Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n
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A90367
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A practical discourse concerning the redeeming of time by Edward Pelling, D.D. chaplain in ordinary to Their Majesties, and rector of Petworth in Sussex.
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Pelling, Edward, d. 1718.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing P1085; ESTC R42376
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51,075
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127
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account there is no medium or Remedy but we must be Infinitely Gainers or Losers by it this is evident to all who believe a Future state However that notions of this kind may make the deeper impression 't will be requisite in the prosecution of this subject to consider distinctly these three things 1. First how very Prejudicial to the soul we find the Loss of time to be already Secondly how Irreparable the Loss will be in another life And Thirdly how dangerous it is in relation even to our present outward fortunes These few things if gravely and wisely consider'd would naturally excite men to Redeem their time while it is yet in their Power and while the Price of Redemption is as yet in their hand CHAP II. How very prejudicial to the Soul Men may find the loss of Time to be already First HOW very prejudicial to the Soul we find the loss of Time to be already The Perfections of the Soul whether they be Intellectual or Moral are not wrought by any sudden instantaneous Infusion but are acquired by degrees Knowledge by Speculation and hard Studies Virtue by Practice by many repeated Acts which improve good Dispositions into a setled habit of Living well now this requires Time and therefore the Scripture expresses it by growing in Grace 2 Pet. 3. 18. because those gracious Dispositions rise and increase gradually Though the Principle be Supernatural yet 't is Industry and Time that bringeth Fruit unto Perfection A Musbrome may be the work of a Night only but substantial Virtue and Piety being Acts of a Mans Will governed by Arguments from Reason and Revelation must needs be of slow growth especially so as to become customary and habitual Upon this account the loss of Time is very sensibly prejudicial to Peoples Souls because thereby the business of their Salvation in the Works whereof they should have kept equal Paces with their Time that great and urgent business is put quite backward and left behind-hand never to be fetch'd up again without double Diligence at the least Their Understandings are darkened or deluded for want of that true Information which their Minds might have received had they not slept or sported away many happy Oportunities or spent them upon secular Concernments Their Sense of Religion is comparatively very superficial by their neglecting those Hours which should have been employed about it Their Virtues are inconsiderable for want of Practice Briefly all those Improvements which others have made and which are necessary for all to prepare and fit their Souls for a blessed State hereafter such careless People are to seek for and perhaps at last dispair of making when once they are throughly sensible of their Neglects and find the Inconveniences of a sick Bed or the dulness of old Age to come upon them Instead of those Perfections in Grace and Goodness Vice gets ground apace every day it grows more and more habitual till in the end it is as hard a matter to reform those who are accustomed to do Evil as it is to make an Ethiopian change his Skin or a Leopard his Spots Jer. 13. 23. We should therefore Redeem the Time while possability and practicableness of the thing gives us Encouragements We commonly look back upon our Losses with a sadness and with many disquieting Thoughts God knoweth 't is too often thus in our ordinary Affairs though it be natural enough 't is the ready way to create pain in the Heart of any unprosperous Man to consider not only what Fortunes he hath actually lost but what Advantages he has mist too what he might have come to had he been diligent and wise what he might have done what he might have been how many he might have out-stript in the World how many ways he might have improved his Interest had his Hands been Industrious and had he not let so many fair Opportunities slip out of them If any thing can spur up such an improvident and restiff Creature by vigorous Courses to Redeem the Time that is gone from him the Sense of this must And if Men were as heartily concern'd for Spiritual as they are for these external transitory Matters they would hardly need any other Perswasions to Redeem their Time but this single Consideration What Debtors they are to their own Souls and what great Arrears they are in unto themselves Since they came into the World capable of any Impressions and lived out the days of their Child hood in a State of perfect Innocence comparatively What Proficients in Religion and Vertue might they have been by that time they came of Age had they not dropt their precious Time with their Trifles and Toys And since they had the same equal advantage with Timothy of knowing the Holy Scriptures from their Child-hood they might have been wise unto Salvation betimes too had they spent their days in chewing over and digesting those wholesom Doctrines wherein Timothy was careful to be nourished up 1 Tim. 4. 6. Many Vices might have been destroyed upon their first appearance like Cockatrices crusht in the Egg. Passion would have met with an early check Meekness Patience Humility Charity and a devout Temper would not have been scorn'd as Phlegmatick and ungenerous Dispositions Conscience which is now prostituted to Lust would have have preserved in a pure and undefiled State Vast Improvements might have been made had People but made a good use of their Time The only way therefore they have now to Redeem it is to recover of their Losses as much as they can and that with all possible speed because the longer this Care is deferred the greater still their Losses are like Debts which every day swell by being neglected Wicked Habits grow daily and are more and more confirmed by Pleasure and Custom till the Ear becomes deaf and the Heart hardned There is a Succession of Follies as there is of Years When the Rattle is thrown away Vanity is taken up and Vice takes the next turn Thus the Youth commenceth a Son of Belial and proceeds by degrees from the Womb towards Hell unless some surprising Judgments meet him in the way to give him a stop after many Prayers and Counsels of Friends that have been used in vain By this course of Life Vice is reckoned in the end one of the Accomplishments of a Man and when once it comes to be grave to act with Seriousness Deliberation and Designs it is infinitely harder to be conquered then it was in the days of innocent Ignorance consequently the hurt and mischief which is done to the poor Soul by a long Trade of Wickedness is inexpressible and therefore Men should Redeem their Time while they have it to Redeem and while the thing is practicable for the longer it runs the more it will be out of their Power their Time is still less and less yet their Vices increase and wax the stronger and their Minds are every day the more stiff and inflexible So that when old Age
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