hadest with him during the time thou wast upon Earth what Apprehensions thou hadst of him what Adresses thou madst to him as a Mediatour an Advocate and Saviour what Faith thou hast had in him whether there was an agreement made between him and thee whil'st thy dayes were in being that thou wouldst give up thy Soul and Body and Sins to him thy Unrighteousness and Righteousness and that he would undertake to satisfie the Justice of God and appease his Wrath for thee and reconcile thee to his Father that he would cloth thee with his Righteousness and sanctifie thy Nature by his Holy Word and Spirit that he would make thee meet to be a partaker of Glory and present thee blameless and unreproveable in the sight of God and give thee a full possession of an everlasting Kingdom and Glory with himself what fear thou hadst upon thy Heart in thy dayes of the Great God whether in every thing thou didst in Natural Civil and Religious Actions thou didst design and aim at his Glory How thy Affections were placed and what kind of love passed between thee and the World during their abode there what acts of Self-denial and Mortification thou put forth what exercise of Heavenly-mindedness what Duties thou didst and how they were done how thou didst honour God in the Conditions he placed thee what patience and contentedness in a low condition what humility meekness and repentance in an high condition how thou bore sickness and straits and how thou used thy riches and how honest thou wast in thy dealings There will be no discourses there of such vain matters as are here below but as Paul discoursed of Temperance and Righteousness and the Judgment to come of Uprightness and Sincerity and unfeigned Repentance and a true and full closing with the Person of Christ the Son of the Living God equal with the Father the Mediatour for poor Sinners the Saviour of all that truly believe on his Name and come to him what Obedience thou manifested to his Laws how thou loved him and kept his Commandments how thou loved the Brethren and there by manifested thy being passed from Death to life how fruitful thou wast in all good works and thereby didst justify thy Faith to be sound and true and of the right kind how willing and desirous thou was to do much for God and how little thou didst esteem thy self the better for what thou didst but how much thou didst abhor thy self and hate thy self for thy daily defects manifold infirmities and much unsuitable carriage to such great goodness and loving kindness and unworthiness of such rich Grace and Mercy c. Of this Nature will be the Discourses then and the more thou hast been exercised in these thing the greater will be thy consolation Oh my Beloved where is that Professor that lives under the serious frequent and powerful meditation of these things this and the other work I am imployed in this and the other thing I am discoursing of if God should now cut off the threed of my Life what should I be advantaged hereby would it turn to my advantage when I come in the presence of the Great God shall I be glad that I was exercised or rather wish that I had never medled or been concerned in such affairs and matters our dayes are not intended to be the dayes of Noah and Lot wherein Men built and planted and bought and sold and married and were given in Marriage all these Lawful things and not one of them sinful that is that did do all these things as the work of the day for themselves and rested in them rejoiced themselves in them and did not do them with respect to another Life with such fear regularity moderation righteous principles and designs as would have yeelded them comfort when those dayes had been cut off in another world are we not fallen into such dayes as Noah's and Lot's were eating drinking c. Eating Drinking is an unlawful thing if you do not do it to the Glory of God and honour God in it observe it as there is no time allotted for sin so neither are there any dayes allowed for the doing of lawful and good actions if they have not a reference to Eternity thy Prayers and Almes and duties are not numbred aright if they be not numbred for God and another world if they be numbred for thy self and thy present interest they are quite lost and which is worse do become sin and so prove mortal and damning you see how necessary it is to number every day for Eternity if thou mindest this Rule thou wilt reap much fruit hereafter from thy common and worldly actions because hereby those actions which otherwise are but common and worldly actions as the actions of our ordinary and homliest callings we shall sanctifie them and translate them out of themselves and their own base Element into an higher Orb and Element viz. to go as for actions truly holy and Religious and parts of God's own worship before him and rewardable as so at his hand 's what a comfort might this be to Men in going about worldly callings to the very Shuttleman and Sheersman Spinster and Carder and the veriest drudge and droil in the servilest condition what a comfort this to consider that if they do but honestly and faithfully in obedience to God that hath set them in those callings go about them they might sanctifie those and the like actions and translate them out of a Worldly into an Heavenly Orb and Element and Glorifie God and by that thou providest for Eternity as well in their proportion by those actions as the Angels that stand continually before God do by their standing and praising and singing Hallelujahs to him The poor Servants that in obedience to God do faithful and honest service be it in never such drudgeries to their Master are said to adorn thereby the Doctrine of God Titus 2.10 And is not this a working a numbring time and work for Eternity those that honour him and his Gospel he will honour them another day What a comfort is this that meer drudgeries and Worldly Actions that might seem only to smell of the World and this present life and time that these being gone about in the Obedience and Fear of God baulking iniquity and injustice in them may go for Holy and Heavenly actions The actions of the vertuous Woman Prov. 31. a Man would think were the actions only of a meer worldling she seeketh wool and flax c. yet those and such-like are all the actions for which she is called a vertuous Woman in the Beginning and to have done vertuously above all in the latter end Many Daughters have done vertuously but thou excellest them all and the next verse shews the reason because she did these in the Fear of the Lord A Woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised shall have praise at the end of dayes
The eight Rule in Christian Arithmemetick is this number and compare your daies with the age of the World if the whole Age of the World be so little compared with Eternity and thine Age so short compared with the Worlds age How small a thing is thy life compared with Eternity see Eccles 1.4 One generation passeth away and another cometh but the Earth abideth for ever add to this what is read Psal 102.25 c. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the works of thy hands they shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old like a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years have no end If thou should have been born in the beginning of the World and have lived to the end of it it is but a moment and yet how narrow a space of the World's age dost thou live Rule 9. Number the obscurity of thy dayes and see what influence this will have and what advantage to true Wisdom the World knows little of thee and thou but little of it how many thousand years passed in the World and millions of People acted upon the stage before thou came into it Now thou art in being what a poor obscure Creature art thou little acquainted with what is done out of thy sight it may be thou art a stranger to him that lives next door to thee Oh my Brethren if this thing well considered taking in the thoughts of the acquaintance knowledg which the Saints will be priviledged with in Eternity they shall see as they are seen and know as they are known face to face behold all things in God sit down with Abraham c. I say the comparing of those things how inconsiderable would it make this pitiful life to appear and what cloudy obscure scanty daies would these seem to be the greatest Monarch in the World in all his Glory is no more to be compared for splendor interest and excellency to the lowest Saint in Heaven than a Beggar in a dungeon is to be compared with such a Monarch what a vast compass will every Saint have in his Eye what reflexions of joy and glory from an innumerable company of Saints and Angels what true esteem and unparalel'd Affections from Thousands and Millions of Glorious Creatures What constant and eminent discoveries and manifestations of Love from the Father of Glory the Lord of Glory and the Spirit of Glory much more happy than the Servants of Solomon for they stand to hear the Wisdom of of one that is greater than Solomon may Solomon himself in all his glory is not to be compared to one of these If perhaps through thy parts and Worldly advantages thou come to be seen a little above thy Neighbours and to be talked of by a whole Countrey by the Generality of the People there how many are there even in that Countrey that never heard of thee take no notice of thee how many Enemies hast thou and envious ones that hate thee and would if they could overturn thy little honour what watchfulness and circumspection hadst thou daily need of because of thy observers how hard it is not to give a slip harder not to have it taken notice of hardest not to have it magnified and multiplied and made use of by censurers most of whose Religion lies in observing the failings of the Godly to reflect upon thee and the profession it self that thou art under what flatteries and pretended Friends what troublesome visits what variety of occasions and diversions what necessity continually of displeasing some and an utter impossibility to please all many have complained that they have set up more sail than they could keep up and wished with all their Hearts they might walk upon the ground again safely and silently and never more be carried upon the uneasy and uneven shoulders of popularity Again what sollicitousness to improve rightly so large advantages and opportunities of service and to be found faithful stewards of the manifold gifts of God Consider now in how much greater excellency and infinitely higher place thou wilt be in Heaven if thou be a Saint and freed from all the forenamed inconveniences and a thousand more and then say it may well stand for one Rule about numbring dayes to reckon the obscurity of them Rule 10. The last Rule in Christian Arithmetic is this Number thy dayes to Eternity duly consider what mutual aspects Time and Eternity have upon each other All the use of dayes is for Eternity what-ever is looked upon as a means to an end is upon that account less excellent than the end and if it be not imployed in order to that end it becomes of no use all that time that has not a fair and favourable look upon Eternity is lost time what-ever use it was put to that day is a Cipher and stands for nothing in the Calendar wherein nothing is put that has respect to another World He that considers how great a change his last day will make with him will have something to do for his last day in every day The whole life is but a Contemplation of and should be a Preparation for a dying day He is a Fool that is merry and makes much of himself in his Inn and knows not that he has any thing when he comes at home what-ever pleasure thou mightest take here in eating and drinking and visiting and entertainments and riches and relations and rayment and estate c. as soon as ever thy breath is out of thy nostrils Good Lord what a change is here all on a sudden now no more Meats nor Drinks talked of no more use of Wine and reviving Liquors not a word more of Discourse not a dram of Mirth Friends depart Relations go out of the room no more Visitors his dearest Companions give over thoughts of having any more to do with him greatest Dealers will have no more Accounts with him his dear Relations that a quarter of an hour ago would have parted with their own lives to have saved his now begin to consult to have his Body removed out of sight and put into the cold ground a Companion for Worms which they so friendly embraced and kissed a little while ago there it may rot and at the Resurrection go to Hell for any thing they can help it his Soul immediately goes to God and appears before his Tribunal where there is no talk of no profit in Gold or Silver or thousands by the year nor coming in here as Agrippa and Bernice came into the Common Hall with great pomp and fancy no respect to him that wears the Goldring no discourse of Trades or Feastings or Houses or Apparel or Children or Relations but of a good Conscience how thou stood affected towards a person thou will see there The Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God what Communication thou
Another Woman there may be that may do the same things may seek wool and flax and work willingly with her hands may rise early put her hand to the wheel c and yet may be a meer scraper a meer worldling a meer progger for Earthly trash and subsistence for these dayes a meer vitious and not a vertuous Woman Why Because she does them not from the same ground out of obedience and fear of God and respect to another World but from a prophane heart greedy of the world so how many precepts are there in Proverbs that might seem to smell of meer worldliness as that of taking heed of suretiship and that of diligently looking after the state of their flocks and looking well to their herds And yet no Worldliness that Solomon meant in them but rather Heavenliness mark his General rule in the Begi 〈…〉 the Fear of the Lord is the Beginn 〈…〉 Wisdoms all other precepts are to be performed by vertue of this general precept and guided by it Let this lastly be added that you may see how necessary it is to number time and dayes and what-ever fills them for Eternity if we do not do it we shall lose the comfort of our best and most specious Actions To be painful in the Ministry to be forward in Works of Charity c. How goodly and how good are these Actions in themselves and yet spend my Spirits I may consume and wait my strength I may in the Ministry and yet if I do this as a task only that the world looks I should discharge or to get my own maintenance or to set up my own credit and not chiefly in all this my labour be guided by that which he I that was so laborious in the Ministry was guided by To me to live is Christ the honour of Christ and to die is gain here is Eternity in the case I lose all the comfort I might have in this so good an Action and the reward I might expect from Christ in the other World So 〈◊〉 Works of charity I may do many things I may feed the hungry 〈◊〉 the Naked entertain good Ministers and good People build Hospitals c. and yet if by-respects which supposition I put not that the world should in such cases where Good appears be suspicious but that Man that does Good should look still to his own Heart which is deceitful if I say by-respects sway too much and these things be not done chiefly in obedience to God that he might be glorified and that we might lay up a good Foundation for the time to come that we might lay hold upon Eternal Life and that we might make to our selves Friends of the unrighteous Mammon that when we want they may receive us into Everlasting habitations We lose the great comfort that we might expect from so good actions To conclude this Point if you be careful observe this rule of making all thy time all thy dayes and actions look with their Faces directly upon Eternity and the World to come thou wilt meet with wonderful advantage and benefit by it thou wilt bring all thy works into a narrow compass into a single channel into constant view and observation Thou will render all thy Duties and performances all thy labours under the Sun to be more sweet more easie unperplexed and affording much peace rest and tranquillity to the Soul by a perfect removing the fears of future evils publick judgments poverty c. and especially of the day of thy Death which by this means will be so facilitated and familiarized that it will become rather a day desireable than formidable nay thou will look upon the day of thy Death as better than any of the dayes of thy Life these and other things I might enlarge upon and they do indeed deserve a serious discussion but I design brevity and therefore hasten to the second Observation which I shall but touch upon and that is from this consideration that the Psalmist prayes for teaching and instruction in this point of numbring Dayes which is so plain so common so ordinary so obvious a thing besides that he had numbred them in ver 10. The Dayes of our years c. Doct. 2. Let the Observation hence be this that Christians may be much unacquainted with the Nature and power of those Truths which are known and confessed and acknowledged by them the hinge of this is that Truths that seem to be best known are least known things best seen are least understood I shall briefly give you a fivefold Instance and so pass on to the next 1. The Doctrine is evident in things relating to sense 1. The shortness of time 2. Certainty of Death 3. Uncertainty of Riches 2. In things obvious to Reason and most acknowledged as 1. The deceitfulness of Man's Heart 2. The necessary connexion between Sin and Punishment 3. The universal and particular Providence of God 3. In things known by Revelation as First That Christ Died and was Buried and rose again see 1 Cor. 15.1 2 3 4. And ascended into Heaven Secondly That he sent down his Holy Spirit to convince guide comfort and rule in the Hearts of the Saints Thirdly That the Lord Jesus will come again in Power and great Glory with his Saints and Angels to Judge the World in Righteousness 4. In matters of absolute and plain precept as First Loving the Brethren and being found in all the Acts and exercises of Gospel-Love Secondly Well-ordering and governing the tongue Thirdly Walking circumspectly and redeeming time 5. In approved Actions concerning Worship as First That God is to be Worshipped and Loved above all which is the first and great Commandment Is this observed diligently and constantly by all Christians is there nothing at any time steps before God Secondly Divine and Gospel-Worship must have Divine and Gospel-warrant Thirdly That Gospel-Worship must be Spiritual and not formal and carnal I might give you the Reasons of the point from the commonnesss of them few considering seriously what is obvious and plain from Man's curiosity still willing to find out some new thing and from Satan's subtilty who knows by experience that there is no such Robbing as by the high way side the great road the known path he Will let men alone in by-wayes and more private paths in Truths of lesser concernment and influence but dees the great spoil in known confessed practical Truths and Doctrines But I hasten to what remains it may be the Lord may stir up some more able Pen to shew the professing World their great errours and mistakes herein that the Spirits of the power of Godliness which have been long uhder decay may be recovered and the great arteties filled with good Blood that the Truths and the things of God may have their due consideration and observation by the pretenders to them according to their nature worth weight necessity and excellency of them There are two Observations behind