consider thou hadst benefit by the Patience of God was not thou once wicked and it may be so wicked that others murmured at thee as now thou murmurest at them if thou art light in the Lord remember thy former darkness thou wouldest have God be hasty with others and little thinks what danger thou escaped by God's Patience towards thee because thou art got over the Bridge thou wouldest therefore have it drawn but if thou thy self did not put God to the expence of much time and hast been sanctified even from the womb yet hast thou not some Son or Daughter or Friend or brother whose wicked lives thou bewails and wouldest thou have God to destroy them to begin with them to make them the first examples of his present revenge Thou saies why does God bear with the wicked so long Why does God bear with thy Son with thy Brother with thy Kinsman Thou wouldest desire a little more time for them and further forbearance in hope of amendment that he would forbear them when they are young for hope of reclaiming when they come to Man's estate that he would forbear them then for hope of reclaiming when they grow old that he would forbear them when they are old yet one year longer for hope of reclaiming the next and so on and therefore look either upon thy self who once wert darkness but now art light in the Lord or upon Child or Friend who now are darkness but happily one day may be light in the Lord and then cease to be offended at any patience of God towards the wicked whatsoever To conclude this particular how many damned in Hell if they had had the time and the forbearance that others have had might have been in the places of some that are in Heaven and they in their places but for God's Patience see Mat. 11.21 4. For the excellency of Time consider the sweetness of it how comfortable do we reckon it when we can get a little time with a friend to enjoy him without interruption and not be called away how sweet to get a little time for retirement a little time to hear a little time to pray to read to meditate a little time for business a little time for business we are so posted from one exercise to another from one duty to another from one posture to another that we look upon it as a great happiness to get a little out of the hurry of time and that the Chariot-wheels of it seem to stand a little still and quiet that for a little space they do not drive on what a rest is it to a poor tossed hurried Soul a little communion with God a little freedom from the cares the noise the distractions the diversions the interruptions of the World to be able to sit down and be a little at quiet and take ones breath and if a Man be in sickness as Job speaks to have a little time to swallow down his spittle 5. The fifth particular is this none can know the Lord of time without Divine Teaching and certain it is that none can number his Time aright that does not understand this that our Time is not our own God is the Lord of Time we are but stewards of it we must be accountable for it we are not proprietors and for us to make bold as untaught Popple we too often do with that which is the Lord 's peculiar is high presumption and sawciness it 's injury and stealth for thee to meddle with thy fellow-creatures property without his leave what is it then at will and pleasure to dispose of thy makers right what Conscience or prudence is it for thee to say I will go to such a place such a day and buy and sell or meet with such a company and be merry who gave either you or them power to name the day you should say if the Lord give leave God permitting if God grant Life and Health Ah my Brethren if we asked leave of God about the day we should also he brought to acquaint him with work we intend to do that day and how many ill-done deeds and mispent time might this prevent you see what an interest the right considering of time has in every thing and how great an influence it has upon all actions and affairs What has thou to do to cut thongs out of another Man's hide or carve at another Man's table without his license What Prodigals are we of that which is none of our own canst thou say that thou was ever worth an hours time of thy own in all thy life and how is it that thou hast spent so much and wasted so much thou hast no authority to appoint dayes or hours let me come closer to thee thou hast not only robbed God of that time which he has lent thee for thy own business but thou hast taken from him that time which he has separated and inclosed and reserved for his own work and Glory review thy Sabbaths and think with thy self how much holy time thou hast spent upon thy own thoughts thy own words thy own actions what great snippets of time thou hast cut out of the Lord 's holy dayes canst thou justify all this is this the fruit of the Divine Teaching No such matter our times are in God's hands and power our times are not our own any more than our tongues God is the Lord both over them and us let us therefore when ever we have occasion for any time be it never so little or seemingly never so near at our hand not dare to reach it and use it without first going to God and asking his good will by this means we shall not only please him but likewise engage his assistance and direction in together with his blessing upon that work we have to do in that time but if our work be naught them I confess we should be unwilling to go to him for time for it lest he ask us how we will imploy it and we shall be afraid and ashamed to tell him nor indeed has he allotted any time for bad deeds but let us know this that if we steal time for works of darkness the Lord will severely reckon with us both for our works and our time 6. The sixth particular is this none can observe the wasters and devourers of time without Divine Teaching and it is an undoubted truth that no Man can number his Dayes well that is not an observer of these these are Thieves and Robbers these are eaters and consumers of time that do very much perplex Christians and many times put them besides right numbring I Will name some of them to you 1. Unnecessary cares those are very great intruders upon time and will be cnotinually claiming a share in it though our Lord and Saviour has given positive order that no room should be lest for them take no thought for to morrow and why take ye thought c. How many cares have you in a
moiling in several Callings and Vocations to get a little supply for the wants of the Body since the time it was said in the sweat of thy Brows thou shal Eat thy Bread the World is become a great Correction of Work-house a General Bridewel to task us all to our Labours the very Bread we put into our Mouths the very Cloaths we put upon our Backs the very Houses we put our Heads into what are they but evident Arguments of Mans great labour and pains As for the House consider what a deal of labour must needs come between the Timber standing uncut in the Mountains and the Stones unhewn in the Quarry and the making of them now in the form of a fit House to dwell in as for thy Cloaths thou puttest on consider but all the labour that comes between the Sheeps wearing them on their Backs and thy wearing them on thine As for the Bread also which thou puttest into thy Mouth consider besides the Plowing up the Ground the great labour that comes between the Seed-Mans hand casting it into the Ground and thy Hand putting it into thy Mouth consider well but these and then thou wilt acknowledge many great labours every Day I might add likewise the great Trouble that comes in regard of Sores and Sicknesses and Infirmities they know well what this trouble means that tell the Clock whilst others sleep that have wearisome Dayes and Nights appointed for them that are seldom free from Pains and Weakness and griefs as much as they can well bear Consider also the manifold troubles of the Mind by reason of disappointments and discontents from Friends from Enemies from Children from Servants c. will you now say that our daily wants and troubles that flow from thence are not sufficient to fill every Day with as much Affliction as ever it can hold 3. Daily fears bring daily perplexities have you a Day without its fears fears about the state of your Souls whether your Faith be right your Repentance unfeigned your Duties accepted your Works wrought in God whether you have savingly closed with Jesus Christ upon Gospel-terms whether you have brought all to him and take all from him whether you are truly Married to him and can groundedly say my Beloved is mine and I am his I hare every false way I have respect to all God's Commandments so far as I am acquainted with his will Again fears about holding out my Corruptions are strong my temptations are pressing I shal one Day fall by the Hands of my strong Lusts and unruly Affections if Persecution should come I should do as Peter did I should want Courage I should dishonour God I know not how to suffer Imprisonment or be a Martyr for the Gospel and Waies of Christ Again Fears of Death which keep some in Bondage all their dayes every day they do uprise what shall I do when I come to Dye I cannot think of it but with amazement I cannot look that King of Terrours in the Face I neither know how to part with my Comforts nor yet how to endure the Pains and Pangs of Death and least of all to meet with God who I have caufe to Fear is not at peace with me and then what will become of me to fall into the Hands of a Living God who is a Consuming Fire Again fear of outward Want how the World will hold out how I shall maintain my Family and bring up my Children such Fears as these are daily companions to some though by the way let them consider that fear Want that they want nothing so much as Faith a little more Trusting God and a little less sinful foresight and needless care would do very well Now tell me whether all these Fears and a great many such like be not enough to spoil the comfort of our Day 4. Daily defects and disappointments procure daily Misery and Vexation The shortness that is in every Creature-comfort and which the Soul cannot but be every day sensible of must needs cause Trouble I thought to have had such an easy seat and the stool breaks under me I promised my self so much comfort in this Child How are my hopes and expectation frustrated I reckon'd that this design would have prospered and have done my Work and I see it has failed me I see these Worldly enjoyments are but dreamish things they are but shadows they can feed the hunger of the Soul but they cannot feed the hungry Soul I have been Labouring for the Wind I never plcased my self in any thing but to be sure I met with a Cross in it these outward enjoyments promise more than they can perform I never leaned upon them but they deceived me I never trusted them but they failed me Riches and Friends and Relalations make themselves Wings and they flee away I was at the merry meeting but some things were wanting and some passages did not please me and thus you have the proof of the Doctrine I now come to give you the Grounds and Reasons of the point how it comes to pass as you have already heard how it does appear that every day should be so full of Trouble What is the matter why will God have it so Take these three Reasons in special Reason 1. The Lord does it for Correction of Sin daily Sins must have daily chastisements there is a necessary connexion between Sin and Punishment as between sowing and reaping we are fowing and reaping every day It is worthy your observation that some kind of grain comes up sooner a great deal than others but the Husband-man does so order his sowing that commonly he reaps all together some sins that are committed are not punished till a great while after again some sins are reckoned for immediately upon the Commission some sad sinful seed comes up quickly sown in the morning reaped the same day some not till a Week or a Month or a Year or many years after but it is so ordered that there is reaping work for every day I may be reaping this week what I sowed the last and sowing this week for the next I may this year be teaping what I sowed last Or twenty years ago as Joseph's Brethren did their cruelty to their Brother I may in old Age be reaping the Sins of my Youth Thou writest bitter things against me and makes me possess the Sins of my Youth saith Job The Fathers sow for the Children God punishes the Iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children and I may be reaping the Fruit of my Fore-Fathers transgression and I may now be sowing that seed that my posterity may taste the bitter fruit of and set their teeth on edge When I meet with any remarkable Affliction more bitter than ordinary then should I be thinking with my self what seed was this of what is the name of the seed that this Fruit came from what is the name of the Apple it is a very sowre one it wrings me by the
sit in a steady posture but our Comforts perish in the using they are not sitting Comforts we are so interrupted crowded that we get little of the company and enjoyment of them Solomon had a mind to have the comfort of Wine and he got it alone for he acquainted his heart with Wisdom and was freed from those excesses extravagances and disturbances which commonly keep company with the drinkers of Wine but he concludes that all was vanity and vexation of Spirit and there was no profit under the Sun A man can have no time to sit with his comfort and enjoy them but he is either interrupted or the comfort is gone But to leave this Similitude he sayes his dayes are swifter than a Post It is well observed by Mr. Caryl that a Poste staies to change Horses but the Chariot of the Sun which is the natural measure of time never staies but is in continual motion I might add this also that the Artificial Measures of Time which are continued by men are in continual motion the Sands in the Hour-glass are always running or else it is of no use the Wheels in the Clock and Watch are alwayes moving or else they are of no use at all if the Watch be down it is good for nothing for it 's only use lies in motion You may see this Similitude of a Post excellently laid open by Mr. Caryl upon the place as also those two more which they find in Job 9.26 My dayes are passed away as the swift ships as the Eagle that hasteth to the prey Ships upon the Sea under sail before the Wind pass away very swiftly and leave no impression The Eagle is a Bird of the strongest Wing the swiftest Fowl and a greedy Fowl she soares alost and is quick-sighted and soares down upon her Prey as a Thunderbolt as a Bullet as an Arrow and she leaves no impression in the Air. Now saies Job My dayes are passed away as the Eagle that hasteth to the Prey I shall forbear the Prosecution of other Similitudes our dayes are compared to Smoke to a Dream to a Shepherds Tent to a Vapour to a Shadow to a Flower c. the aptness of which Similitude I leave to your own considerations 4. This that our dayes are numbered does likewise imply thus much that our work is numbred to our day our work is cut out for the day God makes no empty dayes as every day has its trouble so every day has its work To every thing there it a Season and a time for every purpose under the Sun and it is as true that there is a purpose for every Season as well as a Season for every purpose and happy is that man that knows his Season for his purpose and his purpose for his season that knows his day for his work and his work for his day and does his dayes work upon his day when our work is finished then our dayes shall be ended But alas for wicked men their dayes end before they begin their work they do work that God never allotted or allowed any time for There is a time to build and a time to plant and a time to morn c. but there is no time to sin Some know their work yet do not do it and these will be beater with many stripes The great Correction-house of Hell is prepared for those that would not work whil'st they had day and time and light and opportunity and assistance and whatever might have an influence upon the promoting of their work Be sure thou examine the work thou art about and ask thy self strictly these two Questions 1. Is this work for any time is it to be done at all 2. Is this work proper for this time does the work and the time correspond and suit one another it may be sinful thoughts arise when thou art at Duty let them know there is no time allotted for them much less at such a time it may be worldly thoughts come in about thy family and calling let them know there is a time for them but they must keep their place and due distance at such a season perhaps some good thoughts may come in which yet are not suitable to the work which thou art engaged in tell them they shall be encouraged in their proper time God is a God of order and not of confusion and distraction there is a time to Read a time to Hear a time to Meditate a time to Pray a time to confer about good things and these duties help one another in their place and order But it is not unusual for him that sometimes transforms himself into an Angel of light to inject even good things in an unseasonable manner which tend only to distraction and not to edification and promoting Communion with Gods and he is a Wise Christian that knows how to manage himself that there may be no interfering of duties I cannot but break out and tell you how hard a thing it is to be a right Christian a Chriitian indeed even-squared according to Gospel-rule and proportion The misery of Man is great upon him because he knows not his work and his time the Devil takes great advantage of poor Christians that have strong affections and but weak judgments and does so bewilder them and cast such mists in their way even upon this very account that we are speaking of that I begin not to wonder at the many complaints I daily hear from Christians of unbelief unprofitableness under ordinances and the means of grace discontentedness falling out with their conditions they are much unacquainted with their proper work in its proper season Satan is a Spirit of disorder and confusion and he knows how to entangle the belt duty thou doest and perplex the most regular exercise of thy Graces the only way thou hast to help thy sely is seriously to consider whether this and the other notion and suggestion comes from God is this according to rule does the Gospel bid me think this and speak this and do this to the Law and to the testimony Let me take my Bible into my hand and see whether I can find a fixed a stated rule for such imaginations for such perplexities for such becalmings for such expressions and actions what faith the Scripture and how readest thou my Lord and Saviour answered the Devil still with a Scriptum est it is written if I cannot tell him it is written I may ask him the question is it written Dost thou speak from the Word of God Dost not thou wrest the Word of God Dost not thou add nor diminish Does the Lord indeed require and call for this thing at my Hands is it any part of that work that he has appointed for me in my Day that I should at any time distrust him or look upon his care as insufficient either for my Soul or Body are not the alsufficient merits of the Lord Jesus tendered to me without any exception
disobedient and those that believe not and obey not the Gospel which he has revealed and sufficiently made it evident to be his will But I must leave thee and answer thee no more having respect to both those Rules of the Spirit of God given forth by Solomon Prov. 26 4 5. Answer not a fool c. What I have more to say about thee shall be only to God so as I am taught Jude 9. the last words of the verse I now return from whence I have digressed beyond my purpose and intention but sometimes we may be most in our way when we seem to be out of it the Lord has various methods a word out of course a word by the way sometimes does more good as God can bless it than that which seems to lie most direct and in order intended and prepared I am an admirer of Method and am no friend to Foolish Preachings to impertinencies and repetitions that proceed frorn emptiness and barrenness of matter but I must confess I have often thought what there might be in the foolishness of Preaching it pleases God by the foolishness of Preaching to save that do Believe When a gust of the Spirit comes when zeal and Affections are stirring and transport a Man he is driven out of his road But to the points I was telling you the great danger Men were brought into when they did not lay hold of their season and opportunity did not number their work for their day were not wise but foolish in letting time go and leaving work undone I have one Scripture more which I have promised you and that is in Rom. 2.4.5 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance But after thy hardness and impenitent Heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God The Lord did spare thee and continued thy life to thee day after day thou hadst much time and many advantage and thou didst not consider for what end God did this to thee he laid out time for thee and thou shouldest have laid out work for that time have filled the vessel of time with good actions the fruits of Righteousness that thou mightest have said with the Spouse Here are all manner of pleasant Fruits new old which I have laid up for thee O my Beloved But instead of this thou art laying a foundation for everlasting misery by thy hardness and impenitency thou art doing a work which thou wilt find wages for the wages of unrighteousness Because to every purpose there is a time and judgment therefore is the misery of Man great upon him For he knoweth not that which shall be for who can tell him when it shall be For Man knoweth not his time as the Fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the Birds that are caught in the snare so are the Sons of Men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them I now come to the Application Vse 1. Are our dayes numbred in this sence as you have heard then it affords matter of Humiliation to Saints Churches that they have not numbred their Daies and their work better truly my Brethren we had better confess our own sins than have other folks to confess them to charge our selves is the way to be discharged both by God and Man I have sometimes thought that if the People of God had been more in condemning themselves they would not have been so much condemned by the World let us say as the Church of old As for our transgressions we know them I remember what I have met with in a learned Author who writing freely of the faults and miscarriages of Ministers comes to answer an Objection which Ministers comes to might make against his publishing their failings to the World who were so ready to be offended with them and to stumble at every thing or if he would have discovered them he might have writ in Latine and so they might have been concealed from vulgar notice he answers to this purpose saies he if we had sinned in Latine then our Sins might have been reproved in Latine but seeing our failings have been obvious let out acknowledgements Confessions and Repentace be so too it is no disparagement or lessening to any Man that is guilty to make confession but an effectual way to remove Reproach and Scandal and to silence accusers accusations have little place either with God or Man where persons are willing to accuse themselves though there are some that are come to that height of Wickedness in this Age which is so fruitful of Monsters that take occasion from the confessions of sin which God's People make to him to charge them as it were out of their own Mouths as the vilest Creatures on Earth to draw out an accusation against them out of their own Confessions a Bill of inditement against them from what they do acknowledge of themselves but these Men are little acquainted with the Scriptures and the Mystery of Godliness The Lord tells us that his waies are not as our waies nor his thoughts as our thoughts He that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find Mercy by God's own appointment confession is clearing Indeed I grant that among Men confession of the party is evidence in Law but in the Court of God at his Tribunal confession of the party takes away evidence there is no more danger of our confession of our sins to God in the World 's hearing than of doing it in private in Satan's hearing It s against all reason to charge a Man that is charging himself if you would take a way sins testimony joyn testimony with it among the Latines two Negatives make an affirmative but among the Greek's two affirmatives make a Negative if the World accuse us let us accuse our selves too and this is the way to be cleared a Christian is never so much in his Glory as when he is justifying God and condemning himself It will silence the railing Rashakehs of this Age for professors to charge themselves deeply and particularly before God we have sinned we have done foolishly we have broken thy Covenant we have sinfully complied we have been too much partakers with wicked men of their wickedness we have been unprofitable careless worldly covetous greedy after the World with our tongues have we dishonoured God and our Conversations have been such as have but given too much occasion to the Wicked to blaspheme we have given them just cause to open their mouths against Religion for our sakes we have not discovered that humility meekness impassionateness weanedness from the world mortification of fleshy lusts that might have been attractive and alluring of others to a good likeing of the professing of the Gospel and Christianity we have been seeking our selves and setting up our selves when we should have been seeking and setting up the
best are but dreamish things and may prove much worse if you do them as they did them in the dayes or Noah and Lot I wish with all my heart the next Jog be not so hard and the cry so loud that instead of being kindly awakened they be not mazed and stunned and deaf and disabled from getting up and putting on their clothes 4. How irrecoverable they are and lever to be recalled If I would give all the World I cannot call yesterday back nor be placed where I was yesterday morning He that cries out Call time again call time again is as unlikely to be heard and answered as any man I know â—ay but cannot you set me one day or two backward place me where I was but t'other morning that I may pass over those three or tour hours as I did then No I cannot do it And this is the first Rule in this Christian Arithmetick Number the dayes that yon have past this will make you wise Rule 2. A second Rule in Arithmetick Number the dayes that you have lost this will be a special means to lead you to Wisdom What have your past days been filled with have not you lost weeks and moneths nay years Consider this well and you will be able to tell me I need not tell you what thoughts it will work in you and what wise Counsels it will put you upon have not many of thy dayes been filled with nothing but vanity some men do nothing at all many worse than nothing the most do something that is not their proper work to do but belongs to others canst thou say that any day of thy life has been as well filled with good as it ought to have been or as it might have been if thou had thy best spent dayes to spend over again couldest thou not spend them a great deal better no such cause of mourning as for lost time was not thy Childhood and thy Youth vanity has not the World had many an hour that God and Christ should have had and should have been improved for the promoting of thine eternal welfare How many idle dayes and play-dayes hast thou made how many needless Journeyes Visits Walks and Discourses hast thou made How many unnecessary designs unprofitable labours May it not be said of much of thy business thou hast been imployed in as some said of the Womans pouring the Ointment on Christs Head why was this waste of time might it not have been made better use of Rule 3. Third Rule of Arithmetick Number the work you have done and how you have dont it what will this do you will tell me what it will do if you observe it you will find upon Examination that put all your good works together and allow for dammage for the Hay and the Stubble the Dregs and the Dross and they amount but to very little you will see how much mending all your work needs what mourning over and begging pardon for the defects and failings about it time runs and work sticks and that which we thought we had done well must be done over again how should this awaken us and quicken us when we have done all we can we are but unprofitable servants when we have done the best we can we have not done that which is our duty when we have done the most we can we have not done all we should still some work lies before us and it may be very little time will not this consideration to make men make much of time and not prodigally throw it away as they have done because so much is required to survey and mend old done Deeds Rule 4. Number the Sabbaths the Sermons the Opportunities which you have enjoyed This a fourth Rule in Christian Arithmetick and what will this tend to You will tell me when you have well considered it Reckon how many of Gods Embassadors have been sent to thee with several Messages and with the same message over and over again how many years of the dayes of the Son of Man you have seen how long you enjoyed such a Ministry in such a place and such a powerful Ministry in another and now what am I the better God will expect an account of me is it not high-time for me to consider what return I can make what profiting and progress I have made in the knowledg and fear of God and Faith in his Son Jesus Christ to what degrees and measures of patience Meckness Hope Love Heavenly Conversation crucifying the flesh looking for the appearing of Christ and aiming at his Glory in every thing I do c. Many an exhortation and motive and direction and encouragement have I had about all these and much more many a time and that with a great deal of pressing God may call me to even accounts with him the very next hour for any thing I know and how ready am I for it Oh for a little time for this work I have cause to be afraid that I shall be found much in arrearages to God and that there are some hundreds of Sermons I have heard that I can remember neither Text Doctrine Reason nor Use nor have any real impression remaining upon me from them a dram of habitual vertue or strength by them Oh that God would not clap me up and make me bankrupt that have taken up so many goods of him and am not able to make him any payment the goods are embezeled Oh that I had time to make my composition with him to sue out a release and discharge from him I am undone if I be arrested before this be done for I cannot pay twelve pence in the pound Lord spare me a little time that I may repent in and make money of all that I have that I may bring to thee I will not keep or conceal one peniworth from thee I will give thee a true account in whose hands they are whom I have traded with how I have been cheated by Satan by the World and most of all by a deceitful heart of my own that was bred up with me and which I have given much trust to I could no sooner have any of Heavens commodities come in but presently they were purloyned from me by the means of my deceitful hard vain idle foolish Heart for whilst I slept and was careless the wicked one came and catched them away or the cares of this World and the deceitfulness of Riches spoiled them and so I got no profit by them my base Heart did betray me to all this mischief and loss and now Lord be pleased to spare me a little that I may mourn over and bewail my great losses that I may call my treacherous wicked Heart to an account that I may seriously and severely examine and search it that I may bring it to confession and acknowledgment to deep sorrow and repentance to sincere and holy resolutions of a faithful improvement of any opportunity and season of Grace that he
a fool that thinks he knows enough how glad is a serious Christian that values time of an opportunity of receiving good of being helped on his way of a little cordial in time of fainting of one that will take him by the hand when he gives a slip he that knows the most is the most receptive of knowledg and the ablest Christian readiest to take in more strength 7. He is a Wise-Man who is able to give advice and counsel and nothing does so much inable a Man in that as to number his dayes aright what 's the reason that we go to the Ancient for counsel but because they have had the experience of many dayes past and they reckon but of a few to come they look upon all the years they have lived but as yesterday and they reckon to Die to morrow were I to chuse a Man for my Life to give me counsel it should be one that makes Conscience how he spends his time that will not trifle and idle away his time The diligent good School-master does first of all teach the well-using of time when he is very severe if his Scholars do not come in the morning exactly at the time appointed 8. We count him a Wise-Man that is of few Words for even a fool when he holds his peace is counted wise now he that values time and knows the pretiousness of it is alwayes very thoughtful and studious what he must do in the next place he is not for talking but for doing his words are weighty and alwayes spoken in due place and season he has no superfluous time for supernumerary words 9. He is a Wise-Man that loves and keeps Wise-Mens company he that measures time has none to spare to spend with fools he that makes conscience of redeeming his time finds that he has not so much time as he would have with Saints he has none at all for sinners 10. We count him Wise that minds his own business and meddles not with other mens he that numbers his dayes sees that he has time little enough to manage his own matters in It is observable that walking wisely towards them that are without and redeeming time are put together Col. 4.5 Eph. 5.16 of all Men he gives the least offence Two things offend the World First When they observe your failings Secondly When you observe their's Now the Man that spends his time conscienciously minds his own Paths looks directly forward he neither stumbles nor looks on side to take notice of the falls of others he looks to his own place and work that the Lord left him to do Mark 13.34 11. He is a Wise-Man in Scripture-sence that fears God The fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom Job 28.28 The fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from evil that it understanding Now none is so prepared for the fear of the Lord as he that numbers his dayes it keeps the Soul in the continual awe and dread of the Almighty God and the reason is evident and plain for he looks upon the Lord as his Landlord and himself as his Tenant at will the rent he payes is but small and he is very careful to please his Landlord turning out is troublesome at the best and upon short warning it may be somewhat dangerous therefore he judges it very reasonable that he should continually stand in awe of him in whose power he absolutely is as to his being and wel-being as to his stay here and his dwelling place hereafter and thus much briefly for the proof of the point one word of Application and so I conclude this Text at this time Vse One General exhortation from the whole let us learn this Wisdom of numbring our dayes that we may be Wise has it been our evil that we have lost much time and have not put a due value upon it let us now redeem it repurchase it at any rate the word signifies to buy some things back a Metaphor taken from one that mortgageth his land and redeemeth it again or from the practice and custome of Wise Merchants who use to buy their commodities whilst fit time of buying serves and whilst the market holds and having haply had great losses or formerly spent their time idly or unthriftily do by their diligence seek as it were to buy back again the time that is past The truth is my Brethren we have been great unthrifts have squandred away a great stock and portion of time time is now grown a scarce commodity the price of it is risen we are fallen into those hard times mentioned 2 Tim. 3.1 hurtful heavy damaging times that as the Sea being infested by pirats the Earth being followed with male-influences from the Heaven make times hard for the Body so the scarcity of opportunities together with their ensnarements and molestations adding the great suspension of Heavenly influence renders the seasons of receiving good very difficult hard to come by and harder to be improved besides this the swifter motion of time now because nearer to its center meeting with an old crazy distempered World all Persons and Things being grown worse than they were every way does cause much detriment and spoil to both as the speedy motion of a Coach in bad wayes makes the passengers knock their Heads together and fall heavy upon one another that never intended it the hurry of this last time does wear and weary out Person and Things throws Men and breaks them one over another casts some into the grave and leaves others I know not where and causes such commotions mutation and inflammations that it is much to be feared that the axletree of the World may catch fire which may not so easily be quenched but increase to the general conflagration of that great day mentioned 2 Pet. 3.10 But the day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the Night in the which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with servent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up I shall conclude my exhortation in the words of the same Apostle that immediatly follow seeing then all these things shall be dissolved that time will bring matters to this pass What manner of Persons ought we to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness looking for and halting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with servent beat wherefore Beloved seeing ye look for such things be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless and seeing ye know these things before Beware last ye also being led away with the errour of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness but grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To him be Glory now and for ever AMEN FINIS * A dangerous fall at a Trap-door * Psa 90.12 * Bramham Toulston Oglethorp Ceeds Shadwel Wakefield Pontefract Hull Beverly Langlon Thoraby York Barwick in Elmet c. 2 Pet. 3.1 Now under the care of Mr. Jam. Fitten my old Friend Fellow sufferer and and Mr. Hen. Forte * Mr. Smith is an honest Man with all his faults Pro. 11.20 Heb. 10.22 Mrs. Smith Mat. 28.20 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 11.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccl. 11.9 Eccl. 12.9 Job 4.1 Mr. Gar. Minister at Leea's Author of the Demonstration of the Resurrection of Christ Mr. Mansfield castle Et me more me a-liquando corripiet And the Earthy house of this Tabernacle shall be dissolved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eodem die lusrunt navigia sorbent sen. Jer. 45.4 5. Jon. 3.4 Ps 139.19 acupictus sum Gen. 47.9 Job 14.1.5 6. Psal 90.10 Mat. 21.2 Heb. 5.7 Job 7. last Eph 4.26 Mat. 5.2 3 Psa 31.15 Job 17.1 Isa 56.12 Gen 4.8 Exo. 12.30 London War and sea-Fights Eccle. 9.10 Mr. F. 〈…〉 〈…〉 Psa 73.18 19. Gen. 47.9 Job 14.1 Psa 90.10 Esa 57.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 13.26 Psal 98.9 periissem nisi periissem Job 36.8.9.10 Fecisti nos ad te cor nostrum inquictum estdonec re quiescat in te versa reversa in tergum in latera in ventrem dura sunt omnia tu solus requires Austin Mr. G. Eccles â— 9 1 Tim. 6. â— Hab. 2. De brev â—â—t Eccl. 2.20 Mr. G. Job 6.15.21 Eccles 2.22.23 Mat. 24.22 Psal 16.11 Deut. 33.25 pauperis est numer are pecus Psa 9.10 Job 13.5 Jam. 1.24 Eccles 3.1 Mat. 24 22. Job 6.29 Heb. 13.5 Eccles 2.1.3 Heb. 9.28 Pro. 7.4 Mr. W. Titus 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tim. 11.3 Titus 1.16 Phil. 3.19 Eccles 8.6 7 8 9.12 Heb. 12.11 Job 29.4 Heb. 13 Mat. 6â— 1 Cor. 7.29 Mr. B Phil. 4.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 21.7 Mat. 14.4 Mat. 13.19.22 25. Mr. G. 2 Pet. 3.8 1 King 14.14 Eccl. 8.12 Hab. 2.3 Kin. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 17.28 Mr. G. V. 13. c. V. 29. V. 30. Prov. 6.1 C. 27.23 1.7 1 Tim. 6.19 Joh. 4.23 24. Joh. 4.23 24. V. 5 6 7. Heb. 11. 1 Cor. 7.29 Mr. F. Exod. 29.19 Job 3.21 The Lady Barwick of Toulston in Yorkshire to whom I had the happiness to be Chaplain for several Years and must ever own my self to bemuch obliged and no less to the Right Honourable the Lord Henry Fairtax her Son in Law and my constant and Faithful friend in my sufferings for Christ Job 3.21 1 Pet. 1.17 2 Pet. 3.5 Quo irem sâ—â—tunc obtrem nisi in ignem tormenta digna factis mcis c. Cont. 5. * Nisi primo Deus per miscre cordiam parceret non inveniret ques per Judiesum câ—iona ret Rom 3.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 13.8 2 Pet. 3. 2 Timo. 2.25 Mr. G. Mat. 6.34 1 Thes 4.11 De Net Deor. 3. Dan. 5.17 Mr. G. Vide prus ne illud debeas-frange esurienti panem tuum c. Psal 61. Esa 58.7 Esa 1.16 17 18. Disputare vis anrequam facias unde dignus sis disputare c. Queritur Egystus quare sit factus adulter in promptu ratio est desidiosus erat Mat. 16 3. Ver. 12. Luk. 10.38 Prov. 22.3 Luk. 12.35 c. Prov. 1.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 5 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dura molesta v. 11 12 14 17 18
knows c. He that made you knows what you stand in need of what your Constitutions do require how much will serve how little Nature requires and how much less Grace needs if you have but little do not call it Poverty but Discipline he is your Father 7. Motive is a proprio medio from the proper and most effectual way and means to secure a competency and that is by seeking first of all the kingdom of God Ver. 33. He that would make Earth sure must first of all make Heaven sure shall I be taking thought what to eat and drink here and never fear begging a drop of water hereafter shall I be solicitous for Clothes and do not know but my Soul and Body may lie naked in the scorching flames of the wrath of God to all Eternity besides I have a Promise of God for outward things if I make it my business to seek after Heavenly it is a very needless care God provides meat for me that I may not be taken off my work to seek after it 8. Ground lies in my Text and it is taken from the Consideration of that sufficient trouble that each day is filled with you need not fetch the misery of another day unto this day it hath enough full enough of its own some read it The day hath enough with his own grief I now came to the Observations Doct. 1. Which is implyed The life of a Christian is to be reckoned by the day Sufficient unto the Day not to the Week or Month or Year but to the Day I need not insist upon the proof of the Point What saies old Jacob Fen and evil have the dayes of the years of my life been It is observable that dayes is four times repeated in that verse So Job Man that is born of Woman is of few dayes His dayes are determined Turn from him that he may accomplish as an Hireling his day Take a third witness of this and it is no other than a King and a Prophet David The dayes of our years are threescore years and ten c. But a greater than all these is our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who tells us in the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard that they were hired for a day which is the time of life and he calls his own life a day Abraham rejoyced to see my day There is a Natural day and there is a Metaphorical day a day of time and a day of opportunity season and dispensation mark the expression of our Saviour I must work the works of him taht sent me whilst it is Day the Night cometh when no man can work whil'st I have time time and whil'st I have opportunity So we read of the dayes of his flesh I might make this further appear by shewing to you 1. That we are taught to beg our Bread for the day Give us this day our daily Bread and forbid to take thought for to morrow for why should I take thought for Meat when I know not whether I shall have a Mouth to put it in or for Clothes when I know not whether I shall have a Body to put them on 2. We are to beg our pardon for the day and to forgive our Brother to day forgive us our Trespasses this day for as Jacob sayes Thou may'st seek me in the morning and I shall not be and for our Brother The Sun which is the measure of the day must not go down upon our wrath And if we come to the Altar and there remember that our Brother hath ought against us we must leave the Gift before the Altar c. we must not say that we will do it to morrow 3. Every night is a resemblance of Death Death is called a Sleep and the Grave is called a Bed the Sun rises and sets which measures time 4. The Commands and Promises in Scripture run for the present day and none for to morrow Heb. 3.7 To day if ye will hear his voice Ver. 13. Exhort one another daily whil'st it is called to day now is the accepted time But to conclude the Proof of this Point I shall and this that our whole life-time is very fitly compared to a Natural Day 1. As a day is but a short space of time so is our life what is a day to a thousand years what is our time to Eternity 2. As a day is cut off by the night so is our life cut short cut off somtimes sooner somtimes later some dayes are longer than others but none very long some mens lives are longer than others but never a long life among them all of them cut short all of them cut off 3. The day is succeeded by the night so is this life by the darkness the dayes of darkness which shall be many There is a day which shall not be succeeeded by night and there is an evening which shall be succeeded by light but it is not this day I now come to the Reasons of the Point Why must our lives be reckoned by the day and they are principally these four Reason 1. Because our Breath is in our Nostrils our Lives hang by a small Threed how soon are our Countenances changed and we sent away how many that have been well in the morning have been dead before evening gone out in health and a dead Carcase brought home or else they have died and been buried abroad and never came within their own doors more how many ways may a mans breath expire and how quickly is it done Ah my Brethren how little is this considered though nothing is more ordinary than to say I little thought such an one would have been gone so soon what an healthful lusty Man was he it was but such a day I saw him and I thought he never looked better since I knew him I thought I should have died long before him was not he at such a place at such a Meeting but a few dayes ago c. Oh Friend Know his Breath was in his Nostrils and so it is with thee there may not be a step between thee and Death for any thing thou knows a lurking Distemper in thy Body may rise up and pull thee by the Throat and all thy friends stand about thee and none be able to rescue thee and save thee from that deadly Hand A slip a fall a cross accident a Surfeit c. presently the health is gone As it is with a Venice-Glass very useful whil'st it is whole but one fall upon the ground breaks it and than it 's good for nothing but the broken pieces are thrown out to the Dungbild So whilst breath is there thou art very useful for many things can walk and work and advise and manage Affairs but when once thy breath is gone and thy life like water spilt upon the ground which can not be gathered up again thy dead Carcase must be taken up and carried out and laid in
may flow in at their Doors and carry some of them as way into Ocean of Everlastingness there is no fenceing against Death no capitulating with it it is usually though not alwaies so civil as to knock before it comes in but it seldom stayes till you open the Door to let it in and say welcome Death now Lord lettest 〈◊〉 thy Servant depant in Peace it will not be prevailed with for the least delay pray thee suffer me to go bury my Father to set my House in order to give some directions about my Children and Estate no I cannot stay come away ay but let me first Pray to God and deal with him about my Soul no thou must come now as thou art this is the fourth and Last Reason why the Life of a Man is to be reckoned by the Day I now come to the Application Vse 1. Is it so then that our Lives must be reckoned by the Day I note in the first place that every Christian is to do all he can do and all he has to do upon the present Day and leave nothing to be done tomorrow What saies Solomon Whatever thine hand findeth to do do it with all thy might for there is no Work nor Device nor Knowledge nor Wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest be sure thou even accounts daily do every thing thou dost as if it were the last time thou should do it how heartily how carefully will thou do it then let me pray now as if I should never have time to pray more hear now as if this were the last opportunity of hearing leave nothing to do to morrow that possible can be done to day what true Christians should we be if we did not reckon of a Morrow To Day is God's Day to Morrow is Satan's Day how many would have been good to Day if thay had not though of being good to Morrow but see what a grand Deceit lies here by putting it off till to Morrow we gratify Conscience in this that we intend to do it hereafter but most of all please Corruption in this that we do not do it to Day Consider then thus with thy self I will set all right with God now I may be gone before Morning I may be taken away in my sleep and awake in Eternity Nulla Dies sin◠linea we have been many Dayes but we have lived but few well then this is the first Use do all thou canst do and all thou hast to do Day and leave nothing undone till tomorrow 2. Let this put a check to the Cares and Pleasures of this Life my Life is but short why should my Care and Delight be long it is not much we need nor long that we shall need any thing we have but a Body a piece and that is a small one and a Mortal one long Reaches and Designs are very unsuitable to a Man that has but a Dayes time Famous is the Instance of the Fool in the Gospel Luk. 12.19 20. I will pull down my Barns saies he and I will build greater and I will say to my Soul Soul thou hast goods laid up for many Years Eat Drink and be Merry But God said unto him thou Fool this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee c. If he had only reckoned of this Day he had not heard that dreadful Word of this Night or at least would not have been dreadful to him to have heard it Vse 3. Hence we see what little cause we have either to fear or envy any man in the World any wordly great Man's what saies the Psalmist Surely thou didst set them in slippery places how are they brought into Destruction as in a Moments c. For this matter consult further those places Job 21.13.30 and 24.19 20 24. Rev. 18.10.17.19 Ezek. 34.27 c. We use to say of some Men in a way of Reproach and Scron that they are but Yesterday-Men and we may say truly of the Greatest and Highest and Happiest in this World that they are but Men of to Day no Morrow-Men come to seek them in the Mornings and they may not be Persecutors and Oppressors many threaten what they will do but it may be to Morrow they may be Sick the next Week you may find them Cold in their Graves I remember a Passage in Story of one Libanius a great Favorite of Julian ther Apostate Julian was gone in an Expendition into the East against some that had made an insurrection against him and resolved at his returned destroy all the Christians and utterly to root them out saied this Libanius to one the Christians in a Scoffing manner where is now your Carpenters Son meaning Christ what will he now do for you to save you from the Emperour to whom the Christian replied Boldly this Carpenter as you call him made the World a Work above any Carpenter and he is now making a Coffin for Julian and so it proved for Julian was slain before his return I will pursue I will overtake saies proud Pharaoh the next News we hear of him he is in the Bottom of the Sea as Mute as the Fishes that seed upon his Dead Carcase Oh that Oppressors would consider this Vse 4. Let this teach us Patience under the Greatest Afflictions they are but for a Day or if you will but for a Night no Man ought to think that he shall be miserable to Morrow our Dayes are but few and therefore our Dayes of Sorrow cannot be many It is an hour of Temptation if it grieve you that your Comforts stay with you so little a while they are but Day-Comforts you cannot prevail with them to Lodge with you Why let this relieve you that your Troubles are but Night-Troubles they will be gone in the Morning they will not abide in your House why should I complain much of that which for any thing I know may be ended before my complaint be at an end For a Conclusion let us Labour to live under the Power of this Doctrine if this Truth were Believed as it should Oh what abundance of thoughts and Cares and Fears would be getting out of the meeting before you and you would never feel them more how would the Face of your Affairs and Families be changed you would let alone and lay by a great many things that you were very busie about before and set upon doing some things you never did before or if you did them before you would do them so now as you never did them before you would say this thing must be done and done to day too or else I may be undone for ever for other things if I have time I may do them but if they be never done it will be no great loss to me resign up your Lives into God's Hand 's every Evening and take them again from him by a new Lease every Morning I come now to the second Observation which is this Doct. 2. That every Day has
interest of the Lord Jesus we have practised that in our selves which we have condemned in others and never any People had more pretious opportunities and improved them less we have put Death far from us and lived as if this world would never have an end and as if the World to come would never have a Beginning c. Now for others to lay these things to our charge makes us odious and ugly But for us to charge our selves will make us look lovely and Beautiful there is a vast difference between others speaking of us and our own speaking of our selves though the words be the very same The story of Jonah if another had writ it would have made Jonah appear very deformed but as he writes it himself it rendershim a true penicent let us lament our not doing our work in our day our not minding our work and season and making them meet what a deal of work might we have done more than we have if we had forted and counted and numbred our work aright we have been confounded as the Builders of Babel We have done much that needed not have been done and we have been doing of one thing when we should have been doing another we have been repenting when we should have been believing and believing when we should have been repenting we have been caring when we should have been trusting we have been weeping when we should have been rejoicing and rejoicing when we should have been mourning we have been doing and undoing and as a Man that has lost his way travels hard but is no nearer his journeys end may it may be comes to the place whence he first set forth I assure you it is matter of trouble to consider what confusion we have brought our selves into and upon our Spirits for want of this wisdom to number our work-daies we have been a disorderly People we have not put our general and particular callings into good method we do things in the first place which should be done in the second and that in the second which ought to possess the first let me tell you Earthly cares will not sit comfortably and thrivingly in the first nor Heavenly thoughts in the second because the one will be too high and the other too low for their elevation it is a deslowring of early morning-time to lodge the world with it and it is a disgraceing of the things of God to present them with the small reliques and stale afterlings of your time I am perswaded this is the very thing the Psalmist aimes at in this Text that he might have wisdom to know his time and his work and the proper work for the day that time might not be done before the work was done and that work might not be misplaced and mislaid it must needs therefore be our great folly and loss who are guilty of so much misplacing why must worldly thoughts come in in the morning as soon as thou art awake and defile blast and canker thy Soul when good thoughts would have edged it prepared it and put a savour upon it which would not have worn off all day why must thy counter come up stairs into thy closet the concerns of thy calling look upon thee whilst thou art praying and meditating and conversing with God and about the condition and state of thy Soul and its Everlasting well-being we should be Heavenly-minded in Earthly imployments and we are Earthly-minded in Heavenly imployments get as much of Heaven as ever thou canst to attened thee in thy wordly matters it will wonderfully facilitate and preosper thy work it will make it go on with ease and pleasure a Bible upon a loom or shop-board never hinders work Meat and Morning Prayer never hinder work holy ejaculations and good discourse will not weaken the hands that labour a serious thought in the midst of thy worldly business never causes interruption or disorder And as you must take heed of misplaceing your work so be careful you do not misplace the dispensations and providences of God to you for this belongs to the numbring of your daies for you are apt to call your good dayes your bad ones and your worst dayes your best The account will never come even when receipts are placed as disbursments do not expect a right ballance you have had many dayes of Affliction Sorrow and pain your hands have been alwaies full now if you reckon all these dayes as bad dayes you do not number right Again you have had a few Sun-shine dayes you have enjoyed prosperity and you call these good dayes whereas it may be these have been ensnaring and straitning to your Souls and the former have been quickning purging cleansing and inwardly comforting the dayes which the Children of Israel spent in the Wilderness were not their worst dayes for there the Lord fed them with manna bread which came down from Heaven The wilderness-grape is the sweetest grape the best vineyards from thence Rock-water is the purest water and no honey so sweet as that which came out of the Lyon though no affliction for the present seems joyous but grievous but the peaceable fruits of Righteousness which it yieldeth afterwards to them that are exercised therein make amends for all it may be when thou considers it well those dayes of thy youth when the secret of God was upon thy Tabernacle thy Children about thee when thou washed thy steps with butter the Rock poured thee out rivers of Oyl c will not be accounted numbred for the best dayes thou wilt see cause upon due reflection to confess that thy Spirit was more dull and heavy and slothful thou was not so lively in duty didst not enjoy so much Communion with God as thou hast done in some other dayes that were more dark and cloudy and at great deal more pinching and painful to go through thou mayest remember in those shining dayes what expence thy watchfulness put thee to How thou was continually upon thy guard lest thou should be ensnared and thy affections be carried beyond due bounds it 's difficult case where we are so desirous to drink much and yet can but bear little to resist is troublesome to yield is dangerous to love the Creature no more than it should be and to love God as much as he ought to be thou canst tell likewise that in those other daves of straitness and want and sicknese and disgrace and perplexity though they were very ungrateful and unpleasing to the outward man thou had frequent visits from God corruption did not so work and stir in thy heart Satan was not so busie to defile thee with his temptations thou hadst many a comforable half-hour which no body saw or took notice of thou couldest pray then thou couldest pour out Prayer thou wast all Prayer thy Prayers came from thee like hot burning sparks out of a flaming furnace or like darts out of a Gyants Hand with such a jerk
shall hereafter be pleased to put into my hands and now consider beloved whether the making up accounts do not require some time how needful it is to be done considering how large our receipts and credits are and lastly how little assurance we have of time to do it in Rule 5. The fifth Rule of Christian Arithmetick is number and compare your dayes with the daies of those that liv'd in the first age of the World compare the length of thy time with the Patriarchs lives and what will this do thou wilt see it will have very good influence on a wise improving of time they lived six seven eight or nine hundred years and thou wilt never reach one hundred it may be not half an hundred a serious meditation of this will work in you one of those two useful considerations 1. How long a time had they to glorify God in in comparison to what I have how did they live to his praise and honour in proportion hundreds of years as it were before I had a being and hundreds of years after my being ended how many opportunities had they of serving God more than I have how much work did they do in their generation for God more than I what large returns did they make from Earth to Heaven above what I do what need have I to ply my work that have not one day for their seven to work in time is short with me for though they had much yet they had none too much and how should I look to it that I have not too little for my business 2. How long a time were they kept in this World and out of Heaven above what I shall be how tedious was their journey and how was their pilgrimage lengthened out they had but as it were newly set forth in the time that I am got to my journeys end in their work was much greater their stay in the vineyard protracted and drawn out their sitting in Heavenly places adjourned prorogued and suspended one generation of Saints in these latter daies after another passes to Heaven even fourteen Generations in the time that some of them got thither how did they expect the accomplishment of the promise one hundred years after another their daies were many and evil they were sinfully evil and they could not chuse but be penally evil The flood came upon the old World and drowned it because of ungodliness how long were they made to wait for the inheritance now in our daies the World is soon weary of us and we are soon weary of it and we are quickly gone out of it we ride Poste through it from one stage to another through Child-hood Youth middle Age old Age some ride but one or two of them and are presently caught up to Heaven Rule 6. The sixth Rule of Christian Arithmetick is this number and compare the certainty of your works with the uncertainty of your time I am sure my work will last as long as my time lasts but I know not whether my time will remain as long as my work lasts and therefore I have no need to spend time without work seeing I have work enough to spend my time in but may not have time to finish my work in Rule 7. The seventh Rule in this Christian Arithmetick is number and compare thy dayes with Eternity an age breaks no square in Eternity for a moment of time is more unto all that time that hath been since the Beginning of the World and shall be unto the end of it than all that time is unto Eternity because a moment by repetition will measure all that time but all that time will never by any repetition whatsoever measure Eternity it is not the least part of it a Man that should have sinned the first moment of the Worlds Creation and should have had his punishment deferred till the last moment of the Worlds duration his punishment should have been swifter in regard of Eternity than his punishment in regard of all that time of the World's continuance that should have sinned the first moment of time and have been punished the very next or second moment Observe that expression of Peter Beloved saies he be not ignorant of this one thing and what is this one thing that is so special a thing that of all other they should not be ignorant of namely this that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day in the point of Eternity a day and a thousand years are all one and that which happens in a thousand years is all one as if it happened within a day and so on the contrary to him that stands upon the pinacle of Eternity and loooks down thence below upon the shreds and snippets of time and therefore mark but that the Prophet Ahijah saies in regard of the festination of God's Judgment upon the house of Wicked Jeroboam The Lord saies he shall raise up a King over Israel who shall cut off the House of Jeroboam that day but what â— even now He stood upon the pinacle of Eternity and therefore that snippet of time which seemed to the World a great while was nothing to him which made him when he had spoken of cuting off the House of Jeroboam that day to use the revocation but what even now that day and even now is all one to Eternity And the seeming contradiction of the Preacher tending to illustrate this very thing is well worth the observing He had spoken of the not speedy executing sentence against an evil work that it encouraged sinners to go on in their sins but in the next verse he answers thus Though a Sinner do evil an hundred times and his dayes be prolonged yet surely I know it shall be well with them that fear God but it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his Daies which are as a shadow How is it true that he may prolong and not prolong his dayes How but only that though they may be prolonged in regard of us that have but a few ends of time yet they are nothing in regard of the Ball of Eternity which is alwayes winding and never unwound in this regard he shall not prolong his dayes which are as a shadow as as meer vanity to this Eternity and answerable to this is that like place of the Prophet Habbakuk The vision saies he is yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speak it shall not lie though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry How but only that which is a long tarrying to time is no tarrying to all Eternity and this is the seventh Rule which if it be well observed will make us quickly remove our dwellings out of the hurry of time unto the borders of Eternity still waiting every hour when we shal lanch forth into that Sea and be swallowed up of that Ocean Rule 8.
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
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
in the prosecutioh of which I shall be a little more large Doct. 3. The third Observation is this That the right Art and Skill of numbring Dayes is a point of Divine teaching one have the wisdom to number their Dayes aright but those that have it from above and are taught it by God you must go to God and beg of him that he would teach you this lesson This appears from the Text that we have it expressed in the form of Prayer as if he had said though I have cast up the acount of my dayes in the 10th verse yet there is a further Mystery which I cannot discern without thy teaching without that Spiritual light and knowledg which must come from thee and here you have the Emphasis of the particle 10 I have been taught this lesson many a time and can say it over but I have not been so taught as they said of Christ that never man spoke like him so never any Man taught as God teaches I have often considered the 14. Acts comp v. 1. with 27. Where it is said that Paul and Barnabas so spake that a great multitude of the Jews and also of the Greeks Believed But when they came to give an account to the Church the Text saies that they rehearsed all that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of Faith unto the Gentiles If the Lord had not opened the door of the Heart all their knocking would have signified nothing if the Lord had not spoke with them all their so speaking would not have procured belief from our Souls it was God that so spake with them that made the door of the Heart to open If the Lord Jesus had only cryed Lazarus come forth and had not by a Powerful Hand communicated Life to him he had never stirred out of his Grave We read in Luke 24.27 That the Lord Jesus beginning at Moses and all theProphets he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself but observe is said in ver 45. then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures It is not enough to have the Scriptures opened but we must have our understandings opened too If you had the knowledge of an angel and could discourse of Divine Truth with undeniable Evidence and Demonstration yet this will not amount to right Teaching without Divine Blessing and Influence I need not insist much upon the proof of this take that Text Psal 39.4 Lord make me to know mine end and the measure of my dayes what it is that I may know how frail Iam. When once he is taught this by God then he can say with sense and experience as it follows Behold thou hast made my dayes as an hand-breadth mine age is as nothing before thee verily every man at his best estate is vanity Selah Surely every man walketh in a vain shew surely they are disquieted in vain he heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them And now Lord what wait I for my hope is in thee deliver me from all my transgressions c. You see that when he is taught this Lesson of God how feelingly and sweetly he breaks out its only Faith and the Teachings of God that can give us to be under the power of things of Sense as by Faith we understand that the World 's were made so by Faith we must be taught that our time is short that our dayes are numbred that we must dye though we see persons daily carried to the Grave that never reached our years and we know we are made of the same Corruptible Materials subject to the same Diseases and Distempers to the same Casualties and Dangers that our Breath is in our Nostrils and may assoon be stopped as theirs Again The Apostle Paul when he comes in so with his But But this Isay brethren the time is short shews plainly that it was a Point that was not so well understood I shall endeavour to Demonstrate this further to you in these following Particulars 1. None can know the use of time without Divine Teaching and none can number his dayes aright unless he know what use they are for this has been already spoken to I shall only add this that as it is with a Merchant who Prepares his Ship for Sea he provides only so much Victuals as may serve for the Voyage he does not provide the Seaman soft Beds to lodge in but only makes such preparation as may serve the end of his sending his Ship to Sea the less burden she has the swister she sails and the swister she sails the less she will need Just so it is in this Case We are sailing through this World our Port is Eternity our business is only to provide our selves for quick sailing and lay in so much Provision only as will serve us for so many dayes Voyage as we shall be out the less Cumber of the World we have the sooner we shall be sit for Heaven and the faster we move thither the less we shall need 2. None can know the end of time sc that it will end but by Divine Teaching And none can number his dayes aright that does not know their end What made David pray as you have heard Lord make me to know mine end c. Every one thinks he may live a day longer When a man comes to dye and to be just within the view of Eternity then he sees what is the proper work for time and wishes he had his time to spend over again he would spend it otherwise then he has done Now it 's strange that Faith should not do what Sense will do we pretend to believe that we shall have a last day and why should not this Faith have such Effects as Sense and Feeling will have 3. None can know the Seasons Nicks and Opportunities of time without Divine Teaching and certainly none can number his dayes aright that understands not his Seasons that knows not that Sabbath dayes are Seasons to be improved that the present time is a Season that the Morning of the day is a Season that the time of youth is a Season that a time of affliction is a Season that times of Conviction are Seaons c. Now there is no Man can rightly know and make of these Seasons without Divine Teaching 4. None can know the excellency of time without Divine Teaching And sure I am that he that knows not the worth and preciousness of time never knew how to number his dayes aright Let us a little consider the excellency of time We read in the Old Law that if one man smote another he should not only pay for his Cure but for the loss of his time But more particularly 1. Dayes and times are such things as cannot be bought did you yet ever know any dayes to be sold or understood what a day might be worth if it were to be sold we count those things