though the Apostles preached and celebrated the Lord's Supper on other Dates of the Week yet why are the4se Things mentioned as done on that Day particularly and remarkably unless it were for some singular Eminency of this above any other Day and because they were bound to do those Duties on this Day more than on any other And the Apostle gave express Order that †1 Cor. 16. 1 2. the Collection for the Saints a Work especially fit for a Sabbath-Day should be made particularly on the first Day that is [d] Beza in loc every first Day of the Week which was the fore-ordain'd and customary Day of the Christian religious Church Assemblies Vpon or [e] Bp. of VV. Opuse Speech against Mr. Trask p. 73. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the VVord is used Mark 15.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sense is against the Feast against the first Day of the Week every Person was to lay apart what God should move and encline him to offer The Preparation and Separation of it was to be at home every Week but the Collation and Contribution to be in the Publick Congregation every Lord's Day For [f] Hammond's Par. it was not reasonable for any to come to the Lord * Exod. 23.15 Deut. 16.16 empty upon the Day of the most solemn Christian Assembly And this Day was appointed for the Oblation of their Alms because of the inestimable Benefits and infinite good Things we this Day had bestowed upon us And the Church of Christ has constantly observ'd this high Day ever since the Apostles Daies and spent it in Reading Exhortation Praier Sacraments [g] Si die Solis laetitiae indulgemus alia longe ratione quà m religione Solis secundo loco ab eis sumus qui diem Saturni otto victus â—ecernunt exorbitantes ipsi à Judaico more quem ignorant Tertul. Apol. c. 16 The Primitive Christians were suspected to worship the Sun because they used to celebrate the Sunday It was an [h] Bp. of VV. Speech in the Star-Chamber Opusc p. 74. usual Question put of old by the Heathen to the Christians before ever they offer'd to torture and martyr them Num Dominicum servasti Did you keep the Lord's Day To which they answer'd Christianus sum intermittere non possum I am a Christian and dare not omit or give over the Observation of it This is a Day in which God is to be solemnly worshipped and served and Christ to be pbulickly magnified and glorified A special Season to be laid hold on a particular Opportunity to be improved for our Soul's Good This is a special Day of Grace in which as I may say the Mint is going and in which we may take our Stamp of Holinefs [i] VVhole duty of man Partit 2. sect 18. This is the gainfullest the joyfullest Day of the Week a Day of Harvest wherein we are to lay up in store for the whole Week nay for our whole Lives This is a Market-day for our Souls in which we may trade for Eternity This is a Day in which we may hear and understand the Things that belong unto our Peace Pious and pathetical is that of the divine and holy Mr. Herbert Sunday O Day most calm most bright The Week were dark but for thy Light Thy Torch doth show the way Sundaies They are the fruitful Beds and Borders In God's rich Garden that is bare Which parts their Ranks and Orders On Sunday Heaven's Gate stands ope Blessings are plentiful and rife More plentiful than Hope This is a Day in which the most precious Commodities that ever the World saw or heard of are set forth in which the Riches and Treasures of the Gospel are opened Christ himself offered his Merit and Spirit tendred Pardon and Grace Light and Life Strength and Comfort held out and exhibited This is a Day in which no Pandora's Box is opened but in which the Cabinet of God's Jewels is unlocked and his precious Gifts and Graces dispensed This is a Day in which a spiritual Mart a divine Fair is publickly kept in which with the wise Virgins we may buy Oil for our Lamps buy spiritual Eye-salve to anoint our Eyes that we may see as our Saviour counsels excellently buy the Truth as the wise Man advises us and be perswaded so well to like it as never to sell or part with it buy Wine and Milk and Bread to fill and satisfy our empty hungry and thirsty Souls buy white Rainment that we may be clothed and that the Shame of our Nakedness may not appear buy the Christian 's compleat Armour that we may be furnished for our Warfare and well provided against the Assaults of our Spiritual Enemies buy Gold tried in the Fire that we may be rich yea in which we may buy the Pearl of Price in which we may receive and lay hold on Christ and all his Benefits and embrace and apply the great and precious Promises of the Gospel This is a Day in which the Word of God's Grace is opened and applyed and the holy Sacraments the Seals of the Covenant frequently administred in which we have the Priviledg of hearing God speaking unto Sinners and wooing and beseeching Rebels to be reconciled and in which we may enjoy the glorious Liberty of speaking our selves to God with an holy Boldness at the Throne of Grace and pouring out with one Accord our Supplications and Souls in Praier to him This is a Day of solemn Rest from servile Offices and worldly Works A Time of drawing nigh to God and of meeting the Lord in his own Ordinances of joining with the Saints and Servants of God in the Worship of God in Praiers to God and the Praises of him of having Communion and Fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ through the blessed Spirit and of enjoying a kind of Heaven here upon Earth The Lord's Day you see is a special Season of Grace and Mercy O let 's be spiritually thrifty of this Opportunity Let 's not live as if we were of the same Mind with the modern carnal Jews who think as the learned [k] Tempore Sabbati matutino non tam citò quà m solent alias cubitu surgentes in lucem multam voluptatis certè magis quà m Sabbati debitè colendi causâ stertunt Quantò enim voluptatis isti plus percipiunt tantò se devotrùs Sabbatum colere statuunt Buxtorf Synag Judaic c. 11. initio Buxtorf tells us that sleeping excessively on their Sabbath is a great Honour dòne to God Let 's not content our selves with an idle Rest Let our Rest be the Rest [l] Lawson's Theo-Pol p. 179. of Men and not of Beasts and the Rest of holy Men as holy Let 's not only cease from secular Works but exercise our rational and spiritual Faculties in heavenly and divine Employments and set our selves to Works of Piety Charity and Mercy Let us redeem this Time out of the Hands of
the Devil the World and our own carnal cozening corrupt Hearts Do not offer to work the Works of your Calling the Works of the Flesh the Works of the Devil on the Lord's Day Take heed of serving the Devil more upon the Lord's Day than on any other Day than on all the Days of the Week besides Let not the Lord's Day be leisure for the Devil as if the first Day of the Week were Daemoniacus potiùs quà m Dominicus the Devil 's and not the Lord's Day Let not any Temptations or Delusions of Satan keep and detain us from the publick Ordinance divert our Attention at it and hinder our Spiritual Benefit by it Let not any Recreations and sensual Pleasures upon this Day especially hinder the Performance or Family-Duties and private religious Exercises Let not vain Thoughts this Day lodge within us and justle out heavenly Meditations Let not worldly impertinent Discourses upon this Day shut out more profitable Christian Conferences The Lord's Day it is the most considerable Advantage the most notable Opportunity that is afforded us and the best Price that is put into our Hands all the Week long You have several Market-daies in the Week for civil Affairs and worldly interests but you have this one only for spiritual and eternal Interests and Advantages O do not neglect so great Salvation as is this Day offered and tendred to you Having such an excellent Price in your Hands O be not such Fools as not to make a good and a right Use of it [m] Mr. Valentine Marshal in his Preface before Capel's Remains Mr. Richard Capel pressing the strict Observation of the Lord's Day would usually say that we should go to sleep that Night with Meat in our Mouths as it were The Lord's-day being our best Opportunity if we mis-spend that we cannot be said to redeem the Time Now that we may redeem the Lord's-day to good Effects and useful Purposes let us not be wanting to put our selves in a sit Preparation for the due Observation of it not only by previous Meditation of the Day and the Duties of it but by ordering aright the constant Course of our Conversation and labouring for habitual Sanctification Let us every Day live as those that expect to have Communion with God the next Lord's-day Let us act so regularly all the Week that nothing may be done by us which may breed any strangeness between God and us and hinder our delightful Converse with him on his own Day that on that sacred separated Day we may not bring the fresh Guilt of any gross and wilful Sin along with us which may make us blush and be ashamed to come into his Presence Let us walk so circumspectly every Day that upon the Return of his own Day we may meet him with a pure and clear Conscience with clean Hands and clean Hearts and may be made joyful in his House of Praier That we may keep the Lord's-day holy let us strive and study to live holily all the Week and be so provident and diligent as to finish and dispatch in the six Daies all kinds of secular Works and common Employments that no Sin committed on the one hand nor any Business of our Calling omitted on the other may disturb and slacken our Attention distract and discompose us in the Exercise of our Devotion but that we may cheerfully and fruitfully spend the Lord's-day in the Lord's Work Let us every Day carry our selves so spiritually and perform our Closet and Family religious Duties so conscionably and constantly that we may be the fitter and readier to spend this choice select Day in the solemn Worship and Service of God and may go through the several Duties of it with less Tediousness and more Delight Let us be with God some part of every Day that so we may grow into Acquaintance with him and may taste the Sweetness and experience the Gainfulness of Communion with him and long for the return of the Lord's-day that we may meet and enjoy him in the publick Ordinances and have Opportunity of larger and freer Converse with him Let us pray to God every Day that so by using our selves to the Duty we may be the better disposed to join in Praier with the Congregation on the Lord's-day Let us read the Bible every Day and daily do whatever we know to be our Duty and this will make us more apt to hear and the better prepared to receive the Word that is preached on the Lord's-day And when the Lord's-day comes let us get up as early as may be that so we may have the more Time before us to work the Work of God in And take some Pains to prepare our selves in private for our better Attendance upon the publick Ordinances and timely [n] Quisquis incolit civitatem in qua extat Synagoga inibi non precatur cum coetis publico is est qui meritò dicitur malus vicinus Dictum Maimonidis resort to the Place of publick Meeting Follow the Counsel of holy Mr. Herbert [o] The Church-porch p. 14. Sundaies observe think when the Bells do chime 'T is Angel's Musick therefore come not late God then deals Blessings if a King did so Who would not haste nay give to see the Show O be drest Stay not for th' other Pin why thou hast lost A Joy for it worth Worlds Thus Hell doth jest Away thy Blessings and extreamly flout thee Thy Clothes being fast but thy Soul loose about thee And when thou art come into the Church watch over thy Behaviour there make thy self all Reverence and Fear Open thy Ears but shut thy Eies to all distracting Objects [n] The Church-Porch p. 15. Who marks in Church-time others Symmetry Makes all their Beauty his Deformity As the same Divine Poet pathetically expresses it Let God and Angels see your most devout Behaviour and serious Composure the whole Time of Praier And give all diligent close Attention to the Word of god read and preach'd Do not carp and catch jest and jear at the Preacher's Language or Expression Do not shew by your vain and prophane Carriage your ridiculous Gestures and unseemly Actions your Laughing and Whispering Toying and Talking that you slight and contemn the [o] God calleth Preaching folly Do not grudg to pick out Treasures from an earthen Pot. The Church-Porch p. 15. Foolishness of Preaching And when on the Lord's-day the Lord's Table is richly furnish'd with a spiritual Banquet make not needless and frivolous Excuses to absent your selves from this Marriage-feast If any croud in that have not a Wedding-Garment let not this make you stay out that have one Lose not your Portion of this heavenly Food because of others impreparation Though others eat and drink their own Damnation let your Faith feed on Christ to your own Salvation By your frequent receiving of this Sacrament shew your real Sense of your own need of it your high prizing and valuation of it your
Disposition and a stronger habitual Inclination to be and to do good A young Saint and an old Devil is a cursed and an absurd Proverb There is the greatest fear that a young Devil will prove an old Beelzebub Who can ever expect that a Tree that is [e] Aestatis tempus est fructificandi tempus Quae aestate steriles est hyeme foecunda non erit Muscul barren in the Summer should bare and bring forth Fruit in the Winter It is said of the Trees of Righteousness that they shall bring forth Fruit * Psal 92.14 in old Age not then begin to do it but shall continue still to do it †Lam. 3.27 It is good for a Man that he bear the Yoke in his Youth It is true of the Yoke of Christ They that bear it in their Youth there is hope they will count it an easie Yoke and not offer to throw it off afterwards [f] Fingit equum teuâ—râ dociteni cervice magister Ire viam quam monstrat eques Venaticus ex quo Tempore cerviuam pelem latravit in aula Militat in sylvis catulus Nunc adhibe puro Pectore verba puer nunc te melioribus offer ‖ Prov. 22.6 Train up a Child in the Way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it [g] Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu Horat. ep lib. 1. ep 2. What the Vessel is first season'd withal it will have a taste of a long Time after Remember God in your Youth and you will hardly forget him ever after 5. Consider once more 't is plain and evident some young ones have redeem'd the Time of their Youth do you follow and imitate their Example Holy David was able to say * Psal 71.5 Thou art my Hope O Lord God thou art my Trust from my Youth †1 Kings 18.12 Good Obadiah feared the Lord from his Youth It is said of Abijah the Child of Jeroboam that in him there was found some good Thing some Seeds of true Piety toward the Lord God of Israel that is in regard of the Worship of God and it is the Commendation of this young Man that he was not only truly Godly but pious and religious in a wicked and flagitious ‖ 1 Kings 14.13 Jeroboam's House You know (*) 1 Sam. 2 18. Samuel in his Childhood ministred before the Lord. And (†) 2 Tim. 3.15 1 Tim. 1.18 Timothy [h] Hoc non vulgare erat adjumentum quò là pueritia assuefactus erat Scripture lectioni nam hac longa exercitatio muitò instructâ—orem reddere hominem potest adversùs omnes circumventiones Itaque prudenter olim cautum fuit ut qui dest nâ—bantur verbi Ministerio à pueris erudirentur in solidiore pictatis doctrinâ— ad Oque sacras literas penitus imbiberet ne ad ipsum munus accederent novi adhuc tyrones Atque hoc in singulari Dei beneficio ponendum est si quis it à fuerit à teneris Scripture cognitione imbutus Cal. in in 2 ep ad Tim c. 3.15 from a Child had known the holy Scriputres He began betime in Religion in holy Learning and Knowledg and gave such Proofs of forwardness therein whence it might be and was prophesied concerning him that he would become an eminent Instrument in the Church of God in communicating to others the Light of saving Knowledg wherein himself so early had made so good a Beginning so great a Progress We read of the elect Lady's Children ‖ 2 ep Joh. 4. walking in Truth that is in Sincerity and Integrity of Faith and Manners or ordering their Actions as the Truth prescribes and living according to the Rule of the Gospel Our Saviour Christ was early about his Father's Business we find him at it * Luke 2.42 49. at twelve Years old †2 Chron. 34.1 2 3. 'T is said of that good King Josiah that in the eighth Year of his Reign which was the [i] Adolescens jam regiae administrâ—tionis factus compos nam tutela durabat and finem anni 13. simulaique ad regni gubernâ—tionem libertoren pervenit Synoâ—s Crit. in 2 Par 34.3 sixteenth Year of his Age while he was yet young he began to seek after God Certainly his Heart was seasoned with the Fear of God in his Childhood when first he began to reign But now in his Youth as soon as he could get the Reins of Government in his Hand he began to seek after God that is to endeavour the Setling of the true Religion and publicly to manifest his Faith in God and Zeal for his Glory And in the twelfth Year when he had attained to more Authority he began to act most vigorously against Idolatry And in the eighteenth Year he had quite purged the Land and the House of the Lord. v. 8. And it 's well known concerning our English Josiah King Edward the sixth that he was most exemplarily holy in the Daies of his Youth How did he honour the Bible and Word of God! [k] Fuller's Church-History 7th Book p. 424. When one of his Play-fellows proffer'd him a bossed-plate â— Bible to stand upon and heighten him to take down somewhat he desired which then stood above his Reach perceiving it a Bible with holy Indignation he refused it and sharply reproved the Owner thereof as counting it unfit to trample that under his Feet which he was to treasure up in his Head and Heart And upon the Day that he was crowned King of England when three Swords were oâ—â—ered him to signify that he was King of three Kingdoms England France and Irland [l] Wolsins Lection Memorab he is reported to have sad There is one Sword wanting yet and being asked what that was he said it was the Bible that Book is the Sword of the Spirit sa d he far to be preferred before all these He was constant fervent and successful in his private Devotions [m] Fuller loc cit p. 415. How did his faithful Prayer wonderfully recover Sr. John Cheek his School-master who by his Physicians was quite given over for a dead Man How did he promote and carry on the Reâ—ormation of Religion from Idolatry and Superscition in this Land and Nation And when the Emperour Charles the fifth sent an Embaâ—â—adour with a menacing Message of War in case his Cousin the Lady Mary should not be admitted the free exercise or the Mass and the Counc I thinking it fit to gratify the Emperour engaged arch-Bishop Cranmer and Bishop Ridley to press the King with Polâ—tick Reasons for the toleration thereof the King refused upon Scripture-Grounds to condescend there into and when he found them still urgent and very importunate with him at last he â—ilenced them with his Tears and stopt their arguing with his Weeping and forc'd them to weep in company with him It is [o] Hi Life p. 218 220. reported of the early
hearty Thankfulness to Christ for it your Obedience to your Lord who does not only vouchsafe it as a Priviledge but command it as a Duty Do this in Remembrance of me Perform this easie sweet Command of thy dying Lord and Saviour who has freed and delivered thee by his Death from the heavy Yoke and grievous Bondage of Jewish Sacrifices and Observances O let our Hearts at such a Time be broken and bleed at the Remembrance of our Sins which brake Christ's Body and shed his Blood Behold in the Sacrifice and bloody Death of Christ represented in this Sacrament the odiousness and baseness of your own Sins and resolve to be the Death of that which was the Death of Christ and rather to die than willingly to do that for which Christ died Abhorr the Thoughts of wilfully choosing so great an Evil as once brought so great a Punishment upon so great a Person as the holy Jesus the well-beloved Son of God Consider seriously upon this Occasion that if God would not spare Christ when he who knew no Sin was by voluntary charitable Assumption of our Guilt to answer for our Sins to be sure then he will not spare us if we wilfully run on in Sin and obstinately allow our selves therein notwithstanding so convincing a Demonstration of his sin-hating Holiness and vindicative Justice Upon due Meditation draw this Conclusion which is the excellent Reasoning of the [p] Facilis est collectio si Deus ne resipiscentibus quidem peccata remittere voluit nisi Christo in poenas succedente multò minùs inultos sinet contumaces Grot. de Satisfact Christi learned Grotius that if God would not pardon the Sins no not of penitent Persons unless Christ did substitute himself in their Room and stand in their Stead to bear the Punishment much less will he suffer unreclaimable Rebels and contumacious Sinners to go unpunished When Christ is set forth in this Sacrament crucified before your Eies think how he intended and aimed at our Mortification and Sanctification in his Death and Passion * Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works †Pet. 2.4 Who his own self bare our Sins in his own Body on the Tree that we being dead to Sin should live unto Righteousness Let us yield that Christ should have his End in his Death and never allow our selves to live in Sin which will render us uncapable of receiving the Benefit of Christ's Death Think how the Unholiness of our Lives is a greater wrong to Christ than the Jews being the very Death of him because as the [q] D. Jackson Vol. 3. p. 343 344 345. learned Dr. Jackson notes it is more against the Will and Liking and good Pleasure of our Saviour whose Will was regulated by Reason and was a constant Rule of Goodness for though a painful shameful Death and that inflicted by his own People went much against his human Will yet he chose rather to die and to suffer the most afflictive Circumstances of Death for us than to suffer us to live and die in our Sins and in the Servitude and Power of Satan Shall we pretend when we approach to the Table of our Lord affectionately to remember a loving dying Saviour and to desire to have his Memory continued and transmitted to Posterity and yet so much forget him upon the return of any Temptation as to repeat that which was the Death of him Shall we weep at the Sacrament and seem to be hugely troubled for those Sins which were the Cause of Christ's Sorrows and yet go about again to destroy and to crucify Christ afresh Shall we commemorate at the Lord's Supper our wonderful Redemption by the precious Blood of Christ and when we have done shall we do the Devil more work and service than the Lord Christ O what a Reproach is this to Christ and what a Sport to the Devil that they that pretend to remember Christ's Dying for them should not find in their hearts to live to him [q] Ego pro istis quos mecum vides nec alapas accepi nec flagella sustinui nec crucem pertuli nec sanguinem fudi nec familiam meam pretio passionis cruoris redemi sed nec regnum illis coeleste promitto nec ad paradisum restitutâ immortalitate denuò revoco Tuos tales Christe demonstra vix tui meis pereuntibus adaequantur qui à te divinis mercedibus praemiis coelestibus honorantur Cypr. de Opere Eleemosynis p. 220. St. Cyprian brings in the Devil boasting and bragging against our Saviour and insulting over us silly and sinful Wretches in this manner I have endured no Buffetings nor born Smitings with the Palms of Men's Hands I have suffer'd no Scourgings nor under-gon the Cross for any of these nor have I redeem'd my Family with the Price of my Passion and Blood-shedding yet shew me O Christ so many so busy so painful so dutiful Servants of thine as I am able to shew thee every where of mine Bring forth if thou canst such a Number of Persons who devote themselves and give their Labours Estates and Time to thee as I can easily produce of those who do all this to me When thou professest to remember that Christ died for thee O die to that for which he died Offer thy self to him and lay out thy self for him who once offered himself for us and in the Sacrament offers himself to us Think no Duty too much for him For Shame for Shame do not serve any longer a bloody Murtherer instead of a blessed Saviour and merciful Redeemer Let our Thoughts and Meditations dwell upon the Demonstration given us in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper of Christ's exceeding incomparable Love to Mankind See there how contrary the sweet and kind Nature of Christ is to the cruel and execrable Nature of the old Tyrant the Devil For as the learned [r] His Mystery of Godliness p. 133 245. Dr. More very well observes whereas the Devil who by unjust Vsurpation had got the Government of the World into his own hands tyrannizing with the greatest Cruelty and Scorn that can be imagined over Mankind thirsted after humane Blood and in most Parts of the World required the Sacrificing of Men which could not arise from any thing else but a salvage Pride and Despight against us This new gracious Prince of God's own appointing Christ Jesus was so far from requiring any such villainous Homage that himself became at once one grand and all sufficient Sacrifice for us to expiate the Sins of all Mankind and so to reconcile the World to God Shall not all this disengage us from Sin and Satan and win and gain us over to Christ And let Christ's Death make thee study to do something answerable to the dearest Love of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has
Will you make them labour for you six Daies together and will not you cause them to serve God one Day in seven Be at least as much concern'd in Case of neglect of God's Service as you are at any Time when your own Work and Family-business is neglected Do it for God's sake Shew that you love the Honour of God and not only respect your own Commodity and look to your own Advantage Do it for your Servant's sake Make it their Business to do God Service that they may be approved and rewarded by him Yea do it for your own sake Make your Servants God's faithful Servants that so they may prove more faithful to you and that God may bless them in your Service and that your Work may thrive and succeed in their Hands On this Day especially call thy Family thy whole Family to Family-duties prepare them for and hasten them to the publick Ordinances It is reported of [w] M. Clark in his Life Dr. Chaderton the first Master of Emmanuel-Colledg that he was married three and fifty Years and yet in all that Time he never kept any of his Servants from the Church to dress his Meat saying that he desired as much to have his Servants know God as himself And it was the Custome of the Reverend and pious [x] See his Life among Mr. Clark's Lives of ten Em. Div. Dr. Gouge to forbear providing of Suppers the Eve before that Servants might not be occasioned thereby to sit uplate neither would he suffer any [y] Die Dominicâ ut in festis licet etiam ciborum lautiorem apparatum habere quamvit in eis parandis ne majora impediantur servorum animae detrimentum non necessarium iucurrant summopere curandum est Baxter Meth. Th. part 3. c. 14. p. 172. Servant to stay at home for dressing any Meat upon the Lord's-day for the Entertainment of Friends whether they were mean or great few or many Take your Family to Church along with you and when you return home again examine catechize inform instruct them recapitulate the Sermon read the Scripture and good Books to them whet practical profitable necessary saving Truths on them sing Psalms among them and pray most heartily and affectionately with and for them And you that are Servants who have little leisure most of you on other Daies and who live too many of you in such profane and ungodly Families where you hear not so much as one Praier put up to God nor one Line of the Word of God read nor one serious Word spoken of God all the Week long what reason have you carefully to redeem the Lord's-day to redeem it in publick by devoutly attending to the Prayers that are made and the Word that is both read and preacht in the publick Congregation And to redeem it in private by taking all possible Occasions to retire and go aside by your selves to consider in secret the needs of your Souls to examine your Hearts and States to review your Lives and Actions to humble your selves in Confession of Sin and to pour out your Souls in Prayer for Pardon and Grace to read the Bible and some instructive practical Writings of the most judicious experimental Divines apt to inform your Judgments and to work and prevail upon your Affections to set your selves to meditate of God to draw out and engage your Hearts to God rather than to lavish out and throw away those precious Hours in foolish Talk and frothy Discourse or in gadding abroad and walking idly in the Fields and recreating your Bodies rather than your Souls and in thrusting God and turning Religion wholly out of your Minds and Hearts and nourishing your selves in Ignorance of God and Unacquaintance with him and in Encreasing the Atheism of your Hearts and Lives and hardening your own and others Hearts through the Ensnarements of the World and the Deceitfulness of Sin But it may be you will say you are hard wrought all the Week long and you have reason to take your ease and pleasure and to rest and recreate your tired Bodies one Day in seven that so you may endure your Labour and go through all your Work the better I answer that your very Cessation in any measure from your wonted Labour is an ease and relief to your weary Bodies and that the very change of your Work and Occupation from secular servile Employment to spiritual divine Worship and Service and the Diversion of your Minds from worldly Businesses to the Offices and Exercises of Religion if you would but acquaint your selves with them and use your selves to them would be delightful and refreshing to you And the Peace and Quiet Joy and Comfort of a good Conscience in the faithful Discharge of your Duty to God and a tender Care of your immortal Souls would strengthen and hearten you to bear all the Burthen of the hardest Labours of your domestick Ministeries in consideration that your heavenly Father Lord and Master will accept and reward your Works of Piety and bless and prosper the Works of your Hands in the Houshold-businesses and Family-employments incumbent on you and belonging to you Rather break your Sleep to rise the earlier than lose the Opportunities of that Day Or chuse to leave and live out of those Families in the which you are forced to live without God are debarr'd from his Service and can have no Liberty allowed you to mind God and your Souls on a Day that was purposely ordained and appointed for your spiritual Proficiency and Improvement Let the Poor of this World redeem this Day by taking this Opportunity to labour spiritually for the Meat which perisheth not but endureth to everlasting Life and by hearing the Gospel preach'd in this Season to them to become rich in Faith rich in Grace to know and to partake of the Grace and Favour the Love and Kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ who though he was rich yet for our sakes became poor that we through his Poverty might be made rich You that are poor and mean and low in the World and who cannot take so much Time as others to worship and enjoy God on the Week-Daies see that you well improve this Day Now you are released from secular Businesses and common Services and your Bodies rest from their hard Labours be sure that you spiritually busie and holily employ your selves in the Service of God Let me likewise charge them that are rich in this World to redeem this choicest Part of their Time and in it to endeavour to be rich toward God rich in God to lay up for themselves a Treasure in Heaven to obtain the true certain durable Riches which when they fail will never leave them but when they remove will bear them company into the other World And here let me hint to you of the Gentry what [z] Fuller's Church-Hist B. 11. p. 146. Dr. Paul Michlewait once urged and pressed in a Sermon at the Temple that Gentle-folk of all
many and great Mercies of God towards you and yours and all Mankind are you bound to recount and to be affected with on this Day Ought you not still on this Day to remember and consider and solemnly and heartily to bless God and Christ for the capital Mercies of Creation and Redemption and for the gracious seasonable Sending of the Holy Ghost and to spend some Time in speaking highly and honourably of these Benefits to the Praise of your Maker and Glory of your Redeemer Are not you ignorant of many Things in which you ought to be informed and have not you need then to spend some Part of the Lord's-day in reading the Bible and some select Books of sound Divinity in hearing the Word preach'd and in Conference with godly understanding and well-experienced Christians Are you not too great Strangers to God and your selves and have not you need then to improve some Portion of this Seasonn in Meditation and Self-examination that you may get more Acquaintance with God and your own Hearts Have not you the Sins of the whole Week past to confess to God in secret and to beg the Pardon of every Lord's-day when you have leisure from your bodily Labour is it not fit you should take some pains in conquering the Corruptions and mortisying the Lusts of your own Hearts and in wrestling with God in Praier for his Strength and Grace Can you idle away your Time and take your Pleasure on the Lord's-day when you have Families to inform and Children and Servants to catechize and instruct Let your Consciences tell me whether it be better on the Lord's-day to spend your Time in unnecessary Divertisements in fruitless Visitations in vain and frothy Discourses to talk freely together of worldly Businesses to judg the Preacher to censure your Christian Neighbour Or to commune with your selves and to labour to edify your own Families To teach your Children the Doctrine of Adam's Fall and of the Redemption wrought by Christ To acquaint them what Sin and Corruption they brought with them into the World and how they have encreased it since they came into the World That the Wages of Sin is Death To tell them what Christ has done and suffered to free and deliver them from Sin and Death and what they must do to be capable of partaking of Christ's saving Benefits To ground your Servants in the Principles of Religion To take account what they remember of the Sermons they heard that Day and to examine how they have profited by the publick Ordinances You see what a great deal of Work you have to do and what a little Time you have to do it in You have but one whole Day in seven It concerns you then to be very saving of this whole Day [c] Quicunque hisee sacris ita seriò se excicent ut ipsorum familiae necessitas plani postulat locum nullum relictum esse quaestioni ists carn â—liter de larantium invenient An licitum sit die Dominâ—co aut oftari aut ludere aut epu is aut inanabus aut mundanis non planè necessariis tempus sacrum conterere Et qui serpsum alaos werè novit ut diei negotia commoda oblata verbo divino de rebus sparitio libus aeternis verè credit ipsius altorum ex vera necessitate ut â—â—â—tate interesse percepiet diem totum quantùm fieri potest in sacris colocare neque frustra sine fruge horae moment um essluere sinet Neque niâ—â—ges quaestionem movebit An liceat ludis vel aliis manibus ad perdere quà m An laceat sanguinent sâ—um inaniter fundere aurum oblasum respâ—ere in canum projicere Carnalis quippe pe animus sui rerum spiritualium ignarus disputationum talium author est plerumque promus-condus Baxter Method Theol. part 3 c. 14. P. 172. To be as far from disputing whether it be not lawful to use Recreations and Sports on some Part of it or to employ some Hours of it in any unnecessary worldly Businesses as from putting the Question Whether it be not lawful vainly to spill your own Blood or to make a refusal of Gold that is offer'd you and to cast it contemtuously into the Dirt. 'T will but little avail you to make the utmost worldly Advantage of all the other six Daies if you make not a sufficient spiritual Improvement of this which is more considerable than all the rest What would it profit you if as God made the World in six Daies so you could gain the whole World by working hard the six Daies if by gross neglect of the Lord's-day you at last lost your own Souls The Church of England in her pious and useful Homily of the Time and Place of Praier declares that in the fourth Commandment God has given express Charge that his obedient People should use our [d] And truly it is strange that some who have a dearness yea fondness for some VVords of Jewish Extraction Altar Temple and the like should have such an Antipa by against the Sabbath Fuller's Church-Hiâ—â— B. 11. p. 144. Sabbath-day which is now our Sunday holily and rest from their common and daily Businesses and also give themselves wholly to heavenly Exercises of God's true Religion and Service And in his Majestie 's Royal Proclamation for the Observation of the Lord's-day all his Majestie 's Subjects are bid to take notice that by the Law the resorting to divine Service enjoined on that Day does comprehend the entire Day and entire Service both Morning and Evening Yea every Lord's-day Morning you your selves make this open Confession and publick Praier in the Congregation after the Reading of the fourth Commandment Lord have Mercy upon us and encline our Hearts to keep this Law As much as to say Lord we acknowledg we have neglected this thy Day We pray thee pardon all our unchristian Sabbath-breaking for the Time past and give us Grace to observe the Christian Sabbath better for the future Now will you confess in the Fore-noon and transgress in the After-noon Will you beg pardon in the Morning and sin again the very same Sin before Night Will you open your Mouths to ask God's Grace to sanctify and keep holy the Sabbath-day and it may be profane it in a graceless manner as soon as you are out of the Congregation If the Lord's-day ought to be observed at all it is to be kept both Parts of the Day And for those that commonly stay away in the After-noon I would ask them what their Employment is at home in the mean Time Do not some of them spend the After-noon in sleeping or walking or talking or drinking or gaming while others are jointly confessing and praying and praising and hearing If God requires a Day is this to sanctify a Day to the Lord to worship God in the Morning and to dishonour God and serve the Devil and divers Lusts in the Afternoon
will use all Diligence and good Conscience in their Calling and Trading on the Week-day And their Pains-taking and honest Dealing is likely to bring God's Blessing on their outward Estates Besides They that faithrully worship God on the Lord's-day will seek to God for a Blessing on the Week-day and they that seek it are likely to find it Once more God won't be wanting to those who would not be wanting to him God will bless you six Daies for your Blessing and Serving him one whole Day in seven 2. Our Observation of the Lord's-day as it is a spiritual wise redeeming of that special Season so it is a good Help to the spiritual Redeeming of all the six Daies following The more Liberty Men allow themselves upon the Lord's-day the more loose their Hearts are and negligent of good Duties and religious Exercises all the Week after They that pray not on the Lord's-day will hardly so much as say a Praier all the Week long They that hear not a Sermon on this Day will searcely read a Chapter the whole Week They that rob God of his due on the Lord's-day will rarely deal justly and honestly with their Neighbour on the Week-day But if we keep holy the Lord's-day then every Week-day will have a Tincture and Savour of the Lord's-day Our being Spiritual on the Lord's-day will put us into a very good Frame of Heart will awaken Principles of Conscience compose our Minds six our Wills call in and set in order our Assections Our Sanctification of this Day will season and sanctify us sit and dispose us for a close and holy Walking with God all the Week after If we attend upon God and converse with him on this special Day of his own Appointment we shall find a sensible spiritual Vigour a divine Power and heavenly Strength to carry us through all the Duties of the whole Week following relating either to God or Man If we earnestly redeem the Lord's-day the Observation of that Day will have a strong and mighty Influence on our Lives on other Daies too We shall endeavour to carry our selves after it suitably to it to live and walk and act continually as those that have newly or lately enjoyed so blessed and happy an Opportunity as those that have heard of God heard from him spoken to him had to do with him we shall labour to live in pursuance of the End and Design of the work and Business of the Lord's-day Mot. 2. Our Sanctification and good Improvement of the Lord's-day will fit and prepare us to keep and enjoy a blessed Rest and eternal Sabbath in Heaven They that delight in God here will much more delight in him hereafter and those whom God delights in here he will delight in for evermore They that keep holy the Christian Sabbath here shall be translated and admitted to sanctify and celebrate an everlasting Sabbath in Glory hereafter [g] The Church-porch p. 15. He that loves God's Abode and to combine With Saints on Earth shall one Day with them shine But on the other side your gross continued Neglect and wilful resolved Profanation of the Lord's-day will unfit and unqualify you to keep a glorious festival and a joyful happy Holy-Day in Heaven God can take no Complacency and Delight in you if you can take no Complacency in him no Delight in his Sabbaths no Pleasure in his Worship and Service They that refuse to sanctify a Sabbath and totally to rest on that Day from their worldly Labours and secular Negotiations have reason to fear lest God sware in his Wrath that they shall never enter into his Rest. They that will not rest from their Works and Pleasures on this Day have cause to conclude that in Hell they shall have no Rest neither Day nor Night They that will do their own Works on the Lord's-day may expect to suffer for their evil Deeds in the Day of the Lord. They who wilfully absented themselves from God's House on God's Day have no ground to hope that God will receive them to Communion with himself in his heavenly Kingdom And as God can take no delight in you so if you pollute and profane break and violate the Lord's-Day neglect Religion contemn the Worship and despise the Service of God if you changed your place you would there no more delight in God than you do here Heaven would be a Burden Heaven would be an Hell to the unsuitable Spirit of an irreligious profane voluptuous Person Thou that art weary of Praiers and Praises here what wouldst thou do in Heaven tro there is nothing else there You that are sick of a Sabbath here and long till it be over and can't endure to think of spending a whole Day in Religious Exercises what wilt thou do in Heaven where there is a perpetual Sabbath to be kept for ever Thou that hatest the Communion of Saints here I wonder what thou wouldst do in Heaven where next to the Fruition and Enjoyment of God in Glory the best Entertainment will be the Company and Society of the holy Angels and of the blessed and glorified Saints to all Eternity I have given you some Motives to perswade and engage you to the due Observation and right Redemption of the Lord's-Day Now what are you resolved upon Shall your former Profanation of this Day be the present Burthen of your Spirits and Sadness of your Souls Will you live as those that are convinced that Religion depends upon the Sanctification of this Day and your Salvation upon Religion Will you forbear any more to break into God's Inclosure to encroach upon God's Propriety sacrilegiously to engross God's Day to your selves or to make bold with any Part of it for worldly Employments or vain Pleasures or such Recreations as are apt to prove Lets and Hindrances of your Duties and Devotions and be careful to give God that Portion of Time which is his due Will you for the future sequester your selves from worldly Cares Affections Affairs on this Day and henceforth dedicate the Lord's-Day to the Honour of God and Christ Will you not only cease to censure those serious Christians who dare not lose this choice Time and precious Opportunity as profanely and desperately as formerly you have done But will you so consider the Worth of this Time and so far weigh the great Consequences and weighty Concernments of the well or ill spending of it as to count it honourable and keep it holy without intermixing of secular Matters or indulging profane Thoughts and introducing inconvenient improper Discourses in any part of it Will you labour to walk accurately exactly precisely on this Day and not be afraid of being [h] He keeps the Lord's-day best that keeps it with most Religion and with most Charity Bp. Taylor 's Rule and Exerc. of Hol. Lif chap. 4 sec 6. rul 8. Hypocrites are out disputing the Obligations to their Duty and asking How do you prove that it is a Duty to pray in my Family
to be hid in a Napkin much less to be spent and wasted in riotous Living And the longer Time God gives us the more Daies and Weeks and Months and Years and Seasons and Opportunities he affords us to work the Work of God to abound in the Work of the Lord to repent of our Sins to work out our own Salvation to do good to others to be Helpers of their Faith and Furtherers of their Salvation the more Advantages he affords us to these Purposes the greater Improvement he looks for from us And we find him complaining for want of it * Rev. 2.21 Christ says concerning Jezebel I gave her [r] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch de his qui ser ò puniuntur à Numine Spacé to repent of her Fornication and she repented not And he speaks to Jerusalem even weeping †Luke 19.42 If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy Day the Things which belong unto thy Peace And in the Parable he that planted the Fig-tree in his Vine-yard complain'd ‖ Luke 13.7 Behold these three Years I come seeking Fruit on this Fig-tree and find none That is the first Reason We must redeem the Time and whatever it cost us use and improve it to all possible Advantages to our selves and others because our Time and Opportunities are afforded us by God to this very End and Purpose The second Additional Reason We should carefully and faithfully redeem the Time because we have all of us [a] Animus si unquam illi respirare recedere in se vacaverit ò quà m sibi ipse verum tortus à se fatebitur ac dicet Quidquid feci adhud infectum isse mallem quidquid dixt cùm recogito mutis invideo quidquid optavi inimicorum execrationem puto quidquid timui dti toni quantò leviù fuit quà m quod concupivi Cum multis inimiciuias gessi in gratiam ex odio si modo ulla inter malos gratia est redii mihi ipss nondum amicussum Sen. de vit beat cap. 2. lost much Time already It is to be feared that some of us have lost our whole Time ever since we came into the World have stood idle all the Day long hitherto have done nothing at all for God's Glory or for the Salvation of our own and others Souls have made no riddance at all of our Work but only made our selves more Work to do There are some I fear so far from having finished their Work that they know not as yet what Work they have to do that are as yet grosly ignorant of the Terms and Conditions of the New Covenant And of those that have known and understood them how few have considered and consented to them sincerely kept and faithfully perform's them How many among us have liv'd in practical Atheism in habitual Non-atendance upon God and in a gross Neglect of their future Welfare and eternal Good liv'd without any Sence and Taste and Feeling of God or of divine Things lived a very brutish sensual flesh-pleasing Life And such of us as have not quite lost our Time yet how much of it have we wasted how considerable a Part of it have we fool'd and trifled away Might we not have minded God and Religion a State of Immortality and a glorious Eternity more than we have done How little Knowledg have we got of God how sinall Acquaintance with him how little Communion and Fellowship have we enjoyed with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ through the blessed Spirit What Degrees of Affection do we still retain to the Things of the World which we might have become more mortified to and weaned from How too too frequently predominant and masterly are our Senses how strong and impetuous are our Passions how violent and unruly are our Lusts and Corruptions How short and narrow how flat and low how weak and impotent is our Reason which might have been heightned and improved widened and enlarged and grown more strong and masculine sober and solid How insirm and infantile is our Faith how feeble our Graces how mean our Experiences how small our Comforts Let 's reflect back a little and seriously consider what Opportunities we have let slip what Advantages we have lost of doing and receiving good in the World Might not we have relieved the Poor and Christ in the Poor and visited the Sick and Christ in the Sick oftener than we have done Might we not have been the happy Instruments of much more good in the Parishes and Places where we have lived in composing Differences and making Peace among our Neighbours in warning the unruly in awakening convincing converting recovering the Ungodly Might we not have been as the Angels to Lot hastening some out of Sodom and have saved some with Fear pulling them out of the Fire Might we not have shined as Lights as Torches as Stars in the World Might we not have been more useful and serviceable more exemplary and imitable in our Lives more conscientious in our Dealings more faithful in our Relations more strict and holy in our Families than we have been How well might we have spared Time to have instructed our Families to have catechised our Children and Servants to have admonished and exhorted one another more frequently than we have done How many precious Hours have idly slipt away from us and run waste which might have been well bestowed in reading Hearing Prayer Confession Meditation Self-examination holy Society and Christian Communion Yea many a Time when the holy Spirit of God has secretly mov'd and prompted us to perform a particular Duty When we have had sometimes though in in a more tacite Way such an hint as that of [b] Oborta est procella ingens ferens ingentem imbrem lachrymarum flebam amarissim â contritione cordis mei ecce audio vocem de vicina domo cum cantic dicentis crebro repetent is quasi pueri an puellae nescio Tolle lege tolle lege Staâ—inque mutato vultu intentissimus cogitari eoepi utrumnam solerent pueri in aliquo genere ludendi cantare tale aliquid nec occurrebat omnino audivisse me uspiam Depressoque imâ—etu lachrymarum surrexi nihil aliud interpretans nisi divinitus mihi juberi ut apertrem codicem legerem quod primum capitulum invenissem Aug. Consel l. 8. c. 12. §. 1 2 3. St. Austin's was Tolle lege tolle lege take up the Bible and read in it get into thy Closet and pray to thy Father in secret we have sinfully diverted and sought an Occasion and studied an Excuse to turn off from it The more we have hitherto neglected golden Opportunities the better let us now improve them Have we been idle formerly why now let 's be so much the more busily employed Have we loiter'd away a great Part of the Day in the Lord's Vineyard let us now work so much the harder the remaining Part of the Day Have we
dismal Voice Serve nequam * Mat. 25.19 26 30. thou wicked and slothful Servant and shall find and feel a Retribution accordingly 'T will surely then be said concerning him * Mat. 25. 19 26 30. Cast the unprofitable Servant into outer Darkness there shall be Wecping and Gnashing of Teeth O let 's not put that evil Day far from us but let that Voice be alwaies ringing in our Ears which was ever sounding in [g] Quoties diem tillum considero toto corpore contremisco sive entm comedo sive bibo sive aliqutd facio semper videtur mihi tuba illa terrtilis sonare in auribus meis Surgite mortus ventte ad judicium Hieron St. Jerom's Arise ye Dead and come to Judgment Our Time must be strictly reckon'd for and therefore we should thriftily husband if possible every Minute of it The sixth and last Additional Reason Sixthly and lastly We should be sure to redeem the Time Because this Time is all we can redeem and upon this short Moment of Time depends long Eternity We shall never have any more Time or Space to redeem either in this or in another World 1. As we cannot live this same Life over again so when once we die and leave this World we shall never return to this Earth again to converse in Flesh with Men any more nor be suffer'd to live another Life here in this World to mend and correct what we did amiss heretofore * Job 14.14 If a Man die shall he live again says Job Some understand this Interrogation as flat denial an absolute Negation He shall live a natural Life on Earth no more †Job 7.9 10. As the Cloud is consumed and vanisheth away So he that goeth down to the Grave shall come up no more He shall return no more to his House neither shall his Place know him any more ‖ Job 26.22 Job 10. 21. When a few Years are come then I shall go the Way whence I shall not return 2. And as we shall have no new Time in this So no Space will be given or granted us for Repentance and Purgation of our Souls nor will any Offer of Mercy be made us in the other World No new Covenant will ever there be tendred to us no Ambassadours of Peace be sent to beseech us to pray us there n Christ's stead to be reconcil'd to God God will then be irreconcilable Sin unpardonable and unremovable Heaven unattainable and lost Souls uncurable and irrecoverable If we do not do our best here we shall have no other Game to play nor Part to and in any other Region or Mansion We shall not be [h] Quoad animae separatae statum nun itâ—rum sit Viator neque in probationis stain posita ad foe scitatein â—ahue acquirendam sed in statu ponitur hnals resurrections mutationibus expectatis Baxter Methodus Theologiae Christianae part 4. cap. 4. Probationers in the other World We shall not be suffered to begin there upon a new Score [i] In quo quemque invenerit suus novissimus dies in hoc eum compiehendet munds novissmas dies Quoniam qualis in die isto qutsque moritur talis in die illo judicabitur August Epist 80. Qualis exieris de hac vita talis redder is illi vitae August in Psal 36. Our Souls at Death will enter into a sixed unchangeable State and continue for ever such as they went out of this World The very same Frame and Temper Qualities and Assectious as we carry with us out of this Life we shall keep and retain in the next Such good Dispositions as were begun here will indeed beintended and perfected in Heaven And such ill Dispositions as took place and got Root here will be strongly setled and fully confirm'd in the damn'd hereafter But the [k] See Dr. Tillotson 1. vol pag. 29â— Dr. More 's Mystery of Godliness pag. 441. Dr. Dowler's Design of Christianity pag. 122. main State of any either good or bad will never be varied or altered in the other World As the Tree falls so it lies As Time leaves us so Eternity will find and continue us God will never trie us more with Opportunities and Helps of Conversion and Reformation with the Means of Grace and Life in another Place and State And therefore let 's now improve Providences and Ordinances Aids and Assistances as those that shall never hereafter meet with such Advantages and do all the Duties and Offices of Religion as those that are going to that World where there is no room for such Performances no place for Confession Praier Repentance and Amendment of Life in order to the Pardon of our Sins and Salvation of our Souls no occasion of running wrestling striving watching fighting any more in order to obtaining of a Prize and receiving of a Crown All that is now left undone must be undone for ever This is the only Space allotted us and Opportunity afforded us wherein to build and prepare our Ark to get Oil sufficient into our Vessels and to provide a competent Measure or Portion of Manna We can only gather the spiritual Manna in the six Daies of this Temporal Life there is no finding no getting of it on the Sabbath of Eternity As we must do all our worldly Business before the weekly Sabbath comes So we must quite finish our spiritual Business in the working Daies of the Life present for there is no working on the eternal Sabbath when once this earthly Lise is ended Then we must labour and work preparatory Work no longer but receive from our great Lord and Master the Reward or Punishment of our former Works The Life to come it is no Seed Time but only a Time of Harvest We must reap in the future State the Fruit of our own present Doings whether good or bad As we do use the Time of this Life so shall we be used treated and dealt with in the other Life We shall certainly fare happily or miserably to all Eternity according to our Carriage and Behaviour here According to our Choice and Election Affection and Action in this World will be our everlasting Lot in the World to come So that the right Improving or Misimproving the well or ill spending and husbanding of our Time is of infinite Consequence and Concernment to us Let us therefore in this Time of Life get all Things ready that are necessary to a joyful Entrance into eternal Life Let our Work and Business in Preparation for an endless Happiness be dispatch'd and done before we go hence and be no more seen * Eccles 9.10 Whatsoever our Hand findeth to do let us do it with our Might for there is no Work nor Device nor Knowledg nor Wisdome in the Grave whither we are going There is no Hope or Expectation of working out our Salvation in an after State and Condition If this Work be not effected before this mortal Life is ended it can never be done
sinned away being only concern'd for things of nought and busy in doing worse than nothing What a pain and torture will it be to consider that when you know you have had sufficient Discretion and exceeding Care Prudence and Providence enough and more than enough in other Matters you should be dull and listless sluggish and sottish wanting and defective in the only commendable necessary point of Wisdome A Man's falling out with himself for ever the sharp Rebukes and cutting Upbraidings of a Man 's own Conscience and Self-condemnation for former Folly and Madness will certainly be no small part of the dreadful intolerble Torments of Hell The sixth Motive Sixthly and lastly Consider once more 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 1. Good Men do often in their Life-time confess and condemn their Loss and Neglect of their precious Time That it was so long before they began to redeem it St. Austin very much laments his coming in to Christ no sooner [a] Serò te cognovi lumen verum serò te cognovi Vae vae praeteritae ignorantiae nâ—eae quando non cognoscebam te Domine Serò cognovi te veritas antiqua sèrò te cognovi veritas aeterna Aug Soliloq c. 33. 'T was late Lord before I knew thee the true Light says he alas I knew thee but late And that they have redeem'd it no better since first they went about it The devout St. Bernard who was so rarely pious a Person and so continually given to divine Meditation yeet bewails most sadly and complains most passionately of his spirituall Backwardness and Unproficiency [b] Terret me tota vita mea Deus meus quoniam diligenter discussa apparet mihi aut peccatum aut sterilitas Sic comedo bibo dormio securus quasi jam transierim diem mortu evaserim diem judicii tormenta inferni Sic ludo rideo quasi jam regnem tecum in regno tuo Bernard de interiori domo c. 33. Tanquam arbor sterilis terram occupo velut jumentum vile plus consumo quà m proficio Vivere erubesco quia parum proficio mori timeo quoniam non sum paratus Id. ib. c. 35. O my God my whole Life makes me afraid says he for if I diligently examine it that which appears to me in it is either Sin or Barrenness And again I cumber the Ground as a barren Tree says he and as a base Beast I waste and consume more than I profit I am asham'd to live because I profit so little and I 'm afraid to dy because I am unprovided Erasmus professed concerning himself [d] Accusant quò l nimium fâ—cerim â—â—rù câ—nscientia mea me accusat quò l minus secerim q ò lque lentior fuerim They accuse me for doing too much but my own Conscience accuses me for doing too little and being too slow It is [e] His Life in Mr. Clark's Collect. of the Lives of ten Em. Div. p. 37. reported of Mr. Samuel Crook that whensoever his Preaching-day happen'd upon Januar. 17. which was his Birth-day he still noted his Years compleat with this Birth-day he still noted his Years compleat with this Penitential Epiphonema 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God be merciful to me a Sinner An Eminent Divine of our own yet living who has laboured [f] I refer to the better Works of him that labours more abundantly than us all Mr. Baxter in the Margin of Dr. Patrick's Aqua Genitalis p. 75 in 12. more abundantly than the most of his Brethren in the Ministry yet expresses himself in such humble Self-reflections as these For [g] Mr. Baxter's Now or Never p. 181 182. my own part says he though I have long liv'd in a sense of the Preciousness of Time and have not been wholly idle in the World yet when I have the deepest Thoughts of the great everlasting Consequents of my Work and of the Vncertainty and Shortness of my Time I am even amazed to think that my Heart can be so slow and senseless as to do no more in such a case The Lord knows and my accusing wounded Conscience knows that my Slothfulness is so much my shame and admiration that I am astonished to think that my Resolutions are no stronger my Affections no livelier and my Labour and Diligence no greater when God is the Commander and his Love the Encourager and his Wrath the Spur and Heaven or Hell must be the Issue Let who will speak against such a Life it shall be my daily grief and moan that I am so dull and do so little And in another [h] Making light of Christ and Salvation Consideration 3. Discourse he makes this free and open acknowledgment For my self says he as I am ashamed of my dull and careless Heart and of my slow and unprofitable course of Life so the Lord knows I am ashamed of every Sermon that I preach When I think what I have been speaking of and who sent me and that Mens Salvation or Damnation is so much concerned in it I am ready to tremble lest God should judg me as a Slighter of his Truth and the Souls of Men and lest in the best Sermon I should be guilty of their Blood The Trees of Righteousness are apprehensive of their own Vnfruitfulness troubled at it mourn under it and use themselves to such holy Breathings as that of [i] Employment Mr. Herbert O That I were an Orange-tree That busy Plant Then should I ever laden be And never want Some Fruit for him that dressed me Serious considerative Christians do blame themselves for their Loss of Time even in their Life-time But 2. They are especially sensible of it and exceedingly ashamed of themselves for it at their Death They that have been the most busy stirring Christians all their Life-time when they come to die do repent of their Lasiness blush to think of their spiritual Slothfulness bewail and lament their Carelesness and Negligence They that have been the Wonders of the World for Strictness and Preciseness Singularity and Severity of holy Living that have been admired for their Usefulness Industry Diligence and Activity yet when they lay a dying have condemned themselves censured their past Lives and earnestly wished O! that they had been a thousand times more holy and religious more painful and laborious for God and their own and others Souls Melchior Adam relates in [k] Pag. 235. The Life of the Learned and holy Theodore Beza that when he was very aged and plainly perceived his approaching End he often used that Saying of St. Austin Diu vixi diu peccavi I have lived long I have sinned long The excellent and useful Philip de Mornay in his last Sickness said to the Minister that
Simplicity and Godly Sincerity I have had my Conversation in the World To say with Hilarion as St. Jerom reports in his [b] Egredere anima quid times Egredere quid dubitas Septuaginta prope annis servisti Christo mortem times Hier. in vita Hilar. Life Go out my Soul why art thou afraid go out why lingrest thou thou hast served Christ well nigh these seventy Years and dost thou now fear Death To see that it has been to thee * Phil. 1.21 to live Christ and to be able to look on thy Death as thy Gain And with good old [c] His Life inserted among Mr. Clark's Lives of ten emin Div. p. 123. When his good Sister said to him in his Sickness Brother I am afraid to leave you alone VVhy Sister said be I shall I am sure be with Jesus Christ when I die Ib. p. 123 124. Dr. Gouge in thy last Sickness to term Death thy best Friend next to Jesus Christ With †Phil. 1.23 St. Paul to desire to depart and to be ready to utter such Language as this Oh loose this Frame this Knot of Man unty That my free Soul may use her Wing Which is now pinion'd with Mortality As an entangled hamper'd Thing As the pious [d] Home Mr. Herbert pathetically expresses it in one of his sacred Poems Dwell upon these Considerations That the Loss and Misimprovement of Time will make a Death-bed uneasy to you and that the right redeeming of time will render a Death-bed comfortable to you And this will be very apt to move you to prepare for Death by dying to Sin dying to the World and living to Righteousness before you die 'T will help you to live every Day so indeed as others wish that they had liv'd when they come to lie upon a Death-bed To live so now that you may with comfort think of dying and may be freed from the slavish Fear of Death and be held no longer ‖ Heb. 2.15 in bondage by it 'T will cause you to live the Life of the Righteous that so you may die the Death of the Righteous die safely and die comfortably 'T will make you careful to set not only your House but your Heart in order your Life in order and so to dispatch your work and Business that when you come to die you may have nothing to do but to die and freely and cheerfully to resign your Spirit to the Father of Spirits and to surrender your Soul to your faithful Creator and gracious loving Lord Redeemer In a Word it will enable you so to live that you may have * Prov. 14.32 Hope in your own Death and that when Friends shall mourn for your Departure they may not sorrow without †1 Thess 4.13 Hope And so much shall suffice for your Direction as to your Meditation of Death your own particular Death in order to your Redemption of Time 2. Meditate here moreover of the general Dissolution of all Things at least in this inferiour World Think well of what (*) 2 Pet. 3.11 St. Peter informs you that all these Things shall be dissolved Consider that the Description which is there given of this Dissolution is too august and [e] Dr. ore's y st of Godl p 214. big by far for so small a Work as [f] Of which Dr. Hammend in eâ—prets it the Destruction of the City of Jerusalem That the Scoffers arguing there against the Promise of christ's coming that (†) Verse 4. all Things continue as they were from the Beginning of the Creation does clearly shew that this Coming of Christ was not understood by them and consequently not by St. Peter of the Burning of a City by War a Thing which might as probably and easily happen to Jerusalem as it had already fallen out in many other Places of the World But of the final glorious Coming of Christ to judge the World which [f] Superest I 'e ultimus perpetuus judicis di s ille nationibus insperatus ille derisus cùm tanta secult vetusta tot ejus nativitates uno ignt haurientur Tertull. lib de Spectae cap 30. Judgment the Conflagration of the Earth is to attend Think very seriously with thy self that * Verse 7. the Heavens and the Earth which are now are reserved unto Fire How †Verse 10. the Heavens shall one Day pass away with a great Noise and ‖ Verse 12. being on Fire shall be dissolved and the (*) Verse 10 12. Elements or [g] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordine mitiari incedo The host of the Aethereal Heavgens are the Stars and Planets The Host of the Aereal Heavens are Clouds and Meteors Fowls and flying Creatures Hosts shall melt with fervent Heat the Earth also and the Works of Nature or Art that are therein shall be burnt up That though the superiour Aethereal starry Heavens may be exempted as [h] He that considereth both the super-eminent Nature and Immensity of the Aethereal Heaven and of those innum rable Bodies therein in regard of which the whole Sublunary VVorld is but a Point or Centre and that it no way can be prov'd that ever those Bodies received any Curse for Man's Sin or Contagion by the VVorld's Deluge or that any Enemies of God dwell in them to pollute them He that considereth this will not easily be induced to believe that the Fire of the Day of Judgment shall burn them It remaineth therefore that the Sublunary Heavens only with their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are to be the Subject of this Conflagration Mr. Mede's Works p. 614 615. some with probable Reason conceive yet that without dispute or doubt [i] Dr. More 's Myst of Godl p. 231. the Globe of the Earth and the circumjacent Air with all the Garnishings of them shall be burnt up That this Air and Earth shall be strangely and wonderfully alter'd though not annihilated That the present Order and comely Beauty of the Compages and Frame of this visible lower World shall be dissolv'd That this great House and goodly Building made for Man to dwell in shall be taken down and all the Furniture wherewith it was fitted for his Use and Service shall be destroyed That it will be an Act of Wisdom for God to abolish these Things when the Time appointed for Probation and Trial of immortal Spirits cloathed with Flesh is ended and expired and Men shall enter into so different a State in which there will be no need of any Thing that serves and ministers to this terrene and animal Life And though God think good to continue this World for a while that it may be a Theater whereon his Wisdom Goodness Mercy Patience and other his glorious Attributes may be displayed and made conspicuous yet it is convenient and reasonable that this Stage of God's Acts and Works of Providence when all is finished should be taken down And