Curse that without it our very bread would not be so great a Blessing If it were not for Labour men neither could cat so much nor relish so pleasantly nor sleep so soundly nor he so he althful nor so useful so strong nor so patient so noble or so untempted And as God has made us beholding to labour for the purchase of many good Things so the Thing it self ows to labour many Degrees of its Worth and Valne Labour is necessary not only because we need it for making Provision of out Life but even to ease the Labour of our Rest there being no greater Tediousness of Spirit in the World than want of Employment and an unactive Life And the lasy man is not only unprofitable but also accursed and he groans under the Load of his Time which yet passes over the active man light while the Disemployed is a Disease and like a long sleepless Night to himself and a load unto his Countrey Bp. Taylor 's Serm. 2. V. Ser. 25. p. 322. Vt desidtam Deus prohibet execratur sic opedrentibus morigeris in benedictiouem convertit quod homini init to tanquam pana impositum futt Psal 128 2. Labor om manuum tugrum comedes beatius er bene tibi erit Andr. River loc cirat Blessing For ordinarily no Bread tastes so sweet as that which is earn'd with hard Labour and Sweat 2. Again Idleness is a Sin against our very Redemption * 1 Pet. 1.17 18. Pass the Time of your Sojourning here in Fear for as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible Things as Silver and Gold from your vain Conversation but with the precious Blood of Christ c. This should engage you to walk reverently strictly and watchfully all your Time †1 Cor. 6.20 Ye are bought with a Price God hath pai'd dear given his Son out of his Bosom for the Purchase of you Therefore glorify God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's And let 's remember Christ ‖ Tit 2.14 gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purisy unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works [f] Hammond's Par. He delivered himself up to a shameful Death on purpose that he might ransom us out of the Power of Satan from that Course of vicious living in which Men were before engaged and cleanse us in an eminent Manner to be an holy pious People most diligent to advance to the nighest pitch of all Vertue Christ hath redeemed us to this End that we might redeem Time for his Service Why then dost thou stand lasing and loitering when thou art made and born for Work and redeemed for Work and call'd to Work 3. Farther Idleness is a Sin against our very Bodies and Souls It is in a Manner the Murther of the Body for as the Air and Water so Man's Body is apt to corrupt and putrify without Motion Ease destroys the Health of the Body breeds the Gout and other Diseases And it hurts and taints the Soul too and produceth that Indisposition in it which one fitly calls Podagram animi the Gout of the Soul and another terms it the Scurvy of the Mind 'T is highly prejudicial both to our temporal and spiritual Estate The Man that neglects the Means of a temporal Provision and of his eternal Salvation through Lasiness and Idleness starves and kills both his Body and Soul and every way beggareth and impoverisheth himself in respect to the inward spiritual true Riches of Grace as well as in reference to outward Enjoyments and worldly good Things Without Labour Industry and diligent Husbandry we can neither increase the natural nor improve the divine Riches of our Souls There is nothing to be gotten by Idleness but Misery here and Hell hereaster The * Matt. 25.30 idle and slothful Servant is condemned to be cast into outer Darkness 4. Farther yet Idleness is a Sin against our Neighbour How do they offend against their Neighbours who are wholly unfruitful in their Places and live as unprofitably in their Health as if by Sickness they were utterly disabled for any Service Idle Persons are superfluous Creatures of no Advantage or Benefit to the Body Politick where they live and as Cicero says of the Swine [g] Animam pro sale habent have their Souls only instead of Salt to keep their Bodies sweet They are an unnecessary intolerable Burthen to any Kingdom or Common-wealth It was a pertinent and prudent Question put by Pharaoh to Joseph's Brethren * Gen. 47.3 What is your Occupation An Interrogation says the learned [h] Eâ—ercir in Gen. p 650. vide Pareum in loc Andrew Rivet worthy of a Prince who ought not rashly to receive any Strangers into his Dominion Without first examining whether they be sit for any good Thing and know how by some honest Labour to make Provision for themselves and theirs that they may neither be burthensome to others nor living idly take Occasion of doing ill Hence wise Politicians as he well urges there have expresly prohibited Idleness by severe Laws The Judges of Areopagus took particular notice of the several Citizens at Athens and strictly enquired in what way of Business every one liv'd and whether any addicted himself to base and sluggish Idleness The idle Person was made liable to an [i] Ea nominabatur act to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Rivet loc citat pag. 650. vid. p. 157. Action qt Law and he that was once found guilty of Idleness was according to Draco's old Law presently branded with Infamy But Solon afterward somewhat mitigated that Law and only pronounced him an infamous Person who was a third Time condemned of Idleness The Massilienses of old denied such Persons Entrance into their City as were not skilled and versed in some Art whereby to get a lively-hood Nor did they admit or allow of Players Dancers Jesters Juglers because these Arts do nourish the Idleness oâ—such Spectators as commonly They call and draw to themselves who Waste their Time in Toies And it was ordained by Law among the Persians as the fore-cited Author notes out of Herodotus that at the End of every Year every Sabject should go to the Magistrate to give an Account of their Employment An idle Body is plainly guilty of Injustice and [k] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phocylid Theft for he takes and uses the Creatures he has no right to and lives upon others Labour and Industry The Apostle commands * 2 Thess 3.10 12. that If any would not work neither should he eat that is at the publick Charge or at the Cost of any other And he commands and exhorts such as are idle that they work and eat their own Bread As if it were not their own Bread if not gotten with the Work of their own Hands and the Sweat of their own Faces So far as we are idle we are [l]
People are obliged to a strict observation of the Lord's-day The Gentry in comparison rest all the Week long their Cheeks are not moistened with Sweat their Hands are not hardened with hard Labour they are not tired and wearied out with pains-taking They who take their Pleasure and recreate themselves every Day in the Week have nothing to plead for Recreations on the Lord's-day Though for my own part I should be far from indulging a Liberty to any to take such Recreations as hinder the Devotions due to any part of the Lord's-day and are Impediments to the Sanctification of it aright Let all industriously redeem the Lord's-day And take we heed we redeem it not by halves but let 's religiously observe and covetously redeem the whole Lord's-day We are bound in justice to God to do it because God has set a Day not a Piece of a Day apart for himself and requires this Portion and Tribute of Time to be paied to him who has graciously given us all our Time We should be as much yea more afraid to steal God's Time than Mens Goods Do not only observe the former Part of the Day repairing to the Church or Chappel in the Morning but commonly and customarily absenting your selves and growing quite weary of any such Duty in the After-noon for God has allotted and appointed a seventh Part of our Time for his own Worship and Service but if you keep only one half of the Lord's-day you give God but a fourteenth Part of your Time Nay of one Day in seven I fear too many spare him no more than that Time only which their Morning-Attendance takes up in publick on the Lord's-day And here I appeal to their own Reason whether it be a meet and fit Thing that rational Persons created by God and redeemed by his Son should afford to the Worship and Service of God and Christ and the great concerns of their immortal Souls but two Hours at most of the whole Lord's-day and it may be no more of the whole Week and shall spend those Hours in a formal customary cold and heartless Worship of an infinitely holy and just Deity the tremendous impartial Judg of Angels and Men. Grudg not to give God one whole Day in seven who largely and liberally grants and allows six whole Daies in seven to you and who designs a greater Benefit and Advantage to you by your Observation of this one Day than possibly can accrue to you by the carefullest and painfullest worldly Improvement of all the rest O believe and consider that the taking out of this one Day and setting it apart for such an excellent Service and high Employment as you are called to in it is certainly the greatest Gift of all How can you be loth to spend one Day in seven in Familiarity with Heaven in communion with your Maker and Fellowship with your Saviour Let us all call the Christian Sabbath the Lord's-day a Delight take as much Contentment and Satisfaction in doing on this Day the Exercises of Religion as Men usually take in doing the Works of their ordinary Calling take as much Pleasure in God's Service as others take in Sin and Vanity Let us spend the Lord's-day as becomes those who profess that they love God better and delight in him more than in any Thing in the World Spend it as they that are glad of so honourable and profitable and pleasurable an Employment as the publick and private Worshiping of God Let us go to the House of God with Joy Let the Church on the Lord's-day be a Banquetting-house and not a Prison to us Do but bring your selves to spend the Lord's-day with Delight and then you will keep it to the End of it The Jews were bound to keep a whole Day holy in a grateful Memory of the lesser Benefits of the Creation and their Deliverance out of Aegypt And shall not we solemnly observe the whole Lord's-day in a thankful Remembrance of greater Blessings not only of the Goodness of God in our Creation but of his Grace and Mercy in our Redemption and Deliverance from Hell and Death eternal We have greater Engagements to do it than they not only greater Motives but greater [a] See Mr. Cawdrey's Sabbathum redivivum p. 563 564. Means too We have greater Variety of publick Exercises on the Lord's-day than they had on their Sabbath We have more Scripture to reade in private than they had We have the Old and New Testament many Expositors upon them many good Practical Theological Tractates written We have more Knowledg afforded us than they had more Grace offer'd us to do the Duties incumbent on us Now we that have more Means and Helps how can we offer to put God off with less Duty and smaller Service and shorter Performance Nay the very Heathens guided by the Light of Nature held it reasonable that the Daies consecrated to their Gods should be devoutly and totally observed with Rest and Sanctity [b] Saturn l. 1. c. 7. Macrobius tells us that on their holy Daies the People came together to spend the whole Day in learning Fables to be conferred upon and will you that call your selves Christians refuse to come together on the Lord's-day to spend one Hour in the Morning another in the After-noon in learning the Mysteries of the Gospel and in receiving saving Instructions out of the Word of God You that give your Bodies two Meals every Day will you feed your Souls but once on the Lord's-day Give me leave to deal with you in the winning Words of that sweet Singer of our Israel Speaking of the Lord's-day saies he [a] Church-porch p. 14. Twice on the Day his due in understood For all the Week thy Food so oft he gave thee Thy cheer is mended bate not of the Food Because 't is better and perhaps may save thee Thwart not th' Almighty God O be not cross Fast when thou wilt but then 't is gain not loss Consider that your own and your Families spiritual Necessities do require and call for a most strict Observation of the whole Lord's-day and a faithful Improvement of all the Helps and Advantages of it The Works of your Callings and your worldly Occasions and Employments do in a manner take up six Daies of the Week and you have but one whole Day in seven to provide for the Needs of your immortal Souls Now the Necessities of your Souls are far greater than those of your Bodies your spiritual eternal Estate is of nearer and higher Concern than your outward and temporal Estate And will you not labour then to improve every Hour and endeavour to redeem every Minute of this one Day Do but seriously think with your selves how much work you have to do in this one Day and then tell me whether in reason and Prudence you can spare any Part of it yea or no. What have you to do for God for your selves What for your Families for your Children and Servants How
〈◊〉 Eâ—asm Apophth l. 3. gather'd to blessed and perfected Spirits and be made it Welf equal to the Angels and so become sit Company for them That thy Soul shall be in an happy Condition and be secure and certain that it shall never be dispossess'd and ejected out of it depriv'd or bereaved of it Such Thoughts as these will never suffer thee to let thy Soul sleep in thy Body which will surely wake when it is out of it This Meditation is likely to preserve thee from living and acting sensually and brutishly as if thy Soul were material and mortal and capable of no greater Happiness or higher Preserment than to be imprison'd and buried in this gross dull Flesh This will cause thee to take care that thy Soul may exercise and maintain a due Superiority over thy Body that thy Soul may * 1 Cor. 9.27 keep under thy Body and bring it into subjection and not be servilely and sordidly subject to it since thy Soul is able to live without it and shall from the Day of Death till the Day of Resurrection live better without it than ever here it liv'd with it This will mind thee to bring thy Soul which is a Spirit to converse now with the Father of Spirits and help thee to live like an Angel here on Earth who after Death shalt be as an Angel of God in Heaven Farther the Consideration or a State of Bliss to departed Souls will make thee labour to become fit for this State by getting thy Soul made like to God by true Holiness that God may love his own Image and Likeness in thee and delight to do good to the Soul he loves By striving to lead a good and holy Life here which is by the Ordination of God the direct and ready Way to an happy and eternal Life hereafter By looking that every Action and Carriage of thy Life be worthy of thy Hope of eternal Life [o] See to this purpose Mr. Baxter's Reas of the Christ Rd. 1 part p. 138 139. If a State of glorious Immortality were but a Likely hood and Probability you would notwithstanding in all reason do any thing suffer any thing part with any thing that if at last it should prove a reality you might make sure of it and render your self capable of obtaining and enjoying it because if it should prove true and you should miss of it no present Enjoyment could any way countervail the Loss of an eternal State of Bliss And if it should not prove true the denying thy self these earthly sensual Pleasures would be no considerable Loss or great Unhappiness to thee 't would be but the Loss of a transitory short impure imperfect Pleasure which even in this World has Pain and Torment mixt with it and has often sad Rellishes and a bitter Farewel at the End of it If there were but a bare Probability of such a State the most obscure Notices and thy uncertain Hopes of it were enough to make thee diligently look after it Surely then thou wilt much more seek and press after it when God has given thee an absolute Certainty of the Thing and the highest Satisfaction that can rationally be desired of the Truth of it And this Meditation will be a Means as to fit thee for thy Translation so to make thee with * Phil. 1.21 23 St. Paul have an earnest Desire to depart to go hence to go home To breadth out [p] Melch. Adam in vit Calv. p. 100. Calvin's Ejaculaton Vsquequo Domine How long Lord To cry out as holy [q] Aug. Cons l. 9. c. 19 §. 4. Monica did when she had newly been largely discoursing with her Son St. AUstin of the heavenly Kingdom Son as for me I now take no delight in any thing in this Life Quid hic facio What do I here And to use such Words as those of Mr. Herbert [r] Home What have I left that I should stay and groan The most of me to Heav'n is fled My Thoughts and Joies are all packt up and gone And for their old Acquaintance plead 2. Bend thy Mind to think of the Resurrection of the Body to a State of Glory Consider that as thy Soul at Death is not extinguished so that thy dead and buried Body shall not finally perish and be quite lost but at last be reproduc'd and restor'd again to thee by the Agency of an omniscient and omnipotent God That if thou †Joh. 5.29 hast done good thou shalt come forth to the Resurrection of Life come out of thy Grave as Jonah out of the Whale's Belly as Daniel out of the Lions Den as Pharaoh's chief Butler yea as the innocent honest Joseph out of Prison to an high and honourale Condition Think how the very same Body that fell by Death shall be raised again at the last Day as Lazarus rose with the same Body which had lien in the Grave four Daies and as Christ rose with the same Body that was crucified and buried How congruous it is to the Wisdom and Goodness and governing Justice of God that the same Body which was Partner with the Soul in good Actions should be a Sharer with it in everlasting Rewards That that very Body which was the Temple of the Holy Ghost and whose Members were the Members of Christ and Instruments of Righteousness and did God Service and labour'd and suffer'd for Christ here should be raised and rewarded hereafter And how reasonable to conclude that God having planted in the Soul a natural Inclination to its own Body will surely one Day satisfy the Soul's Appetite by reuniting it to the same Body Think how thy Body shall rise the same for Substance but not the same for Qualities and Endowments that it shall be raised * 1 Cor. 15.42 43 44 49 50. in Incorruption in Glory in Power raised a spiritual Body and put on Immortality That thou shalt bear the Image of the Heavenly That this Flesh and Bloud shall be changed and altered with a perfective Alteration that it may be capable of inheritng the Kingdom of God That Christ shall †Phil. 3.21 change thy vile Body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body and that thou shalt ‖ Mat. 13.43 shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of thy Father These Thoughts will warm and affect thy Heart and move and incline thee to study and endeavour to get thy Soul and Body fitted and qualified for a Participation of a blessed and glorious Resurrection To get thy Soul now transform'd and made like unto Christ's gracious Soul that thy Body hereafter may be transform'd and made like unto his glorious Body to get I say a sanctified Soul here that thou maiest not sail of a glorified Body hereafter for the Body follows the Condition of the Soul Not to spend thy Time Care Cost Pains in decking and adorning in trimming and [s] Qui se pingunt in hoc seculo aliter
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
to God p. 24. will make you more serviceable to others and prove most profitable to your selves p. 26. They that redeem the Time of their Youth are likely to redeem their riper Years p. 27. Instances of those that have redeemed their youthful Daies p. 28. 2. The Morning of the Week the first Day of every Week p. 32. Magistrates p. 47. Ministers p. 48. People p. 49. Masters p. 50. and Servants p. 52. Poor and Rich p. 54. should study to redeem this Opportunity and take heed they redeem it not by halves p. 55. Our Observation of the Lord's-Day a good help to the Redeeming of all the six Daies following both as to Temporals and as to Spirituals p. 66. and a means to prepare us to keep an eternal Sabbath in Heaven p. 68. Carefully redeem the Lord's-Day and every Day after shew in thy Life that thou hast redeem'd it p. 72. 3. The Morning of every Day p. 73. That is an Opportunity of giving God the first and best of our Time p. 74. By redeeming the Morning we are likely to redeem the whole Day following p. 76. 4. The Society and Company of the most Religious and Godly in which we have an happy Occasion both of doing and of receiving good p. 78. 5. The special Seasons of practising and performing Particular Duties of getting and encreasing acting and exercising Particular Graces must be observed embraced and improved by us p. 79. CHAP. III. The Grounds and Reasons why we ougth to redeem the Time The special Reason laid down in the Text because the Daies are evil p. 83. What to be understood by evil Daies Daies are said to be evil not inherently but adherently or concomitantly by reason of any sinful or penal Evil that befalleth in them The Evil of the Day is either General or Special General the Shortness and Trouble which does accompany the Time of this Life p. 84. The Particular Evil of the Day is when any special Evil takes place in such a Time The particular Evil of the Apostles Times threefold It stood 1. in dangerous Errours and false Doctrines p. 85. 2. In the vicious and wicked Lives of scandalous Professors of the Gospel p. 94. 3. In sharp and hot Persecutions p. 109. How far these several Evils are to be found in these our Daies p. 86 95 123. Our redeeming of the Time and endeavouring to grow better our selves is the ready way and only means to make the Evil Daies better p. 108. CHAP. IV. Six other Reasons added to that in the Text. We ought to redeem the Time 1. Because our Time is afforded us by God to this very End and Purpose p. 128. 2. Because we have all of us lost much Time already p. 137. 3. Because the Time that remains is very short and uncertain and our Special Opportunities far shorter and more uncertain and the Work we have to do very great p. 141. 4. Because we can neither bring Time back when once it is past unimproved nor any way prolong and lengthen out the Daies of our Lives when Death comes to put an End and Period to them p. 158. 5. Because we shall all be certainly called to an Account for our Time p. 161. 6. Because this Time is all we can redeem and upon this short Moment of Time depends long Eternity p. 165. CHAP. V. The Vse and Application of the Doctrine Ought we to redeem the Time Then 1. Let not the Men of the World think strange that serious and conscientious Christians do not lose their Time as desperately as they do Good Men know the Worth of Time and understand the great Consequences and weighty Concernments of well or ill husbanding of it p. 171. Vse 2. Let us all examine our selves and see whether we have redeem'd our Time or no bewail and bemoan our Loss of Time p. 172. Vse 3. A seasonable sharp Reproof of several Persons who are grosly guilty of misspending their Time 1. A Reproof of those that misspend their Time in Idleness and Lasiness p. 179. Idleness a Sin against our Creation p. 180. against our Redemption p. 182. against our Bodies and Souls against our Neighbour p. 283. and an Inlet to many other Sins p. 186. 2. Such Persons are justly censurable who misspend their Time in excessive Sleep and Drousiness which wastes not only much of our Time but the best of our Time too p. 190. Immoderate sleeping naught on any Day but worst of all upon the Lord's-Day p. 191. 3. Many misspend their Time in impertinent Employments p. 192. 4. Many lose much precious Time in vain Thoughts p. 194. 5. In vain Speeches p. 195. 6. In vain Pleasures p. 205. In Curiosity about Dressing and Trimming the Body p. 206. In making dainty Provision for the Belly p. 207. In using unlawful p. 210. or abusing lawful Recreations either using them unseasonably or else immoderately p. 211. 7. In excessive immoderate worldly Cares p. 219. 8. Some Persons are to be reproved for misspending their Time in Duties 1. By performing them unseasonably p. 224. 2. By doing them formally p. 226. Time lost in Duties by unseasonable Performance two Waies 1. When one Duty thrusts and justles out another and so the Duty is mistimed p. 224. 2. When Duty is perform'd at such a Time when we are most unfit for it p. 225. CHAP. VI. The fourth and last Vse is of Exhortation p. 229. to Magistrates Ministers p. 230. the People in general p. 231. Six quickening Motives to press the Duty of Redemption of Time 1. Consider how notably Jesus Christ redeem'd the Time when he was here in the World 1. He redeemed the Time to save us p. 232. 2. He redeem'd the Time to be an Example to us p. 233. 2. Consider further that as Christ did once redeem the Time to save us So the Devil does daily redeem the Time to destroy us p. 236. 3. Consider how very notably many of the Saints and Servants of God have improved and redeemed their Time p. 241. 4. Consider that it is an Act of Spiritual Wisdom to redeem the Time p. 252. and meer Madness and gross Folly not to redeem the Time p. 253. 5. Consider 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 p. 257. 6. Consider that do what we can to redeem our Time we shall never repent at last of any Care we have had to redeem it but shall certainly blame and find fault with our selves for being so careless of our Time so negligent of good Opportunities as we have been p. 259. Serious considerative Christians do blame themselves for their Loss of Time even in their Life-time p. 260. But they are especially sensible of it and exceedingly ashamed of themselves for it at their Death p. 262. CHAP. VII Direction 1. If ever we would redeem
Now the Understanding is quick and perceptive the Memory strong and retentive and the Body able and fit for Service and Employment The Daies of old Age they are evil Daies then the Eyes grow dimm the Ears deaf the Hands tremble the Legs are feeble and the Memory fails Old Folk they can't do as they have done they can't follow the Markets and manage House-hold-Businesses and order the Affairs of their Families and Callings with such quickness and dispatch as formerly Now if Old Age be unfit for any Action then to be sure 't is most unfit for the Exercises of Religion it is most weak and strengthless here Pray tell me what wilt thou do to remember thy Creator then when thy Memory fails thee Wilt thou be fit to turn to God when thou art unable to turn thy self in thy Bed how canst thou serve the Lord thy God with all thy Strength when almost all thy Strength is gone Such of us as have been prodigal of this precious Time let us lay our Loss to heart and mourn in secret for it What a sad Consideration is it that many of us have made our selves uncapable of taking Solomon's excellent Counsel They that have already spent their Youth in youthful Lusts they are not in a Capacity of remembring their Creator in the Daies of their Youth All that such can do is only with an holy Shame and Godly Sorrow to remember in Confession before God that they have not remembred what in due Time they ought to have remembred and to beg of God that for Christ his sake he would not in Judgment remember their non-remembrance but that he would in Mercy remember them though they han't as they ought remembred him But now for such as have not as yet past the Daies of their Youth O let them prize and presently improve these precious Daies and Hours O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the wise Pittacus once said know Time know this particular Time lose not if possible a Minute of it 'T will be grievous to * Iob 13.26 possess the Sins of your Youth in your Old Age. Now for your encouragement to redeem this Part of your Time consider seriously these few Things 1. That the early Redemption of your youthful Daies for the Honour and Worship and Service of God will be very pleasing and acceptable to him God of old required that the first ripe Fruits and the First-born should be dedicated to him and his Sacrifices he would have to be young to shew that he delights in the Flower of Age and well accepts the †Jer. 2.2 kindnesses of our Youth As in the distilling of Waters that which is drawn off first is the strongest and fullest of Spirits and the last is the weakest and smallest Or as in the pouring out of a Bottle or drawing out of a Vessel to use [c] Qâ—emadmodum ex amphora primùm quod est sincerisssimum â—ffluâ—t gravissimum quodque turbiâ—â—nque subsidit sic in aetate nostra quod optimum in primo est Id exhauriri in aliis potius patimur ut nobis faecem reservemus Sen. ep 108. Seneca's Similitude that which is purest and clearest comes forth first and that which is thickest and most dreggy sinks and remains at the Bottom so the [d] Optima quaeque dies miseris mortaâ—ibus aevi Prima fugit fubeunt morbi trisâ—sque fenectus Virgil. Georg. lib. 3. best of our Daies run out first and the worst at last Now 't is a Disgrace to God to give him the Devil's leavings it is a Contempt cast upon God to give the Devil the Flower of your Age and him the Bran. Suppose a Landlord should come to his Tenant and entreat him to set before him somewhat to eat and he should reply Excuse me I pray Sir there are a Company of Villains and Varlots which I am at present providing for but if you will be pleased to stay a while you shall have those broken Scraps which they shall leave would not this be a strange rude unseemly Behaviour Thus thus it is with the most of us God is our great Landlord and he comes and moves and solicits us to serve him but we have fleshly filthy Lusts that war against our Souls and yet these must be straight provided for they must have the Strength of our Bodies and of our Souls This is unworthy dishonourable Dealing with God and we little think how ill he takes it at our hands But how welcome are they to God who prefer God before the Devil and the World and honour God with their very first choice and virgin Love Who do not stay as it were till they are weary of Satan's Service and then take a new Master but follow God even as soon as they can go seek and enquire early after him and bind themselves in their Youth to him 2. The well-redeeming of your younger Daies as it will be most acceptable unto God so 't will make you more useful and serviceable unto others Thou canst hardly do any considerable Service either to God or the Church or the State if thou makest it late before thou beginnest to be well employed He can do but a little Work that takes none in hand till the Sun is a setting 3. The redeeming and husbanding of the Time of thy Youth is apt to prove most profitable to thy self The earlier Men set out in the Morning of their Age the farther they may walk in the Waies of God's Commandments in the Day of their Life and make more Progress in the Path of Holiness The sooner you begin the more work you may do and so may receive the greater Reward Yea be Gainers here as well as hereafter by being thus busie betimes He that makes Religion his Business in his Youth may easily lay up a Stock of Grace and of comfortable Experience which may be of much use to him If thou beginnest young thou maiest get abundance of Grace into thy Heart before thou art old Thou maiest go from one Degree of Grace to another from Strength to Strength thou maiest be almost a perfect Man in Christ Jesus by that Time others are but new-born Babes if thou wilt but begin betimes But a late Christian cannot probably be an eminent Christian As a Man that begins the World late can hardly grow a very rich Man Or as we say of Bees that swarm late they get not any great Store of Honey Manna was not to be met with but in the * Exod. 16.21 Morning Who would misspend or neglect the Morning-Season of his Life and lose that Portion of heavenly Manna which he might have gathered and gotten in it Who would have a thin Crop and lean Harvest by later sowing his Seed Sow early that you may reap the more plentifully 4. Consider moreover that they that redeem the Time of their Youth are likely to redeem their riper Years They have not only more Time to get good but a greater
Will you make them labour for you six Daies together and will not you cause them to serve God one Day in seven Be at least as much concern'd in Case of neglect of God's Service as you are at any Time when your own Work and Family-business is neglected Do it for God's sake Shew that you love the Honour of God and not only respect your own Commodity and look to your own Advantage Do it for your Servant's sake Make it their Business to do God Service that they may be approved and rewarded by him Yea do it for your own sake Make your Servants God's faithful Servants that so they may prove more faithful to you and that God may bless them in your Service and that your Work may thrive and succeed in their Hands On this Day especially call thy Family thy whole Family to Family-duties prepare them for and hasten them to the publick Ordinances It is reported of [w] M. Clark in his Life Dr. Chaderton the first Master of Emmanuel-Colledg that he was married three and fifty Years and yet in all that Time he never kept any of his Servants from the Church to dress his Meat saying that he desired as much to have his Servants know God as himself And it was the Custome of the Reverend and pious [x] See his Life among Mr. Clark's Lives of ten Em. Div. Dr. Gouge to forbear providing of Suppers the Eve before that Servants might not be occasioned thereby to sit uplate neither would he suffer any [y] Die Dominicâ ut in festis licet etiam ciborum lautiorem apparatum habere quamvit in eis parandis ne majora impediantur servorum animae detrimentum non necessarium iucurrant summopere curandum est Baxter Meth. Th. part 3. c. 14. p. 172. Servant to stay at home for dressing any Meat upon the Lord's-day for the Entertainment of Friends whether they were mean or great few or many Take your Family to Church along with you and when you return home again examine catechize inform instruct them recapitulate the Sermon read the Scripture and good Books to them whet practical profitable necessary saving Truths on them sing Psalms among them and pray most heartily and affectionately with and for them And you that are Servants who have little leisure most of you on other Daies and who live too many of you in such profane and ungodly Families where you hear not so much as one Praier put up to God nor one Line of the Word of God read nor one serious Word spoken of God all the Week long what reason have you carefully to redeem the Lord's-day to redeem it in publick by devoutly attending to the Prayers that are made and the Word that is both read and preacht in the publick Congregation And to redeem it in private by taking all possible Occasions to retire and go aside by your selves to consider in secret the needs of your Souls to examine your Hearts and States to review your Lives and Actions to humble your selves in Confession of Sin and to pour out your Souls in Prayer for Pardon and Grace to read the Bible and some instructive practical Writings of the most judicious experimental Divines apt to inform your Judgments and to work and prevail upon your Affections to set your selves to meditate of God to draw out and engage your Hearts to God rather than to lavish out and throw away those precious Hours in foolish Talk and frothy Discourse or in gadding abroad and walking idly in the Fields and recreating your Bodies rather than your Souls and in thrusting God and turning Religion wholly out of your Minds and Hearts and nourishing your selves in Ignorance of God and Unacquaintance with him and in Encreasing the Atheism of your Hearts and Lives and hardening your own and others Hearts through the Ensnarements of the World and the Deceitfulness of Sin But it may be you will say you are hard wrought all the Week long and you have reason to take your ease and pleasure and to rest and recreate your tired Bodies one Day in seven that so you may endure your Labour and go through all your Work the better I answer that your very Cessation in any measure from your wonted Labour is an ease and relief to your weary Bodies and that the very change of your Work and Occupation from secular servile Employment to spiritual divine Worship and Service and the Diversion of your Minds from worldly Businesses to the Offices and Exercises of Religion if you would but acquaint your selves with them and use your selves to them would be delightful and refreshing to you And the Peace and Quiet Joy and Comfort of a good Conscience in the faithful Discharge of your Duty to God and a tender Care of your immortal Souls would strengthen and hearten you to bear all the Burthen of the hardest Labours of your domestick Ministeries in consideration that your heavenly Father Lord and Master will accept and reward your Works of Piety and bless and prosper the Works of your Hands in the Houshold-businesses and Family-employments incumbent on you and belonging to you Rather break your Sleep to rise the earlier than lose the Opportunities of that Day Or chuse to leave and live out of those Families in the which you are forced to live without God are debarr'd from his Service and can have no Liberty allowed you to mind God and your Souls on a Day that was purposely ordained and appointed for your spiritual Proficiency and Improvement Let the Poor of this World redeem this Day by taking this Opportunity to labour spiritually for the Meat which perisheth not but endureth to everlasting Life and by hearing the Gospel preach'd in this Season to them to become rich in Faith rich in Grace to know and to partake of the Grace and Favour the Love and Kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ who though he was rich yet for our sakes became poor that we through his Poverty might be made rich You that are poor and mean and low in the World and who cannot take so much Time as others to worship and enjoy God on the Week-Daies see that you well improve this Day Now you are released from secular Businesses and common Services and your Bodies rest from their hard Labours be sure that you spiritually busie and holily employ your selves in the Service of God Let me likewise charge them that are rich in this World to redeem this choicest Part of their Time and in it to endeavour to be rich toward God rich in God to lay up for themselves a Treasure in Heaven to obtain the true certain durable Riches which when they fail will never leave them but when they remove will bear them company into the other World And here let me hint to you of the Gentry what [z] Fuller's Church-Hist B. 11. p. 146. Dr. Paul Michlewait once urged and pressed in a Sermon at the Temple that Gentle-folk of all
and 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
Courses but to tread contrary and to become Examples of Vertue to others this will tend to our great Commendation He that can be strict among loose Livers holy among most profane Persons chast among the lascivious [x] Hoc multò fortius est ebrio ac vomitante populo siccum ac sobrium esse Seneca Ep. 18. sober among Drunkards modest among impudent Railers just among Defrauders heavenly among Earth-worms He is an excellent Person indeed He deserves an Ecce to be put upon him We may say of him as our Saviour said concerning Nathanael Behold an Israelite indeed [y] Non mediocris titulus virtutis est inter pravos vivere bonum inter malignantes innocentiae retinere candorem Bern form 48. in Cant. This sets off the Righteousness of the Righteous and makes it more conspicuous and glorious Mot. 3. Consider thirdly That our Redeeming the Time in this manner is the only way to make the Evil Days better The Reforming and Amending our selves and others is a proper means to alter and rectify the Times The freeing both our selves and others from the Evil that is in any of us will surely free the Times from the Evil that is in them Our Sins are they that make the Times to be every way so bad as they are Our aggravated Sins are the greatest Evil of the Times And the Evil of Sin draws all other Evils along with it and therefore remove the Evil of Sin and the Times will quickly be every way well amended The Third Particular Evil of the Apostles Days and in what Degrees of Ours 3. The Evil of the Apostles Times stood also in Persecution which was hot then and like to grow hotter Those Daies were Ecelesioe dies Caniculares as Tertullian calls them the scorching Dog-Days of the Church The Apostles were forbidden to preach in the Name of Christ and Christians were prohibited to name the Name of Christ Then it was perilous for any Person to profess himself a Christian [b] Tertul Apolog. c. 2. The Confession of the Name was enough to make Men the Objects of a publick Odium without any Examination of the Crime [c] Ibid. c. 3. Only the Name did precondemn a Sect unknown and an Author of it whom they were ignorant of because they were nominated not because they were convinced [d] De vestris semper aestuat carcer Nemo illic Christ sanus nisi hoc tantùm aut si aliud jam non Christianus Ibid. c. 44. If you should have search'd their Prisons you should have found them fill'd with Malefactors only of their own Religion you could not have seen a Christian there that was a Criminal unless it were only on this Account that he was a Christian But as [e] Ibid. c 2. Nunc igitur sinominis odium est quis nominum reatus quae accusatio vocabulorum c. 3. Tertullian argues excellently in his sinewy Apology if Christian be a Name of no Crime 't is ridiculous to make a Crime of the meer Name Yet the Heathen as he remarks there [f] Bonus vir Cajus Scius tanâ—ùm qâ—òd Christianus alius Ego miror Lucium sapientem virum repeniè factum Christianum Nemo retractat ne ideo bonus Cajus prudens Lucsus quia Christianus aut ideo Christianus quia prudens bonus Ib. c. 3. fell so blindly into the hatred of Christianity that whenever they gave a Testimony of the Probity of any such Person they mingled some Expression of Exprobration for their Name 'T was common to say Such an one indeed is a good Man but only that he is a Christian And again I wonder that such an one a wise Man should of a suddain be made a Christian To which it might have been well replied That such an one is good and such an one prudent because he is a Christian Or it therefore appears that such an one is in truth a Christian because he is prudent and good [g] Vt quisque hoc nomine emendatur offendit Tanti non est bonum quanti est odium Christianorum Ibid. As any was better'd by bearing this Name he became by so much the more offensive For the good that was in any Christian was not of so great Force and Power as was the hatred against all Christians [h] Oditur in hominibus innocuis etiam nomen innocuum Ibidem Even an innocent Name was odious in very innocent Men. The Gentiles declared themselves Enemies to those who [i] Ibid. c. 43 44. delivered them from the Power of Devils and put up Praiers for them to the true God and were ready to be trusty Guards about them for the Preservation of them and were Persons prositable to the Common-wealth The same argumentative Author in that most rational convincing Defence of the Christians against the Heathen Magistrates takes special Notice that the Philosophers were tolerated when Christians were urged under greatest Penalties to the most unreasonable Things [k] Ibid. c. 46. Who compels a Philosopher to Sacrifice or to swear by the Gods saies he They openly destroy the Belief and Worship of your Gods and accuse your Superstitions in their publick Writings and you applaud them for it Many among them do bitterly inveigh against their Princes and Governours and yet you patiently bear with them and they are sooner honoured with Statues and rewarded with Salaries than sentenced to suffer the Fury of the Beasts and all for this only Reason because they are known by the Name of Philosophers and not of Christians Philosophers were permitted to propagate Pythagoras's Opinion of the Transmigration of separated Souls into other Bodies But if a Christian affirm'd the Return of the Soul into the same Body [l] Ibid. c. 48. the People not only followed him with Blows of the Fist but even cast Stones at him The Societies of the Christians were accused and prosecuted as factious Meetings [m] In cujus perniciem aliquando convenimus eùm probi cùm boni coeunt cùm pii cùm casti congregantur non est factio dicenda sed curia c. 39. At è contrario illis nomen factionis accommodandum est qui in odium bonorum proborum conspirant qui adversum sanguinem innocentium conclamant Ibid. c. 40. But did we ever meet together says the fore-cited Father to the Hurt of any one We are the same when congregated as we are when separated wronging no body grieving no body When good and honest Men convene when pious and chast Persons come in Company together it is not to be termed a Faction but a lawful Assembly But on the contrary the Name of Faction fitly belongs to those who conspire to an hatred of good and vertuous Persons and exclaim together against the Blood of Innocents [m] Ibidem The Christians were censured as the grand Causes of all general Calamities and publick popular Incommodities If Tiber nowed up to the Walls if Nilus did not over-flow
such a State than to have the Soul constantly employed in the Government of those sensual Inclinations which arise from the Body in the doing of which the proper Exercise of that Vertue consists which is made the Condition of future Happiness Dr. Stillingfleet's Serm on Prov. 14.9 Animi imperio corporis servitin utimur Salust Quicquid imperavit animus obtinuit Sen. de ira Tantum proficies quantum tibi ipsivim intuleris Thom. â— Kempis l. 1. c. 25. n. 11. keep our Bodies and rebellious Flesh in an orderly Subjection to our Souls Faithfully to pursue Principles of Conscience and to live strictly under the Power of Principles To exercise our selves to have always a Conscience void of Offence both towards God and towards Men To perform a Course of sincere Obedience to the revealed Will of God and the good Institutions and excellent Laws of Christ To make Religion our Work and Business To be blameless and harmless to be useful and Exemplary in our Stations and Relations To serve our Generations according to the Will of God To watch and take all possible Advantages of daily doing and receiving Good and by patient continuance in well-doing to provide for Honour and Glory and Immortality and to secure a blessed and happy Eternity Time is allotted us for Proof and Trial of us And now God looks to see what we will do with it He waits to behold how we will improve it God expects we should make a wise and a good Choice in it That we should use the necessary Means for the sure obtainment of our desired End That we should live up to the Ends of Life answer the Ends both of our Creation and Redemption That we should live not merely the animal but chiefly the rational angelical divine and spiritual Life That we should not live and act at Randome but that we should in several Instances and on all Occasions approve our selves strict [m] Vis deos propitiare bonus esto Satis illos coluit quis quis imitatus est Sen. Ep. 95. Te quoque dignum finge Deo Id. Ep. 31. Imitators and close Followers of God and his Son Jesus Christ faithful Friends to God and Religion Friends to our selves and our immortal Souls That we should pass the Time of our Sojouruing here in Fear That we should be ruled by the Hopes and Fears of another Life That we should live as those that have serious and satisfying Apprehensions of the unseen World That we should live and walk in believing and delightful Fore-thoughts and Fore-tasts oâ— the Glory to come That we should use this World as if we used it not and have our Conversation in Heaven and learn the Manmrs of the heavenly City and celestial Country and give our Minds to such Pleasures as are most proper to the other State That we should labour by Heaven moral which is an heavenly Frame and Temper Conversation and Life to be prepared for Heaven local the Seat and Receptacle of the Blessed By entring into an heavenly State and getting Heaven first into us to fit our selves to enter into Heaven at last By becoming the spiritual Children of Abraham Followers of Abroham's Faith and Obedience to be apt to receive our Rest and Repose in Abraham's Bosom That we should unfeignedly [n] Omnia honestè sient si honesto nos addâ—xer imus idque unum iâ— râ—bies humanis bonum judicaverimus quaeque ex eo sunt Sen. ep 95. addict and devote our selves to Goodness constantly endeavour to habituate our selves to true Piety and real substantial Godliness and Religion to attain that Purity of Heart these gracious Affections those heavenly divine and God-like Vertues and to maintain that Life of Holiness and Spirituality which will suitably qualify and make us meet for the blessed Vision and Fruition of God in the heavenly supernal Kingdom of Glory Which will reconcile our very Natures to that perfectly pure and holy State dispose and encline us to love and delight our selves in God and frame and fit us to be for ever the blessed Objects of God's complacential Love and which will prepare us for the comfortable delectable Enjoyment of the Spirits of just Men made perfect God now expects that we should do the Work of Time in Time That we should use the Price put into our Hands and for a certain appointed Time walk with Watchfulness and Circumspection keep a due [o] Decorum id est quod consent aneum est hominis excellentiae in eo in quo naturae ejus à reliquis animantibus differt Tum servare illud Poetas dicimus quod deceat cùm id quod quaeque person á dignum est fit dicitur Nobis autempersonam imposuit ipsa natura magna cum excellentia praestaâ—tiaq e anim intiumlreliquorum Nobis à natura constantiae moderationis temperantiae verecundiae partes datae sunt Cicero l. 1. de Offic. Decorum in all our Carriages and act a vertuous prudent [p] Vt pulchritudo corporis aptâ compositione membrorum movet oculos delectat hoc ipso quòd inter se omnes partes cum quodam lepore consentiunt sic hoc decorum quod elucet in vita movet approbationem eorum quibuscum vivitur ordine constantiâ moderatione dictorum omnium atque factorum Id. ibid. commendable Part in the Sight of God Angels and Men upon the Stage of this lower World before we be advanced higher and translated hence into those Vpper-Regions and glorious Mansions That we should quit our selves like Men and behave our selves like Christians in this present State of Nurture and Discipline Trial and Probation that so we may be capable of a blessed Reward and an honourable Retribution in the other World and at last may come to be * Mat. 22.30 Luke 20.36 equal to the Angels of God in Heaven yea to be like the very blessed Son of God himself and to enjoy the happy Fellowship of Saints and Angels and the Company and Society of the blessed Trinity to all Eternity in the unseen and unconceivable Glory [q] Time is given us to repent in to appease the divine Anger to prepare for and hasten to the Society of Angels to stir up our slackned Wills and enkindle our cold Devotions to weep for our daily Iniquities and to sigh after and work for the Restitution of our lost Inheritance Bp. Taylor 's Serm. 1. Vol. pag. 294. Our great Creator and wise Governour when he giveth and continueth Time to us expects from us that whatever it costs us whatever sensual Pleasures we deny our selves whatever worldly Profit or Honours we refuse or lose whatever we be put to do or suffer in this World we very faithfully spend our Life-time in the constant Exercise of right Reason and true Religion and improve all special Opportunities to our spiritual and eternal Advantages Time and Opportunity are Talents with which we are intrusted and therefore they are to be traded with and not
cause to fear and in their Old Age almost ground enough to despair I may here take up the Complaint of the devout [i] Quid prodest din vivere quando tam parùm emendae nur Ah long a vita non semper emendat sed saepe culpam magis auget Vtinam per unam diem bene essemus conversati in hoc mundo multiannos computant conversionis sed saepe pâ—rvus est fructus emendationis A Kempis l. 1. c. 23. n. 2. A Kempis What does it avail us to live long when we are so little better'd by it Ah long Life says he does not alwaies mend our Manners but does often the more encrease our Crimes Would we had a alked but one Day well in this World Many reckon Years of their Conversion but there is too often but little sign of a new Conversation Had we not been grosly wanting to our selves how much might we have known of God and of his Mind and Meaning in his Word and Works How much might we have done for God and received from god by this Time what a Stock of Grace might we have gotten before now What a Treasure of Experience might we have heaped up What a good Foundation might we have laid of a sound solid and well-setled Peace and Comfort to stand us in stead in a Time of Need What ground might we have gotten against our Corruptions What Growth in Grace What Strength in the inner Man What Skill to discern and avoid the Wiles and Snares of the Devil What Love to and Delight in the Law of God What Readiness to every good Word and Work What Ereedom and Enlargedness might we have attaineed to in God's Service How truly might it have been our very Meat and Drink to do the Will of God our constant Course daily Use and chosen cheerful Exercise to run the Waies of God's Commandments How forward might we have been in the Way to the spiritual Canaan who have it may be been greatly guilty of many Retrogradations How might we have been of another Spirit than we are of at present How publick-spirited might we have grown How zealous for the Glory of God and the good of Souls How active in the Cause of God and Religion How careless of the Pleasures that are but for a Season How spiritual and heavenly-minded How ready to die How ripe for Heaven O let this Consideration be laid to Heart by us and serve deeply to humble us that we have had much Time but have redeemed little or none that we have liv'd long to little to bad Purpose that we have trifled and squandred away those Seasons of grace that can never be enjoyed again and lost those Opportunities that can never return back again Let us put our selves to the Trial and bring our selves under Examination whether we have discharged our Dutyin Redeeming the Time yea or no. The third Vse by way of Reproof Is every Christian bound to redeem the Time Then here is a Word of seasonable serious sharp Reproof to several Persons who are grosly guilty of mis-spending their Time and divers Waies do foolishly cut this precious Commodity to waste Particularly to these following The first Sort of Persons reproved To such as mi-spend their Time in Idleness who lose their Time nihil agendo in doing just nothing or nothing at all worthy the naming Who live in Neglect of all honest and Useful Employment or do not sedulously exercise chemselves in the Duties of their Place and [a] There dwelled in Belsted a small Village some three Miles from Ipswich a Tanner who being very busie in tawing of a Hide Mr. Carter came by accidentally and going sostly behind him being familiarly acquainted with the good Man merrily gave him a little Clap on the Back The man started and looking behind him suddenly blushed and said Sir I am ashamed that you should find me thus To whom Mr. Carter replied Let Christ when he comes fiad me so dotag What said the man doing thus Yes said M. Carter to him saithfully performing the Duties of my Calling The Life of Mr. John arter inserted among Mr. Clark's Lives of ten Eminent Divines pag. 13. Calling How sharply may God reprove and say to many among us * Mat. 20.6 Why stand ye here all the Day idle What Cause have Ministers to complain of their People with the Apostle and say †2 Thess 3.11 There are some which walk among you disorderly working not at all To how many may we use the VVords of the VVise Man ‖ Prov. 6.6 Go to the Ant thou Sluggard 1. Idleness is a Sin against a Man's very Creation God did not so curiously work and accurately frame us to sit still and fold our Hands and give our selves to our ease and to [b] Desidea somnium vigilantis dream when we are awake Our Maker intended and fitted us for work To what End did God furnish us with so many useful instruments as the several members of our Bodies and endow us with those nimble and active Faculties of our Souls but that we might up and be doing and vigorously prosecute and pursue some worthy and good End in the diligent Use of sit and proper Means Adam even in Paradise was not allowed to be idle but before he feil we appointed and ordered to * Gen. 2.15 dress the Garden and to keep the Ground in which Employment he should have [c] Oberatus fuisser agrievlturâ non laboriosd sed deliciosa ad voluptatem experientiam Synops Crit. taken Delight and gain'd Experience And afterward when he had sinn'd not light and case but hard and painful tedious and wearisome Labour was enjoined him as a perpetual Penance for his Transgression and Offence and imposed as a [d] Andr. River Exercit. in Gen. p. 157. Bridle to rest rain the Flesh which by reason of Sin is now become wanton and rebellious against the Spirit (*) Gen. 3.17 19. In sorrow shalt thou eat all the Daies of thy Life In the Sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat thy Bread * Job 5.7 Man says Eliphaz is born unto Labour troublesome Labour †Psal 104.23 Man says David goeth forth to his Work and to his Labour until the Evening This is the Course which God has set him But by their Idleness Men attempt to overthrow the Purpose and Design of God and to frustrate the End whereto Man was created and plainly thwart and contradict cross and controul God's Curse while only in the Sweat of others Brows they eat their Bread and cast off the Means which God has ordain'd for repressing and taming the petulant and unruly Flesh Were these so wise as to accept of the Punishment threatned and inflicted and to become painful and laborious in their Places and Employments the Curse of God would by a Miracle of the divine Mercy be turn'd into a [e] The Labour and Sweat of our Brows is so far from being a
est dicenda sed desidiosa occupatio Sen. de brev vit c. 11. Non habent iste otium sed iners negotium Ib. c. 12. Oterose nihil agunt lb. c. 13. idle Employment or in a serious Idleness a painful Playing a laborious Loitering and a [x] Quorundam non otiosa vita est dicenda sed desidiosa occupatio Sen. de brev vit c. 11. Non habent iste otium sed iners negotium Ib. c. 12. Oterose nihil agunt lb. c. 13. busie doing nothing But surely of all Persons they deserve a severe and cutting Reproof who idle away their Time on the Lord's-Day Who usually spend that holy Day as if the rest of the Ox and Ass were the only worthy and acceptable Observation of it When as the Lord's-Day as a [y] The whole Duty of Man partit 2. § 17. great and excellent Author says well was never ordained to give us a Pretence for Idleness but only to change our Employment from worldly to heavenly to take us off from out worldly Business and to give us Time to attend the Servioe of God and the Need of our Souls A Reit from all worldly Buhness is commanded that we may be at Leisure for the publick Worship and Service of God and for the Duties or private Instructing and Praying with our Families and of secret Closet-Prayer Reading Meditating and the like A mere Cessation from Labour is not all that is required of us on the Lord's-Day but the Time which Men save from the Works of their Callings they are to lay out on those spiritual Duties The second Sort of Persons reproved Such Persons are justly censurable who spend their Time in excessive Sleep and Drousiness which fills the Body full of Diseases and ill Humours and strangely dulls the Faculties of the Soul and crosses the End of Man's Creation which was to serve God in an active Obedience and disposes a Person to Lust and [a] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wantonness is joined with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate chambering but signifies properly lying long in Bed Rom. 13.13 Bp. Andrew's Ex os of the 7th Com. chap. 4. Wantonness and wickedly wastes the most precious Talent of Time and not only consumes much of our Time but devoures the best of our Time too [b] See Whately's Serm. of Redempt of Time eats up the Flower of the Day the very first Fruits of our Hoursw even the Morning-season that very Time which of all other is the fittest for holy Duties and religious Exercises Remember and connder what is suggested by the divine Herbert [c] Church-porch God gave thy Soul brave Wings put not those Feathers Into a Bed to sleep out all ill Weathers This immoderate Sleeping is naught on any Day but worst of an upon the Lords-day It must needs be much out of any man's Way to sleep in Harvest and drouse away the Market-Day and such is the Lord's-Day in respect of spiritual and Soul-Advantages How many Persons are there that have enough to do and by ill Custom make it a difficult Thing to get themselves ready by Church-time and take no Time on the Lord's-Day-Morning to pray in private or to pray with their Families and so never prepare themselves to meet their God in his publick Ordinances and beg no Blessing upon the Word they go to hear and therefore God suffers them from Time to Time to go back from the Word without any Blessing Never use to take any more Sleep than is necessary for the strengthening and refreshing of your frail Natures the relieving and supporting of your tired and wearied Bodies and the recruiting and repairing of those Spirits that were wasted and weaken'd by Labour that so you may be the better enabled for continued Action and Employment and sitted for daily Use and Service which is the true and proper End for which Sleep was appointed and ordained Pay no more than needs must to that craving greedy Publican of Time never yield to its unreasonable Exactions The more you yield to it the more it will grow upon you the more Hours you give to Sleep the more you may â—â— you keep too much upon the Working-Day you will be prone to sleep upon the Lord's-Day too and that in the Time of the very publick Ordinance to sleep when you should be at it or to sleep even when you are at it and should be wakeful and attentive under it How sluggishly and shame urry do many neep and slumber away Church-Time lie drowning and dreaming in Bed in the Morning folding their Hands to sleep or stretching themselves upon their Beds when they should be lifting up holy Hands and humbly bowing their Knees and striving together with their Fellow-Christians in the joint Praiers of the publick Assembly And if they make not some trivial Excuse to stay at home in the Afternoon they lit nodding and halt a sleep at Church when they should have their Ears and Hearts open to what is publickly read or said Consider and think thus much with your selves that if here you spend the greatest Part of your Life in Sleep and make the most of your Time nothing but Night a dark black and eternal Night without one Moment or Minute of Ease or Rest is reserved for you in another World Athird Sort of Persons reproved Many mis-spend their Time in impertinent Employments A Person may throw away his Time as much [a] Magna vttae pars elabitur malè agentibus max. ma nihil agentibus tot a aliud agentis us Sen. ep 1. aliud agendo as nihil agendo in doing that which nothing concerns him as by doing nothing at all A Man may lose his time by basely imploying it in mean Affairs and sordid Business [b] Domittan was busy in catching Flies Nero went up and down Greece and challenged the Fidlers at their Trade Aeropus a Macedonian King made Lanterns Harcatius the King of Parthia was a Mole-catcher Biantes the Tydian filed Needles and Theophylact the Patriarch of CP spent his Tim in his Stable of Horses when he should have been in his Study or the Pulpit or saying his holy Offices BP Taylor 's Ruse and Exerc. of hol Liv. c. 1. §. 1. rule 9th extremely below the Dignity of his Person or in acting contrary to his own particular [c] Admodum tuenda sunt sua cuique non vitiosa sed tamen propria c. Nihil Aecet invitâ Aequalitatem vitae conservare non possis si aliorum naturam imiteris omittas tuant Id maximè quenique decet quod est cujusque suum maxi◠è. Histrto hoc videbit in seena quod non villebit sapiens in vita Cic. l. 1. de Ossic Nature and Genius or by indiscretely engaging in anothers Calling For Tradesmen to exercise the sacred Offices of the Ministry or for Ministers to involve and immerse themselves in worldly Businesses without Necessity is mere Mis-spence and Loss of Time because it
Body 2. In making dainty Provision for the Belly 3. In Play and Sport and vain Recreations 1. How do the brave Gallants and gaudy People of the Times sordidly use their Souls as so many tailors setting them to mind every new Fashion and very unmanly spend their Time in over-nice and too curious decking and dressing of the Body and poudering of the Hair the [b] When th' Hair is sweet through pride or lust The Pouder doth forget the Dust Herbert's Poems Charms and Knots Pouder quite forgetting the Dust losing their Time inter pectinem speculumque occupati to use [c] De brevitate vitae c. 12. Quomodo trascuntur si tonsor paulo negligence or fuit tanquam virum tonderet Quomodo excandeseunt siquidextra ordinem jacuit nisi omnia in anulos suos recider unt quis est istorum qui non malit Rempub icam sâ—am turbart q an comam qui non solicitior sit de capitis sut d core quà m de salute qui non comptor esse malit quà m gnus ornatus Adhibendaest munditia non odiosa neque exquisita nimis â—an ù n quae sugiat agrestem inhumanam negâ—tgentiam Cicero l 1. de Offic. Seneca's Exprellion by being wholly taken up between the Comb and the Glass These are so exceedingly concern'd for their Heads of Hair or for the Periwigs they wear that to speak in the VVords of the forementioned Philosopher they had rather that a whole Common-wealth should be troubled and distrubed than that their well-set Hair should be disordered and discomposed and more affect to be neat and fine spruce and trim than to be truly good and honest And how do too many of the other Sex instead of early looking up to Heaven in Prayer and looking diligently into the perfect Law of Liberty list up their [d] Doctor Alleâ—â—ry's Sermons page 226. Morning-Eyes to nothing but a Looking-glass and there contemplate their Faces and garish wanton Dresses for several Hours together and even worship their own Image and fall in Love with their own Shadow and please themselves to think how the Eyes of others will be drawn to gaze and be pleased with looking upon them These gentile Sinners ordinarily spend the most of their Time before Dinner in the Arts and [e] Tanquam famae diserimen agatur Aut animae Tantiest quaerendi cura decer is Juvenalis satyra 6. Labours of Attire in putting on their Bulls and Towers many in patching and too many in painting their Faces and giving themselves another Colour and Complexion than ever their Maker thought good to give them in making themselves a new Face instead of making themselves a new Heart VVhenas these idly busie Persons might spend their Hours a great deal better in the trimming of their Souls and * 1 Pet. 3.4 adorning their inner hidden Man and making themselves all glorious within in putting on the Lord Jesus Christ in putting on Christian Charity and clothing themselves with Gospel-Humility and with the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit and in beautifying themselves with all the Graces of the holy Spirit 2. How much Time do many spend in contriving how to furnish their Tables to [f] Cibus per artem voluptatémque corruptus Non ad tollendam sed ad irritandam fame in quaeritur inventae sunt mille conditurae quibus aviditas excitaretur Mâ—ltos morbos multa fercula secerunt Vide quantum rerum per unam gulam transiturarun ermisceat luxurta terrarum marisque vastatrix necesse est it aque inter se tam diversa dissideant hausta malè drger antur altis aliò nitentibus Dii boui quantum hominum unus venter exercet Coguntur in unum sapores In coena sit quod fiers debet saturo in ventre Non esset confusior vomentium cibus Seneca ep 95. mix their Meats to fill and garnish out variety of Dishes to prepare and order their several Sauces in the pleasing of their [g] Qutbus in solo vivendi causa palato est Juvenalis satyra 11. Palates the pampering of their Flesh and the strengthning of their Lusts in immoderate Eating riotous [h] Aspice quantum occupent conviva quae jam ipsa officia sunt Seneca de brevitate viâ—ae c. 6. Feasting frequen Junketing in excessive Drinking tarrying long at the VVine or sitting long Tipling at the Ale-house How many suffer Sensuality and Luxury to eat up their Time and make no greater Improvement of their Years than to become accomplished Epicures How do such voluptuaries make their Souls Cooks to look out Provisions for their Bodies imploying their Minds in studying and devising Meats for their Bellies How do these live [i] Quiderat cur in numero viventium me positum esse gauderem an ut cibos potiones percolarem ut hoc corpus causarium ac staidum perituâ—ú nque nisi subinde impleatur farcirem viverem aegri minister Idem praef nat quaest Fateer insit am esse nobis cor poris nostri caritatem fateor nos hisjus gerere tutelam non engo indulgendum illi sed serviendum nego Sie gerere nos debemus non tanquam propter corpus vivere debeamus sed tanquam non possimus siue corpore Honestum ei vile eit cui cor us nimis carum est Idem ep 14. as if the Business of their Lives were to please and serve to gratify and satisfy the Flesh as if they were made for no higher than the mere animal Life as if they received their rational Souls only to procure for and to animate the Organs of their Sensuality as if they were born for nothing else but to cloath and feed to purvey and provide to cark and care for this vile Body and were capable of enjoying no nobler Pleasures or higher Satisfaction than the Entertainment of their Senses Though the Truth of it is that [k] Quid mihi voluptatem nominas Hominis bonum quaero non ventris qui pecudibus ac belluis laxior est Sen. de vita beata c. 9. Hunc tu numeras inter homines cujus summum bonum saporibus ac coloribus ac sonis constat Idem ep 92. St quae mens est paulò ad voluptmates propensior modò ne sit ex pecudum genere sunt enim quidam homines non re sed nomine sed si quis est paulò erectior quamvis voluptate capiatur occultat dissimulat appetitum voluptatis propter verecundiam Ex quo intelligitur corporis voluptatem non satis esse dignam hominis prastantiâ eánque contemni rejict oportere Si considerare volumus quae sit naturae excellentia dignitas intelligemus quà n sit turpe difftuere luxuriâ delicaiè ac molliter vivere quâmque honestum parcè continenter severè sobriè Cicero l. 1. de Offic. sensual Pleasure as Seneca well discourses is but the Good of a Beast Canst thou reckon him I will not say among Men but
Mankind says he whose Life too plainly shews that he placeth his Happiness and Chief Good in Tastes and Colours and Sounds Let him depart out of this goodly Rank and Order of Creatures that are next unto the Gods themselves let him even go among the brute Beasts who is a Creature so much pleased and delighted in the Enjoyment of his Food How few do eat and drink not merely with an Intention to preserve the Body in Health and Strength but with such Prudence Care and Caution as not to over-cherish and pamper to embolden and enrage their Bodies to soften and weaken to clog and enslave their Minds to Sense and to inflame and provoke themselves to Lust and Wantonness How few do use the Creatures in such sober and moderate Measures as may render their Bodies tame and governable morigerous and obsequious to their Souls and cheerful and ready in the Exercise of any religious Duty which is certainly the true Notion of [l] See Mr. Lucas's practical Christianity part 1. cap. 4. sec 3. Gospel-Temperance 3. they also are here to be reproved who not only consume much of their Time in Dressing and Tiring Eating and Drinking but lavish out a considerable Portion of it in pleasurable Sports and Recreations These are they who Bellerophon-like hotly spur on a flying Horse study to drive away that Time which hasteth and posteth and flyeth away too fast of it self And are of a like Mind with that [m] Aeliani variae Hist Persian King who proposed a great Reward to any that could invent and find out any new Pas-time These Men waste and wear out their Time either 1. By using [n] Virtus voluptates aestimat antequam admittat nec quai probavit magni pendit nec usu earum sed temperantid laeta est Tu voluptatem complecteris ego compesco Tu voluptate frueris ego utor Tu illam Summum Bonum putas ego nec bonum Tu omnia voluptatis causà facis ego nibil Seneca de vita beata c. 10. unlawful Recreations which have somewhat of Sin in them something or other dishonourable to God or injurious to their Neighbour Or else 2. By [n] Vide pag. praeced sub litera n abusing lawful Recreations either using them unseasonably or else immoderately 1. Vnseasonably We should never take any Diversion at such a Time when any necessary Duty toward god that we are capable of will be neglected by so doing Again We should never use any Recreation but only to fit and whet our selves for Business and Employment We should not begin to play till need of Body or Mind require it And therefore labour must ordinarily go before Recreation and Recreation must follow after it as a needful Refreshment of weak Nature after Weariness to fit and enable any Person for fresh and future Employment and a cheerful returning to farther Labour and Pains-taking in his particular lawful Calling [o] Ludo joco uti illis quidem licet sed sicut somno quietibus caeteris tum cùm gravibus seri sque rebus satasfecertmus Cicero l. 1. de Offic. Cicero says well We may use Recreation and Play as we do Sleep and other Kinds of Rest when first we have given due Attendance to weighty and serious Things Farther 2. As Time is lost by unseasonable so by immoderate Recreation The Earth is a Place for Labour and Industry [p] Neque enim it a generati à natura sumus ut ad ludum jocum facti esse vide amur sed ad severuatem potius ad quaedam studia gravora atque majora Idem ibid. We were not put here as the Leviathan into the Sea to take our Fill of Pleasure and Sport But how many spend their Time immeasurably in * Job 21.13 Mirth and Musick Singing and Dancing Frolicking and Sporting Gaming and Playing at Cards and Dice or in frequent going and long sitting to see Stage-Plaies [q] Dr. Patrick's Divine Arithm p. 7. A learned Doctor expresses himself excellently well to this Purpose Men reckon says he that there are none but Play-Daies ion their Life and they can find never a Working-Day among them All their Daies in their Calendar are Festivals And they are so far from minding the Business of Life viz. dressing up their Souls for God in a blessed Eternity by Religion and Holiness that a Saint should have no Respect from many that pretend to honour him were it not that he gets them Leave to play more freely The whole Course of their Lives is but a sporting Business and when they lay aside their worldly Affairs it is but to obtain Leisure to be more frolick To plead that such and such Recreations as you use immoderately are in themselves simply lawful is an Excuse that will never be admitted and accepted by God when in the mean Time you neglect your necessary weighty work and Employment Surely you would never suffer your own [r] If your Servants leave most of their Work undone and spend the Day in Cards and Stage-plaies and Feasting and in merry Chat and then say Madam are not Cards and Plaies and Jesting lawful will you take it for a satisfactory Answer And is it not worse that you deal with God Mr. Baxter's Pref. to Mr. Whately's sermon of Redemption of Time If a poor man had but six-pence in his purse to buy Bread for himself and his Family and would give a Groat of it to s e a Poppet-play and then dispute that Poppet-plaies are lawful how would you judg of his understanding and his practice O how much worse is it in you when you have but a little uncertain Time to do so much so great so necessary Work in to leave it almost all undone and throw away that time on Cards and Plaies and sensuality and idleness Idem ibid. Servants so to put off their gross Carelesness of important Business that requires greatest Haste and Speed 'T is a notable Saying of [s] Quis est dignus nomines hominis qui unum diem totum velit esse in isto genere voluptatis Cicero l. 2 de Finibus And Seneca hath a sentence very like it Quis mortalium cui ullum superest hominis vestigium per diem noctémque titillari ve it deserto animo corpori operam dare De vita beata cap. 5. Nulla major voluptas quà m voluptat is fastidium Cicero He is not worthy the Name of a Man that would chuse to spend one whole Day in sensual corporeal Pleasure surely then he less deserves the Name of a Christian who by his good Will would live all his Daies and spend all his Years in taking his Pleasure and Recreation preferring the Pleasures of Sense the Entertainments of the Phansie and the Recreations of the Body before the rational manly Pleasures the delightful Exercises and the solid Refreshment and Satisfaction of the Mind Whereas in the Judgment and Experience of the wisest and best
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
esteemed and well-improved at the Hour of Death The second Direction If we would well redeem the Time we must often [a] Vide Ludov. Crocii Syntagm a p. 1207 ad 1212. examin our selves and call our selves to a serious strict Account for the spending of our Time Alas too many earnestly study to know and understand all things but themselves They observe and take notice of other Mens Tempers and Humours search and enquire into other Mens Actions and reade the Histories of other Mens Lives and [b] Quando omnia percur visti quid te neglecto profecisti A Kempis l. 2. c. 5. n. 2. yet are ignorant of their own Hearts and spiritual Estates unobservant of the Passages and unacquainted with the particulars of their own Conversations We can easily pass away the Day and the Night the Week and the Year in musing on a thousand Matters [c] Vt nemo in seso tentat descendere nemo Pers Sat. 4. But where is the Man that bestows any serious Thoughts on himself that questions and interrogates his own Heart and takes due notice of his own Life or is at all concern'd how his Soul is improved and his Hours employed Certainly some of the very Heathens will rise up in Judgment against most Christians for we find that they have been very famous for this Practice of being severe in taking Account of themselves and of their Time Suetonius relates of Titus Vespasian the Heathen Emperour that remembring on an Evening as he was at Supper that he had done no good that Day to any one [d] Memorabilem illam meritóque landatam vocem edidit Annci diem perdidi Suet in vit Vesp §. 8. he utter'd that memorable and deservedly commended Saying Alas my Friends I have lost this Day St. Jerom tells us of a wise Saying of the Pythagoreans [e] Pythago teum illud praeceptum est ducrum temporum maximè habondam curam manè vespert id est eorum quae acturi sumus eorum quae gesserimus Apolog. Hieron advers Russi um l. 3. Mone prepone vespere discute mores tuos qualis hodie suists in verbo opere cogit â—â—â—one quia ia his saepius sâ—itan offendssti Deum proximum A Kemp. l 1 c. 19. n 4 Quid quòqu die dixerim audiverim egerim commemoro vespers Caro apud Cic de Senect That a special Care is to be had of two portions of our Time of the Morning and of the Evening Of the Morning to consider and resolve to do what ought to be done and of the Evening to examine whether we have done what we ought And it is one of Pythagoras's golden Precepts Never offer to give sleep to your Eyes before you have thrice run over in your Mind the several Particulars of that Day 's Actions and put such Questions as these to your self [f] Examen Pythagoricum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where have I transgressed what have I well done what have I left undone which it became me to have done And if thou hast done any thing saies he that is base and unworthy charge thy self with it and chide thy self for it But if thou hast done any thing that is good and vertuous rejoyce and delight in it [g] Hoc nos pessimos facit quod nemo vitans saam respicit c. Sen. ep 83. This makes us so very bad says Seneca because no man reflects upon his own Life It may be sometimes though seldome we think what we are to do says he but what we have done we do not think But we are to deliberate what to do for the future from the consideration of what we have done already And in his third Book de Ira he has an excellent Discourse to this Purpose He says there That the Soul is daily to be call'd to give an Account And he tells us of one Sextius whose constant Course it was to do thus That when the Day was spont and he went to take his rest at Night he would demand of himself What evil of yours have you healed this Day what Vice have you resisted in what part are you better Anger and Passion says the Philosopher there will be moderated and abated when it knows it must daily come before a Judg And therefore says he what is more excellent than this Custom of examining the whole Day past O [h] Qualis ille somnus pâ—st recog itionem sui sequitur c. Sen. de Ira l. 3. c. 36. what a sweet Sleep is that which follows after the Recognition of a Man's self How quiet and free is a Man's Mind when it is either commended or admonished and a Man does secretly review and censure his own Manners I use this Liberty with my self says Sencea there in the same Place I have a daily Trial within my self says he When at Night the Candle is taken away and all is still and silent then I search and enquire into the whole Day I measure and run over I scan and consider all my Words and Deeds I hide nothing from my self I overlook and pass by nothing I say to my self you have done so and so see you do so no more You see how some of the wisest and best of the very Heathen did accustome themselves to this Self-scrutiny and took an Account of their Lives and Actions And many eminent and Godly Christians to this Purpose do use Diaries and daily set down in Journals or Day-books the observable remarkable Passages of their Lives And we must do at least somewhat like it Before we sleep every Night let 's be sure to make such a Recollection and Examination of the Actions of that Day as may represent any thing that is remarkable to be matter either of Humiliation or of Thanks-giving Accustome thy self before thou takest thy Rest and Repose to have some private Talk some secret Conference with thy selt to ask thy self such Questions as these and to use such Language as this What has been the Frame and Temper of my Heart what my Carriage and Behaviour this Day what the Principles of my Practice what the Ends of this Day 's Actions Did my Mind awake with my Body in the Morning did I then exercise the Consideration of a Man and Christian and deliberately renew and six and settle my Resolution for the purifying and right ordering my Conversation Did I early go to God by Prayer and in the * Matth. 6.33 first place seek the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness Wherein have I offended or angred my good God this Day wherein have I injured or provoked my Neighbour or hurt his Soul Body Estate or good Name wherein have I wronged or any way prejudic'd my own Soul what proud discontented covetous ambitious malicious revengeful Thought what silthy or angry vain-glorious or idle Word what inconvenient abusive offensive Jest what ungodly Deed or unbecoming unseemly Action have I this Day been guilty of
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
such strong Affections for any profane Writings as by means of them to be taken off from perusing and studying the Scriptures which were given by Inspiration of God and are every way profitable to the Edification and Salvation of our Souls [e] Scriptura visa mihi est indigna quam Tullianae dignitati compar arem Aug Conf. l 3. c. 5. St. Austin confesses it as his great Folly and Fault that in his unconverted State the Scripture-stile was a mean and contemptible thing in his Eye and not to be compared for Dignity with the Eloquence of Tully And [f] The Life of Bp. Usher p. 27. Dr. Bernard relates of Bp. Vsher that in his younger Years in the Times of his private Sequestration and strict Examination of himself he lamented his too much love of his Book and humane Learning that he should be as glad of Munday to go to that as of the Lord's-Day for his Service 3. We should take care to redeem the Time from the most plausible taking Treatises of moral Philosophers whose Precepts commonly make Men grow more in Knowledg than in Goodness We have an Account indeed of one [g] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Origen contra Cels l. 1. p. 50. Phaedon and one Polemon that were famous Converts to Philosophy and were reclaimed and reduc'd from a very luxurious and impure Life by Socrates and Xenocrates But what vast Numbers and great Multitudes have not only been brought to alter their Opinions but have been really recovered from the inward Love and Liking as well as the outward gross Practice of Sin and Vice by reading and ruminating on the Writings of the Old and New Testament St. Austin declares that Plato's Writings have not the [h] Non habent illae paginae visltum pietatis hujus August Conf. l. 7. c. 21. § 2. Visage and Colour of that Piety that is apparent in the sacred Scriptures The heathen Philosophy has nothing of that holy Nature and transforming Power which is to be found in Scripture-truth which has a rare Efficacy not only to civilize but to sanctify [i] Sapientia eorum non excindit vitia sed abscondit Pauca verò Dei praecepta sic totum hominem immutant exposito vetere novum reddunt ut non cognoscas eundem esse Lactant. l. 3. §. 25. Da mihi virum qui sit iraeundus maledicus effrenatus paucissimis Des verbis tam placidum quà m ovem reddam c. Num quis haec Philosophorum aut unquam prastitit aut praestare si velit potest qui cùm atates suas in studio Philosophiae conterant neque alium quemquam neque seipsos si natura paululum obstitit possunt facere meliores Id. ib. The Wisdome of Philosophers saies Lactantius it does not cut up Vices but only cover them But a few divine Precepts saies he do so change the whole Man and putting off the old make him every way such a new Man that you would not know him to be the same Person The most improved Discourses of heathen Moralists are also short in the relief and comforts which they offer to afford to troubled Minds If you peruse the Writings of all the Platonick Philosophers St. Austin will tell you you can never find such strong Cordials in any of them as those which the Gospel exhibits and holds forth to you you [k] Nemo ibi audit vocantem Venite ad me qui laboratis Aug. Conf. l. 7. c. 21. §. 3. can never hear there any calling and crying to you Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Nor do the Writings of the most raised sublime Philosophers furnish and fortify a Person with any Motives and Arguments to help him quietly and contentedly to bear the Afflictions and Calamities of this Life like those of the perfect Pattern of Christ's patient though undeserved Sufferings and the great and gainful Reward in Heaven that * 2 Cor. 4.17 exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory proposed and promised in the Gospel of Christ to those that endure the Evils and Sufferings of this present Life with Christian Patience [l] Feci ego persaepe periculum fugi semper od Codices sacros quod in iis quaerebatur levamen inveni nec à spe nec à desiderio meo fraudatus Baptist Mantuan de patientia l. 3. cap. 32. Baptista Mantuanus declares it as his comfortable and constant Experience that his recourse to the Scripture was on all Occasions a present happy Remedy against all Griess of Body Anxiety of Mind and Sadness of Soul and that he never fail'd of Ease in taking this course and using this means Once more 4. We should religiously redeem the Time not only from mere Philosophical Writings but from the Ecclesiastical Theological Writings of Men not immediatly inspired to spend in reading over the Bible which is the infallible Word of God and is peculiarly accompanied with the special Operation of the Spirit the Word of God being vehiculum Spiritûs the Charet in which the Spirit of God rides in Triumph This made Luther solemnly profess [m] Ego ipse eam ob causam odi mâ—os libros saepe opto eos interire quòd metuo ne morentur lectores abducant à lectione iâ—sius Scriptarae quae sola omnis sapientiae fons est Ac terreor exemplo superioris aetatis c. Luth. Loc. Com. collect à Fabricio prim Class cap. 24. pag. 70. ex Tom. 2do in Genesin in cap. 19. p. 143. that he hated the Books set forth by himself and often wish'd them perish'd and utterly abolish'd lest they should be a means to divert and withdraw Men from the reading of the Scripture which alone is the Fountain of all spiritual divine and heavenly Wisdome for fear of this he could like Saturn have eaten up his own Children destroyed his own Works the Fruit and Issue of his Mind Thus thus redeem and gain the Time from other Things to apply it to the busie study of the Scriptures Let the Scriptures have the Preeminence above all Books and Writings in the World Keep a constant course of serious reading those divine Writings reade them frequently reade them unweariedly [n] Septies ter imò septuagies septies seu ut plus dicam infinities legendae sunt vel milties relegendae sunt Idem ibidem pag. 70 71. It is a common proverbial Speech saies Luther that the Letters of Princes are to be read three times over Surely then the Divine Letters God's Epistles as Gregory calls the Scriptures are to be read seven times thrice yea seventy times seven they are to be read even a thousand times over they are to be read infinitely because they are the divine Wisdome which cannot be comprehended presently at first sight If any one reade them by the by as things known and easy he deceives himself Is not Time well spent in often and narrow searching into those things
extravagantly The often renewed Meditation of the great Vncertainty of the Time of the Departure This will be a Means to hasten thy Repentance which if defer'd may prove too late And will surely help thee so to carry thy self continually [p] Id ago ut mihi instar totius vitae sit dies Sen. ep Ille qui nullum non tempus in usus suos comfert quiomnes dies tanquam vitam suam ordmat nec optat crastinum nec timet Idem de brev vit c 7. as one that reckons and uses a single Day as if it were a whole Life To live every day as if it were [q] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Musonius apud Stob Serm. 1. â—ic ordinandus est aies omnis tamquam cogat agmen consummet atque expleat vitam In somnum ituri loeti hilar ésque dicamus Viâ—i quem dederat cursum fortuna peregi thy very last Not to promise thy self a Morrow and to neglect thy present Work in Hope and Expectation of it but to order thy self immediately as if thou didst never look to see and enjoy it and to count it as [r] Crastinum si adjecerit Deus laeti reciptamus Ille beatissimus est securus sai possessor qui crastinum sine solicitudine expectat Qussquis dixit vixi quotidie ad lucrum surgit Sen. ep 12. pure Gain as may be if God shall be pleased to afford thee the Light and Benefit of a new Day As the Bird guideth her Flight with her Train and the Ship is governed at the Stern or hindermost Part so the Life of Man is directed and ordered by frequent Meditation of his latter End 3. Think moreover of the great Change that will at last be made by Death which is lively represented in a Story related by a learned [s] Bishop Taylor in his rule and Exercise of holy Dying c. 1. §. 3. Doctor of a fair young German Gentleman who while he lived often refused to be pictured but put off the importunity of his Friends Desire by giving way that after a few Daies Burial they might send a Painter to his Vault and if they saw cause fo rit draw the Image of his Death unto the Life They did so and found his Face half eaten and his Midriff and Back-bone full of Serpents and so he stands pictured among his armed Ancestours Think how the Case will shortly be much alike with thee that Death in a Moment will turn thy Colour into Paleness thy Heat into Coldness thy Beauty into Lothsomness and will so alter and disfigure thee that thy ver Husband or Wife or Child will stand afraid and start at thee That thy nearest dearest kindest Friends who delighted in thy Company whilst thou livedst took thee to their Board took thee to their Bed and put thee in their Bosom will as soon as thou art dead take a speedy Course to remove thee out of their Sight yea to put thee under Ground because by Death thou wilt become not only useless but offensive to them And what a frightful Spectacle thou wouldst be if thy Body should be viewed when once the Vermin have bred in it and shall have devoured and consumed some Parts of it Think how Death will make a Change in thy Body a change in thy Mansion Habitation Companions That when thou art dead thou shalt quickly change thy Bed for a winding Sheet thy Chamber for a Coffin thy House for a Grave thy Friends for Worms This Consideration will be hugely instrumental to beat down Pride of any beauty Health Strength or Ornaments of the Body and be useful to cause thee to walk humbly and soberly and will instruct thee to say to thy self Why should I glory in any such transitory Enjoyment As fair and fine as I may be apt to think my self I know I shall be but a sorry Creature when Death comes Why should I delight to stand long at the Glass and there to view my own Face and Features and Dresses now since Death will one Day so change me that my most intimate loving familiar Friends will hardly endure to behold me Why should I pride my self in any rich Attire and brave Apparel who must ere long be strip'd to a winding Sheet Why should I bestow so much cost upon that Tenement which I shall dwell but a while in and which will decay and fall to utter Ruin when I have done all I can Why should I make my Belly my God which must be destroyed and be Meat for Worms Why should I be so high and stately as to think no House good enough no Room fine enough no Fair dainty enough for me who must quickly be brought as low as the Grave and be forc'd to make my Bed in the dark and to lay my Head in the Dust to lodg yea dwell in a black lonely desolate Hole of Earth to say to the Grave Thou art mine House to say to Corruption Thou art my Father and to the Worm Thou art my Mother and my Sister Why should I spend all my time in pleasing and pampering this base Flesh and in over-caring for this changeable vile Body which must shortly suffer Rottenness and Corruption Shall I not rather take care to beautify and adorn my inner Man to get a Change wrought in my Soul by the good Spirit and Grace of God before I suffer a Change in my Body a Change by Sickness a Change by Death and so to live that when I am dead it may not be said of me Here lies one that was dead while he lived and whose Soul then stank worse by sinful Corruption than his Body now stinks by Putrefaction 4. Consider once more What a sad and uncomfortable Thing it wil be to be found unprepared to die at the point of Death and how happy a Thing it will be to be in a readiness and preparation at the Hour of Death 1. Think well with thy self how miserable a Thing it will be to be wholly unprepared for Death when you come to die indeed [t] Cù a illos aliqua imbecillitas mortalitatis admonuit quemadmodum paventes moriuntur non tanquam exeant de vita sed tanquam extrahantur Seneca de brevitate vitae cap. 11. to be driven away in thy Wickedness as the * Prov. 14.32 Wise Man speaks and forced to go to thy own Place whether thou wilt or no. To say as Theophrastus of old Dii boni nunc Good God must I go now How discompos'd and disorder'd amaz'd and terrified wilt thou be when thou art surpriz'd What a disconsolate Condition was that of Cesar Borgia who when through the Errour of a Servant he had unawares drunk of the poison'd Wine which he and his Father Pope Alexander the sixth had mingled and prepared for some rich Cardinals and verily expected it would prove his Death is said to have broke out into this or the like Expression I had made Provision against all possible Disasters
Rel. p. 170. rule and govern the rational World by giving notices of future Rewards or Punishments which all must unavoidably be adjudged to And that God may one day salve the Honour of his own Attributes that though Things seem to be carried very unequally here in this World and Judgment be never fully executed here but the Wicked are often suffered to escape and the Good and Upright are frequently afflicted and evil-intreated yet all may be rectified and regulated at last and God may openly and evidently appear to be just in punishing the Wicked and Ungodly and good in owning and rewarding every truly vertuous and righteous Person And so may not only vindicate and right himself but justify and right his People too in the Eye and Face of all the World And then go on to think of Scripture-evidences and Testimonies That * Heb. 9.27 after Death the Judgment immediatly after Death a particular Judgment Think of that awakening startling Summons †Luke 16.2 Give an Account of thy Stewardship for thou mayest be no longer Steward Alcibiades in Plutarch coming to Pericles his Door and hearing that he was busie and solicitous about making his Accounts to the Athenians [c] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. Apophthegm p. 180. said It rather concer'd him to study how he might best put by his Accounts and avoid the giving of them up But assure thy self there is no declining of it here Consider that God has * Acts 17.31 appointed a Day a Day of general Judgment in the which he will judg the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained And that we †2 Cor 5.10 must all appear and ‖ Rom. 14.10 stand before the Judgment-seat of Christ not only appear in Person as those do that are cited into a Court but be laid open and made manifest as the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies have our Heart and Life ript up and all our Thoughts Words and Works presented to our own view and expos'd to the view of others disclosed and discovered before Men and Angels That (*) Rev. 20.12 the Books shall then be opened the Book of God's Omniscience and the Book of every Man 's particular Conscience That the Rolls or Records of all our Actions shall be produc'd and we shall be judg'd out of those Things that are written in the Books That we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the Things done in his Body that is the due Reward of the Works done in his Body or in the State of Conjunction with the Body according to or by way of Retribution to what he hath done whether it be good or bad The sober serious Consideration of a most impartial Judicature and Tribunal will mightily awe thy Soul Felix himself trembled when St. Paul reasoned (†) Acts 24.25 of a Judgment to come I have read a [d] M. Marshal's Serm. on 2 Kings 23 25 26. p. 20 21. Story of a certain King of Hungary who being on a Time marvellous sad and heavy his Brother would needs know of him what he ailed Oh Brother saies he I have been a great Sinner against God and I know not how I shall appear before him when he comes to Judgment His Brother told him they were but melancholy Thoughts and made light of them The King replied nothing at the present but in the dead Time of the Night sent an Executioner of Justice and caused him to sound a Trumpet before his Brother's Door which according to the Custome of that Countrey was a Sign of present Execution This Royal Person hearing and seeing the Messenger of Death sprang pale and trembling into his Brother's Presence beseeching the King to let him know wherein he had offended O Brother replied the King thou hast loved me and never offended me and is the sight of my Executioner so dreadful to thee and shall not I so great a Sinner fear to be brought to Judgment before Jesus Christ The frequent Meditation of a Judgment to come will exceedingly move and affect thee and cause thee to live and act suitably and answerably to thy belief of it 'T will keep thee from spending thy Time and talk in rashly judging others * Mat. 7.1 lest God severely enter into Judgment with thee 'T will awaken thee to endeavour to do every Thing as one that is [e] Semper it a vivamus ut rationem reddendam nobis arbitiemur Tussius apud Lactant. de veto coltu l. 6. §. 24. accountable for all he does 'T will put thee upon examining and calling thy self to an Account and cause thee to get all thy Accounts ready against the great Audit 'T will help thee to judg thy self here that thou maiest not be judged and condemned hereafter at the great and last Day It will excite and stir thee up to Repentance and provoke thee to the Performance of a course of new and sincere Obedience to make that Law the Rule of thy Life which God will make the Rule of his Judgment The Wise Man makes this an Argument to induce Men to * Eccl. 12.13 fear God and keep his Commandments that God will bring every Work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil St. Paul very earnestly press'd the Athenians to Repentance by this most powerful and cogent Argument drawn from the Certainty of a future Judgment †Acts 17.30 31. God now commandeth all Men every where to repent because he hath appointed a Day in the which he will judg the World in Rigteousness And this was the Reason of the Apostles Labour of all his Ambition and Design to be ‖ 2 Cor. 5.9 10 11. acceptable to God whether living or dying because we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ Yea this was the Ground of all his Industry and Painfulness in the Ministry Knowing therefore the Terrour of the Lord we perswade Men saies he Considering the Dreadfulness of this Appearance of God we strive to bring Men to embrace the Truth and to live as those that are thus to be judged And in Hope of a Resurrection to a Judgment of Absolution (*) Acts 24.15 16. herein did he exercise himself to have alwaies a Conscience void of Offence toward God and toward Men he knew if Conscience absolv'd him in this Life it would also under God acquit him in the other Thy †Tit. 2.12 13. earnest looking for the glorious Appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ is apt to engage and prevail with thee to deny Vngodliness and worldly [f] Nec me revoeabat à profundiore voluptatum carnalium gurgtte nisi metus mortis futuri judicit tut qut per varias quidem opiniones nunquam tamen recessit de pectore meo Aug. Conf. l. 6. c. 16. § 1. Lusts and to live soberly righteously and godlily in
quà m creavit Deus metuant ne cùm venerit resurrectionis dies artifex creaturam suam non recognoseat Cypr. beautifying thy Body but to dress and adorn thy Soul with true Grace and Holiness here that so at the Day of Resurrection thy Body may be made very glorious and beautiful indeed and then may be changed for the better never to suffer any Change more Yea thy Meditation of the Resurrection of thy Body will make thee labour to get thy Body sanctified that it may be glorified 'T will make thee pray that thy * 1 Thess 5.23 Body may be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and cause thee as thou wouldst have thy Body rais'd to Glory to keep under thy Body here and not to suffer its Members to rise in Rebellion against God 'T will help thee to use thy bodily Members holily here that they may fare well and happily hereafter Considering how unfit it is that God should raise the Instruments of Iniquity to a State of glorious Immortality How unmeet that Christ should take that Body which in this Life vigorously oppos'd him and busily and violently acted against him and fashion this wicked hellish Body like unto his heavenly and glorious Body How incongruous that they * Rom. 3.13 that live after the Flesh and †Cal. 6 8. sow to their Flesh should in their Flesh see God that they who use their Eyes chiefly to let in sinful Objects should at the latter Day ‖ Job 19 26 27. see God for themselves and that their Eyes should behold him with Comfort and Joy Thy Meditation concerning the Resurrection will direct thee to say upon any Temptation Shall I offer to abuse and dishonour this Flesh to abuse and dishonour God with this Flesh which I look that God should so highly honour and greatly glorify at the last Day Shall I sin against God with this Body of mine which I hope shall shine at the Resurrection as the Sun in the Firmament and as the Stars for ever and ever and be chang'd and fashioned like the glorious Body of Jesus Christ This will engage thee to strive with the Apostle (*) Phil 3.11 if by any means thou maiest attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead a Resurrection to a glorious Immortality To study to be just that thou maiest be Partaker of the (†) Acts 24 15. Resurrection of the Just To labour to have part in the (‖) Rev. 20.6 first that thou maiest partake of the second Resurrection [*] Jo. 5.25 28 29. To hear now the Voice of the Son of God speaking by his Word and Works and Spirit and hearing to live a divine and spiritual Life that when thou art dead and rotten in thy Grave thou maiest at last hear his Voice and come forth to the Resurrection of Life and lift up thy Head with Joy in the latter Day To labour to be a true Member of Christ and to live to Christ that so thou maiest [†] 1 Th. fl 4.14 sleep in Jesus and by the Power of God be brought from the dead with him To feast and refresh the Bodies of the Poor that thou maiest be * Luke 14.14 recompensed at the Resurrection of the Just To endeavour to act spiritually and lively as thou hopest to partake of the Resurrection unto Life To be careful to have alwaies a †Acts 24.15 16. Conscience void of Offence in Hope and Expectation of an happy Resurrection and in Intuition of the Promise of it with the ‖ 26.7 12 Tribes to serve God instantly Day and Night To refuse at any time to (*) Heb 11.35 accept Deliverance upon base and unworthy Terms and sinful Conditions that thou maiest obtain a better Resurrection To be willing to put thy Body to any Pains Labour Suffering for the sake of God and Christ who will not suffer so much as thy Body to be a Loser To (†) 1 Cor. 6.20 glorify God in thy Body since God hath promised to glorify this Body To resolve that Christ shall be (‖) Phil. 1.20 magnified in thy Body whether it be by Lise or by Death since Christ will raise even thy dead Body and give this very Body of thine an (*) 1 Cor. 15.58 abundant Recompense of Reward at last In a Word to have thy Conversation [†] Phil. 3.20 21. in Heaven from whence thou lookest for thy Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to change thy vile Body 3. And lastly Meditate much and often of that perfect State of heavenly Glory that is to be enjoyed upon the Reunion of Soul and Body Think when thy Soul shall recover its own Body what a glad and joyful Meeting there will of those old Companions and intimate Friends which have been parted and separated so long and how the Glory of thy Body will be an Addition to the Joy and Happiness of thy Soul and that from the Day of Resurrection not only a Part but thy whole Person consisting both of Soul and Body will be setled in a perfectly happy Condition 1. Apply thy Mind to think in general of enjoying an * 1 Pet. 1.4 Inheritance incorruptible and undesiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you of taking Possession of an heavenly Kingdom and receiving a Crown of Life That if thou beest a real good Christian †Col. 3.4 when Christ who is thy Life shall appear thou also shalt appear with him in Glory That neither ‖ 1 Cor 2.9 Eye hath seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart if Man the Things which God hath prepared for them that love him Think of an excellent State of heavenly Happiness which cannot indeed be fully understood till it is enjoyed but yet at present is sufficiently revealed to provoke our Desires after it and to encourage our Endeavours to gain and obtain it The Meditation of heavenly Happiness and Glory in the general will cause thee to beware of such (*) 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Gal. 5.19 20 21. Eph. 5.5 6. Rev. 21.27 Sins as will meritoriously exclude thee from the Kingdom of Heaven and formally unfit thee for the Enjoyment of it and will make thee careful to get the Qualifications proper to a Person to whom it belongs and to perform the necessary indispensable Conditions upon which the promised Benefit depends To labour to be (†) Col. 1.12 made meet to be a Partaker of the inheritance of the Saints in Light by Grace to become capable and susceptible of Glory to * Joh. 3.3 be born again that thou maiest see the Kingdom of God to be a †Rom. 9.23 Vessel of Mercy sitted and prepared unto Glory To bow thy Knees to God that he would work this Meetness and Fitness this spiritual Aptitnde and Idoneity in thee that he would prepare thee for the Inheritance of the Saints and Inheritance ‖ Acts 20 32. among them which
are sanctified by making thee Partaker of effectual Vocation real Regeneration gracious Adoption and thorough Sanctification that by Holiness he would qualify and dispose thee for Happiness And this Meditation will incline thee to put thy self in God's Way to be made fit And when he begins to make thee fit to do the best thou canst under God in his Strength and by his Grace to sit thy self to inquire after the Means of eternal Life and to charge thy self with the Vse of these Means in order to the attaining of this great End To cleanse thy self from all Filthiness that thou maiest be meet for an undefiled Inheritance (*) Rev. 3.4 To keep thy Garments undefiled that thou maiest be worthy to walk with Christ in white To glorify God both in thy Body and Spirit that thou maiest receive and inherit the Promise of the Glorification both of thy Soul and Body To endeavour to have (†) Rom. 6.22 thy Fruit unto Holiness that thy End may be everlasting Life (‖) Rev. 22.14 To do God's Commandments that thou maiest be blessed and have Right to the Tree of Life and maiest enter in through the Gates into the City [*] Rom. 2.7 By patient continuance in well doing to seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality that God may render eternal Life to thee Believing and considering that he that made thee without thee won'd save thee without thee a known Saying of St. Austin that God will never bestow glorious Immortality upon any that are loth to look after it that he will never give eternal Life to any that are unwilling to receive it that he won't make thee happy against thy Will nor force Heaven upon thee whether thou wilt or no That eternal Life is a Thing well worth thy looking after and therefore it is that God will have it sought for and sought for by well doing in a way of Obedience and good Works And that not only by Fits and Starts but by Perseverance or Continuance in well-doing and by patient Continuance in well-doing That a Man may as well think to be able to [t] Qui fide solitarta putat se posse ambulare in Christo is uno pede ambulare conatur quod est impoâ—â—bâ—le Dav. in Col. 2.6 p. 174 walk with one Leg as ever expect to go to Heaven by a Faith that is separated from good Works But do not only think of Glory in the General But consider seriously more particularly how upon the Reunion of Soul and Body thou shalt be made completely happy In the Vision of God In beholding the glorisied humane Nature of Christ In the Perfection of thy Knowledg and the full Satisfaction of all thy rational Desires In the blessed Place thou shalt dwell in In the blessed Company thou shalt enjoy And in the Uninterruption Perpetuity and Eternity of this blessed State 1. How thou shalt at last be made happy * Mar. 5 8. 1 Joh. 3.2 in the Sight of God That thy Vnderstanding shall acquiesce in the highest Being That then thou shalt see him as he is a Fountain of all that is desirable to thy Nature see him [a] Nos non negamus quin Deum videant animae separatae sed quta visionis intus non est und ratio sed variae partes prout Deus sise clariùs vel obsc riùs revelas libenter concedimus nondum cò pervenisse animas fidelium ut eum sacie ad faciem intuers dici possint Thes Salmur de vit Aetern thes 11. †1 Cor. 12.12 Face to Face know him even as also thou art known that in Heaven thou shalt have as clear a Sight of God and as free Communion with him as the State of a Creature can admit That though thou shalt not then immediatly see the very Essence of God as the over-acute School-men affirm God being in this respect invisible to the Angels themselves who though they be unspotted with any Sin yet the sole Imbecillity of their Nature and Creature-state does hinder such a Sight of God yet as the learned Camero expresses himself concerning it thou shalt see God by [b] Videtur Deus experiundo quis sit qualem se erga nos praestet Camero Praelect de Verbo Dei c. 7. p. 455. experiencing who he is and what he shews and manifests himself to be to thee by reaping the blessed Fruit and Benefit of the Divine Power Wisdom and Goodness so far as the Measure of a Creature can bear in the Sanctity of thy Soul and glorious Immortality of thy Body And as the ingenious judicious [c] Vide Thes Salmur de vita aeterna a Thes 13. ad finem Thes 27. Amyraldus does very intelligibly explain this Matter thou shalt see God hereafter in his glorious Works and admirable Operations such as will be the most bright Splendor and beautiful Habitation of Paradise the Glorification of thy own and others Bodies the Consociation of the Church with Angels and especially the glorious Presence of Christ in whose Manhood will appear as much of the Creator as is possibly visible in the Nature of Man To which add whatever else there may be in which the Majesty of the Deity shall then manifest it self Which rare Effects of the Divinity will certainly lead thee to a clear and full Knowledg of God's most excellent Properties and divine Vertues his Wisdom and Knowledg Power and Greatness Grace and Mercy Truth and Faithfulness the Knowledg and Contemplation of which will Fire and inflame thee with Love to him and ravish thee with joy and Delight in him Think how hereafter thou shalt see God and see him as thy God and Chief Good see god not with a transient Sight but see him so as to possess and enjoy him to close with him and be united to him and complacentially to rest in him as thy utmost and perfect End See God not by a mere speculative Contemplation of him but so as by seeing him [d] In the Tife of Glory our Souls become living polished Gsasses wherein the Divine Nature wherein Christ God and Man may be seen as he is and he is Truth it self Life it self and Goodness it self and we are transform'd into the Similitude of all these his Actibutes Dr. Jackson third Vol. p. 504 505. to become * 1 Joh 3.2 like unto him to be changed and transformed into the true and lively Image of him to be made Partaker in thy Measure and Proportion of that Wisdom and Holiness Love and Goodness which thou shalt apprehend and behold in him That thou shalt not only please and delight thy self by looking on some Glory that shall appear before thee to use some Words of a [d] See D. Patrick's Parable of the Pilgr p. 89 90. learned Doctor but shalt be made all glorious within and become thy self a God-like Creature That thou shalt not behold the Divinity only without thy self and be made happy by some external Enjoyment
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
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
course wherein every Act is a step to Perdition To restrain thee from great Sins especially Thou wilt not chuse to live without God in this World for fear thou shouldst be forc'd to live without God in the other World Thou wilt not dare to continue in wilful Ignorance or Disobedience considering that Christ will come * 2 Thess 1.8 9. in flaming Fire to take Vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of Christ Thou wilt not give way to Vnbelief considering it is the damning Sin Nor live and die in wilful Impenitency lest thou perish eternally Thou wilt not surely be boldly guilty of such open Profaneness and gross Impiety as to bid God damn thee damn thee Body and Soul and the Devil take thee Thou wilt never use such cursed Forms of Speech thy self and wilt tremble to hear such horrid and worse than hellish Words proceed from the Mouths of mad and desperate Sinners Nor wilt thou offer to cherish and nourish hidden Hypocrisy since Hell is prepar'd of purpose for Hypocrites and the Punishment of Hypocrites is made the Standard of the Infernal Sufferings of other Sinners whose * Mat. 24.51 portion shall be appointed with Hypocrites Thou wilt not indulge thy self in Sensuality and Voluptuousness which has a terrible †Isa 5.11 12 14. Wo denounc'd against it Thou wilt not destroy thy Soul for the Pampering of thy Body lose fulness of Joy for the pleasing of a single Sense rivers of Pleasures for a superfluous Cup of drink Pleasures at God's Right Hand for evermore for the Pleasures of Sin which are but for a season for a minute for a moment Thou wilt not take thy short Pleasure to pay so dear as to suffer eternal Pain for it Thou wilt not allow thy self in Intemperance Nor venture to walk after the flesh in the Lust of Vncleanness remembring that the Lord knoweth how to ‖ 2 Pet. 2 9 10. reserve such Persons chiefly unto the Day of Judgment to be punished And well knowing (*) 1 Cor. 6.9 10. that neither Fornicators nor Adulterers shall inherit the Kingdom of God Thou wilt not burn in the fire of Lust lest at last thou beest scorch'd in the slames of Hell Thou wilt set the Fire of Hell in opposition to the Fire of Lust that the one may abate and put out the other As it is storied of a vertuous Christian Woman that being tempted and earnestly solicited to yield to commit Folly with a certain Wanton who made profession of great Love to her and how ready he was to do any thing for her sake To convince him and to deliver her self out of the Temptation she strait requested this one thing of him that he would hold the Tip of his Finger in the Flame of the Candle for one Quarter of an Hour He shrunk and wondered at the Proposition But if you be loth said she at my desire to indure such Pain for a Quarter of an Hour how can you expect that I for your pleasure should expose my self to suffer for Ever in Soul and Body the Wrath of God and the eternal Flames of Hell-fire Thou wilt resolve deliberately and endeavour carefully to refrain bad Company Whenever idle and evil Companions tempt thee and say Come to thee thou wilt be ready to think presently how Christ will say at Last Day Depart from me Thou wilt take heed of doing the Devil's Work for fear of suffering the Devil's Punishment Thou wilt have no Intimacy and Familiarity with the Devil now thou wilt not give him heart-room nor house-room lest thou beest compell'd to bear him company in Hell-fire for ever hereafter Thou wilt by no means be of the Devil's Party nor side and associate with the Ungodly and so deserve to be kept and continued in that Society which was formerly chosen by thee and acceptable to thee Thou wilt also zealously flee Idolatry and hate and abominate that Religion wherein the practice of gross Idolatry is made necessary the Worshipping of Images of Bread and Wine in the Eucharist the Worshipping and Invocating of Saints and Angels Considering * 1 Cor. 6.9 that Idolaters are of the Number of those that shall not inherit the Kingdom of God but are appointed to have their †Rev. 21.8 part in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone Nor wilt thou fall inconsideratly into damnable Heresy nor hold so grossly corrupt Opinions as may bring upon thee ‖ 2 Pet. 2.1 swift Destruction nor be deluded to believe the Lies of Antichrist to thy utter * 2 Thess 2.10 12. perishing and eternal undoing Thou wilt abhor wilful Lying to save thy Credit or get Gain and hate to set thy [t] Servum nolle mentiri nova religio est Plaut Servants to tell Lies to vend thy Wares and put off thy Commodities Thou wilt be loth by a gainful Lie to cheat thy Brother of Twelve-pence and to lose thy Soul by the bargain remembring that Lying is a damnable Sin and that †Rev. 21.8 all Liars shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone which is the Second Death Thou wilt be fearful of speaking any thing that looks like Detraction still minding thy self that ‖ Rom. 1.29 30 32. Whisperers and Back-biters are join'd in the Catalogue with Haters of God who are worthy of Death And that he that (*) Ps 15.1 3. Back-biteth with his Tongue and taketh up a Reproach against his Neighbour is not likely to dwell in God's holy City That if thou shouldst prove such a Devil incarnate thou wilt be fit to keep company perpetually with the Devil and his Angels That if thy Tongue should here be so set on Fire of Hell it would presage that without Repentance and Reformation it will surely be set on Fire in Hell Thou wilt watch against the rising of rash Anger which is a Sin that has Hell at the heels of it and be careful to prevent its breaking out in Expression or Action revolving in thy Mind that of thy Saviour (†) Mat. 5.22 Whosoever shall say Thou Fool to his Brother shall be in danger of Hell-fire Thou wilt dread the Thoughts of Vnfruitfulness under Means having fixed and imprinted this in thy Mind that * Mat. 3.10 every Tree which bringeth not forth good Fruit is hewn down and cast into the Fire †11.23 And that Capernaum which was exalted unto Heaven by her enjoyment of special Means was threatned for want of answerable Improvement to be brought down to Hell Thou wilt not harden thy Heart in Vnmercifulness pondering in thine Heart how Dives in Hell wanted the refreshment of a [u] Desiderabat guttam quia non dedit micam Aug. Drop of Water for refusing to give poor Lazarus the small comfort of a Crumb of Bread when he himself fared so sumptuously and feasted deliciously every Day Thou wilt not be unmerciful in not
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
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
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
and Palate load your Body with Meats and Drinks pass the Time in Sport and Play with you sill your Ears with unprofitable atheistical profane loose and lewd Discourse vitiate your Mind pervert your Judgment debauch your Fancy corrupt your Manners help you to forget God and your selves teach you to become [g] Herbert's Church porch p 2. Beasts in Courtesy and by their foolish mad Mirth and cruel Kindness to you abroad make work enough for your earnest serious Sorrow and Sadness your dear and costly Repentance at home But will make you neither wiser nor better add nothing to your Vertue contribute nothing to your Graces and to the Feeding and Nourishing of your Souls Who will it may be feast and pamper your Body but starve and pine yea poison your Soul and by a pretended Civility and Courtesy to you labour to be the Bane and Undoing of you Who will either vex or [h] Serpunt vitia in proximum quemque transiliunt contactu nocent Itaque ut in pestilentia curandum est ne corruptis jam corporibus morbo slagratibus assideamus quia pericula trabemus asslatùque ipso laborabimus Ita in amicorum legendis ingeniis dabimus operam ut quà m minimè inquinatos assumamus Initium morbi est aegris sana miscere Sen de Tranq An. c. 7. Vt solent vitia in corpore alibi connata in aliud membrum perniciem suam esslare sic improborum vitia in eos derivantur qui cum illis vitae habent consuetudinem Tert. advers Valent. taint all that are near them Who being themselves infected with the Plague of Sin have a strange and strong desire to infect others The only mode of whose Kindness is an artificial Insinuation of variety of Temptations and an earnest importunate Solicitation to Evil Who will endeavour to turn you off from a diligent holy Life and if it be possible will laugh or mock you out of Heaven Who having no Seed or Spark of Vertue in themselves must needs hate besiege and undermine it in others as being a constant standing Reproach to themselves [h] Nisi in bonis amicitia esse non potest Nec sine virtute amiciti tesse uâ—o pacto potest â—ùm conciliatrix amicitiae virtutis epinio fuerit difficile est amicitiam manere si à virtute deseceris Lael apud Cic. de Amic Abandon those Companions that are good Companions only in sinning who will lead you to Atheism and Profaneness provoke you to Lust and Wantonness Anger and Rage or draw you into Drunkenness urge and impose their [i] Slight those who say amidst their sickly Healths Thou liv'st by Rule What doth not so but Man House are built by Rule and Common-wealths Entice the trusty Sun if that you can From his Ecllptick Line becken the Sky Who lives by Rule then Keeps good Company Herb. Church-porch p. 5. sickly Healths upon you and will not let you live by Rule but will unweariedly tice and press you to Sin and be sick with them sweetly perswade you into Inconvenience fairly and finely allure you into fashionable Folly and inevitable Misery court and complement you into eternal Ruin civilly bear you Company and lovingly befriend you into Hell and so really shew less Kinduess and worse Nature to you than * Luke 16.27 28. Dives among the Devils in Hell express'd toward his Brethren here on Earth who contrived and laboured to keep and preserve them from that Place of Torment Make not them the Joy and Entertainment of thy Life who by thy leave will be thy eternal Destruction and Death Have no Intimacy hold no Familiarity with wicked Persons you may go see and visit them as their Physicians but not as their Companions you may sometimes call upon them to cure and heal them to prescribe somewhat to them to leave some good Directions with them but you must not be so often with them nor stay so long with them till you get their Disease and take Infection from them But now on the other side If we would spend our Time profitably and comfortably and have it turn to any considerable good Account let 's study to contract Friendship and Union with vertuous Persons esteeming them the most valuable Friends and to use Tully's Expression [k] Optimam pulcherrimam vitae supellectilem Cic. de Amic the best and fairest furniture of Life Let 's reckon [l] Nihilest am ibilius virtate nihil quod magis alliciat homines ad diligendum Si tanta vis probitatis est ut eam vel in eis quos nunquam vidimus vel quod majùs est in hoste etiam diligamus quid mirum si animi hominum moveautur cùm eorum quibuscum usu conjuacti esse possint virtutem bonitatem perspicere videantur Id. ib. Vertue and Grace to be the weightiest reason of Amability the Worthiness and Excellency of Persons Dispositions and Manners to be the most solid stable Ground the greatest Allective strongest Attractive of Love and Dearness Let 's chuse with holy David to be * Ps 119.63 [i] Bonos boni diligunt assciscúntque sibi quasi propinquitate conjunctos atque naturd Constat bonts inter bonos quasine cessariam benerolentiam esse Id. ib. Companions of all them that fear God and of them that keep his Precepts To be their Companions out of true Affection not out of Faction because they are Godly not because they are Persons of such and such an Opinion and Party To be Companions of them and of all them Let not any difference in outward Quality nor in Opinion among the Godly in things remote from the Substance of Religion be a cause of sinful Partiality David a great King scorn'd not the Company of any such nor was ashamed to be seen in their Company As his was so let * Ps 16.3 all our Delight be in the Saints and the Excellent that are in the Earth Let 's join with him and say †119 79. Let those that fear thee turn unto me and those that have known thy Testimonies Let 's chuse to ‖ Prov. 13.20 walk with wise Men that we may be wise to be frequently in Company with those (*) 11.30 whose Fruit that is actively the Fruit which they bring forth the Profit which they yield and afford to others in their Communication and Conversation by Information and Example is a Tree of Life and who are wise to win Souls Be conversant with those saies [i] Cum his versare qui te meliorem facturi sunt â—â— illos admitte quos tu potes facere melitres Sen. ep 7. Seneca excellently who are any way likely to make thee better and receive those into thy Friendship and Acquaintance whom thou maiest probably some way or other make better I say in like manner let us sort and suit associate and familiarize our selves with those among whom we may do most spiritual Good or
from whom we may reap and receive most spiritual Good or from whom we may reap and receive most spiritual Benefit Study and strive to chuse such an one for thy Friend to whom thou maiest give such reverential Respect in thy Carriage and Behaviour as may restrain thee from many uncomely sinful Actions which you might take more Liberty to commit in other Company Take him for thy special Friend and peculiar Companion who will be a constant Physician careful Tutor and spiritual Benefactor to thy Soul who will be a familiar tutelar guardian Angel to thee who will be as [k] Dr. Alle. bâ—â— Serm. p. 57. The second Soul and Conscience Dr. Ham. of srat Admoa and Correp p. 8. one well expresses it an [k] Dr. Alle. bâ—â— Serm. p. 57. The second Soul and Conscience Dr. Ham. of srat Admoa and Correp p. 8. assistant Conscience to thee who will not fail to perform that Office which the benumm'd or sleepy Conscience within thee shall at any time neglect Who will be as faithful a Monitor to thee as thy own Conscience should be Who daily does so improve in Vertue and Profit in Piety that whenever he comes into thy Company he will give thee the great Pleasure not only of seeing whom you would but of seeing such an one as you would Who will be careful to [l] Herb. Church-porch p. 6. salute himself before he visits thee and will surely bring himself a great Gift to thee as [m] Conspectus praesentia conversatio al quid habet vivae voluptatis utique si non tantum quem velis sed qualem velis videas Affer itaque te mihi ingens munus Prepera ad me sed ad te prâ—us Sen. ep 35. Seneca counsels his Friend Lucilius to order compose and carry himself toward him Chuse such Persons for thy intimate Friends who will be Friends and Helps in the best things to thee Friends in the concernments of the Life to come that will prize and value and on all occasions readily shew some real Kindness to thy Soul that will observe thy Motions and help to guide and direct thy Actions that will have a constant watchful Eye upon thy Life and Manners and not willingly suffer thee to misearry to Eternity for want of careful looking after Acquaint and accompany with those in the enjoyment of whom you may enjoy somewhat of God himself and whose sweet and gracious Converse will be a little Image of Heaven to you Take those for your Consorts and Associates here with whom you may desire and hope to keep joyful Company for ever hereafter If we make any Reckoning of our Time let us first make a good Choice of our Friends 2. And then a good Improvement of our Company and Society with them Be prudent and pious in the Vse as well as in the Choice of your Friends Let not your Friendship be a meer nominal formal empty juiceless thing Let your ordinary Visits to your Friends be out of Conscience as well as out of Courtesy out of a real Design to do some Office of Love especially to their Souls and to bring some spiritual Advantage to them [m] See p. 216. to the end of 219. Time is commonly lost by meer complemental Visits wherein no civil Business is dispatch'd no Service done to the Bodies Estates or Souls of others Let Christian Friends take heed especially that they come not together of purpose to waste their Time in unseasonable immeasurable Play and Sport that they be not found notoriously guilty of spending commonly and customarily as many Hours in Play together as if Gaming were not their Recreation and Diversion but their Trade and Profession their Calling and Occupation Can this be reckon'd a well redeeming the Time in evil Daies Would not some of that Time be spent more fruitfully and comfortably in the Communication of your Experiences and the Observations you have made relating either to God's Word or Works or in reading together some select and seasonable Scripture or else some part of practical Divinity or good Morality or useful History and in discoursing and conferring thereupon as you have Ability and find Occasion Let not Cards and Dice swallow up and devour the most of the Hours you spend together Nor ever suffer any Friends and Companions to rob you of your Time by [m] Nulla est excusatio peccati si amici causâ peccavâ—â—â— Strectum statuerimus vel concedere amicis quicquid veltur vel impetrare ab amicis quicquid velimus perseâ—â—â quideus â—pientià sumus si nibil habeat res vitu Haec prima lex in amicitia sanciatur ut neque rogemus res turper nec factamus rogati c. ut ab amicis honesta petamus amitorum can a honesta faciamus Lael apud Cic. de Amic yielding to them and complying with them when they unreasonably exact of you to hold out with them in their Sports If you perceive that any particular Game or Play does steal away your Heart and Time 't is high time then rather to lay it quite aside than to suffer such Detriment by Continuation of the Use of it When Bp. Vsher in his tender Years was taught by some of his Friends to play at Cards and found himself so delighted therewith that it not only took place of the Love of his Book but began to be a Rival with the spiritual Part in him upon apprehension thereof as [n] In the Life of Bp. Usher p. 24. Dr. Bernard informs us he gave it over and never played after When Christian Acquaintance meet together let them be as useful and profitable as helpful and beneficial as holy and heavenly in their Discourses as may be You may do more good by an honest Hint and a serious savoury Speech in Company than it may be a Minister may do by many Sermons Labour to spiritualize and ennoble your Friendship by making it a State of Love and Purity an Opportunity and Advantage of amending and reforming of benefiting and bettering one another [o] Dr. Ham. of frat Admon or Corrept p. 29. Let such as live either with or by one another by solemn Compact and Agreement strictly and strongly oblige one another to take some special spiritual Care of one another's Souls This would be real spiritual good Neighbourhood an high Advancement a rich and gainful Improvement of Friendship You that are Intimates and Familiars look upon your selves as one another's * Gen 4.9 Keepers Take a spiritual Charge one of another †Phil. 2.20 Naturally care for one another's spiritual State ‖ Heb. 13.17 Watch over one another's Souls as they that must give account an Account of one another as well as of your selves that you may do it with Joy and not with Grief Be (*) 2 Cor. 11.2 jealous over one another with a Godly Jealousy and shew your selves such fast Friends to one another's Souls as to do your best to prevent
employed by the great and mighty Monarch of the World To yield your Members as Instruments of Unrighteousness unto Sin instead of yielding your selves to God and your Members as Instruments of Righteousness unto God 2. To delay the Redemption of our Time is hazardous and dangerous as well as unworthy and disingenuous For 1. The Time of our Life is very uncertain Seriously consider that if thou dost not take the present Time Time with thee may quickly be no more [f] Subito tollitur qui diu toleratur Gregor Hom. 12. in Euang. He that is long forborn is often snatcht away of a sudden * Job 21.13 Thou maiest go down to the Grave in a Moment Thou maiest be dead and buried thy Body be rotten in the Grave and thy Soul grievously tormented in Hell long before the Time comes which thou didst fix and set for thy Repentance and the amendment of thy Life [g] Maxima vitae jactura dilatio est Illa primum quemque extrahit diem illa eripit praesentia dum ulteriora promittit Maximum vivendi impedimentum est expectatio quae pendat excrastino Quò spectas quò te extendis omnia quae ventura sunt in incerto jacent protinus vive Sen. de brev vit cap. 9. Delay saies Seneca is the greatest Loss of humane Life It deprives us of that which is present while it Promises that which is future The greatest hindrance of living well saies he is Hope of living to morrow But it is a noted Saying of St. Gregory [h] Qui poenitenti veniam spopondit peccanti diem crastinuninon promisit Greg. Hom. 12. in Euang. He that hath promised Pardon to him that repents he has not promised to morrow to repent in And if God has not promised it to us we have no reason to promise it to our selves for 't is a Rule in Civil Law [i] Nemo potest promittere alienum No Person can promise that which is anothers He spake prudently and piously who when he was invited to come to morrow to a Feast returned this Answer I have not had a morrow for these many Years It was good Counsel which a wise Rabbi gave his Scholar that he should be sure to repent one Day besore he died But if you delay to be penitent and pious holy and religious the present Day you may never have the Benefit and Advantage of another Young Men too commonly lavish out the present in hope of redeeming the future Time But they build their Hope upon the greatest Vncertainty in the World [k] Quis est tam stultus quamvis sit adolescens cui sit exploratum se ad vesperum esse victurum Quinetiam aetas illae muliò plures quà m nostra mortis casus habet Faciliùs in morbos incidunt adolescentes graviùe aegrotant tristiùs curantur Ità que paùci veniunt adsenectutem Cicero in Cat. Maj. sen de Senect Young Men as Tully brings in Cato discoursing in some respects are in greater danger of Death than Old Men They fall into Diseases more easily sicken more violently and are cured more hardly and therefore there are but very few that reach to an Old Age. The Jews tell of Ben Syra yet a Child as [l] Dr. Stoughton's Heavenly Conversation p. 81 82. Dr. Stoughton relates the Story that he begged of his Master to instruct him in the Law of God who defer'd it and put him off saying he was too young yet to be entred into Divine Mysteries then he replied But Master said he I have been in the Church-yard and perceive by the Graves which I have lain down by and measured and find shorter than my self that many have died younger than I am and what shall I do then and if I should die before I have learned the Law of God what would become of me then Master The consideration of our short Life saies that worthy Doctor should cause us to [m] Ad haec quaerenda natus aestima quà m non multum acceperit temporis etiamsi illud totum sibi vendicet cui licèt nihil facilitate eript nihil negligendo patiatur excidere licèt horus avarissimè servet usque in ultimae aetatis his manae terminos procedat nec quicquam illi ex eo quod natura constituit fortuna concutiat tamen homo ad immortalium cognitionem nimis mortalis est Sen. de Otio sap c. 32. make haste to learn to know and serve God and to think we cannot begin to study that Lesson too soon that can never be learned too well And withal to use all Speed and Diligence lest as Children have usually torn their Books so we have ended our Lives before we have learned our Lessons * Joh. 9 4. Work while it is Day the Night cometh when no Man can work †12.35 Yet a little while is the Light of this Life with you walk while ye have the Light lest Darkness come upon you Do not carry your selves like idle Boies who play away their Candle and then are forced to go to bed in the dark Thy Life is uncertain and therefore with Apelles that curious Painter let no Day go without some Stroke or Line drawn to the Life Let no Day pass without dispatching some lawful Business without performing some good Work and doing some laudable vertuous Action Do every Day the Work of that Day Make Religion thy business every day of thy Life 2. Delaies and Prorogations are very dangerous because many other things are exceeding uncertain as well as our Lives Thou dost not know but that by some Disease thou maiest quite lose the use of thy Reason and the natural right Exercise of thy Rational Faculties and so become in a manner dead even while thou livest Or if still thou retainest the free use of thy Reason yet thou maiest be deprived of the means of Grace and helps to Salvation * Isa 30.20 Thy Teachers may be removed into a Corner Thou maiest be pinch'd with a †Amos 8 11 12. Famine of hearing the Word of the Lord and be ready to ‖ Prov. 29.18 perish for want of Vision Or through Sickness or some sad Providence thou maiest be hindred and detain'd from making use of those common Means which others comfortably and profitably enjoy Or if thou hast Liberty to attend on the outward means of Grace thou maiest (*) 2 Cor. 6.1 receive the Grace of God in vain not (†) Luk. 19 42. know and understand in this thy Day the things that belong unto thy Peace Thou maiest have a (‖) Prov. 17.16 Price in thy hand to get Wisdom and be such a Fool as to have no heart to it Thy Mind may become more unprepared and thy Will more indisposed to receive the Truth and embrace the Goodness of the Word Thou maiest be ready to * Acts 7.51 resist the working of the Spirit in the great Ordinances of the Gospel and maiest