Some important truths about conversion, delivered in sundry sermons, / by Increase Mather, D.D.…

1. That the present time is the only time which men can say is theirs. As for the time past, that's none of yours, that's gone never to be seen again, Ps. 90.9. We spend our days as a tale that is told. Why? A tale that is told, can never be untold again; so the time that is past, will never be here again. A man may lose other things, and find them again; he may lose his estate, and have it again, or he may lose his name and recover it again; but if he lose his time, he shall never have it again: It is impossible that yesterday should be here again, or that the time past should be present, and not past. As I Remember, I have read of a poor woman, that being in great distress of Conscience, many Ministers came to speak with her, and they could have nothing from her, only she looked upon them with a ghastly countenance, and cried, Call time again! Call time again! except you can bring back time again, you can do nothing for me. This was the doleful effect of neglecting, the present season when time was. Oh think what they in Hell would give to have chose hours, which they have lost in sin and vanity! They would give ten thousand thousand Worlds if they had it, that they might again have a space to repent in: yea that they had but one hour to pray & seek the face of God, with ⟨p. 169⟩any hopes of mercy, but it cannot be. And for time to come, you cannot say, that that is yours, for that is altogether uncertain: A man cannot live a moment beyond the time appointed. One miserably cried out upon a death bed, A World of wealth, for an inch of time, A World of wealth, for an inch of time. And another when dying, said, If I had ten thousand Worlds, I would give them all, that I might live one day longer. Remember the Scripture, which saith, Boast not thy self of to morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth, Prov. 27.1. Men have not, as Hezekiah had, a promise of life for fifteen years. It may be thou hast not fifteen days, nay, not fifteen hours to live: If thou wert sure thou shouldest live but one week, how wouldest thou redeem the time? Yet it may be thou shalt not live one day, and darest thou then misspend thy time.

1. That the present time is the only time which men can say is theirs. As for the time past, that's none of yours, that's gone never to beseen again,