed that good should be done so he hath set the opertunities and seasons wherein to doe it and therefore hath made euery thing beautifull in the time thereof Eccles 3.11 Now if wee neglect this time with Ierusalem what can we looke for but that the line of Ierusalem should be spred ouer vs for such our negligence and more then brutish contempt of good houres Luke 19.42 43 44. And now to cast vp the reckoning of all that hath beene spoken let vs put these together the nothing of our flight time the price it carieth with the children of wisedome how little of it is in our owne power how short and flitting it is how much Sathan to teach or shame vs setteth by it for his owne ends that houres and minutes must be accounted for that Christ for our imitation lost no houre of time for his Fathers seruice and Glory and that good is to bee done in that time and season that God most wise hath appointed to it and hauing made this account let vs denie if wee can that time is to be redeemed O then let vs not suffer any good occasion of doing good to slip away from vs but let vs lay sure hold of it exhorting one another while it is called to day Hebr. 3.13 Euery moment of our life is the opportunitie giuen for amendment of life it is that acceptable time and day of saluation spoken of 2 Cor. 6.2 that time of life wherein God visiteth vs with his Word and Gospel speaking to vs by his Word and knocking at our hearts by his mercies and iudgements Oh let vs not suffer the blessing of these golden times to bee lost or in vaine to bee bestowed vpon vs. Some good things reach not vnto nor may bee done at all times as the hearing and reading of the Word the reading of good bookes conference solemne and set prayer admonition reproofe almes For these must haue and enioy their owne oportunities but euery time is a time of turning to God all times are fit times for the exercise of our faith for repentance of sinnes for amendment of life and for reconciliation with God Oh therefore let these seasons and oportunities of times in Gods mercy bee euer deere vnto vs let vs deferre no meanes or time that the Lord shall offer fitly to vs for these dueties but redeeme them with our present industrie and labour of loue not receiuing so much grace in vaine Let vs consider our mispent time and by greater diligence in well doing fetch as much of it as we can backe againe by running the way of Gods Commaundements Psal 119.32 Let Saul runne to the harpe of his pleasures and they that are drunken with the delights of life as with that wine wherein is excesse let them make themselues musicke with mery fellowship to driue away dumpes but let vs to whom God hath giuen a better minde and another spirit take heede how we forfeite the oportunitie of repentance for such vaine matters and let vs remember that time well past is the best pastime in the World Hee that other wayes passes his time turnes his pastime into sinne And because as was said our time goes away fast enough faster then a Post and as soone as a thought what neede wee so much and ordinarily in vaine sports to seeke remedies against it The yeeres we haue seene are gone the few that are behind will not tarry long after and one end shall bee vnto all This end is death the common end of the liuing and the happy end of the righteous Let it bee our care therefore to redeeme time not to cast it away and our soules with it vpon the pleasures of sinne as they who doe more seruice to their bellies in one day then they doe in a whole yeere of dayes to God Wary wel-thriuing husbands hauing had some great losse will watch all Markets and oportunities to recouer it Now what greater losse can come to a truely and wel-thriuing Christian then his great losse of the time of the Gospel which is the time of repentance and should not this force him to follow earnestly and continually all the Markets and oportunities of Religion that he can heare of thereby to make vp his former great losse at such Christian assemblies The way-faring man hauing slept too long in bed or sate too late at dinner will make amends for it by making more haste afterwards in his way so we that trauell to our owne Countrey of heauen hauing before either slept out our good time in an idle life or sate it out in pleasures should be by so much the more carefull hereafter to quit the way faster by giuing all diligence to make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 for it is sufficient for vs that we haue spent the time past of our life after the lust of the Gentiles walking in wantonnesse 1 Peter 4.3 Now it is high time that wee bestow that well and carefully in Gods seruice that is to come redeeming with our bodies goods and life if neede were that which is past We heard how our Sauiour Christ bestowed all his houres to the glory of his Father and good of mankinde at great feasts hee would loose no time and at one feast how many things taught he concerning the feasts of Christians and bread of heauen Luk 14.15 16. c. At Iacobs Well when he talked with the woman that was a harlot how did hee forget his owne neede of the water of the Well to satisfie her necessitie with the waters of the Well of life Iohn 4.7 10 11 12. c. how after did he neglect his owne meat to doe that which was his meat and drinke the will of his Father Iohn 4.34 What occasion did hee omit to doe