But many will be ready to object and say We have much business upon our hands and we cannot spare time for private prayer we have so much to doe in our shops and in our ware-houses and abroad with others that we cannot spare time to waite upon the Lord in our Closets Now to this Objection I shall give these Eight Answers that this Objection may never have a resurrection more in any of your hearts First What are all those businesses that are upon your hands to those great businesses weighty affaires that did lye upon the hands of Abraham Isaac Jacob Moses David Daniel Elias Nehemiah See the first Consideration Peter Cornelius and yet you find all these worthies exercising themselves in Private prayers And the King is commanded every day to read some part of Gods word notwithstanding all his great and weighty imployments Deut. 17. 18 19 20. Now certainly Sirs your great businesses are little more than ciphers compared with theirs And if there were any on earth that might have pleaded an exemption from private prayer upon the account of business of much business of great business these might have done it but they were more honest and more noble than to neglect so choice a duty upon the account of much business these brave hearts made all their publick imployments stoop to private prayer they would never suffer their publick imployments to tread private prayer under foot But Secondly I answer no mens outward affaires did ever more prosper than theirs did who devoted themselves to private prayer notwithstanding their many and great worldly employments Witness the prosperity outward flourishing estates of Moses Abraham Isaac Jacob Nehemiah David Daniel and Cornelius these were much with God in their Closets and God blest their blessings to them how Gen. 22. 17 did their cups over flow what signall favours did God heape upon them and theirs No families have been so prospered protected and graced as theirs who have maintained secret communion with God in a Corner Private prayer 1 Chron. 11. 9. doth best expedite our temporal affairs he that prayes well in his Closet shall be sure to speed well in his Shop or at his Plough or 1 Tim. 4. 8. what-ever else he turns his hand unto 'T is true Abimelech was rich as well as Abraham and so was Laban rich as well as Jacob and Saul was a King as well as David and Julian was an Emperour as well as Constantine But 't was only Abraham Jacob David and Constantine who had their blessings blest unto them all the rest had their blessings curst unto them they had many Prov. 3. 33. Mal. 2. 2. good things but they had not the good will of him that dwelt in the Bush with what they had and therefore all their mercies were but bitter-sweets unto them Though all the sons of Jacob returned laden from Gen. 43. Aegypt with corn and money in their sacks yet Benjamin only had the silver cup in the mouth of his sack So though the men of the world have their Corn and their Money c. yet 't is only God's Benjamin's that have the silver Cup the Grace-Cup the Cup of blessing as the Apostle calls 1 Cor. 10. 16 it for their portion O sirs as ever you would prosper and flourish in the world as ever you would have your water turn'd into wine your temporal mercies into spiritual benefits be much with God in your closets But Thirdly I answer 'T is ten to one but that the objecter every day fools away or trifles away or idles away or sins away one hour in a day and why then should he object the want of time There are none that toyle and moyle and busie themselves most in their worldly imployments but doe Myrmecides a famous Artist spent more time in making a Bee than an unskilful workman would do to build a house Plutarch spend an houre or more in a day to little or no purpose either in gazing about or in dallying or toying or dourting or in telling of stories or in busying themselves in other mens matters or in idle visits or in smoaking the Pipe c. And why then should not these men redeem an hours time in a day for private prayer out of that time which they usually spend so vainly and idly can you notwithstanding all your great worldly imployments find an hour in the day to catch flyes in as Domitian the Emperour did and to play the fool in and cannot you find an hour in the day to wait on God in your closets There were three special faults whereof Cato professed himself to have seriously repented one was passing by water when he might have gone by land another was trusting a secret in a womans bosome but the main was spending an hour unprofirably This heathen will one day rise up in Judgment against them who notwithstanding their great imployments spend many hours in a week unprofitably and yet cry out with the Duke of Alva that they have so much to do on earth that they have no time to look up to heaven 'T was a base and sordid spirit in that King Sardanapalus who spent much of his time amongst women in spinning and carding which should have been spent in Ruling and governing his Kingdome So 't is a base sordid spirit in any to spend any of their time in toying and trifling and then to cry out that they have so much business to do in the World that they have no time for closet-prayer they have no time to serve God nor to save their own precious and immortal souls But Fourthly I answer No man dares plead this objection before the Lord Jesus in the great day of account And why then should any man be so childish foolish so â—ccl 11. 9. Rom 14. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 10. ignorant impudent to plead that before men which is not pleadable before the Judgment seat of Christ O sirs as you love your souls and as you would be happy for ever never put off your own consciences nor others with any plea's arguments or objections now that you dare not own and stand by when you shall lye upon a dying bed and when you shall appear before the whole court of heaven c. In the great day of account when the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest and God shall call men to a reckoning before Angels Men and Devils for the neglect of private prayer all giulty persons will be found speechless there will not be a man or woman found that shall dare to stand up and say Lord I would have waited upon thee in my closet but that I had so much business to do in the world that I had no time to enjoy secret communion with thee in a Corner 'T is the greatest wisdom in the world to plead nothing by way of excusein this our day that we dare not plead in the great day But.
The eye that sin shuts afflictions open Soul and to mend whatsoever is amiss They are Pills made up by a heavenly hand on purpose to clear our eye-sight 1 Kings 17. 18. And she said unto Elijah what have I to do with thee O thou man of God art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my Son If God had not taken away her Son her sin had not been brought to remembrance It was the Speech of an holy man in his sickness In this Disease said he I have learned how great God is and what the evil of sin is I never knew to purpose what God was before nor what sin was before The Cross opens mens eyes as the tasting of Honey did Jonathans Here as that Martyr phrased it we are still a learning our A B C and our lesson is never past Christs Cross and our walking is still home by weeping Cross But Thirdly The Rod is used to prevent further folly mischief and misery Prov. 23. 13 14 With-hold not correction from the Child for if thou beatest him with the Rod he shall not die Thou shalt beat him with the Rod and shalt deliver his Soul from Hell It is said of the Ape that she huggeth her young ones to death so many fond Parents by not correcting their Children they come to slay their Children The best way to prevent their being scourged with Scorpions in Hell is to chastise them with the Rod here So God takes up the Rod he afflicts and chastiseth his dearest Children but 't is to prevent soul-mischief and misery 't is to prevent pride self-love worldliness c. Paul was 2 Cor. 12. 7 8 9. one of the holiest men that ever lived on earth he was called by some an earthly Angel and yet he needed the Rod he needed a thorn in the flesh to prevent pride witness the doubling of those words in one verse least I should be exalted above measure least I should be exalted above measure If Paul had not been buffetted who knows how highly he might have been exalted in his own conceit Prudent Physitians do often give their Patients Physick to prevent Diseases so doth the Physitian of souls by his dearest Servants Job 33. 17 19. Job 40. 4 5. Hos 2. 6 7. He is chastened also with pain upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong pain That he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man Afflictions are the Lords Drawing-Playsters by which he draws out the core of pride earthliness self-love covetousness c. Pride was one of mans first sins and is still the root and source of all other sins Now to prevent it God many times chastens man with pain yea with strong pain upon his bed Job 34. 31 32. Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born chastisement I will not offend any more That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more The burnt Child dreads the fire Sin is but a bitter sweet 't is an evil worse than Hell it self Look as Salt brine preserves things from putrefying as salt Marshes keep the Sheep from rotting so sanctified Rods sanctified Afflictions preserves and keeps the People of God from sinning But Fourthly The Rod is to purge out that vanity and folly that is bound up in the heart of the Child Prov. 22. 15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a Child but the Rod of correction shall drive it far from him The Rod is an Ordinance as well as the Word and such Parents that use it as an Ordinance praying and weeping over it shall find it effectual for the chasing away of evil out of their Childrens heart Eli and David were two very choice men and yet by their fondness on one hand and neglect of this Ordinance on the other hand they ruined their sons and whether they did not undo their souls I shall not at this time stand to enquire When Moses cast away his Rod it became a Serpent Exod. 4. 3. and so when Parents cast away the Rod of correction 't is ten to one but that their Children become the brood of the Serpent Prov. 13. 24. He that spareth his Rod hateth his son but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes Not only the care but also the cure of the Child so far as the Rod will reach lyes upon the hands of the Parent Now Afflictions are like a Rod in this respect also for as they are sanctified they cleans and purge away the dross the filth and the scumb of the daughter of Zion Isa 1. 25. And I will turn my hand upon thee and purely purge away thy dross and take away all thy tinn Isa 27. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin Dan. 11. 35. And some of them of understanding shall fall that is into great Afflictions to try them and to purge them and to make them white even to the time of the end All the harm the Dan. 3. 23 24. fire did the three Children or rather the three Champions was to burn off their cords Our lusts are cords of vanity but the fire of Affliction shall burn them up Zech. 13. 9. And I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them as Silver is refined and will try them as Gold is tryed they shall call on my name and I will hear them I will say it is my People and they shall say the Lord is my God Sharp Afflictions are a fire to purge out our dross and to make our graces shine they are a potion to carry away ill humours they are cold frosts to destroy the vermine they are a tempestuous Sen to purge the Wine from its lees they are like the North Wind that dryeth up the vapours that purgeth the blood and quickens the spirits they are a sharp Corrosive to eat out the dead flesh Afflictions are compared to Baptizing and washing that takes away the filth of the Soul as water doth the filth of the body Mat. 10. 38 39. God would not rub so hard were it not to fetch out the dirt and spots that be in his Peoples hearts Fifthly The Rod serves to improve that good that is in the Child Prov. 29. 15. The Rod and reproof giveth wisdom but a Child left to himself bringeth his Mother to shame So Afflictions they serve to improve our graces Heb. 12. 10. For they verily for a few dayes ehastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness that is that we might more and more be partakers of his holiness Vers 11. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby Hence 't is that the Saints glory in
Prince that ever sat upon a Throne who was guided by an infallible spirit hath delivered it for a standing maxim above 2000 years agoe That the Righteous is more excellent Prov. 12. 26 than his neighbour When Solomon dropt this Aphorism from his royal pen there was not a man in the world that was legally righteous Adam all his posterity being fallen Psal 14. 1 2 3. Rom. 3. 9 10 11 12. Lam. 5. 16. from all their honour glory dignity and excellency into a most woful Gulf of sin and misery and therefore Solomon must be understood of him that is evangelically righteous He that is evangelically righteous be he Master or servant rich or poor bond or free high or low is more excellent then his neighbour And O that all masters would seriously consider of this that they may carry it no more so proudly so loftily so scornfully so frowardly so strangly so sowrly so bitterly so rigorously towards their pious servants as not to afford them a little time to pour out their souls before the Lord in a corner I have read of Ingo an ancient King of the Draves and Veneds who making a stately feast appointed all his Pagan Nobles to sit in the Hall below and at the same time commanded certain poor Christians to be brought up into his presence Chamber to fit with him at Aenaeus Sylvius cap. 20. Europ Aven lib. 3. Annalium his Table that they might eat of his kingly chear at which many wondering he told them That he accounted Christians though never so poor a greater ornament at his Table and more worthy of his company than the greatest Nobles that were not converted to the Christian faith for saith he when these Pagan Nobles shall be thrust down to Hell these poor Christians shall be my consorts and fellow Princes in Heaven Certainly this noble Prince will one day rise in Judgement against all sowre churlish Labans who carry it so harshly and so severely towards their gracious servants as Ephes 69. that they will not allow them a little time to wait upon God in a hole Why should not gracious masters give their gracious servants a little time for closet prayer now considering that they are sharers with them in all the fundamental good that comes by Christ in this world and considering that they shall be partakers with them in all the glory of another world The Every man hath two things to look unto more than all the world be side a body and a soul for the one ery one is either a Fool or a Physitian for the other either a Devil or a Divine saith one poorest servant in a family hath a soul more precious than heaven and earth and the greatest work that lies upon his hand in this world is to look to the eternal safety security of that for if that be safe all is safe if that be well all is well but if that be lost all is lost Every gracious servant though he be never so poor and mean yet hath he the image of God the image of the King of Kings stampt upon him and wo to him that shall wrong or despise or trample upon that image Certainly God himself is wronged by the injury that is done to his image The contempt and despite that is done to the image or coyn of a King is done to the King himself and accordingly he will revenge it If it was a capital crime in Tiberâ—us his dayes to carry the image of Augustus upon a Ring or Coyn into any sordid place as Suetonius saith it was what crime must it be in those masters who despise revile reproach scorn abuse and tread under foot such servants as have the image of the great God stampt upon their souls and all because they look God-ward Christ-ward Heaven-ward Holiness-ward Duty-ward Masters should never twit their servants in the Prov. 22. 2. Chap. 17. 5. teeth with their inferiority penury poverty misery mean parentage or servile condition but remember that these things are more the Creators pleasure than the servants fault and that that God that hath made the master rich and the servant poor can as quickly make the master poor and the servant rich God many times puts down Luke 1. 52. the mighty from their seats and exalts them of low degree Certainly no master nor mistress should dare to insult or triumph over such servants as have souls as noble as their own but they should seriously and frequently consider of Solomons Aphorisme The righteous though a servant though the meanest amongst all the servants is more excellent than his neighbour and accordingly give them a little time and liberty to converse with God in secret And O that all gracious servants would discover themselves to be more excellent than their neighbours by making more conscience of private prayer than their neighbours do and by being more in their closets than their neighbours are and by delighting themselves in their secret retirements more than their neighbours will and by redeeming some time for God for their souls and for eternity more than their neighbours do But Seventhly I answer That God is only the Lord of time Time is Hab. 2. 3. Dan. 11. 27. 29. 35. Job 7. 1. Psal 102. 13 Eccl. 3. 1. Dan. 2. 21 Isa 60. 22. Job 14. 14. more the Lords than 't is thy masters and therefore 't is no neglecting of thy masters business to take a little time daily for private prayer Times do belong to providence as well as issues and as God is the God of our mercies so he is the Lord of our times My times are in thy hands saith David Psal 31. 15. Not only the times of his sorrows but also the times of his comforts not only the times of his miseries but also the times of his mercies not only the times of his dangers but also the times of his duties were in the hands of God 'T is observable the Psalmist doth not say time but times in the plural to shew that every point and period of time depends upon the hand of God One complaining of those who say Come let us talk together to pass away the time with grief of spirit Bernard Serm. de tripl custod cryes out O donec praetereat hora c. O until the hour be gone O until time be past which the mercy of thy maker hath bestowed upon thee to performe repentance to procure pardon to gain grace and to obtain glory That servant that borrows a little time every day to seek the face of God in a corner borrows it rather of God than of his master and therefore why should his master swell or rage or complain considering that God never made him Lord of time But Eighthly I answer That servants should rather redeem time from their sleep their recreations their daily meals than neglect closet duty a day And certainly those servants that out of conscience towards
deserve to be burnt to ashes There are none so humble as they that have neerest communion with God Jacob was a man that Gen. 28. 10 18. had much private communion Gen. 32. 24 to 31. with God and a man that was very little in his own eyes Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant or as the Hebrew hath it I am less than Gen. 31. 38 41. all thy mercies When Jacob had to deal with Laban he pleads his merit but when he hath to do with God he debaseth himself below the least of his mercies Moses was a man that had much private communion with God as I have formerly evidenced and a man that was the meekest and humblest person in all the world Numb 12. 3. Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men that were upon the face of the earth Josephus writing of Moses saith if he may be believed that he was so free from passions that he knew no such thing in his own soul he only knew passions by their names and saw them in others but felt them not in himself And so when the glory of God appeared to him he falls upon his face Numb 16. 22. in token of humility and self-abasing David was a man that had much private communion with God as is granted on all hands and how greatly doth he debase himself and vilifie himself 1 Sam. 26. 20. The King of Israel is come out to seek a flea and what more weak and contemptible than a flea So Chap. As Nazianzen said of Athanasius He was high in worth and humble in heart 24. 14. After whom is the King of Israel come out after whom dost thou pursue after a dead dog after a flea As if David had said 'T is not worth the while the labour 't is below the Dignity and Honour of the King of Israel to take such pains and to pursue so violently after such a poor nothing as I am who hath no more strength nor power to bite or hurt than a dead dog or a poor flea hath So Psal 226. But I am a worm and no man Now what is more weak what less regarded what more despicable what more trampled under-foot than a poor worm The Hebrew word Tolagnath that is here rendred worm signifies very little worm such as breed in Scarlet which are so little that a man can scarcely see them or perceive them Thus you see that holy David debaseth himself below a worm yea below the least of worms No man sets so low a value upon himself as he doth who hath most private communion with God The four and twenty Elders cast down their crowns at the feet of Jesus Christ Rev. 4. 10 11. Their Crowns note all their inward and outward dignities excellencies and Anstin being once asked what was the first grace answered humility what the second humility what the third humility glories and the casting down of their Crowns notes their great humility and self-debasement When Christians in their Closets and out of their Closets can cast down their crowns their duties their services their graces their enlargments their enjoyments c. at the feet of Jesus Christ and sit down debasing and lessening of themselves then certainly they have had a very neer and sweet communion with God Chrysostome hath a remarkable saying of Humility Suppose saith he that a man were defiled with all manner of sin and enormity yet humble and another man enriched with gifts graces and duties yet proud the humble sinner were in a safer condition than this proud Saint VVhen a man can come off from Closet-duties and say as Ignatius once said of himself Non sum dignus dici minimus I am not worthy to be called the least then certainly he hath had fellowship with God in them All the Communion that the creature hath with God in his Closet is very soul-humbling and soul-abasing In all a mans communion with God some beams some rayes of the glory and majesty of God will shine forth upon his soul Now all divine manifestations are very humbling and abasing as you may cleerly see in those two great instances of Job and Isaiah Job 42. 5 6. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee Wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Isa 6. 1 5. In the year that King Vzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the Temple Then said I wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts What sweet communion had Elias with God in the low cave There was a Gentlewoman of no ordinary quality or breeding who being much troubled in mind and sadly deserted by God could not be drawn by her husband or any other Christian friends either to hear or read any thing that might work for her spiritual advantage at last her husband by much importunity prevailed so far with her that she was willing he should read one Chapter in the Bible to her so he read that Isa 57. and when he came to the fifteenth vers For thus saith the high lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones O sayes she is it so that God dwells with a contrite and humble spirit then I am sure he dwells with me for my heart is broken into a thousand pieces O happy text and happy time that ever I should hear such comfort and she was thereupon recovered The more communion any man hath with God the more humble and broken his heart will be Holy Bradford was a man that Fox his Acts and Mon. had much private communion with God and he would many times subscribe himself in his letters John the hypocrite and a very painted sepulchre Agur was one of the wisest and holiest men on the earth in his dayes and he condemned Pro. 30. 2. himself for being more brutish than any man and not having the understanding of a man How sweet is the smel of the lowly Violet that hides his head above all the gaudy Tulips that be in your garden The lowly Christian is the most amiable and the most lovely Christian VVhen a man can come out of his Closet and cry out with Augustine I hate that which I am and love and desire that which I am not Oh wretched man that I am in whom the Cross of Christ hath not yet eaten out the poysonous and bitter tast of the first tree Or as another saith Lord I see and yet am
James 5. 7 8. wait for the return of his ships and shall the Wife wait for the return of her Husband that is gone a long journey and shall not a Christian wait for the return of his prayers Noah patiently waited for the return of the Dove to the Ark with an Olive branch in his mouth So must you patiently wait for the return of your prayers When children shoot their Arrows they never mind where they fall but when prudent Archers shoot their Arrowes up into the aire they stand and watch where they fall You must deal by your prayers as prudent Archers do by their Arrowes Hab. 2. 1. I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the Tower and will watch to see what he will say unto me The Prophet in the former Chapter having been very earnest in his expostulations and very fervent in his supplications he gets now upon his Watch-Tower to see what becomes of his prayers he stands as a sentinel and watches as vigilantly and as carefully as a spy a scout earnestly longing to hear and see the event the issue and success of his prayers That Christian that in prayer hath one eye upon a divine precept and another upon a gracious promise that Christian will be sure to look after his prayers He that prayes and waits and waits and prayes shall Psal 40. 1 2 3 4. be sure to speed he shall never fail of rich returns He that can want as well as wait and he that can be contented that God is glorified though he be not gratified he that dares not antedate Gods promises but patiently wait for the accomplishment of them he may be confident that he shall have seasonable and suitable answers to all those prayers that he hath posted away to heaven Though God seldome comes at our time yet he never fails to come at his own time He that shall come will come Heb. 10. 37. and will not tarry The mercies of God are not styled the swift but the sure mercies of David He that makes as much Conscience to Isa 55. 3. look after his prayers as to pray he shall shortly clap his hands for joy and cry out with that blessed Mr. Glover Acts mon. Martyr He is come Austin he is come he is come Certainly there is little worth in that mans heart or in that mans prayers who keeps up a trade of prayer but never looks what becomes of his prayers When you are in your Closets marshal your prayers see that every prayer keeps his place and ground and when you come out of your closets then look up for an answer only take heed that you be not too hasty and hot with God Though mercy in the promise be yours yet the time of giving it out is the Lords and therefore you must wait as well as pray And thus much by way of counsel and advice for the better carrying on of Closet-prayer I have now but one thing more to do before I shut up this discourse and that is to lay down some means rules or directions that may be of use to help you on in a faithful and conscientious discharge of this great duty viz. Closet-prayer And therefore thus First As ever you would give up your selves to private prayer Take heed of an idle and sloathful spirit If Adam in the state of Innocency must work and dress the Garden and if after his fall when he was Monarch of all the world he must yet labour why should any be idle or sloathful Idleness is a sin against the law of Creation God creating man to labour the idle person violates this Law of Creation for by his idleness he casts off the authority of his Creator who made him for labour Idleness is a contradiction to the August de Gen ad lit lib. 8. cap. 8. principles of our Creation Man in Innocency should have been freed from weariness but not from employment he was to dress the Garden by divine appoyntment And the Lord God took the man and put Gen. 2. 15. him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it All weariness in labour and all vexing tyring and tormenting labour came in by the fall In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat Gen. 3. 19. bread The bread of idleness is neither sweet nor sure An idle person shall suffer Pro. 19. 15. hunger saith Solomon An idle life an holy heart are far enough asunder By doing nothing saith the Heathen man men learn to do evil things It is easie slipping out of an idle life into an evil and wicked life yea an idle life is of it self evil for man was made to be active not to be idle The Cyclopes thought mans happiness did consist in nihil agendo in doing nothing But no excellent thing 1 Cor. 1. 17. Eph. 4. 28. 2 Thes 3. 10 12. can be the child of idleness Idleness is a mother sin a breeding sin 't is pulvinar diaboli the devils cushion on which he sits the devils anvile on which he frames very great and very many sins Look as Toads and Serpents breed most in standing waters so sin thrives most in idle persons Idleness is that which provokes the Lord to forsake mens bodies and the Devil to possess their souls No man hath less means to preserve his body and more temptations to infect his soul than an idle person O shake off sloth The sluggish Christian will be sleeping or idling or trifling when he should be in his closet a praying Sloth is the Green-sickness of the soul get it cured or 't will be your eternal bane Of all Devils 't is the idle Devil that keeps men most out of their Closets There is nothing that gives the devil so much advantage against us as idleness 'T was Hierom. ep 4. good counsel that Jerom gave to his friend Facito aliquid operis ut te semper Diabolus inveniat occupatum that when the Devil comes with a temptation you may answer him you are not at leasure It was the speech of Mr. Greenham sometimes a famous painful preacher of this nation that when the Devil tempted a poor soul she came to him for advice how she might resist the temptation and he gave her this answer Never be idle but be alwayes well employed for in my own experience I have found it when the Devil came to tempt me I told him that I was not at leasure to hearken to his temptations and by this means I resisted all his assaults Idleness is the hour of temptation and an idle person is the Devils Tennis-Ball tossed by him at his pleasure He that labours said the old Hermite is tempted but by one Devil but he that is idle is assaulted by all Cupid complained that he could never fasten upon the Muses because he could never find them idle The Fowler bends his bow and spreads his net for Birds when they are set not when