it is an excellent Security and Preservative against Sin and keeps us out of Harms-way Blessed is the Man saith David that walketh not in the Counsel of the Ungodly nor standeth in the way of Sinners nor sitteth in the Seat of the Scornful Ps 1. 1. This is the Felicity of the devout Man in particular whose Affections being set upon the things above he has not so much time to spare from Prayer and Contemplation as the Children of this World fling away upon their Lusts nor doth Temptation or ill Company seduce him into the ways of Death The Angels of God are his guard to keep him in all his ways Solitude which is to some a Snare is to him an opportunity for Grave and Holy Meditations This House of God is a Sanctuary to him from his own Evil Self a place of refuge from his corrupt Heart the very Thoughts whereof he there keeps in order by minding the several Duties of the Place and by the reverend Apprehensions he hath of that infinite Being who is the Searcher of Hearts and by this means he clears and rids his Soul of those vagrant Imaginations which otherwise would disturb and annoy his Heart as Abraham drove away the Fowls when he offer'd to God His Sacrafice Gen. 15. 11. Thus to attend diligently upon the Ordinances and Institutions of our Religion keeps us from losing more of our Time in the First respect from squandering it away upon that which is Evil nay from laying any part of it out upon the Principles the Occasions the Opportunities of Evil. And the use we should make of it is that of that little Time God alots us in this World we should set what we can apart for religious Offices The Scripture calls it Praying without Ceasing 1 Thess 5. 17. Continuing in Prayer and watching in the same with Thanksgiving Col. 4. 2. Praying always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all Perseverance Ephes 6. 18. And continuing instant in Prayer Rom. 12. 12. By which Expressions is meant not that we should be praying every Minute of the Day for other Works of Necessity and Charity are to be attended on also but that we should not let slip any convenient Opportunity of Devotion nor play away those hours which are Proper for it but with all possible diligence and application of Mind observe those times of Prayer which are Stated and Fixt either by publick Authority or by our own private voluntary choice so that our whole time may turn to very good account 2. Secondly By this means we shall be sure not to spend our Time Vainly neither which is another way of losing it that is when a Man gets no solid Benefit and Satisfaction by it though strictly speaking we cannot affirm that he Sinneth it away or lays it out upon Vice and Wickedness Man being a rational Creature endued with Understanding on purpose that he might deliberately Act in order to Ends that befit and become the Dignity of his Nature all that time is to be reckon'd Lost to him which doth not serve in some measure to Answer such Ends. To gratifie the Senses is the life of a Beast and it becomes a Beast well enough because a Beast hath no higher or nobler Faculties than Sense But in Man Reason hath the Superiority or a faculty of distinguishing between that which is morally Good or morally Evil and a power of discoursing and judging touching the Nature of his Actions what they Deserve and what may be the Rewards of them To Act like a Man therefore is to live according to Reason or as it becomes a Creature that hath the rules of Vertue and Religion before him and as long as he Acteth according to those Rules besides the Rewards he Entitles himself to in another World hereafter he doth himself great good in this Life and receives that Pleasure and Satisfaction of mind which is an unspeakable Reward at present Now of all the Acts of a Rational Soul Devotion or the Contemplating and Worshipping of God brings with it the Highest Pleasure and therefore the Time that is bestow'd upon it must needs be of the very best account The truth of this is such as Worship God with all their Hearts find by daily Experience the great Pleasures that go along with their Acts of Worship the relish and satisfaction they leave behind upon the Soul when the Solemnity is over the Delights which still accompany the Mind and the wonderful Comfort and Complacency wherewith the Day is Concluded these Present Rewards shew that they have well employed and husbanded their Time And when a Man comes at last to cast up his Actions upon his Death-Bed and to take a true Inventory of them most certainly nothing then can speak greater Peace or minister greater Joy to his departing Soul than if he be able to give this Testimony of himself that amidst all the Contingencies Vanities Allurements and Fatigues of the World he hath made his Life and Offering to his Maker This we should consider in Time and while it is yet called To Day It becomes Creatures endued with Reason and enlightned with Revelation also to Forecast Events throughly and to provide such things Before-hand as will stand us in good stead and be of substantial use and comfort to us all along of which this must needs be one of the greatest and most considerable viz. A continued Course of Piety and Religion And what have they to compare with this who though they be not Vicious yet are very Vain Persons Whiffling away their hours in Pageantry and Impertinencies not as if they were reasonable Beings able and obliged to prosecute the noblest Ends but rather little Puppets and Figures of Men brought into the World just to take a few insignificant turns in it and to make a shew Such are those who know not or think not how to rid away their time but by formal Entertainments by Mirth and Railery by Ceremony and Courtship by idle Visits by Finicalness in Dressing by Sports and Gaming in short by an unaccountable variety of un-man-like ways of spending and passing away ones Life I suppose such People not formally to Sin but foolishly to Trifle away their Minutes which is the softest and most innocent Construction that can be made of it Now though by these mean and childish Methods no such Guilt is contracted as is by down-right Villany and Debaucheries yet this is enough to render them contemptible that they bring a Man no solid advantage or satisfaction and therefore are to be reckoned so many lost Expences The pleasure of them is like an Infant 's Dream which is only the present Operation of Fancy that gives him a Minutes Smile The Soul is never awhit the wiser or better for them but the worse rather by being degraded from its Dignity and contumeliously put with all its noble Faculties to uses that are silly and reproachful All that can be said of it
any wretches to throw away their time upon presumption of mercy at the Last yet it argues plainly that at what hour soever a Sinner turneth from his evil way he shall save his Soul alive But this doth not always save people from Punishments here especially such People as have long Abused the Patience and Goodness of God To this purpose we may observe what was said of Jerusalem Luk. 19. 42. that the things which belonged unto her peace were hidden from her eyes and the Reason of it is given v. 44 because she knew not the time of her visitation that is she did not consider her own great interest in time she would not lay the things belonging to her peace to Heart notwithstanding so many calls first from the Prophets that had been sent to her and at Last from the mouth of the Son of God himself the Lord of life and Glory The Result of this is that people may quite Sin away their day of Peace and because the more time they lose the greater their dangers are they should be very diligent while they have fair opportunities while there is a Season an accepted time a day of salvation Seek ye the Lord while he may be found saith the Prophet Isa 55. 6. Call upon him while he is near intimateing clearly that there is a critical Juncture when he will not be found but keep off at a great distance though he be fought after And to this purpose are these following Texts of Scripture Prov. 1. 24. c. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my Reproof I also will Laugh at your Calamity I will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as Desolation and your Distruction cometh as a whirlwind when distress and anguish cometh upon you Then shall they call upon me but will not answer they shall seek me early but shall not find me Isa 65. 12. Therefore will I number you to the sword and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter because when I called ye did not answer when I spake ye did not hear but did evil before mine eyes and did chuse that wherein I delighted not And Isa 7. 15 16. I will cast you out of my sight as I have cast out all your brethren even the whole seed of Ephraim therefore pray thou not for this people neither lift up cry nor prayer for them neither make intercession to me for I will not hear thee From these several places it appears that Gods decrees which in the beginning were Conditional at length come to be Peremptory and that sentence to be Final and Irrevocable which was originally designed not for mens Destruction but for their amendment and because this proceeds from the mis-spending those hours which God numbreth out unto us all that we may do the world and our own Souls good it narrowly concerns us to Redeem our time before it be too Late To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts saith the Psalmist as if the deferring of it to another day were a ready course to harden our own spirits and to make God silent to all our cryes in the day of vengeance This is your hour and the power of darkness as Christ told those malicious wretches Luk. 22. 53. But Gods power will take its turn when his own time cometh and because of that day and hour knoweth no man but it is wont to steal upon Improvident people when they look not for it nor are aware of it we should be every minute watchful and Ready by Improving the time Present to the best advantage Who can tell what a day will bring forth Or what shall be on the morrow and considering how uncertain this world is and how Cross events usually prove whatever we Project or hope for we should not let any blessed opportunities slip away nor be Loytering about while the main business stays for us left sudden destruction come upon us as travail upon a woman with child while we say Peace and safety like those foolish people St. Paul speaks of 1 Thes 5 3. And would God we of this Kingdom would seriously lay this thing to heart while the great Goodness of God towards us doth yet endure Though we are as apt as any Nation to flatter our selves with promises of Peace and safety especially considering how many years experience we have had of Gods merciful and indeed miraculous Providence over us yet we cannot but discern what dangers threaten the whole Kingdom at this time and it is to be wisn't that that time which some trifle away in murmurings and Complaints we would all of us be perswaded to employ upon act of unfeigned Repentance that God may be intreated for us before his arm is stretched out to cut us off in the midst of our security As we have lost time so Gods Judgements have gained ground nor is there any other way left us now but to recover what we can of our Losses by making a Quick use of the Remainder according to the Laws of Religion and true Christian Prudence Should such desolation and distress be brought upon us which some other Nations groan under it will be too late to say we did not imagine that things would have come to this pass We have God knows little reason to think we are better than other people If we were not worse our hopes of safety might be the better grounded But by how much Atheism and Irreligion go beyond superstition by so much are our provocations greater and our sins the more crying and importunate to bring down that vengeance which we see hovering over our heads Therefore the wisest and the most effectual course we can take to prevent our Ruine is to lay hold on those fair opportunities we have before they are out of our reach and to redeem the time while God is yet pleased to give us Leave The Promises being duly and throughly consider'd will I hope be able enough to carry your thoughts on to the last great enquity viz. How we may order the matter so as to Redeem our time to very good purpose In order hereunto these five things are necessary First to Kindle and preserve in our hearts a true Christian Zeal Secondly to consider what sins we have acted and to make all possible amends for them Thirdly to do all the good we can Fourthly to let no day slip away wholly without promoting our eternal interest in some degree and measure And Fifthly to spend as much as may be of the Remainder of our time upon Devotion especially upon the Solemnities of Publick Devotion in the house of God CHAP V. The way to Redeem our time is first to Kindle and preserve in our hearts a true Christian Zeal 1. THE First course to be taken is to Kindle and Preserve in our hearts a True Christian Zeal By
actually fix'd upon them already imployed and Engaged in those Exercises which are the Life of Angels and of the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect To admire and adore and love and praise God is the everlasting business of the Blessed above And this we do here below though not in that intense Degree when we worship him in Truth and in the Beauty of Holiness when we prostrate our selves before him under a profound and awful Sense of his super-excellent Majesty when our Minds are fix'd upon him as the Glorious and Ravishing Object of our Contemplations when the Faculties of our Souls are acting vigorously upon him when we Exalt and Magnifie him in our Hearts when our Desires stream out after him as the only Good we long for when our Thoughts are full of rapturous Idea's of his Perfections when we celebrate and set him forth as the greatest wisest and best of all Beings when our Hearts are inflamed with the Love of him and when we offer up our Prayers and Praises to him with Affections as high as Heaven and as large as the Universe And can any time be better or so well spent as that which is thus employed This is to Redeem ones Time to the best purpose and in some Sense to live it over again by following the great Work of ones whole life close and so by living much in a little And the design of this Consideration is to stir you up to the Love and Practice of Devotion as a proper way of making your Life up wherein soever you may have been hitherto defective To recover what hath been mis-spent and to fit your self for God and Heaven without frequent Acts of Piety is impossible Rather it is a way to lose on and spend amiss still and to make your Condition every day worse and worse And this is one great Reason that there are so many Evil People in the World because they neglect a Course of Devotion which if diligently and rightly followed could not chuse but make them better I do not mean that every one is a Saint that resorts to the Church or that the repeating of so many good Prayers is enough to dispose and qualifie People for Eternal Happiness No there are some that content themselves with the bare performance of the outward Work and there are others that go to the Temple rather in compliance with a Custom or out of Compliment and Civility to the Laws than for Conscience sake towards God But this is my meaning that when Men apply their Souls to the use of God's Ordinances as a necessary Duty and seriously intend to do themselves good by the use of them and go about it with Sincerity of Mind and Exercise themselves in it with attentive Zeal and with Humble Fervent and Devout Spirits when their Hearts are thus Honestly dispos'd they take such a ready Course to fit themselves for Heaven as God will be sure to Bless and Prosper with success if they persevere unto the end in so doing They are then in God's way and in the way of the Holy Spirit to enlighten their Understandings to guide them into the Truth to renew their Minds to sanctifie their Affections to direct their Wills to improve and perfect their Natures and to assist and strengthen them unto every good work And by this means as they obtain pardon for their past Miscarriages so they gradually retrieve their former Losses and make the time past their own again by their extraordinary Husbandry of the remainder and by filling up an Hiatus with a proportionable Supplement 2. Secondly As the diligent attendance upon God's Ordinances helps us to redeem the time that is Gone so it serves to keep us from Losing more for the Future We may reckon that time to be Lost which is spent either after a Wicked or after a Vain manner That is when the Conscience contracteth some great Guilt in the spending of it or when the Man gets no solid Benefit or Satisfaction by it though strictly speaking we cannot affirm it is sinned away and in both these respects we shall see that a course of Devotion secures us from being any considerable Losers 1. First That time is to be accounted Lost which is spent in Wickedness When Vice takes it up so much of our Life is gone to our eternal Prejudice and Hurt unless the Wickedness be retracted by timely Repentance And when it is retracted a Man doth what he can to undo his Actions and to unlive his former Life and so begins as it were his days again To be sure he himself reckons so much of his time quite thrown oway is willing to rase it out of his own Memory and heartily wisheth that the just Judge of all the Earth would forget it too and never impute or account it unto him Now People that are ever mindful of their Devotions are not in danger of losing their time This way because they are assured that if they regard Iniquity in their Hearts the Lord will not hear them Psal 66. 18. Nay that their Sacrifice will be an Abomination Prov. 15. 8. Upon which account 't is morally impossible for them to Sin and Pray too lest instead of Mercies they should draw down a Thunderbolt and instead of Bread should receive a Stone or a Scorpion They who have a sense of God must needs be shie of offering up such Prayers as are enough to put them out of Countenance and out of Hope too such Prayers as they know will Recoil upon them and not only fly in their faces but terrifie and gall their very Consciences also But in truth we cannot suppose Men of Pious Minds to spend their precious Time to such bad purposes as these because the Notions they have of God's Majesty of his Omnipresence and Omniscience of his Justice Holiness and the like are a continual check upon them to govern their natural Inclinations and to restrain them from those evil Courses into which others run without Fear or Wit as the Horse rusheth into the Battel as the Prophet speaks Jer. 8. 6. Besides as they have not the Heart or Face to Sin so neither have they those Temptations and Opportunities which the Devil Ministreth daily to those who are such Strangers to the Throne of Grace as if they lived Without God in the World Such Men are never out of the Devil's road and therefore it is no wonder if Vice be the trade they bestow their Time upon no wonder if a Luxurious Table or a Dalilah's Lap or a Drunken Society or Prophane Discourse or the study of Mischief or the Drudgery of Covetousness or the Pride of Life taketh up those Hours which God hath a right to Ungodly Principles and Contempt of things Sacred do always betray Men to some wickedness or other nor cannot be but Irreligion and Vice must go together so that ' mongst other Arguments that might be heaped up to encourage us to a life of Devotion this is one that