A65610:13
The redemption of time, or, A sermon containing very good remedies for them that…
The redemption of time, or, A sermon containing very good remedies for them that have mis-spent their time showing how they should redeem it comfortably / by William Whately ... ; now published for general good by Richard Baxter.The redemption of time, or, A sermon containing very good remedies for them that have mis-spent their time shewing how they should redeem it comfortably / by William Whately ... ; now published for general good by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for Francis Tyton, 1673
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Mistake me not, I am so far from accusing all the Rich and Honourable, that I must say it is as a testimony against the rest, that I know many such who spend their Time as fruitfully and diligently as the poor (though in another sort of service:) And such might the rest have been if their Bodies had not got the mastery of their Souls. It is not your PRIDE or FULLNESS of BREAD that I am now to speak of, but your IDLENESS. Many of the old Philosophers thought that when sickness or age had made one unserviceable to the Common-wealth, it was a shame to live, and a duty to make away themselves; as being but unprofitable burdens to the world. Christians are not of their mind, because it is a mercy even under pain to have time of preparation for another world, and because we may serve God in Patience and Heavenly desires and Hope, when we cannot serve him by an active life: But Christians and Heathens will proclaim those persons, to be the shame of Nature, who wilfully make themselves unprofitable, and live in their hea••h a• if they were disabled by sickness; and are condemned by their sensuality to a ⟨image 5⟩prison, or a grave: so that their Epitaph may be written on their door, HERE LIETH SUCH A ONE, rather than it can be said that Here he liveth. O what a rock is a hardened heart! How can you choose but tremble when you think how you spend your days? and how all this time must be accounted for? That those that have a death and judgement to prepare for, a Heaven to get, a Hell to scape, and souls ro save, can waste the day in careless idleness, as if they had no business in the world, and yet their consciences never tell them what they do, and how all this must be reviewed?
Mistake me not, I am so far from accusing all the Rich and Honourable, that I must say it is as a testimony against the rest, that I know many such who spend their Time as fruitfully and diligently as the poor (though in another sort of service:) And such might the rest have been if their Bodies had not got the mastery of their Souls. It is not your PRIDE or FULNESS of BREAD that I am now to speak of, but your IDLENESS. Many of the old Philosophers thought that when sickness or age had made one unserviceable to the Common-wealth, it was a shame to live, and a duty to make away themselves; as being but un•rofi•able burdens to the world. Christians are not of their mind, because it is a mercy even under pain to have time of preparation for another world, and because we may serve God in Patience and Heavenly desires and Hope, when we cannot serve him by an active life: But Christians and Heathens will proclaim those persons, to be the shame of Nature, who wilfully make themslves unprofitable, and live in their heah a if they were dsbled by sickness; and are condemned by their sesuality to a