have to do a work that requires a great part of your time and worthy of all your time How hard is it to work out your Salvation to make your Calling and Election sure to strive to enter in at the strait Gate to be born again to be made new Creatures to be renewed in the Spirit of your mind to put off the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light to add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity To have the image of God renewed in your Souls to be made partakers of the Divine Nature to escape the corruptions which are in the World through lust to be conformed to the Example of your Blessed Lord and Master in those Virtues wherein you ought to imitate him to learn of him who was meek and lowly to go about as he did doing good to the Souls and Bodies of Men to be zealous for God and holy as he who called you is holy in all manner of Conversation How great a work is it to overcome your selves To become vile and base in your own eyes to think meanly of your selves and to be willing that others should think so of you too to be content with every state and condition of life wherein God does by his Providence place you to bear wrongs and injuries with meekness and patience not to be overcome with evil but to overcome evil with good to mortifie your sinful desires and sensual appetites to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts to purifie your selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit to cleanse your Hearts from all manner of wickedness that they may be fit Temples for the Spirit of God to dwell in to govern your eyes that you may not thereby betray your Souls into the hands of your Enemies to govern your Lips to take heed to your ways that you offend not with your Tongue to put away from you all lying flattery and dissimulation all evil speaking whispering and backbiting all foolish talking and jesting which are not convenient to be sober and temperate in all things to be just and sincere in all your dealings doing to others what you would have them do to you How great a work is it to overcome the World to despise its Pomps and Vanities not to be allured and charmed by its smiles nor yet frighted and cast down by its frowns not to suffer your selves to be possessed with the love of Riches to entertain just and fit opinions of the things of this World to consider them as vain uncertain and unsatisfactory enjoyments which are not capable to make you happy which are only so far to be desired as they are necessary in order to your accommodation and more easie subsistence in the World How hard is it to overcome the temptations of earthly pleasure and outward delights and not to suffer your minds to be too far transported by the love of them but to use even the most innocent pleasures with great moderation lest they lead the Soul Captive and render it unfit for the true pleasures How hard is it to live in the World as Pilgrims and Strangers ought to do to pass through this Wilderness without much regarding it but fixing your eyes on the happy Land the heavenly Canaan which you ought to look on as your only Country How hard is it to escape the danger of the evil Manners and Customs which are in the World The many temptations which you have to vanity and folly to pride and passion to gluttony and drunkenness to luxury and sensuality and to other Vices by the bad Examples of your Friends Neighbours and other Acquaintances How great and difficult a work is it to resist the Devil to quench his fiery darts to reject his suggestions to discover his wiles and stratagems to watch against all his assaults and vigorously to oppose his temptations that you may overcome him and triumph over him Now this is the work you have to do For we wrestle not saith the Apostle Eph. 6.12 against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places How hard and dangerous a Warfare must it needs be that makes it necessary for you to take the whole Armour of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand How hard a work is it to read and hear and meditate to examine your selves to pray to God and to praise him to partake of the holy Sacrament and to perform all other Acts of Devotion and Piety as you ought to do How great a work is it to love God above all things to love him with all your Soul and Heart and with all your strength and might and to keep your selves in the Love of God that it may be in you a powerful Spring and Principle unto all good actions that you may be thereby sweetly constrained to do and to suffer whatever is his holy Will and Pleasure Is it not a great work to perform aright all those Duties which you are bound to do in your several relations and capacities To instruct to admonish to reprove and to comfort others and to do every thing you can for the good of Mens Souls and Bodies Let no Man saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.24 seek his own but every Man anothers wealth And Chap. 13.5 Charity seeketh not its own that is not only its own it seeketh not its own to the prejudice of another but it endeavours to promote the happiness and welfare of others The charitable Person hath an eye to the good and benefit of other Men as well as his own gain and advantage And besides all this you ought to â—ave so much Zeal for the Glory of God and the good of Souls as to endeavour to do somewhat which may â—ave a lasting effect and influence not only in the present time but in the time to come You ought to contrive by all means to propagate Religion to do somewhat which may bear fruit for the honour of your Maker and Redeemer when you are laid in the Grave From all which you may see what a great and difficult work you have to do in the World and how great need you have to redeem time and to lose as little of it as is possible How necessary is it for you to begin your work betimes and to be constant in the pursuit of it In the Morning to sow your Seed and in the Evening not to withhold your hand What a madness is it to have your work to begin when your time is almost at an end when there are but a few sands in your Glass You who have so long a Race to run and so much bad Way to pass through and who are so weak and have so
Babes desire the sincere Milk of the Word that your Souls may grow thereby You must hear it with great reverence and attention and with humble and tractable minds you must study to have it ingrafted in your Hearts that it may abide there as a Scion in a stock and may grow and bear fruit unto everlasting life You must reflect on what you hear when you leave the Church you must not lay aside all further thinking on what has been read or preached to you you are to talk a little with your own hearts about those things and to call to mind any thing you heard which tends to make you wiser and better Endeavour to have it deeply imprinted on your Souls that it may prove unto you the Power of God unto Salvation the savour of life unto life If you find that you have been too often guilty of singing the Praises of God with your mouths only without any melody in your Hearts without any real sense of the greatness and power of the kindness and love of the patience and long-suffering of the truth and faithfulness of him whom you praise and celebrate Endeavour to be more devout and serious in that part of Worship sing unto God not only with your Voice but with your Heart which is the chief thing that God looks to Study to raise your Souls to him as well as to lift up your Voices when you sing his praises Stir up all within you to bless his holy Name who forgiveth all your Iniquities and healeth all your diseases who crowneth you with loving kindness and tender mercies who prevents you every Morning and follows you all the day long with many signal instances of his Fatherly care and love giving you richly all things to enjoy for life and godliness If you find that you joyn in the Publick Prayers without any due Sense of God upon your Souls and without any real impression of those things to which you say Amen if you find that you repeat some words as do others but in the mean time your minds are busie in pursuing shadows in thinking of your Trades your Sports and Pastimes c. be ashamed that you do thus lose your precious time that you are guilty of such trifling in the most serious and sacred action Endeavour to be more affected with a right sense about what you do that you may offer up unto God the Sacrifices of broken and contrite Hearts that you may pour out your Hearts before him and may worship him with all your Soul and Mind Bid farewel to your Worldly Cares and to your Pleasures and Vanities when you come into his presence to pay your homage to him Serve him with your best affections with the strength and vigour of your desires and with all your power and might If you do this you may then expect with great assurance and confidence that God will give ear unto you and satisfie your longing Souls with good things he will make you taste and see how good he is But if you pray without being in good earnest your Sacrifices will be an abomination to him he will not regard your Prayers nor take any notice of you He will answer you according to the multitude of your Idols If you find that you lose time by your communicating in a careless and formal manner without considering the end and design of that holy Institution and without endeavouring to prepare your selves as you ought to do that you may eat and drink worthily at the Table of the Lord study to redeem this loss by partaking of this Sacrament for the time to come in a more devout and religious manner Be careful to approach with greater love and gratitude unto the Table of your Lord who not only allows you to come but kindly and lovingly invites and encourages you to do so Come with your Souls burning with love to him who dyed for you and who appointed you this Sacrament that therein you might remember his wonderful love and his astonishing compassion and mercy which he hath testified in laying down his life for sinners that he might purchase to them everlasting Life and Glory even to as many as repent and believe the Gospel Come with your Hearts deeply wounded and pierced with sorrow for your sins and follies which were the cause of so shameful so painful and so cursed a death to your dearest Lord and Saviour Come with your Souls full of sincere and hearty purposes and resolutions of being new Creatures not to live any more unto your selves or unto the World but to him who dyed for you Come with your Souls likewise enlarged with thoughts of kindness and unfeigned Charity to all Men with your minds delivered from all bitterness and wrath from all malice and envy that you may eat and drink at this Feast of Love with sutable dispositions of universal Love and Charity Come with a great desire to obtain strength from the God of your Salvation that you may be able to fight the good fight of Faith and may at last lay hold on Eternal Life In this manner you ought to endeavour to redeem the time by doubling your care and diligence in all those Duties of Religion in the performance whereof you have been formerly faulty and defective Thus you are to do likewise in every other Action which you perform to the glory of God When you find that you have been too formal and careless in what you have done and said for God for Example in admonishing others in instructing them in reproving them in comforting them c. endeavour to redeem time by doing those things with greater sincerity and zeal with a more pure regard to the Glory of God with a greater desire to approve your selves unto him who gives you the opportunity of doing somewhat for his Honour and with greater Charity to the Souls of Men. Depend on God for a Blessing in all your endeavours beg of him that he would direct and assist you to do that which is good and well pleasing unto him and that he would so dispose the hearts of those whom you admonish instruct reprove or comfort that what you speak to them may not be lost but may have the desired effect for the glory of God and their happiness and welfare From what hath been said you may see how you ought to redeem your time The next thing which I proposed to speak to was to suggest to you some Considerations to excite you to do so Some Motives to excite you to do these things 1. Motive from the shortness of your Time First Consider how short your time is Your life is compared to a Vapour which appears for a little time and then vanisheth away Jam. 4.14 It makes a little shew and appearance for a while and then it is gone It is compared to a Post to the Swift Ships and to the Eagle that hasteth to the Prey Job 9.25,26 And to the Wind and to a Weaver's
Secondly Consider how dangerous a thing it is to live an idle vain and unuseful life God hath promised Men his protection only when they are in the way of their Calling when they employ themselves in that state of life wherein by his Providence he hath settled them in the World So the Psalmist instructs us Psal 91.11 He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways that is in all honest and lawful undertakings and in all actions that belong to your Calling So that if you are idle and give up your selves to a lazy and useless manner of living in the World doing nothing that 's profitable to your selves or others you put your selves out of God's protection and thereby you give the Devil advantage over you and you lay your selves open to all his Temptations When was it that David fell into those two foul Sins of Adultery and Murther Was it not when he yielded for a short time to ease and liv'd idly at home And if so excellent and holy a Person was so soon corrupted by Ease and Idleness have you not great Reason to avoid this Vice which is deservedly called The Mother of all Evils and the Step-Dame of all Virtues Thirdly Consider that the end of this idle and useless life is very sad Cast the unprofitable Servent into utter darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Math. 25.30 Not only shall wicked Servants be cast into utter darkness but also unprofitable Servants who hide their Talents in a Napkin that is who do not employ to any good purpose those Gifts which God bestows upon them who stand idle all the day long in the Vineyard 8. Time to be redeemed in sacred performances by doing them in the best manner Eighthly Redeem time in your sacred and religious Duties and Performances by endeavouring to do them in the best and perfectest manner you can When you read and pray and meditate and examine your selves and hear the word of God preached and sing his praises and partake of the Holy Sacrament and perform other acts of Religion and Piety in a lifeless dull unconcerned and formal manner you lose your time and therefore when by due reflection upon your ways you find that you do so endeavour afterwards to redeem it by greater watchfulness and seriousness otherwise you may go on a great while in a course of Devotion to very little purpose if you do not stir up your selves to do the best that 's in your power to do by God's help Thus when you find that you have read the Word of God in a careless and negligent manner without considering whose Word it is and for what end it is written and without those dispositions of mind that are necessary you must afterwards endeavour to redeem the time by being more careful to read that Sacred Book with greater Reverence and Seriousness and with greater Pleasure and Delight Pray to God more heartily for the direction and assistance of his Holy Spirit Meditate more attentively on what you read and lay it up in your hearts that it may be always in a readiness for your use as the rule of your lives If you find that you have lost your time in Prayer by not making your Addresses to God with a deep humility and reverence with unfeigned Faith and fervent Love and with great earnestness sincerity and importunity endeavour afterwards to pray with all possible humility and reverence with greater faith and confidence and with a mighty earnestness and fervency of Spirit Study to have your Souls possessed with a deeper sense of your wants and necessities that you may beg supplies of all needful things from him who can help you to the utmost Be more sensible of the greatness of your sins and of the many hainous aggravations that attend them that you may make humble confession of them with true sorrow and contrition Consider the danger to which your Hypocrisie or Formality and Lukewarmness in Religious Duties do expose you that you may with great integrity and uprightness of Soul make your Addresses to the Searcher of Hearts and Tryer of the Reins who takes pleasure in the hearty and chearful services of those who draw near unto him Be possessed with more lively impressions of the Divine Power and Greatness of the Justice Holiness Goodness Mercy and Faithfulness of God that the sense thereof may make you adore him and call upon him in such a manner as is suitable to so Glorious a Majesty If you find that the time you have set apart for Self-Examination has been lost by a negligent performance of this Duty by your not being in good earnest when you pretended to call your selves to an account Endeavour to redeem the time by searching your hearts and enquiring into your ways with greater care and exactness Examine and try your selves as in the sight of God as Men that are in good earnest to save their Souls from Everlasting Condemnation Deal impartially with your selves do not extenuate your own faults but aggravate them by all just and fit considerations Endeavour to be deeply touch'd with hearty Contrition and real Grief and Sorrow for them let your Repentance in all regards be more sincere and unfeigned and your purposes and Resolutions more strong and steady If you find that you have reflected on God's Mercies and Favours to you without that grateful sense which you ought to have had thereof and without making suitable returns so far as you were able by his Grace for his great and undeserved goodness endeavour afterwards to employ your thoughts on so delightful a subject as is the Divine Love and Goodness with greater pleasure and with a more lively sense thereof than you have been wont Let the consideration of the love and goodness of God powerfully move you and prevail with you to do somewhat which may testifie the reality of your gratitude somewhat that may be of real benefit to the Souls or Bodies of others If you find that you have been very formal and careless in performing what relates to the publick Worship endeavour to redeem the time by being more sincere and devout For Example if you have heard the Word of God read and preached in a trifling and unconcerned manner without those dispositions of mind which were requisite in a Christian Hearer and in an humble Disciple of Jesus Christ if you have attended on such occasions more out of compliance with Custom and the Example of others than out of Conscience and from Principles of true Religion and Devotion Consider that this is to lose time and under an appearance of Religion to remain without any thing of it in reality You must therefore afterwards endeavour to hear the Word of God in another manner to wit as the Law and Rule of your Lives as that which is given you of God to make you wise and good and to fit you for everlasting Happiness and Glory you must as new born