tenth of Ecclesiastes Vers. 2. A wise mans heart is at his right hand but a fooles heart is at his left the meaning is this when a businesse is to be done the right season for it the wise man a gracious man hath his hand ready and his heart to joyne with his hand he is alwayes dexterous at it but a fooles i. e. a wicked mans heart when his businesse is to bee done his heart is at his left hand every finger is a Thumbe hee cannot manage it but more clearely Solomon expresseth this Prov. 17. Vers. 16. Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a foole to buy wisedome seeing he hath no heart to it Let a wicked man have opportunities give him wealth give him honour give him meanes of grace give him any thing that may helpe to wisedome hee hath no heart to it So also saith Daniel Dan. 12.10 speaking of understanding the times none of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall the godly shall Thus I have done with the Doctrinall part of it and by this time I hope you all grant that it is a matter of wonderfull concernement of admirable wisedome and commendation to have understanding of the times and seasons so as rightly to discharge their owne duties I now come to the Application of it wherein I shall onely insist upon two Uses the one is For Humiliation in reference to time past to seasons and opportunities which are past and lost The other shall be For Exhortation in reference to the time to come that wee may learne this excellent wisedome to know the times and seasons so as to lose no more of them For the first Is it such a singular commendation so excellent a wisedome a matter of so great moment and consequence to know the times in reference to duty O what cause of lamentations is there First In generall to us all a man might in this case fill such a booke as Ezekiels roule was wiâ—h weeping and lamentation and mourning Here is a great Assembly gathered together to mourn upon a day of mourning and if ever any Doctrine that ever I have preached might call for mourning at all your hands I am perswaded this doctrine calls for it from every one of us God bee mercifull to us wee have all been fooles we have not knowne the times of our visitation wee have knowne the times to talke of them sometimes to inveigh against them crying out they are the worst times that ever were but for this knowledge of my Text wherein true wisedome should appeare to know the times in reference to our duties I feare I may say as Paul said of the Corinthians hardly one wise man to bee found amongst us One said I know not how truely of the Helvetâ—ans that he travelled through their Country and found that there are toti pagi repleti fatuis whole Villages inhabited by none but fooles Truly beloved not onely our Country Villages but our market townes and our Cities and I pray God it prove not that our Parliament and Assemblies are all filled with fooles in this great point few or none of us know the times in reference to our duties Let mee speake freely to you God hath cast the lot of all of us in such times as have been filled with such administrations as the like could not have been in the space of these 1000 yeers and confident I am that hee that loses these times wherein we have lived would never have redeemed any time and yet notwithstanding have not wee O have not wee all usually put off to the future the duties that belong to the present time and done in the present time the things that should never have been done at all Have not most of us lived all our dayes as if God had made us for the World as Leviathan for the Sea onely to take our pleasure in it others of us to fill our shops with commodities our purses with money our houses with stuffe and provision as if there had been no better things to have been regarded when in the meane time for the admirable opportunities wee have had for the glorifying of God and the saving of our soules as if these had been nothing worth woe unto us wee have done any thing rather then make improvement of them and as rich people will give any poore people leave to goe into their Pease-fields to gather lapfulls of their Pease as being things of little worth so have wee allowed any thing to take up our time sporting and eating and prating and sleeping and such things that are of little concernment O how much of our pretious time have they devoured and wee regard it not what cause have we to tremble at the thought of it I beseech you tell me if God should come now and say to any Nobleman Gentleman Minister Citizen or other that is here I have given thee 20. yeers 40. yeers threescore yeers of time I have filled thy time with glorious opportunities as excellent as ever I gave to any the least of them worth a world give in your Bill of accompt what you have done with these what improvement you have made of them how have you walked I beseech you what accompt could you make would it not appeare that you have spent many houres and dayes in riot and wantonnesse sporting and playing in swearing and cursing in contriving and acting that which is evill and mischievous and very few minutes for your God for your soule for obtaining eternall life happinesse or doing good to your brethren God bee mercifull to us wee could not answer him one word for a thousand wee have all cause to lie in the dust and acknowledge we have been fooles and not knowne the things that belonged to our peace not regarded the time of our visitation But Honorable and beloved give me leave to bring this lesson nearer to you who have called mee this day to preach and let me make a more through enquirie after your wisedome in this particular because you are look'd upon as the wise men of the Land that know the times better then others I am confident you doe not desire to bee flattered any day but this day I hope that will bee most acceptable which in a way of God could most effectually humble and abase you and you have put a necessitie upon mee to deale freely and faithfully with your soules Have not you honored and worthy Patriots and Senators infinite cause to bemoane this that you have not knowne the times in reference to your duties First be pleased to view the times you lived while you were private Gentlemen before you were called to these publique services when you lived in your severall Countries where I know by reason of your wealth and parts and interests and states you had abundance of opportunities more then other people had to have done much service to have made the times and places
any thing upon them they would beare it this of old was the Genius of this Tribe but now another manner of Spirit possessed them none of all the Maritine townes nor Cities where the people are most active and fit for Negotiation went beyond or came neere to the Tribe of Issachar now I say they had learned that that makes a people happy they had wisedome and unitie they had understanding to know the times and their dutie they had many thousands of eyes to see into the true state of affaires and then they had as many thousand hands ready to execute they could presently fall upon that which belonged to them they had understanding of the times and knew not onely what themselves but what all the Country what all Israel had to doe this was the people and this strange alteration that God had made in the Spirit of this Tribe of Issachar doth afford us this excellent lesson That the Lord can at his pleasure inable and raise up the spirits of persons and people to doe worthily from whom no body would expect any thing Moses had foretold that Issachar would bee but a dull Asse but you see how the Lord had altered and raised him up to doe excellently hee went beyond all the other Tribes and God hath often done so hee takes Moses a Shepheard a man slow of speech sends him and makes him a fit man to deliver a whole nation out of bondage and captivitie at another time hee raises Gideon a private Gentleman it may bee but a Yeomans sonne from his Flayle when hee was threshing of Wheat and makes him a Captaine to route the whole Army of the Midianites and to judge his people at another time takes Saul a Private Gentlemans sonne who was seeking for his fathers Asses and makes him fit to governe a kingdome takes David a young youth from following his Ewes great with Lambe and presently enables him to cope with the Gyant Goliah and to destroy him and afterwards to bee the ruler over Gods people hee takes Amos from being a Neatheard and a gatherer of Summer fruit to bee a Prophet and to preach in the Kings Chappell takes Fishermen who were never bred in Universities and sends them into all the world with the power of the Gospel to subdue the Nations to Jesus Christ Thus the Lord hath raised up instruments and hee can easily doe it for there is a spirit in man but the inspiration which gives understanding and gifts comes onely from the Almighty the Lord hath abundance of the Spirit and powres it out where and how and in what manner hee pleaseth This may bee a great incouragement to us in all our extremities and exigents let us doe our dutie and let us never feare Gods wanting of instruments for his worke when wee are low wee presently cry out Lord by whom shall Jacob arise by whom by stones raised up to bee children and by children inabled to doe the worke of men Wee should never bee at our faiths end though sometimes wee are at our wits end let us doe our dutie and leave it to God who can easily raise up instruments to do his worke from whom wee would never expect it wee our selves have had a great deale of blessed experience of it In the beginning of our publique troubles our question was by whom shall England arise now it is thus low Wee demanded where shall wee finde Captaines and Commanders for a warre in a Nation where all men have been bred in ease and peace God hath found them and tooke Gentlemen from following their Hawkes and Dogs and Tradesmen from their shops and Husbandmen from their Ploughes to bee able to cope with the most expert Commanders in the world and now wee are at another losse now wee are demanding where shall we find Ministers for eight or ten thousand Congregations to instruct them in the way of life Feare not if God for our sinnes deny us not this mercy hee can fulfill that in the 68. Psalme The Lord will give the Word and great shall be the multitude of them that shall publish it the Lord can raise them up unexpectedly and so in all other our difficulties But this I purposely onely point at that I might not bee straightned in the second which is the singular commendations of this Tribe They were men of understanding to know the times and what Israel had to doe That it is a great and high commendation of any people especially of their Heads and Leaders to know the times in reference to their dutie These men of Issachar had understanding of the times to know what Israel had to doe this God sets downe as their high commendation in the handling of it I shall indeavour these three things First I shall interpret the meaning of it make you see what it is to know the times in reference to duties Secondly I shall indeavour to prove it out of the Scripture and illustrate the truth of it that you may see that it is a high commendation and a matter of extreme consequence and thirdly and principally I shall indeavour to make Application of it for our own good For the first What it is to know the times in reference to dutie you may please to observe that in the Scripture and in the practise of men there is found a fivefold knowledge of the times There is an Astrologicall knowledge of the times such a knowledge as the Starre-gazers do boast of a knowledg whereby a company of vaine men doe undertake out of the bookes of the Starres to tell you whatsoever God hath decreed concerning Men or States this knowledg is so condemned in other places of Scripture that none of you will imagine that this was the commendation of this Tribe Secondly There is another knowledge of the times which I may call a Diabolicall knowledge of the times whereby wicked and ungodly men do studie to improve all advantages of time to further their own lusts and wickednesses the study and knowledge of time-servers who indeavour to make the times further them in their cursed designes men who like Willowes or Bulrushes in the water will bow which way soever the streame runs and dance after the present Fiddle of the times for their owne ends I am certaine none of you think that this was the commendation of this Tribe such Temporizers Time-servers however they may for a while applaud their own wisedomes will one day know they have served but an ill Master this was farre from the Tribe of Issachar Thirdly You shall read of a Propheticall knowledge of the times that is such a knowledge as wherein the Lord by revelation doth in able some of his servants I meane the Prophets to know what shall afterwards come to passe and this kinde of knowledge though every man hath an itch after it and many doe as Nebuchadnezzar did
Lord saith in the latter end of the world when ruine shall come it will bee then as it was in the dayes of Noah and as it was in the dayes of Lot men shall bee eating and drinking and marrying wives but know nothing they should do for their salvation till utter ruine come upon them I hope now the truth of this Lesson is cleare out of the Scripture But if you please to goe a little further yet and consider the excellency and difficulty of this wisedome to know the times how much depends upon it how much is required to it you 'l bee fully satisfied that a greater commendation can never bee given of any man or any people then this that they know the times in reference to their duties and that I may open what belongs to the making up of this worke I beseech you give mee leave to open these six Conclusions out of the Scripture which all much concerne this wisedome of knowing the times in reference to dutie First That time is one of the most pretious treasures that ever God bestowes upon any man or any people 1. because time is the onely measure out of which God powres out all his administrations 2. Time it is the onely space in which men are to doe all their worke 3. It 's so pretious that God would have men value it one to another if any man had hurt another hee must not onely pay for his healing but hee must pay for the losse of his time Yea 4. God calls upon his people to redeeme it at any rate Redeeme the time redeeme the time as if there were no commoditie that the God of heaven would so commend unto men next to his truth that wee should buy so eagerly as wee should purchase time Yea 5. it is so pretious that Hee who is at that great cost to make and contrive it as to cause the Sunne every day to run about the world and all those excellent creatures in the firmament to make it their work for the continuation of time will call men to accompt for every moment for every minute of it That is my first Conclusion that time is a pretious Jewell in Gods account and ought to be so in all people's Secondly God hath joyned time and dutie inseparably one to another so that there is no dutie but it hath an appointed time for it and there is no time but it hath an appointed dutie for it it 's disputable whether there bee a vacuum in nature or no it is most certaine there is no vacuum in time No man ever lives to see that minute of time nor that ragge or cranny of time of which hee may truely say at this time I have nothing at all to doe but the Lord hath measured out to all times some dutie or other this our Saviour saith expresly Matth. 6.34 when hee would disswade men from troubling themselves to day with the duties that belong to to morrow hee useth this argument among others Trouble not your selves for to morrow for to morrow day hath trouble enough of its owne sufficient for every day is the trouble of it the care the worke the dutie of every day that passeth over our heads is enough to fill the day that is the second that God hath joyned time and dutie together Thirdly There are some great duties that are to bee concurrent in the practise of all men with every moment of their lives My meaning plainly is this the great businesse of glorifying God of saving our immortall soules of keeping a good conscience of working out our salvation these great things are not set off by God to any set time but they are to be concurrent with every moment of a mans time Trust in the Lord at all times have respect to Gods Commandements at all times Blessed are they that doe justice and judgement at all times bee yee alwayes ready for your masters comming And of those excellent men Josiah and others it is recorded that they looked to Gods Commandements all their dayes so that the great matters of glorifying God saving our soules looking for our Masters comming c. these duties are to bee concurrent with all our time Fourthly Severall times I meane the severall compositions of times or Scenes or Junctures of times have their severall and peculiar duties laid out for every man by God himselfe my meaning is this there is a time of youth a time of age a time of prosperitie a time of adversitie a time of comfort a time of trouble a time of warre a time of peace and a hundred other severall frames and compositions and junctures of time Now so often as God doth make a new Scene of the time every man hath some new duty or other to act his part requires that hee should act some new thing the Scripture is full of such expressions as these in the times of prosperitie doe thus in the time of adversitie doe thus in the time of the Gospel doe thus c. Now to know the time and the severall duties belonging to every time is one of the hardest things that belong to the taske of man this wisedome lies in the deepe it is a difficult thing to find out what the duties are that belong to the severall times But then fiftly That the Booke of God and onely the Booke of God is able to informe them who faithfully study it in all the duties that doe belong to every new posture or face of time First I say onely Gods Booke can do it there are Bookes of excellent wisedome written by other men but take them all together let a man bee never so versed in them they will never discover to him every duty that belongs to every time but the Booke of God can doe it if men have their senses exercised in the study of it there is no time so intricate no dutie so arduous but the booke of God will teach all men from the Minister to the Hearer from the Prince to the Subject to make every one of them perfect in all the workes which belong to them Psalme 19.7 it is said the Word gives understanding to the simple and in the third of the Proverbs Vers. 21 22 23 In all thy wayes acknowledge her and thou shalt walke in thy way safely and thy foot shall not stumble when thou liest downe thou shalt not bee afraid c. Doe but get wisedome into thy heart get acquaintance with Gods Word it will direct thee in all thy wâ—â—es whether to the right hand or to the left at every turning place it will say here is thy way and these must bee thy steps Sixtly and principally As there are severall times and severall duties annexed to these times so in every time for any duty there is some particle of that time which is the opportunitie of the dutie the season of the dutie there is the space
of time and there is the season of time the space of time is nothing but the continuation and succession of so many minutes and moments one of another but the season of time or opportunitie of it is time apted and fitted to doe a businesse Now these two doe very much differ one from another the one of them the length the duration of time the Greeks calls {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} but the season the opportunitie is called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which is the tempus commodum the tempestivitie of time the ripenesse of time and this indeed is properly time in reference to dutie And concerning these seasons of time or times fitted for businesse be pleased to consider these five things I shall need onely to name them because I speake to an understanding people That any worke to be done is done easily if the opportunitie be taken take opportunitie by the forelock and any businesse whatsoever is to bee done will bee done with ease not onely because opportunitie is the ripenesse of time but because in opportunities God offers to worke with us and for us Now you know any businesse that must bee done by the helpe of another is then easily done when both parties joyne in it Two Men that are to lift up a burthen if they both lift together and take the Hae now it goes up easily A vessell that is to be driven if the Watermen ply the Oares the wind tide go with them the vessell is carried easily Now I say the Lord offers himselfe to come in to a people when there is a fit opportunitie â—hen he holds up his hand and saith Now lift and I 'le lift with you now row and my Word shall blow with you such Scripture as these are frequent In an accepted time I have heard thee and I will heare thee in an acceptable time In a day of salvation I will succour thee in an opportune time God offers to come in and helpe if opportunitie bee taken This made the heathens esteeme opportunitie a goddesse As things are easie when men take opportunities so they are then beautifull the beautie and grace of every dutie both with God and man is when it is done in its fit season the righteous man in the first Psalme is compared to the Tree that brings forth his fruit in his season suum in suo his owne fruit and in his proper season God saith Solomon hath made every thing beautifull in its season all Gods works are beautifull in their season and so are all mens workes too A word spoke in season is like Apples of Gold in pictures of Silver and a good word in season O how comfortable it is Thirdly But know that these Opportunities are wondrous hard to find out very difficult it is for men to know the true season or opportunitie of a businesse men may know times and seasons wel enough in particular businesses the seasons for tilling the ground and breeding and breaking of Cattle c. In such low and triviall things in comparison seasons may easily bee knowne but in the great morall affaires that concerne God and mens soules the difficultest thing that lies before man is to finde out the true season when they are to bee done this Solomon sets downe most excellently in the eighth of Ecclesiastes Verse 6. Because to every purpose there is required time and judgement therefore the misery of man is great upon him marke that expression most men are miserable because a businesse cannot bee done without a fit season and judgement to know it as if Solomon had said thus The truth is opportunities are so rare oft-times so sudden so violent so short the wind seldome blowing long in an opportune point and men so ignorant so blinded with prejudice with vaine hopes or feares that most men are miserable in that they cannot find out the true season of a businesse and thereby intimates that in every businesse the most difficult part of the worke is the right timing of it I adde fourthly That when opportunities are past if they bee let slip they are oftentimes altogether irrecoverable and the businesse is either wholly lost or never better then halfe done it may cost more to patch up a businesse out of season then required to have done it beautifully if the season had been taken As the story goes of the Sibylls bookes they were faine to give the full price for one which would have bought all three when two of them were burnt Post est occasio calva Unlesse God make another opportunitie man can never call opportunitie back againe Opportunities are Gods fitting of time to businesse none but God can thus fit it therefore you shall find Esau would have repented and got the blessing he wept and cryed for it yet missed it he might have had it once without weeping and crying but he lost the season and the season being gone hee could never recover it with all his weeping So the foolish Virgins came with their Lampes pretending to have got some oyle and cryed Lord open to us but the season was past and there was no entrance the truth is seasons are to businesses as money is to wares hee that would buy a commoditie upon a market day when possibly the commoditie is very cheape may then have it for laying out his money lose but that market possibly ten market dayes will not helpe him againe with it and either never buy it or give a greater rate for that which is not so good as the other would have been if opportunities bee once past over without the Lord create them againe men are utterly lost in their businesses Fiftly and lastly As these opportunities are excellent and hard to find and irrecoverable if they bee lost So in the last place know that no wisedome no learning nothing but a gratious heart guided by the Spirit of God doth know how to take opportunities in time for the great businesses that concerne God and his glory no wisedome but the wisedome of grace and Gods Spirit guiding the heart doth ever know to doe businesses in their right seasons In other things as I said before they may bee taken naturall men may plow and sow in season c. Yea men may sensibly understand the times so as to mourne for the afflictions of them so as to rejoyce in the good of them and wicked men by a devillish wisedome can take the seeming opportunities to promote their owne wicked designes the harlot can take the opportunitie of her husbands absence the thiefe the opportunitie of the twilight and so every man the seeming opportunitie of things that are of the Devill for Satan helpes them but to know the opportunities of the things that concerne God and our soules nothing but a gratious heart enables a man to doe it the Scripture is very plaine for this Solomon expresses it notably in the
better for you Did you then thus know the times did you then walke as wise men redeeming the times did you know what God expected from you in your places and have you done it O blessed yee if you have But I beseech you will it not rather appeare upon a true search that many of you in those dayes walked in the wayes of riot in uncleannesse in drunkennesse possibly in swearing in prophaning Gods holy time in opposing and scorning Religion was it not thus it behoves you to search did you not make your owne Families the Townes and Lordships where you lived the worse for you as so many Jeroboams causing Israel to sinne did not you thereby helpe to pull downe those judgements that have beene like to devoure and destroy this whole Land and if so have you beene humbled under these things have you since repented of them or do they still stand upon your score before that God that keeps an exact accompt of all the Talents that ever hee hath put into your hands I beseech you enquire into it but let me goe further and enquire whether since the time that God hath separated you from your brethren and by a notable providence called you out to be the heads of all our Tribes have you since that time knowne the times in reference to your duties It is now above six yeers since many of you have beene called to this worke one of the greatest workes that mortall men have beene imployed in these many hundreds of yeers a work wherein you have beene assisted not onely with the prayers and teares of those that feare God throughout the Christian world but with the states and blood of many and God himselfe hath carried you in his bosome and made you the most remarkable handfull of men that I thinke this day breath upon the earth in regard of the mercies that hee hath shewed you and in this time certaine I am hath put into your hands as many golden opportunities not onely required as many duties but put as many golden opportunities into your hands to establish our wretched kingdome and to rescue a decayed lukewarme Apostatized Church as ever were put into the hands of a Parliament Now beloved have you known your times and taken your opportunities I know it well that you have wrestled with huge difficulties infinite oppositions and I know that oft-times the perversnesse of a Patient poysoning his owne disease or wounds may frustrate the care of the best Physitians and God forbid that that which is onely your misery should ever bee imputed to you as your sinne but suppose upon a diligent search any of you that are called to bee our wise men to know the times for us that at your doore it should lie in great part that our miseries are not yet healed how sad would that bee To this end I most humbly pray you inquire if upon a diligent search there should bee found among you any who at this day live in the same sinfull riotous ungodly wicked conversation that they led before God called them to this publique service that after your solemne oath with your hand lifted up to the most high God for the reformation of your wayes that you should bee found still with Zimri and Cozbi to live in those sinnes for which God is judging this Nation Were this to know the times and what Israel hath to doe Suppose further there should bee found amongst you any such as should ordinarily neglect the publique service and turne your backs upon it to attend your own private affaires after that the Kingdome hath put into your hands whatsoever under God is pretious and deare unto them were this to know the times and what Israel hath to doe Suppose there should bee found amongst you any that should seeke advantage to themselves out of publique calamities or should sinfully helpe to undoe those for whom they are called to bee Saviours were this to know the times Suppose that any of you should bee found unjust in judgement and favour an unrighteous man in his cause either for corrupt gaines or out of opposition to them you like not and so prostrate the untainted honour of the Parliament to the reproach of the adversaries the scandall of the Nation the teares and griefe of them who love you were this to know the times and what Israel hath to doe Suppose it should bee found that there should bee any that in matters of Religion should side with a partie for corrupt and sinfull ends and make Religion but an Engine to carry on some other sinfull designe were this to know the times and what Israel had to doe Suppose yet further that upon a diligent search there should be found among you any that doe retard matters of the greatest moment that the setling of Religion should bee obstructed by you that many people abroad are remisse in it because they judge you have no heart to it were this to know the time and what Israel hath to doe Suppose that the cries and teares of the oppressed I meane not the fatherlesse and widowes whom I am confident the Houses of Parliament would helpe this very day if it lay in their power but the cries of some oppressed by Committees or others in the Countrey should come up to you and seeke for succour and it should bee found that some of you should patronize the wrong-doers and keepe them off from comming to a hearing and thereby from redresse were this to know the times and what Israel had to doe Honorable and Worthy doe not mistake mee I am farre from saying it is so I onely suggest these things to your owne search and if in naming the particulars I mistake any of them God knowes it is with the same singlenesse of heart wherewith Job sanctifyed his Children sacrificed for them saying Peradventure my sonnes have sinned and cursed God in their hearts sure I am it concernes you all to search and try for if it should be so wee are all like to smart for it for as he said of the Roman Senate Ita nati est is ut bona malaque vestra ad rempub. pertineant Your condition is such that your good and your evill is the good and evill of the Commonwealth it belongs to us all and should the great God find any of you walking thus unworthy of the great trust hee hath committed to you when hee hath put as it were the fates of his Church and Kingdome in your hands under him to dispose of them hâ—s wrath would bee kindled against you these things would lie very heavy upon your score and wee and you should dearely rue it Sure I am there is not a man of us but for some or other of these things hath just cause to lay his hand upon his heart with sorrow and to put his mouth in the dust and this day to bee very deepely humbled and abased before God And this is the first Use a Use of
when his thoughts troubled him in the night that hee might know what should come to passe afterwards yet our Lord hath told us That it is not for us thus to know the times and seasons which the Father hath kept in his owne hand there is fourthly Another knowledge of the Times and study of it which is an Historicall knowledge of the times or an Astronomicall knowledge of the times a knowledge which is extremely and deservedly cried up by learned men a knowledge wherein many men of choycest wits both among Heathens and Christians have tooke very great paines wherein they have much advanced wisedome and learning especially in our latter age Many rare men of choycest abilities have set downe in a continued Series a Chronologie of all the yeers that have been since the Creation and of the most memorable things and persons that have fallen out or lived in the severall ages and yeeres and this they have done to their owne everlasting honour rectifying the accompt of time and extremely advantaged even the studie of the Scriptures now this knowledge though it bee excellent yet my Text hath nothing to doe with it and truly though it bee an excellent thing men may have it and yet die fooles and be miserable for want of that knowledge which I am this day to speake of The Nation of the Jewes were admirable in that kind of accompt of times Scaliger saith of them they were exact even to admiration and Sethus Calvisius one of the most learned writers of that kind though hee goe another way to worke yet confesses that in the Jewes accompt they did not lose above the accompt of one houre in the space of 1500. yeers yet because they had no better knowledge of the times then that the Lord in the eighth of Jeremiah saith they were fooles and had not so much wisedome as the Crane and the Storke and the Swallow those irrationall Animals who had so much sagacitie as to know the times of their comming into a Countrey and leaving a Countrey but this people knew nothing of the times in reference to Gods judgements and their owne duties the Lord counted them fooles for all their other learning And therefore there is fiftly Another knowledge of the times which I may call a Theologicall knowledge or rather a gratious and a practicall knowledge of the times which is so to know the times as to understand the moment and exigence of all affaires which fall within the times in reference to their owne dutie that they may improve all occurrences which fall out to the right end This is the knowledge that I am to speake of and this knowledge infinitely goes beyond that other I confesse I finde a great many learned Volumes writ for the helpe of the other to further the Chronologicall or Historicall wisedome of the times abundance of Astronomicall Tables have been compiled and other helpes set forth but for this latter I hardly know one little Pamphlet extant about it and yet this infinitely goes beyond the other for though a man should die ignorant of the other and never know the Julian Account or wherein the new old stile differ one from another if hee have but learned to number his dayes so as to apply his heart to wisedome hee will honour God here and bee happy for ever but without this what learning soever hee had in the other his life will be wicked and in the end hee will die a foole And this was the knowledge of this Tribe this Practicall knowledge so that when the other Tribes some of them stood for the house of Saul to continue the government there others of them inclined to David to make him King and others probably were unsatisfied in their thoughts concerning either of them possibly thinking it would bee best to continue their old Aristocraticall government in their severall Tribes and to waite that God should raise them up extraordinary Judges in difficult times and so they stood in a kind of indifferency and neutralitie these men of Issachar especially their Leaders had so studied the times that they did not onely know what was lawfull and expedient in this huge turne of theirs in this great businesse that was before them but they knew what was their dutie yea what all the kingdome all the Common-wealth ought to doe with them they knew the times and what Israel had to doe Now this knowledge that I have brought you to is not a mentall or speculative understanding of humane affaires or things belonging either to Church or Common-wealth but it is a Practicall knowledge which is a wise abilitie to manage all the understanding that they have in reference to their dutie in one word it is to observe all Gods administrations wherewith the present time is filled his providences his mercies his judgements his words his workes to observe them I say so as thereby to bee inabled seasonably and timely to performe their owne duties and to regulate their conversations according to the exigence and juncture of times for the glory of God the good of their brethren and the salvation of their owne soules and this is the Theame wherein I now proceed To give you some evidence out of the Scripture to make it apparent to you that it is the highest commendations that can bee given of any people to have this understanding of the times in reference to their dutie and for the proofe of it I shall indeavour these two things First To shew it you plainely out of the Scriptures that it is a marvailous high commendation and a deserved one And secondly I shall indeavour to make a further illustration of this Doctrine of knowing the times out of Gods Word To prove that it is such a high and deserved commendations take but these three proofes First every where in the Scripture this is counted true wisedome and in the accompt of God they goe for wise men who understand the times in reference to their duties looke first into the fift of the Ephesians at the eight verse and so forward the Apostle layes downe this great Doctrine That now God had sent the light of the Gospell amongst them they must not for time to come walke as other Gentiles did walke in the vanitie of their minds but they must leade a life worthy of the Gospell and this hee proves by many Arguments which when hee hath proved then in the 15. and 16. verses hee sets downe what this life is see then that you walke {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} exactly not as Fooles but as Wise men wherein lies that redeeming the time because the dayes are evill there is all required there is the manifestation and demonstration that you do not walke like Fooles but as Wise men if you have but once learned to redeeme the time in these evill dayes the dayes are naught the times are evill full of snares to be avoyded many
duties to bee done now herein will appeare Gospell-wisedome to walke so as that in these evill dayes you may redeeme the time and Solomon hath an excellent discourse of the same subject in the eighth of Ecclesiastes in the beginning of the Chapter hee gives a high Encomium of a wise man Who is saith hee as the wise man that is no â—an can bee compared to a wise man what is hee 〈◊〉 that knowes the interpretation of a thing hee that knowes what every businesse doth truly signifie and call for that is the wise man then hee tells you this mans wisedome will gaine him courage and credit hee will bee honored and esteemed then brings it downe to manifest the excellency of this wisedome in one particular case which is the most tickle businesse in the world for men to bee imployed in and that is in attending upon the affaires of supreme Governors in doing that which the higher powers command them for they will quickly bee angry and take offence therefore doe their businesse carefully and speedily as you should and if they bee angry goe not away in a pet c. But now lest some body should say Doe you meane that a man should doe all that Kings and supreme Magistrates doe command without further enquiry or delay No saith Salomon in the fifth Verse the wise man knowes both time and judgement the wise man that hath the interpretation of a thing knowes what is to bee done what is to bee refused and when things are to bee done most fitly or opportunely therefore none like the wise man So likewise Moses in the 32. of Deuteronomy about the 19. Verse O that this people were wise that they did but understand their last end that they but rightly knew their time and in the 90. Psalme which is another prayer of Moses Lord teach us so to number our dayes to make such a compute of our times that wee might apply our hearts to wisedome I might give you many other Scriptures which show that the Lord counts this to be true wisedome nay I 'le add this further the very light of nature hath taught the Heathens to judge this to bee true wisedome the seven Counsellors of that great Emperour of Persia in the first of Ester are said to bee men that knew the times the meaning is that they were wise Counsellors and among the Romans it is a Proverbiall Adage homo omnium horarum that is hee is a wise man that is a man for all houres knowes the businesse of every time of every place whatsoever hee is called to hee understands his affaires and in truth this may well bee called wisedome for it is wisedome it is not onely a part of wisedome but it is the very Systeme and comprehension of all wisedome I know there is a particular wisedome that men may have in some affaires as a Husbandman that knowes but how to plough his ground seasonably c. that is called his wisedome and the women that did but know how to spin finely c. Men may have a kind of wisedome in this or that particular trade and yet all the world may know him to bee a foole in everything else but that that is the true and reall wisedome which properly sets a man out to goe for a wise man properly stands in the true understanding of the times in reference to mens duties For both Philosophers and Divines doe agree that wisedome is made up of these two things the one is Intelligence which is nothing but the understanding of things in their nature as they are good or evill the other is Sapience which is the same understanding applyed to particular businesses as they stand vested with all their circumstances and that man that hath the understanding of affaires as they are circumstantianted with all things that goe with them and knowes how hee may dexterously and opportunely apply himselfe to them hee is the wise man that is the first proofe that the Spirit of God every where calls this wisedome Secondly The same Spirit of God doth â—sually call the want of this folly whatsoever other excellencies meete in any man if they want this the Scripture calls them fooles yea hypocrites wicked ones in the 8. of Jeremiah the Lord speakes in the 6 7 8 9. Verses after this manner How doe you say you are wise why doe you pretend to wisedome and hee speakes not to the vulgar people but to the Scribes their learnedst men that could handle their tongues and their pens best there was no wisedome in them they were fooles Why because saith God the Storke and the Crane and the Swallow know their seasons but this people knowes not the time of my judgements and therefore the Lord would not have them pretend to any wisedome but bee contented to bee counted fooles because they were ignorant of this and our blessed Saviour in the 16. of Matthew when the Scribes and Pharisees and the learned Doctors of the Law came and desired to have some further evidence from him by some signe from heaven that hee was the Messias Christ told them they were Hypocrites they were a sinfull and an adulterous Generation meerely because they did not understand the signes of the times A wicked and an adulterous generation would have more light you can tell by the Clouds when it will bee faire weather next morning and you can guesse by the morning whether it will be rain but yee hypocrites yee fooles saith hee you cannot discerne the signes of the times what the times signifies and calls for at your hands you have no understanding of this and therefore you may goe for a company of fooles and hypocrites and so left them and departed Nay thirdly which makes it yet more cleare The want of this knowledge of the times in reference to mans dutie is that which the Spirit of God uses to render as the onely cause of a peoples ruine whensoever a people are brought to ruine if they be a people to whom God afforded meanes to save them when they come to be ruin'd the Lord layes it wholly upon this that they knew not the times of their visitation This you 'le find in the 19. of Luke and the latter end of it when Christ about the 41. Verse came to take his farefull of Jerusalem and to die there from the top of the Mountaine he looked over the Citie and fell a weeping O saith hee that thou hadst but known in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but they are hid from thy eyes then hee goes on and tells them what shall become of them the enemies shall cast a banke and not leave one stone upon another levell them to the ground and their Children in them for what I pray because thou knew'st not the time of thy visitation destruction came in onely at that breach they knew not the time of their visitation and elsewhere our
Humiliation that wee have not in time past so knowne the times as wee should in reference to our duties There is one more and that is A Use of Exhortation Is this so excellent and necessary a dutie to know the times in reference to our duties O that I knew how to speake somewhat in the name of the Lord that might promote this wisedome in you for time to come that in this our day wee might know the things that concerne our peace that they may not be for ever hid from our eyes O that I could say to you as Paul said to the Thessalonians Concerning the times and seasons it is superfluous for mee to write to you for you your selves know perfectly To this end I beseech you take briefly these foure Meditations to provoke you to study this wisedome in time to come First Often consider how much time how many golden opportunities thou hast lost already how oft there hath been in thy hands a price to purchase Wisdome and thou hast lost it for want of a heart and then thinke whether it bee not more then needfull that thou shouldest lose no more Secondly Consider how much doth depend upon that moment of time that yet is behinde It is an old saying Our life is but a moment but Ex hoc momento pendet aeternitas Eternity dependeth upon this moment no lesse then the glory of God and the saving of thy immortall soule and it may bee of thy family it may bee of the Church and Kingdome dependeth upon thy knowing the times Thirdly Consider thou canst not tell whether ever thou shalt enjoy after this day one opportunity more the Angel may quickly come and sweare concerning thee and mee Time shal be no more And then Fourthly Consider when Time ceases to bee any more thou must give an accompt for all the time that hath been that certainly at the barre and Tribunall of God all the Times and seasons that God hath trusted thee with stand upon thy score and will bee exacted of thee Rejoyce O young man saith Solomon in the 11 of Ecclesiastes in thy youth and let thy heart cheare thee in the dayes of thy youth and walke in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes take thy pleasures waste thy seasons but know that for all these things thou must come to judgement Such Meditations as these would provoke your hearts to bee very carefull to lose no more time but rather to enquire what you should doe for time to come and how you might learne this Wisdome And truly it would fill a Volume to tell what every one should doe from what wee should redeeme our time and to what wee should redeeme it and by what meanes wee should doe it I dare not enter upon that discourse But there is one thing wherein I desire freedome that I might be as helpfull as I can to the Honourable Senate that hath called me to the service of this day Honourable and Beloved God hath cast your lot so that if you be rightly instructed in this one Lesson you may make our times differ as much from former times as Nebuchadnezzars Golden head did from the feet of iron and clay Golden times indeed might bee brought about if God vouchsafed but to teach you this one Lesson Your duties are many for whatsoever lies upon any other lies eminently upon you You are to doe all those things in every time that others are to doe and you are to doe many things that others cannot doe and may not doe That you may therefore know your duty give mee leave to represent before you the true face of our Times wherein wee live and shew what in these Times you have to doe and herein I will not presume to put any Prudentialls upon you we ought all to thinke that Prudentialls are better understood by you then by us but what shall I say shall God willing appeare to be matter of Conscience matters of necessity and things that may not bee left to liberty Know then our present times First in generall are such Times as I thinke never were before us in the World I may say of our times as the Prophet Joel saith in the 1 of Joel Heare O yee old men was it ever thus in your dayes or in the dayes of your forefathers I meane our times are so full of various administrations such a concurrence of all kinde of Providences and Administrations as seldome were ever knowne in so few yeares Wee have been sometimes full of hopes of recovery sometimes at the brinke of despaire sometimes dawnings of light by and by all clouded over againe with utter darknesse sometimes we see a people drawing nigh to God that hides his face from them by and by God drawing nigh to a people that run away from him such alterations such vicissitudes of all kindes of administrations that truly I may compare our times to the wind mentioned in the first of Ecclesiastes It whirles about continually now in the North and then in the South and never abides in one Point So hath it been with us for these foure or five last yeares this day of ours hath been like that day in the 14 of Zachariah neither night nor day nor light nor darknesse but a strange kinde of mixture of all these and in such various and uncertaine Times as these are what have the heads of our Tribes to doe I answer plainly all others with you and you with others are in such dayes to stand and behold the Workes of God viewing and admiring and adoring these Mosaick works these Checquer workes of God but it concernes you above all others to stand constantly upon your watch and employ all your Parts and Wisdome and Faithfulnesse lest a change of time take you upon a sudden As when a Ship is at Sea if it saile to the Westward and once get beyond the Canaries where the Sea sets constantly one way and state-winds blowing for so many Moneths together in one Point a moderate skill and care of him that guides the Helme wil carry them on with ease but in various winds and tumultuous Seas when they saile sometimes among Rocks and sometimes among Quicksands sometimes in Gulfes sometimes in the Ocean sometimes almost at the Shoare if the Pilot be not extreame skilfull and carefull himselfe his Barque and all that are with him are quickly cast away So I am assured is it now with us in these various administrations you that are our Pilots that sit at the Sterne must shew more then ordinary skill and diligence or we may quickly perish But More particularly there are seven severall Scenes of the Time if I may so call them or sorts of things that every day are acted upon our Stage and in every one of them I shal shew you what you that are the Heads of our Tribes have to doe First Our times are