Man unto the Measure of the Stature of the Fulness of Christ. CHAP. IX V. and ANother Effectual Way of Redeem-Lastly Aing our Time is To spend as much as may be of the remainder of it upon Devotion especially upon the Solemnities of Publick Devotion in the House of God A Day in thy Courts is better than a thousand saith the devout Psalmist Psal 84. 10. It is better spent and will turn to better Account than all the Years that Vice and Vanities consume To withdraw our selves from the World to take away as it were by Reprisal that Time which the World usually steals from us to Dedicate Offer up Appropriate that Time to God and to bestow it upon God This is such a plain way to recover our lost Hours as is obvious to all who have a true Sense of Religion But because there are many Duties which we own in the Theory to be Good and yet are wanting to in point of Practice to encourage our Endeavours as to this Particular Two Things require our serious Consideration I. First That to attend diligently upon the Ordinances and Institutions of our Religion is an excellent way for us to do the Great Work for which the redeeming of our best Time is prescrib'd and intended II. Secondly That it is a ready way to keep us from losing our time for the Future 1. First To attend diligently upon the Ordinances and Institutions of our Religion is an excellent way for us to do that great Work for which the Redeeming of our Lost time is prescribed and Intended By the Ordinances of our Religion I mean the Listning to and Meditating upon the Word of God the use of the holy Sacrament and the lifting up of our Hearts in Prayers and Thanksgivings and the like And by the great Work we are to do I understand the preparing and fitting our Souls for a Blessed Eternity Now for the effectual doing of this nothing serveth as a more proper and direct means than diligent attendance upon those Religious Offices For it is by the constant use of these Ordinances that the Spirit of God is Ministred unto us and worketh in us that our Lusts are gradually mortified that our Hearts are transform'd and changed as God would have them that the Virtues which are necessary to qualifie us for an heavenly State are confirm'd and increased in us and that we grow in Grace and in the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ To illustrate this Matter particularly Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God Rom. 10. 17. Whether this Word be Preach'd or Read it is an instrument of Grace to all whose Hearts are open to receive and obey it Therein the most precious Promises are exhibited and the most terrible Threats denounced against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men especially against such as hold the Truth in unrighteousness Therein all those Doctrines are contained which are according unto godliness the whole Counsel of God is declared and all those Things revealed which are profitable for instruction in Righteousness that every Man may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works Therein are given those divine Laws which are apt to renew our Minds and to cleanse us from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit that we may perfect Holiness in the fear of God Therein also we see a great cloud of Witnesses who by their Exemplary Lives have taught us to lay aside every weight and the Sin that doth so easily beset us and to run with patience the Race that is set before us Above all therein we behold the Example of the Lord Jesus whose most holy Life was intended for a Pattern unto us that we should follow his steps and whose ignominious and most painful Death was intended partly to Frighten us from Sin that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works All these things we find in the Scriptures and by these means the Scriptures if duly considered and meditated upon are of vast use to us and serve to produce in us Faith Hope Charity and all manner of Righteousness and true Holiness Upon which account it must needs be a very necessary and profitable way of Redeeming our Time to bestow as much of it as we can upon Learning Hearing Reading and inwardly digesting the good word of God which is thus able in all respects to save our Souls In like manner the frequent Participation of Christ's Body and Blood is a vast help towards those Spiritual improvements which should take up the greatest part of our time For as that heavenly Ordinance puts us in mind of God's adorable Perfections especially his Wisdom Righteousness and Mercy which shined so bright in the complicated Mystery of our Redemption so it serves to raise our Hearts into the highest Admirations of God and stirs us up to stand in awe of his Justice to rely upon his Compassions to express all possible Gratitude for Mercies so undeserved so stupendious to submit with all Humility to his Commands and Providence to shew the Sense we have of his great Goodness by suitable returns of Affection and to love one another because God hath so loved us all In short by preparing our selves duly for this Blessed Sacrament and by a Reverent and Religious use of it our Faith becomes the stronger our Hope 's the more vigorous our Charity the more Ardent our Minds the more Circumspect our Care and Caution the more strict and all the ordinary Gitfs and Graces of God's Spirit are thereby the more Exercised Confirmed and increased in us This shews what an admirable way of Redeeming our lost time this is to attend diligently upon the Institutions of our Religion because the great work we are to do in order to a blessed Eternity and to fit us for it is thereby carried on with constant Dispatch and with the quicker Hand But we should consider moreover how profitably we may employ our time and recover in some measure what is lost by daily setting aside some part and portion of the time we have for the Ordinance of Prayer alone even when we are not Communicants at the Altar nor hearers of the Word after the most solemn manner Every day will I bless thee saith the Psalmist Ps 145. 2. And indeed the thing is grounded upon an eternal Law of Reason For we stand in Need of his Goodness and Receive of his Goodness daily and therefore it is necessary and equal that we should address our selves to him daily with Supplications and Thanksgivings Now if we would do this I mean do it with such devout Hearts as ought to be applied to so sublime a Duty besides the advantage we get by attending Weekly and Monthly upon other Ordinances our daily attendance upon This would be of infinite use to us For hereby we do not only fit and prepare our Souls for an heavenly State but are indeed a Doing the works of Heaven
comes there is a crookedness within which is far worse then that in the Bones and 't is to be fear'd that a Death bed Repentance is seldom genuine and sincere after a long Life of Impiety Sometimes it happens that instead of Repenting People are ready to despair believing that after so much Time quite mis-spent the poor remainder is too little and too late for the beginning of a great Work when ones course is now finishing The thought of this is like an heavy Misfortune which a Man knows not how to bear up against His Heart sinks under the pressure and he gives over all Endeavors because he thinks no Labor or Means will be to purpose especially when Attempts have been altogether ineffectual and fruitless This is a sad consequence of the loss of Time when it thus terminates in Horror and Dampness And yet though the thing be evil the case is not uncommon and considering the Danger that is so visible before all negligent People one would think the very fear of what may be should stir them up to make provision against Futurity by well husbanding the Present We may be sure the Remembrance of so much Time Lost must needs be very uncomfortable in that day when Mens Consciences are wont to speak home and plain Suppose ones Heart be truly Penitent it cannot but afford him a very melancholy Prospect to look back upon his former Life and to see what a long Course he has run to sad purpose How many fair Opportunities of doing good have been baulk'd how little Religion hath been minded tho' it be the great thing for which we were all brought into the World How many Motions of Gods Holy Spirit have been resisted How many Mercies have been abused How often private Affairs have been preferred to the Divine Service How many hours have been trifled away which should have been imployed at Gods House How many Sins have been acted when the Works of Salvation should and might have been look'd after in short how Vice and Vanity and Idleness have divided that Time which God had a right to and which the Soul might have fared happily by had it not been in a wicked Mans keeping Intemperance Lust Pride Quarreling studying how to defraud and to do Mischief robbeth away a great part of some Mens Lives and worldly Interest is the common Thief till improvident Wretches see their Graves ready to open to receive at last so many publick Nusances and so many Burdens upon the Earth These must needs be very melancholy Considerations to those whose Eyes Death is a closing especially if their Consciences are yet awake And therefore People should be wise in time because it is impossible for any of us to know what the issues of a Death bed will be or what our Condition will prove then The Time past of our Life may suffice us to have wrought the Will of the Gentiles saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 4. 3. And thus every one of us should conclude the time past of our Life may suffice us to have followed the Works of the Flesh and the Vanities of the World God knows there are few who have not lost too much of this kind already and if instead of Recovering Men go on still to multiply their Losses 't will be a sad Account they must come to at last when they shall cast up their Dammages and their Acquests and shall be made to consider what a long Season they have fool'd away and gotten nothing by it in the end but a wounded Conscience and a most terrible Prospect CHAP. III. How irreparable this Loss will be in another Life THough this alone be a great Consideration yet in comparison of what follows it is little to be valued For whatever our Losses are now as long as we have some time yet left us we may make our selves some sort of Reparation But a Time is coming which we should always provide against the great cause of our trifling away so many precious hours is because we do not think so much and so often as we should of that Time when notwithstanding the intimate Affection that is now between them the Soul must be divorced from the Body and live in a separate State till the general Judgment-day The Dust shall return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God who gave it Eccles 12. 7. It shall return unto God to receive its Sentence for the Works done in the Body and according as those Works have been whether good or evil so will its State be assigned it either of Happiness or Misery And whatever that State be it will be utterly unchangeable There can be no Reviving till the Resurrection no returning upon the Earth any more no living over our Lives again to rectifie any one Miscarriage no recalling a Minute to drop a Tear or to cry for Pardon There is saith Job some bope of a Tree if it be cut down that it will sprout again and that the tender branch thereof will not cease though the root thereof wax old in the Earth and the Stock thereof dye in the Ground yet through the scent of Water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a Plant. But a Man dieth and wasteth away yea Man giveth up the Ghost and where is he As the Waters fail from the Sea and the Flood decayeth and dryeth up so Man lieth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more They shall not awake nor be raised out of their sleep Job 14. This Consideration then is the second Motive to quicken us all to Redeem our Time because the loss of it at the end of this Life will be irreparable seeing it is impossible for us to come out of our Graves again to order Time better then we are suppos'd to have done We are deeply concerned to double our Diligence about it now before it is past Redemption As yet it it not too late but it will certainly be so when once we are dead Our Works will follow us into another World but it would be madness to think we may begin them there which way soever our Souls go we must necessarily be Losers by losing our Time here Our Saviour tells us of a broad Way that leadeth to Destruction Mat. 7. 13. And such as go that way are beyond all possibility of Redeeming their Time or of being Redeemed themselves when once they arrive at the end of their sad Journey Hell indeed was prepared for the Punishment of the Devil and his Angels and revealed to Men for their Terror that the sight of it might turn their Desires towards Heaven and frighten them into an eagerness of taking Sanctuary there whither Promises alone would hardly allure sordid and brutish Appetites But if after such proffers of infinite Happiness some will be so improvident and head-strong as to make that their Option which is the Devils Curse they can blame none but themselves for being at last without hope of
to keep it self from being Captivated Upon which account it must needs require Time to recover that Dominion which is its Right and Prerogative And though Grace comes in to its assistance yet considering that the Spirit of God worketh in a moral way by exciting moving and perswading but not constraining the Conquest cannot be present and instantaneous For as long as Nature is at the bottom it will appear and that with Vigour when it hath the aid and help of Sense and when custom hath given it a kind of Title to the Mastery This shews what great Necessity there is for a Man to bestow pains upon himself Daily because it is this which will give him a gradual Victory He is continually doing something Towards it Here he gaineth one Point and there another and so in time he finds certain and kindly success by thus taming his Nature and bringing it to a ductile manageable Temper by degrees All this while I suppose him not to have arrived to the pitch of an over-grown Sinner but to be come to the ordinary Age of Manhood when ones Lusts though they are strong and impetuous yet are not so Fixt Obstinate and Refractory as crooked Old Age is apt to make them Such an Experienced Wretch whom the Pleasure and perhaps the Profit likewise of so many Years hath confirm'd in Wickedness comes at last to be so hardned that all Reasonings Admonitions Counsels and Prayers are thrown away upon him and make as little effectual impression upon his perverse Mind as they would upon a Rock or Adamant The danger of coming to this sad pass is a stronger Argument still of the Necessity there is to redeem ones time by doing something Daily in order to Eternity that is to mortifie some Lust or other every day and every day to live more and more unto God For when Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth Sin Jam. 1. 15. and Sin is finish'd by degrees by growing and gathering strength daily And by this means the Devil insensibly prepares a way to that sad State which Divines call Final Impenitence meaning such a Numbness Stupidity and Deadness of Heart as doth utterly indispose it for a true Godly Repentance 'T is to be fear'd that Men often come to this wretched State by the just Judgment of God upon them for their irreligious lives and for their obstinately putting off the Reformation of them from Day to Day The truth is it naturally followeth such a wicked Course For Use and Custom do naturally serve to harden the Heart as was observed before So that when the Hoary Head comes it is as hard a matter to renew that old wicked Mind in it as it is to renew ones Age. Nature is of it self inclined to Evil and when a long trade of Wickedness hath brought the Mind to be in love with it to be devoted to it to be bent set and fixt upon it it must needs be morally impossible to pluck up those Men's Habits quite by the Roots which have been so many Years a contracting and which have grown so strong and deep into the very Heart So that though we should suppose an old Villain to have the same means and measures of Grace which are afforded the Vain Youth that perhaps is guilty of the same Sins too yet the case of the former would be far more desperate than the condition of the latter were there nothing else to be considered but this because the one hath been much more Used and Accustomed to Wickedness than the other But besides this it must be said that the Hopes concerning both are not the same For the more time Men waste in an Evil Course the less they have of God's Spirit and by this means also the stiffer and harder are their Hearts and the more they Sin away their day of Grace Without Christ we can do nothing Jo. 15. 5. For it is God which worketh in us both to will and to do of his good Pleasure Phil. 2. 13. The Strength we have is from above the Power which serves to prepare and assist our Souls and which doth every way enable us to work out our Salvation it is freely given by the Father of Spirits Now though God giveth freely unto all and to every Man such a portion of his Grace as is necessary and suitable yet they that are negligent and ill Husbands of their Talents do impair their Stock daily By resisting the Holy Ghost they take a Course to grieve him and by continuing to grieve they proceed at length to quench him Where God's Grace is abus'd or slighted there he withdraws it in Vengeance for that Wilfulness and Hardness which was antecedent And then is God said to give People up unto their own Hearts Lusts to let them walk in their own Counsels Psal 81. 12. to send them strong Delusions so that they believe a Lie 2 Thess 2. 11. to give them up to vile Affections and to give them over to a reprobate Mind Rom. 1. 26 28. The Meaning of these Expressions is That God doth sometimes take away from Men the Grace they had that he quite leaves them to themselves and delivers them up to the saddest state of Mind thereby punishing them most justly for the long Incorrigibleness of their Temper By this means 't is possible for them to play and sin away all the accepted Time before they are aware and to bring themselves under an irreversible Sentence of Damnation in this their Life-time It is possible I say and 't is to be fear'd many actually do so by persisting and going on in a Trade of Wickedness from Year to Year I answer 't is a just Provocation for God to deal by them as he did by Pharaob whom he gave utterly over to an obdurate state for his Stubbornness and Obstinacy especially after the Sixth Plague And though he did not presently cut him off but suffer'd him to live still some time longer yet this was not in expectation of Repentance from him being now brought by his own Wilfulness to a deserted Condition but it was to this end that he might be made at last a signal and astonising Example of Divine Vengeance From which Instance it is clear that a Man may sin away his Time and the Grace of God till he comes to an Incapacity of repenting in good earnest and that he may do this before he dies And this is one Reason why the best Divines are so severe against that which they call a Late Repentance meaning Remorse of Conscience and Sorrow for Sin which is not begun till old Age or Sickness comes and the Terrors of Death with it For though it be granted that God pardons every True Penitent whenever he turns to God with all his Heart and Soul Yet the great Question is Whether a late Repentance be True Right and such as the Gospel requires that is Whether it be indeed a True Change and Renovation of the Mind For there may be a Sorrow