seu de sen That there thou shalt see and know those whom thou never sawest before sit down * Mat. 8.11 with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and shalt renew a blessed Acquaintance with thy old dear Christian Godly Friends and vertuous Relations Not know them by former Stature Feature Favour for there will be a vast Difference between a mortal and glorified Body but know them by Revelation or by the [n] Vide thes Salmur de vit aetern thes 35 36. publick Testimony that Christ shall give concerning them or by Passages occurring in some Opportunities of Discourse with them Nor know them in a worldly or fleshly Manner but know and enjoy them in a most pure and spiritual divine and heavenly Manner And think what a comfort it will be to enjoy Society with those in Heaven with whom thou didst use to go frequently to the House of God in Company What an Happiness it will be to meet in Heaven with those with whom thou wast wont to discourse of Heaven to rejoice and join in Praises with those in Heaven whom thou hast often wept and mourned and prayed with here on Earth What a rejoicing it will be to see and enjoy those dear Saints in the Heavenly Glory whom thou wast a Means of bringing thither or who were the Means of bringing thee thither What a pleasing refreshing Converse it will be in the heavenly Jerusalem to tell one another there the most remarkable Stories of the Divine Love and to receive a faithful particular Relation of the rare Passages of the Divine Providence of which the good and vertuous have had Experience in all Ages of the World How kindly and sweetly thou shalt converse with others when all Corruptions on all sides shall be removed your Judgments and Affections united and your Dispositions exactly suited How contented and satisfied you shall there be where you shall live absolutely free from all manner of Injury Envy Strangeness Suspicion Uncharitableness Where all the Inhabitants shall alwaies live as [o] See D. Patrick's Par. of the Pilgr p. 92 93 94. one describes that State in a rapturous Love of God and a most passionate Love of one another Where every one will be loving and every one will be lovely Where every one will love others as much as they deserve or desire and look for no other Retribution but a Reciprocation of Love and where all shall rejoice not only in their own Salvation but in the Glory and Blessedness of others as if it were all their own Consider that hereafter thou shalt be so pleased with the Place thou shalt be in and satisfied with the Company thou shalt be with that thou shalt say in the State of Glorification * Mat. 17 4. as Peter did in the Transfiguration Lord it is good for me to be here That as thy essential Happiness shall consist in the Fruition of God the Chiefest Good so that thy concomitant circumstantial accidental Joies will consist in the beauteous Place and the holy Company thou shalt enjoy But yet [p] Dr. Jackson 3 vol. p. 508. that either the Place or Society of Saints and Angels can add or confer any Thing to thy Happiness proceeds from God's special Presence in both This Meditation will invite and provoke thee to make it thy diligent constant Care here upon Earth to fit and prepare thy self for the future Enjoyment of the most holy and blessed Company in the heavenly Glory To get a Spirit suitable both to the Company and Employment of Heaven To mortify thy unruly Lusts and to moderate those violent boisterous Passions which would cause a kind of Hell in Heaven and make thee not only restless and uneasy in thy self but apt and prone to trouble others and to disturb the Peace of that blessed Place To labour to become truly holy and so to be meet for the heavenly Society Remembring and considering that scandalous unholy disorderly Persons are by the Divine Ordination to * Mat. 18.17 1 Cor. 5.5 11. Rom 16.17 be excluded from the Communion of Saints even here below to be shut out from the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to be denied the Benefit and Comfort of brotherly Society and Chistian familiar Converse And that if by Scandal and Practice of open Wickedness thou shouldst render thy self unfit for present Fellowship and Communion with the Saints thou wouldst surely prove much more unmeet for their perfectly pure and unspotted Society in Heaven hereafter And this will cause thee to keep Company and to hold Communion with the Saints here that thou maiest be fit to enjoy blessed Communion with them hereafter To shun and avoid the Company of the Wicked as a kind of Hell here upon Earth to count their unavoidable Neighbourhood a daily Trouble and an heavy Burden to thee And if any truly Godly live in the Place where thou dwellest to find them out and to prize and improve them to the utmost To sort and suit thy self with those now whom thou wouldst desire to be ranked with and gathered to another Day To seck to live with those here whom thou wouldst earnestly wish to live withal hereafter To make account that now to live among the Good to converse with regenerate sanctified Persons and real spiritual experimental Christians and to enjoy God in his People and Christ in his Members that this is a great Happiness and a little Image of Heaven To use such reasoning as this with thy self Should I hate or decline the Communion of Saints here what should I do in Heaven at last where next to the Fruition and Enjoyment of God in Glory the best Entertainment will be the Company and Society of blessed and glorified Saints to all Eternity This would keep thee from sitting upon Thorns when thou art in Company with gracious Persons with serious savory Christians and wishing thou wert well rid of thy Trouble and would cause thy Heart to spring and leap within thee to see the Face and hear the Discourse and enjoy the Converse and profitable Company of the truly Godly It would direct thee to chuse and use such Company all thy Life long that when thou diest as Dr. Preston said of himself upon his Death-bed thou maiest only change thy Place and not thy Company This would help thee to labour that God may now dwell in thee that hereafter thou maiest dwell with him That Christ may now dwell in thy Heart by Faith that thou at last maiest dwell with Christ in Glory To have at present Fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ and with those who have the Image of God and Christ stampt upon them the Beauty of Holiness and the Glory of Heaven shining in them to have thy Soul sympathize and thy Heart harmonize with them and thy Affections closely embrace them and freely run out to them to love and rejoice to meet and confer with them here that thou maiest be
though the Apostles preached and celebrated the Lord's Supper on other Dates of the Week yet why are the4se Things mentioned as done on that Day particularly and remarkably unless it were for some singular Eminency of this above any other Day and because they were bound to do those Duties on this Day more than on any other And the Apostle gave express Order that †1 Cor. 16. 1 2. the Collection for the Saints a Work especially fit for a Sabbath-Day should be made particularly on the first Day that is [d] Beza in loc every first Day of the Week which was the fore-ordain'd and customary Day of the Christian religious Church Assemblies Vpon or [e] Bp. of VV. Opuse Speech against Mr. Trask p. 73. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the VVord is used Mark 15.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sense is against the Feast against the first Day of the Week every Person was to lay apart what God should move and encline him to offer The Preparation and Separation of it was to be at home every Week but the Collation and Contribution to be in the Publick Congregation every Lord's Day For [f] Hammond's Par. it was not reasonable for any to come to the Lord * Exod. 23.15 Deut. 16.16 empty upon the Day of the most solemn Christian Assembly And this Day was appointed for the Oblation of their Alms because of the inestimable Benefits and infinite good Things we this Day had bestowed upon us And the Church of Christ has constantly observ'd this high Day ever since the Apostles Daies and spent it in Reading Exhortation Praier Sacraments [g] Si die Solis laetitiae indulgemus alia longe ratione quà m religione Solis secundo loco ab eis sumus qui diem Saturni otto victus â—ecernunt exorbitantes ipsi à Judaico more quem ignorant Tertul. Apol. c. 16 The Primitive Christians were suspected to worship the Sun because they used to celebrate the Sunday It was an [h] Bp. of VV. Speech in the Star-Chamber Opusc p. 74. usual Question put of old by the Heathen to the Christians before ever they offer'd to torture and martyr them Num Dominicum servasti Did you keep the Lord's Day To which they answer'd Christianus sum intermittere non possum I am a Christian and dare not omit or give over the Observation of it This is a Day in which God is to be solemnly worshipped and served and Christ to be pbulickly magnified and glorified A special Season to be laid hold on a particular Opportunity to be improved for our Soul's Good This is a special Day of Grace in which as I may say the Mint is going and in which we may take our Stamp of Holinefs [i] VVhole duty of man Partit 2. sect 18. This is the gainfullest the joyfullest Day of the Week a Day of Harvest wherein we are to lay up in store for the whole Week nay for our whole Lives This is a Market-day for our Souls in which we may trade for Eternity This is a Day in which we may hear and understand the Things that belong unto our Peace Pious and pathetical is that of the divine and holy Mr. Herbert Sunday O Day most calm most bright The Week were dark but for thy Light Thy Torch doth show the way Sundaies They are the fruitful Beds and Borders In God's rich Garden that is bare Which parts their Ranks and Orders On Sunday Heaven's Gate stands ope Blessings are plentiful and rife More plentiful than Hope This is a Day in which the most precious Commodities that ever the World saw or heard of are set forth in which the Riches and Treasures of the Gospel are opened Christ himself offered his Merit and Spirit tendred Pardon and Grace Light and Life Strength and Comfort held out and exhibited This is a Day in which no Pandora's Box is opened but in which the Cabinet of God's Jewels is unlocked and his precious Gifts and Graces dispensed This is a Day in which a spiritual Mart a divine Fair is publickly kept in which with the wise Virgins we may buy Oil for our Lamps buy spiritual Eye-salve to anoint our Eyes that we may see as our Saviour counsels excellently buy the Truth as the wise Man advises us and be perswaded so well to like it as never to sell or part with it buy Wine and Milk and Bread to fill and satisfy our empty hungry and thirsty Souls buy white Rainment that we may be clothed and that the Shame of our Nakedness may not appear buy the Christian 's compleat Armour that we may be furnished for our Warfare and well provided against the Assaults of our Spiritual Enemies buy Gold tried in the Fire that we may be rich yea in which we may buy the Pearl of Price in which we may receive and lay hold on Christ and all his Benefits and embrace and apply the great and precious Promises of the Gospel This is a Day in which the Word of God's Grace is opened and applyed and the holy Sacraments the Seals of the Covenant frequently administred in which we have the Priviledg of hearing God speaking unto Sinners and wooing and beseeching Rebels to be reconciled and in which we may enjoy the glorious Liberty of speaking our selves to God with an holy Boldness at the Throne of Grace and pouring out with one Accord our Supplications and Souls in Praier to him This is a Day of solemn Rest from servile Offices and worldly Works A Time of drawing nigh to God and of meeting the Lord in his own Ordinances of joining with the Saints and Servants of God in the Worship of God in Praiers to God and the Praises of him of having Communion and Fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ through the blessed Spirit and of enjoying a kind of Heaven here upon Earth The Lord's Day you see is a special Season of Grace and Mercy O let 's be spiritually thrifty of this Opportunity Let 's not live as if we were of the same Mind with the modern carnal Jews who think as the learned [k] Tempore Sabbati matutino non tam citò quà m solent alias cubitu surgentes in lucem multam voluptatis certè magis quà m Sabbati debitè colendi causâ stertunt Quantò enim voluptatis isti plus percipiunt tantò se devotrùs Sabbatum colere statuunt Buxtorf Synag Judaic c. 11. initio Buxtorf tells us that sleeping excessively on their Sabbath is a great Honour dòne to God Let 's not content our selves with an idle Rest Let our Rest be the Rest [l] Lawson's Theo-Pol p. 179. of Men and not of Beasts and the Rest of holy Men as holy Let 's not only cease from secular Works but exercise our rational and spiritual Faculties in heavenly and divine Employments and set our selves to Works of Piety Charity and Mercy Let us redeem this Time out of the Hands of
He professeth to have the Knowledg of God and he calleth himself the Child of the Lord. He was made to reprove our Thoughts He is grievous unto us even to behold for his Life is not like other Mens his Waies are of another fashion We are esteem'd of him as Counterfeits he abstaineth from our Waies as from Filthiness he pronounceth the End of the Just to be blessed and maketh his Boast that God is his Father Let us see if his Words be true let us examine him with Despitefulness and Torture let us condemn him with a shameful Death c. The Wicked are so ill-natured as to render to the Righteous evil for good to vex and abuse their Physicians Chirurgians Advocates Guardians Friends To use them harshly and unkindly that endeavour to benefit them by their Counsels to better them by their Examples and labour by earnest Praiers to God for them to keep off many a Judgment that hangs over their Heads from falling upon them They watch and study to harm those that are really ready to help them to grieve and break their Hearts whose Bowels yearn towards them to vex and torment their Souls which is a great Misery than to persecute and afflict their Bodies 2. The Wicked persecute those that are good as by their Injuries to them in particular so by the Wickedness and Vnholiness of their Lives in General The ill Conversation of the Wicked is a spiritual Persecution of the Godly It is Matter of exquisite Torment to them It wounds and rends the very Souls of the Righteous It plainly cuts them even to the Heart and makes their very Heart bleed I find z August Hom. 10. inter 50. St. Austin in a Discourse of his upon my Text insisting pathetically and particulary on this very kind of Persecution applying and accommodating that of the Apostle Tim. 3.12 All that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution Behold here says he because the Daies are evil there is no living for the Righteous without suffering Persecution But ye says he are ready to say thus to me What when we enjoy Peace among us when the Judges of the Provinces honour the Church when Kings and Princes do not appear and carry themselves as Enemies to the Church and when all the Laws are in favour of the Church pray how do they that live godly suffer Persecution His Answer is that they that live among wicked Persons do suffer Persecution for all this Why so Because all the Wicked do persecute the Good Nonferro lapidibus sed vitâ moribus though not with Fire and Fagot though not with Swords and Stones yet by their Lives and Manners Did any persecute righteous Lot n Sodom says he No Man troubled or molested him We reade indeed of no Rudeness of theirs towards him of no Assault made upon him but only of one done just before his Departure out of Sodom And yet that good Man suffer'd continual Persecution Non vapulando sed inter malos vivendo not by being beaten and smitten of them but by living among those vile and vicious proud blasphemous lewd and debauch'd Persons For whoever is truly righteous and holy saies he when he sees any to live wickedly to serve Luxury to carry Things unjustly to follow Pride and Vanity to disregard Charity when they that are good see any live after this manner they mourn and grieve are sadned and afflicted for with the Apostle they bewail many that have sinn'd already and have not repented It is said that * 2 Pet. 2.7 just Lot was vexed with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked The Word which we render vexed is in the Original a Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat opprimi fatigari graviter affligi Gerard. in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he laboured under it as an heavy Burthen was oppressed wearied grievously afflicted with it And as Lot was burthened with the loose and lawless Lives of the Sodomites So good Jeremiab was wearied out with the wicked and exorbitant Courses of the Jews and constrained to cry out under the Pressure and Persecution of them †Jer. 9.2 3 5. Oh that I had in the Wilderness a lodging Plate of wayfaring Men that I might leave my People and go from them to wish with all his Heart that he might withdraw himself from his People and live in any solitary Desart and in any sorry Traveller's Lodg or Shed there rather than among them whose wicked Lives were such a continual Eye-sore and daily heart-sore to him for tey proceed from Evil to Evil saies he from one Evil to another or from one Degree of it to another they grow daily worse and worse and weary themselves to commit Iniquity take Pains to do wickedly and tire out themselves in it Alas the Wicked little think how they vex God in vexing his Servants and that God will one Day sorely vex them for it and make them weary of wearying his People that he will torment them in Hell hereafter for tormenting his People here on Earth They little think that the Righteous themselves will one Day heavily vex those that have given them such Occasion and Cause of Vexation vex them in the Day when the * 1 Cor. 6.2 Saints shall judg the World Yea they little think that they shall torment themselves hereafter for making good Men torment themselves here That if they do not grieve in Time with a penitent Grief they shall certainly grieve with a desperate Grief to all Eternity for being a Grief and Heart-break to the Godly Now this Persecution which in the Waies forementioned is managed and carried on by the Wicked as it is the Evil in some measure of all Ages so more especially and remarkably of the Times and Places in which we live 'T is true that now we suffer nothing barely for owning the Name of Christians There is no Persecution in our Nation merely for the outward Profession of the Christian and of the Reformed Religion But was ever the other Persecution hotter among us than in these Daies How do the Wicked persecute with their Eye looking upon the sincerely Godly with an evil a scornful a malicious Eye How do they persecute them with their Tongues which are as so many †Psal 57.4 sharp Swords b Nemo plus videtur aestmare virtutem nemo magis il'i esse devotus quam qui boni viri famam perdidit ne conscientsam perderet Sen. Ep. maliciously standering reproaching reviling the Godly as a Company of weak [c] Vt sis beatus inquit Socrates te alicui stultum videri siue Id ep 71. Plerumque boni inepti inertes vocautur Mihi contingat iste dersus AEquo animo audienda sunt imperitorum convitit ad honesta vadends contemnendus est sste contemptus Idem Fools and conceited Fanaticks frequently making them their very Songs in their drunken Meetings and even mocking their very Praiers in
Simplicity and Godly Sincerity I have had my Conversation in the World To say with Hilarion as St. Jerom reports in his [b] Egredere anima quid times Egredere quid dubitas Septuaginta prope annis servisti Christo mortem times Hier. in vita Hilar. Life Go out my Soul why art thou afraid go out why lingrest thou thou hast served Christ well nigh these seventy Years and dost thou now fear Death To see that it has been to thee * Phil. 1.21 to live Christ and to be able to look on thy Death as thy Gain And with good old [c] His Life inserted among Mr. Clark's Lives of ten emin Div. p. 123. When his good Sister said to him in his Sickness Brother I am afraid to leave you alone VVhy Sister said be I shall I am sure be with Jesus Christ when I die Ib. p. 123 124. Dr. Gouge in thy last Sickness to term Death thy best Friend next to Jesus Christ With †Phil. 1.23 St. Paul to desire to depart and to be ready to utter such Language as this Oh loose this Frame this Knot of Man unty That my free Soul may use her Wing Which is now pinion'd with Mortality As an entangled hamper'd Thing As the pious [d] Home Mr. Herbert pathetically expresses it in one of his sacred Poems Dwell upon these Considerations That the Loss and Misimprovement of Time will make a Death-bed uneasy to you and that the right redeeming of time will render a Death-bed comfortable to you And this will be very apt to move you to prepare for Death by dying to Sin dying to the World and living to Righteousness before you die 'T will help you to live every Day so indeed as others wish that they had liv'd when they come to lie upon a Death-bed To live so now that you may with comfort think of dying and may be freed from the slavish Fear of Death and be held no longer ‖ Heb. 2.15 in bondage by it 'T will cause you to live the Life of the Righteous that so you may die the Death of the Righteous die safely and die comfortably 'T will make you careful to set not only your House but your Heart in order your Life in order and so to dispatch your work and Business that when you come to die you may have nothing to do but to die and freely and cheerfully to resign your Spirit to the Father of Spirits and to surrender your Soul to your faithful Creator and gracious loving Lord Redeemer In a Word it will enable you so to live that you may have * Prov. 14.32 Hope in your own Death and that when Friends shall mourn for your Departure they may not sorrow without †1 Thess 4.13 Hope And so much shall suffice for your Direction as to your Meditation of Death your own particular Death in order to your Redemption of Time 2. Meditate here moreover of the general Dissolution of all Things at least in this inferiour World Think well of what (*) 2 Pet. 3.11 St. Peter informs you that all these Things shall be dissolved Consider that the Description which is there given of this Dissolution is too august and [e] Dr. ore's y st of Godl p 214. big by far for so small a Work as [f] Of which Dr. Hammend in eâ—prets it the Destruction of the City of Jerusalem That the Scoffers arguing there against the Promise of christ's coming that (†) Verse 4. all Things continue as they were from the Beginning of the Creation does clearly shew that this Coming of Christ was not understood by them and consequently not by St. Peter of the Burning of a City by War a Thing which might as probably and easily happen to Jerusalem as it had already fallen out in many other Places of the World But of the final glorious Coming of Christ to judge the World which [f] Superest I 'e ultimus perpetuus judicis di s ille nationibus insperatus ille derisus cùm tanta secult vetusta tot ejus nativitates uno ignt haurientur Tertull. lib de Spectae cap 30. Judgment the Conflagration of the Earth is to attend Think very seriously with thy self that * Verse 7. the Heavens and the Earth which are now are reserved unto Fire How †Verse 10. the Heavens shall one Day pass away with a great Noise and ‖ Verse 12. being on Fire shall be dissolved and the (*) Verse 10 12. Elements or [g] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordine mitiari incedo The host of the Aethereal Heavgens are the Stars and Planets The Host of the Aereal Heavens are Clouds and Meteors Fowls and flying Creatures Hosts shall melt with fervent Heat the Earth also and the Works of Nature or Art that are therein shall be burnt up That though the superiour Aethereal starry Heavens may be exempted as [h] He that considereth both the super-eminent Nature and Immensity of the Aethereal Heaven and of those innum rable Bodies therein in regard of which the whole Sublunary VVorld is but a Point or Centre and that it no way can be prov'd that ever those Bodies received any Curse for Man's Sin or Contagion by the VVorld's Deluge or that any Enemies of God dwell in them to pollute them He that considereth this will not easily be induced to believe that the Fire of the Day of Judgment shall burn them It remaineth therefore that the Sublunary Heavens only with their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are to be the Subject of this Conflagration Mr. Mede's Works p. 614 615. some with probable Reason conceive yet that without dispute or doubt [i] Dr. More 's Myst of Godl p. 231. the Globe of the Earth and the circumjacent Air with all the Garnishings of them shall be burnt up That this Air and Earth shall be strangely and wonderfully alter'd though not annihilated That the present Order and comely Beauty of the Compages and Frame of this visible lower World shall be dissolv'd That this great House and goodly Building made for Man to dwell in shall be taken down and all the Furniture wherewith it was fitted for his Use and Service shall be destroyed That it will be an Act of Wisdom for God to abolish these Things when the Time appointed for Probation and Trial of immortal Spirits cloathed with Flesh is ended and expired and Men shall enter into so different a State in which there will be no need of any Thing that serves and ministers to this terrene and animal Life And though God think good to continue this World for a while that it may be a Theater whereon his Wisdom Goodness Mercy Patience and other his glorious Attributes may be displayed and made conspicuous yet it is convenient and reasonable that this Stage of God's Acts and Works of Providence when all is finished should be taken down And
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
dismal Voice Serve nequam * Mat. 25.19 26 30. thou wicked and slothful Servant and shall find and feel a Retribution accordingly 'T will surely then be said concerning him * Mat. 25. 19 26 30. Cast the unprofitable Servant into outer Darkness there shall be Wecping and Gnashing of Teeth O let 's not put that evil Day far from us but let that Voice be alwaies ringing in our Ears which was ever sounding in [g] Quoties diem tillum considero toto corpore contremisco sive entm comedo sive bibo sive aliqutd facio semper videtur mihi tuba illa terrtilis sonare in auribus meis Surgite mortus ventte ad judicium Hieron St. Jerom's Arise ye Dead and come to Judgment Our Time must be strictly reckon'd for and therefore we should thriftily husband if possible every Minute of it The sixth and last Additional Reason Sixthly and lastly We should be sure to redeem the Time Because this Time is all we can redeem and upon this short Moment of Time depends long Eternity We shall never have any more Time or Space to redeem either in this or in another World 1. As we cannot live this same Life over again so when once we die and leave this World we shall never return to this Earth again to converse in Flesh with Men any more nor be suffer'd to live another Life here in this World to mend and correct what we did amiss heretofore * Job 14.14 If a Man die shall he live again says Job Some understand this Interrogation as flat denial an absolute Negation He shall live a natural Life on Earth no more †Job 7.9 10. As the Cloud is consumed and vanisheth away So he that goeth down to the Grave shall come up no more He shall return no more to his House neither shall his Place know him any more ‖ Job 26.22 Job 10. 21. When a few Years are come then I shall go the Way whence I shall not return 2. And as we shall have no new Time in this So no Space will be given or granted us for Repentance and Purgation of our Souls nor will any Offer of Mercy be made us in the other World No new Covenant will ever there be tendred to us no Ambassadours of Peace be sent to beseech us to pray us there n Christ's stead to be reconcil'd to God God will then be irreconcilable Sin unpardonable and unremovable Heaven unattainable and lost Souls uncurable and irrecoverable If we do not do our best here we shall have no other Game to play nor Part to and in any other Region or Mansion We shall not be [h] Quoad animae separatae statum nun itâ—rum sit Viator neque in probationis stain posita ad foe scitatein â—ahue acquirendam sed in statu ponitur hnals resurrections mutationibus expectatis Baxter Methodus Theologiae Christianae part 4. cap. 4. Probationers in the other World We shall not be suffered to begin there upon a new Score [i] In quo quemque invenerit suus novissimus dies in hoc eum compiehendet munds novissmas dies Quoniam qualis in die isto qutsque moritur talis in die illo judicabitur August Epist 80. Qualis exieris de hac vita talis redder is illi vitae August in Psal 36. Our Souls at Death will enter into a sixed unchangeable State and continue for ever such as they went out of this World The very same Frame and Temper Qualities and Assectious as we carry with us out of this Life we shall keep and retain in the next Such good Dispositions as were begun here will indeed beintended and perfected in Heaven And such ill Dispositions as took place and got Root here will be strongly setled and fully confirm'd in the damn'd hereafter But the [k] See Dr. Tillotson 1. vol pag. 29â— Dr. More 's Mystery of Godliness pag. 441. Dr. Dowler's Design of Christianity pag. 122. main State of any either good or bad will never be varied or altered in the other World As the Tree falls so it lies As Time leaves us so Eternity will find and continue us God will never trie us more with Opportunities and Helps of Conversion and Reformation with the Means of Grace and Life in another Place and State And therefore let 's now improve Providences and Ordinances Aids and Assistances as those that shall never hereafter meet with such Advantages and do all the Duties and Offices of Religion as those that are going to that World where there is no room for such Performances no place for Confession Praier Repentance and Amendment of Life in order to the Pardon of our Sins and Salvation of our Souls no occasion of running wrestling striving watching fighting any more in order to obtaining of a Prize and receiving of a Crown All that is now left undone must be undone for ever This is the only Space allotted us and Opportunity afforded us wherein to build and prepare our Ark to get Oil sufficient into our Vessels and to provide a competent Measure or Portion of Manna We can only gather the spiritual Manna in the six Daies of this Temporal Life there is no finding no getting of it on the Sabbath of Eternity As we must do all our worldly Business before the weekly Sabbath comes So we must quite finish our spiritual Business in the working Daies of the Life present for there is no working on the eternal Sabbath when once this earthly Lise is ended Then we must labour and work preparatory Work no longer but receive from our great Lord and Master the Reward or Punishment of our former Works The Life to come it is no Seed Time but only a Time of Harvest We must reap in the future State the Fruit of our own present Doings whether good or bad As we do use the Time of this Life so shall we be used treated and dealt with in the other Life We shall certainly fare happily or miserably to all Eternity according to our Carriage and Behaviour here According to our Choice and Election Affection and Action in this World will be our everlasting Lot in the World to come So that the right Improving or Misimproving the well or ill spending and husbanding of our Time is of infinite Consequence and Concernment to us Let us therefore in this Time of Life get all Things ready that are necessary to a joyful Entrance into eternal Life Let our Work and Business in Preparation for an endless Happiness be dispatch'd and done before we go hence and be no more seen * Eccles 9.10 Whatsoever our Hand findeth to do let us do it with our Might for there is no Work nor Device nor Knowledg nor Wisdome in the Grave whither we are going There is no Hope or Expectation of working out our Salvation in an after State and Condition If this Work be not effected before this mortal Life is ended it can never be done
be [z] Cato Munatio scripsit se vereri ne nimia amicitia causam altquando daret odio Huc proverbium Persicum Homines invisere indecorum non est modò toties non fiat ut dicant Sat est Et Arabes dicunt Visita raro angebis amcrem Et Martialis Nulli te facias nimis sodalem Quantò meltor ergo est Dei quà m hominum amicitia Deo tanto sumus gratiores quanto saepius ad eum accedimus Syn. Crit. in loc weary of thee and so hate thee But alas how few among us are to be found who make their Visits to these better Purposes to help and assist counsel and comfort sick Persons to exercise Charity to the Souls and Bodies of poor Neighbours to minister suitable and seasonable Relief to such as are in real and great Want and Need to further the Edification and promote the Salvation of all about them to labour and endeavour to bring some off from their Errours or Sins to mind one another of their latter End in a serious and savoury Manner to talk of the Kingdom and the Way to the Kingdom and to help one another Heaven-ward to add to one another's spiritual Knowledg to encrease and stir up one another's Graces to comfort and warm and strengthen one another's Hearts to affect one another with the Remembrance of God's Ordinances and with the Consideration of his Providences to their Persons Families Relations more particularly r to the Land of our Nativity and the People of God and Church of Christ more generally To bring one another to a due Sense of the Divine Mercies and to a dread of the Divine Judgments to pray with one another and to quicken one another to a Reformation of their Hearts and Lives and a well ordering of themselves and Families and the Redemption of their Time in these evil Daies and to a speedy and sound Preparation of themselves to suffer for the Gospel and for the Purity of the Reformed Religion if God shall please to call them to it That Prodigy of early youthful Piety and spiritual divine Proficiency [a] In his Life written by his Brother Jam. Janew p. 72 73. Mr. John Janeway Fellow of King's Colledg in Cambridg once in Company sate down silent took out his Pen and Ink and wrote down in Short-hand the Discourses that passed for some Time together among those that pretended to more than common Understanding in the Things of God and after a while he took his Paper and read it to them and asked them Whether that Talk was such as they would be willing God should record Is not this a brave rational divine Discourse says he Where 's our Love to God and Souls all this while Where 's our Sense of the Preciousness of Time and of the Greatness of our Account Did Saints in former Times use their Tongues to no better Purpose Would Enoch David or Paul have talked thus Is this the sweetest Communion of Saints upon Earth How shall we do to spend Eternity in the Praises of God if we cannot find some good Matter for an Hour's Discourse This he did to convince and shame them out of their barren Discourse and empty Converse and foolish fruitless Communication and to quicken and provoke them to a more profitable Improvement of their Society A seventh Sort of Persons reproved They also are justly blame-worthy who cast away their Time in excessive immoderate worldly Cares for superfluous Things Who as the [a] Magno temporit impendio quaeruntur supervacua multi transcunt vitam dum vitae instrumenta conquirunt Seneca ep 45. Philosopher describes them do wholly pass their Life in seeking and procuring the Instruments of Life and are [b] Seneca de brevitate vitae cap. 20. Facile est occupationes evadere si occupationum pretia contempseris Mercedem miseriarum amant ipsas exccrantur Idem ep 22. Rebus non me trado sed commodo nec consector perdendi temporis causas Idem ep 62. sooner weary of living than of labouring whose desire lasts longer than their Ability and Power to labour for this World who reckon Old Age grievous only on this Account that it laies them aside and hinders their lively and vigorous Pursuit of the Things of the World Who complain sometimes of the Trouble of Businesses of the Weight of great and full Employments but cannot find in their Hearts to leave them because though they hate the Miseries of their Labours yet they love the Gain and Profit the Price and Reward of them Who bestow a great Deal of Pains about that they never intend to use who toil and sweat tire and weary out themselves to heap up much thick Clay to treasure up Silver and Gold to * Isa 5.8 joyn House to House and lay Field to Field all which they must shortly exchange for a Turf in the Church-yard Who anxiously labour to raise and gather to clear and secure an Estate which they must every Man of them †Eccles 2.18 19. leave unto the Man that shall be after them and none knows whether he shall be a Wise Man or a Fool and take no pains in the mean Time to try and confirm their Title to Heaven Who are so solicitous about plowing their Grounds that they cannot ‖ Jer. 4.3 Hos 10.12 break up the Fallow-Ground of their own Hearts who are so busy in making up their Accounts with Men that they mind not the making even their Accounts with God So over-careful to improve their temporal that they neglect the Improvement of their spiritual Estates Who are * Luke 10.40 41 42. like Martha so cumbred and troubled about many Things that they are ready to forget the one only Thing which is absolutely necessary the happy Choice of that good Part or Portion which would be a Thing very acceptable to God and the Advantage of which would continue to themselves to all Eternity Who are so taken up with worldly Dealings that they have little or none of their Conversation in Heaven Who say in their Hearts what Duke de Alva once replied to the King who asked him whether he had seen the Ecclipse of the Sun that he had so much Business to do upon Earth that he had no Time to look up to Heaven Who are more studious and industrious to get a good earthly Bargain than to obtain a Crown of Righteousness a Crown of Life and Glory and to make sure of an heavenly and everlasting Kingdom Who have their Hearts as full of the World as their Hands and are so covetous and greedy of it that they will lose their Time and let go God and a god Conscience for it Who suffer their worldly Employments too often and easily to steal away their set and stated Times for Reading Prayer Confession Thanks-giving Meditation Self-Examination to rob their Duties of their allotted Hours or to borrow of their Duties their appointed Seasons without ever making any
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
†Isa 49.5 Israel be not gathered though the straying and stragling Sheep be not reclaimed and brought home to God yet they may be glorious in the Eyes of the Lord and their God may be their Strength That the may be ‖ Acts 20.26 pure from the Blood of all Men and may (*) Verse 24. finish their Course with Joy and be able to say as the most laborious and indefatigable Apostle St. Paul expressed himself with an Heart full of Comfort when the Time of his Departure was at hand (†) 2 Tim. 4.7 8. I have fought a good Fight as a faithful Souldier I have finish'd my Course as a strenuous Runner I have kept the Faith as a trusty Depositary Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judg shall give me at that Day Yea let People in general give all serious constant Diligence to redeem the Time and to make their Calling and Election sure Believing and considering that we were not sent into this World to eat and drink and sleep and sport and play to take our Pas-time and Recreation and to enjoy a little short carnal Mirth some sensual sinful Pleasure or worldly Profit or earthly Honour for a season but to live in the constant Exercise of Reason and Vertue and true Goodness To study the Nature and Attributes the Mind and Will the Word and Works the Laws and Waies of God To (‖) Rev. 14.12 keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus To worship and serve our Creator Redeemer Sanctisier and Comforter To prepare and provide for Eternity and to do good to all while we have Opportunity And here to proceed particularly I shall I. Propound some Motives to quicken you And then II. I shall give you some Directions to help you to gain the Time and redeem the Opportunity To press you to the Duty besides the several Reasons of the Doctrine which are also so many Motives to the Duty I shall farther lay you down a six-fold Motive The first Motive First consider how notably Christ redeem'd the Time when he was here in the World * Mat 3.15 It becometh us to fulfil and Righteousness says he * †Luke 2.49 Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's Business ‖ John 9.4 I must work the Works of him that sent me while it is Day the Night cometh when no Man can work 1. He redeemed the Time to save us 2. To be an Example to us 1. He redeemed the Time to save us His whole Life to his very Death yea his Life and Death were nothing else but a continual Course of doing and suffering for our Salvation Did Christ spend his Time his Labour his Blood to save us and shall we be backward to spend our Daies our Pains our Strength to serve him Did Christ redeem the Time to accomplish and work out our Redemption and shall not we redeem the Time to secure and work out our own Salvation 2. Christ redeem'd the Time to be an Example to us Not an idle Word ever came out of his Mouth He speake as never Man spake and did as never Man did He was serious and favory holy and heavenly in his private Converses and took all Occasions to spiritualize his Discourses He redeemed Time for secret Prayer He * Acts 10.38 went about doing good He neglected his bodily Food to gain an Occasion of spiritual Converse and to feed a Soul He professeth it was †John 4.34 his Meat to do the Will of him that sent him and to finish his Work ‖ Psal 40.8 his Delight to do the Will of God This he did (*) 1 Pet. 2.21 leaveing us an Example that we should follow his Steps an eminent Example to be transcribed and copied out by us that we likewise should redeem the Time in Imitation of him and Conformity to him Now where are the Men that seriously consider Thus thus Jesus Christ liv'd in the World and are ready to say within themselves I will do nothing but what I would do if Jesus Christ were by I would act now as if I followed Christ at the Heels How very many have liv'd already the full Age of our blessed Saviour nay how many have doubled our Saviour's Age and yet how few have liv'd after the manner of the Life of Christ one Day or Hour or in conformity to our Pattern and Exemplar in any Measure done the Will and wrought the Work of our heavenly Father I may very fitly here take up the Words of a Religious Person [a] Bene ver ecundari potes inspectà vitâ Jesu Christi quia necdum magis illi te conformare studuisti licet diu in via Dei faisti A Rempis l. 1. c. 25. n. 6. Thou maiest well blush to behold the Life of Jesus Christ because as yet thou hast studied no more to conform thy self to him though thou hast been long in the Way of God Let us hence forward daily eye the Life of Christ as that which is an Example to us in all our Actions and Motions in the World in the midst of all the Passions to which we are subject and Temptations to which we are exposed Let 's frequently reflect upon our selves and seriously say Did Christ live thus In all our Actings and Undertakings let 's say continually Would Christ do thus If not how dare I who profess my self a Christian venture upon it If Christ were now upon the Earth would he be wasteful and prodigal of his Hours would he be loose and wanton vain and profane in his Life would Christ swear and curse or by any means be tempted to Perjury or false Testimony would he be drunk himself and delight to make others drunk would Christ scoff and mock at Religion and Holiness and jear and deride the strictest Professors and Practisers of it would he that once wept over Jerusalem be now jovial and merry when publick Misery and common Calamity hangs over he Heads of a People laden with Iniquity could he find in his Heart to laugh and sport over a tottering sinking fainting dying Nation Take care * 1 John 2.6 to walk even as Christ walked Aim and endeavour †1 John 4.17 to be in the World as he was in the World When you rise in the Morning resolve thus with thy self I will this Day study to behave my self as Christ did I will labour to exercise those Vertues and to act those Graces which Jesus Christ when he was here on Earth was eminent in and exemplary for I will this Day strive to be as meek and humble as free from pride and passion malice and revenge as clear from covetousness and earthly-mindedness discontent and impatience as Christ himself was To be as watchful against the World and the Devil as resolv'd against Temptation as sober and temperate as just and righteous as kind and merciful as useful and
Here take my Staff Art thou going away for ever and hast taken no order nor care how thou shalt speed in that other World whence thou shalt never return Take my Staff for I am not guilty of any such Folly as this And truly they that here neglect to provide for hereafter to lay up a durable Treasure in Heaven to make sure of a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens of an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in the Heavens shall certainly be branded and upbraided for their Folly to all Eternity What Folly is it to count the one thing needful the only needless thing What Folly and Madness to part with Heaven for uncertain Riches and corruptible Wealth or a few merry Hours here on Earth What a shameful Folly is it when the * Jer. 8.7 Stork in the Heaven knoweth her appointed Times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the Time of their coming for Men and Christians not to discern and understand the gracious Seasons and special Opportunities of their particular Duties What grand and gross Folly is it for Men to have but one Life's Time of necessary Preparation for eternal Life and to live and dy in a total wilful desperate Neglect of it Yea to have but one small part of Time to do all that ever they can do for their own and others eternal Weal and to spend this little Portion of Time in increasing their own and others Sins and in destroying their own and others Souls What prodigious stupendious Folly is it to be weary of that which flies away too fast and cannot be recall'd and to use Arts and Devices to pass that Time away in Vanity which can only be spent profitably and comfortably in a daily diligent Provision for Eternity What absurd and ridiculous Folly is it a very heathen [e] Sen. de brev vit c. 3. Philosopher being Judg in the Case for Men to be so far from suffering others to possess themselves of their Manours or Farms or in the least to encroach and gain upon their Bounds and yet to permit them to enter upon their Time nay themselves to induct them into the Possession of it For those that are so wary as never to divide their Money among any yet to be so ready to distribute their Time to so very many For those that are very strait and hard in keeping of their Patrimony when once it comes to the spending of their Time to be extreamly lavish and [f] Profusissims in eo cujus unius honesta avaritia est Id. ibidem wasteful of that of which only we can be honestly covetous Once more What miserable unhappy Folly is it in the most of Men to throw away their Time slightly and carelessly profusely and prodigally and yet to be impatiently troubled and even distracted and tormented when all is gone Which aptly leads me to the fifth Motive The fifth Motive Consider moreover that if now thou losest and squanderest away thy Time thou wilt at last be forced thy self to condemn thy foolish Negligence and to justify the Care and Diligence of others that were wiser for their own Souls than thy self though here thou didst nothing but jeer and deride them scorn and scoff at them As Dionysius on his Death-bed when he heard Thales discoursing notably about the Nature and Excellency of Moral Philosophy [a] Virtutem videant intabescánt que relictâ Pers sat 3. cursed his Pastimes Sports and Pleasures that had taken him off and diverted him from the Study of so worthy a Subject So will careless Sinners and loose Livers when Death approaches and Conscience accuses loudly exclaim against all their foolish sensual Delights which turn'd off their Minds from weightier Matters and hindred their Acquaintance with better Things and their living to higher and nobler Purposes in the World The Heathen Moralist could observe thus much That Persons prodigal of their Time at present at last [b] stultos se fuisse quòd non vixerint claâ—â—tant Sen. de brev vit c. 11. cry out upon themselves for Fools that they have not liv'd any part of the Time they have been in the World And it is a notable Place and remarkable Passage to this purpose which we find in the fifth Chapter of the Book of Wisdom the third and fourth Verses They repenting and groaning for anguish of Spirit shall say within themselves This was he whom we had sometimes in derision and a Proverb of reproach We Fools accounted his Life Madness and his end to be without Honour How is he numbred among the Children of God and his Lot is among the Saints And in the seventh and eighth Verses We wearied our selves in the way of Wickedness and Destruction But as for the way of the Lord we have not known it What hath Pride profited us or what good hath Riches with our vaunting brought us 'T is therefore a seasonable good Premonition that is given by a pious Person [c] Quando illa extrema hera veneâ—it multum aliter sentire incipies de tota vita tua praeterita valde dolebs quia tam negligens remissus suisti Thom a Kempis l. 1. c. 23. n. 3. When thy last Hour shall draw near thou wilt then begin to have quite other sentiments and vastly different Apprehensions of thy whole Life past and wilt grieve a nd mourn exceedingly that thou hast continually been so remiss and negligent When you come to die you will be ready to cry out with Croesus Solon Solon who had before time taught him of Blessedness without regard You will then be apt in like manner to say Such and such a Minister did frequently and faithfully tell me my Duty and my Danger Such and such a Friend dealt plainly with me and well advis'd and counsel'd me but Fool that I was I would hear no Instruction I would receive no Admonition I would bear no Reproof I would take no warning How strangely will you shortly be astonish'd at the impartial Review of your unexcusable Ill-husbandry of all the Time in this World allotted you What wounding heart-renting revengeful Self-reflections will you suffer What passionate violent Rage against your selves will you be forced to feel within your selves What bitter Anguish and desperate Horrour will you unavoidably and irresistibly fall under when you sadly recount and too late remember how inconsiderately and unwarsly loosly and vainly you have passed your Time and spent your Years here on Earth what golden Seasons of Grace you have lost and scorn'd and dishonour'd and abused all that would not act the Parts of Fools and Mad-men like your selves When you have utterly lost and fully and finally undone your selves with what Gripes and Groans will you then look back upon all the Means and Mercies Helps and Assistances Opportunities and Advantages which here you enjoyed but slighted and undervalued dream'd and fool'd played and
assisted him [l] In his Life centracted and translated out of French by Mr. Edward Stern Fellow of P. Hall in Cambridg among Mr. Clark's Lives p. 74. fol. I have a great Account to make having received much and profited little So the painful and pious Dr. Robert Harris when a Friend told him in his Sickness Sir you may take much comfort in your Labours you have done much good His Answer was [m] In his Life written by Mr. W. Durham p. 55 56. Oh! I am an unprofitable Servant I have not done any thing for God as I ought Loss of Time sits heavy upon my Spirit Work work apace Assure your selves nothing will more trouble you when you come to dy than that you have done no more for God who has done so much for you Yea the Reverend and holy Bp. Vsher a most laborious and sedulous Servant of God a Prodigy of Industry a Person that never was known to lose an Hour by was ever employed in his Master's Business either praying preaching studying writing reading or hearing others reade to him either resolving of Doubts or exhorting instructing giving good wholsome and holy Counsel to such as came to visit him yet as [n] Pag. 110. Dr. Bernard relates in his Life the very last Words that ever he was heard to utter in praying for Forgiveness of Sins were these But Lord in special forgive my Sins of Omission If the choicest Saints on Earth the faithfullest Servants of God in the World who have surpassed and transcended us by many Degrees do close and end their Lives with an humble Confession and earnest Petition for Forgiveness and Pardon of their Sins of Omission Surely then we have reason to conclude that we our selves do what we can shall repent at last of doing too little and not repent and complain of having done too much And if those that have well redeem'd their Time complain especially at the Hour of Death that they have lost too much of it What a case then will the careless negligent World be in when their sleepy Consciences shall be roused and awakened and they be hastened and hurried out of this world and their Souls and Bodies shall be just a parting and they shall look behind them upon an idle loose and lazy Life and look before them upon a dreadful horrible terrible Judgment I have done with the Motives to press you to the Duty In the next place I shall give you some Directions which may be so many Means to help you to regain the Time and redeem the Opportunity Take these twelve following CHAP. VII Direction 1. If ever we would redeem the Time we must endeavour to be throughly convinc'd of the great value and real worth of Time In respect of the Price paid for it In regard of the use and end to which it serves Considering what precious Thoughts the more improved Heathens had of Time And what damned Spirits and dying Persons who have not made their Peace with God think of Time Direct 2. If we would well redeem the Time we must often examine our selves and call our selves to a serious strict Account for the spending of our Time This was the Precept of Pythagoras and Cicero and the Practice of Sextius Seneca and Titus Vespasian Direct 3. That we may rightly redeem our Time let Conscience have some Authority with us and procure some reverence from us Stand much in aw of thy own Conscience which will either acquit and absolve thee or surely judg and condemn thee Direct 4. If ever we would redeem the Time we must live and act and do every thing as in the sight and presence and under the eye and inspection of God The apprehension of God's all-seeing all-searching Eye will be of excellent Vse and Advantage to us at 4 times especially 1. Actually consider that God sees you when you ordinarily visit one another and at any time feast and make merry together 2. When Buying or Selling remember you are manifest in God's Sight that God stands by and sees your dealings 3. Consider this in your secret Retirements and in your private Families 4. Whenever we come to the publick Worship of God let us seriously consider that we stand in his Presence and are in his eye Direct 5. That we may wisely redeem the Time let 's be sure to propound a good end to our selves in all our Actions and do nothing deliberately but what we can safely and freely warrantably and comfortably ask God's Assistance in and Blessing upon when we go about it Direct 6. We must be sure to give our selves to Prayer as a special way in which and principal means and help by which we may redeem and improve our Time aright And here 1. Be careful to keep up set and stated times of Prayer of secret Prayer and Family-Prayer 2. Be ready to betake thy self to Prayer upon special extraordinary emergent Occasions 3. Vse thy self to frequent suddain ejaculatory Prayers to God This is the Priviledg of Ejaculation that it is a gaining of Time for the Exercise of Religion without any prejudice or hindrance to your Calling Direct 7. We must set our selves to the 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 us the History and Account of 2. Our reading the holy Books of Scripture is a well improving the present time that is imployed in this religious Duty for 't is an honouring of God and a means of attaining divine Knowledg heavenly Grace and spiritual Comfort 3. It is moreover a means and help to the right redeeming of our Time for the future Direct 8. If we would effectually redeem the Time we must give our selves to frequent and serious Meditation Set some Time apart for this Duty Think of the 4 last things especially 1. Of Death of the Day of thy own particular Death and of the Time of the General Dissolution of this World 2. Of the Day of Judgment 3. Of the Joys of Heaven 4. Of the Torments of Hell Direct 9. If you would redeem the Time you must labour to spiritualize even your ordinary worldly Employments and must take care that your natural as well as civil Actions partake of Religion Direct 10. if we would wisely redeem the Time we must make a good Choice of our Friends and Acquaintance and a good Improvement of our Company and Society with them Direct 11. We must remember and consider perform and answer our solemn Sacramental Vows and Sick-bed-Promises and Resolutions Direct 12. Lastly If we would redeem the Time we must not give way to any Delay but strengthen and settle our Resolution against any farther procrastination The First Direction IF ever we would redeem the Time we must endeavour to be throughly convinced of the great Value and real Worth of Time Consider 1. How precious Time is in respect of the Price paid for it That
think yet farther That it will be an Act of Justice for God to do this That though he Sin yet he does not revoke the Sentence but in due Time will execute Judgment and Vengeance upon it for the first Sin that Man committed and for all the rest that have been acted in it That Man not only being a Tenant at will but having unworthily broken his Covenant and forfeited his Possession by breaking the Articles of his Lease his Lord at last will turn him out of Doors or rather pull down his House about his Ears and not suffer it to be alwaies a Nest of Rebels and Covenant-breakers That this World the Creature made for the Use of Man being defiled and abused by him to serve him in his Sin when the Sins of the Inhabitants of the Earth as of the * Gen. 15.16 Amorites of old shall arrive to a * Gen. 15.16 Fulness when once the rebellious Generations of Adam shall have fill'd up the Measure of their Iniquities and are ripe for Judgment the Day of Dissolution will then certainly come called expresly †2 Pet. 3 7. the Day of Judgment and Perdition of ungodly Men That then the wicked and abominable Men shall be burnt in the Place of their Wickedness and the Objects and Instruments of their Sin shall be destroyed with them and become the Instruments of their Punishment For so the Garden of Eden wherein Man was at first plac'd was destroyed and defac'd when once he had sinned in it And what more usual even among Men than to order the Execution of notorious Malefactors in the Places where they have committed their Wickedness and to sentence the Houses wherein themselves and their Families liv'd to be demolished ‖ Dan. 3.29 Their Houses shall be made a Dunghill You have heard of great and terrible Fires in the World and of famous Cities consum'd thereby and have seen not many Years since the devouring desolating Flames of London the Metropolis and chief City of our Nation But think with thy self that all this is nothing at all to that great Fire which one Day God will kindle at once setting Heaven and Earth in a Flame together Let me here assist your Meditation by proposing and presenting to you a notable Description given by a very learned [k] Dr. More 's Myst of Godl p. 238. Concerning the Partibility of the Conflagration of the Earth See there Book 6 c. 7 8. Doctor of the general and final Conflagration of the Earth Christ will cause saies he such an universal Thunder and Lightning that it shall rattle over all the Quarters of the Earth rain down burning Comets and falling Stars and discharge such Claps of unextinguishable Frie that it will do sure Execution wherever it falls so that the Ground being excessively heated those subterraneous Mines of combustible Matter will also take Fire which inflaming the inward Exhalations of the Earth will cause a terrible Murmur under Ground so that the Earth will seem to thunder against the tearing and ratling of the Heavens and all will be fill'd with sad remugient Echo's Earth-quakes and Eruptions of Fire there will be every where and whole Cities and Countries swallowed down by the vast gapings and wide Divulsions of the Ground And this fiery Vengeance shall be so thirsty that it shall drink deep of the very Sea nor shall the Water quench her devouring Appetite but excite it Wherefore the great Channel of the Sea shall be left dry and all Rivers shall be turned into Smoak and Vapour so that the whole Earth shall be inveloped in one entire Cloud of an unspeakable Thickness which shall cause more than an Egyptian Darkness clammy and palpable to be felt which added to this choaking Heat and Stench will compleat this External Hell Consider how the Scripture testifies that God will do this and the Power of God assures us that he can do it for nothing is hard or difficult to him much less impossible Think of the Creation God's raising and building this Frame of the World out of nothing and reason thus with thy self Cannot he that made it by the Word of his Power easily dissolve it And argue further in this manner Cannot he that destroyed the old World by a Floud of Waters destroy this by Fire and cause this to die of a Feaver as the did of a Dropsy Cannot he that turned Sodom and Gomorrah into Ashes do the like with the World it self also Is not he that made Mount Sinai shake and smoak at the giving of the Law able to dissolve all these Things The close and intent Meditation of this general Dissolution will clearly convince thee that Sin is an evil and a bitter Thing and will move thee to hate and abhor to shun and avoid Sin which is of a Nature so mischievous and destructive which is the meritorious procuring Cause of so dreadful a Judgment which not only of old brought the Floud of Water upon the World of the Vngodly and forced down Gehennam de Coelo as Salvian speaks caused God to rain Hell-sire and Brimstone from Heaven * Jude 7. 2 Pet. 2.5 6. upon Sodom and Gamorrah and miserably destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and turned their fruitful Land into a barren Wilderness but will one Day set this World on fire and put it in a flame and turn this stately Structure and beautiful Frame into a rude confused Chaos The deep and earnest Thoughts of this will affect and influence thy Heart and Life and quicken thee exceedingly to all Sincerity Diligence and Zeal in the Exercise of Godliness to an holy Fear and Aw of him who can and will destroy the World 'T will constrain thee to use the Words of the Apostle and to say in good Sadness * 2 Pet. 3.11 Seeing then that all these Things shall be dissolved what manner of Person ought I to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness Seeing this Destruction shall thus involve all what an engagement does this lay upon me to live the most pure strict Life that ever Man liv'd It will incite thee by a constant course of true Piety wisely to provide for thy Escape in that Day to save and secure thy self from the Evil and Danger of it that thou maiest not be undone by this general Dissolution nor suffer Loss in this Conflagration nor perish in this Burning 'T will put thee in mind to sit thy self for this Day of Dissolution of all Things by getting the Works of the Devil throughly dissolved in thee and the Kingdom of God set up and established in thy Soul The due Consideration of this general Dissolution and final Conflagration will certainly keep thee from setting thy Heart inordinately upon any outward earthly Things from heaping up Treasure to thy self here from dreaming that any of thy Houses here shall continue for ever from having unlimited everlasting Affections for flitting fugitive transitory Things for the World the †1
of God only but thou shalt see God within thee and feel his Power throughly working thee to the same Mind Will and Desire with himself That thou shalt see God hereafter and be like him and reflecting upon thy self shalt see that thou art like him and be pleased and satisfied joyful and delighted in thy Similitude and Resemblance of him This Meditation will move thee to labour to be fit for the perfect Vision and Fruition of God in the future State of heavenly Glory To remember to turn away thy Eyes from beholding Vanity as thou lookest to behold the Divine Glory To make it thy Business * Heb. 12.14 to follow Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord enjoy the glorious Sight and behold the blessed Face of God To labour to see God here that thou maiest be the fitter to see him hereafter To see him in his Works to search after behold and admire that infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness which are visible and legible in his wonderful Works of Creation and Providence But more especially to study to see and know God as he has reveal'd himself in his Word to see his Holiness in his Precepts his Justice in his Threatnings his Grace and Goodness in his Promises Once more To see and converse with God in his Ordinances to see him as he presents himself to thy view and exhibits himself to be seen in the Sanctuary to enjoy Communion and Fellowship with him in the publick solemn Ordinances of Prayer hearing receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper And to be alwaies purging thy Sight clearing thy Eyes and cleansing thy Soul endeavouring to become * Mat. 5.8 [e] Purity speaks two Things 1. Freedom from mixture with any Thing that is more vile so Metal is pure that is not embas'd with a worse Metal and Wine is pure that is not mixt with Water 2. Purity speaks cleerness and transparency So Spring-waters Fountains Diamonds are pure So Purity of Heart consists 1. in Abstraction and Septration from every Thing base and filthy and in gathering up the Soul into Communion with that which is pure and 2. in that Glory Lustre and Beauty which arises from such Purity pure in Heart not desiled by looking after fleshly or worldly Lusts nor polluted with other foul Mixtures to be free from Hypocrisy and Vncleanness from Filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit in this Sense to be pure in Heart that thou maiest see God have a spiritual Sight and inward Sense and [f] See Dr. Jackson 3. V. book 11. c. 21. Tast a savory assectionate Knowledg of him and be capable and receptive of Impressions from him as the crystal Spring easily admits the Sun-beams and imbibes its Raies and the clean Glass plainly receives the Species and Images of any Bodies To get a cleansed purified Soul that thou maiest be able to see and enjoy God here and so be fit for the Beatifical Vision hereafter To behold in the * 〈…〉 3.18 Glass of the Gospel the Glory of the Lord and to be changed into the same Image here as thou hopest hereafter to see God so as to be †Ps 17.15 satisfied with his Likeness 2. Think how happy thou shalt hereafter be in Heaven by beholding the glorified humane Nature of Christ That when he shall appear thou ‖ 1 Joh. 3 2. shalt see him as he is see the Person of Christ as he is in Opposition to what he was while he was here on Earth in the Form of a Servant That if thou beest a Servant of the Lamb thou shalt see his (*) Rev. 22.3 4. Face in the New Jerusalem That thou shalt be (†) Joh. 17.24 with him where he is and shalt immediatly behold his Glory which his Father hath given him Sit down and consider when thou shalt arrive at the Court of Heaven how transcendent and ravishing and pleasingly amazing the heavenly Glory of Christ will be to thee That if the (‖) 1 Kings 10 8. Queen of Sheba pronounced Solomon's Servants happy because they stood continually before him and heard his Wisdom and beheld but a temporal fading and earthly Glory how unspeakable then thy Happiness will be constantly to behold the Presence and heavenly Mediatorial Glory of Jesus Christ That if here it be so sweet and pleasant a Thing [*] Eccl. 11.7 for the Eyes to behold the Sun how pleasant and delightful then it will be to view and behold the Sun of Righteousness to look upon the glorified humane Nature of Christ which will appear more beautiful and shine more bright than the Sun in the Firmament If it were so refreshing and joyful a Sight to the Faithful in those Daies to see and enjoy Christ though in his State of Humiliation If the * Mat. 2.1 Wise Men came from far to see Christ though lying in a Manger And †Luke 19.4 Zaccheus climbed up into a Tree to see him in the Daies of his Flesh And one of the [g] Romam in flove Paulum in ore Christum in corpore three Things which St. Austin wish'd he might have seen was Christ in the Flesh Think how Christ in his Glory and Advancement will be a more taking satisfying Object than in his Humility and Debasement How strangely it will affect and delight thee to see him so highly exalted and vastly enrich'd who humbled and emptied himself for thy sake and became very mean and poor that thou through his Poverty mightst be made rich To see that Body that here was laid in a Manger nail'd to a Cross and buried in a Sepulchre now made a most glorious Body and one of the rarest Sights and greatest Wonders in Heaven To see Christ in Glory and Christ in Glory thine thy glorified Head and Lord and the Exemplary Cause of thy Glorification To see him ‖ Job 19.27 for thy self as ‖ Job 19.27 Job speaks for thy own unspeakable Good and Comfort To see him and be enamour'd of him and be like unto him to converse and enjoy Communion with him and to rejoice in and with him To behold his Glory and not only curiously to gaze upon him but to be glorified with him in some proportion and according to thy capacity to be made Partaker of the same Glory and to be admitted (*) Rev. 3.21 to sit with him in his Throne Think what a sablime and notable part of thy Happiness this will be in Heaven If having * 1 Pet. 1.8 not seen Christ thou lovest him and believing in him rejoycest with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory O then consider how thou shalt love and rejoyce in him when thou shalt actually see him and immediatly enjoy him in the heavenly Kingdom This Meditation will prevail with thee to labour to become meet and fit for the happy Sight and felicitating Enjoyment of the glorified humane Nature of Christ 'T will make thee study to attain to real Holiness of Heart
the Knowledg of those Things which God hath been pleased most clearly to discover and plainly to reveal in his Word to thee as any way necessary to thy own and others Edisication and Salvation Thou being assured and well perswaded that practice and doing is the ready way to further Knowing as * Ps 111.10 Joh. 7.17 to increase thy Knowledg here so to augment thy Knowledg hereafter 'T will cause thee to charge thy self to walk as a Child of the Light and of the Day to follow the Light of God's Word and Spirit that thou maiest be meet to be made Partaker of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light The foremention'd Meditation will moreover make thee wise unto Sobriety repress the itching Curiosity of thy Nature keep thee from spending thy Time in boldly prying into God's [m] Homo sum non intelligo secreta Dei investigare non audeo ideo etiam attentare sormido qâ—â—â— hoc ipsum genus quasi sacrilegae temerâ—tatis est siplus sone qupias quà m siâ—â—â—is Salv. de gub Del l. 3. Secrets and from immoderatly thirsting and reaching after the Knowledg of Things too high for thee Remembring and considering that in this Life thou canst not attain to clear and full and perfect Knowledg which is a Reward reserved for another Life And that thou maiest enjoy it in due Time 't will make thee willing to wait and stay God's Time to be humbly and modestly and contentedly ignorant of all those Things wherein God has been pleased to be silent and has though most fit in this lower imperfect State for Man to be ignorant The Consideration that thy Knowledg shall be perfected hereafter will bring thee at present to be quietly ignorant of those Things which God sees meet and most convenient for a Time to hide and conceal from thee and will help thee to wait very patiently for the Season of the fuller Manifestation of himself to thee this being the Way to have thy Knowledg encreased and perfected another Day Further This Meditation will also mind thee to fit thy self for the sure receiving the full Satisfaction of all thy Desires in Heaven hereafter 'T will cause thee now to curb and restrain thy sensual Appetite to moderate thy Desires to submit thy Will to the Will of God and to do his Pleasure here that so thou maiest have thy widest Capacities and largest Desires every way satisfied and fulfilled hereafter 4. Meditate how happy thou shalt be hereafter by dwelling in a most glorious beauteous blessed Place in thy heavenly Father's House in thy * Joh. 14.2 Saviour's Father's House in which there are many Mansions a stately Palace a spatious House indeed fit to receive and entertain an innumerable Company of glorious Inhabitants That thou shalt be placed and setled in the Seat of the Blessed an House not made with Hands a Building of God Paradise Heaven the third Heaven which is seated not only above the Region of the Air but above the Moon and highest Stars from whence thou shalt with Advantage take a pleasant Prospect of the admirable Beauty and comely Order of the Universe and of the Usefulness of all its Parts That thou shalt inhabit a Place which is so incomparably glorious that it is called in Scripture the Throne of God That thou shalt dwell hereafter in the better and heavenly Countrey of the Saints That thou shalt actually and personally enter into the promised Land and not only have a Pisgah-sight of it afar off That thou shalt be translated into the heavenly Canaan transported into the holy Land conducted and received into the holy City in which there is no Night and which has no need of the Sun or Moon to shine in it the Glory of God inlightning it and the Lamb being the Light thereof Think how the beautiful glorious precious Things of which there is mention in the 21th and 22th of the Revelation in the large Description of the new Jerusalem if meant of the Glory of the highest Heaven are but Umbrages and Shadows of the good Things to come which are contain'd and treasur'd up in the heavenly Kingdom Though Heaven be indeed more a State than a Place yet think how the Majesty and Amenity of the Place of Glory will add to thy Joy and increase thy Felicity And this Meditation will provoke thee to labour to become apt and fit to live in so holy and blessed a Place as Heaven To be alwaies travelling towards this heavenly Country though thy Way lie through a Wilderness To make the mention of Heaven and the Way thereto to be thy frequent Discourse thy most serious and most refreshing Conference To be careful to have thy constant Conversation in Heaven To give all Diligence to be prepared and disposed by an heavenly State for an heavenly Place To let the Kingdom of God enter into thy Soul that thou maiest be meet to enter into the Kingdom of God To become the Temple of God here an Habitation of God through the Spirit that thou maiest be worthy to be received hereafter into an heavenly Habitation To cleanse thy self because no unelean Thing can ever enter into that holy City To labour to get such a vertuous Disposition and generous Spirit such holy Habits heavenly Customs and divine Manners as may fit and qualify thee to be admitted Citizen of the new Jerusalem And to beg of thy Father which is in Heaven that as he hath prepared an Heaven for holy Souls so he would more and more prepare thy too too unprepared Soul for Heaven 5. Spend thy Thoughts in the Consideration of thy future Enjoyment of the most blessed Company in the most blessed Place Consider seriously that as thou shalt have Communion with the blessed Trinity in the heavenly Glory fully enjoy God and have Fellowship with Jesus Christ thy Head So thou shalt associate and be conversant with Angels and have sweet Familiarity with those blessed Spirits and shalt there enjoy the Communion of Saints shalt there meet with the holy Patriarchs be received into the goodly Fellowship of the Prophets be taken into the glorious Company of the Apostles and be joyned to the noble Army of Martyrs and with all the Faithful of all Ages recount the Mercies and chaunt the Praises of thy bountiful Creator and gracious Redeemer Think with thy self how that good Company is a great part of the Pleasure and Comfort of a good Man's Life and a kind of Heaven here upon Earth But that hereafter thou shalt have the best Company that Earth and Heaven can afford That there thou shalt converse with and delight in the most eminent Children and faithful Servants of God and famous Worthies of the Church of Christ [m] Esseror studio patres vestros quos colui dilexi videndi Neque eos verò solùm convenire aveo quos ipse cognovi sed illos etiam de quibus audivi legi ipfe conscripsi Cic. in Cat. Maj.
to oblige him to Industry and Activity But when the Gospel-revelation does give thee Assurance of the Perpotuity and endless Duration of this Felicity the due Consideration of so great and infinite a Reward will have a more forcible powerful Influence upon thee It greatly raised and much affected David's Heart to be able to say to God ‖ 2 Sam. 7.19 thou hast spoken of thy Servant's House for a great while to come How then is it likely to spirit and encourage thee to consider that God has spoken of an heavenly Happiness to be bestowed upon thee that shall last as long as Eternity it self that shall last as long as God himself 2. The serious Thoughts of a perfect heavenly State of eternal Bliss will quicken and encourage thee not only to do but to [q] Nihil crus sentit in nervo quando anmus est in coel Tertul. suffer any thing for God and Christ and the Gospel to chuse * Heb. 11.25 26. with Moses rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season esteeming the Reproach of Christ or for Christ far greater Riches than any Worldly Treasures out of a respect unto the Recompense of the Reward And with Christ for †12.2 the Joy that is set before thee to endure the Cross and despise the Shame ‖ 1 Pet. 4.13 To rejoice to be a Partaker of Christ's Sufferings that when his Glory shall be revealed thou maiest be glad also with exceeding Joy To be ready to (*) Heb. 10.34 35 36. take joyfully the spoiling of thy Goods knowing in thy self that thou hast in Heaven a better and an enduring Substance But of this I shall speak more under the next Head That is the first The serious Consideration and earnest Expectation of a vast and ample Reward in Heaven will encourage and enable thee not only to do but to suffer for Christ Jesus 2. The Consideration of a future perfect heavenly Happiness will help and enable thee to resist and repel both the fair and furious Temptations of Satan By Meditation put on for an Helmet the Hope of Salvation and that will defend thee against the Assault and will ward off the Blows of the Devil It will 1. Enable thee to answer and oppose the subtil and powerful Temptations of Satan when he fairly promises any pleasing Good to thee The consideration of what God offers thee will make thee reject and disdain whatever Satan for the present proffers thee because he can make no proffer valuable and considerable equal and answerable to what God has made in the Gospel to thee This Sun will presently put out the Light of all his twinkling Stars As Saul said to his Servants to keep them from falling away to David * 1 Sam. 22.7 Will the Son of Jesse give every one of you Fields and Vineyards and make you all Captains of thousands and Captains of hundreds So thou wilt say to thy considering self are the Devil and the World able to afford me those Honours and Dignities Riches and Treasures Delights and Pleasures and to entertain me with such a Paradise as God hath prepared for me and promised to me Are the Devil and the World and all the Pleasures of Sin which are slight and short and last but for a Season ever able to make me amends if I make a refusal of God's Kindness Are they ever able to countervail and make up the Loss of God and Christ and the heavenly Kingdom to me What 's all the outward Splendor and Glory of this World to the incomparable unconceivable Glory of Heaven What are these Meats and Drinks here below to the celestial Food and the full Satisfaction of all my spiritual Desires What signify all the filthy impure Pleasures here to the Enjoyment of the Society of immaculate Angels and the glorious Presence of the immaculate Lamb hereafter How are all the Pleasures of Sin put in the Ballance against the Joys of Heaven but as a Feather against a Mountain How poor and beggarly are all the Riches on Earth to the vast and sure Treasures laid up for me in Heaven How mean a Cottage what a very Dunghil is the most sumptuous Building and stately Habitation here to the beautiful spatious glorious heavenly Palace What vile Weeds and sorry Rags are the costliest Garments and richest Apparel here to the white Ornaments and glorious Robes of Saints triumphant in Heaven How contemptible and despicable is all Honour with Men in comparison or Honour with God and Angels any secular Preferment and worldly Power in respect of the heavenly Crown and Kingdom What Invitation or Inducement is this carnal Company to me that I should so covet and fondly embrace their Society to the Loss and Forfeiture of all blessed Fellowship with God and Christ with Saints and Angels to all Eternity Shall I ever become such a meer Bedlam and humane Beast as to slight and undervalue a perfect State of heavenly Glory and to place my Happiness in Sensuality and Flesh-pleasing Further 2. The Meditation of the high and heavenly Felicity and Glory will serve to counterpoise the heaviest Temptation when Satan or his Initruments shall terribly tempt thee and sharply assault thee by threatning any great and grievous Evil to thee If Satan threaten thee with Persecution with the Loss of thy Estate or of temporal Life it self this will instruct thee to tell him what Christ himself hath told thee that * Mat. 5.10 11 12 Blessed are they which are persecuted for Righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven That blessed art thou when Men shall revile thee and persecute thee and shall say all manner of evil against thee falsely for Christ's sake that then thou must rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is thy Reward in Heaven That †19.29 every one that hath forsaken Houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for Christ's Name 's sake shall receive an hundred-fold and shall inherit everlasting Life That ‖ 16.25 whosoever will save his Life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his Life for Christ's sake shall find it It will enable thee to tell the Devil what the great Apostle of Christ has told thee That (*) 2 Tim 2.12 if thou sufferest thou shalt also reign with Christ and be glorified with him but if thou deniest him he also will deny thee That thou (†) Rom. 8.17 18. reckonest that the Sufferings of this present Time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in thee That thy (‖) 2 Cor. 4.17 light Affliction which is but for a Moment not only worketh but [*] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worketh out for thee a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory This will cause thee to be [†] Phil. 1.28 in nothing terrified by thy Adversaries the Agents
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
short Race who though thou maiest sometimes start aside or stumble in the Way yet will not deny thee thy Reward nor lessen thy Crown but if thou doest thy best will reward thy Sincerity largely and liberally and will abundantly recompense the very meanest faithful Performance the giving but a Cup of cold Water in the Name of a Disciple It will excite thee to give thanks to God who hath begotten thee again to a lively Hope and made thee very rich in Hope It will enable thee to live comfortably and walk cheerfully as an Heir of the Promises an Heir of the Grace of Life of eternal Life or Glory which will be bestowed by the free Grace and Favour of God To rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory as one whose Name is written in Heaven and that hast a Mansion prepared by Christ in Heaven for thee To rejoice and be exceeding glad to consider that great is thy Reward in Heaven To rejoice in the first Fruits of the Spirit in the earnest of the Spirit which is the earnest of thy Inheritance given by God as a Pledg or first part of Payment of that Inheritance which he hath destin'd to thee To sit down and express and vent thy Thoughts in the feeling affectionate words of the fore-cited sweet Singer [t] Herb. Poem The Glance If thy first glance so powerful be A Mirth but open'd and seal'd up again What wonders shall we feel when we shall see Thy full-eyed Love When thou shalt look us out of pain And one Aspect of thine spend in Delight More than a thousand Suns disburse in Light In Heaven above If thou shalt use to think much of Heaven thou wilt rejoice in that Sight which thou gettest of God and Christ here as a real Pledg of a clearer Vision and nearer Fruition of God and Christ hereafter Thou wilt rejoice in that Communion which thou holdest with the Saints in the Church here as an earnest and assurance of thy Fellowship with them in the heavenly Glory hereafter Thou wilt delight in that measure of spiritual Knowledg and those Beginnings of eternal Life thou attainest here as Tokens and Pledges of a perfection of Knowledg a perfection of Life eternal to be received and enjoyed hereafter Thy thankful cheerful Life will answer the Reward the Riches the Crown the Kingdom which God hath plainly promis'd thee and given a sure Earnest and certain Pledg of to thee The last of the four last Things proposed as the subject Matter of Meditation in order to the right Redemption of Time Let [a] Reade Mr. Bolton of Hell in his 4 last things And Mr. Richard Adams's serm of Hell in the M. E. at St. G. Hell and its Torments be the Subject of thy solemn and frequent Meditation which will be of great Use and Advantage to thee for preventing the mis-spending and promoting the right redeeming of thy Time Hope of Heaven and Fear of Hell are the great Engines apt to turn about our Wills and the forcible Spring of all our Actions and nothing so strongly affects as Fear And we have need enough in this present State to get every Affection wrought upon and to use all possible Motives with our selves for the furthering and promoting the Salvation of our Souls And therefore surely she was overhasty and acted rashly that ran about the City with a Brand of Fire in one Hand and a Bottle of Water in the other and said her business was to set Heaven on fire with the one and to quench Hell-slames with the other that there might be neither of them left only pure Love to move and incite her Piety The devout St. Bernard puts us upon a wiser and better Course [b] Descendamus in insernum viventes ne defcendamus moriâ—ntes Let us go into Hell by Meditation while we live saies he that we may not go into Hell when we die Seriously consider that if thou shouldst prove a final impenitent Sinner when thy Soul shall quit the Tabernacle of thy Body it shall pass immediatly into a State of Misery and dwell in the Region of Devils and of evil discontented Spirits and that thou shalt be raised at the last Day to the * Ioh. 5.29 Resurrection of Damnation to †Dan. 12.2 Shame and everlasting Contempt be raised as a Malefactor is fetched out of Prison to appear in Judgment first and then to be had to the Place of Execution be raised though thou wouldst [c] Malunt extingui penitus quà m ad supplicia reparari Minucius Fel. p. 84. rather chuse to be annihilated than to be restored and raised again to Punishment That then thou shalt be ranked among the Goats on the * Mat. 25.41 left Hand and sentenced to * Mat. 25.41 depart That then thou shalt be excluded and banish'd from the Face and Favour the comfortable †2 Thess 1.9 Presence and blessed Enjoyment of God and Christ in Glory That thou shalt suffer the Loss of all thy outward and earthly Enjoyments have impetuous Desires after terrene and sensual Things still remaining and yet want the Objects which should suit and satisfy please and gratify those Desires But that thy greatest Punishment shall consist in the Loss of God and Christ and of all real substantial Good by the Loss of God and Christ the chiefest Good Consider further That thou shalt be forc'd to depart from Christ into Hell-fire not a purging but plaguing not a purifying but tormenting Fire That it will be no small Pain that will arise from an acute Feeling and lively Sense of the unutterable Losses and unrecoverable Damages thou shalt then sustain by reason of thy Sin from a quick and terrible Apprehension that thou art bereaved of God forsaken of Christ and utterly deprived of all the glorious Good that was so fairly offer'd to thee and from the sad Consideration that they whom thou didst despise and vilify and trample on here on Earth and account the very Off-scouring of the World are at last possess'd and made Partakers of that blissful State which thou findest thy self deprived of As it heightned and aggravated Dives's Misery to behold Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom But well consider That this will not be all but that there shall be a real Presence of all Evil as well as a privation of all Good That as all the Members of thy Body and Powers of thy Soul have been Weapons of Unrighteousness so thou shalt be punished in all the Parts of thy Body and Faculties of thy Soul which then shall be made more capable of Torment and shall suffer-Pain without any Diversion or Intermission Mitigation or Relaxation at all finding * Rev. 14.11 no Rest day nor night That then thou shalt be fill'd with Horrour of Conscience troubled and vexed to think and consider that all the Torments thou indurest are sent in Vengeance and inflicted by Divine Justice by way of Punishment for thy wilful Faults and
giving Nor in not forgiving never forgetting how the wicked uncompassionate Servant in the Parable was delivered by his Lord to the Tormentors Thou wilt strive and labour against sinful [w] Mr. Latimer having in a Sermon at Court in Henry the Eighth's daies much displeased the King he was commanded the next Lord's-Day to preach again and make his Recantation He coming prefaced to his Sermon with a kind of Dialogism in this manner Hugh Latimer Do'st know to whom thou art this day to speak to the high and mighty Monarch that can take away thy Life if thou offend therefore take heed how thou speakest a Word that may displease his Majesty But as recalling himself Hugh Hugh saies he do'st know from whom thou comest and upon whose message thou art sent even the great and mighty God that is able to cast both Body and Soul into Hell-fire for ever and therefore take heed to thy self that thou deliver thy message faithfully and so came to his Sermon and what he had deliver'd the Day before confirmed and urged with more vehemency than ever The King that day called for him and taking him off from his Knees embraced him in his Arms saying he blessed God that he had a Man in his Kingdom that durst deal so plainly and faithfully with him Mr. Newcomen's Serm on Heb. 4.13 p. 37. Fearfulness and not be drawn to do any Evil or omit any Good against clear and full Light of Conscience for Fear of any outward Trouble or Danger recollecting in thy Thoughts that the ‖ Rev 21.8 Fearful shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone Thou wilt be ready (*) Mat. 10.28 Luke 12.5 to set the Fear of God and the Fear of Hell against all carnal Fear of Men or of any temporal Evil whatsoever As the Primitive Martyrs did who when they were solicited by Heathen Emperours to sacrifice to their Idols with these Arguments That then they should save their Houses and Lands and Liberties and Lives but should otherwise lose all They put off all with this Answer [x] Da veniam Imperator tu carcerem minaris ille gehennam Pardon us O Emperour you threaten a Prison to us but God threatens Hell to us So Biblis as [y] Eccl. Hist l. 5. c. 1. Eusebius relates the Story a Woman who having fainted before and renounced her Profession of Christianity out of fear of suffering Persecution and being brought to the Place where the Christians Bodies were burnt to Ashes that others might be drawn from their Profession by means of her expected publick blasphemous Denial and Recantation was at the very Hour of Suffering thoroughly awaken'd as out of a dead Sleep by the sight of those Flames which were the Instruments of the Martyrs Torments to consider the intolerable eternal Torture of Hell-fire which she must unavoidably suffer if she should dishonour Christ and his Religion and asperse the innocent and unblameable Professors of it And thus expelling the lesser Fear by the greater and happily returning unto her self she disappointed her Persecutors Expectation and by being faithful unto Death obtain'd the Crown of a Martyr of Jesus and animated others to endure the Cross with Christian Fortitude and the Patience of the Saints Fix thy Cogitations on the Infernal Flames and this will make thee resolve and determine to chuse rather to do or suffer any thing here than to suffer the sad and bitter Pains of Hell hereafter Concluding that the Pains and Difficulties of Duty are no way comparable to the troublesome uneasy Condition and piercing raging Pains of Hell yea that the Suffering of Martyrdom here is a light Affliction to the dreadful Suffering of Hell-fire hereafter The serious frequent Meditation of the exquisite Punishments and dolorous Torments of Hell will moreover powerfully perswade thee to be far from [z] De horribili eorum exitio admoniti fideles praesentem illis sortem non invideant Calv. envying the greatest Prosperity of wicked Men who shall one day change their present Felicity for extream Want and utmost Misery lose the Presence of God and Christ and the full Fruition of endless Pleasures in Heaven and suffer an Eternity of distracting Pains and racking heart-renting Torments in Hell for a few bitter-sweet transient Pleasures here on Earth Yea this will help thee to bear any outward Affliction patiently and quietly to accept of any temporal Punishment of thy Iniquity considering thou deservest Hell it self and that all thy present Straits and Sufferings are nothing to the Wants and Losses the Pains and Miseries of damned Persons That eminent Pattern of Christian Patience the holy [a] His Life among Mr. Clark's Lives of ten em Div. p. 178. Mr. Jeremy Whitaker did humbly adore God's Goodness in the midst of his sorest sharpest Sufferings and violent excruciating racking and grinding Pains which were caus'd and continued by a complication of acute Diseases the Stone Ulcer Gangrene and expressed himself with marvellous Meekness in such Words as these Lord thou givest me no occasion to have any hard Thoughts of thee O who would not even in Burnings have honourable Thoughts of God Blessed be God there is nothing of Hell in all this Again This will throughly awaken and quicken thee to take heed of beginning the Hell here which will be compleated and consummated hereafter of being now of an hellish frame and temper of Mind of departing from and living without God and Christ which is not only Man's Sin but Misery which is a very Hell upon Earth and will be a great part of the future Hell of contracting and strengthning vicious habits here and of exposing thy self to the Misery that naturally arises from Sin to the Rebukes and Upbraidings of a guilty Conscience Considering with thy self that an hellish Temper and Disposition if thou livest and diest in that Condition will surely continue and be confirm'd in the other World and that an hellish State will prepare thee for and bring thee to the place of Hell This will also engage thee to bless God for Christ for giving his only begotten Son to * 1 Thess 1.10 deliver thee from the Wrath to come by suffering Tribulation and Anguish for thee and †5 9. not appointing thee to Wrath but to obtain Salvation by Jesus Christ. And to be truly thankful to Jesus Christ who condescended to be forsaken of God that thou mightst not be totally deserted and eternally forsaken of him and endured the Fire of God's Wrath that thou mightst be perfectly freed for ever from Hell-fire This will provoke thee by Faith and Repentance and bringing forth Fruits * Mat. 3.7 8. meet for Repentance * Mat. 3.7 8. to flee from the Wrath to come and to seek to escape the Damnation of Hell And this will cause thee to hate and abandon the cursed Arts and wicked Waies of †23.15 making others the Children of Hell to dread the
natural Infirmities not to cause moral Distempers as means to * Eccl. 10.17 sustain and refresh our Bodies that our Bodies may be fit to serve our Souls and our selves may be enabled with vigour and alacrity to serve and honour God in the proper Duties of our particular Places We should eat our Bread before God as the Expression is Exod. 18.12 that is not only as in the sight of God but as the * 1 Cor. 10.31 Apostle speaks whether we eat or drink we should do all to the Glory of God Remember to direct these natural Actions to spiritual Ends and to make them an occasion of some Exercise of Religion Be never wanting to beg a Blessing of God before you eat And when you sit at Table as [h] Cùn manducas nequaquam totus manduces sed corpore tuo suam refectionem postulante mens suam non negligat memoria suavitatis Domini vel Scripturarum poscat Meditationes Bernard St. Bernard advises be not wholly employed in eating and drinking but your body requiring and receiving its due repast let not your Mind neglect its proper refection Refresh your Soul when you feed your Body and use such holy Meditations as may keep and preserve you from †Jam. 5.5 Rom. 13.14 nourishing your Hearts from ministring fuel to your Lusts and making provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof [i] Fox Act. and Mon. 2 vol. p. 1457. Mr. Fox reports of the holy Bradford that in the midst of Dinner he used often to muse with himself having his Hat over his Eyes from whence came commonly plenty of Tears dropping on his Trencher Whenever you recruit and repair your Nature strive then to provoke and stir up in thy self and others ‖ Mat. 5 6. hungrings and thirstings after Righteousness Remember meditate and discourse of the Sweetness of Christ of the refreshing strengthning Ordinances of Christ of being (*) Ps 36.8 abundantly satisfied with the Fatness of God's House and of drinking of the River of his Pleasures of feeding and living by Faith on the Promises of the Gospel and receiving the * Rom. 15.4 Comforts of the Scriptures With Job †Job 23.12 esteem the Words of God's Mouth more than thy necessary Food or appointed Portion With David acknowledg the Laws and Judgments of God to be ‖ Ps 19.10 sweeter than Honey and the Honey-comb than the sweetest and purest Honey Think and speak of the (*) Joh 6.48 50 51 55. living Bread which came down from Heaven of the Bread of Life the (†) Rev. 21.6 22.17 Water of Life of spiritual (‖) Isa 55.1 Wine and Milk * 1 Pet. 2.2 Desire the sincere Milk of the Word that you may grow thereby Have a longing Mind to that spiritual Food which is Meat indeed and Drink indeed Taste and relish the †Rev. 2 17. hidden Manna Delight thy self in the serious Fore-thoughts of ‖ Mat 8.11 sitting down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven of (*) Luke 22.30 eating and drinking at Christ's Table in his Kingdom Raise and lift up thy Mind to the Celestial Table strengthen and sharpen thy Appetite to the most delicious heavenly Banquets Let the Consideration and Hope of the spiritual Joys and purer higher Pleasures of the other World cause thee to despise these gross and brutish Pleasures to say in the Words and with the Affection and Spirit of Mr. Herbert [k] Home What is this weary World this Meat and Drink That chains us by the Teeth so fast [l] Church-porch p. 5. Look on Meat think it Dirt then eat a Bit. And say withal Earth to Earth I commit Entertain thy self with better fare and richer cheer Thank God you have * Joh. 4.32 Meat to eat which the World knows not of Let others †6.27 labour for the Meat which perisheth but do thou resolve rather to labour for that Meat which endureth to everlasting Life Account and reckon it thy Meat and Drink with thy blessed ‖ 4.34 Saviour to do the Will of thy heavenly Father And with (*) 4.31 32. him have a greater care of making provision for others Souls than of supplying thy own bodily Necessities When at usual seasons thou nourishest thy Body be sure thou doest not then forget to (†) 1 Tim 4.6 nourish up thy self and others in (‖) 6.3 wholesome Words in the Words of Faith and of good Doctrine which is according to Godliness Even while thou arc feeding thy Body as thou hast occasion and opportunity let thy * Prov. 10.21 Lips feed many I remember Cicero introduceth Cato giving this good account of himself that he loved to feast with his Friends and Neighbours not so much for the [m] Neque enim ipsorum convivtorum delectationem corporis voluptatibus magis quà n catu amicorum sermonibus metiebar Bene enim majores nostri c. Ego verò proster sermonis delectationem tempestivis conviviis delector c. Cicero de senect corporal Pleasure of eating and drinking as for the delight and refreshment of the good Discourses that were used among them at such Meetings And Tertullian informs us that much of Religion was mingled with the Meals the very common Meals of the Primitive Christians That they did not offer to [m] Non priùs discumbitur quà m oratio ad Deum praegustetur It a suturaatur ut qui meminerint etiam per noctem ado andum Deum sibiesse c. Aequè oratio convivium duimit non tam coenam coenaverint quà m disciplinam Tert. Apol. c. 39 take their Meat before they had tasted the spiritual sweetnesses of Prayer and Devotion That they fed as those who well remembred that they were to go upon their Knees to God before they went to Bed and therefore narrowly watch'd over themselves that no degrees of Intemperance at Supper might dull and indispose them to the Duty of Prayer and unfit them for the Worship and Service of God that night That they talk'd and confer'd as those that knew God heard And after Supper as any was able either out of the holy Scriptures or out of his own Invention he was called forth into the midst of the Company to sing a Psalm or Hymn to God which was a manifest Proof what temperate measures he had at that Meeting kept in drinking having loaden neither his Stomach nor his Understanding Prayer in like manner dismiss'd the Company who then departed with setled dispositions and sirm resolutions to lead most modest chast vertuous godly Lives as those who at that very season had not so much made a Meal as kept a Discipline had at that time been at a Lecture rather than at a Supper and then had more replenish'd their Souls than satisfied their Bodies And both [n] In ipsa mensa magis lect onem vel disputationem quà n epu ationem