Care for the things of the World on the other side these or such things as these have got the Possession of our Time at present or at least are ready to seise and lay hold upon it Now we should not suffer them to engross it but by all means strive to keep it out or else to recover it out of their hands that we may make a special Use and Benefit of it Our Time must be gain'd out of the hand of the World yea out of the hand of the very Devil who is continually busie to get Possession of it Since the World is so corrupt the Devil seems saies [r] Calvin in loc Calvin to exercise such a Tyranny that our Time cannot be consecrated and devoted to God unless it be after a sort redeemed 4. The learned [s] Annotat on Ephes 5. not e Dr. Hammond saies that the Phrase of Redeeming the Time of gaining or buying the Season seems to be a Proverbial Expression which use had made to signify more than the very Letter of the Words imported and he produceth several Instances out of Authors from which he gathers that the meaning of redeeming or buying out or gaining the Time is this for Christians to use good Caution and Cunning Wisdom and Dexterity to save themselves from Spiritual Dangers and the Snares that are near their Souls to use all prudent artificial Devices to preserve themselves from the evil Time in which they live Times of carnal Sensuality and high Corruption and so of great Temptation and present Danger to their Souls Besides this primary meaning of the Phrase he saies it may be applied also to that other Prudence for avoiding of Persecutions as those are expressed in Scripture by evil Daies not to throw our selves upon Dangers unseasonably where there is no probable Advantage in our Prospect but to speak and exhort when it is likely to prosper and at other Times to refrain And this saies he may properly be styled gaining the Time watching Opportunities and when interposing would prove gainless then to hold the peace and expect some fitter Season And in this latter Sense the most learned [t] Grotius in loc Grotius expounds the Phrase Redeem the Time saies he that is by any Pains and Labour and by all fair Language and respective Speeches and innocent condescending Carriages avoid the Dangers of the Times you live in and lengthen out your own Tranquillity Thus I have opened the First Term and shewn you what is meant by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commonly translated redeeming the Time The Phrase may signify these four Things to buy back the Time that is past to buy up the Time that is present that is to forgo and part with any thing for it and so to make it our own and use it for our spiritual and eternal Advantage Again not only to buy it up but to buy it out to get it out of the hands of the Devil and the World and the distracting Cares and tempting Pleasures of it And lastly to use all Wariness and Wisdom of Behaviour all prudent and pious Arts to secure our selves from Snares and to preserve our selves from spiritual Dangers and from running rashly and unseasonably into any temporal Suffering and Calamity CHAP. II. What the Time is that ought to be redeemed largely explained Opportunity more than Time 't is Time with an Aptness and Fitness it has for some good The Opportunity to be redeemed is either General or Particular The General is all the Time of our Enjoyment of the glorious Light of the blessed Gospel The Particular Opportunity five-fold 1. The Morning of our Age. The well-redeeming your younger Daies will be most acceptable to God will make you more serviceable to others and prove most profitable to your selves They that redeem the Time of their Youth are likely to redeem their riper Years Instances of those that have redeemed their youthful Daies 2. The Morning of the Week the first Day of every Week Magistrates Ministers People Masters and Servants Poor and Rich should study to redeem this Opportunity and take heed they redeem it not by halves Our Observation of the Lord's Day a good help to the Redeeming of all the six Daies following both as to Temporals and as to Spirituals 3. The Morning of every Day that 's an Opportunity of giving God the first and best of our Time by redeeming the Morning we are likely to redeem the whole Day following 4. The Society and Company of the most Religious and Godly in which we have an happy Occasion both of doing and of receiving good 5. The special Seasons of practising and performing Particular Duties of getting and encreasing acting and exercising Particular Graces must be observed embraced and improved by us II. WHat is the Time that is to be thus redeem'd What is meant here by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Word is sometimes used largely and indifferently to note Time in common which is only the Succession of so many Minutes Hours Daies or Years one after another from the Beginning of a Man's Life to the End thereof So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is all one with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But most properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken in a narrower Sense than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is used to denote not Time simply but [a] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tempus actionis opportunum Graecè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Latâ—nè appellatur Occasio Modestia ut prudentia est scientia opportunitatis idoneorum ad agendum temporum Cic. l. 1. de Ossic Vbique in opportunitate multum est situm plurimum prodest suo rem quamque facere tempore quemadmodum alieno eandem facere saepe etiam nocet Certè vel primum est prudentiae officium vel inter prima occasionem videre non praetermittere Crellius Eth. christ p. 33. Opportunity Time with Advantage Opportunity is the Cream of Time the Flower of Time And in this Sense we must take the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here in the Text not only for the passing away of Hours and sliding away of Minutes for the bare Space and mere Leisure of any thing but for proper Seasons fair Occasions good Hours and fit Opportunities Opportunity is Time with an Aptness and Fitness that it has for some good with a suitableness and serviceableness to our use and Advantage 't is a meeting of Time and means together for the accomplishing of our End and the effecting of any Work or Business Now Opportunity is either General or Particular The General Opportunity to be redeemed The whole Course of our Lives is a General Opportunity of doing and receiving good We are to look upon all our Time which we live under the glorious light of the blessed Gospel as an happy Opportunity of laying out our selves for God and for our own and others Advantage When God continues the Gospel among us when he daily calls us to Faith and Repentance
this present World Thy thinking of Judgment will make thee careful of thy Thoughts because God will judg the Secrets * Rom. 2.16 of Men and †1 Cor. 4.5 manifest the Counsels of the Hearts And render thee watchful over thy Words because of all thy ‖ Jude 15. hard Speeches and of every ‖ Jude 15. idle Word thou must give an account and ‖ Jude 15. by thy Words thou shalt be justified or condemned And will cause thee to be circumspect in all thy Waies and narrowly observant of all thy Actions because Christ vvill come to (†) Ibid. convince Men of all their ungodly Deeds and thou must be judged according to thy Works Didst thou faithfully mind thy self of a future Judgment thou wouldst not be so frothy and foolish in thy Speeches so vain and profane in thy Merriments so deceitful in thy Trade so formal in thy Duties thou wouldst not sottishly sleep or impertinently muse or irreverently talk out Sermons nor mumble and huddle over thy Praiers like so many Ave-Marie's Thou wouldst certainly think and speak and act buy and sell hear and pray carry thy self in thy Dealings with Men and in thy Devotions to God as one that must give an account of thy self to God O think and say at the End and Close of every Day Now I have one Day less to live and one Day more to reckon for It is [g] Apophthegms collected by George Herbert in his Remains reported of Ignatius Loyola that he used to say when he heard a Clock strike There 's one Hour more that I have to answer to God for Such a good Meditation concerning the past Hour would surely quicken thee to spend the following and succeeding Hour much better To conclude this particular Consider thou art to be judged by Christ and surely then thou wilt not be ashamed of him now lest he be ashamed of thee another Day Thou wilt wisely labour for an Interest in him who is to be thy Judg that when the Devil shall accuse thee thou maiest have an Advocate to plead for thee and the Judg himself to befriend thee and to deal according to the Mildness of the Gospel with thee Thou wilt hear and receive his Commands now that thou maiest hereafter hear the Sentence of Absolution from him Thou wilt endeavour so to live that thou maiest look upon the Day of Judgment as the Time of thy Refreshment and maiest * 2 Tim. 4.8 love the appearing of thy Lord and Judg. The eminently holy [h] In his Life written by his Brother Mr. James Janeway p. 95 96. Mr. John Janeway sometime Fellow of King's Colledg in Cambridg had very [i] At about 20 for he died between 23 and 24 and this was his Condition for about 3 Years before he died p. 97 120. early arriv'd and attain'd to such an high pitch and great measure of spiritual Readiness and heavenly Preparedness that when once there was much Talk that one had fore-told that Doom's-Day should be upon such a Day although he blamed the presumptuous Folly of the false Prophet yet supposing it were true What then said he What if the Day of Judgment were come as it will most certainly come shortly If I were sure the Day of Judgment were to begin within an Hour I should be glad with all my heart If at this very instant I should hear such Thundrings and see such Lightnings as Israel did at Mount Sinai I am perswaded my very Heart would leap for joy But this I am confident of through infinite Mercy that the very Meditation of the Day hath even ravished my Soul and the Thought of the Certainty and Nearness of it is more refreshing to me than the Comforts of the whole World Surely nothing can more revive my Spirits than to behold the blessed Jesus the Joy Life and Beauty of my Soul Would it not more rejoyce me than Joseph 's Wagons did old Jacob O let us labour to be like him Let 's love Christ's Laws that we may not dread but love his appearing when he shall come to reckon and call to an account for our Observation or Violation of them Let us love the Appearing and Manifestation of Christ in his Ordinances his Word and Sacraments love the Appearing Enlargement and Encreasing of his spiritual Kingdom in the World love his Appearing in the Hearts and Lives of his most saithful and obedient People love his Appearing in our Houses and Families and his being formed and inthroned in our own Hearts and in the Hearts of our nearest and dearest Friends and Relations and by earnest and ardent Desire even hasten the coming of the Day of God long for the second coming of the Lord Christ when he shall appear without Sin unto Salvation and very heartily pray and say * Rev. 22.17 20. Come Lord Jesus come quickly When wilt thou †Joh. 14.3 come again and receive us unto thy self that where thou art there we may be also Thus I have offer'd to your best Consideration the Certainty and Necessity of a future and final Judgment 2. I come now to lead you to the Meditation of the great Vncertainty as to us of the Time and Season of this Judgment O think with thy self that the Son of Man * Luke 12.40 cometh at an Hour when you think not That Christ saies †Rev. 16.15 Behold I come as a Thief That thou ‖ Mark 13.33 knowest not when the Time is That (*) Mat. 24.42 25.13 thou knowest neither the Day nor the Hour wherein (*) Mat. 24.42 25.13 your Lord (*) Mat. 24.42 25.13 the Son of Man cometh to particular Judgment at the Day of Death or to general Judgment at the End of the World That there are indeed Signs of the Times which shew when it is near which the Faithful are to observe and take notice of to be instructed by and to gather comfort from But that the punctual and precise Time is hid from us And that a considerable Latitude being to be allowed in the Accounts of Time both as to the Beginning and Ending of them we can therefore take no exact Measures nor six directly upon the very Time and Day that God hath set in his own purpose to judg the World in And here 't will be useful to thee to consider that as St. Austin speaks [k] Ideo later ultimus dies ut abserventur omnes dies The last Day is conceal'd and kept secret from thee that all other Daies may be observ'd well-spent and improved by thee and that there may be a due Trial of thy Faith and Patience and Obedience by a Course of holy Living Whereas if thou knewest certainly the just Term of thy Life and how long it would be before thou shouldst be called to be judged thou mightst too probably take Occasion from it to defer and put off thy Conversion and Repentance to a few Daies
that thou wilt be able to deny thy Lust when thou hast greatly provoked and inflamed it by farther gratifying and fulfilling it Dost not thou take a direct course to besot and infatuate thy self and to bring thy self at last to delight in the Remembrance of those beloved Sins which thou shalt not be able to act any longer Thou Fool darest thou venture to break the Commandments of God now and pretend a purpose to keep them hereafter when every breach of God's holy Laws will lessen thy Aw and Reverence of them make thee more unfit and unable to keep them more averse to the Observation of them more ready to contemn them more prone and bold to violate them for the future How lamentably dost thou abuse thy self by encouraging thy self to Sin at present upon hopes of repenting hereafter that is in plain terms in hopes of accusing and condemning thy self of blushing and becoming asham'd and cofounded of being sorely troubled greatly grieved and sorry exceedingly at thy very heart of falling out with thy self at last calling thy self Fool Mad-man Beast and punishing and taking Revenge upon thy self for what thou hast done What a vain Confidence and groundless Expectation is it to think thou shalt easily get rid of thy Sins when they will be much more riveted and radicated and presently recover the Favour of God when thou hast more highly provoked and incensed him with thy aggravated Sins and multiplied Provocations and quickly regain the Motions of God's Spirit when thou hast grieved and driven him away by thy very tedious long Delaies What a false and imaginary Hope is it to look at last to obtain the Pardon of all thy Sins without having respect to God's Commandments in the course of thy Life when God does intend and promise Pardon in order to Holiness and chiefly design it as an Encouragement to chearful faithful sincere Obedience * Ps 130.4 There is Forgiveness with thee that thou maiest be feared saies the Psalmist How unreasonable is it to live in a continual Neglect of thy present necessary indispensable Duty and to expect that God at last should yield to accept [e] See the Gr. Exemp p. 302. the Will for the Deed when the Deed is out of thy own Power meerly through thy own Default What Weakness is it to delight to delay when nothing is to be gotten by it when thou canst not hope that God hereafter will alter his Law change his Covenant accept and save thee upon cheaper Terms and easier Conditions than now he is pleased to propose to thee When God's Will is not likely to alter nor thy own Will more likely by Delay to be wrought to a Compliance with the Divine Will what is the meaning of all thy tarrying Is it prudent to delay thy Duty when thou canst not retard thy Punishment when though thou lingerest and delaiest yet * 2 Pet. 2.3 thy Judgment now of a long time lingreth not thy Damnation slumbreth not Yea what an unaccountable carriage is it by making Delaies to cast thy self into grand Inconveniences to run thy self into such unhappy Circumstances that thou shalt have hereafter a more painful difficult Work to do than ever less time to do it in less strength within and smaller aids and helps from without from Heaven above to do it with and shalt meet with more hindrances and obstructions in the doing of it from the Devil the World and thy own Corruptions What an absurdity is it to multiply Delaies and [f] Victuros agimus semper nec vivimus unquam Cras hoc siet Idem eras fiet Quid quasi magnum Nempo diem donas sed cùm lux altera venit Jam cras hesternum consumsimus ecce aliud cras Egerit hos annos semper paulùm erit ultra Pers sat 5. v. 66. never to make any end of them to find no leisure in all thy Life to live well to lengthen out and let thy morrow grow till it reach the years of [g] Dic mihi cras istud Postume quando venit Jam cras istud habet Priami vel Nestoris annos Martial l. 5. epigr. 58 Vide l. 2. epigr. 64. Priamus or Nestor and if it were possible the full Age of Methuselah St. Austin confesses and condemns his former lingring dilatory Temper [h] Non erat omnino quod responderem veritate convictus nisi taniùm verba lenta somnclenta Modò ecce modò sine paululum sed modò modò non habebant modum Aug. Confess l. 8. c 5. I was clearly convinc'd by the Truth saies he and had nothing to answer but only lazy and sleepy Words another time shortly a while hence let me alone but a little longer But my Delaies were endless and infinite and would keep and observe no measures or limits I prayed in this manner to thee saies he [i] Da mihi castitatem continentiam sed noli modò timebam Lord give me the gift of Chastity and Continence But I said in my heart pray do not give it yet to me for I was afraid lest thou shouldst hear me too quickly and heal me too soon c. And at last he reasoned himself out of this unreasonable Humour in this manner How long how long shall I put it off till to morrow and next day Why not now Why should not this very Hour put an end to my lewd and loose Life What unhappy Folly is it tp delay the Time of thy Youth and so to lose the [k] See p. 22. Flower of thy Age What a Reproach and Disparagement to thy Judgment and Understanding that when thou art come to years of Maturity arriv'd to thy Middle Age thou shouldst shew thy self so inconsiderate and indiscreet as still to delay and not to use thy Reason and Judgment aright What a farther and higher degree of Folly is it to defer the Redemption of thy Time till [l] Our seeking all Summer withered and dry and beginning to shoot out a little about Michaelmass spring of which kind of shooting fruit can never come Bp. Andrew's Serm pag. 174. Old Age The Stoick will tell thee [m] Sera parsimonia in fundo est Non enim tantùm minimum in tino sed pessimum remanet Sen. ep 1. Non pisdet te reliquias vitae tibi reser vare id solum tempus bonae menti destinare quod in nullaem rem conferri possit Quam serum est tunc vtvere incipare cùn desinendum est quae tam stulta mortalitatis oblsvio in qumquagesimum sexagesimum annum differre sana consilia inde velle vitam inchoare qu◠panci perduxerunt id de brev vit c. 4. Quidam vivere tunc incipiunt cunt desinendum est Quidam antè vivere desecerunt quà n inciperent Idem epist 23. in fine 'T is late to spare when thou comest to the Bottom for it is not only the least but the very worst that is
thee that they did not imitate and take after thee If thou dost not sincerely repent and faithfully endeavour to the utmost of thy power to reclaim those who by thy means have become vicious thou shalt at last be sorely punish'd not only for those that have miscarried but for all those that might have miscarried as if they had indeed miscarried through thy ill Example because if God had left them thy ill Example was enough to make them miscarry for ever 7. And lastly Remember and consider every day of your Lives what are the true and proper ends of Life Think and conclude that you were not sent into this World to eat and drink to lie down to sleep and rise up to play Be asham'd to come short of meer Heathens Blush to read what Cato in Cicero says of himself (w) Nemo adhuc convenire me valuit quin fuerim occupatus Cic. in Cat. Maj. seu de sen No body could ever yet find me idle and unimployed With Curius Dentatus that noble and worthy Roman count it (x) Se malle mortuum esse quà m non vivere more eligible to be dead indeed and not to live at all than to be dull and dronish idle and unactive useless and unprofitable in the World Reckon with your selves that (y) Herb Poems Employment p. 71. Life is a business not good cheer That your work and business in this World is not to labour for the Meat which perisheth to seek and study to satisfy a delicate wanton luxurious Appetite and to take your fill of carnal sensual corporeal Pleasure to * Mat. 6.19 Luke 12.21 lay up for your selves Treasures upon Earth to †Job 27.16 Zech. 9.3 heap up Silver as the Dust and prepare Raiment as the Clay to acquire secular Grandeur and Honour Laborare in titulum Sepulchri as (z) Sen. de brev vit c. 19. in fine Quidam disponunt etiam illa qua ultra vitam sunt moles magnas sepulchrorum operum publicorum dedicationes ad rogum munera ambitiosas exequias At mehercule istorum funera tanquam minimum vixetint ad facis ad cereos ducenda sunt Id. ib. c. 20. in fine Seneca speaks to take unwearied pains for a pompous ambitious Funeral an honourable Inscription upon your Monument a swelling Title upon your Tomb-stone but to store your selves with such good things as will bear you company beyond the Grave enrich and ennoble you and render you worthy and honourable for ever in another World Give all Diligence to be vertuous and gracious to get (a) Absoluta libertas est in scipsum habere maximam potestatem Inastimabile bonum est suum fieri Sen. ep 75. great power over your selves and to become your own Men which the fore-cited Moralist tells you is absolute Liberty and an inestimable Good To govern your selves and to inspect and do good to others To lay out your selves for God to * Mat. 6.20 lay up durable Treasures in Heaven to gain and obtain the Praise of God to †Phil 3.14 press toward the Mark for the Prize of the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus ‖ 1 Cor. 9.24 25. So to run that you may obtain an incorruptible Crown and have * 2 Pet. 1 11. an entrance ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I have written a long yet I hope not tedious Epistle to you It is large from an * 3 Cor. 6.11 Heart enlarged toward you I will detain you no longer from the Treatise it self to which you will find many Quotations annexed Let none condemn them before they have read them It may be then you will judg them pertinent pregnant pleasant I desire you to accept of these seasonable Fruits of my Ministerial Labours among you as a Token and Testimony of my cordial Love and unfained Affection to your Souls It remains that you think and consider well with your selves that when the most important Truths are not only deliver'd in Publick and spoken in your Ears but brought home to your Houses put into your Hands and presented to your Eyes how you can escape if you will not lay them to your Hearts but neglect and reject such means and helps of your Instruction and Salvation O read and consider them and lay your Consciences closer than your Eyes to them If they prevail not to reform and amend your Lives and Manners they will come in and witness against you and heavily condemn you another Day Now that the only wise and good God who put it into my Heart to undertake this Work and assisted me in it to the End of it for though * 1 Cor. 15.10 I laboured yet not I but the Grace of God which was with me would graciously vouchsafe to guide and direct your Minds and Hearts into the Knowledge Belief Consideration Love and (c) Non est beatus qui scit illa sed qui facit Sen. ep 75. Practice of the great and weighty Truths contained in it and would effectually bless and prosper it and all other serious profitable Discourses that have been already in somewhat more than 20 Years of my Ministry among you or shall hereafter by me or others be further made unto you to the spiritual Edification and eternal Salvation of your Souls is the earnest Desire and hearty daily importunate Prayer of Dear Friends Your Servant in the Work Of the Ministry For Jesus sake JOHN WADE THE CONTENTS Of the several CHAPTERS in the following Treatise CHAP. I. THe Coherence of the Words The Text divided The Doctrine propounded pag. 2. The Method laid down for the clearing and opening of it What it is to redeem the Time the Phrase in the Text may signify these four Things 1. To buy back the Time that is past In what sence that may be done p. 3. 2. To buy up the Time that is present that is to forgo or part with any thing for it and to make it our own and use it for our spiritual and eternal Advantage p. 5. 3. Not only to buy it up but to buy it out to get it out of the hands of the Devil and the World and the distracting Cares and tempting Pleasures of it p. 10. 4. To use all Wariness and Wisdom of Behaviour to secure our selves from Snares and to preserves our selves from spiritual Dangers and from running rashly and unseasonably into any temporal Suffering and Calamity CHAP. II. What the Time is that ought to be redeemed largely explained Opportunity more than Time 't is Time with an Aptness and Fitness it has for some good The Opportunity to be redeemed is either General or Particular p. 14. The General is all the Time of our Enjoyment of the glorious Light of the blessed Gospel p. 15. The Particular Opportunity five-fold 1. The Morning of our Age. p. 22. The well-redeeming your younger Daies will be most acceptable
to God p. 24. will make you more serviceable to others and prove most profitable to your selves p. 26. They that redeem the Time of their Youth are likely to redeem their riper Years p. 27. Instances of those that have redeemed their youthful Daies p. 28. 2. The Morning of the Week the first Day of every Week p. 32. Magistrates p. 47. Ministers p. 48. People p. 49. Masters p. 50. and Servants p. 52. Poor and Rich p. 54. should study to redeem this Opportunity and take heed they redeem it not by halves p. 55. Our Observation of the Lord's-Day a good help to the Redeeming of all the six Daies following both as to Temporals and as to Spirituals p. 66. and a means to prepare us to keep an eternal Sabbath in Heaven p. 68. Carefully redeem the Lord's-Day and every Day after shew in thy Life that thou hast redeem'd it p. 72. 3. The Morning of every Day p. 73. That is an Opportunity of giving God the first and best of our Time p. 74. By redeeming the Morning we are likely to redeem the whole Day following p. 76. 4. The Society and Company of the most Religious and Godly in which we have an happy Occasion both of doing and of receiving good p. 78. 5. The special Seasons of practising and performing Particular Duties of getting and encreasing acting and exercising Particular Graces must be observed embraced and improved by us p. 79. CHAP. III. The Grounds and Reasons why we ougth to redeem the Time The special Reason laid down in the Text because the Daies are evil p. 83. What to be understood by evil Daies Daies are said to be evil not inherently but adherently or concomitantly by reason of any sinful or penal Evil that befalleth in them The Evil of the Day is either General or Special General the Shortness and Trouble which does accompany the Time of this Life p. 84. The Particular Evil of the Day is when any special Evil takes place in such a Time The particular Evil of the Apostles Times threefold It stood 1. in dangerous Errours and false Doctrines p. 85. 2. In the vicious and wicked Lives of scandalous Professors of the Gospel p. 94. 3. In sharp and hot Persecutions p. 109. How far these several Evils are to be found in these our Daies p. 86 95 123. Our redeeming of the Time and endeavouring to grow better our selves is the ready way and only means to make the Evil Daies better p. 108. CHAP. IV. Six other Reasons added to that in the Text. We ought to redeem the Time 1. Because our Time is afforded us by God to this very End and Purpose p. 128. 2. Because we have all of us lost much Time already p. 137. 3. Because the Time that remains is very short and uncertain and our Special Opportunities far shorter and more uncertain and the Work we have to do very great p. 141. 4. Because we can neither bring Time back when once it is past unimproved nor any way prolong and lengthen out the Daies of our Lives when Death comes to put an End and Period to them p. 158. 5. Because we shall all be certainly called to an Account for our Time p. 161. 6. Because this Time is all we can redeem and upon this short Moment of Time depends long Eternity p. 165. CHAP. V. The Vse and Application of the Doctrine Ought we to redeem the Time Then 1. Let not the Men of the World think strange that serious and conscientious Christians do not lose their Time as desperately as they do Good Men know the Worth of Time and understand the great Consequences and weighty Concernments of well or ill husbanding of it p. 171. Vse 2. Let us all examine our selves and see whether we have redeem'd our Time or no bewail and bemoan our Loss of Time p. 172. Vse 3. A seasonable sharp Reproof of several Persons who are grosly guilty of misspending their Time 1. A Reproof of those that misspend their Time in Idleness and Lasiness p. 179. Idleness a Sin against our Creation p. 180. against our Redemption p. 182. against our Bodies and Souls against our Neighbour p. 283. and an Inlet to many other Sins p. 186. 2. Such Persons are justly censurable who misspend their Time in excessive Sleep and Drousiness which wastes not only much of our Time but the best of our Time too p. 190. Immoderate sleeping naught on any Day but worst of all upon the Lord's-Day p. 191. 3. Many misspend their Time in impertinent Employments p. 192. 4. Many lose much precious Time in vain Thoughts p. 194. 5. In vain Speeches p. 195. 6. In vain Pleasures p. 205. In Curiosity about Dressing and Trimming the Body p. 206. In making dainty Provision for the Belly p. 207. In using unlawful p. 210. or abusing lawful Recreations either using them unseasonably or else immoderately p. 211. 7. In excessive immoderate worldly Cares p. 219. 8. Some Persons are to be reproved for misspending their Time in Duties 1. By performing them unseasonably p. 224. 2. By doing them formally p. 226. Time lost in Duties by unseasonable Performance two Waies 1. When one Duty thrusts and justles out another and so the Duty is mistimed p. 224. 2. When Duty is perform'd at such a Time when we are most unfit for it p. 225. CHAP. VI. The fourth and last Vse is of Exhortation p. 229. to Magistrates Ministers p. 230. the People in general p. 231. Six quickening Motives to press the Duty of Redemption of Time 1. Consider how notably Jesus Christ redeem'd the Time when he was here in the World 1. He redeemed the Time to save us p. 232. 2. He redeem'd the Time to be an Example to us p. 233. 2. Consider further that as Christ did once redeem the Time to save us So the Devil does daily redeem the Time to destroy us p. 236. 3. Consider how very notably many of the Saints and Servants of God have improved and redeemed their Time p. 241. 4. Consider that it is an Act of Spiritual Wisdom to redeem the Time p. 252. and meer Madness and gross Folly not to redeem the Time p. 253. 5. Consider that if now thou losest and squanderest away thy Time thou wilt at last be forced thy self to condemn thy foolish Negligence and to justify the Care and Diligence of others that were wiser for their own Souls than thy self p. 257. 6. Consider that do what we can to redeem our Time we shall never repent at last of any Care we have had to redeem it but shall certainly blame and find fault with our selves for being so careless of our Time so negligent of good Opportunities as we have been p. 259. Serious considerative Christians do blame themselves for their Loss of Time even in their Life-time p. 260. But they are especially sensible of it and exceedingly ashamed of themselves for it at their Death p. 262. CHAP. VII Direction 1. If ever we would redeem
and eminently holy Mr. Joseph Allein that when but a School-Boy he was observed to be so studious that he was known as much by this Periphrasis the Lad that will not [p] Bibentibus colludentibus aliis ipse sumto libro iâ— sylvulam vicinam sese proripuit tantisper in illa vel ad legendum considens vâ—l ad meditandum deambulans donec ipsum hora coenae domum revocaret Melch. Adam in vit Musculi p. 369. Bishop Andrews from his first going to Merchant-Taylor's School accounted all that Time lost that he spent not in his Studies He studied so hard when others plaied that if his Parents and Masters had not forced him to play with them also all the Play had been marr'd His late studying by Candle and early rising at four in the Morning procured him Envy among his equals yea with the Ushers also because he called them up too soon The Serm preached at the Fun. of Bp. Andrews p. 17. play as by his Name And when in the University he so demeaned and carried himself that he deserved to be called the Scholar who by his good Will would do nothing else but pray and study Yea so early as about the eleventh Year of his Age he was noted to be very diligent in private Praier and so fixed in that Duty that he would not be disturbed or moved by the coming of any Person accidentally into the Places of his Retirement And 't is remarkable what is storied [q] Mr. James Janeway's token for Children p 30 35. of a young Child who died about five or six Years old that he would so beg and expostulate and weep in Praier that sometimes it could not be kept from the Ears of Neighbours so that one of the next House was forced to cry out The Praiers and Tears of that Child in the next House will sink me to Hell because the forward Piety and Devotion of the Child did reprove and condemn his neglect of Praier or his slight Performance of it And to what a Degree of good Understanding and holy Affection had [r] Mr. White 's little Book for little Children p. 106 107. that child of Mr. Owen the Minister arrived who was but about fourteen Years old when he died and in his Life time would often write very serious Godly Letters to his Brother which shewed his great Piety and happy improvement And how savourily and spiritually he exerCised himself in Meditation notably appear in this Instance that though he much delighted in young Lambs yet one Day his Mother bringing a Lamb newly fallen of an Ewe of his and shewing a little Displeasure that he should take no more notice of her bringing it to him He told her that as he saw the Lamb in her Arms he was thinking of the Lamb of God how he presented him to the Father and that the Lamb his Mother brought him was but a poor thing for him to rejoice in for he had far higher Matters for his Joy Some young ones have redeemed the Time of their Youth O do you so too Be able to say upon better Grounds than the young Man in the Gospel that all God's Commands you have kept from your Youth up The Time of Youth is a special Season of doing and receiving good That 's the first The second Particular Opportunity to be redeemed 2. As the Mâ—rning of our Age so the Morning of the Week the first Day of the Week is a special Time to be redeem'd Let this Day be religiously observed by us which was applied and consecrated separated and appropriated to sacred Uses and holy Offices by the blessed Apostles who were either commanded by Christ to do it when for forty Daies after his Resurrection he instructed the Apostles and * Acts i. 3. spake to them of the Things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Or having received the holy Ghost Christ's Agent or Advocate promised and sent to inspire their Minds to teach and shew them how to manage Affairs and order Matters relating to the Church were extraordinarily guided and divinely directed by the Spirit of Christ in this weighty Business of the Surrogation and Substitution of the first Day in the place of the Jewish seventh Day Sabbath which was partly a Ceremonial Rest and was joined with the Ceremonial Law [a] Lawson's Theo-Polit p. 182 183. the Services and Rites whereof were to be observed in the Tabernacle and Temple upon this Day and was a distinguishing Sign and Part of that Partition-wall whereby the Jews were separated from the Gentiles and was therefore fit to be now removed and laid aside And were moreover plainly lead to it by the Providence of God which imprinted and put a most not able Character and signal Honour on this Day and made it more excellent than any other by Christ's Resurrection and Apparitions and the Spirit 's Mission upon it which were a remarkable pointing and special singling out of this Time and a clear Intimation that this very Day should be publickly kept and universally observed in perpetual Honour of the Lord Christ [b] Words that have their Termination in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signify actively As the Sacrament is called * 1 Cor. 11.20 23 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord's Supper not only because it is kept in Remembrance of the Lord's Death till his coming again but because it was instituted by the Lord himself So the first Day of the week is expresly stiled †Rev. i. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord's Day not only because it is observed by the Church in Memory of the Resurrection of the Lord Christ but because it was appointed by the Lord Christ because he was the Author and Ordainer of it either immediatly by himself or mediatly by his Apostles And we cannot imagine that there shall ever occur a sufficient Reason for the [c] VVho that is well instructed would endure to hear of a Pope Sy vester that durst presume to alter the Day decreeing that Thouâ—dâ—y thould be kept for the Lord's Day through the whole Year because on that Day Christ ascended into Heaven and on that Day instituted the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood Bp. Huâ—â— Peace-maker p. 198. ex Hospinian de festis Christ Alteration of this to any other Day for we can never look to receive a richer Benefit in this World than Redemption by Christ who rose from the Dead and Sanctification by the Spirit sent down from Heaven on this very Day We can never have greater Blessings to remember on another Day and therefore the Sanctification of this Day must be perpetuated to the End of the World On this Day especially the Apostles performed those Offices which are most proper and most agreeable to a Sabbath-Day * Acts 20.7 There was a Convention and Congregation of the Disciples on the first Day of the Week to break Bread and St. Paul preacht to them the same Day And
People are obliged to a strict observation of the Lord's-day The Gentry in comparison rest all the Week long their Cheeks are not moistened with Sweat their Hands are not hardened with hard Labour they are not tired and wearied out with pains-taking They who take their Pleasure and recreate themselves every Day in the Week have nothing to plead for Recreations on the Lord's-day Though for my own part I should be far from indulging a Liberty to any to take such Recreations as hinder the Devotions due to any part of the Lord's-day and are Impediments to the Sanctification of it aright Let all industriously redeem the Lord's-day And take we heed we redeem it not by halves but let 's religiously observe and covetously redeem the whole Lord's-day We are bound in justice to God to do it because God has set a Day not a Piece of a Day apart for himself and requires this Portion and Tribute of Time to be paied to him who has graciously given us all our Time We should be as much yea more afraid to steal God's Time than Mens Goods Do not only observe the former Part of the Day repairing to the Church or Chappel in the Morning but commonly and customarily absenting your selves and growing quite weary of any such Duty in the After-noon for God has allotted and appointed a seventh Part of our Time for his own Worship and Service but if you keep only one half of the Lord's-day you give God but a fourteenth Part of your Time Nay of one Day in seven I fear too many spare him no more than that Time only which their Morning-Attendance takes up in publick on the Lord's-day And here I appeal to their own Reason whether it be a meet and fit Thing that rational Persons created by God and redeemed by his Son should afford to the Worship and Service of God and Christ and the great concerns of their immortal Souls but two Hours at most of the whole Lord's-day and it may be no more of the whole Week and shall spend those Hours in a formal customary cold and heartless Worship of an infinitely holy and just Deity the tremendous impartial Judg of Angels and Men. Grudg not to give God one whole Day in seven who largely and liberally grants and allows six whole Daies in seven to you and who designs a greater Benefit and Advantage to you by your Observation of this one Day than possibly can accrue to you by the carefullest and painfullest worldly Improvement of all the rest O believe and consider that the taking out of this one Day and setting it apart for such an excellent Service and high Employment as you are called to in it is certainly the greatest Gift of all How can you be loth to spend one Day in seven in Familiarity with Heaven in communion with your Maker and Fellowship with your Saviour Let us all call the Christian Sabbath the Lord's-day a Delight take as much Contentment and Satisfaction in doing on this Day the Exercises of Religion as Men usually take in doing the Works of their ordinary Calling take as much Pleasure in God's Service as others take in Sin and Vanity Let us spend the Lord's-day as becomes those who profess that they love God better and delight in him more than in any Thing in the World Spend it as they that are glad of so honourable and profitable and pleasurable an Employment as the publick and private Worshiping of God Let us go to the House of God with Joy Let the Church on the lord's-Lord's-day be a Banquetting-house and not a Prison to us Do but bring your selves to spend the lord's-Lord's-day with Delight and then you will keep it to the End of it The Jews were bound to keep a whole Day holy in a grateful Memory of the lesser Benefits of the Creation and their Deliverance out of Aegypt And shall not we solemnly observe the whole Lord's-day in a thankful Remembrance of greater Blessings not only of the Goodness of God in our Creation but of his Grace and Mercy in our Redemption and Deliverance from Hell and Death eternal We have greater Engagements to do it than they not only greater Motives but greater [a] See Mr. Cawdrey's Sabbathum redivivum p. 563 564. Means too We have greater Variety of publick Exercises on the Lord's-day than they had on their Sabbath We have more Scripture to reade in private than they had We have the Old and New Testament many Expositors upon them many good Practical Theological Tractates written We have more Knowledg afforded us than they had more Grace offer'd us to do the Duties incumbent on us Now we that have more Means and Helps how can we offer to put God off with less Duty and smaller Service and shorter Performance Nay the very Heathens guided by the Light of Nature held it reasonable that the Daies consecrated to their Gods should be devoutly and totally observed with Rest and Sanctity [b] Saturn l. 1. c. 7. Macrobius tells us that on their holy Daies the People came together to spend the whole Day in learning Fables to be conferred upon and will you that call your selves Christians refuse to come together on the Lord's-day to spend one Hour in the Morning another in the After-noon in learning the Mysteries of the Gospel and in receiving saving Instructions out of the Word of God You that give your Bodies two Meals every Day will you feed your Souls but once on the Lord's-day Give me leave to deal with you in the winning Words of that sweet Singer of our Israel Speaking of the Lord's-day saies he [a] Church-porch p. 14. Twice on the Day his due in understood For all the Week thy Food so oft he gave thee Thy cheer is mended bate not of the Food Because 't is better and perhaps may save thee Thwart not th' Almighty God O be not cross Fast when thou wilt but then 't is gain not loss Consider that your own and your Families spiritual Necessities do require and call for a most strict Observation of the whole Lord's-day and a faithful Improvement of all the Helps and Advantages of it The Works of your Callings and your worldly Occasions and Employments do in a manner take up six Daies of the Week and you have but one whole Day in seven to provide for the Needs of your immortal Souls Now the Necessities of your Souls are far greater than those of your Bodies your spiritual eternal Estate is of nearer and higher Concern than your outward and temporal Estate And will you not labour then to improve every Hour and endeavour to redeem every Minute of this one Day Do but seriously think with your selves how much work you have to do in this one Day and then tell me whether in reason and Prudence you can spare any Part of it yea or no. What have you to do for God for your selves What for your Families for your Children and Servants How
their publick prophane Plaies and often uttering very false and proud and hard Words against them And according as they meet with Occasion and find any Opportunity how do they persecute with the Hand * Mich 7.3 Do evil with both Hands earnestly How ready are their Hearts to rise against them and their Hands to be lifted up to strike at them and to pull them down to the very Ground that so they may be trampled upon and troden under Foot Yea how do they persecute them by their Lives continually vexing their pious Souls with their unlawful Deeds grieving and wounding paining and piercing their very Hearts The wilful Wickedness of the bold and daring Sinners of the Times in their open dishonouring God and Religion is a cruel Torment to serious Souls and makes their Lives a wearisome pressing Burthen to them They that live godly do suffer daily the sad Persecution of wicked Mens offensive afflictive Lives and Manners What a Persecution is this to force good Men to cry out with David †Psal 120.5 Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar to cause ‖ Psal 119.136 Rivers of Waters to run down their Eyes as they did from David's because Men keep not God's Law Now since we live in such evil Daies in which there is such inveterate Enmity against the Practise of Piety and such a b Omne tempus Clodios non omne Catones feret Seneca Ep. 97. malignant persecuting Spirit reigning and raging in the Breasts of the Wicked against the Good let us keep a (*) Amos 5.13 prudent Silence in an evil Time Let us take care that we do not unnecessarily [c] Quia dies mali sunt h. e. quia periculosa sunt tempora bonis adversa ut cauè hî sit agendum ne crabrones quod dicitur urites Crellii Ethica Christiana pag. 32. provoke and exasperate them for we know not what their Malice may grow to nor give them any just Occasion of furious vexatious Opposition Let us see that we do not * 1 Pet. 4.15 suffer as Evil-doers from them nor as rash and heady imprudent and unwary Persons In evil Daies Evil will come soon enough upon us and we have no reason to accelerate and hasten our own Suffering Let 's labour therrfore by all discreet and wise direct and innocent Means to keep our selves out of their Hands to prevent their taking Advantage against us and endeavour to solace our selves in God and to preserve the Comforts of a good Conscience To be patient under and to glory in our Sufferings from them To consider with our selves that it is far better to be troubled by the Wicked than to be Troublers of the Good and to be thankful and joyful that we are not guilty of their Wickedness nor deserve such Usages at their Hands And let us study and endeavour to render †Rom. 12.17 21. 1 Thess 5.15 not Evil for Evil but still to return good for evil to the very Worst and Wickedest of them And whatever Measure we receive from them let us not be disheartned and discouraged and dish'd out of Countenance by them nor suffer our selves to give Way to their Wickedness to be wearied out of our Holiness to be laughed and jeered and sconed out of our Religion but let 's run the Race that is set before us though all the Dogs in the Street bark at us Let us with Zeal and Courage bear up against them and bear Witness against them and if we cannot win and gain them at least shame and silence them judg and condemn them by an holy unblameable exemplary Life as Noah * Eeb. 11.7 condemned the Old World Like Stars let us appear most clear and bright in the sharpest and coldest Night And let the Vexation we meet with from the Wicked here drive us the oftner to God to make our Complaint and Moan to him and cause us to long the more earnestly for Heaven where we shall be for ever out of the Reach of Satan and all his Instruments and out of all Danger of any Enemy Persecutor or bad Neighbour And so we have fully considered the Reason in the Text the Force of which even as to our selves lies plainly thus The Daies are such wherein yeare in Danger of Infection by the wicked Errours and damnable Heresies of the Times In Danger of Corruption by the common Sins and reigning Vices of the Times and in Danger of Persecution by the injurious Carriages and grievous wicked Lives of the profligate and desperate Sinners of the Times and therefore redeem the Time because the Daies are evil in these respects These various Evils must not make us give place to Unfruitfulness but make us much more careful and watchful to take every good Occasion [d] See Mr. Bayne on the Text. If an Harvest-Day be cloudy and windy or prove catching Weather as well call it Men will not therefore keep in but work more diligently and warily Good Opportunities in evil Times are [e] Qusa dies mali sunt hoc est quia tempus ab hominibus plerumque malis rebus transigitur it aut nonfacile sese opportunitas offerat eos arguends officii commonefaciendi Crell Eth. Christ p. 31. few and scare The more rare these Commodities grow the more we should engross them And as some kinds of good Opportunities are hard to come by so not like to abide and continue long with us in evil Times and therefore while the Occasion lasteth we should strive to make the utmost Advantage and Improvement of it CHAP. IV. Six other Reasons added to that in the Text. We ought to redeem the Time 1. Because our Time is afforded us by God to this very End and Purpose 2. Because we have all of us lost much Time already 3. Because the Time that remains is very short and uncertain and our Special Opportunities far shorter and more uncertain and the Work we have to do very great 4. Because we can neither bring Time back when once it is past unimproved nor any way prolong and lengthen out the Daies of our Lives when Death comes to put an End and Period to them 5. Because we shall all be certainly called to an Account for our Time 6. Because this Time is all we can redeem and upon this short Moment of Time depends long Eternity BUt besides the Reason in the Text I shall farther shew you that we ought to redeem the Time upon a six-fold Account The first Additional Reason We must redeem the Time because our Time is afforded us by God to this very End and Purpose that we should improve and apply it to rational and religious Vses [a] Ego non quaeram quae sint initia universorum quis rerum formator quis sit artisex hujus munde quâ ratione tanta magnitudo in legem ordinem venerit unde lux tanta fundatur Ego nesciam
good Hope and a setled well-grounded Peace of Conscience To learn to be careful for nothing with an anxious distrustful distracting * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 4.6 dividing Care but in every Estate and Condition of Life to be humbly and cheerfully content To improve and stir up the several Graces of God in us By God's Assistance to bring our selves to maintain a daily holy Communion with God and a constant Conversation in Heaven to prepare aright for Death and Judgment to arrive to a Weanedness from this present World to a Desire to depart and be with Chrit and to a Love of the appearing and an earnest longing for the second Coming of the Lord Jesus This hard Task and weighty Work will require all our Labour and even take up every Hour Let 's therefore vigorously redeem the Time and industriously put it to this Vse and diligently employ it to this Purpose and daily say the Prayer of Moses †Psal 90.12 So teach us to number our Daies that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom Let 's lose none of our little Time upon unfruitful unprofitable Things till we have no more worthy and weighty Things to spend it in and till we have Time to spare from more momentous important Work But let 's lay out our Time in those necessary Works which will comfort us most when we come to die The Work that lies before us is great let 's therefore redeem the whole of our remaining Time redeem it perfectly as far as in us lies and redeem it constantly to the very last and not purposely make the good Improvement of one Day an Argumeat of mis-spending and trifling away the next but lay out every Day with Labour and Diligence in so very great and good a Work If we intend to redeem the Time we must continue in well-doing Now a natural Cessation of the Act is not a moral Discontinuance But only our Omission of any necessary Act Or our Doing a clean contrary Act This is that which we must take Care we do not become guilty of [x] Nan exiguum temporis habemus sed multum perdimus Satis long a vita in maximarum rerum consummationem largè data est si tota bene collocaretur Non accepimus brevem vitam sed fecimus nec inopes ejus sed prodigi sumus Sicut amplae regiae opes ubi ad malum dominum pervenerunt momento dissipantur at quam vis modica si bono custodi traditae sunt usu crescunt Ita aetas nestra bene disponenti multum patet Quid de rerum natura querimur illa se benignè gessit Vita si scias uts longa est Sen. de brevitate vitae cap. 1 2. We have no reason here to accuse and cast any Blame upon God for giving so little Time to us and expecting so great and weighty a Work from us for though our Time be short of it self and we have no spare Time to throw away in vain Pleasures or unnecessary Employments Yet blessed be God the Time he gives us is large and long enough to serve all rational spiritual Ends of Life to do all our necessary Work and real Business in by the Help of God and in the Strength of Christ We have in the Daies of our Lives Space enough given us for Repentance Time sufficient to dispatch the one Thing necessary to work out our Salvation to prepare for Eternity And for our Comfort and Encouragement if we be not grosly wanting to our selves we may probably yet perform whatever is indispensably requir'd of us in the Time that is continued and lengthned out to us if we take up presently and lose and squander away no more of it Life is long enough says Seneca and let me add the Resdidue of thy Life may provelong enough if thou knowest but how to spend it well And therefore be so pradent and provident as to use and improve that little which if the Fault be not thy own may happily serve to do thy main Business to save thy Soul from perishing everlastingly and from miscarrying to all Eternity The fourth Additional Reason We should redeem the Time while we enjoy it because we can neither bring Time back when once it is past unimprov'd nor any way prolong and lengthen out the Daies of our Lives when Death comes to put an End and Period to them 1. We should redeem the Time while we have it because we can never recall and retrieve the Time of this Life if once we lose and let it slip unimproved We can never live one Day of our Lives over again No Man will restore thy Time says [y] Nemo restituet annos nemo iterum te tibi redder Sen. d◠brev vit c. 8. Seneca or return thy lost Opportunities to thee and make thee Master once more of those Advantages which heretofore thou hadst in thy Hands If we would give the Fruit of our Bodies for the Redemption of our Time we can never purchase it into our Hands again It is reported to have been the Speech of Prince Henry upon his Death-bed to a certain Lord Ah Tom I now too late wish for those Hours we have spent in vain Recreations That of him in the Poet was a very groundless and fruitless Desire O mihi praeteritos referat si Jupiter annos [z] Bp. Reynold's Treat of the Pass Oh that Jove would me restore The Years that I have liv'd before When our Time is just at an End and we can hardly draw our Breath 't will be a lamentable desperate Case for us then to cry out with that poor distressed afflicted [a] Mrs. Pindar a Book-feller's Wife in Cambridg Woman in Cambridg Call Time again call Time again a Thing impossible to be effected by any Cares or Endeavours Prayers or Tears Money or Price The Time of Life once lost is irrecoverable and unredeemable And the sad Apprehension of the irreparable Loss of Time will one Day prove an intolerable Torment to too late considering and awakened Souls Let 's therefore use that Time well which there can be no Revocation of 2. As we cannot recover the Time that is past so we cannot make any Supplement or Addition of new and longer Time to the Daies of our Lives when once Death comes to put a Finis to them As we cannot add one Cubit to our Stature So we cannot add one Moment to the Measure and Number of our Daies [b] Hom. sz in Euang. in verba Vigilate itaque quia neseitis diem neque hordm St. Gregory in a certain Homily tells us a sad Story of one Chrisaurius a Nobleman but a had Liver as full of Wickedness as Wealth who at last was struck with Sickness and the same Hour that he was going out of the World he seem'd to see a Company of foul and black Spirits standing before him and coming to drag him to the Infernal Pit He began to tremble to
be raised good Estates in the World is not that of the same excellent Philosopher too true concerning too many of us [d] Adhuc non pueritia in nobis sed quod est gravius puerilitas remanet hoc qui lem pejus est quòd authoritatem habemus senum vitia putrorum Id. ep 4. Not Childhood but which is more grievous Childishness remains and continues still with us And truly this is yet worse says he that we have the Authority of old Men and the Vices of very Boies If as Alexander counted his Life by Victories not by Daies or Years So we should reckon our several Lives by our spiritual Victories and good Works and our answering the Ends the true Ends and proper Purposes of Life which is the justest Account and the rightest Reckoning of our Living Should not the most of us find that we have liv'd but a few Daies but a few Hours yea that many have hardly liv'd at all have scarcely as yet begun to live that little or nothing has been done that is truly worthy of a Man or Christian Have not we been wretched Scatter-Hours and desperate Prodigals of our precious Time We have some of us lived a great while in the World but the question is Whether yet we have learn'd to know God and Christ and to know our Selves to be just and honest to be modest and chast to be sober and temperate to deny a strong unruly Appetite to refuse a superfluous Morsel of Meat a forbidden intemperate Cup of Drink Have we learn'd in the many Years of our Lives to master and moderate one Passion to subdue and mortify [e] Raro unum vitium perfectè vincimus ad quotidianum profectnm non accendimur A Kempis l. 1. c. 11. n. 2. one Lust to break off one evil Custom to root out one vicious Habit to answer one Objection to resist one Assault to defeat one Art of the Devil Who of us have been careful all this while to run our Race to trim our Lamps and to dress up our Souls for a blessed Etetnity Did not we spend our Youth in Vanity Which of us was so forward in good as to shun and flie youthful Lusts To how few of us can it be said as * 2 Tim. 3.15 St. Paul said to Timothy that from a Child thou hast known the holy Scriptures Tell me how have many of you desperately omitted and lamentably neglected the Reading of the Scriptures all your Life long which alone are able to store your Mind with divine Knowledg and to make you wise unto Salvation What Numbers are there who know but little what is contained in the Scripture any otherwise than as they hear a Chapter now and then read in the Church and God knows too too many give but little heed to it and so are but little the better for it then neither How few among us who have liv'd long under the Enjoyment of the Means of Grace are yet so well acquainted with divine Things and so well versed and exercised in Religion as to be able to put up a pertinent Praier and to commend their own or another's Case and Condition to God as Occasion does require How many Lord's-Daies have we profan'd How many Sermons have we wilfully missed How many good Opportunities have we negligently lost How careless have we been of our own spiritual Good How regardless of the eternal Welfare of those who belong to us How ignorant are many of our selves of the Things of God and of the Duties of Religion How far not only from doing but from understanding our spiritual Business who had we taken Pains might now have been very knowing Christians How ignorant through our gross Neglect of them are our Children and Servants and those about us in the very Rudiments of Religion who might have had a good Understanding therein had we done our Duty in first informing our selves and then instructing them [f] Quemadmodum omnibus annis studere honestum est it a non omnibus institui Turpis ridiculares est elementatius senex Juoent parandum seni utendum est Sen. ep 36. How ridiculous and uncomely is it to see an Old Man ignorant of his Letters or to seek in his Primer But how much more absurd is it to find so many Old Men who * Heb. 5.12 for the Time ought to have been Teachers yet to have need that one teach them again which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God Which of us have ever gone about doing and receiving good in the Places where we have a long Time liv'd Who are we the better for Who is spiritually the better for us How very little Good have we done nay how much Hurt have we done in the World What Mischief have many Parents and Masters done in their Families by gross Neglect of Family Duties such as Reading Praying Catechizing and by their Loosness and Licentiousness before those that belong unto their Charge whose ungovern'd Youth had more need to be curbed and restrain'd by their sober Counsels and seasonable Reproofs than desperately misled and hurried head-long by their ill Examples into Sin and Wickedness Oh what a sad Consideration is it for any of us all to think with our selves how that for ought we know there may be some this Day in Hell who were occasionally brought thither by our unholy Walking and ungodly Living It may be some of our Friends and Companions some of our Neighbours and Relations some of our very Children and Servants are at present in Hell bitterly exclaiming against us and cursing the Daies in which they liv'd with us and were acquainted with us Instead of growing better and better are not some of us [g] Nemo inquit Epicurus aliter quà m quomodo natus est exit è vita Fulsum est pejores mor mur quà n nascimur en epist 22. worse now than we were many Years since more profane or worldly more sensual more hardened from the Fear of the Lord more without God and Christ in the World more useless more unprofitable than ever more unfit to live more unprepared to die now than we found we were many Years ago Have not some of us so ill husbanded our Time that the older we have grown the less Hope we have had of Heaven and Happiness As Pius Quintus is reported by [h] Cùm essem Religiosus sperabam bene de salute animae meae Cardmalis sact us extimui nunc Pontifex creatus penè despero Corn. à Lap. in Numb l. 1.11 Cornelius à Lapide to have said When I was first of a Religious Order I hoped well of the Salvation of my Soul But when I was made Cardinal I began to fear it But since I was created Pope I almost despair of it How many may be found in like manner who in their Youth have had it may be some reason to hope well of themselves but in their Middle Age more
of it but fail in the Principle and Manner of the Duty and never look to the [g] The end of all Exercises of Piety and Devotion is more and mine to dispose our Hearts to the Love and our Wills to the Obedience of our blessed Creatour and Redeemer And busying our selves in any of them without this Design may well be counted in the Number of the fruitless and unaccountable Actions of our Lives Thus to do is prodigally to waste and mis-spend our Time as the Jews were upbraided by one of their Adversaries with doing upon the account of their Sabbath saying They they lost one Day in seven Dr. Fowler 's Design of Christianity pag. 186. End of the Duty have no real Design and hearty Intention to please and glorify God thereby and to gain and encrease in true Holiness of Heart and Life If you act not out of a Principle of Love and inward Life and Liking but only out of some external respect If you perform your Services not out of a filial ingenuous Disposition but merely out of a Slavish Fear of being beaten or of losing the Wages you expect for your Work If you use only a careless and supine Devotion If you matter not at all how little you do for God or what is the Frame of your Minds and Hearts in what you do If you give way to vain Thoughts in holy Duties If you be not intent in your religious Services but instead of using the World as if you used it not you use good Duties as if you did not use them observe the Lord's-Day as if you observ'd it not confess and repent as if you did no such thing hear as if you heard not and pray as if you prayed not If you pray only out of Custom and do not mind and well consider what you say nor are affected with what you speak nor desire what you ask If you pray and reade and hear only because you are brought up so to do and have taken up such a Practice or because you would satisfy natural Conscience and have the good Opinion and Word of all in your Families and be commended by your Neighbours for religious Persons and do not pray to this necessary End that so you may enjoy Communion with God and get and obtain Pardon and Grace and Strength from God nor reade the Scripture and good Books and hear the Word preached that so you may know your Duty in Order to the Practice and Performance of it all the Time that is thus spent in Duty is in a manner Time lost and mis-spent in so doing you lose your Duties and you lose your Time too But especially if any shall dare to do nothing but whisper and talk and laugh to mock and jeer at the Word and the Minister of it to be undecent and rude and profane in their Carriage and Behaviour in a Christian Assembly in the Time of Divine Worship in the [i] Vae mihi quia ibi pecco ubi peccata emendare debeo Bernard de interior Domo c. 33. Presence of the great God and in the Sight of the holy * 1 Cor. 11.10 Angels This is to lose the Time of publick Duty if it be to be lost at all This is to lose the Time of Duty with a Witness And so I have done with the third Vse namely of Reproof and Rebuke to several Sorts of Persons who are guilty of the Loss the lamentable Loss of their precious Time and unvaluable Opportunities CHAP. VI. The fourth and last Vse is of Exhortation to Magistrates Ministers the People in general Six quickening Motives to press the Duty of Redemption of Time 1. Consider how notably Jesus Christ redeem'd the Time when he was here in the World 1. He redeem'd the Time to save us 2. He redeem'd the Time to be an Example to us 2. Consider further that as Christ did once redeem the Time to save us So the Devil does daily redeem the Time to destroy us 3. Consider how very notably many of the Saints and Servants of God have improved and redeemed their Time 4. Consider that it is an Act of spiritual Wisdom to rodeem the Time and mere Madness and gross Folly not to redeem the Time 5. Consider that if now thou losest and squanderest away thy Time thou wilt at last be forced thy self to condemn thy foolish Neghgence and to justify the Care and Diligence of others that were wiser for their own Souls then thy self 6. Consider that do what we can to redeem our Time we shall never repent at last of any Care we have had to redeem it but shall certainly blame and find fault with our selves for being so careless of our Time so negligent of good Opportunities as we have been Serious considerative Christians do blame themselves for their Loss of Time even in their Life-time but they are especially sensible of it and exceedingly ashamed of themselves for it at their Death THe fourth and last use shall be of Exhortation to put you upon the Duty of Redeeming Time Let Magistrates vigorously redeem the Time in the faithful Execution and impartial Administration of governing Justice and in being active and zealous bold and couragious in the Cause of God and Goodness * Rem 13.3 in being a Terrour to Evil and not to good Works and in acting for the †i Pet. 2.14 Punishment of Evil-doers and for the Praise of them that do well in repressing Vice and checking Profaneness and daily dashing Sin out of Countenance and in countenancing and encouraging nourishing and cherishing Sobriety and Temperance Vertue and Godliness Holiness and Religion Let Ministers industriously redeem the Time in ‖ Acts 20.27 not shunning to declare to the People all the Counsel of God in urging Truths upon their own Hearts and pressing and enforcing them upon others Souls in labouring abundantly in the Lord's Vineyard in (*) Verse 28. taking heed unto themselves and (†) 1 Tim. 4.16 to their Doctrine and to all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made them Over-seers in feeding the Church of God with the wholsome Food of sound Words in (‖) Heb. 13.17 watching for Souls as they that must give Account in [*] Acts 20.31 daily warning Sinners with Tears in perswading Men with Earnestness and Importunity as those that well [†] 2 Cor. 5.11 know the Terrour of the Lord in endeavouring to [‖] 1 Tim. 4.16 save themselves and them that hear them to () Jude 23. save some with Fear pulling them out of the Fire in taking all possible Care lest they [] 1 Cor. 9.26 beat the Air and * Gal. 2.2 Phil. 2.16 run in vain and labour in vain left their Peoples †Ezek. 3.18 Blood be required at their Hands and lest when they have preached to others they themselves should become * 1 Cor. 9.27 Cast-aways in discharging their Duty so painfully and faithfully that though
raised Philosopher well observes the different Judgments and Affections of Men in the course of a pleasurable Life and under apprehensions of the Nearness of Death When Men think they have Time enough they have no regard of Time but are extreamly prodigal of it [g] At eosdem aegros vide si mortis periculum admotum est propius medicorum genua tangentes Sen. de brev vit c 8. But look on these Men when they are sick says he If they appear in any danger of Death you shall find them courting and crouching to Physicians and bowing down to their very Knees begging the Use of their Art and Skill to prolong their Daies and lengthen out their Lives Or if they fear they shall suffer capital Punishment you shall see them ready to lay out all to save their Lives But if as the Number of every ones past Years may be reckoned so the Number of those that are to come could be assign'd [h] Quemodo illi ui paucos viderent superesse trepidarent quomodo illis parcerent Id. Ib. How would they tremble saies he that should see but a few remaining and how apt would they be to be sparing of them Surely they that have all their Lives made it their Business to drive away their Time would at their Deaths give all the World to redeem it What would the dying Husband give for Time to spend more spiritually with his Wife the dying Wife for Time to spend more holily with her Husband the dying Master for Time to spend more godlily with his Family the dying Parent for Time to spend in a more religious Institution and conscientious Education of his Children a dying Neighbour for Time to spend in more profitable Converse with those about him Would he intend to spend his Time if he could live longer in tempting his Neighbour to the Tavern or Ale house to drinking or gaming or the like If God would but lengthen out such a Person 's Daies and afford him but a little more Space to amend his Life and to lay hold on eternal Life he would thankfully accept of it upon the hardest Conditions He would be content to be the poorest Beggar in the Street and to live a mean and outwardly miserable Life as long as he liv'd He is just now departing out of this World and immediatly going to his own Place and if Time were now to be redeem'd what would not the most voluptuous Man be willing to do or suffer What would not the most covetous Man be ready to part with for the purchasing of it What would not he give for [i] Considera quà m multi modo mâ—riuntur quibus si haec hora ad agendum pâ—nitentiam oneâ—â—erâ—tur quae tibi concessa est quomodo per aâ—taria quà a fâ—stinanter currerent ibi sleâ—â—s genibus vel cerè toto corpore in terram prestrato tamdiu suspirerent plorarent orare tâ— donec plenissâ—â—am peccatorum venâ—am à Deo consequi merâ—â—entur Tu verò comedendo bibendo jocanâ—o ridendo tempus ocâ—osè vivendo perdis quod tibi indulserat Deus ad acquirendam gratiam ad promerendaâ— gloriam Bernard de interiori domo c. 63. that Time which some of you it may be spend and throw away in Drinking Gaming Carding Diceing in Romances and Stage-Plaies in idle foolish Pastimes in Jeering and Jesting and carnal sinful Merry-making To what excellent Vses would he resolve to put his Hours if he could enjoy any more of them If God would grant him but one Year of Trial more how little would he design to give to the World and the Flesh and how much to God and Godliness and the Offices and Exercises of pure Religion and undefiled How would such an one purpose and promise to resist Temptations to shun all Occasions and Appearances of Evil carefully to provide for his immortal Soul diligently to study the sacred Scriptures strictly to observe the whole Lord's-Day attentively to hear the Word preach'd both in Season and out of Season frequently to meditate of it and constantly to frame and order his Life according to it to pray with his Family devoutly and fervently morning and evening to spend some Time every Day with God and himself in secret to make the purest and precisest Christians his constant Patterns and Examples and for the future to follow and imitate those whom heretofore he hated and derided nick-named and abused When once Men ly a dying and the near Approach of their latter End does awaken their sleepy secure Consciences and make the most stupid sottish Sinner begin now to be truly sensible and serious with what aestuations and perturbations of Mind with what anguish and akings of Heart with what Pangs and Agonies and fearful Tremblings with what doleful Accents and passionate piercing moving melting Expressions do they lament and beâ—ail their waâ—teful Mis-spence and miserable Loss of all the Time of God's most patient Trial of them and of all their special golden Seasons and rare Advantages and Opportunities When they take their leave of all about them how earnestly and importunately do they exhort and urge them to be better husbands of their Time and Talents How pathetically and feelingly do they then advise and counsel their Children and Servants Friends and Relations Neighbours and Acquaintance to number their Daies to lead good Lives to improve their Health and Strength for God and their own and others Souls and timely to prepare for Death and Judgment Let 's consider some of us who have thought sometimes that the Sentence of Death has past upon us and have look'd on such or such a Sickness as our last Arrest and Summons what would we then have disbursed for a Reprieve Would we not have given with Hand and Heart an House full of Silver and Gold if we had had it to have been sure to have lived another Year for the proving and evidencing the Truth and Sincerity of our Faith and Repentance by a course of Obedience and our making a larger and surer provision for our comfortable Reception and happy Entertainment in the other World Friends we shall ere long be all of us plac'd upon our Death-beds and if we make no matter of Time now if we won't value and prize it now we shall then sure enough highly prize it when alas it will be too late And if we now have worthy thoughts of it we shall suffer nothing to rob and deprive us of it [k] Quà m felix prudent qui talis nunc nititur esse in vita qualis optat inveniri in morte Thomas a Rempis lib. 1. c. 23. n. 4. Hic est apex summae sapientiae ea viventem facere quae morienti essent appetenda Let 's be of the same mind and judgment now in our Health and Strength that we shall certainly be of in Sickness and Weakness and not contemn and vilify that in our Life time which we shall wish we had worthily
In what has Satan this Day taken Advantage against me or how has my own deceitful Heart turned me aside What Degrees of Intemperance have I admitted in Meats or Drinks what worldly Cares have I been distracted with what carnal Fears have I been ready to sink under To what have I my self been effectually tempted or wherein have I offered to be a Tempter of any other What Solicitation to Evil have I resisted What Sin and Corruption have I striven against What open careless or wilful Sinner have I seasonably and prudently reproved What Duty have I perform'd What Grace have I exercis'd What Time have I employed in Closet-Devotion in Family-Religion in diligent following the Business of my Calling What Company have I run into or kept What Hours have I spent in such Company and to what profit or benefit to my self or others What was my Omission and Neglect what my Sin and Vanity committed and repeated in such Society have I not closed this Day with a drousy sleepy Prayer this Night Am I grown any better this Week this Day than I was the last You know at Night and at the End of the Week we usually call our Servants to Account Let us use the same Method and take the same Course for a Daily weekly Reckoning with our selves In the Close of the Day at the End of the Week let 's commune with and reflect upon our selves and take our solves to task Let 's take a view and make a surveigh of our past Lives observe how our Time goes watch what becomes of it see how it is laid out that so beholding how useless and unfruitful we have been we may even be ashamed of our selves and labour to grow more useful and fruitful for the future As * Rev. 2.5 remembring from whence she was fallen was prescribed to the Church of Ephesus as a means of her repenting And on the contrary because †ser 8.6 no Man said What have I done therefore every one turned to his Course as the Horse rusheth into the Battel By daily observing examining taking account of our selves and Waies we shall come to Repentance more speedily and easily and recover the Favour of God immediatly The Candle that is presently blown in again offends not We shall have the Advantage of making to God [h] Mr. Hildersam on Ps 51. p. 183. a fuller Confession of our Sins while our Sins with their Circumstances are fresh and recent in our Memories And shall be more effectually restrained from Sin for the future by thinking thus with our selves This I must account with God and my own Conscience for before I sleep And by this means we shall be freed from the Fear of sudden Death and be in a constant good Preparation for it because though our Master come suddenly he will not find us sleeping nor surprize us in unrepented Sin When in this manner we make all even every Night between God and our own Consciences we may lie down in Peace and take a quiet Rest and Sleep without any perplexing amazing Fears of our awaking the next Morning in the other World Hold and maintain this Practice of Calling thy self to a daily strict Account and you shall certainly find and happily experience that of A Kempis to be a great Truth [i] Suaviter requiesees si cor tuum te non reprehenderit Noli laetari nisi cùm bene feceris A Kemp. l. c. 6 n 1. Gaudebis semper vespere si diem expendas fructuosè Idem l. 1. c. 25. n. 11. Thou shalt sweetly rest if thy own Heart reprehend thee not Thou shalt rejoyce and be glad at heart every Night if thou hast not lost but fruitfully spent the Day past [k] De perfectione Rodericus relateth of Suarez that he was wont to say he esteemed that little Pittance of Time which constantly every Day he set apart for the private Examination of his own Conscience more than all the other Part of the Day which he spent in his voluminous Controversies And it is reported of that learned Professor of Divinity Dr. Samuel Ward that when he lay upon his Death-Bed he profess'd he had read many Books but had no such comfort from his reading any as from his reading and studying the Book of his own Heart and Life That is the second Direction Frequently call yourselves to an Account Often Reckonings make long Friends It holds most true between God and our Souls between our Consciences and our selves Reckon with God and your selves every Evening how you have spent the Day fore-going and this will provoke you humbly to beg the Pardon of your Sins at God's Hands and Power against them to judg and punish and take an holy Revenge upon your selves to exercise Repentance for your past Failings and strict Watchfulness for the future The third Direction That we may rightly redeem our Time let Reason and Conscience have some Authority with us and not be despised and disregarded by us They are most brave generous Rules and Precepts that are given by Pythagoras in his golden Verses [a] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Never accustome thy self in any Thing to act and carry thy self irrationally and below a Man And of all things see says he that you [b] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cùm jam prâ—fecâ—ris tantum ut sit tibi etiam tui reverentia dum te efficis eum coram quo peccare non audeas aliqua coeperit apud te tui esse dignatio Sen. ep 25. reverence and use good Manners to your self Let Reason rule and govern thy Passions and Affections and Conscience withhold thee from being guilty of any Impiety or Impurity Absurdity or Undecency Do nothing to put thy self to the blush to sill thy self with secret Shame and Sorrow and sinking Fear for the Turpitude or Folly of thy Own Actions Take the wholesome Counsel and good Advice that Ausonius gives thee [c] Turpe quid ausurus te sine teste time When thou art about to do any vile and vicious Thing be afraid of thy self though no body else be near thee to be a Witness of thy Wickedness [d] Si turpia sunt quae facis quid refert neminem scire cùm tu seias O te miserum si contemnis hunc testem Sen. ep 43. i. sine If the Things thou doest says Seneca excellently be unseemly and uncomely what does it avail thee that none in the World knows it when thou thy self knowest it O miserable Man says he if thou contemnest this Witness within thee And I find Lactantius citing these admirable Sayings out of him [e] Demens quid prodest non habere conscium habence conseientiam Custos te tuus sequitur Haeret hic quo carere nunquam potes Lactant de vero cultu 1. 6 §. 24. Thous very mad Man what will it profit thee to have no other conscious of thy Crime so long as thou doest carry a Conscience within thee
Proponamus oporter sinem Summi Boni ad quem nitamur ad quem omue factum nostrum dictúmque respictat veluti navigantibus ad aliquod sidus dirigendus est cu sas Vita sine proposito vaga est sea ep 95. As they that sail we must steer and direct our Course to some Star Seneca reproves a Sort of Persons that acted without an End in their Eye If you ask any one of these saies he when they go out of Doors Where are you going what are you thinking of He 'l answer and tell you Truly I don't know but I will see some Body or other I will do somewhat or other They wander about without any set Purpose and do things not which they design'd to do but which they lightly fell into They lead an inconsiderate vain Course of Lise like so many creeping Ants. [c] Quorum non immerito quis inquietam inertiam dixerit Idâ—â—â—e Tranq An. c. 12. One may not unfitly call their Life an unquiet Idleness And then returning home with an empty Weariness they swear they knew not why they went out nor know they well where they have been being ready to ramble and wander the Day following in the same manner and therefore let all Labour be referr'd to somewhat saies he respect somewhat Now as it becomes both Men and Christians let our great End and Study our main Scope and Intention be to please and glorify God in the whole Course of our Conversation * Thess 4.1 Ye have received of us saies the Apostle how you ought to walk and to please God We desire †Col 1.10 that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all [d] Vocabâ—lâ—m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sumendum arbitror hoc in loco nen tam pro eventu placends quà m pro studio intentione placendâ— Davenant in Col. 1.10 pleasing ‖ 1 Cor. 10.31 Whatsoever ye do do all to the Glory of God Let all our Actions have their ultimate tendency to God's Glory That God may be honoured and glorified by our selves while our Actions done in Imitation of God shew forth his (*) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2.9 Vertues represent and recommend God lovely to the World and are apt to procure that God be better thought of lov'd and serv'd And that God may be also glorified by others by means of our Lives and Conversations while others are actually and effectually led thereby to high and excellent Thoughts of God and to an Admiration and Approbation of the divine Law and Holiness What a rare Commendation is it of those Brethren who are stiled by the Apostle the †2 Cor. 8.23 Glory of Christ [e] Sicuti solus Christus fidelium gloria est ita debet vicissâ—m ab â—â—sis giâ—rificari Calv. in loc As Christ alone is the Glory of the Faithful so they ought to be the Glory of Christ to [f] 〈◊〉 Christi i. e. qui singulari eâ—rum side pietate scientiâ vita mâ—rthus promovent gâ—ortam Christs vet instrumenta sunt glorae Christs Syn. Criâ— in loc promote and advance and be the Instruments of his Glory by their singular Knowledg Faith Piety and excellent good Life and Manners It is not strictly required that in every Good Work of ours there should be an actual Intention of pleasing and glorifying God It sufficeth that such an Intention go before in the general and be preserved and retained in the Habit And though it be not thought on in every Action yet the Action may be rightly perform'd [g] Quemadmâ—dum sagitta unica jaculantis impulâ—â— per inteâ—mâ—diunt spatmm and scopum sertus qâ—amâ—is iâ—e nec de spatio nec â—'e scopo cogitâ— sic untco impuâ—â— voluntatis procedit bon â—â—pera in ad metam suam câ—â—m operans non amplin cogetat de meta prima suâ—â— intentione Idem â—â—usirart possâ— simisâ—â—â—dine it merâ—ant is Davenant in â—ad Ceicss 10. p. 53. in the Vertue of the good Intention that went before As one in a Journey goes very right by virtue of his first Intention though he does not every step he takes actually think of the Place which when he first set out he intended to go to It is absolutely necessary that we should alwaies preserve an habitual Intention of pleasing and glorifying God in every thing yea as the Reverend and learned * Ibid. Davenant counsels and cautions well we should alwaies endeavour these two things 1. That our actual Intention of pleasing and glorifying God should as far as may be be retain'd or renew'd in every particular Work we do 2. That after our first good Intention no evil and inordinate Intention do arise for this will not be rectified by the first but the former will be blemished stained and corrupted by this Let 's propose to our selves the Glory of God as the highest End of all our Undertakings and let all our lesser and subordinate Ends be plainly reducible to the main and great End of our living Let 's still be putting this Question to our selves in what we are doing Is this the Way to please and glorify God If not how dare I take so ungodly a Course or do so unreasonable a Deed This is the way to redeem the Time and a Means to make our Actions able to bear the Trial and apt to turn to a good Account 2. Let 's do nothing deliberately but what we can freely and safely warrantably and comfortably crave God's Assistance in and look up to Heaven for a Blessing upon when we go about it [h] Non magni pendas quis pro se vel contra te sit sed hoc age cura ut Deus tecum sit in omut re quam faris A Kemp. l. 2. c. 2. n. 1. Do not much matter saies A Kempis who is for thee or against thee but take great heed and care of this that God be with thee in every thing thou doest Upon every Occasion think thus with thy self If I cannot take God along with me in what I undertake If I cannot own God nor expect that God should own me guide and direct me assist and inable bless and prosper me in what I am about surely this is not the way for me to redeem and improve my Time aright I cannot spend it profitably and comfortably in such Employment Such a Course and Practice as this would surely prevent the Rashness and Unadvisedness the Imprudence and Folly the Injustice and Impiety of many Actions If thou wouldst never venture to engage in any Action but what thou couldst own before God in Prayer without Shame and Blushing and durst implore the Help and Assistance of God for the Performance of thou wouldst certainly walk more accurately and exactly than formerly When thou art going to a drinking Meeting canst thou beg God's Blessing upon thy jovial intemperate Company-keeping when thou art hastening to a silthy Whore-house or going to an obscene and prosane
Nuncupat ad G. Varam praesix Epist D. Hieron Erasmus gives this notable Testimony of St. Jerome Who saies he did ever learn by heart the whole Scripture imbibe concoct handle it meditate upon it as he did This very learned and holy Father did moreover [o] Has omnes Hierontmus ad divinae Scripturae studium inflammavit inflammatas suâ doctrina provexit Hieron vita per Erasm contexta inflame and stir up diverse noble Matrons of his Acquaintance at Rome to an earnest and constant Study of the divine Scriptures exhorting and urging those holy Women not to lay the Bible out of their Hands until being overcome with Sleep and not able any longer to hold up their Heads they bowed them down as it were to salute the Leaves below them with a Kiss And by his instruction of them and interpretation of the Scriptures to them he assisted and promoted their pious Endeavours in those sacred Studies [n] Quò saediùs essâ—t ab ipsis Episcopis sacros libros negligi quos sexus insirmtor amplecteretur Id. ib. that it might be the greater shame for any Bishops in any wise to neglect those sacred Books which were so often read and so well understood by the weaker Sex And he attests particularly Marcella's Industry and great Proficiency in his Epitaph of her expressing himself in these Words concerning her Because I was at that Time of some Repute and Note saies he for the Study of the Scriptures [o] Nunquam me convenit quin de Scripturis aliquid interrogaret Id. ib. she never met with me but still she would be putting some Questions to me about the Scriptures And he further adds there [p] Quicquid in nobis longo fuit studio congregatum meditatione diuturnâ quasi in naturam versum hoc illa libavit didicit atque possedit ita ut post profectionem nostram si in aliquo testimonio Scripturarum esset oborta contentio ad illam pidicem pergeretur Id. ib. Inserant in aures margaritas verbi Tertullian de cultu foemin Whatever by long Study was gathered by me and turn'd as it were into my Nature by continual Meditation all that she pick'd out tasted learn'd and possess'd So that after my departure if any Controversy arose about the Testimony of the Scripture in any Matter they had recourse to her as a Judg therein Prosper was assiduous in reading the Scripture and usually had the four Evangelists in his Hands Venerable Bede read the Scripture with such Devotion and Affection that he would often weep in the reading of it and would conclude his reading of Scripture with Prayer The good Emperour Theodosius Senior wrote out the whole new Testament with his own Hand and read some Part of it every Day [o] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Niceph. Acclehast Historia l. 14 c. 3. Theodosius the second dedicated and consecrated a good Part of the Night to the Study of the Scriptures to which end he had as Nicephorus relates a Lamp so artificially made that it constantly supplied it self with Oil that none of his Servants might suffer any Trouble upon those Occasions He learned much of the holy Scriptures without Book and when he met and confer'd with the Bishops he expounded and explain'd obscure and knotty Places of Scripture as if he himself had been a Person in holy Orders Maccovius reports of George Prince of Transylvania that he had read over the Bible seven and twenty times And it is storied of Alphonsus King of Arragon that notwithstanding all his Princely Affairs he read over the Bible with a large Comment some say ten others affirm fourteen times Bonaventure wrote out the Bible twice with his own Hand and had most of it by heart Antonius Walaeus in his younger Years imprinted much of the Scripture in his Mind and when he was [p] Vit. Ant. VValaei ante Oper. Tom. 1. old could repeat without Book the Epistle to the Romans the second to the Corinthians to the Galatians Ephesians and Philippians Zuinglius wrote out St. Paul's Epistles and got them by heart [p] Fox Act. and Mon. 2 v. p. 1075. Thomas Cromwel afterward Earl of Essex in his Journey going and coming from Rome learned the Text of the whole New Testament of Erasmus's Translation without Book which was a Means of bringing him to the Knowledg and Savour and Love of the Truth [q] Id. ib. p. 1609 1610. Bishop Ridley in his Letter of Farewel to his Friends bidding farewel to Pembroke-Hall does thus attest his own Practice with the comfortable Fruit and Effect of it In thy Orchard saies he the Walls Buts and Trees if they could speak would bear me witness I learned without Book almost all Paul 's Epistles yea and all the Canonical Epistles save only the Apocalypse of which study although in time a great part did depart from me yet the sweet smell thereof I trust I shall carry with me into Heaven for the Profit thereof I think I have felt in all my Life-time ever after [r] His Life inserted among Mr. Clark's Lives of so em Div. p. 97 98. Dr. Gouge did tye himself to reade every Day fifteen Chapters in English out of the Bible five in the Morning five after Dinner before he fell upon his other Studies and five before he went to bed which course he first took up when he was a young Student in King's Colledg in Cambridg He was often heard to say that when he could not sleep in the Night time he used in his Thoughts to run through divers Chapters of the Scripture in order as if he had heard them read to him The like Practice he used in the Day time when he was alone whether within Doors or abroad for which end he wrote in a little Book which he alwaies carried about him the distinct Heads of every Particular Passage in every Chapter of the Bible that so when in any Place he meditated on the Word of God and was at a loss he might presently find help by that little Book By this means he made himself so expert in the Text that if he heard any Phrase of Scripture he could presently tell where it was to be found And besides all this he had his set Times of Study for understanding the meaning of the more difficult Places of Scripture [s] His Life ib. p. 163. Mr. Jeremy Whitaker usually read all the Epistles in the Greek Testament twice every fortnight [t] He had read that voluminous Book of the Acts and Monuments of the Church seven times over In his Life among Mr. Clark's Lives in 4. Mr. Ignatius Jurdain read the Bible above twenty Times over and that with special Observation as appeared by the Asterisks and Marks in the Bible which he used making particular Application to himself [u] His Life written by Dr. Bernard p. 22. Bp. Vsher had two Aunts who by reason of their blindness from their Cradles never
will have a mighty Influence upon the whole Course of our Lives and Actions The first of the four last Things proposed as the subject Matter of Meditation in order to the right Redemption of Time I. USE I. Use in thy Life time to think much of the Day of thy own particular Death and of the general Dissolution of all Things 1. [e] Mortem ut nunquam timeas semper cogita Sen. ep 30. in fine Vive me nor lethi fugit hora hoc quod loquor inde est Pers sat 5. Dum loquimue sugerit invida aetas Horat. carm l. 1. Od. 11. To think much of the Day of thy own particular Death Be not thou of Lewis the eleventh's Mind who strictly charged all about him that they sould not so much as name the terrible Word Death Do not only patiently hear of it but chuse to think and often to think of it Men are too commonly regardless of their End and unmindful of their own Mortality and Frailty The very Heathen have acknowledged Man's natural Proneness to forget his End and therefore they used several Arts to mind themselves and others of it Some Emperours on the Day of their Coronation have had several sorts of Marble presented to them out of which to chuse their Tombs Philosophers have had their Sepulchres before their Gates that they might neither go out nor in but they might still be put in mind of their Mortality And many great Men have had them in their Places of Pleasure And dead Men's Skulls have been served up in delicious Banquets And Philip King of Macedon had a young Monitor that came every Day and rubb'd up his Memory with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remember thou art but a Mortal Man And we plainly find in Scripture that this is naturally Man's Temper The Fool in the Gospel is a clear Instance of this who * Luke 12.19 said to his Soul Soul thou hast much Goods laid up for many Years take thine ease eat drink and be merry He never dream'd of a Stulte hac nocte Thou Fool this Night That was the farthest Thing off his Thoughts †Jam. 4.13 14. St. James reproves those who promise themselves to morrow and build upon the next Year for the driving of their Trade and getting of Gain Men in their Health think not of Sickness and in Sickness seldome reckon of Death Even dying Men often times think of nothing but recovering and living longer in the World Men are apt to look upon Death as afar off and when in all probability they have but a few Sands in their Glass to run they are ready to say that they ‖ Job 29 18. shall multiply their Daies as the Sand. Men can willingly measure their Lands and Grounds and number their Herds and Droves of Cattel and count the Revenues of their Manours and Farms and reckon their daily or yearly Incomes but who is willing to measure and number his Daies Yea we can willingly measure other Mens Daies and learn to know their End and take great Notice how frail they are We can point at an old Man and cry he is thus or thus old his Daies cannot be many he is past his best he has one Foot in the Grave Upon sight of one sick or in a Consumption we are apt to say Such a one is near his End he can't live long sure But we take little notice of our selves we make little Reckoning of our own End we little consider what may become of us to morrow We do not actually think we shall not die yet the most of us do not actually think we shall die God frequently reads Lectures of Mortality to us and yet we will not learn to remember them The Arrows of the Almighty have flown thick on every side of us and yet we live as if we thought to escape alwaies Though others have fallen round about us we are ready to count our standing sure We securely lie in a dead Sleep amidst many awakening providences I am afraid many of us are too like your common Grave-makers who often handle Skulls and dead Mens Bones but are so daily us'd to them that they are not at all mov'd or affected with them What senseless silly Creatures are we that we won't believe we are mortal till we feel it that we won't be perswaded we shall die till we our selves are struck with Death Ah Friends we do not live as if we believ'd it and were truly and really convinc'd fully and throughly perswaded of it We are apt to overmeasure our Daies to put more in than we should to promise our selves what God never promis'd us and to count those Daies ours which are wholly in God's Hand and quite out of ours We are ready to measure by [f] Reade Dr. Patrick's Div. Arithm. false Rules to reckon that because we are young we shall not die till we are old That because we are strong we shall last it out and indure long That because we are temperate we need not fear Diseases and Death That because some live much longer than others that we may live as long as the longest The Guilt of Sin makes many afraid to take a true Measure of their Daies The want of a good and well-grounded Hope of a better Life makes Men unwilling to know the End of this And the inordinate Love of the World makes Men loth to know their End and to think of leaving what they love Haec faciunt invitos mori These are the Things that make us unwilling to die was a discreet Answer given by the Emperour Charles the fifth to a certain Duke of Venice You are naturally backward and disinclin'd to the consideration of your latter End and therefore pray to God to enable you to it and help you in it Say with David * Psal 39.4 Lord make me to know my End and the Measure of my Daies what it is that I may know how frail I am And with Moses likewise †90.12 So teach me to number my Daies that I may apply my Heart unto Wisdom We need but a little Arithmetick to number our Daies as [g] Caryl on Job 4.21 one saies well but we need a great deal of Grace to number them A Child may be wise enough to number the Daies of an old Man and yet that old Man a Child in numbring his own Daies so as to apply his Heart to Wisdom Well then heartily beg of God that he would make you to know your End to know it so as to have your Heart touched and affected with the Knowledg of it To know your End and to live suitably and answerably to the Knowledg of it To know your End so as to make a good End of it Now give me leave to direct and assist you in this necessary Duty Suffer me to serve in a Death's-Head and to put a Turf of fresh Earth into your Hands 't is counted very wholsome to
extravagantly The often renewed Meditation of the great Vncertainty of the Time of the Departure This will be a Means to hasten thy Repentance which if defer'd may prove too late And will surely help thee so to carry thy self continually [p] Id ago ut mihi instar totius vitae sit dies Sen. ep Ille qui nullum non tempus in usus suos comfert quiomnes dies tanquam vitam suam ordmat nec optat crastinum nec timet Idem de brev vit c 7. as one that reckons and uses a single Day as if it were a whole Life To live every day as if it were [q] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Musonius apud Stob Serm. 1. â—ic ordinandus est aies omnis tamquam cogat agmen consummet atque expleat vitam In somnum ituri loeti hilar ésque dicamus Viâ—i quem dederat cursum fortuna peregi thy very last Not to promise thy self a Morrow and to neglect thy present Work in Hope and Expectation of it but to order thy self immediately as if thou didst never look to see and enjoy it and to count it as [r] Crastinum si adjecerit Deus laeti reciptamus Ille beatissimus est securus sai possessor qui crastinum sine solicitudine expectat Qussquis dixit vixi quotidie ad lucrum surgit Sen. ep 12. pure Gain as may be if God shall be pleased to afford thee the Light and Benefit of a new Day As the Bird guideth her Flight with her Train and the Ship is governed at the Stern or hindermost Part so the Life of Man is directed and ordered by frequent Meditation of his latter End 3. Think moreover of the great Change that will at last be made by Death which is lively represented in a Story related by a learned [s] Bishop Taylor in his rule and Exercise of holy Dying c. 1. §. 3. Doctor of a fair young German Gentleman who while he lived often refused to be pictured but put off the importunity of his Friends Desire by giving way that after a few Daies Burial they might send a Painter to his Vault and if they saw cause fo rit draw the Image of his Death unto the Life They did so and found his Face half eaten and his Midriff and Back-bone full of Serpents and so he stands pictured among his armed Ancestours Think how the Case will shortly be much alike with thee that Death in a Moment will turn thy Colour into Paleness thy Heat into Coldness thy Beauty into Lothsomness and will so alter and disfigure thee that thy ver Husband or Wife or Child will stand afraid and start at thee That thy nearest dearest kindest Friends who delighted in thy Company whilst thou livedst took thee to their Board took thee to their Bed and put thee in their Bosom will as soon as thou art dead take a speedy Course to remove thee out of their Sight yea to put thee under Ground because by Death thou wilt become not only useless but offensive to them And what a frightful Spectacle thou wouldst be if thy Body should be viewed when once the Vermin have bred in it and shall have devoured and consumed some Parts of it Think how Death will make a Change in thy Body a change in thy Mansion Habitation Companions That when thou art dead thou shalt quickly change thy Bed for a winding Sheet thy Chamber for a Coffin thy House for a Grave thy Friends for Worms This Consideration will be hugely instrumental to beat down Pride of any beauty Health Strength or Ornaments of the Body and be useful to cause thee to walk humbly and soberly and will instruct thee to say to thy self Why should I glory in any such transitory Enjoyment As fair and fine as I may be apt to think my self I know I shall be but a sorry Creature when Death comes Why should I delight to stand long at the Glass and there to view my own Face and Features and Dresses now since Death will one Day so change me that my most intimate loving familiar Friends will hardly endure to behold me Why should I pride my self in any rich Attire and brave Apparel who must ere long be strip'd to a winding Sheet Why should I bestow so much cost upon that Tenement which I shall dwell but a while in and which will decay and fall to utter Ruin when I have done all I can Why should I make my Belly my God which must be destroyed and be Meat for Worms Why should I be so high and stately as to think no House good enough no Room fine enough no Fair dainty enough for me who must quickly be brought as low as the Grave and be forc'd to make my Bed in the dark and to lay my Head in the Dust to lodg yea dwell in a black lonely desolate Hole of Earth to say to the Grave Thou art mine House to say to Corruption Thou art my Father and to the Worm Thou art my Mother and my Sister Why should I spend all my time in pleasing and pampering this base Flesh and in over-caring for this changeable vile Body which must shortly suffer Rottenness and Corruption Shall I not rather take care to beautify and adorn my inner Man to get a Change wrought in my Soul by the good Spirit and Grace of God before I suffer a Change in my Body a Change by Sickness a Change by Death and so to live that when I am dead it may not be said of me Here lies one that was dead while he lived and whose Soul then stank worse by sinful Corruption than his Body now stinks by Putrefaction 4. Consider once more What a sad and uncomfortable Thing it wil be to be found unprepared to die at the point of Death and how happy a Thing it will be to be in a readiness and preparation at the Hour of Death 1. Think well with thy self how miserable a Thing it will be to be wholly unprepared for Death when you come to die indeed [t] Cù a illos aliqua imbecillitas mortalitatis admonuit quemadmodum paventes moriuntur non tanquam exeant de vita sed tanquam extrahantur Seneca de brevitate vitae cap. 11. to be driven away in thy Wickedness as the * Prov. 14.32 Wise Man speaks and forced to go to thy own Place whether thou wilt or no. To say as Theophrastus of old Dii boni nunc Good God must I go now How discompos'd and disorder'd amaz'd and terrified wilt thou be when thou art surpriz'd What a disconsolate Condition was that of Cesar Borgia who when through the Errour of a Servant he had unawares drunk of the poison'd Wine which he and his Father Pope Alexander the sixth had mingled and prepared for some rich Cardinals and verily expected it would prove his Death is said to have broke out into this or the like Expression I had made Provision against all possible Disasters
but only Death for I did not think I should have died so soon How troublesome will it be to thee when thy Soul is about to be divorced from thy Body to be at best uncertain then what will become of thee To express thy self with dying Aristotle [u] Dubius morior quò vadam nescio I die doubtful not well knowing whither I am going Or with the Emperour Adrian [w] Animula vagula blandula Hospes com esque corporis Quae nunc abibis in loca Pallsdula frigidula nudula Nec ut soles dabis jocos Ah dear departing wandring Soul the old and sweet Companion of my Body into what Region art thou now going surely thou wilt never be so merry and pleasant as thou hast been How intolerably vexatious will it be to change for Vncertainties or to make a certain Change for the worse To die unsatisfied what will become of thee as to thy future unchangeable State Or sure and certain that thou shalt enter into a worse State and Place and shalt be miserable to all Eternity To see then but a Step but a Breath between thee and everlasting Death To have all the horrid and heinous sins of a whole misled and misspent Life fiercely fly in thy very Face and thy enraged furious guilty Conscience to be then most active to torment thee the nearer thou apprehendest thy self approaching to the End of thy mortal Life As usually bodily Aches and Wounds do prick and pain and shoot most the nearer it draweth unto Night What a lamentable sad Case was that of Cardinal Wolsey to cry out in his extreme unhappy Circumstances Had I been as careful and diligeut to please and serve the God of Heaven as I have been to comply with the Will of my earthly King he would not have left and for saken me now in my gray Hairs and old Age as the other has done So think what a doleful Case it will be for thee in thy last Hours to pour forth thy Soul in such Words as these If I had served my God as earnestly and unweariedly as I have constantly served the world served diverse Lusts and Pleasures served the Devil himself Had I been at Church when I was in Bed been in my Closet upon my Knees when I was sitting tippling upon the Ale-bench or was quaffing at Tavern and drinking of Healths upon my Knees Had I satisfied the Reason of a Man as I gratified my brutish Appetite and sensual Desire Had I done the Will of God and of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as I have done the Will of the Devil the Will of the Flesh and fulfilled my own carnal corrupt Will I had then been own'd by God and approv'd by my own Conscience inwardly strengthned and supported and sweetly comforted and refresh'd who now am deserted and rejected by God and miserably perplexed and disquieted rent and racked torn and tormented in my own Conscience Then thou wilt certainly count and call thy self unhappy and him the only happy Man who as dying [x] Beatus es Abba Arseni qui semper hanc horam ante oculos habuisti Bibl. Patr. Theophilus said of devout Arsenius has had the Hour of his Departure ever before his Eyes That is the first Conider what a dreadful Thing it is to be found unprovided at the Hou◠of Death When Friends and Physicians cannot keep thee and God and his good Angels will not take thee O then O then what will become of thee 2. Seriously think on the other hand what [y] Considera quà n pulchra res sit consummare vitam ante mortom deinde expectare securum reliquam tempor is sui part m◠Sen. ep 32. an happy and comfortable Thing it will be to find your Time well improved and your self prepared to die before you die 'T is a true Saying of the Wise Man that to a good man the * Eccl. 7.1 Day of Death is better than the Day of his Birth For is not that Day which perfectly frees and fully delivers a good Man from the many Vanities and great Vexations which the Life of Man is obnoxious to and the Troubles and Sufferings which the Life of a Christian is expos'd to far better than that Day which let 's him into the Possession of them Again The Time when a Person has attain'd the End of his Being made good the Hopes of others answer'd god's and Man's expectation concerning him walked himself in the Fear of the Lord brought up Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord walked worthy of his Vocation fill'd up every Relation with suitable Duties and Graces serv'd his Generation according to the Will of God liv'd and acted with reference to Eternity The Time when he most willingly leaves this wicked World and leaves an holy Seed to stand up in his room and stead leaves a good Name and a good Example behind him and goes to Heaven to the Spirits of just Men made perfect goes to God his heavenly Father and to Christ his Redeemer to receive the gracious and glorious Reward of all his Works and Labours and the Crown he has striven and contended for Surely the Day when this falls out which is the Day of his Death gives cause of more abundant Comfort than can the Day of his Birth together with all the Daies of his Life Is not that Day better wherein a Man has truly and really answered the Ends of Life than that in which he only began at first to live Is not that Day better in which he has fully and compleatly acted his Part well quitted and behav'd himself like a Man and Christian and is gone off the Stage of this lower world with Credit and Esteem Approbation and Applause of God himself good Angels and Men than the Day of his first appearing upon the Stage or Theater of this World in a way of Probation and Trial and in Hope of his future good Performance Is not the Day of his actual Admission and honourable Reception into a blissful Condition and happy Mansion far better than the Day of his Entrance into a State of Preparation for it Think well with thy self what a joyful Day what a [z] Cùm ecquid lumen molestiae afferret rogarent pectus tangens Oecolampadius abundè lucis est inquit Melch. Adam in vita Oecolamp p. 56. lightsome Hour what a Time of refreshing it will be to thee to be able to say with thy Saviour a little before thy Departure * Joh. 17.4 Father I have glorified thee on Earth I have finished the Work which thou hast given me to do And with the Apostle St. Paul †2 Tim. 4 6 7. The Time of my Departure is at hand I have fought a good Fight [a] Vixi quem dederat cursum fortuna peregi I have finished my course I have kept the Faith ‖ 2 Cor. 1.12 My rejoicing is this the Testimony of my Conscience that in
voluntary Crimes and according to the measure of them And think again That as thou shalt suffer variety of Punishment Punishment of Loss and Punishment of Sense so thou shalt undergo extremity of Torment That thou shalt be forc'd to depart into Fire †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 25.41 the Fire emphatically which whether it shall be material or metaphorical speaks the sharpness and severity of thy Torment That thou shalt be cast into Fire prepar'd suffer a contrived Punishment that falls under the solemnity of a Preparation Prepared by God the wise and just Lord and Judg For the Devil and his Angels A great and inevitable Punishment such as the Devils must suffer and such as thou must suffer with the Devils That if thou servest the Devil here thou must dwell with him in Hell-fire And if it be so great an Affliction to the People of God who have a true Sense and a right Judgment of Things to be necessitated to live among * Ps 120.5 the Wicked here in this World Think then what a grievous Misery it will be to thee when thy Eyes are open'd in Hell to see thy self under a necessity of dwelling continually with the Devils and cursed Fiends of Hell Think how it would [d] Shepheard's S C. p 95. scare thee almost out of thy wits to have the Devil frequently appear to thee here and what Horror then shall fill thy Soul when thou shalt be banish'd from the Face of God and Presence of Christ and from Angels Society and be joined in Fellowship with the Devil and his Angels be shut up in the darkest Den with that roaring Lion and be chained with the Devil in fiery Fetters Nor will it at all relieve thee to have Companions in all thy Pain and Distress in Hell But the more there be that shall suffer with thee there the less ease and comfort shalt thou enjoy for as [e] Dr. Jackson 3 vol. p. 495. one of profound Judgment well observes there will be no Concord or Consort there nothing but perpetual Discord which is alwaies so much the greater by how much the Parties discording are more in number It being a Thing too well known that to live in continual Discord though but with some few is a kind of Hell here upon Earth Think yet further That thy Punishment in Hell will be perpetual thy Torments be endless as well as easeless thy †Mat. 25.41 46. 3.12 Fire everlasting and unquenchable That thou shalt be * Rev. 20.10 tormented in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone day and night for ever and ever That if it were possible for one Eternity to be spent for one ever to expire and come to an End there should be another ever for thee to be tormented in That in Hell †Mark 9.44 46 48. thy Worm shall never die That thou shalt be punished with ‖ 2 Thess 1.9 everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord That thou shalt be destroyed in a moral not in a natural Sense That thy Essence and Being shall be everlastingly preserv'd but thou shalt be everlastingly depriv'd of God and Glory and of all that makes to thy well-being and everlastingly afflicted and punished with all that tends to thy ill-being That as Nero refus'd to put [f] Philostr in viâ—a Apoll. Tyanaei Apollonius to Death who was very desirous to die because he would not so far gratify him And as Tiberius Caesar when a certain Offender petition'd him to hasten his Punishment retur'd this Answer [g] Suetonius l. 3. c. 6. Nondum tecum redii in gratiam Stay Sir you and I are not Friends yet So if thou provest a damned Person that God won't be mov'd by all thy entreaty to grant a quick and speedy Dispatch to thee nor after [h] See Mr. Bolton's 4 last Things p. 107 108 109 110. If thou hadst an Head as big as Archimedes and couldst tell how many Atomes of Dust weâ—e in the Globe of the Earth yet think that such a vast number is but as one little Atome in compare with those endless Sorrows and those endless Joys Let this be thy Impress or Motto let this be writ upon the minâ— that a learned man writes upon all his Books Aeternâ—tatem cogita Think of Eternity Johan Meursius D. Patrick's Div. Arithm p. 40 41. thousands and millions of Years spent in Torments yield to let thee die at last And that the Eternity of thy Torments will be the Hell of Hell and the very Sting of the second Death That the Eternity both of Loss and Sense will even break the very Heart of thee If good Men here do grieve and mourn when God withdraws and absents himself but for a Moment from them Think then how lamentably and intolerably it will perplex and punish thee to be made sensible hereafter that God will hide his Face from thee for ever That if here thou art unable to bear a tedious Fit of the Tooth-ach Head-ach Cholick Gout or Stone what then thou wilt do to endure those akings of Heart and wounds of Spirit and convulsions of Conscience and complicated torments of Soul and Body which will be the Portion of damned Persons to eternal Ages And if it be so sad a Misery for any to be burnt to Death here Think then how incomparably greater a Misery it will be to be alwaies burning and frying in Hell and yet never to be burnt to Death there Nay if here to lie long on a Bed of Down or on a Bed of Roses and not once to rise in several Years together would prove a grievous sore Trouble and heavy Affliction what an overwhelming Thought is this then of lying in Flames to all Eternity Consider here that so great is the Folly of Man's Mind and the Hardness of his Heart and the Power of present sensual Allurements that [i] See Baxter's Reas of the Christ Rel. p. 171. nothing less than the Threatning of an endless Misery was an apt and sit Instrument of God's ruling and governing the World That Men would not have been sufficiently awed and effectually restrain'd and deterr'd from Sin and kept in order and obedience if God had not intimated and foretold that the obstinate Sinner shall certainly suffer perpetual Punishment in another World That it is too evident that the Denunciation even of eternal Pain and infinite Torment does [k] Id. ib. p. 164 170. not move and sway the greatest part of Men and therefore that the Threatning of meer Annihilation or of some lighter and shorter Punishment would surely have less prevail'd and wrought upon the World And now when everlasting Punishment is plainly threatned that the just and holy Law-giver doth not intend to affright thee with a Lie or with an uncertainty That his Threatning is not like the prediction of an Almanack It may be so it may be not But that he meaneth really to execute and inflict the Penalty of eternal