N17286:707
The saints everlasting rest
The saints everlasting rest: or, A treatise of the blessed state of the saints in their enjoyment of God in glory: extracted from the works of Mr. Richard Baxter, by John Wesley, M.A. late fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford.
Philadelphia: printed by Prichard & Hall, 1790
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.
CHAP. VI. The fittest Time and Place for this Contemplation, and the Preparation of the Heart unto it.
THUS I have opened to you the nature of this duty; I proceed to direct you in the work; where I shall, first, show you how you must set upon it; secondly, how you must behave in it; and thirdly, how you shall shut it up. I advise thee, 1. Somewhat concerning the time. 2. Somewhat concerning the place. And 3. Somewhat concerning the frame of thy spirit.
THUS I have opened to you the nature of this duty; I proceed to direct you in the work; where I shall, first, shew you how you must set upon it; secondly, how you must behave in it; and thirdly, how you shall shut it up. I advise thee, 1. Somewhat concerning the time. 2. Somewhat concerning the place. And 3. Somewhat concerning the frame of thy spirit.
And 1. for the time, I advise thee that as much as may be, it be set and constant. Proportion out such a part of thy time to the work.
Stick not at their scruple, who question the stating of times as superstitious: if thou suit out thy time to the advantage of the work, and place no religion in the time itself; thou needest not to fear lest this be superstition. As a workman in his shop will have a set place for every one of his tools, or else when be should use it, it may be to seek; so a christian should have a set time for every ordinary duty, or else when he should practise it, it is ten to one but he will be put by it. Stated time is a hedge to duty, and defends it against many temptations to omission. GOD hath stated none but the LORD'S day himself; but he hath left it to be stated by ourselves, according to every man's condition and occasions, lest otherwise his law should have been a burden or a snare. Yet hath he left us general rules, which by the use of reason, and christian prudence, may help us to determine the fittest times.