Thoughts of ever becoming the unhappy Instruments of hurrying any others to Hell And will incline thee in Pity and Charity to the Souls of Sinners to do thy best by all means possible to keep all about thee from running and falling into that ‖ Luke 16.28 place of Torment to be zealous and industrious to [b] Si fieri possit abâ—spsis inferis extrahendi nobis sunt homints Calv. in Act. 8.22 (*) James 5.20 save Souls from Death to save (†) Jude 23. them with Fear pulling them out of the Fire as the (‖) Gen. 19.16 Angels of old plackt lingning Lot out of Sodom Not to suffer thy Neighbour ever to go to Hell quietly but rather to territy thy sinful Brother than to permit him to miscarry for ever Obj. But is not this a slavish Tomper to be moved to my Duty out of Fear of Hell Should not the Love of God be the Principle that acts us and [*] 1 Joh. 4.18 perfect Love is said to cast out Fear I answer When all the Motives and Incentives that possibly can be made use of will scarcely effectually put us upon Duty surely we have [c] Bonum tamen est ut si necdum amor à malo te revocat saltem timor gehennalis coerceat Thomas a Kempis l. 1. c 24. n. 7. little reason to let go or lay aside any one of them but to use whatever may work upon us Love or Hope or Fear And as for a Christians Love to God it does not here exclude all Fear because it is not perfect in this Life It will indeed in the future Life cast out all Fear of Damnation And it may be so perfect in this Life as to banish and expel all distrustful tormenting Fear which consisteth in terrifying disquieting Apprehensions that God will deal with a Man as a Slave take Advantages of him condemn and destroy him whenever he does amiss But the true sincere Love of God is fairly consistent with a filial cautelous preserving preventing Fear [d] Mr. Baxter in his Directions for Peace and Comfort Doult 6. A judicious Divine well observes that it is a great Mistake to think that filial Fear is only the Fear of temporal Chastisement and that all Fear of Hell is slavish Even filial Fear is a Fear of Hell which yet is join'd with such a Perswasion of God's Love to us that we conclude he will not cast us off upon every provocation and is accompanied with some Love in us to God and with Care and Watchfulness lest we should by Apostasy and final Impenitency miscarry eternally The ninth Direction If you would redeem the Time you must endeavour to spiritualize your common and ordinary worldly Employments and must take care that your natural as well as civil Actions partake of Religion 1. You must endeavour to spiritualize your ordinary civil or domestical Employments by doing them all in Oâ—edience of Faith and making them the Instruments whereby to shew forth your Honesty Equity Righteousness Justice and whatever Vertues may be exercis'd therein You must make conscience to follow your Calling out of an awful respect to the Command of God to do what you do even in civil Business in the Name of Christ as the Work of Christ so as you may say at that time Now I am about the Work of God and of Jesus Christ I thank God my Conscience bears me witness I am acting in Obedience to Christ expecting a Blessing from Christ upon what I do and I look to receive a Reward from Christ The Apostle commands Servants * Col. 3.23 24. whatsoever they do for Men to do it heartily as to the Lord to serve the Lord Christ in the Service they do to their earthly Masters Thus to work for God and Christ is for that time to honour God and Christ as much nay more by the meanest servile worldly Act than if you should spend all that time in Prayer Meditation or any other spiritual Employment to which you had no sufficient Call at such a time The devout Herbert in one of his sacred [a] The Elixir Poems desiring God to teach him what he did in any thing to do it as for him expresses himself thus sweetly and spiritually All may of thee partake Nothing can be so mean Which with this Tincture for thy sake Will not grow bright and clean A Servant with this Clause Makes Drudgery divine Who sweeps a Room as for thy Laws Makes that and th' Action fine This is the famous Stone That turneth all to Gold For that which God doth touch and own Cannot for less be told 2. We must take care that our natural as well as civil or oeconomical Actions partake of Religion be inscribed with * Zech. 14.20 21. Holiness unto the Lord and by the purity of our end and intention therein become as acceptable [b] Vt quiequid aggrediantur homines sit sacrisicium Calv. in loc Sacrifices unto God That on all occasions we [c] In cilo potu homines sacri erunt Deo sanctitatem colent Id. ib. eat and drink not merely to indulge and gratify our Appetite [d] Seâ—ing there must be in us a sensitive Appetite whilst we are in this animal State iâ— is to be endeavoured a far as may be that we gratify the Appetite nor aâ— it is a sensitive Appetite but under this notion as the thing that it desires makes for our real good and tends to the enjoyment of the supreme Good to eat and drink not because we are hungry or thirsty because the Appetite desires it but with reference to the main end with respect to the highest Good that the Body may be enabled strengthned and quickned to wait upon the Soul chearfully in the Actions of a holy Life Mr. S. Shaw in his Voice of one Crying in a Wilderness p. 149 150. as it is a sensitive Appetite not only or chiefly to [e] It is lawful in all hences to comply with a weak and a nice Stomach but not with a nice and curious Palate Bp. Taylor 's Rule and Exerc. of holy Liv. c. 2. § 2. meas 3. please our Taste That we do not cover a Business of Pleasure under a pretence of preserving Health or the fair colour of supplying Nature as [f] Ad hoc incertum hilarescit infalix anima ut obtentu salutis obumbret negocium voluptatis Aug. Conf. l. 10. c. 31. §. 2. St. Austin confesses he found himself too apt to do And more especially that we never offer to pamper our Bodies that we may be the stronger to serve our Lusts That we do not eat and drink our selves either into Lust or out of Duty But that we take our Meat as our Medicine as [g] Hoc me docuisti ut quemadmodum medicamenta sic alimenta sumpturus accedam Id. ib. §. 1. St. Austin acknowledges God had taught him to do use Meat-and Drink as remedies to cure
and make a mock at Sin and hear the Relation of another's Wickedness with an inward Tickling and secret Delight As if the Reproach and Dishonour of God were a very good jest and the eternal Damnation of immortal Souls were a Thing fit to make sport with 4. Once more Let it make our very Hearts ake to take notice-of some who instead of vexing themselves with the unlawful ungodly Deeds of the Wicked do daily vex and afflict themselves with the lawful and godly Deeds of the Righteous Who miserably trouble and torment themselves with the Goodness and Holiness and not with the Vileness and Wickedness of others Who storm at others Strictness and fret and fume at others Forwardness in the Way of Holiness and are mad at heart that any that live among them refuse to run with them into all Excess of Riot To whom the very Presence and Company of a good Man is oftentimes as offensive and troublesome as would be the visible Appearance of the Devil among them Who heartily vex to hear at any Time any serious savoury good Discourse from them and are tormented before their Time by the gracious Lives and good Conversations of serious conscientious Christians 5. And after all Let it be no small trouble and grief to us to find so few troubling themselves with such Matters as these That Men too generally should only regard themselves and mind their own Bags and Backs and Bellies and Bodies and feel nothing but that which touches their outward Estates and nearly concerns their worldly Interests but wholly neglect and disregard the Cause and Interest of God and Goodness in the World That so many so patiently can see and hear and bear any open and common Wickedness and if they can be respected themselves matter it not much tho' God be dishonoured So they themselves be pleased care little or nothing though God be displeased and if they themselves can but get gain let God and Religion lose what they will for them That Men should count it a piece of over-much Righteousness to take any notice of others Faults and think it enough to cry God mercy for their own Sins without afflicting and tormenting themselves with the Sins of others That Magistrates should be so little sensible of daily Affronts done to God That Ministers should see their Flocks running on to Destruction and have no more Bowels of Compassion That Masters of Families should not at all lay to heart their Servants Offences and frequent Trespasses against their heavenly Lord and Master That Parents Hearts should even ake again if any little Hurt or Illness come to their Children's Bodies and their Bowels never yearn at all though mischief and Misery through Sin and Iniquity fall upon their Souls to all Eternity That Men should kindly do their Neighbours any friendly Offices in Civil Matters relieve them if in Want visit them if they be sick pull out their Ox or Ass if fallen into the Ditch and if their House be on Fire presently run and help to quench it and yet-never be affected with the sad and lamentable shiritual Estate of their Neighbours That Men should see and suffer those about them to make Shipwrack of a good Conscience to lose their Peace lose Heaven lose their God lose their Souls to be just falling into Hell-fire to grow violently sick of the Plague of the Heart to die in their Sins before their Eyes and perish in their Iniquities before their Faces without fetching one Sigh or dropping one Tear for them or speaking one Word to them or lending a seasonable Hand to help them How ought they to be ashamed that can be passionatly affected in other Matters and yet have no Passion no Trouble no Tears for the common and dangerous Sins of the Times and Places in which they live and to which they belong Let us be affected with their Want of Affection upon so great and urgent an Occasion Are the Daies evil in respect of evil Men and their evil Manners let us be troubled at the Evil of them That 's the first 2. Are the Daies thus evil Let us then see that we be not made worse by them Let 's * Eph. 51.11 have no Fellowship with the unfruitful Works of darkness as the Apostle adviseth †Philip. 2 15. Let 's be blanieless and hurmless the Sons of God without Rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation as the same Apostle exhorteth Where you see the Apostle argues from the ill Quality and bad Condition of those among whom they conversed for as [p] Erant enim eo tempore mores Judaeorum Gentium non conversarum ad Christum corruptissimi Grotius in loc Grotius observes the Lives and Manners both of the Jews and unconverted Gentiles were at that Time exceeding corrupt And here the Argument holds these two Waies 1. It concern'd the Philippians to be sincere and upright [q] Quod agerent inter maloi qui pro animi sui pravitate etiam bene facta criminarentur Estius in loc because they lived with such wicked Persons who were ready to slander that which was good and therefore would be sure to aggravate that which was bad So Estius And this same Duty greatly concerns our selves this Day for the same reason 2. It behoves us to be careful of our Conversation in the midst of a wicked and adulterous a crooked and perverse Generation [r] Vt nihil ab illis malitioe pravit at is nobis affricars sinamus Zanchius in loc that we our selves be not corrupted and depraved with the evil Manners of those among whom we live So Zanchy upon the Place Let 's be careful to avoid all Occasions of Sin and to resist all Temptations to tlie Sins which reign and abound in the Times and Places wherein we live Though we dwell among the Wicked let 's not communicate in their Sin nor give any countenance to their Wickedness But beg and use God's Grace and Help implore and employ the divine Strength for the overcoming and conquering the Temptations both of Men and Devils And heartily bless God that we are not left and forsaken of God and given up to the reigning Sins and Vices of the Times Let 's not be conformed to this World to the evil Customs and vicious Manners that generally prevail and take place in it nor follow a multitude to do evil If never so many should stab themselves at their very Hearts or drown themselves in the Thames or sore their Houses with their own Hands to consume and destroy themselves would this induce any wise Man to do the like Why then should any offer to * 1 Tim. 6.9 drown themselves in destruction and perdition to throw themselves into Hell-fire and to cast away their Souls for ever because many others do so When Vice grows into Fashion Singularity is a Vertue When Sanctity is counted Singularity happy is he that goeth in a Manner alone and walks
should worship him in the Christian Religion upon more mild and moderate more gentle and favourable Terms than others have done that we should serve him in quiet peaceable prosperous Circumstances and that we should please him only with the Purity of our unspotted Actions and with the Sanctity of an undefiled Life So that our Faith and Devotion is the more deeply indebted to him because he exacteth less of us and yet hath vouchsafed more to us And therefore since our Princes are now professed Christians and we are not under any Persecution from the higher Powers and our Religion is not disturbed we that are not forced to make Proof of our Faith by harder Experiments ought certainly to study the more to please our Lord and Master by being faithful in those cheaper Services and less costly Duties that lye before us and are incumbent on us For he that fulfils his lesser Offices does give some proof and pledg thereby that he would be ready to perform his Duty in higher Instances and harder Matters if the Case required it and if he were called to it So far that ancient and excellent Father And truly how reasonable is' t and how becoming that if God do not call us to suffer so great and terrible worldly Evils in the Cause of the Gospel and the reform'd Religion we should therefore readily and cheerfully bear and sustain Troubles and Exigencies of less Weight at his Desire and Request That we should confess him by Integrity and Fidelity in his Service and please him by Abstinence from unlawful Pleasures of what kind soever none of which can be so dear to us as is our Life That we should speedily part with our Lusts when we are not commanded presently to part with our Lives That we should regulate and reform our Lives when we are not required to lay down our Lives and to shed and sacrisice our Blood Thanks be to God we are free from the Magistrate's Persecution in the Cause of Religion But beside such Persecution arising from the Civil Magistrate meerly upon the Account of Christianity or of the Profession of the Reformed Religion there is another Persecution proceeding from wicked Men whereby they persecute those that are good these two Ways 1. By their injurious Carriages towards them in Particular 2. By the Wickedness and Ungodliness of their Lives in General 1. By their Injuries and Indignities offer'd and done to good Men in Particular * Isa 59.15 He that departeth from evil maketh himself a Prey He that will not do as others is in Danger of being undone by others He cannot be safe that will not be wicked It is not enough that the Wicked will not be the better for the Good but the Good shall be some way the worse for them If they cannot corrupt and deprave them they will molest and disquiet them If they cannot draw them into Sin they will if possible bring them into trouble and create them Suffering and Sorrow enough They will endeavour some way or other to infringe their Liberty to disturb the Peace and Quiet and to destroy the Comfort of their Lives They will sometimes sin if it be but of purpose to grieve them as by beginning and offering to impose Healths in drinking out of a Design to displease and dissatisfy or ensnare and entangle some part of the Company who they know will either refuse and deny it or be drawn with Reluctancy and unwillingly to it So likewise by customary Swearing and by repeating and multiplying their Oaths to vex and trouble a sober Reprover And in like manner by railing reviling vain and idle speaking frothy and filthy Communication on purpose to cause Vexation and Affliction Of all which Course and Carriage of theirs you may take this double Account The Wicked have a Frejudice and an Antipathy against the Righteous and these are the Reasons of their Dealing with them in this manner 1. The Wicked have a strong Prejudice against them They have a wrong Opinion of them They judg amiss concerning them He that departeth from evil is counted a mad Man or causeth himself to be counted a mad Man [w] See Mr. Gataker in the Engl. Annot. So some render that Place Isa 59.15 * 2 Kings 9.1 as Elisha's Minister was called a mad Fellow Again Ungedly Men count those that are good the Troublers of Israel and postilent Fellows the Causes of Calamities and Procurers of Judgments an Imputation which we shewed you out of Tertullian was cast of old upon the Primitive Christians They reckon those a very Plague and Curse that are a Blessing to the Places where they live and under God the grand Preservers and chief Supporters of them They judge those unworthy to live of whom †Heb. 11.38 the World is not worthy and to whose living and dwelling among them they themselves do sometimes ow their very Lives They deem those as the ‖ 1 Cor. 4.13 Filth and Off-scouring of the World who are indeed God's (*) Mal. 3.17 Jewels and the (†) Psal 16.3 Excellent in the Earth and (‖) Prov. 12.26 more excellent than their Neighbours They look upon good Men as troublesome and vexatious proud and imperious because they reprove them 2. The Wicked and Ungodly have an Enmity and Antipathy against good Men They are * 2 Tim. 3.3 Despisers of those that are good It is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not Lovers of the good [x] Omni immonorum hestes qut ob morum discrepantiam ab amicitia bouorum abhorrent Opposium ei laudi quam habemus Tit. 1.8 Estius in 2 Tim. 3.3 Haters and Persecuters of all good Men So Dr. Hammond paraphrases upon that Place They are displeased with them because they study to please God and are careless of them because they have a care of their Time a care of their own Souls [y] Quibus ipsum nomen vsrutis odio est Sen. de vit beat cap. 19. They hate Holiness and the Righteous for it †Amos 5.10 They hate him that rebuketh in the Gate or in publick And as it is expressed Isa 29.21 They make a Man an Offender for a Word and lay a Snare for him that reproveth in the Gate and turn aside the Just for a Thing of nought by falsehoods make the Cause of the Righteous go the wrong Way They cannot endure the Dispositions and Affections nor bear the Livers and Conversations of the Godly which they find as contrary to their own Humours and Manners as can be We have a notable lively Character and Description of them Wisd 2. from the tenth to the End Let us oppress the poor righteous Man say they let our Strength be the Law of Justice let us lye in Wait for the Righteous because he is not for our turn and he is clean contrary to our Doings he upbraideth us with our offending the Law and objecteth to our Infamy the Transgressings of our Education
beneficial to all about me according to my measure and capacity as Christ himself was To do every Thing so even as Christ himself were he placed in such circumstances as I am and stood in the same relations as I do would do and act What Christ has done in our Flesh before us is very possible to be done by us in the strength of God and Christ And it is a Thing not only fecible but very reasonable that we the Disciples and Servants of Christ should improve our Time to the best advantage when he our great Lord and Master lost not an Hour mis-spent not a Minute of all the Time of his whole Life lead here upon Earth It is true we can never exactly answer our Copy nor fully come up to our Example But let 's endeavour to come as near as we can for as [b] Lent Mr. Herbert excellently let this encourage you Who goeth in the Way which Christ hath gone Is much more sure to meet with him than one That travelleth by-waies Perhaps my God though he be far before May turn and take me by the hand and more May strengthen my decays The second Motive Consider in the second Place That as Christ did redeem the Time to save us so the Devil does daily redeem the Time to destroy us As there is a good Spirit active in the World inviting and alluring Men to Vertue and Goodness and endeavouring to bring them to a participation of Holiness and Happiness with himself So there is an evil impure unbodied Spirit perpetually soliciting and inticing Men to Sin and Wickedness and labouring continually to hurry and precipitate them or gradually and insensiby to draw them into the same condition of Perdition and Destruction into which he himself is fallen and sunk without hope of Remedy or possibility of Recovery The Devil was * John 8.44 a Murtherer from the beginning He set upon Adam in Paradise who was in his full strength He ‖ 1 Chron. 21.1 provoked David to number the People yea he †Mat. 4. assaulted Christ himself who was not only the Son of David but the Son of God and had nothing in him to give advantage to him And when Satan left him being overcome by him he departed from him but * Luke 4.13 for a season as if resolving to take a fit opportunity to return again to him and have another bout with him And he [c] Neque enim membris parcet qui cum capite praeliatur Calv. in 1 Pet. 5.8 that takes heart to fight with the Head will never spare the Members He daily follows the Disciples of Christ designing to draw them from †Luke 22.31 God and their Duty He desir'd to have the sifting and shaking of Peter liberty to do his worst to drive him from the Faith of Christ He studies to * 2 Cor. 2.11 get advant age of us The Head of this old malicious subtil Serpent is alwaies plotting and contriving our Sin and Misery Fall and Ruin We are not ignorant of his (*) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 2.11 Devices or sophistical Reasonings He continually useth his (†) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 6.11 Methods or Wiles The Tempter will tempt by ‖ 1 Thess 3.5 some means or other usually [d] Dr. Sclater in loc p. 216. by suggestion prompting and casting of evil Thoughts into our Minds And often by Perswasion or pressing the Suggestion with such Reasons and Arguments as may move our Minds to approve and incline our Wills to consent to some Evil as good He labours to perswade us either by promising some good or threatning some evil to us And sometimes he tempts us by instigation and provocation or restless and importunate urging of the Suggestion till if it be possible he has gain ' our Consent He makes it his business to tempt us either immediatly or mediatly by his Agents and Instruments making use of the choicest and most likely Instruments to work with us and prevail upon us He suits his Temptations to our Tempers and observes and takes the most convenient Seasons of dealing successfully and effectually with us He is still laying his Traps and * 1 Tim. 6.9 2 Tim. 2.26 Snares to take us captive at his will He is ready to assault us with his †Eph. 6.16 fiery Darts to propose such sensual Baits which like [e] Poisoned Darts are wont to inflame the parts that are wounded with them and therefore are called fiery Darts as the Serpents with poisonous Stings are called fiery Serpents Dr. Hammond's Par in loc poison'd Darts will wound us to Death if the consideration of our Duty the Promises and Terrors of Christ received by our Faith do not help to quench them The Devil loses no Moment of time that may serve his Design and further his Endeavour to undo us He lets no Opportunity flip of doing us any Mischief He is a nimble stirring busy Being He goes to and fro in the Earth and walks up and down in it St. Peter tells us from his ‖ Luke 22.31 own experience and with some reference to (*) Job 1.7 Satan's Confession and Acknowledgment that (†) 1 Pet. 5.8 our Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour He 's an Adversary in Law as the [f] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an opposite in forensal Proceeding So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 12.10 a word most opposite to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Advocate which Christ is said to be word here used imports a cunning Plaintiff whose work it is upon all occasions to indict and accuse us before God He is also an Enemy in War A subtil and strong Enemy like a Lion A fierce and furious Enemy like a Lion roaring through [g] Syn. Crit. Anger or impatient Hunger to fright and amaze and so catch his Prey A venturous daring Enemy like a roaring Lion pinch'd with Hunger ready to set upon any thing as his Prey An indefatigably restless and industrious Enemy like a Lion walking up and down as intent as may be to take and pursue every occasion and opportunity that offers and presents it self to him alwaies watching how to get us into his power and reach And lastly as mischievous and pernicious as mortal and deadly an Enemy as can be earnestly seeking not whom he may bite or lightly hurt and wound but whom he may devour undo and destroy Soul and Body swallow down at one draught as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies and by swallowing him down as it were [h] Sicut id pot ûs cibi quod quis devoravit in substantiam suam vertitur qui Christum per fidem comedunt siunt divinae naturae participes ita si quem satanas deglutiit participat naturam diabolicam Dr. Arrowsmith Tact. sacr l. 1. c. 3. §. 3. turn him into his own Nature make him Partaker of a
render suitably to the Lord for such undeserved and it may be unexpected Blessings and Benefits We reade of Abraham's Servant that when his Master sent him to take a Wife for his Son Isaac he sought God and said * Gen. 24.12 O Lord God of my Master Abraham I pray thee send me good speed this Day and shew Kindness unto my Master Abraham And when God had given him good Success †Vers 26 27 48. he worshipped and blessed God which had led him in the right Way When Jacob was greatly afraid of Esau's coming ‖ Gen. 32 9 10 11. he prayed to God to deliver him from the Hand of his Brother When Nehemiah understood the Misery of Jerusalem he (*) 1 Neh. 4.11 fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven and intreated God to proper him that Day and to grant him Mercy in the Sight of the King So when Esther was to make an extraordinary Suit to King Ahasuerus (†) Esth 4.16 she and her Maidens fasted and prayed for an happy Issue and good Event When David was troubled with slanderous Enemies (‖) Ps 109.4 he gave himself unto Prayer And upon the Receit of Sennacherib's blasphemous Letter [*] Isa 37.14 15 21. Hezekiah went up unto the House of the Lord and spread it before the Lord and prayed against Sennacherib King of Assyria Christ upon his approaching Passion [†] Matt. 26.39 42 44. prayed thrice in the Garden St. Paul likewise when there was given to him a Thorn in the Flesh the Messenger of Satan to buffet him * 2 Cor. 12.7 8. for this thing he besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from him How eminent have many pious Persons been for gaining Opportunities of Religious Addresses and for their Care to improve much Time in Prayer whether upon ordinary or extraordinary Occasions It is the worthy Commendation of [k] Knolles's Hist of the Turks p. 580. Philippus Villerius the Great Master of the Rhodes that all the Time he could spare from the necessary Cares of his weighty Charge from Assaults and the natural Refreshing of his Body he bestowed in Prayer and Serving of God He oftentimes spent the greatest Part of the Night in the Church alone praying his Head-piece Gorget and Gantlets lying by him so that it was often said that his devout Prayers and Carefulness would make the City invincible Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden would pray a Ship-board a Shore in the Field in the midst of a Battel 'T is a memorable Passage in the [l] Fox Acts and Mon. 2 vol. p. 1457. Life of Mr. John Bradford that his continual Study was upon his Knees and no doubt he mingled many holy Prayers with his hard Studies [m] Id. ib. p. 1579. Mr. Hugh Latimer in the latter Time of his Imprisonment which was at Oxford from April to October did oftentimes continue so long in fervent Prayer kneeling that he was not able to rise without Help And three special principal Matters which he ever mention'd in his Praiers at that Season were these That God would give him Grace to stand to his Doctrine until his Death that he might give and shed his Heart-blood in the Defence of the Gospel That God of his Mercy would restore his Gospel to England once again once again He also desired with Tears that God would preserve the Princess Elizabeth and make her a Comfort to his comfortless Realm of England All which Requests God graciously granted and in Answer to his first particular Desire it was very remarkable that his Body being open'd by the Force of the Fire his Blood which gather'd much to his Heart gush'd out of his Heart with Violence and ran out in Abundance [n] Eccl Hist l 2. c. 23. Eusebius out of Aegesippus tells us of James called Justus that his Knees were grown very callous hard and brawny benumm'd and berest of the Sense of Feeling by reason of his continual kneeling in Supplication to God and Petition for the People So Gregory relates of his Aunt Trucilla that her Elbows were as hard as an Horn by often learning on a Desk when she prayed And St. Jerome in an Epistle to Marcella mentions this in the Praises of Asella that by her frequent kneeling in Prayer she had contracted such an Hardness on her Knees as is to be found on the [p] Durities de genubus camelorum in illo sancto corpusculo prae orandi frequentia obcaluisse perspecta est Hier. ad Marcell de laudib Asellae Knees of Camels The same Father writes in the Life of Paul the Hermite that [q] Ac primum iâ—se vivere eum credens pariter orabat Postquam verò nulla ut solebat suspiria precantis at divit in flebile osculum ruens intellexit quod etiam cadaver Sancti Deum cui omnia vivunt officioso gestu precabatur Hier. in vit Pauli Eremitae Anthony entring into the Cave found there the dead Body of that Saint in a praying Posture upon its bended folded Knees with its Head listed up and its Hands stretched out on high [r] O ter belitam il'ius animam sine corpore cujus adâ—o venerabundum corpus sine anima Arrows Tact. sacr p. 273. How happy now is his Soul without his Body whose Body was in a worshiping Gesture without his Soul 3. If we would redeem the Time we must give our selves to frequent holy Ejaculation either mental or vocal inwardly lifting and darting up our Petitions and Heart's Desires or orally uttering them in some very short yet pithy Expressions of both which we have several Instances in Sacred Writ * Exod 14.15 Wherefore [s] In Dei auribus desiderium vehemens clamor magnus 〈◊〉 regione autem remissa iniontio vox submissa Bern sâ—rm 16. in Ps 90. criest thou unto me said God to Moses when Moses utter'd not a Word that we do reade of but only used strong Ejaculations inward ardent Desires and Groans †Nehem. 2.4 So I prayed to the God of Heaven said holy Nehemiah that is he dispatch'd and sent up some short Heart-prayers to Heaven that God would direct his Tongue and bend and [t] Qui preces ad Regem perferre vult priùs ad Deum perserat cujus in manu corda sunt Regum Grot. in loc incline the Heart of the King the King's Heart being in the Lord's Hand He could pray no otherwise at that Time for he was then in the Presence of the King and in Discourse with him And Nehemiah ‖ Nehem. 13.14 21 31. and (*) Mat. 11.25 John 12 27 28. our Saviour and others did use by an holy Apostrophe to turn their Speech to God in vocal Ejaculations The true Christian as a solid [u] Shaw's Immanuel p. 73. Divine saies well does not limit himself penuriously to a Morning and Evening Sacrifice and Solemnity as unto certain Rent-seasons wherein to pay an Homage of dry
our Health and Strength to resume our old-acquaintance Sins or to * Ps 85.8 turn again to Folly Did we but answer our sacred Vows and solemn Promises we should no longer be expensive and wasteful of our pretious Hours We should not be [f] Inter caetera mala hoc quoque habet stultitia proprium semper incipit vivere Epicuri dictum à Seneca laudatum ep 13 Considera quà m foeda sit hominum levitas quotidie nova vitae fundamenta ponentium novas spes etiam in exitu inchoantium Id. ib. Malè vivunt qui semper vivere incipiunt quia semper illis imperfecta vita est Non potest autem stare paratue ad mortem qui modò incipit vivere Id agendum est ut satis vixerimus nemo hoc putat qui ordetur cùm maximè vitam Id. ep 23. alwaies beginning to live but should live indeed and in good earnest We should in time make so sure of a blessed Eternity that we should never more have cause to fear either Sickness Death the Grave or Hell The twelfth and last Direction If we would effectually redeem the Time we must not give way to any Delay but strengthen and settle our Resolution against any farther Procrastination * Luke 19.44 Know the Time of thy Visitation †Verse 42. Know in this thy Day the things which belong unto thy Peace ‖ Is 55.6 Ps 32.2 Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near (*) Job 22 21. Acquaint now thy self with God (†) Mat. 5.25 Agree with thine Adversary quickly whilst thou art in the Way with him (‖) 3.7 Flee from the Wrath to come Not go nor run but flee * Heb. 6.18 Flee for Refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before you as of old the unwitting and unwilling Man-slayer was wont to hasten to take hold upon the Horns of the Altar and to †Exod. 21.13 Num. 35.6 Deut. 4.41 flee for safety to a Sanctuary or City of Refuge when hotly pursued by the enraged Avenger of Blood Be able to say with holy David ‖ Ps 119.60 I made [a] Properat vivere nemo sntis Martial l. 2. epigr. 90. haste and delayed not to keep thy Commandments Where the Prophet expresses it both affirmatively and negatively and so the more Emphatically after the manner of the Hebrews to shew his promptitude and readiness speediness and quickness in [b] Calv. in loc comparison of those dull and lazy Procrastinators who come not at all or come but softly and slowly to God And [c] Quanquam verba sunt praeteriti temporis continuum tamen actum notant Ibid. though the Words speak of the time past yet as Calvin observes they note a continual act I made haste and delayed not and I still make haste and now do not delay to keep thy Commandments Remember how Abraham rose up early in the Morning and without objecting or disputing or letting slip the first opportunity was ready to offer and forward to sacrifice his only Son at God's command Gen. 22.3 And how Christ's Disciples at his first Call immediatly left their Nets the Ship and their Father and followed him Matth. 4.20 22. And take Example by the wise Merchant in the Parable who dispatch'd his necessary business immediatly without cunctation or delay The account there given of him is express'd all in the present Tense He * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 13.44 goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth the Field in which the Treasure was hid †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 6.10 While you have opportunity do good to your selves and do good to all Let me say to you concerning Time and Opportunity as Boaz said to his Kinsman concerning the Land ‖ Ruth 4.4 If you will redeem it redeem it Stand no longer dallying and trifling in a matter that requires haste and speed For here consider 1. The sooner the better 'T is better 1. In respect of God 2. Of our selves 1. The sooner we redeem the Time the better it is in respect of God for God is abundantly more honoured and better serv'd by it He is more honoured by it Our making haste to redeem the Time prevents the doing of much Dishonour which by great and gross misspence of our Time would many waies be cast upon God by our affronting his Authority continuing in open Rebellion against him breaking his holy and righteous Laws abusing his Creatures and misemploying his Gifts from day to day And more than so It actually and positively does much honour to him as it is a ready present obedient Answer to God's Call who cries * Heb. 3.7 13. To day while it is called to day And a real demonstration and high expression of our ardent Love and hearty Affection to him and his Laws and Waies and an open and constant Justification of their Equity Bonity Suavity and Amability in the eye of the World And it is no small Honour done to God that by making haste and not delaying we devote the best of our Time to him and put him not off with the very dregs and refuse And further yet as God is more honoured so he is much better served by it The more haste we make to redeem the Time we shall be the better disposed more adapted and sitted for the Service of God become more meet Vessels for our Master's Vse and not only acquire greater Abilities but meet with larger more frequent and various Opportunities of doing God faithful and acceptable Service The sooner we enter in the longer we shall labour in our Lord's Vineyard and do the more work for our Heavenly Master 2. The sooner we redeem the Time the better it is in respect of our selves 'T is more honour able more pleasurable more profitable to do it sooner than later 1. It is more honour able to hasten and not to delay for this is a Sign that our Acts and Deeds are free and voluntary not forced and constrained That what we do in Religion we do of good will and choice On a Sick or Death-bed a Man is scared into a sudden and unchosen Piety and frighted into sits of involuntary Devotion He that never sets himself to redeem his Time till a mighty Fear forcibly drives and impells him to it till he finds he approaches and draws near to the Gates of Death and Hell and is ready to give up his unready and unallowable Accounts to the great and righteous Judg This Man acts dishonourably for he does nothing out of disaffection to his Sins nothing at all for the Love of God and for the sake of Vertue But it is an Honour and a Credit to a Christian to redeem the Time by his own Election and to act for God out of a free and ingenuous Principle of Love 2. The more haste we make to redeem the Time it is so much the more pleasurable
Will you make them labour for you six Daies together and will not you cause them to serve God one Day in seven Be at least as much concern'd in Case of neglect of God's Service as you are at any Time when your own Work and Family-business is neglected Do it for God's sake Shew that you love the Honour of God and not only respect your own Commodity and look to your own Advantage Do it for your Servant's sake Make it their Business to do God Service that they may be approved and rewarded by him Yea do it for your own sake Make your Servants God's faithful Servants that so they may prove more faithful to you and that God may bless them in your Service and that your Work may thrive and succeed in their Hands On this Day especially call thy Family thy whole Family to Family-duties prepare them for and hasten them to the publick Ordinances It is reported of [w] M. Clark in his Life Dr. Chaderton the first Master of Emmanuel-Colledg that he was married three and fifty Years and yet in all that Time he never kept any of his Servants from the Church to dress his Meat saying that he desired as much to have his Servants know God as himself And it was the Custome of the Reverend and pious [x] See his Life among Mr. Clark's Lives of ten Em. Div. Dr. Gouge to forbear providing of Suppers the Eve before that Servants might not be occasioned thereby to sit uplate neither would he suffer any [y] Die Dominicâ ut in festis licet etiam ciborum lautiorem apparatum habere quamvit in eis parandis ne majora impediantur servorum animae detrimentum non necessarium iucurrant summopere curandum est Baxter Meth. Th. part 3. c. 14. p. 172. Servant to stay at home for dressing any Meat upon the Lord's-day for the Entertainment of Friends whether they were mean or great few or many Take your Family to Church along with you and when you return home again examine catechize inform instruct them recapitulate the Sermon read the Scripture and good Books to them whet practical profitable necessary saving Truths on them sing Psalms among them and pray most heartily and affectionately with and for them And you that are Servants who have little leisure most of you on other Daies and who live too many of you in such profane and ungodly Families where you hear not so much as one Praier put up to God nor one Line of the Word of God read nor one serious Word spoken of God all the Week long what reason have you carefully to redeem the Lord's-day to redeem it in publick by devoutly attending to the Prayers that are made and the Word that is both read and preacht in the publick Congregation And to redeem it in private by taking all possible Occasions to retire and go aside by your selves to consider in secret the needs of your Souls to examine your Hearts and States to review your Lives and Actions to humble your selves in Confession of Sin and to pour out your Souls in Prayer for Pardon and Grace to read the Bible and some instructive practical Writings of the most judicious experimental Divines apt to inform your Judgments and to work and prevail upon your Affections to set your selves to meditate of God to draw out and engage your Hearts to God rather than to lavish out and throw away those precious Hours in foolish Talk and frothy Discourse or in gadding abroad and walking idly in the Fields and recreating your Bodies rather than your Souls and in thrusting God and turning Religion wholly out of your Minds and Hearts and nourishing your selves in Ignorance of God and Unacquaintance with him and in Encreasing the Atheism of your Hearts and Lives and hardening your own and others Hearts through the Ensnarements of the World and the Deceitfulness of Sin But it may be you will say you are hard wrought all the Week long and you have reason to take your ease and pleasure and to rest and recreate your tired Bodies one Day in seven that so you may endure your Labour and go through all your Work the better I answer that your very Cessation in any measure from your wonted Labour is an ease and relief to your weary Bodies and that the very change of your Work and Occupation from secular servile Employment to spiritual divine Worship and Service and the Diversion of your Minds from worldly Businesses to the Offices and Exercises of Religion if you would but acquaint your selves with them and use your selves to them would be delightful and refreshing to you And the Peace and Quiet Joy and Comfort of a good Conscience in the faithful Discharge of your Duty to God and a tender Care of your immortal Souls would strengthen and hearten you to bear all the Burthen of the hardest Labours of your domestick Ministeries in consideration that your heavenly Father Lord and Master will accept and reward your Works of Piety and bless and prosper the Works of your Hands in the Houshold-businesses and Family-employments incumbent on you and belonging to you Rather break your Sleep to rise the earlier than lose the Opportunities of that Day Or chuse to leave and live out of those Families in the which you are forced to live without God are debarr'd from his Service and can have no Liberty allowed you to mind God and your Souls on a Day that was purposely ordained and appointed for your spiritual Proficiency and Improvement Let the Poor of this World redeem this Day by taking this Opportunity to labour spiritually for the Meat which perisheth not but endureth to everlasting Life and by hearing the Gospel preach'd in this Season to them to become rich in Faith rich in Grace to know and to partake of the Grace and Favour the Love and Kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ who though he was rich yet for our sakes became poor that we through his Poverty might be made rich You that are poor and mean and low in the World and who cannot take so much Time as others to worship and enjoy God on the Week-Daies see that you well improve this Day Now you are released from secular Businesses and common Services and your Bodies rest from their hard Labours be sure that you spiritually busie and holily employ your selves in the Service of God Let me likewise charge them that are rich in this World to redeem this choicest Part of their Time and in it to endeavour to be rich toward God rich in God to lay up for themselves a Treasure in Heaven to obtain the true certain durable Riches which when they fail will never leave them but when they remove will bear them company into the other World And here let me hint to you of the Gentry what [z] Fuller's Church-Hist B. 11. p. 146. Dr. Paul Michlewait once urged and pressed in a Sermon at the Temple that Gentle-folk of all
unde descenderim semel haec mihividâ—nda sint an saepe nascendum quò hanc sturus sim quae sedes expectat animam folutam legibus servitutis humanae vetas me caelo interesse idest jubes me vivere capite demisso Sen. Ep. 65. Tunc natarae rerum gratias ago cum secreticra ejus intravit cùm disco quis universi auctor aut custos quid sit Deus Nisi ad haec admitterer non fuerat nasci Detrahe hoc inaestemabile bonum non est vit a tanti ut sudem ut aestuem O quà m contempta res est homo nisi supra humana surrexerit Sen. Praef. Nat. Quaest Our Time is given us to study to know and acquaint our selves with God and our selves To contemplate the Creator To rise and ascend from the Effects to the prime Cause and ultimate End To seek and embrace the first Truth and chief Good which only can satisfy Man's Mind desirous of more Truth and his Will capable of more Good than finite Beings can afford By diligent Searching to find out God to be our absolute Owner supream Governour and great Benefactor and to labour to be suitably affected towards him and every way answerably observant of him [b] Magnum majúsque quà m cogitari potest numen est cut vivendo operam dà mus Huic nos approbemus Sen. apud Lactant. de vero cultu l. 6. § 24. To own and acknowledg love fear and serve the Author of our Beings and Patron of our Lives to put our Trust and place our Confidence in him and to take care to promote and advance his Interest in the World To contemplate and reflect upon the [c] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I hoc lid Poem Royal Pedigree the noblo and divine Extraction the high and heavenly Original the excellent Nature and large Capacity of our incorporeal and immortal Souls the Alliance of our Spirits to the Father of Spirits and to charge our selves to live and act worthy of so high and honourable a Descent so noble a Nature such excellent Endowments To confider and ponder the direct Respect and certain Referenoe that this Life has to another That the World we live in we must not live alwaies in That this is not the Place of our Happiness and Rest That we are but Pilgrims and Strangers here and Travellers toward * Heb. 11.16 [d] Sapiens patitur mortalia quamvis sciat ampliora superesse Sen. Ep. 65. a better Country That this World is but the Road and Way that surely leads to another That this World is but a Nursery for Eternity that we are planted in this in order to our Transplanting into the other World That the present Liâ—e is not a durable permanent Condition nor the final State of Mankind but is only intended as a certain [e] See Mr. Howe 's very rational Proemial Discourse to the Blessedness of the Righteous preliminary preparatory State [e] Per has mortalis aevi morns illi meliori vitae longto ique proluditur Quemadmoduns novem mensibiu nos tenet maternits uteries praeparat non sibi sed ili loco in quem videmur emitri jam idonei spiritum trahere in aperto durare Sic per hoc spatium quod ab infantia pates in senectutem in alium maturescimus partum Ala origo nos expectat alius rerum staius Nondum coelum nisi en intervallo pati possumus Seneca Epist 102. and fitly contrived and wisely designed by way of present previous Probation in order to future Happiness or Misery that God has placed us here for a Time that we may be [f] Aeternitatis candidati Tertull. Candidates for Eternity [g] Discitéque 8 miseri causas cognoscite rerum Quid sumus quidnam victuri gignimur Quem te Deus esse Jussie humanâ quâ parte locatus et in re Pers Sat. 3. Time is allowed us to consider and answer the Ends of our coming into this World to dispatch the Errand and finish the Business which our heavenly Father Lord and Master hath given us to do To find out and discover the ill Condition and unsound Constitution the Incurvation and Depression of our Souls the Vitiosity moral Deformity and wretched Degeneracy of our Nature the Sickness and Weakness Disorder and Distemper of all our Faculties the ill Bent and wrong Biass and perverse Inclination of our Minds and Wills Hearts and Affections To observe and bewail that lamentable [h] Plut. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and unhappy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hanging and flagging of our Soul's Wings the drooping and moulting of our Souls their losing those noble Feathers by which they should nimbly raise themselves and fly and soar as high as God and mount up and aspire to heavenly Things To be truly sensible of and sadly affected with the Mutiny and Rebellion of the brutish and inferiour Faculties of our Souls against the higher Power and soveraign Faculty of our Reason And to endeavour what in us lies by all possible means to recover and rectify to purify and sublimate our heaven-born Souls and to use well and rightly our seeing and foreseeing our intellectual and elective Faculties and Powers To open and clear the Eye of our Souls to [i] Dociles natura nos edidit ratienim dedâ—t im â—rfectam sed quae perfici posset Sen. Ep. 49. improve and heighten our Reason to ripen and strengthen our Judgment to enlarge and widen our Understanding and to live and act suitably and agreeably to right Reason and the sober Dictates and most mature Judgment of a sound and solid Understanding To consult the divine Oracles and search the sacred Scriptures and thence more clearly to gather and fully to discover our sinful miserable State by Nature To learn plainly and certainly from divine Revelation the particular Manner of our Apostacy and Defection the Universality of our Depravation and Corruption our Obligation to Punishment for our Transgression and Rebellion and the ready Way and infallible Means of our happy Recovery and Restitution to the Image and Favour of God And out of a deep Sense and Feeling of all our Sin and Guilt and spiritual Impotency and Inability to seek God's Face and Favour in Christ to seek his Grace and Strength and with Faithfulness and Diligence to use his Grace and uct in his Strength And in the Vse or Reason which is Man's proper Vtensil and by the Help of divine Grace to govern our Senses to tame our wild and extravagant Fancies to curb our [k] Efficiendum est ut appetitus rationi obedtant cui sunt subjects lege naturae Cic. l. 1. de Offic. Appetite to moderate our Affections to bridle our violent and boisterous Passions and to [l] If we suppose this Life to be a State of Tryal in order to a better as in all reason we ought to do what can be imagined more proper to
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
approbemus Sen apud Lactant. de vero cultu l. 6. §. 24. It nothing profits us to have a Conscience shut up within us we are open to God Let 's approve our selves to him What rare Lectures are these from a meer Pagan Philosopher how consonant and agreeable to the sacred Scripture That ancient Father much admiring the high and raised Expressions falling from that incomparable Stoick professes concerning him [f] Potuit esse verus Dei cultor si quis illi monstrasset accontempsisset profecto Zenonem magistrum suum Socionem si verae sapientiae Ducem mactus essit Lactant. loc cit He might have been a true Worshipper of God if any one had but shewn him the right Way and surely he would have contemned Zeno and his Master Socion if he had but met with a ready Guide to true Wisdome And Erasmus before his Notes on Seneca's Works gives this Judgment of his Writings [g] D. Hieronymus Senecam recensuit in catalogo Sanctorum Si legas illum ut paganum scripsit Christianè si ut Christianum scripsit paganicè Erasmi de Sen. judicium ante Comment in Sen. Oper. If you reade him as an Heathen he wrote like a Christian if you reade him as a Christian he wrote like an Heathen But to return to the Matter in hand To live as under God's Eye is more than to live as in the presence of all the good Men in the World more than to live as in the Sight of all good Men and Angels Well then with holy * Psal 16.8 David let us set the Lord alwaies before us The Lord sets us alwaies before himself let us therefore set the Lord alwaies before our selves for then if ever we shall work strenuously follow our Business closely bestir our selves to purpose and carefully look about us when we really believe that our Lord and Master stands by us and looks upon us Did we but consider that God * Job 31.4 sees all our goings that he †Job 34.21 counts all our Steps that he knows all our Waies our crooked winding Waies wherein we live wherein we dy not live and is more far above Deceit than Deceit seems above Simplicity as Mr. [h] Sict Poâ—m A Wreath Herbert expresses it This Consideration would cause us to make streight Paths and to order our Conversations aright If a Reverend grave Divine a severe Magistrate a Parent a [i] Rp. Andrews as if he had made Mr. Mulcaster formerly his Schoolâ—â—after his Tutor or Supervisor placed his Picture over the door of his Study whereas in all the rest of his House you could scaurly see a Pâ—â—ture His funeral Sermon at the end of his Sermons p. 18. Master an Husband a Wife a Servant a Child a Friend or an Enemy stood by beheld and heard you would often forbear many an unhandsome uncomely unseemly Word and Action If you were always plac'd under Mens Observation you would study to do every thing to their Approbation and Satisfaction And could you spend your Time in immoderate Eating Drinking Sleeping Attiring in Swearing Swaggering Gaming Sporting Playing vain and srothy and wanton Discoursing in any idle unworthy ungodly Action if you did but imagine at such a Time and in such a Place that God was by and saw or heard whatever was said or done Pray do but actually and seriously consider that wherever you are the omniscient and omnipresent God is alwaies one of the Company and ever beholds whatever you do and this will restrain you from doing Evil and powerfully constrain and effectually engage you with Care and Diligence to do your Duty to embrace and improve every Opportunity and to make a Benefit and Advantage of it The Apprehension of God's all-seeing all-searching Eye will be of excellent Use and Advantage to us at four Times especially 1. Actually consider that God sees you when you ordinarily visit one another and at any Time feast and make merry together Whenever you go to see one another remember and consider that God sees how you spend your Time together that whenever you meet together God is present in your Company he hears your Discourses and writes down your Words he observes and registers your Actions He takes exact and strict Notice how much Time you spend idly and unprofitably how far you exceed in your Recreations what Gluttony and Drunkenness mingle with your Feastings Still therefore meet together as those that can never steal or step out of God's Presence Say and do nothing together but what you are willing that God should see and hear Whenever you feast feast as before the Lord and when you eat and drink together eat and drink as before the Lord. 2. When buying or selling remember you are manifest in God's Sight that all you do is naked * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 4 1â— ript open unbowell'd anatomiz'd turn'd inside outward in the Eye of God Consider that God stands by and sees your Dealings hears the making of every Contract is a faithful Witness to every Bargain and is privy to your Carriage in your particular Calling to all your Breaches and Violations of commutative Justice Never offer to deceive Man because it is impossible to deceive God The Tradesman may secretly falsify his Weights and mingle his Wares and lie and dissemble to get them off the better But God understands his false Dealings and discovers his deceitful Heart and Hand Men may cunningly cheat and cozen their Neighbours but they can't blind and impose upon God * 1 Thess 4.6 Let no Man go beyond and defraud or over-reach his Brother in any Matter because the Lord is the Avenger of all such Let not the Seller abuse the Ignorance or Credulity of the Buyer nor the Buyer work upon the Simplicity or Necessity of the Seller let him not say †Prov. 20.14 It is naught it is naught and when he is gone his way then boast of his Penny-worth Though such may promise themselves Impunity among Men yet God is the Beholder and Avenger of all such 3. Consider this in your secret Retirements and private Families 1. Consider this in your secret Recesses and Retirements That God is present looks on and weighs and ponders all your Doings That God sees the very [k] Meminerit Deum se habere testem Itaque vir bonus non modò facere sed ne cogitare quidem quiequam audebit quod non andeat praedicare Tullius apud Lactant. de vero cultu l. 6. c. 24. hidden Motions and vain Imaginations of your Hearts He knows all your secret Designs and Projects he beholds the most private unseemly Carriages and filthy Deeds He sees within thy close-drawn Curtains though they be of Cloth where never yet came Moth to use again the ingenious Words of the holy [l] Sacr. Poem Misery Mr. Herbert * Psal 90.8 Our secret Sins are set in the Light of God's Countenance †Psal 139
before Death and Judgment and to live idly loosly and voluptuously all the Daies of thy Life till the very last But surely thou wilt reckon now That the great Vncertainty of Christ's coming is a notable Spur to Vigilancy and Watchfulness That now not being secure any one Moment 't is thy Wisdom to stand upon thy Watch continually lest Christ come at a Time when thou doest least expect him and find thee in a Posture uncapable of Mercy from him unqualitied to receive Benefit by his Coming Frequently and intently think that the Time of thy Death and particular Judgment is very uncertain That thou * Mark 13.35 knowest not when the Master of the House cometh at Even or at Midnight or at the Cock-crowing or in the Morning whether he will call thee in the Daies of thy Youth or in the Midst of thy Daies or in elder Years Whether he will take thee in thy Bed or at thy Table or in a Journey At what Time or by what Means he will cite and summon thee to leave this World and to come to Judgment Consider that thou maiest drop into thy Grave before the fall of the Leaf from the Tree Yea that though now in perfect Health thou maiest be dead [l] Qend in die judicii futurum est omnibus hoc in singulis die mortis impleter Hier. in c. 2 Joelis Tunc unicuique veniet dies ille don venerit ei dies ut talis hinc exeat qualis judicandus est illo die Aug. ep 80. and doomed and damned before the next Lord's-day that this very Day this Hour thy Soul may be required of thee and be presently judged to Heaven or Hell and pass immediatly into an unchangeable State and Condition And that the particular Judgment will consign thee over to the general Judgment which will be conform to and a Confirmation of the former for ever And this will raise and quicken thee to watch alwaies lest coming suddenly he find thee sleeping secure in thy Sins lest that Day come as a * Luke 21.35 Snare upon thee and when thon shalt †1 Tless 5.3 say Peace and Safety then sudden Destruction come upon thee as Travail upon a Woman with Child and thou canst not escape This will cause thee to take heed to thy self lest at any Time thy Heart be over-charg'd with Surfeiting and Drunkenness and the Cares of this Life and so that Day come upon thee unawares To dread the Thoughts of being surprized and taken unprovided by the great and just Judg of Angels and Men. This will help thee to be constantly careful as to thy Person that it be such as may find acceptance in that Day and careful as to thy Employment that it be such as is suitable to thy Expectation of Christ's Coming and sit to be approved by thy Lord To be alwaies in a readiness to receive thy Summons and give up thy Accounts To reason and argue thus with thy self It Christ's Coming should surprize me in such a Course of Sin what a woful Case should I then be in Shall I dare to live in that State which I shall tremble to be found in at the Day of Judgment Represent thy Judg as standing at the Door and this will excite thee to watch and pray alwaies that thou maiest be * Luke 21.36 accounted worthy to escape the Sentence of Condemnation and to stand before the Son of Man To pray God to make thee such a wise Virgin as may timely take care to trim thy Lamp to furnish thy Vessel with the Oil of Grace to put on the Wedding-garment and to get thy self arraied with that fine Linen which is the Righteousness of the Saints that so thou maiest gladly go out to meet the Bridegroom and when others are unprovided and miserably excluded thou being ready maiest be admitted by him and enter with him into the Marriage-Chamber The third of the four last Things proposed as the subject Matter of Meditation in order to the right Redemption of Time III. Let Heaven and its Joys be the subject Matter of thy Meditation And here 1. Think of the happy Condition of a pious Soul in the State of Separation Consider seriously that Christ hath †2 Tim. 1.10 brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel [m] Hodie experiar an animà sit immortalis said Paulus Quintus when he was about to die A brave infallible judg indeed that doubted of the Soul's Immortality Nonne vobis videtur animus is qui plus cernat longius vidâ—rese ad meliora proficisci ille autem cujus obtusior sit acies non videre Cie de sen That thy Soul will subsist after the Shipwrack of this Body and that in the State of Separation it shall not droop in an unactive Lethargy nor be numm without Sence void of all Apprehension and Operation and in a drousy sleepy joyless comfortless Condition till the Resurrection An erroneous Opinion which Pope John the 22th was so stiff and peremptory in that he not only taught it himself but procur'd an Order in the Vniversity of Paris that none should take his Degree in Divinity unless he held it Do thou believe and consider that if thou beest a faithful Person thy Soul at its Departure shall change its State for the better and have a delightful Sense and joyful perception of its good Condition be * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 23.43 quickly with Christ in Paradise †2 Cor. 5.8 immediately present with the Lord and ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 14.13 forthwith blessed be (*) Luke 16.22 carried by a Convoy of Angels into Abraham's Bosom received to him and entertain'd with him That as Ambassadours when they arrive at forreign Courts are conducted thither by the Masters of Ceremonies so thy holy Soul shall be translated by good Angels into a blessed Mansion and with Lazarus be (†) Verse 25. comforted in that Condition That if thou art a just Person thy (‖) Heb. 11.23 Spirit shall then be made perfect thy Vnderstanding be cleared from Ignorance and Errour enlarged and illustrated at thy Departure thy Will be endowed with exact Conformity to the Will of God and with perfect Liberty from all Servitude of Sin and be troubled no more with doubtful Choice but fully embrace the Chief Good thy Affections be duely and firmly plac'd thy Spirit be [n] The Oracle told Amelius enquiring what was become of Polinus 's Soul that he was gone to Pythagoras and Socrates and Plato 'T was a comfort to Socrates that after Death he hoped to see Homer Hesiod O praeclarum diew cùm ad illud animor um concilium 〈…〉 sear cùm ex hac taròa colluvione discedam 〈…〉 seu de Sâ—n. Socrates Critoni Amicos inquit hinc diseedens in eniam vobis aut similes aut eâ—â—am meliores ne vestrà quid m 〈◊〉 diu curiturus quandoquidem ros 〈…〉 estis