REDEMPTION OF TIME The Duty and Wisdom of Christians in EVIL DAYS OR A Practical Discourse Shewing what SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES Ought to be redeem'd What MISSPENCES of TIME Are to be avoided with convincing REASONS Quickning MOTIVES And proper DIRECTIONS For the right Improvement of pretious Time By J. W. London Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the King's Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard 1683 To the Gentlemen and Inhabitants of HAMMERSMITH Honoured Worthy and Well-beloved Friends THe great and good God made Man Lord of the * Gen. 1.28 Psal 8.6 115.16 whole Earth but this is not the highest Preferment and utmost Advancement that he is capable of and destin'd to The incorporeal and diviner Part of him sufficiently discovers and evidently demonstrates that he pertains and belongs to another World Tully brings in Cato delivering this high point of Philosophy that this [a] Est animus coelestis ex altissimo domicilâ—o depressus quasi demersus in terram locum divinae naturae aternitaiâ— que contrarium cic in Cat. Maj. seu de senect Earth and earthly Body into which the Soul is sunk at present is a place extreamly contrary to a divine Nature and to Eternity This Earth is but our [b] Ex vita ista discedo tanquam ex hospitio non tanqu im ex domo Commorandi enim natura diversorium nobis non habitandi dedit Id. ib. Inn saies he in which as Travellers we are to lodg in our Journey hastening through Time to Eternity not our House and Home in which we are to dwell continually This World is appointed only as a Passage to a better place and state We are now in a way of Preparation for it This World as [c] Sir Mat. Hale's Contempl. M. and D. 1 part p. 263. one saies well is the great Laboratory for perfecting of Souls for the next We are here indeed to make but a short stay yet we must not repine at the brevity of this Life but ought to be content with that space of time which is allowed us for our Life on Earth and to take care that in [d] Neque enim histriont ut placeat peragenda est sabula modo in quocunque fuerit actu probetur nec sapientis sque ad plaudite vivendum Breve enim tempus aetatis satis est longum ad bene honestéque vivendum Cic. lib. cit whatsoever Act we are appointed to appear we perform our particular parts well though they prove but short ones that are assigned and committed to us in the great Comedy acted in the Theater of this inferiour World for as the forementiond Philosopher acknowledgeth a short time of Life is long enough to serve us to live well and honestly It concerns us only to endeavour to use and improve what time God pleases to afford us in doing those things which will fit and dispose us for a happy Eternity and make our Translation and Removal hence gainful and advantageous comfortable and desirable to us God hath prescribed a course of convenient means to be observed and used by us in this Probation-state [e] Non per difficiles Quaestiones ad beatam vitam nos ducit Deus Hilar. He does not lead us to a Life of Blessedness as St. Hilary tells us truly through thorny difficult Controversies and knotty hard Questions He would have us not dispute but live for as the * Mic. 6.8 Prophet informs us He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And as the ‖ Tit. 2 11 12. Apostle expresses it The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all Men teaching us that denying Vngodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godlily in this present VVorld He requires us to believe in order to Practice and Obedience God has given us but a [f] Pauca credenda multa facienda Cosid Mod. Pac. in epist Praef. few things to be believed as Bp. Forbes was wont well to observe but he has plainly ordered and appointed a great many necessary things to be done by us We must †Rev. 22.14 do his Commandments that we may be blessed and have right to the Tree of Life and enter in by the Gates into the City We mmst * Rom. 2 7. by patient Continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality The Scope and Drift of the following Treatise is to shew you particularly and fully how to redeem the Time of this Life so as to gain a glorious Immortality As for the Matter of it it is useful to instruct you in the Divine Arithmetick to make you wiser than [g] The Philosopher affirms that Man is therefore the wisest of all Creatures because he alone can number and they note this as an essential difference between them that Bruta non numerant Brure Creatures cannot number I am sure this is most true of that Divine Arithmetick which the Psalmist prays for Lord teach us so to number our Days that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom Dr. Stoughton's Heavenly Conversat p. 80. brutish Sinners that know not how to number their Days It is apt to engage you upon an early present Industry a diligent speedy Care of your Time and of your Souls and is a Manuduction to the Exercise of a great part of Practical Religion The Style of it is plain familiar and easy to be understood by all which renders the Treatise the more generally useful Some affect a Language so gaudy as is not consistent with the Gravity of Theology Others discourse in so strong a Style that by their lofty Words and Expressions they shoot quite over the Heads and so miss the Hearts of too too many of their Auditors Some paint the Glass till they darken the Window and keep out the Light Seneca professes that he does not approve of any jejune and dry Discourses about the great and weighty matters of Morality for Philosophy says he does not renounce all Wit and Ingeny but he does not allow much labour to be laid out upon Words [h] Non quaerit aeger medicum eloquentem sed sanantem c. non erit quare gratuletur sibi quòd inciderit in medicum etiam disertum hoc enim tale est quale si peritus gubernator et tam formosus est Quid aures meas scalpis quid oblectas aliud agitur urendus secandus abstinendus sum Ad haec adhibit us es curare debes morbum veterem gravem â—ublicum Tantum negotii habes quantum in pestilentia medieus circa verba occupatus es jamdudum gaude si sufficis rebus Sen. ep 75. A sick Man says he does not seek a Physician that is eloquent but that is able to cure his Disease no more than the Passenger regards and enquires whether the skilful Pilot or Governour of a Ship be a
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-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
of Satan and Instruments of the Devil which is to them an evident Token of Perdition but to thee of Salvation and that of God The Consideration of a sure full everlasting heavenly Reward will keep thee from sticking at any Suffering Satan can never terrisy and dishearten thee with the Fear of Death or temporal Torments but thou wilt be able patiently to endure and cheerfully to go through any Suffering if thou doest but weigh the Recompense of Reward and well consider that eternal Salvation will richly compensate the suffering Christian That is the second Advantage of the fore-mentioned Meditations The Consideration of a perfect State of heavenly Glory will help and enable thee to resist and repel the taking or terrible the flattering or affrighting Temptations of Satan 3. The due Consideration of a perfect State of heavenly Glory will enable thee to live in an holy Contempt of this present World and in the serious real visible Exercise of constant heavenly-mindedness 1. The often renewed Thoughts of a future perfect heavenly Happiness will effectually provoke thee to live in a manifest rational holy Contempt of all external and earthly Things and in quiet Contentment with what Share and Allowance God allots and affords thee of outward Comforts and Accommodations here in this World 'T will cause thee to slight and undervalue the Things of the World which God in the Gospel has so disgraced and disparaged To despise and contemn them in thy Judgment Affections Speeches Actions in comparison of the nobler richer Things to be enjoyed in the other World The raised Thoughts of a celestial Happiness will teach thee to take all sublunary Glory for a Shadow or a Dream and move thee to complain of the World's Dotage in the pathetical Words of that divine Poet [r] Herb. Poems Dotage But Oh the Folly of distracted Men Who Griefs in earnest Joies in jest pursue Preferring like brute Beasts a loathsome Den Before a Court ev'n that above so clear Where are no Sorrows but Delights more true Than Miseries are here These Thoughts will preserve thee from being so foolish as to mind Baubles and to follow after Butter-flies from being excessively fond and greedy of a tickling transient Pleasure from catching earnestly at a Vapour a Puff of Honour from stooping low to a base and filthy Clod of Earth from striving over-eagerly for any of this World's Goods which thou must certainly soon part with and which if thou couldst hold never so fast and keep never so long thou couldst find no solid real rational Happiness in From envying those that have * Ps 7.14 their Portion in this Life And will cause thee to dread the Thoughts †Luke 16.25 of receiving thy good Things ‖ 6.24 thy Consolation here To tremble to think of going shortly out of this World and leaving all thou hast behind thee and of having nothing at all that is truly good to reap and receive in another World The Meditation of heavenly Provisions and Enjoyments will wean and loosen thy Heart from deaden and disaffect it to the drossy or kexy Things of this base and dull Earth which are wholly unworthy of the choice Affections of thy heaven-born Soul It will direct thee to use this World as if thou didst not use it to use earthly Things but not to mind them nor with thy whole Heart to desire them nor to place thy Happiness in them nor to dull thy Appetite to heavenly Things by them To consider seriously that God has provided such Riches and Treasures in another World for thee this is a likely Means to free thee from affecting inordinately Worldly Greatness and to moderate thy Desires and Endeavours after earthly Things to enable thee to live without them to live above them to have thy Conversation here without Covetousness and to be content with such Things as thou hast in thy Passage and Way to Heaven since Heaven will make up all at last Reckoning with thy self that the Discontent of thy Life would be a kind of rude Blasphemy against Heaven a pronouncing and proclaiming of all the promised Glory of Heaven what Solomon does of all earthly Glory that this also is Vanity A telling all the World that thou verily thinkest either there is no Heaven at all or that Heaven is not enough to satisfy thee The fixed Thoughts of a promised heavenly Reward will serve to consirm and stablish thy Heart against worldly excessive Fears and Cares and immoderate Labours for outward and earthly Things and will prompt thee to argue thus with thy self Why should I fear the Loss of any Thing here in this World when it is my Father's good Pleasure to give me a Kingdom and why should I doubt of earthly Necessaries when God has allotted and apportioned an heavenly Kingdom to me If he hath promised me an heavenly Kingdom he won't withhold such temporal Supplies as are necessary for me in my present Pilgrimage And what need I cark and care labour and sweat toil and trouble my self for meer Vnnecessaries and vain and hurtful Superfluities 2. The Meditation of a perfect heavenly Happiness will help thee to live in the serious real visible Exercise of constant heavenly-mindedness to seek and care for to * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 3.1 2. savour and set thy Affections on Things above to have thy Soul like the Flame of a Candle alwaies aspiring upward to live by Faith to affect the Kingdom of Heaven which the primitive Christians had so much in their Hearts and Tongues that the Heathen [s] Just Mart. Apol. 2. ad Antonium suspected they affected Caesar's Empire To desire a better that is an heavenly Countrey and to look for a City which has Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God To have thy Conversation in Heaven to lead and frame thy Life according to heavenly Rules and Patterns To order and to judg of every thing with respect had to these heavenly Things To be so taken with their Beauty and Excellency Sweetness and Pleasantness as to thirst after them with an unsatiable Desire and to refer every thing to the obtainment of them 4. And lastly If God hath wrought such due and requisite Qualifications in thee as may fit and prepare thee for an heavenly State thy Meditation then of a perfect State of heavenly Happiness will provoke thee to live in daily thankful delightful Fore-thoughts and sweet refreshing comfortable Foretastes of a perfect State of heavenly Glory and blessed celestial Immortality It will invite and constrain thee to think and speak well of God and Religion to laud and magnify the Divine Munisicence to admire and extol the Bounty of God who sweetly and kindly allures thee to Piety by a most ample and inestimable Reward and ingages to give thee such great Wages for so little Work eternal Life for the Labour and Service of a few Years an exceeding eternal weight of Glory for such small Pains spent in a
unlawful Deeds He vexed himself was active in it Saint Peter expresses more in this than in the former Verse as Calvin observes to wit that Lot did [n] Nempe quòd voluntarios cruciatus justus Lot subierit Calv. in loc voluntarily and willingly afflict himself He did it freely he was not forc'd to it He vexed himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is [o] Est Metaphera à toâ—mentis ducta Gethar in loc a Metaphor drawn from Torments says Gerhard [p] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Rich Man being in Torments Luke 10.23 The same Word is used to set out Hell-Torments This good Man continually tortured and tormented himself He lived a grievous painful Life labouring no less than if he had laien upon the Rack It was a kind of Hell upon earth to him to see and hear such Things among them They gave him Ground and Cause enough of Trouble and Grief by their Impieties and Impurities and his righteous Soul could not but work upon that Matter and vex and afflict himself therewith The gross Wickedness of ungodly Men is contrary to the gracious Temper and new Nature of a good Man and therefore he is no more able to bear it than the Stomach can bear that which it nauseates As a musical Ear will be offended with any harsh Sound So Sin grates upon a godly Man and is a Discord to him At his new Birth there was implanted in his Nature a true Zeal to the Cause and Interest of Righteousness and Goodness in the World an inward Sense of its Beauty Excellency and Usefulness in the World and a clear Conviction and strong Apprehension of the Vanity Unprofitableness and Mischievousness of Sin in the World The righteous Man has a real Dislike of a mighty Prejudice and inward Antipathy against Sin as Sin He hates Sin and loves Holiness heartily wherever he sinds it and really wishes that there were no such Evil as Sin in the World He is of another Spirit than wicked Men are of a better Constitution of a purer and more refined Temper His new Nature and Disposition is directly contrary to that which is evil and therefore whenever he sees it wherever he meets with it it is a Vexation and Torment to him So holy David seriously laid to heart the Sins of others was deeply affected with them and heavily afflicted for them * Psal 119.53 Horrour hath taken hold upon me because of the Wicked that forsake thy Law ‖ Verse 136 139. Rivers of Waters run down mine Eyes because they keep not thy Law †Verse 158. My Zeal hath consumed me not because I have Enemies and these Enemies despise me but because mine Enemies have forgotten thy Words I beheld the Transgressors and was grieved because they kept not thy Word (*) Psal 69.9 The Zeal of thine House hath eaten me up and the Reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me When he was in Trouble he testifies his Sorrow for the Reproaches that fell upon God as if he himself had been reproached And the Prophet Jeremy could say (†) Jer. 13.17 My Soul shall weep in secret Places for your Pride And the Saints in Jerusalem are described to be (‖) Ezek. 9.4 Men that sigh and that cry for all the Abominations that be done in the midst thereof And you know St. Paul is very famous for this Affection In the case of the incestuous Person he wrote unto the Corinthians [*] 2 Cor. 2.4 with many Tears out of much Affliction and Anguish of Heart I fear lest when I come again saies he my God will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already and have not repented of the Vncleanness and Fornication and Lasciviousness which they have committed [†] 2 Cor. 12.21 * Phil. 3.18 Many walk saies he of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the Enemies of the Cross of Christ. 1. O that it might be thus with every one of us Let a Time of others Sin be the Time of our Sorrow Let it greatly trouble us to see our good God wronged our heavenly Father abused and his holy just and good Law broken and violated To see the Gospel dishonoured and Religion discredited To see Satan pleased and honoured and his Kingdom strengthned and advanced by the Wickedness of the Wicked To see the precious Souls of Sinners hazarded and endangered by their own wilful Sin and Wickedness To observe rarional Creatures living like mere brute Beasts Baptized Christians acting like very Devils incarnate To find Men rebelling against Light resisting a Reproof loath to be reclaimed hardned in their Sin and hating to be reformed To see so many Fools and Mad-men besotted and bewitch'd cruel to their own Souls and Enemies to their own Peace refusing all Helps of Health and Cure contemning the Means of their Recovery fond of a Disease in love with Slavery devoted to their Enemy courting their own Misery and Calamity chusing Death rather than Life eternal Life walking apace in the broad Way that leadeth to Destruction running on in the Way to Hell the Way that goeth down to the Chambers of Death To behold so many stabbing themselves to the very Heart greedily swallowing their own Poison running into Pest-houses and infected Places drowning themselves in Destruction and Perdition and casting themselves into intolerable eternal unquenchable Flames 2. And let us moreover mourn to see so much Hurt and Misohief done in the World by others open Sin and Wickedness To see Sin become so fashionable and creditable To behold so many corrupted and infected hardned and confirmed in Sin and Wickedness by the ill Examples of loose Livers and vicious debauched Persons To discern the heinous provoking Sins of notoriously wicked Persons hastening and pulling down Judgment after Judgment upon the Land of our Nativity and the Places of our abode To see Sin spread this spiritual Plague encrease and a Cloud of divine Wrath and Judgment gathering and growing thick and black and hanging over our Heads ready to drop and shower down upon us Let us be so publick spirited as to be troubled exceedingly troubled that so much Mischief publick Mischief should be done by others Sins That so many should be drawn into Sin or brought under Suffering by the common and open Wickedness of the Wicked 3. Farther yet Let it be a Thing very grievous to us to meet with a Sort of Men who instead of perplexing and tormenting themselves with the Sins of others do please and delight recreate and refresh themselves with the Sins of others Do tempt and entice them into Sin and hearten and harden them in their Sin Who are so far from troubling themselves at others Sins that they * Rom. 1.32 do the same and have pleasure in them that do them Who make themselves merry with those Sins which make the Land mourn That will laugh at Lewdness
〈◊〉 Eâ—asm Apophth l. 3. gather'd to blessed and perfected Spirits and be made it Welf equal to the Angels and so become sit Company for them That thy Soul shall be in an happy Condition and be secure and certain that it shall never be dispossess'd and ejected out of it depriv'd or bereaved of it Such Thoughts as these will never suffer thee to let thy Soul sleep in thy Body which will surely wake when it is out of it This Meditation is likely to preserve thee from living and acting sensually and brutishly as if thy Soul were material and mortal and capable of no greater Happiness or higher Preserment than to be imprison'd and buried in this gross dull Flesh This will cause thee to take care that thy Soul may exercise and maintain a due Superiority over thy Body that thy Soul may * 1 Cor. 9.27 keep under thy Body and bring it into subjection and not be servilely and sordidly subject to it since thy Soul is able to live without it and shall from the Day of Death till the Day of Resurrection live better without it than ever here it liv'd with it This will mind thee to bring thy Soul which is a Spirit to converse now with the Father of Spirits and help thee to live like an Angel here on Earth who after Death shalt be as an Angel of God in Heaven Farther the Consideration or a State of Bliss to departed Souls will make thee labour to become fit for this State by getting thy Soul made like to God by true Holiness that God may love his own Image and Likeness in thee and delight to do good to the Soul he loves By striving to lead a good and holy Life here which is by the Ordination of God the direct and ready Way to an happy and eternal Life hereafter By looking that every Action and Carriage of thy Life be worthy of thy Hope of eternal Life [o] See to this purpose Mr. Baxter's Reas of the Christ Rd. 1 part p. 138 139. If a State of glorious Immortality were but a Likely hood and Probability you would notwithstanding in all reason do any thing suffer any thing part with any thing that if at last it should prove a reality you might make sure of it and render your self capable of obtaining and enjoying it because if it should prove true and you should miss of it no present Enjoyment could any way countervail the Loss of an eternal State of Bliss And if it should not prove true the denying thy self these earthly sensual Pleasures would be no considerable Loss or great Unhappiness to thee 't would be but the Loss of a transitory short impure imperfect Pleasure which even in this World has Pain and Torment mixt with it and has often sad Rellishes and a bitter Farewel at the End of it If there were but a bare Probability of such a State the most obscure Notices and thy uncertain Hopes of it were enough to make thee diligently look after it Surely then thou wilt much more seek and press after it when God has given thee an absolute Certainty of the Thing and the highest Satisfaction that can rationally be desired of the Truth of it And this Meditation will be a Means as to fit thee for thy Translation so to make thee with * Phil. 1.21 23 St. Paul have an earnest Desire to depart to go hence to go home To breadth out [p] Melch. Adam in vit Calv. p. 100. Calvin's Ejaculaton Vsquequo Domine How long Lord To cry out as holy [q] Aug. Cons l. 9. c. 19 §. 4. Monica did when she had newly been largely discoursing with her Son St. AUstin of the heavenly Kingdom Son as for me I now take no delight in any thing in this Life Quid hic facio What do I here And to use such Words as those of Mr. Herbert [r] Home What have I left that I should stay and groan The most of me to Heav'n is fled My Thoughts and Joies are all packt up and gone And for their old Acquaintance plead 2. Bend thy Mind to think of the Resurrection of the Body to a State of Glory Consider that as thy Soul at Death is not extinguished so that thy dead and buried Body shall not finally perish and be quite lost but at last be reproduc'd and restor'd again to thee by the Agency of an omniscient and omnipotent God That if thou †Joh. 5.29 hast done good thou shalt come forth to the Resurrection of Life come out of thy Grave as Jonah out of the Whale's Belly as Daniel out of the Lions Den as Pharaoh's chief Butler yea as the innocent honest Joseph out of Prison to an high and honourale Condition Think how the very same Body that fell by Death shall be raised again at the last Day as Lazarus rose with the same Body which had lien in the Grave four Daies and as Christ rose with the same Body that was crucified and buried How congruous it is to the Wisdom and Goodness and governing Justice of God that the same Body which was Partner with the Soul in good Actions should be a Sharer with it in everlasting Rewards That that very Body which was the Temple of the Holy Ghost and whose Members were the Members of Christ and Instruments of Righteousness and did God Service and labour'd and suffer'd for Christ here should be raised and rewarded hereafter And how reasonable to conclude that God having planted in the Soul a natural Inclination to its own Body will surely one Day satisfy the Soul's Appetite by reuniting it to the same Body Think how thy Body shall rise the same for Substance but not the same for Qualities and Endowments that it shall be raised * 1 Cor. 15.42 43 44 49 50. in Incorruption in Glory in Power raised a spiritual Body and put on Immortality That thou shalt bear the Image of the Heavenly That this Flesh and Bloud shall be changed and altered with a perfective Alteration that it may be capable of inheritng the Kingdom of God That Christ shall †Phil. 3.21 change thy vile Body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body and that thou shalt ‖ Mat. 13.43 shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of thy Father These Thoughts will warm and affect thy Heart and move and incline thee to study and endeavour to get thy Soul and Body fitted and qualified for a Participation of a blessed and glorious Resurrection To get thy Soul now transform'd and made like unto Christ's gracious Soul that thy Body hereafter may be transform'd and made like unto his glorious Body to get I say a sanctified Soul here that thou maiest not sail of a glorified Body hereafter for the Body follows the Condition of the Soul Not to spend thy Time Care Cost Pains in decking and adorning in trimming and [s] Qui se pingunt in hoc seculo aliter
one another's sinning and to promote the Work of Grace and Holiness in one another's Hearts Take Occasion to warm not so much one another's Houses as one another's Hearts Visit one another in the Evening meet together and confer one with another at leisure hours and on daies of Recreation * Mal. 3.16 Speak often one to another concerning the things that belong to the Peace of one another's Souls and concern the Conditiion of the Church of Christ Build up †Jude 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one another on your most holy Faith ‖ 1 Thess 5.11 Comfort your selves together and edify one another (*) Heb. 3.13 Exhort one another daily while it is called To day Let your Exhortation be mutual and reciprocal frequent and continual seasonable and speedy lest any of you be hardened through the Deceitfulness of Sin Take the first Opportunity of dealing with thy Friend as the case and need of his Soul requires lest Death remove him unexpectedly out of the reach of thy Charity to all Eternity Consider with thy self that should thy Companion live longer yet he may continue in the omission of some Duty because you only purpose to put him upon it Or he may go on in the commission of some Sin grow more and more in Love with it and fall more under the Power of it because you have only some thought and intention to turn him from it Support preserve and keep one another from falling and in the Spirit of Meekness raise and recover (†) Gal. 6.1 restore and (‖) Jam 5.19 convert one another when overtaken and fallen in any degree and measure either into Sin or Errour * Le◠19 17. Hate not your Friend or Brother in your Heart in any wise rebuke your Neighbour and never suffer Sin upon him when you find him offending against God or Man And * Mat. 18.15 if a Friend or Brother shall plainly trespass against thee go and tell him his Fault between thee and him alone not seeming to reproach him by chiding and reprehending him in publick nor offering to back-bite him by talking privately to others against him †Col. 3.16 Rom. 15 14. Teach and admonish one another and let it appear that you practise your own Precepts and take your selves the Counsel you give to others Follow Tertullian's excellent Advice [p] Oportet constantiam commenend proprtie conversationis autheritate dertgere ne icta faciis aesictent thus crubescant Tert. de patientia initio strengthen your friendly Admonition and Exhortation with the Authority of your own Conversation that your want of Deeds may not make you blush at your own Words and let me add that your Friend and Companion may not neglect and reject your Sayings because he knows too well your Doings As oftentimes you thrust away the good Light of a Candle for the ill savour which the stinking Tallow yields Let none have reason to retort and say ‖ Luke 4.23 Physician heal thy self (*) Rom. 2 21. Thou which teachest another teachest thou not thy self What Mr. Herbert speaks of Ministers may be sitly accommodated to the Exhortations and Admonitions of Christian Friends [q] The Windows Doctrine and Life Colours and Light in one When they combine and mingle bring A strong Regard and Aw but Speech alone Doth vanish like a flaring thing And in the Ear not Conscience ring (†) Heb 10 24. Consider one another to provoke unto Love and to good Works or to [r] Dr. Ham of frat Admon or Correp p. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sharpen or provoke in one another Charity and good or laudable Works You are apt to forget and prone to neglect your selves you have need enough of one anothers spiritual Care and Help 't is necessary that others should watch and observe incite and assist you be at some trouble and take some pains with you your own and others Consideration and Provocation of you is little enough to stir and move you Ponder and [s] Dr. Hum. Par. in loc weigh all Advantages that you can have one upon another to excite and extimulate to engage and quicken one another to the Exercise of Charity and all Actions of Piety whensoever you find any thing of fainting or growing cold in one another Search and enquire into one anothers spiritual Estates mind and study the Cases and Conditions of one anothers Souls the Causes and Cures of one another spiritual Distempers Be very solicitous for one anothers present and future Good carefully consult the spiritual Prosperity and eternal Welfare of one another Consider one another to provoke one another not to Sin and Wickedness to Vanity and Folly to uncertain Opinions to Faction and Division to Siding and Party-taking not to that which is highly provoking but exceeding well-plealing to God not to Wrath but to Love not to Evil but to Good Works Consider and provoke one another not as the Devil considers and provokes Men by his Temptations but as God considers and provokes Men who watches over us continually prevents us daily with his Grace strengthens us against Temptations affords us his Counsel instils many good Motions into our Minds and often incites and stirs us up to the Duties incumbent on us And as Christ consider'd and provoked Sinners when he was here on Earth to Faith and Repentance good Works and Obedience who went about doing Good doing good to Mens Souls as well as Bodies who freely convers'd with them frequently instructed them affectionately exhorted them powerfully press'd them plainly reprov'd them was grieved for the Hardness of their Hearts lamented and wept over their Impenitency and Insidelity Consider thy Companion at such a season when it is most likely that he may consider what you say to him Provoke him to Good when in all probability it may do most good Remember to consider and provoke one another in a serious manner Never offer to utter a few cold dull dead Words between Jest and Earnest but earnestly perswade and pathetically expostulate one with another and let one another plainly see that every Application does arise and proceed from Love and Compassion and that it is the Desire of your Souls to save one another's Souls Let your Words be as * Eccl. 12.1 Goads as the Wise Man speaks to prick one another forward in the way of Religion Instead of detaining one another unnecessarily from the Publick Assembly stir up one another with an holy Zeal and say one to another in the Words of the Prophet * Zech. 8.21 Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of Hosts I will go also Be not Quench-coals but as live Coals begetting Heat in those that are next you Let Christian Acquaintance use their utmost Endeavours to bring one another more acquainted with God and with their own spiritual States and Conditions Let Christian Neighbours study