A fourth volume containing one hundred and fifty sermons on several texts of Scripture…

2. Too much Time hath been spent already; so will all the Godly-wise judg: 1 Pet. 4.3. For the Time past of our Life may suffice us to have wrought the Will of the Gentiles. Rom. 13.12. The Night is far spent, the Day is at hand. And there's but little left to express your Love and Thankfulness, in glorifying God. Our Infancy was spent in Ease, and Youth in Sin, and Age in Business. Certainly that part of your Lives was merely lost, which was spent in an unregenerate Condition: Saith Austin, Perdit quod vivit, qui te non diligit; He loseth that Time which he lives, that doth not love the Lord. Properly we are not said to live, till we live in Christ. A Man may be long at Sea, tossed to and fro upon the Waves, and yet be but little from his Port, and cannot be said to have made a long Voyage: so a Man may abide long in the World, but cannot be said to live long, if he doth not live in Christ. Reflect this Truth upon thy Heart; Alas! my Life hitherto hath been a Death rather than a Life, useless, and lost to all spiritual Purposes; and shall I still waste my Time, and spend my Days in Ease and Idleness? Travellers that have tarried long in their Inn, mend their Pace, and ride as much in an Hour, as before they did in many: so we have staid too long, O let us now mend our Pace! Say, I have lived thus long vainly, sinfully, carnally, in an earthly manner; I have little thought of God, and treasuring up for Heaven, or providing for my latter End: O how rich might I have been, if I had been a good Merchant for my Soul! How am I now out•tripp'd by many my Equals, my Youngers in Age, but Seniors in Grace! They are in Christ before me. O why doth God spare me, but to recover that which is lost?

3. Consider, it is uncertain how long thou shalt enjoy the Season: the present time is always best, and shall we waste it vainly? We have not a Lease of our Lives. Ludovicus Capellus tells of a Rabbin, that being asked, When was the fittest time for a Man to repent? he answered him, One day before he dies, meaning presently, for this may be your last day. We know not how soon God may call us to himself. In an Orchard some Fruits are plucked green, few are left to rot upon the Tree. Mariners that have not the Wind in a Bottle, are ready to tackle the first Gale. We shall never have a better opportunity to consider our ways; in Youth we want Wisdom and Zeal, and in Age Strength; in the midst of Business we want Leisure, and in the midst of Leisure we want a Heart. There is not more Efficacy in the latter season than in the former. Do not think that Sickness and old Age will help you more in the work of Repentance than Youth? Moral Arguments work not without Evangelical Grace. The bad Thief had one foot in Hell, and yet he blasphemed. There will be more Difficulty in old Age, but no Help; Sickness and Age needs a Cordial, and not Work; and therefore no Season like the present.