Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	pray_v	prayer_n	word_n	4,036	5	4.6953	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25248	Redeeming the time a sermon preached at Preston in Lancashire, January 4th, 1657 at the funeral of the honourable lady, the Lady Margaret Houghton / by Isaac Ambrose.	Ambrose, Isaac, 1604-1664.; Houghton, Margaret, Lady, d. 1657.	1674 (1674)	Wing A2969; ESTC R29590	26,695	20

and if so how is it possible for me to redeem the time I answer 1. By way of Concession I believe there is a day of grace indeed and if that Sun set it will never never rise again If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things belonging to thy peace but now are they hid from thine eyes Luk. 19 4● q. d. Now is the gate of mercy shut there is no means of grace or Salvation for ever hereafter to be hoped for As there is no Market or Fair-day that lasteth alwayes if the Country will not come in the Trades-man will at last put up his wares So the Lord's standing may be open and his shop set wide for such and such a time but if Souls will not come in and buy without mony and without price he will at last put up his wares all his jewels of grace and then be gone 2. Though it be true that there is a day of grace and that this day may set yet in respect of us the Ministers of Christ we cannot determine it and therefore so long as you live we call still oh repent oh redeem your time I may add in respect of your selves it is not in you to know the times and seasons which God hath put in his own power Act. 1.7 And the commandement of Faith standing in force on you so long as you live and thereforce you are still to look to your Duty of redeeming the time 3. It may be this day this night this Sermon this very hour may be thy day of grace Hearken is not Christ's Spirit now a knocking is not Christ himself now offering mercy to thy Soul O ye sons of men that have mis-improved your time will ye now at least in this your day he wise to Salvation why now I call to your hearts now I command you to open your everlasting doors that I the King of Glory may come in oh let this be the time of love Come give me your hearts and now redeem the time Away away with all objections scruples cavils that may hinder this Duty and now even now hearken to this voice of Christ or of the Spirit of Christ that your Souls may live 3. Must time be redeemed Then for some Rules or Directions how we must redeem it Rule 1. Vse 3. A void we every thing that would hinder us from taking the opportunity What those things are you have heard before as ignorance sloth and love of fleshly liberty Many other particulars might be enumerated but chiefly and especially foregoe we these Rule 2. Repent we of all former mis-improvings of our time There is no other way of recompensing former unfruitfulness but by repentance and after diligence This is the scond table after shipwrack in this way we may redeem or buy back again the time that is past The very word resipiscentia signifies to be wise again after all our former follies Oh that ever any should be so unworthy as to decry this godly-Gospel-golden Rule Rule 3. Live we every day as if every day were the last day we had to live This Rule or direction is so comprehensive that I must needs break it into particulars Suppose then I were to begin this day and that I look't on this day as the last day of my life how should I redeem my time or spend this day I answer 1. My first and morning-thoughts should be on God or on something in order to his service Psal 130.6 My Soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the Morning Isa 23.2 O Lord be gracious to me I have waited for thee be thou my arm every Morning Psal 59.16 I will sing of thy power I will sing aloud of thy mercy in thy Morning It is good to give thanks unto the Lord. Psal 92.1 2. and to sing praises unto thy name O most high to shew forth thy loving kindness in the Morning Psal 139.17 How pretious are thy thoughs unto me O God when I awake I am still with thee Now these Morning-thoughts may be spent either in a way of Meditation Isa 26. or of Prayer and my Duties lie in both 2. I should meditate I shall not determine whether Morning or Evening may be more suitable for set deliberate and solemn meditation onely this I affirm that either a solemn or an occasional meditation is a morning-Morning-duty In some sort meditation and prayer should ever go together Psal 5.1 2.3 and David thus couples them Give ear to my words O Lord consider my meditation hearken to the voice of my cry My voice shalt thou hear in the Morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee Now these Morning-meditations if occasional or ejaculatory may be on such Objects as these 1. Upon my first waking I may think on that Morning of my Resurrection when the Lord will awake me from the dust it is but a while till the trump shall sound Awake Isa 29.19 and sing ye that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and then shall the earth cast out her dead 2. Upon sight of the Morning-sun I may think on that Sun of Righteousness that enlightens Heaven The Sun that shines on me was only created for this nether World and yet how glorious is it Oh then what light is there in that City above that hath no need of Sun Re. 21.23 or Moon or Star for the glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof 3. Upon the putting on of my apparel I may think on that garment of Righteousness where with my soul either is or should be cloathed Alas what is this outward Robe but a Rag or at best an excrement of dead worms of which I have little reason to be proud But my Souls Robe is as a garment cut out of the Sun Rev. 12.1 and put upon me And there appeared a great wonder in Heaven a woman cloathed with the Sun Oh that I may be cloathed with that Sun of Righteousness or with that Rightousness of the Son of God that I may appear before God as I am in him pure and spotless I shall not instance in any other objects of my Mornings meditation onely if I find my spirit most active and fit for meditation at such a time I should then go on and spare more time for set deliberate and solemn meditations 2. I should pray and to this Duty I may joyn the reading of the Word That this is a mornings Duty the Scripture is express Psal 5.3 In the Morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up Psal 88.13 And in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee And evening and morning and at noon will I pray and crie aloud Psal 55.17 and he shall hear my voice It is true that Prayer and reading of the Word are two distinct exercises

years yea since the time of our regeneracy how prodigal have we been of this precious commodity of time those that keep exact diaries can easily tell you such an hour lost and such an hour ill spent this day I did little good and the other day I sinned against my God If in this case I may speak out my own experiences I must needs acknowledge that many and many a day I have lost such and such an opportunity and now that evil days come thick upon me wherein I would gladly redeem my days oh how flow and backward am I as yet in this Heavenly Duty My dear brethern I shall not onely reprove you but my self in this O why art thou so dull and listless and heavy O my soul Awake awake stirr up thy self and with redoubled diligence fall to the work of redeeming time while yet the time the day the season the opportunity of grace of Heaven or of Salvation lasteth 2. Must time be redeemed Vse 2. why then let me exhort you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ to be in the exercise of this Duty Oh redeem your time avoid all those hinderances that would take you off recompence your former unfruitfulness by after diligence embrace all occasions of acting grace and doing good I might dilate on all these particulars but I shall contract all in these very words Redeem the time oh redeem your time The motives besides the former reasons may be these 1. Time is ever on the wing and stayes for no man The Scripture is very full of this we meet with many similitudes hinting at the sudden invisible motion of time My dayes are swifter then a post they fly away Job 9.25 26. they are passed away as the swift Ships as the Eagle that hasteth to the prey See how Job here multiplies comparisons that if we will not learn by the first we might learn by a second or by a third Goe we to the land and there we see time on the spur in the swift riding post goe we to the Sea and there we see time upon the wind in the swift sailing Ship goe we to the aire and there we see time upon the wing in the swift flying Eagle Hence the Ancients emblem'd time with wings as if it were not onely running or sailing but flying Oh how sad it is to see men live as if time had leaden heels and not swift wings or as if time would any time stay our leasure and not be gone Be not deceived you that are weary of time either now redeem it or you will one day cry out What hath pride profited us or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us All these things are passed away like a shadow Wisd 5.8 9.10.11 12 13. and as Post that passeth by or as a Ship or as a Bird or as an Arrow even so we c. 2. As time is swift so our time is short The Heavens indeed are said to be of swift motion but of long continuance but our time is otherwise When the Corinthians propounded divers cases of conscience after some answers the Apostle gives them in this But this I say brethren the time is short or time is cut off he alludes to Sea-fearing men that have almost done their Voyage and begin to strike sail 1 Cor. 7.29 Time was in the beginning of the World that men might say I may by course of Nature live a matter of six or seven or eight or nine hundred years but now God hath so cast out the time of our age that so soon as we begin our Voyage we are ready to strike sail we have but a little time If I should measure it out what is it but an Ell a Span an Inch a Point And is it not time then to redeem the time 3. Time is not onely swift and short but nothing I say a very nothing in comparison As some creatures are said to be nothing in comparison of others What is the Ant to the Elephant or the Shrimp to the Whale what is the whole body of the Earth to the body of the Heavens So is our time as nothing to all time and all time is as nothing to Eternity David that found out a short dimension of his time considered absolutely Psal 39.5 or in it self Behold thou hast made my dayes as an hand-breath yet he could find out no dimension little enough for his time compared with God Mine age is as nothing before thee God's being consists in one Eternal now but mans time is divided into past present and to come three nothings which being added together amount in the total to this Sum Mine age is as nothing before thee Oh that we would consider of this language of the Holy Ghost were it not enough think you to put us on this Duty of improving and trading our time while the time is ours and while this short time lasteth 4. Though time be swift and short and as nothing in comparison yet is it a commodity more precious than the Gold of Ophir If herein we might hear lost Souls to utter themselves Oh what would they say or what would they give for a little of that little time they had on earth If the Lord by Divine and Extraordinary dispensation would but grant them one months time to come hither again and to make a new trial do you think they would not prize this grant would they not esteem that little short Golden season of grace at an high and mighty rate Would they not make use of every opportunity to lay hold of Heaven and to escape those fires wherein now they are burning frying and flaming O yes if you would then tempt them saying Come spend this hour merrily would they not answer alas we have but one months time to live here in this World and then we must either to Hell again or if we improve our time well we must to Heaven and what shall we trifle away this time of trial and of grace in offending God shall we cast away our Souls again to gratifie you or to please our own flesh for so little a time as we have now to live Oh God forbid avoid Satan avoid all Temptations welcome now all those messengers of Heaven that will bring us the glad tidings the tenders the offers of Christ and of Salvation let not one sand in the hour-glass run but let us be doing some good let this hour be spent in prayer and the next in meditation and the next in hearing of God's Word and the next in the exercise of this and that grace and so on but not one hour in sin Why surely thus would they prize and improve the time that know by woful experience what it is to lose the time And by this we may guess the worth of time oh it is pretious so pretious that if all the Earth were turned into Gold it could not purchase one minute of it Me thinks this

yet that they mutually help one another is most manifest and consequently are fit to be joyned together for the word ministers matter of prayer and is the ground of our petition who have no promise to be heard unless we ask according to God's word 1 Joh. 5.14 And the fitness of the morning for these exercises is evident not only because the first of time belongs unto God but also the heart being then most free from worldly thoughts it is therefore fittest for Holy exercises and withal when in the beginning of the day the heart of man is seasoned with Holiness and with the fear of God he shall find himself the better fitted to walk humbly with God all the day after 2. All the rest of the day till evening should I spend my time in the Duties of my particular calling nor know I the least reason why any man in the world high or low rich or poor should be herein exempted Adam must not eat his bread without sweat and labour Abel was a keeper of sheep Cain a tiller of the ground Gen. 3.19 Jabal was a Tent-maker Jubal the father of such as handle the harp Gen. 4.2 20.21 22. Tubal Cain an Artificer in Brass and Iron All the the Patriarchs of Israel were but Shepherds and Jesus Christ himself was a plain Carpenter But you may object may I not herein lose my time as to God's service One would think if this were my last day I should do no other work but pray or hear or read or meditate c. I answer 1. I grant there are such times wherein God calls us extraordinarily to such spiritual Duties all the day long as either in afflictions felt or feared or in some special mercies expected or received And there are those times we call the Lords dayes wherein we are to do no work ordinarily but of a Spiritual nature And there are such times wherein God holds forth an opportunity of exercising graces or of doing good and so to embrace the occasion is one piece or part of our redeeming time Gal. 6.10 As we have opportunity let us do good to all men And your care of me hath flourished again Phil. 4.10 said Paul to his Philippians but ye lacked opportunity It seems their care for the Apostle was intermitted for a season for want of oppertunity to send unto him but now they put forth again as flowers in Spring I doubt not but in such cases as these we may and must for the time dispense with our particular callings Yet 2. In my ordinary constant daily course I am to be in the exercise of my Particular calling with which I may either mingle some actings of grace or ejaculatory Duties as suddenly to look up to Heaven and to behold the face of God to whom I am to approve my self in my particular calling or if they clash I am solely to follow my particular calling and to leave other Spiritual actings till their appointed season Nor do I herein decline God's service For 1. I follow my calling out of an awful respect to the eye presence and command of God who hath said Six dayes shalt thou labour Yea I do what I do in civil business as the work of Christ so that I may say at that time now am I about the work of God and of Jesus Christ 2. Seeing my self thus working for him I may easily apprehend that for that time I honour God as much nay more by the meanest servile worldly act than if I should spend all that time in Prayer Meditation or any other Spiritual employment to which I had no call at such a time It is noted therefore by some of Peter's Wives Mother that when Christ had healed her of her Feaver she sat not down at Table with Christ in Communion with him which no question was sweet but she ministred unto them i.e. she ran to and fro and served him and acted for him wherein she shewed more love Mat. 8.15 and gave him more honour than if at that time she had enjoyed Communion with him in a nearer way But I hear others object May I not take up some little of this time in recreations what must I alwayes be on my calling Is there not a time to every purpose under Heaven Eccl. 3.1 4. a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance I answer There is indeed a time to recreate but that time is then I say onely then when our bodies or minds are wearied with our other employments O what a sad thing it is to see many spend a whole day it may be a whole week in unnecessary sinful recreations What is this to redeem the time or dare I thus spend the last day of my life in this world Surely God's people that make conscience of their Duties should not meddle at any time with recreations though in themselves lawful without true cause and a just calling thereunto nor should they use them any longer nor to any other end but only to quicken their minds or to revive their bodies that so they may return with some lightsomness and alacrity to their callings again He that spends his time lavishly in recreations is like him whose Garments are made of fringes and his meat nothing but sauces I am not against recreations lawfully used but God forbid that we should trifle away our time more worth than worlds upon foolish vain empty end unnecessary toyes 3. The evening should be closed up with spiritual duties If you ask what Duties I answer 1. The evening is a time for prayer Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice Psal 141.2 To this of prayer I joyn reading the Scripture and good books for it is fit to close up the day with the same duties wherewith we began it 2. The evening was Isaac's time for meditation And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the even-tide Gen. 24.63 It may be in this Duty the morning is not so seasonable for some tempers but shall the evening pass without some spiritual Holy meditations Some conceive the evening to be the very season of set and deliberate meditation and in this case how fruitful might I be in the use of that Ordinance of Looking unto Jesus as he carries on the great work of our Salvation from first to last O that this Duty of meditation either on that or any other spiritual subject were not so neglected as it is by Christians themselves Jod 1.8 The Lord gave Joshua a charge that he should mediate on his Law day and night Psal 1.2 and David's character of the blessed man is that his delight is in the Law of the Lord Psal 63.6 and in his Law doth he meditate day and night And David's own practice was to remember God upon his bed 1 Tim. 4.15 and to meditate