such a State than to have the Soul constantly employed in the Government of those sensual Inclinations which arise from the Body in the doing of which the proper Exercise of that Vertue consists which is made the Condition of future Happiness Dr. Stillingfleet's Serm on Prov. 14.9 Animi imperio corporis servitin utimur Salust Quicquid imperavit animus obtinuit Sen. de ira Tantum proficies quantum tibi ipsivim intuleris Thom. â— Kempis l. 1. c. 25. n. 11. keep our Bodies and rebellious Flesh in an orderly Subjection to our Souls Faithfully to pursue Principles of Conscience and to live strictly under the Power of Principles To exercise our selves to have always a Conscience void of Offence both towards God and towards Men To perform a Course of sincere Obedience to the revealed Will of God and the good Institutions and excellent Laws of Christ To make Religion our Work and Business To be blameless and harmless to be useful and Exemplary in our Stations and Relations To serve our Generations according to the Will of God To watch and take all possible Advantages of daily doing and receiving Good and by patient continuance in well-doing to provide for Honour and Glory and Immortality and to secure a blessed and happy Eternity Time is allotted us for Proof and Trial of us And now God looks to see what we will do with it He waits to behold how we will improve it God expects we should make a wise and a good Choice in it That we should use the necessary Means for the sure obtainment of our desired End That we should live up to the Ends of Life answer the Ends both of our Creation and Redemption That we should live not merely the animal but chiefly the rational angelical divine and spiritual Life That we should not live and act at Randome but that we should in several Instances and on all Occasions approve our selves strict [m] Vis deos propitiare bonus esto Satis illos coluit quis quis imitatus est Sen. Ep. 95. Te quoque dignum finge Deo Id. Ep. 31. Imitators and close Followers of God and his Son Jesus Christ faithful Friends to God and Religion Friends to our selves and our immortal Souls That we should pass the Time of our Sojouruing here in Fear That we should be ruled by the Hopes and Fears of another Life That we should live as those that have serious and satisfying Apprehensions of the unseen World That we should live and walk in believing and delightful Fore-thoughts and Fore-tasts oâ— the Glory to come That we should use this World as if we used it not and have our Conversation in Heaven and learn the Manmrs of the heavenly City and celestial Country and give our Minds to such Pleasures as are most proper to the other State That we should labour by Heaven moral which is an heavenly Frame and Temper Conversation and Life to be prepared for Heaven local the Seat and Receptacle of the Blessed By entring into an heavenly State and getting Heaven first into us to fit our selves to enter into Heaven at last By becoming the spiritual Children of Abraham Followers of Abroham's Faith and Obedience to be apt to receive our Rest and Repose in Abraham's Bosom That we should unfeignedly [n] Omnia honestè sient si honesto nos addâ—xer imus idque unum iâ— râ—bies humanis bonum judicaverimus quaeque ex eo sunt Sen. ep 95. addict and devote our selves to Goodness constantly endeavour to habituate our selves to true Piety and real substantial Godliness and Religion to attain that Purity of Heart these gracious Affections those heavenly divine and God-like Vertues and to maintain that Life of Holiness and Spirituality which will suitably qualify and make us meet for the blessed Vision and Fruition of God in the heavenly supernal Kingdom of Glory Which will reconcile our very Natures to that perfectly pure and holy State dispose and encline us to love and delight our selves in God and frame and fit us to be for ever the blessed Objects of God's complacential Love and which will prepare us for the comfortable delectable Enjoyment of the Spirits of just Men made perfect God now expects that we should do the Work of Time in Time That we should use the Price put into our Hands and for a certain appointed Time walk with Watchfulness and Circumspection keep a due [o] Decorum id est quod consent aneum est hominis excellentiae in eo in quo naturae ejus à reliquis animantibus differt Tum servare illud Poetas dicimus quod deceat cùm id quod quaeque person á dignum est fit dicitur Nobis autempersonam imposuit ipsa natura magna cum excellentia praestaâ—tiaq e anim intiumlreliquorum Nobis à natura constantiae moderationis temperantiae verecundiae partes datae sunt Cicero l. 1. de Offic. Decorum in all our Carriages and act a vertuous prudent [p] Vt pulchritudo corporis aptâ compositione membrorum movet oculos delectat hoc ipso quòd inter se omnes partes cum quodam lepore consentiunt sic hoc decorum quod elucet in vita movet approbationem eorum quibuscum vivitur ordine constantiâ moderatione dictorum omnium atque factorum Id. ibid. commendable Part in the Sight of God Angels and Men upon the Stage of this lower World before we be advanced higher and translated hence into those Vpper-Regions and glorious Mansions That we should quit our selves like Men and behave our selves like Christians in this present State of Nurture and Discipline Trial and Probation that so we may be capable of a blessed Reward and an honourable Retribution in the other World and at last may come to be * Mat. 22.30 Luke 20.36 equal to the Angels of God in Heaven yea to be like the very blessed Son of God himself and to enjoy the happy Fellowship of Saints and Angels and the Company and Society of the blessed Trinity to all Eternity in the unseen and unconceivable Glory [q] Time is given us to repent in to appease the divine Anger to prepare for and hasten to the Society of Angels to stir up our slackned Wills and enkindle our cold Devotions to weep for our daily Iniquities and to sigh after and work for the Restitution of our lost Inheritance Bp. Taylor 's Serm. 1. Vol. pag. 294. Our great Creator and wise Governour when he giveth and continueth Time to us expects from us that whatever it costs us whatever sensual Pleasures we deny our selves whatever worldly Profit or Honours we refuse or lose whatever we be put to do or suffer in this World we very faithfully spend our Life-time in the constant Exercise of right Reason and true Religion and improve all special Opportunities to our spiritual and eternal Advantages Time and Opportunity are Talents with which we are intrusted and therefore they are to be traded with and not
Payment of them The learned and judicious Bp. Sanderson in a Sermon [c] Bp. Sanderson on 1 Cor. 7.14 p. 214 215. preached to the People gives them this wholesome good Instruction not to ingulf themselves so wholly into the Businesses of their particular Callings as to abridg themselves of convenient Opportunities for the Exercise of those religious Duties which they are bound to perform by virtue of their general Calling This says he is a point of Duty Men being commanded in their Callings to abide with God A point of Wisdom also it being a means to procure a Blessing upon their Labours from his Hands who never faileth to serve them that never fail to serve him And a Point of Justice too as due by way of Restitution of which he gives this both ingenious and solid Proof We make bold with God's Day says he and dispense with some of that Time which he hath sanctified unto his Service for our own Necessities It is equal we should allow him at least as much of ours as we borrow of his though it be for our Necessities or lawful Comforts But if we rob him of some of his Time as too often we do employing it in our own Businesses without the Warrant of a just Necessity we are to know that it is Theft yea Theft in the highest Degree Sacriledg and that therefore we are bound at least as far as petty Theeves were in the Law to a * Exod. 22.1 2 Sam. 12.6 fourfold Restitution But how very many so overload and overburthen themselves and their Families with ordinary worldly Businesses that either they quite neglect their Duties or put God off with slight and short and hasty Duties and neither afford themselves sufficient Time nor allow their Servants convenient Opportunities of remembring their God and minding their Souls Necessities These have no leisure to consider that the Soul is more worth than the Body and Heaven more valuable than the Earth and therefore that the Things that necessarily conduce to the saving of the Soul and securing of Heaven must not wholly be neglected for any bodily Concernments or worldly Interests whatsoever We must first seek the Kingdom of God and chiefly lay up a Treasure in Heaven and therefore we must not suffer worldly Cares to take up an undue Proportion of our Time We must not engage in so many Businesses nor so eagerly pursue and follow any as that our ordinary worldly Affairs should hinder our selves or our Families from the Performance of ordinary religious Exercises [d] Toward the end of his Life before his Remains It is reported of the famous Mr. George Herbert sometime Orator of the University of Cambridg that when he came to have a Family he was eminent and exemplary for his spiritual Love and Care of his Servants by his own Practice teaching Masters this Duty to allow their Servants daily Time wherein to pray privately and to enjoyn them to do it holding this for true generally That publick Prayer alone to such Persons is no Prayer at all Our Love and Care even of our Servants spiritual Welfare ought to be greater than our Love and Care of the Things of this World As many so deeply plunge themselves into unnecessary Businesses that they have no Leisure for religious Performances So some so mainly mind earthly Things that they make Religion subservient to their worldly Employment take up a specious Profession of Religion and fair Form of Godliness chiefly to invite and draw Customers to their Shops and that they may deal falsely and [e] Totius injustitia nulla capitalior est quà m eorum qui tum cùm maxime fallent id tamen agunt ut viri boni esse videantur Cicero l. 1. de Offic. unjustly without Question or Suspicion and gain unreasonably and unconscionably by a dissembled Sanctity and sictitious Piety The last Sort of Persons reproved And lastly Some Persons are to be reproved for mis-spending their Time in their Duties You may think this strange that Time should be thrown away in Duties But I would have you to understand it may for you may lose your Time in Duties these two waies 1. By performing them unseasonably 2. By doing them formally 1. You lose Time in Duty if you perform it unseasonably And that may be done these two Waies 1. When one Duty thrusts and justles out another and so the Duty is mistimed As if a Man do spend that Time in his Closet and in religious Devotion which God does require him to employ in his Shop and in following his Vocation So again if you reade and pray privatly at home when you should attend on the publick Ordinance Or reade in your Bible or Prayer-Book at Church when you should hearken to the Sermon there Or if you do nothing but reade when you should meditate sometimes and confer sometimes Or if you give way to such good Thoughts as in Prayer or hearing the Word at any Time come into your Mind but are impertinent and irrelative to the Matter in hand Such Thoughts though they be materially good yet are formally evil though good in themselves yet are sinful to thee at such unfit and inconvenient Times and will at least taint and fly-blow thy necessary present Duty To do any Duty whatever when you should rather do another is to mis-spend Time about such a Duty which is to you unseasonable 2. When Duty is perform'd at such a Time when we are most unfit for it then it is unseasonable and Time is lost in it As when we go to Prayer when we are fitter to go to sleep and kneel upon the Cushion when we are fitter to lay our Head upon the Pillow and hold up our Hands then when we are scarce able to hold open our Eyes and speak to God then when we hardly hear our selves speak When Luther during his retirement in the Castle at Coburga for his Safety enjoyed more leisure than ordinary one Vitus Theodorus who then lived with him informed Melancthon concerning him that he spent in Prayer every Day [f] Nullus abit dits quin ut minimum tres horas edsque fludiis aptissimas in orationem ponat Melch. Adam in vit Luther p. 138 142. three Hours at least and those that were fittest and properest for his Studies And it is commendable in some Masters of Families that as often as they can do it with any convenience they perform Evening-Prayer in their Families before Bed-Time yea before Supper-Time when they are not clogg'd with Meat nor heavy with Sleep but are every way freest and fittest for Duty Will you set your selves and your House-hold to do God's Work when you are wholly unfit to do your own You lose Time in Duty by performing it unseasonably That 's the first 2. You lose Time in Duty if you perform Duty no otherwise than formally customarily slightly and superficially If you handle holy Things without any Feeling If you do the Duty for the Matter
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
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
raised Philosopher well observes the different Judgments and Affections of Men in the course of a pleasurable Life and under apprehensions of the Nearness of Death When Men think they have Time enough they have no regard of Time but are extreamly prodigal of it [g] At eosdem aegros vide si mortis periculum admotum est propius medicorum genua tangentes Sen. de brev vit c 8. But look on these Men when they are sick says he If they appear in any danger of Death you shall find them courting and crouching to Physicians and bowing down to their very Knees begging the Use of their Art and Skill to prolong their Daies and lengthen out their Lives Or if they fear they shall suffer capital Punishment you shall see them ready to lay out all to save their Lives But if as the Number of every ones past Years may be reckoned so the Number of those that are to come could be assign'd [h] Quemodo illi ui paucos viderent superesse trepidarent quomodo illis parcerent Id. Ib. How would they tremble saies he that should see but a few remaining and how apt would they be to be sparing of them Surely they that have all their Lives made it their Business to drive away their Time would at their Deaths give all the World to redeem it What would the dying Husband give for Time to spend more spiritually with his Wife the dying Wife for Time to spend more holily with her Husband the dying Master for Time to spend more godlily with his Family the dying Parent for Time to spend in a more religious Institution and conscientious Education of his Children a dying Neighbour for Time to spend in more profitable Converse with those about him Would he intend to spend his Time if he could live longer in tempting his Neighbour to the Tavern or Ale house to drinking or gaming or the like If God would but lengthen out such a Person 's Daies and afford him but a little more Space to amend his Life and to lay hold on eternal Life he would thankfully accept of it upon the hardest Conditions He would be content to be the poorest Beggar in the Street and to live a mean and outwardly miserable Life as long as he liv'd He is just now departing out of this World and immediatly going to his own Place and if Time were now to be redeem'd what would not the most voluptuous Man be willing to do or suffer What would not the most covetous Man be ready to part with for the purchasing of it What would not he give for [i] Considera quà m multi modo mâ—riuntur quibus si haec hora ad agendum pâ—nitentiam oneâ—â—erâ—tur quae tibi concessa est quomodo per aâ—taria quà a fâ—stinanter currerent ibi sleâ—â—s genibus vel cerè toto corpore in terram prestrato tamdiu suspirerent plorarent orare tâ— donec plenissâ—â—am peccatorum venâ—am à Deo consequi merâ—â—entur Tu verò comedendo bibendo jocanâ—o ridendo tempus ocâ—osè vivendo perdis quod tibi indulserat Deus ad acquirendam gratiam ad promerendaâ— gloriam Bernard de interiori domo c. 63. that Time which some of you it may be spend and throw away in Drinking Gaming Carding Diceing in Romances and Stage-Plaies in idle foolish Pastimes in Jeering and Jesting and carnal sinful Merry-making To what excellent Vses would he resolve to put his Hours if he could enjoy any more of them If God would grant him but one Year of Trial more how little would he design to give to the World and the Flesh and how much to God and Godliness and the Offices and Exercises of pure Religion and undefiled How would such an one purpose and promise to resist Temptations to shun all Occasions and Appearances of Evil carefully to provide for his immortal Soul diligently to study the sacred Scriptures strictly to observe the whole Lord's-Day attentively to hear the Word preach'd both in Season and out of Season frequently to meditate of it and constantly to frame and order his Life according to it to pray with his Family devoutly and fervently morning and evening to spend some Time every Day with God and himself in secret to make the purest and precisest Christians his constant Patterns and Examples and for the future to follow and imitate those whom heretofore he hated and derided nick-named and abused When once Men ly a dying and the near Approach of their latter End does awaken their sleepy secure Consciences and make the most stupid sottish Sinner begin now to be truly sensible and serious with what aestuations and perturbations of Mind with what anguish and akings of Heart with what Pangs and Agonies and fearful Tremblings with what doleful Accents and passionate piercing moving melting Expressions do they lament and beâ—ail their waâ—teful Mis-spence and miserable Loss of all the Time of God's most patient Trial of them and of all their special golden Seasons and rare Advantages and Opportunities When they take their leave of all about them how earnestly and importunately do they exhort and urge them to be better husbands of their Time and Talents How pathetically and feelingly do they then advise and counsel their Children and Servants Friends and Relations Neighbours and Acquaintance to number their Daies to lead good Lives to improve their Health and Strength for God and their own and others Souls and timely to prepare for Death and Judgment Let 's consider some of us who have thought sometimes that the Sentence of Death has past upon us and have look'd on such or such a Sickness as our last Arrest and Summons what would we then have disbursed for a Reprieve Would we not have given with Hand and Heart an House full of Silver and Gold if we had had it to have been sure to have lived another Year for the proving and evidencing the Truth and Sincerity of our Faith and Repentance by a course of Obedience and our making a larger and surer provision for our comfortable Reception and happy Entertainment in the other World Friends we shall ere long be all of us plac'd upon our Death-beds and if we make no matter of Time now if we won't value and prize it now we shall then sure enough highly prize it when alas it will be too late And if we now have worthy thoughts of it we shall suffer nothing to rob and deprive us of it [k] Quà m felix prudent qui talis nunc nititur esse in vita qualis optat inveniri in morte Thomas a Rempis lib. 1. c. 23. n. 4. Hic est apex summae sapientiae ea viventem facere quae morienti essent appetenda Let 's be of the same mind and judgment now in our Health and Strength that we shall certainly be of in Sickness and Weakness and not contemn and vilify that in our Life time which we shall wish we had worthily
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