Will you make them labour for you six Daies together and will not you cause them to serve God one Day in seven Be at least as much concern'd in Case of neglect of God's Service as you are at any Time when your own Work and Family-business is neglected Do it for God's sake Shew that you love the Honour of God and not only respect your own Commodity and look to your own Advantage Do it for your Servant's sake Make it their Business to do God Service that they may be approved and rewarded by him Yea do it for your own sake Make your Servants God's faithful Servants that so they may prove more faithful to you and that God may bless them in your Service and that your Work may thrive and succeed in their Hands On this Day especially call thy Family thy whole Family to Family-duties prepare them for and hasten them to the publick Ordinances It is reported of [w] M. Clark in his Life Dr. Chaderton the first Master of Emmanuel-Colledg that he was married three and fifty Years and yet in all that Time he never kept any of his Servants from the Church to dress his Meat saying that he desired as much to have his Servants know God as himself And it was the Custome of the Reverend and pious [x] See his Life among Mr. Clark's Lives of ten Em. Div. Dr. Gouge to forbear providing of Suppers the Eve before that Servants might not be occasioned thereby to sit uplate neither would he suffer any [y] Die Dominicâ ut in festis licet etiam ciborum lautiorem apparatum habere quamvit in eis parandis ne majora impediantur servorum animae detrimentum non necessarium iucurrant summopere curandum est Baxter Meth. Th. part 3. c. 14. p. 172. Servant to stay at home for dressing any Meat upon the Lord's-day for the Entertainment of Friends whether they were mean or great few or many Take your Family to Church along with you and when you return home again examine catechize inform instruct them recapitulate the Sermon read the Scripture and good Books to them whet practical profitable necessary saving Truths on them sing Psalms among them and pray most heartily and affectionately with and for them And you that are Servants who have little leisure most of you on other Daies and who live too many of you in such profane and ungodly Families where you hear not so much as one Praier put up to God nor one Line of the Word of God read nor one serious Word spoken of God all the Week long what reason have you carefully to redeem the Lord's-day to redeem it in publick by devoutly attending to the Prayers that are made and the Word that is both read and preacht in the publick Congregation And to redeem it in private by taking all possible Occasions to retire and go aside by your selves to consider in secret the needs of your Souls to examine your Hearts and States to review your Lives and Actions to humble your selves in Confession of Sin and to pour out your Souls in Prayer for Pardon and Grace to read the Bible and some instructive practical Writings of the most judicious experimental Divines apt to inform your Judgments and to work and prevail upon your Affections to set your selves to meditate of God to draw out and engage your Hearts to God rather than to lavish out and throw away those precious Hours in foolish Talk and frothy Discourse or in gadding abroad and walking idly in the Fields and recreating your Bodies rather than your Souls and in thrusting God and turning Religion wholly out of your Minds and Hearts and nourishing your selves in Ignorance of God and Unacquaintance with him and in Encreasing the Atheism of your Hearts and Lives and hardening your own and others Hearts through the Ensnarements of the World and the Deceitfulness of Sin But it may be you will say you are hard wrought all the Week long and you have reason to take your ease and pleasure and to rest and recreate your tired Bodies one Day in seven that so you may endure your Labour and go through all your Work the better I answer that your very Cessation in any measure from your wonted Labour is an ease and relief to your weary Bodies and that the very change of your Work and Occupation from secular servile Employment to spiritual divine Worship and Service and the Diversion of your Minds from worldly Businesses to the Offices and Exercises of Religion if you would but acquaint your selves with them and use your selves to them would be delightful and refreshing to you And the Peace and Quiet Joy and Comfort of a good Conscience in the faithful Discharge of your Duty to God and a tender Care of your immortal Souls would strengthen and hearten you to bear all the Burthen of the hardest Labours of your domestick Ministeries in consideration that your heavenly Father Lord and Master will accept and reward your Works of Piety and bless and prosper the Works of your Hands in the Houshold-businesses and Family-employments incumbent on you and belonging to you Rather break your Sleep to rise the earlier than lose the Opportunities of that Day Or chuse to leave and live out of those Families in the which you are forced to live without God are debarr'd from his Service and can have no Liberty allowed you to mind God and your Souls on a Day that was purposely ordained and appointed for your spiritual Proficiency and Improvement Let the Poor of this World redeem this Day by taking this Opportunity to labour spiritually for the Meat which perisheth not but endureth to everlasting Life and by hearing the Gospel preach'd in this Season to them to become rich in Faith rich in Grace to know and to partake of the Grace and Favour the Love and Kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ who though he was rich yet for our sakes became poor that we through his Poverty might be made rich You that are poor and mean and low in the World and who cannot take so much Time as others to worship and enjoy God on the Week-Daies see that you well improve this Day Now you are released from secular Businesses and common Services and your Bodies rest from their hard Labours be sure that you spiritually busie and holily employ your selves in the Service of God Let me likewise charge them that are rich in this World to redeem this choicest Part of their Time and in it to endeavour to be rich toward God rich in God to lay up for themselves a Treasure in Heaven to obtain the true certain durable Riches which when they fail will never leave them but when they remove will bear them company into the other World And here let me hint to you of the Gentry what [z] Fuller's Church-Hist B. 11. p. 146. Dr. Paul Michlewait once urged and pressed in a Sermon at the Temple that Gentle-folk of all
and solemn-Prayer this is the right instant for Ejaculations whether orally utter'd or only poured forth inwardly in the Heart Fuller's Medit on all kind of Prayers p. 77. This is an excellent way to redeem the Time in the want of a proper Place for larger Prayer Wherever thou art though never so far from a Church or Oratory yet as to the Use of this kind of Prayer thou maiest be the Temple of God thy self and pray within thy self Yea once more This is an admirable way to redeem the Time in the greatest straits of Time in the midst of much Company in the Multiplicity Croud and Hurry of worldly Businesses and Employments For this is the Advantage and rare Priviledg of Ejaculation that the Work of God is performed in it and [a] Media inter praelia semper Stetlarum coe ique plagis superisque vacavi Caesar apud Lucan l. 10. v. 185. no secular Affair or worldly Occasion hindred or retarded impeded or interrupted by it It is a gaining of Time for the Exercise of Religion without any Prejudice Let or Hindrance to your Calling It is a taking Time for a spiritual Duty without taking it away from your civil Employment [b] The Field wherein Bees feed is no whit the barer for their biting when they have took their full repast on Flower or Grass the Or may feed the Sheep fat on their Reversions The reason is because those little Chymists distil only the refined part of the Flower leaving the grosser Substance thereof So Ejaculations bind not men to any bodily Observance only busy the spiritual half which maketh them consistent with the prosecution of any other Employment Fuller loc cit p 78. VVe should make some improvement of that Time in which we do the works of our particular Callings to some spiritual Advantage if our Employments be such as exercise the Hand and not the Head by some useful Meditations as some will plant their Hedg-â—owes with fruit-trees reckoning that what they get thereby is clear Gain because they take up no room which might be put to any other Use so what we get by such Meditations is clearly gained because it doth not hinder any other Employment Lukins Pract. of Godl p. 53 54. Art thou as much against this that worldly thoughts should mingle themselves with thy solemn Prayers as that holy thoughts should be mingled with thy worldly Business This shews the rottenness of thy Heart that thou wilt admit the VVorld to come and speak with thee in the midst of thy solemn Duties or converse with God but wilt not afford God a word or a look while thou art conversing with the VVorld White 's Power of Godl p 214. You may at the same instant follow your particular proper Vocation and send up an holy Ejaculation The Husbandman may dart forth an Ejaculation and not make a Balk the more The Tradesman may mind his Shop never the less for minding God in such a way as this Thy Ejaculatory Prayers will sanctify instead of hindring thy Employments will influence thy Conscience and keep thee from sinning in thy Calling and will draw down a Blessing upon every Business and Undertaking In a Word To give our selves to holy and heavenly Ejaculation this is the way * 1 Thess 5.17 to pray without ceasing And surely the Frequency and Number of Ejaculatory Prayers will bring us in very great and large spiritual Gains and notable rich Returns 'T is a noted and approved Saying That much Meditation short Prayers and often make an excellent Christian The eminently learned and holy Andrew Rivet did much accustome and inure himself to these short Prayers He used in his old Age as he himself declares [c] Ego sanè mi srater à multis annis hanc orationem singults diebus saepe hor is repoto qui sentio mihi haec eadem convenire Andr. Rivet ep ad Guil. Fratr De Senect bon p. 1260. in an Epistle to his Brother for many Years every Day and often every Hour to repeat * Psal 71.17 18. those Words of the divine Psalmist which were suitable to the Circumstances of his own Condition O God thou hast taught me from my Youth and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous Works Now also when I am old and gray-headed O God forsake me not until I have shewed thy Strength unto this Generation and thy Power to every one that is to come The seventh Direction If we would redeem the Time we must set our selves to the daily frequent diligent Reading and serious studying of the sacred Scriptures for 1. This is a gaining and making Advantage of all that Time past which the Scripture gives you the History and Account of Seneca advises his Friend Lucilius by the Peregrination of his Mind to go to the ancient Worthies and renowned great Men and by Cogitation to behold them in order to an Imitation of them This he proposes to him as a prudent way to get Vice extirpated and Vertue farther planted in him He would have him by Contemplation go live and converse with the Cato's with Laelius Tubero Socrates Zeno Chrysippus Posidonius These will instruct you saies [a] Hi tibi tralent divinorum humanor â—â—mque netitiâ—â—m Hi juâ—tbunt in opere esse Sen. ep 104. he in the knowledg of things divine and humane and will command and enjoin you to be busied and employed in some good Action Let me advise and counsel you that are Christians to travel srequently through the holy Scriptures to keep a constant Course of attentive reading those sacred Writings and they will give you the happy Advantage of spiritual and fruitful Converse with the Patriarchs and Prophets with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob with Moses and Elias with Noah Job and Daniel with David and Solomon with St. Peter and Paul and James and John with Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians There you may get Acquaintance with and make use of those rare Persons that have been most exemplary and serviceable in their Generations and most deservedly famous in the several Ages of the Church of God and Christ and may take the Benefit of their holy Discourses their excellent Lives and vertuous Actions And what the same Philosopher wisely Discourses in his excellent Book of the Brevity of Life encouraging Persons to a daily familiar Acquaintance with Zeno Pythagoras Democritus Aristotle Theophrastus What he saies there to invite and engage Men to reade the Writings of such as excess in useful Philosophical Learning and good Arts is more truly applicable by way of Motive to prevail with Men to give themselves to the reading of the Pen-men of the sacred Scriptures and of the Sayings of those wise and holy Persons that are introduced discoursing therein [b] Nemo horum nen vocabit nemo non venientem ad se beatiorem ama 〈◊〉 émque sui dimittit Hi tibi dabunt ad aeternitatem iter te in iâ—um iocum ex
Nuncupat ad G. Varam praesix Epist D. Hieron Erasmus gives this notable Testimony of St. Jerome Who saies he did ever learn by heart the whole Scripture imbibe concoct handle it meditate upon it as he did This very learned and holy Father did moreover [o] Has omnes Hierontmus ad divinae Scripturae studium inflammavit inflammatas suâ doctrina provexit Hieron vita per Erasm contexta inflame and stir up diverse noble Matrons of his Acquaintance at Rome to an earnest and constant Study of the divine Scriptures exhorting and urging those holy Women not to lay the Bible out of their Hands until being overcome with Sleep and not able any longer to hold up their Heads they bowed them down as it were to salute the Leaves below them with a Kiss And by his instruction of them and interpretation of the Scriptures to them he assisted and promoted their pious Endeavours in those sacred Studies [n] Quò saediùs essâ—t ab ipsis Episcopis sacros libros negligi quos sexus insirmtor amplecteretur Id. ib. that it might be the greater shame for any Bishops in any wise to neglect those sacred Books which were so often read and so well understood by the weaker Sex And he attests particularly Marcella's Industry and great Proficiency in his Epitaph of her expressing himself in these Words concerning her Because I was at that Time of some Repute and Note saies he for the Study of the Scriptures [o] Nunquam me convenit quin de Scripturis aliquid interrogaret Id. ib. she never met with me but still she would be putting some Questions to me about the Scriptures And he further adds there [p] Quicquid in nobis longo fuit studio congregatum meditatione diuturnâ quasi in naturam versum hoc illa libavit didicit atque possedit ita ut post profectionem nostram si in aliquo testimonio Scripturarum esset oborta contentio ad illam pidicem pergeretur Id. ib. Inserant in aures margaritas verbi Tertullian de cultu foemin Whatever by long Study was gathered by me and turn'd as it were into my Nature by continual Meditation all that she pick'd out tasted learn'd and possess'd So that after my departure if any Controversy arose about the Testimony of the Scripture in any Matter they had recourse to her as a Judg therein Prosper was assiduous in reading the Scripture and usually had the four Evangelists in his Hands Venerable Bede read the Scripture with such Devotion and Affection that he would often weep in the reading of it and would conclude his reading of Scripture with Prayer The good Emperour Theodosius Senior wrote out the whole new Testament with his own Hand and read some Part of it every Day [o] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Niceph. Acclehast Historia l. 14 c. 3. Theodosius the second dedicated and consecrated a good Part of the Night to the Study of the Scriptures to which end he had as Nicephorus relates a Lamp so artificially made that it constantly supplied it self with Oil that none of his Servants might suffer any Trouble upon those Occasions He learned much of the holy Scriptures without Book and when he met and confer'd with the Bishops he expounded and explain'd obscure and knotty Places of Scripture as if he himself had been a Person in holy Orders Maccovius reports of George Prince of Transylvania that he had read over the Bible seven and twenty times And it is storied of Alphonsus King of Arragon that notwithstanding all his Princely Affairs he read over the Bible with a large Comment some say ten others affirm fourteen times Bonaventure wrote out the Bible twice with his own Hand and had most of it by heart Antonius Walaeus in his younger Years imprinted much of the Scripture in his Mind and when he was [p] Vit. Ant. VValaei ante Oper. Tom. 1. old could repeat without Book the Epistle to the Romans the second to the Corinthians to the Galatians Ephesians and Philippians Zuinglius wrote out St. Paul's Epistles and got them by heart [p] Fox Act. and Mon. 2 v. p. 1075. Thomas Cromwel afterward Earl of Essex in his Journey going and coming from Rome learned the Text of the whole New Testament of Erasmus's Translation without Book which was a Means of bringing him to the Knowledg and Savour and Love of the Truth [q] Id. ib. p. 1609 1610. Bishop Ridley in his Letter of Farewel to his Friends bidding farewel to Pembroke-Hall does thus attest his own Practice with the comfortable Fruit and Effect of it In thy Orchard saies he the Walls Buts and Trees if they could speak would bear me witness I learned without Book almost all Paul 's Epistles yea and all the Canonical Epistles save only the Apocalypse of which study although in time a great part did depart from me yet the sweet smell thereof I trust I shall carry with me into Heaven for the Profit thereof I think I have felt in all my Life-time ever after [r] His Life inserted among Mr. Clark's Lives of so em Div. p. 97 98. Dr. Gouge did tye himself to reade every Day fifteen Chapters in English out of the Bible five in the Morning five after Dinner before he fell upon his other Studies and five before he went to bed which course he first took up when he was a young Student in King's Colledg in Cambridg He was often heard to say that when he could not sleep in the Night time he used in his Thoughts to run through divers Chapters of the Scripture in order as if he had heard them read to him The like Practice he used in the Day time when he was alone whether within Doors or abroad for which end he wrote in a little Book which he alwaies carried about him the distinct Heads of every Particular Passage in every Chapter of the Bible that so when in any Place he meditated on the Word of God and was at a loss he might presently find help by that little Book By this means he made himself so expert in the Text that if he heard any Phrase of Scripture he could presently tell where it was to be found And besides all this he had his set Times of Study for understanding the meaning of the more difficult Places of Scripture [s] His Life ib. p. 163. Mr. Jeremy Whitaker usually read all the Epistles in the Greek Testament twice every fortnight [t] He had read that voluminous Book of the Acts and Monuments of the Church seven times over In his Life among Mr. Clark's Lives in 4. Mr. Ignatius Jurdain read the Bible above twenty Times over and that with special Observation as appeared by the Asterisks and Marks in the Bible which he used making particular Application to himself [u] His Life written by Dr. Bernard p. 22. Bp. Vsher had two Aunts who by reason of their blindness from their Cradles never
Do you spend your Time as religiously at home as you might do at Church Do you catechize read and pray and sing Psalms at home in the mean Time If you do you do it unseasonably and plainly break the Lord's-day by ordinarily performing private Duties in the Time of publick Ordinances The Lord's-day being chiefly appointed for the publick Worship and Service of God The most [d] The sixth Council at Constans decreed That whosoever was absent from the Congregation three Lord's-daies together without necessity If he was a Minister should be put from the Ministry and if he was a private Man he should be cast from the Communion of the Church publick Worship being the highest Honour that can be done to God and Christ Reading a Sermon or some Catechistical Doctrine at home in the Time of publick Preaching or Catechising though in it self it may be a better composed Sermon or Exposition yet is not so good as hearing a Sermon or Exposition at Church For the publick Ministry of the Word is a divine Ordinance which has a special Promise of God's gracious Presence Matth. 28. last Go teach says Christ lo I am with you alway even unto the End of the World You are therefore bound to frequent and attend upon it You must not mis-time and mis-place Duty You must not read at home in private when God calls you to hear in publick You must not use one Ordinance in contempt or neglect of another You cannot hope to profit if you do You can't expect not hope to profit if you do You can't expect God's Presence and look for the Gift of God's Grace in a way of Disobedience to his Command and Neglect of his appointed Means When God sets up the Ministry of the Word in any Place his Spirit then opens his School and expects that all who would be taught for Heaven should come thither Now whether is it most fitting that a Scholar should wait on his Master at School to be taught or the Master should run after his truant Scholar at Play in the Field to teach him there as the accurate Preacher [e] Christ Armour 2 part p. 552. in quarto Mr. W. Gurnal does well illustrate it Moreover in Attendance upon publick Preaching there are the Praiers of the [e] Deus pluris facit preces in ecclesia quà m domi factas non ob locum sed ob considerationem multitudints fidelium Deum communi consensu invocantium Rivet Cath. Oath whole Congregation put up for a Blessing upon the Word that is spoken and heard which is an Advantage that can't be enjoyed in private Reading There is also somewhat in this that the lively Voice of the Preacher is more affecting and powerfully working than private Reading And as for reading the Scripture and Books of Theology it is to be feared that they care but little for reading who pretend such reading to excuse their Absence from publick hearing But grant you do read yet certainly the Scripture and good Books were never written to divert and hinder you from publick Hearing so long as you are able to go to the publick but to fit you for it and help you in it Nay the Bible and good Books forbid you to stay at home in Time of publick Worship and Service and command you to be present at publick Praier Baptism the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Catechising Preaching * Heb. 10.25 Not to forsake the Assembly of your selves together as the manner of some is Take notice further that if you then every one as well as you may stay away and read a Book at home and so what will become of all publick Assemblies Once more consider you know not how much you may lose by but once neglecting a publick Ordinance [f] Joh. 20. from 19 to 29. †Thomas meritò privaetur communi fratrum suorum gratia quod tanquam vagus aut erraticus males ab unitatis vexillo discesserat Calv. ib. in vers 19. Thomas by reason of his Absence when Christ appeared to the Disciples that were assembled together lost the Advantage of receiving Satisfaction concerning the Truth of Christ's Resurrection and lay a whole Week in Unbelief That may be spoken in thy unnecessary Absence so agreeable and congruous to thy Condition as it may be thou maiest not meet with the like for a long time after if ever after The Devil may be busie to detain thee from the publick that very Day or Hour when he knows well enough that is provided and prepared which is most suitable to thee and apt to work upon thee Obj. But he that preaches is a Man of weak Parts mean Gifts and very ordinary Abilities Answ But if he be an approved ordained Minister be conscionable in his Place and unblameable in his Life and if what he delivers be sound and profitable blame your own Hearts if you do not profit by him and take more Pains with them in hearing and see that your Carelesness or Prejudice cause not your unprositableness It is a remarkable Saying of the Reverend and Holy [g] Hilders on John p. 241. Mr. Arthur Hildersam I am perswaded saies he there is never a Minister that is of the most excellent Gifts if he have a Godly Heart but he can truly say he never heard any faithful Minister in his Life that was so mean but he could discern some Gift in him that was wanting in himself and could receive some profit by him You know a Torch may be sometimes lighted by a Candle and a Knife be whetted and sharpned by an unhewn and unpolish'd Stone And it is considerable which the same judicious Author adds there that the Fruit and Profit that is to be received from the Ministry depends not only nor chiefly upon the Gifts of the Man that preacheth but upon the Blessing that God is pleased to give unto his own Ordinance and God does oft give a greater Blessing to weaker than to stronger Means and therefore despise not any sound Ministry because of the meanness of it Obj. But some may say The Exercise is too long and the Season is too hot or cold to come twice a Day Answ But let me ask you Could not you willingly stay in any Season of the Year as long again at a Play 'T is the Coldness of your Hearts and your frozen Affections that make you plead either the Heat or Coldness of the Weather in excuse of your Absence from Church-Assemblies and I pray seriously consider whether Hell at last won't prove too hot for wilful careless causeless Sabbath-breakers I shall further offer two Things to your Consideration to move and provoke you to a careful and diligent Redeeming of the Lord's-day Mot. 1. The right Redemption of the Lord's-day is an apt and likely means of redeeming the whole Week following Of redeeming it as to Temporals Of redeeming it as to Spirituals 1. As to Temporals They that serve God sincerely on the Lord's-day
Payment of them The learned and judicious Bp. Sanderson in a Sermon [c] Bp. Sanderson on 1 Cor. 7.14 p. 214 215. preached to the People gives them this wholesome good Instruction not to ingulf themselves so wholly into the Businesses of their particular Callings as to abridg themselves of convenient Opportunities for the Exercise of those religious Duties which they are bound to perform by virtue of their general Calling This says he is a point of Duty Men being commanded in their Callings to abide with God A point of Wisdom also it being a means to procure a Blessing upon their Labours from his Hands who never faileth to serve them that never fail to serve him And a Point of Justice too as due by way of Restitution of which he gives this both ingenious and solid Proof We make bold with God's Day says he and dispense with some of that Time which he hath sanctified unto his Service for our own Necessities It is equal we should allow him at least as much of ours as we borrow of his though it be for our Necessities or lawful Comforts But if we rob him of some of his Time as too often we do employing it in our own Businesses without the Warrant of a just Necessity we are to know that it is Theft yea Theft in the highest Degree Sacriledg and that therefore we are bound at least as far as petty Theeves were in the Law to a * Exod. 22.1 2 Sam. 12.6 fourfold Restitution But how very many so overload and overburthen themselves and their Families with ordinary worldly Businesses that either they quite neglect their Duties or put God off with slight and short and hasty Duties and neither afford themselves sufficient Time nor allow their Servants convenient Opportunities of remembring their God and minding their Souls Necessities These have no leisure to consider that the Soul is more worth than the Body and Heaven more valuable than the Earth and therefore that the Things that necessarily conduce to the saving of the Soul and securing of Heaven must not wholly be neglected for any bodily Concernments or worldly Interests whatsoever We must first seek the Kingdom of God and chiefly lay up a Treasure in Heaven and therefore we must not suffer worldly Cares to take up an undue Proportion of our Time We must not engage in so many Businesses nor so eagerly pursue and follow any as that our ordinary worldly Affairs should hinder our selves or our Families from the Performance of ordinary religious Exercises [d] Toward the end of his Life before his Remains It is reported of the famous Mr. George Herbert sometime Orator of the University of Cambridg that when he came to have a Family he was eminent and exemplary for his spiritual Love and Care of his Servants by his own Practice teaching Masters this Duty to allow their Servants daily Time wherein to pray privately and to enjoyn them to do it holding this for true generally That publick Prayer alone to such Persons is no Prayer at all Our Love and Care even of our Servants spiritual Welfare ought to be greater than our Love and Care of the Things of this World As many so deeply plunge themselves into unnecessary Businesses that they have no Leisure for religious Performances So some so mainly mind earthly Things that they make Religion subservient to their worldly Employment take up a specious Profession of Religion and fair Form of Godliness chiefly to invite and draw Customers to their Shops and that they may deal falsely and [e] Totius injustitia nulla capitalior est quà m eorum qui tum cùm maxime fallent id tamen agunt ut viri boni esse videantur Cicero l. 1. de Offic. unjustly without Question or Suspicion and gain unreasonably and unconscionably by a dissembled Sanctity and sictitious Piety The last Sort of Persons reproved And lastly Some Persons are to be reproved for mis-spending their Time in their Duties You may think this strange that Time should be thrown away in Duties But I would have you to understand it may for you may lose your Time in Duties these two waies 1. By performing them unseasonably 2. By doing them formally 1. You lose Time in Duty if you perform it unseasonably And that may be done these two Waies 1. When one Duty thrusts and justles out another and so the Duty is mistimed As if a Man do spend that Time in his Closet and in religious Devotion which God does require him to employ in his Shop and in following his Vocation So again if you reade and pray privatly at home when you should attend on the publick Ordinance Or reade in your Bible or prayer-Prayer-Book at Church when you should hearken to the Sermon there Or if you do nothing but reade when you should meditate sometimes and confer sometimes Or if you give way to such good Thoughts as in Prayer or hearing the Word at any Time come into your Mind but are impertinent and irrelative to the Matter in hand Such Thoughts though they be materially good yet are formally evil though good in themselves yet are sinful to thee at such unfit and inconvenient Times and will at least taint and fly-blow thy necessary present Duty To do any Duty whatever when you should rather do another is to mis-spend Time about such a Duty which is to you unseasonable 2. When Duty is perform'd at such a Time when we are most unfit for it then it is unseasonable and Time is lost in it As when we go to Prayer when we are fitter to go to sleep and kneel upon the Cushion when we are fitter to lay our Head upon the Pillow and hold up our Hands then when we are scarce able to hold open our Eyes and speak to God then when we hardly hear our selves speak When Luther during his retirement in the Castle at Coburga for his Safety enjoyed more leisure than ordinary one Vitus Theodorus who then lived with him informed Melancthon concerning him that he spent in Prayer every Day [f] Nullus abit dits quin ut minimum tres horas edsque fludiis aptissimas in orationem ponat Melch. Adam in vit Luther p. 138 142. three Hours at least and those that were fittest and properest for his Studies And it is commendable in some Masters of Families that as often as they can do it with any convenience they perform Evening-Prayer in their Families before Bed-Time yea before Supper-Time when they are not clogg'd with Meat nor heavy with Sleep but are every way freest and fittest for Duty Will you set your selves and your House-hold to do God's Work when you are wholly unfit to do your own You lose Time in Duty by performing it unseasonably That 's the first 2. You lose Time in Duty if you perform Duty no otherwise than formally customarily slightly and superficially If you handle holy Things without any Feeling If you do the Duty for the Matter
Acts 26.7 ‖ Acts 24.16 And herein did St. Paul exercise himself to have alwaies a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward Men. He who before was a Blasphemer a Persecutor and injurious yet when the Grace of God was bestowed upon him (*) 1 Cor. 15.10 laboured more abundantly than all the Apostles [l] Diem totum precationibus sacrificio doctrinae disputationibus audiendis causis componendis litibus confutandis haereticis dabat noctis bonam partem sacris lucubrationibus decidebat Ad docendum semper erat paratus non aliter quà m avidus negotiator ad lucrum Erasm epist ad Archiep. Toletan ante Opera Augustini Atque Episcopatu suscrpto multò instantius ac ferventius ubicunque rogatus verbum salutis aeternae alacriter praedicabat Possidon in vita August St. Austin made much of his precious Time after his Conversion he spent it ever after in reading meditating disputing writing watching fasting prayer and diligent preaching in which he was more instant and fervent after he had taken the Office of a Bishop than ever he was before 'T was his usual wish that Christ when he came might find him aut precantem aut praedicantem either praying or preaching The laborious Calvin did husband his time and improve his hours to admiration The learned [l] Tantos labores sustinuit ut sanè mirandum sit homulum unum tam multis rebus potuisse sufficere c. Whitak Controvers 2. q. 5 de notis Eccl c. 15. p. 536. Whitaker gives this testimony of him How much he wrote is known to all saies he But every Year he preached 286 Sermons and read 186 Lectures besides innumerable other Businesses and Employments Even in the time of his Illness no Saying was oftener in his Mouth than this [m] Acerbam sibi esse vitam otiosam cùm fratres interim valentes prae illo otiosi videri possent Melchior Adam in vita Calv. p. 96 That an idle Life was very grievous to him when as Melchior Adam speaks his Brethren in the Ministry even in their Health and Strength might scem to be idle compar'd with Calvin in his Sickness and Weakness And when his Friends intreated him to abstain from dictating especially from writing himself in his Sickness he return'd them this Answer [n] Quid ergo vultis me otiosum à Domino deprehendi Id. 10. p. 100. What would you have the Lord to find me idle at his Coming Yea so saving was he of that time which might be laid out for the good of the Church that though the very Sight of Beza was alwaies pleasing and refreshing to him yet when he came to visit him in his last Sickness he would often signify to him o Sibi religionem esse vel tantillum occupationes ejus remorars Id. ib. p. 107. that he could not in Conscience detain and hinder him from his more weighty Businesses and useful Employments It is said of Beza the Phoenix of his Age that †Scrisserit legenda fecerit scribends Melch. Adam in ejus vit p. 538. he wrote Things worthy to be read and did Things worthy to be written Mr. Fox gives this notable Character of Mr. John Hooper the Martyr that p Acts and Mon. 2. V. p. 1366. he was spare of Diet sparer of Words and sparest of Time Holy Mr. John Bradford q Idem ib. p. 1457. slept not commonly above four Hours in the Night and in his Bed till sleep came his Book went not out of his Hand His chief Recreation was in no gaming or other pastime but only in honest Company and comely talk wherein he would spend a little time after Dinner at the Board and so to Prayer and his Book again He counted that Hour not well spent wherein he did not some good either with his Pen Study or in exhorting of others Preaching reading and praying was all his whole Life Many prosited in Piety by his Society Bp. Ridly when a Prisoner in Oxford in a Letter to Bradford breaks out into these pathetical Expressions * 1567. O Good Brother blessed be God in thee and blessed be the time that ever I knew thee [r] Id. ib. p. 1579. Commendo vobis veteranum illum Christs nostrae gentis Anglicanae verum Apostolum Hugonem Latimerâ—m Bp. Ridlye's Letter to Mr. Grindal at Frankford Id. ib. p. 1579. Mr. Hugh Latimer was so far from idling and loytering that all King Edward's Daies he preached for the most part every Sunday twice And this was so much the more remarkable in him as Mr. Fox observes that he being a sore bruised Man by the Fall of a Tree and above 67 Years of Age took so little ease and care of sparing himself to do the People good He used indesatigable Travel and Diligence in his own private Studies who notwithstanding both his Years and other pains in Preaching every Morning ordinarily Winter and Summer about two of the clock in the Morning was at his Book most diligently The learned Bishop Ridley usually s Id. ib. 1559. every Holy Day and Sunday preached in some one Place or other except he were otherwise hindred by weighty Assairs and Business He used all kinds of waies to mortify himself and was given to much Prayer and Contemplation Duely every Morning as soon as he had put on his Apparel he prayed upon his Knees in his Bed-chamber the space of half an Hour from which if Business did not interrupt him he immediatly went to his Study where he continued till ten of the clock the Hour of Common-Prayer with his House-hold An Hour after Dinner he returned to his Study and there continued except Suiters or Business abroad were occasion of the contrary until five of the clock at night the time of Evening-Prayer with his Family An Hour after Supper he returned again to his Study continuing there till eleven of the clock at Night and then closed the Day with Prayer upon his Knees before he lawy down to take his rest Being at his Manor of fulham as divers Times he used to be he read daily a Lecture to his Family at the Common-Prayer beginning at the Acts of the Apostles and so going throughout all the Epistles of St. Paul giving to every Man that could reade a New Testament hiring them besides with Money to learn certain principal Chapters by heart reading also to his Household oftentimes the 101 Psalm beng marvellous careful over his Family that they might be a Spectacle of all Vertue and Honesty to others As he was Godly and vertuous himself so nothing but Vertue and Godiness reigned in his House He gave this as a general Rule to his Kinsfolk yea to his own Brother and Sister that the doing evil should seek or look for nothing at his hand but should be as Strangers and Aliens unto him and that they should be his Brother or Siller which used Honesty and a good trade of Life t Id.
In what has Satan this Day taken Advantage against me or how has my own deceitful Heart turned me aside What Degrees of Intemperance have I admitted in Meats or Drinks what worldly Cares have I been distracted with what carnal Fears have I been ready to sink under To what have I my self been effectually tempted or wherein have I offered to be a Tempter of any other What Solicitation to Evil have I resisted What Sin and Corruption have I striven against What open careless or wilful Sinner have I seasonably and prudently reproved What Duty have I perform'd What Grace have I exercis'd What Time have I employed in Closet-Devotion in Family-Religion in diligent following the Business of my Calling What Company have I run into or kept What Hours have I spent in such Company and to what profit or benefit to my self or others What was my Omission and Neglect what my Sin and Vanity committed and repeated in such Society have I not closed this Day with a drousy sleepy Prayer this Night Am I grown any better this Week this Day than I was the last You know at Night and at the End of the Week we usually call our Servants to Account Let us use the same Method and take the same Course for a Daily weekly Reckoning with our selves In the Close of the Day at the End of the Week let 's commune with and reflect upon our selves and take our solves to task Let 's take a view and make a surveigh of our past Lives observe how our Time goes watch what becomes of it see how it is laid out that so beholding how useless and unfruitful we have been we may even be ashamed of our selves and labour to grow more useful and fruitful for the future As * Rev. 2.5 remembring from whence she was fallen was prescribed to the Church of Ephesus as a means of her repenting And on the contrary because †ser 8.6 no Man said What have I done therefore every one turned to his Course as the Horse rusheth into the Battel By daily observing examining taking account of our selves and Waies we shall come to Repentance more speedily and easily and recover the Favour of God immediatly The Candle that is presently blown in again offends not We shall have the Advantage of making to God [h] Mr. Hildersam on Ps 51. p. 183. a fuller Confession of our Sins while our Sins with their Circumstances are fresh and recent in our Memories And shall be more effectually restrained from Sin for the future by thinking thus with our selves This I must account with God and my own Conscience for before I sleep And by this means we shall be freed from the Fear of sudden Death and be in a constant good Preparation for it because though our Master come suddenly he will not find us sleeping nor surprize us in unrepented Sin When in this manner we make all even every Night between God and our own Consciences we may lie down in Peace and take a quiet Rest and Sleep without any perplexing amazing Fears of our awaking the next Morning in the other World Hold and maintain this Practice of Calling thy self to a daily strict Account and you shall certainly find and happily experience that of A Kempis to be a great Truth [i] Suaviter requiesees si cor tuum te non reprehenderit Noli laetari nisi cùm bene feceris A Kemp. l. c. 6 n 1. Gaudebis semper vespere si diem expendas fructuosè Idem l. 1. c. 25. n. 11. Thou shalt sweetly rest if thy own Heart reprehend thee not Thou shalt rejoyce and be glad at heart every Night if thou hast not lost but fruitfully spent the Day past [k] De perfectione Rodericus relateth of Suarez that he was wont to say he esteemed that little Pittance of Time which constantly every Day he set apart for the private Examination of his own Conscience more than all the other Part of the Day which he spent in his voluminous Controversies And it is reported of that learned Professor of Divinity Dr. Samuel Ward that when he lay upon his Death-Bed he profess'd he had read many Books but had no such comfort from his reading any as from his reading and studying the Book of his own Heart and Life That is the second Direction Frequently call yourselves to an Account Often Reckonings make long Friends It holds most true between God and our Souls between our Consciences and our selves Reckon with God and your selves every Evening how you have spent the Day fore-going and this will provoke you humbly to beg the Pardon of your Sins at God's Hands and Power against them to judg and punish and take an holy Revenge upon your selves to exercise Repentance for your past Failings and strict Watchfulness for the future The third Direction That we may rightly redeem our Time let Reason and Conscience have some Authority with us and not be despised and disregarded by us They are most brave generous Rules and Precepts that are given by Pythagoras in his golden Verses [a] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Never accustome thy self in any Thing to act and carry thy self irrationally and below a Man And of all things see says he that you [b] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cùm jam prâ—fecâ—ris tantum ut sit tibi etiam tui reverentia dum te efficis eum coram quo peccare non audeas aliqua coeperit apud te tui esse dignatio Sen. ep 25. reverence and use good Manners to your self Let Reason rule and govern thy Passions and Affections and Conscience withhold thee from being guilty of any Impiety or Impurity Absurdity or Undecency Do nothing to put thy self to the blush to sill thy self with secret Shame and Sorrow and sinking Fear for the Turpitude or Folly of thy Own Actions Take the wholesome Counsel and good Advice that Ausonius gives thee [c] Turpe quid ausurus te sine teste time When thou art about to do any vile and vicious Thing be afraid of thy self though no body else be near thee to be a Witness of thy Wickedness [d] Si turpia sunt quae facis quid refert neminem scire cùm tu seias O te miserum si contemnis hunc testem Sen. ep 43. i. sine If the Things thou doest says Seneca excellently be unseemly and uncomely what does it avail thee that none in the World knows it when thou thy self knowest it O miserable Man says he if thou contemnest this Witness within thee And I find Lactantius citing these admirable Sayings out of him [e] Demens quid prodest non habere conscium habence conseientiam Custos te tuus sequitur Haeret hic quo carere nunquam potes Lactant de vero cultu 1. 6 §. 24. Thous very mad Man what will it profit thee to have no other conscious of thy Crime so long as thou doest carry a Conscience within thee
quo nemo te eji iâ—t sub evabunt Sen. de brev vit c. 14 15. There is not one of these but will call thee to hear them speaking to thee not any one of them but if you come to them will send you away more happy and more in love with them none of them will suffer you to go empty-handed away from them They may be met and spoken with visited and conversed with by all both Day and Night None of these will press you to die presently but all will teach you to die well at last None of these will waste your Years but will readily contribute and give their own to you for your Use and Service Profit and Benefit None of their Discourse will ever be dangerous none of their Friendship will prove pernicious your Acquaintance with them and Observance of them will not be costly and chargeable to you You may receive what you want and carry away what you will from them They will never hinder you from drawing as much out of them as you are capable of containing What an happy and lovely old Age is like to befal him who has given himself into their Tuition He will have those continually at hand with whom he may deliberate both of the smallest and greatest Matters whom he may daily advise with about himself from whom he may hear the Truth without Reproach by whom he may be commended without Flattery and after whose Similitude he may form and fashion himself These will set you in the way that will surely bring you to an happy Eternity and will mount you up into that Place out of which none shall be able to eject you This is in a sense a gaining of a great deal of Time that is past and an happy converting it to our own spiritual Profit and Use Our perusing the notable useful Histories and instructive Passages of the sacred Pages will after a sort make all that Time [c] Animus humanus arctam aetatem sibi dari non sinit Omnes inquit anni mei sunt nulium saecalum magnis ingentis clusam est nullum non cogitationi pervium tempus Seneca epist 102. ours and serve in a manner as much to our advantage as if we our selves had liv'd in the several Ages in which those eminently pious Persons appeared and acted that are recorded in sacred Writ 2. Our Reading the holy Books of scripture is a proper redeeming that Time in particular which is denied to worldly Profit or Pleasure and applied to such a spiritual Use It is a good husbanding and well improving the present Time that is spent and employed in this religious Duty for this is our Attendance on an Ordinance of God and in that respect an honouring of God It is also a Means of attaining divine Knowledg heavenly Grace and spiritual Comfort 1. Divine Knowledg By reading the Scripture we may be taught of God and come to be acquainted with the Mind and Will of our supreme Ruler and Governour with the righteous Laws of our Creator and Redeemer There we may sind * Ps 119.105 a Light unto our Feet and a Lanthorn unto our Paths a Pillar of Fire by Night to conduct us through the Wilderness unto Canaan a Star still before us to lead us unto Christ From thence we may receive suitable and seasonable Information Resolution Direction if with holy David we take God's Testimonies for our * Ps 119.24 Counsellers The Scriptures are apt to preserve and powerful to reduce Men from erroneous Opinions as Junius was mightily wrought upon and with clear Conviction and full Satisfaction recovered out of Atheism and converted to the Truth by reading the Beginning of [d] Lego partem capitis ita commoveor legens ut repentè divinitatem argum nti ser pti majest tem authoritatémque senserim longo intervabo omnibus eloquentiae humanae sluminilus praeeantem c. Junius ipse in descript vit suae St. John's Gospel The Scriptures are †2 Tim. 3.15 able to make us wise unto Salvation to make us so wise as to become truly good For 2. Our reading the Scripture is a means of obtaining heavenly Grace The holy Scripture is apt to terrify and affright the Sinner out of the Way of Sin The pure and clean Word of God is able to make thee pure and clean The holy just and good Law of God is able to make thee holy just and good St. Austin in his younger Years was an incontinent Person but being at length admonished by this Voice Tolle lege tolle lege take up the Book and reade he presently caught up and opened [e] Cod. cem Apestols St. Paul's Epistles and happily first cast his Eyes upon those Words in the thirteenth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans ‖ Rom. 13.13 14. Not in Rioting and Drunkenness not in Chambering and Wantonness not in Strife and Envying But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not Provision for the Flesh to fulfill the Lusts thereof With which his Heart was powerfully affected and touched to purpose [f] Nec ultra volui legere nec epus erat c. Jam liber erat animus meus à curis mordacibus ambiends acquirendi volutandi atque scalpendi scabiem libidinum Aug. Conf. l. 8. c. 12. §. 3. l. 9 c. 1. §. 2. I had no need to reade any further saies he How sweet and pleasant did I presently find it to want those trifling Pleasures of Sin How glad was I now to let go quite what a little before I was so much afraid to lose Thou didst make those seeming Sweetnesses vanish O Christ Jesus who art the true and highest Sweetness and didst come thy self in their Room and Stead sweeter than all the Pleasures in the World The Word of God's Grace is that holy * 1 Pet. 1.23 Seed of which you may be born again and is able when once you are truly converted from Sin and the World to God to †Acts 20.32 build you up and to give you an Inheritance among all them which are sanctified 3. Out reading the Scripture is a ready Way and proper Means of finding spiritual Peace and Comfort [g] Locus ille Pauli suit mihi verè porta Paradisi That Place of Paul was truly to me the Gate of Paradise So said Luther of the 17th Verse of the first Chapter to the Romans The Righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel from Faith to Faith as it is written The Just shall live by Faith Mr. Bilney or rather St. Bilney as [h] In his first Sermon before the Dutches of Suffolk fol. 5. Fox Act. and Mon. 2 v. p. 919. Father Latimer did not stick to stile him that holy and blessed Martyr of God that suffer'd Death for God's Word's sake was raised and revived cheered and refreshed by the 15th Verse of the first Chapter of the first to Timothy He confesses of himself
that when the New Testament was first set forth by Erasmus he was drawn to buy it more in consideration of the good Latine of that Edition than out of any regard to the Word of God of which he was utterly ignorant at that Time And by the Providence of God he fell at first reading on this Sentence This is a faithful Saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am chief [h] O mihi suavissimam Pauli sententiam Haec una serâ—â—â—ntia Deo iatus in corde meo docente sic exhilaravit pectus meum c. Biln ep ad Cutb. Tonstallum Lond. Episc Fox Act. Mon 2 v. p. 915. O this Saying of Paul was a sweet and comfortable Saying to me saies he This one Sentence God inwardly teaching and instructing me did so exhilarate and comfort my Heart which before was wounded and ready to despair through the Conviction and Sense I had of my Sins that I felt immediatly such a marvellous Tranquillity and Gladness within me that the Bones which had been broken did rejoice and from this Time the Scripture began to be sweeter to me than the Honey and the Honey-comb As Adam and Eve went about in vain to cover their Nakedness with their Fig-leaves and were never quieted till they had believed the Promise of God that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpents Head so neither could I be healed saies he of the Stings and Bitings of my Sins before I was taught of God that Lesson of which Christ speaks Joh. 3.14 15. As Moses listed up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal Life Thomas à Kempis is said to have uttered and to have written this Sentence in his Books [i] In omnibus requiem quaesivi sed nusquam inveni praeterquam in angulo cum libello S. Torshel exercit in Malach. I have sought for Rest every where but have found it no where except in a Corner alone with a little Book The Bible is that blessed Book which will either alone or above all other Books afford a suitable seasonable Rest unto our Souls And now these Things considered is it not well worth the while to bestow your Time and Pains in reading and studying the sacred Scriptures 3. It is moreover a Means and Help to the right redceming of our Time for the future For here in the Scripture we have the plainest Precepts given us to oblige us to take due Care of our Time the best Examples and worthiest Patterns of Redemption of Time set before us in the Servants of God and in the Son of God and have here afforded us the strongest Motives and Encouragements to it and the most prudent Instructions and proper Directions about it For all that has been hitherto discoursed concerning it has chiefly been fetch'd from and drawn out of the holy Scriptures And these divine and sacred Writings will not only teach and instruct you but also inwardly dispose and qualify sit and enable you to make the best Improvement of your remaining Time by converting and transforming regenerating and renewing purifying and sanctifying you By giving you a new Nature they will enable you to lead a new Life And therefore be sure to redeem some competent Time for reading of the Scripture that you may the better redeem the Remainder of your Time by reading of the Scripture The noble Aethiopian * Acts 8.28 Eunuch would lose no Time but as he was travelling and sitting in his Chariot he read Esaias the Prophet And as St. Chrysostom well notes if he was so religiously employed in a Journey what a diligent Student of the Scripture was he at home yea though he found what he then read to be to him difficult and [k] Quae aperta sunt in quibus mentem suam Deus aperit avidè prompto animo susâ—ipere decet quae adhuc nobis obscura sunt praeterire couvenit donec plentor lux affulgeat Quod si legendo non satigabimur fiet tandem ut scriptura assiduo usu familiaris nobis reddatur Calv. in loc obscure yet he would not lay that holy Book away which he did not at present well understand We must esteem reverently of the Word saies the judicious [l] Mr. Arthur Hildersam Lecture 1. on the Title of Psal 51. pag. 2. The obscurity of any Place should increase our Diligence in searching the meaning of it and teach us to acknowledg the necessity of a learned Ministry and of that Gift of Interpretation God hath given unto his Servants Act. 8.31 And to see the Necessity of joining with our reading humble Prayer unto God that he would open our Understanding Ps 119. 18. And cause us to come to the reading of the Word with an Heart that is humbled and fearful to offend God For the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Ps 25.14 And this should move us to mark and lay up in our Hearts even those things which we understand not because they may do us good hereafter Luke 2.50 51. Joh. 2.22 Id. ib. pag. 2 3. Hildersam though we cannot at the first reading or hearing of it profit by it or discern what use it may serve us unto The Jews were so exactly versed in the Old Testament that [m] Contr. Appion l. 2. Josephus gives this Testimony of them Every one of our Nation being demanded of our Laws can answer as readily as he can tell his own Name * Acts 17.11 The Bereans are commended for spending their Time every Day in searching the Scriptures It is the honourable Character of Apollos that he was * Acts 18.24 mighty in the Scriptures one that had a great Insight and Skill in the Scriptures of the Old Testament But †Verse 26. Aquila and Priscilla ordinary Tent-makers had attained to such a measure of Knowledg in the Gospel that they were able to instruct an eloquent Apollos and to expound unto him the Way of God more perfectly ‖ 2 Tim. 3.15 Timothy had known the holy Scriptures from a Child Tertullian after his Conversion was taken up night and day in reading of the Scriptures and did with great Pains get much of them by heart and that so exactly that he knew each Period Origen having this daily Task set him by his Father to rehearse unto him some Portion of Scripture He though a Child not only committed the Words unto his Memory but inquired into the Sense and Meaning of them and diverse Times would gravel his Father with the Questions which he propounded to him And when he was grown to riper Years he spent much of the Night in meditating on the holy Scriptures [n] Quis sic universam divinam Scripturam edidicit imbibit concoxit versavit meditatus est Erasm ep
saw Letters and yet taught him first to reade Dr. Bernard tells us that their readiness in the Scripture was marvellous being able suddenly to have repeated any part of the Bible I have read of one who was so conscientiously covetous of redeeming Time for reading of the Scripture that [w] Fox's Time and the end of Time p. 7. being a Prisoner in a dark Dungeon when a Light was brought to him for a little Time to eat his Diet he would pull out his Bible and reade a Chapter saying he could find his Month in the dark but not reade in the dark O mind the Scriptures in imitation of these and the like excellent Examples * 1 Tim. 4 13. Give attendance to reading †Joh. 5.39 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Search the Scriptrres as Christ commands As Diggers in [x] A Lapide in loc Mines with much Labour and Pains do search for Veins of Gold and Silver in the Bowels of the Earth So labour diligently to dig deep in the rich and golden Mines of Scripture for hidden Treasures of saving Truth Can you use your Eyes exercise your Reason improve your Hours in a better Employment Content not thy self with a slight and cursory reading but get a right and good understanding of these sacred Oracles Read them with Prayer to God before and after the reading of them Reade them with the [y] Quo Spiritu factae sunt Scripturae eo Spiritu legi desiderant ipsoetiam intelligendae sunt Bern. ep ad Fratres de monte Dei. Help of the same Spirit that wrote them Read them and hear the Voice of the blessed Spirit speaking in them Read receive and keep the Word in an honest and good Heart Luke 8.15 Hide the Word of God in thy Heart with David Ps 119.11 as a precious Jewel and Treasure as the Law was kept in a Chest or Ark Exod. 25.21 Let the Word of Christ dwell richly copiously plentifully in thee Coloss 3.16 and in this manner make thy Heart Bibliothecam Christi the Library of Christ as [z] Lectione assiduâ meditatione diuturnâ pectus suum bibliothecam fecerat Christi Hier. ep ad Heliod Epitaph Nepetiani St. Jerome tells us Nepotian did by his constant reading and daily Meditation Reade the Scriptures and fully assent to the Truth and Goodness of them Reade them and feed and feast upon them With the Prophet Ezekiel * Ezek 3.1 3. eat and fill thy Belly with this Roll 't will be in thy Mouth as Honey for Sweetness Do not only take the Scriptures into thine Hand and get them into thine Head but let them be deeply rooted in and fairly printed upon thy Heart Read them [a] Alimenta quae accepimus quamdiu in sua qualitate perdurant solida innatant stomacho onera sunt at cùm ex eo quod erant mutata sunt tunc demum in vires in sanguinem transeunt Idem in his quibus aluntur ingenia praestemus ut quaecunque hausimus non patiamur integra esse ne aliena sint Concoquamus illa altoquin in memoriam ibunt non in ingenium Assentiamur illis fideliter nostra faciamus ut unum quiddam siat ex multis Sen. ep 84. concoct and inwardly digest them do not only retain them in thy Memory but turn them into a new Nature Do not offer to deal with the Scriptures as little [b] Culpands sunt qui in lectione quidem Bibliorum versantur non tamen eum sibs proponunt scepum ut conscientiam suam aedisicent in pietate proficiant sed tantùm at scientiam aliquam sibi comparent qua velut artificio quodam apud alios se ostentent ibi Spiritum minimè quaerentes ubi maximè loquitur Spiritus non dissimiles pueris qui nuces ad ludendum quaerunt nucleo nec gustato nec aperto Andr. Rivet Isagog ad S. Script c. 30. §. 16. School-Boys do with their Nuts who often get them only to play with them having no mind or intention at all to crack the Shell and to taste the Kernel of any of them Reade and regard the Scriptures not only to get a notional Knowledg of them and merely to make them matter of Discourse and of Dispute but with an honest Purpose to profit in Piety and practical Knowledg by the frequent reading and constant studying of them Reade and receive the Scripture * 1 Thess 2.13 not as the Word of Men but as it is in truth the Word of God This will make all its Commands more strong and powerful more sweet and acceptable to think very seriously with thy self that they are the Commands of God who has Authority to command us and of a good God who shews as much Love in his Commands as he does in his Promises who gave his Son to die for us and therefore we may be sure will command us nothing but out of Love and for our good nothing but what will some way serve to sit us for and bring us to that Glory and Happiness which his Son has dearly purchas'd for us This also will mightily strengthen your Faith in Scripture Promises to consider that they are God's Promises who understands what he promises is true and faithful and cannot lie and is able to perform whatever he promises be his Promises never so large and great And this will render Scripture Threatnings very terrible and cause you to tremble at them and stand in aw of them to believe and consider that they are God's Threatnings who is arm'd with Omnipotency and able to execute to the utmost the most dreadful Threatnings that are denounced in his Word O bless and praise the good and holy Name of God that you are not left to the conduct of your purblind short-sighted Reason to the faint Light of the Candle within you to the natural Darkness and Blindness of your carnal Minds and corrupt Hearts that you are not guided with the Turks by a ridiculous Alcoran nor with the Jews directed to follow a few curious Rabbines nor with the Papists enslaved to humane unwritten uncertain Traditions But that you have the Bible open and intelligible in the English Tongue Highly prize and value the Scriptures and reade them with Thankfulness Love Joy and Delight as the best Book you can possibly reade in the whole World the most incomparable Writings which clearly and certainly declare the insinite Love of God and seasonably bring the glad Tidings of a Saviour to lost and undone Mankind which shew and discover to a miserable Sinner the only happy way and means of firm Reconciliation to an offended Deity and bring Life and Immortality to light which are God's publick Act of Indemnity and his free Grant of a full Pardon and of eternal Salvation to the penitent Believer Will you not prize and use the Word of God that incorruptible Seed of which you are or may be born again and have frequent recourse to that Word which
such strong Affections for any profane Writings as by means of them to be taken off from perusing and studying the Scriptures which were given by Inspiration of God and are every way profitable to the Edification and Salvation of our Souls [e] Scriptura visa mihi est indigna quam Tullianae dignitati compar arem Aug Conf. l 3. c. 5. St. Austin confesses it as his great Folly and Fault that in his unconverted State the Scripture-stile was a mean and contemptible thing in his Eye and not to be compared for Dignity with the Eloquence of Tully And [f] The Life of Bp. Usher p. 27. Dr. Bernard relates of Bp. Vsher that in his younger Years in the Times of his private Sequestration and strict Examination of himself he lamented his too much love of his Book and humane Learning that he should be as glad of Munday to go to that as of the Lord's-Day for his Service 3. We should take care to redeem the Time from the most plausible taking Treatises of moral Philosophers whose Precepts commonly make Men grow more in Knowledg than in Goodness We have an Account indeed of one [g] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Origen contra Cels l. 1. p. 50. Phaedon and one Polemon that were famous Converts to Philosophy and were reclaimed and reduc'd from a very luxurious and impure Life by Socrates and Xenocrates But what vast Numbers and great Multitudes have not only been brought to alter their Opinions but have been really recovered from the inward Love and Liking as well as the outward gross Practice of Sin and Vice by reading and ruminating on the Writings of the Old and New Testament St. Austin declares that Plato's Writings have not the [h] Non habent illae paginae visltum pietatis hujus August Conf. l. 7. c. 21. § 2. Visage and Colour of that Piety that is apparent in the sacred Scriptures The heathen Philosophy has nothing of that holy Nature and transforming Power which is to be found in Scripture-truth which has a rare Efficacy not only to civilize but to sanctify [i] Sapientia eorum non excindit vitia sed abscondit Pauca verò Dei praecepta sic totum hominem immutant exposito vetere novum reddunt ut non cognoscas eundem esse Lactant. l. 3. §. 25. Da mihi virum qui sit iraeundus maledicus effrenatus paucissimis Des verbis tam placidum quà m ovem reddam c. Num quis haec Philosophorum aut unquam prastitit aut praestare si velit potest qui cùm atates suas in studio Philosophiae conterant neque alium quemquam neque seipsos si natura paululum obstitit possunt facere meliores Id. ib. The Wisdome of Philosophers saies Lactantius it does not cut up Vices but only cover them But a few divine Precepts saies he do so change the whole Man and putting off the old make him every way such a new Man that you would not know him to be the same Person The most improved Discourses of heathen Moralists are also short in the relief and comforts which they offer to afford to troubled Minds If you peruse the Writings of all the Platonick Philosophers St. Austin will tell you you can never find such strong Cordials in any of them as those which the Gospel exhibits and holds forth to you you [k] Nemo ibi audit vocantem Venite ad me qui laboratis Aug. Conf. l. 7. c. 21. §. 3. can never hear there any calling and crying to you Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Nor do the Writings of the most raised sublime Philosophers furnish and fortify a Person with any Motives and Arguments to help him quietly and contentedly to bear the Afflictions and Calamities of this Life like those of the perfect Pattern of Christ's patient though undeserved Sufferings and the great and gainful Reward in Heaven that * 2 Cor. 4.17 exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory proposed and promised in the Gospel of Christ to those that endure the Evils and Sufferings of this present Life with Christian Patience [l] Feci ego persaepe periculum fugi semper od Codices sacros quod in iis quaerebatur levamen inveni nec à spe nec à desiderio meo fraudatus Baptist Mantuan de patientia l. 3. cap. 32. Baptista Mantuanus declares it as his comfortable and constant Experience that his recourse to the Scripture was on all Occasions a present happy Remedy against all Griess of Body Anxiety of Mind and Sadness of Soul and that he never fail'd of Ease in taking this course and using this means Once more 4. We should religiously redeem the Time not only from mere Philosophical Writings but from the Ecclesiastical Theological Writings of Men not immediatly inspired to spend in reading over the Bible which is the infallible Word of God and is peculiarly accompanied with the special Operation of the Spirit the Word of God being vehiculum Spiritûs the Charet in which the Spirit of God rides in Triumph This made Luther solemnly profess [m] Ego ipse eam ob causam odi mâ—os libros saepe opto eos interire quòd metuo ne morentur lectores abducant à lectione iâ—sius Scriptarae quae sola omnis sapientiae fons est Ac terreor exemplo superioris aetatis c. Luth. Loc. Com. collect à Fabricio prim Class cap. 24. pag. 70. ex Tom. 2do in Genesin in cap. 19. p. 143. that he hated the Books set forth by himself and often wish'd them perish'd and utterly abolish'd lest they should be a means to divert and withdraw Men from the reading of the Scripture which alone is the Fountain of all spiritual divine and heavenly Wisdome for fear of this he could like Saturn have eaten up his own Children destroyed his own Works the Fruit and Issue of his Mind Thus thus redeem and gain the Time from other Things to apply it to the busie study of the Scriptures Let the Scriptures have the Preeminence above all Books and Writings in the World Keep a constant course of serious reading those divine Writings reade them frequently reade them unweariedly [n] Septies ter imò septuagies septies seu ut plus dicam infinities legendae sunt vel milties relegendae sunt Idem ibidem pag. 70 71. It is a common proverbial Speech saies Luther that the Letters of Princes are to be read three times over Surely then the Divine Letters God's Epistles as Gregory calls the Scriptures are to be read seven times thrice yea seventy times seven they are to be read even a thousand times over they are to be read infinitely because they are the divine Wisdome which cannot be comprehended presently at first sight If any one reade them by the by as things known and easy he deceives himself Is not Time well spent in often and narrow searching into those things