Inf. 3. Must we put off our tabernacles, and that shortly? What a spiir is this to a diligent redemption^ and improvement of time f This is the use Peter made of it here, and every one of us should make. It was said of Bishop Hooper, he was spare in his diet, spare in his words, but most of all spare of his time. You have but a little time in these tabernacles ; what pity is it to waste much out of a little ?
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(1.) Great is the worth and excellency of time, all the treasures of the world cannot protract, stop, or call back one minute of time. O what is man that the heavenly bodies should be wheeled about by Almighty Power in constant revolutions, to beget time for him t Psal. viii. 3.
(2.) More precious are the seasons and opportunities that arc in time for our souls ; those are the golden spots of time, like the pearl in the oyster-shell, of much more value than the shell that contains it. There is much time in a short opportunity. Tliere is a day on which our eternal happiness depends, Luke xix. 41, 42. Heb. IV, 7.
(3.) Invaluable are the things which God doth for men's souls in time. There are works wrought upon men's hearts in a seasonable hour in this life, which have an influence into the soul's happiness throughout eternity. There is a time of mercy, a time of love, viz. of illumination, and conversion ; and on that point of time, eternal life hangs in the whole weight of it.
(4.) Lost opportunity is never to be recovered by the soul any more, Ezek. xxiv. 13. Rev. xxii. 11. To ccmie before the oppor- tunity, is to come before the bird is hatched ; and to come after it, is to come when the bird is flown. There is no calling back time, when it is once past. See this in the examples you find, Luke xiii. 26. Eccl. ix. 10.
(5.) It is wholly uncertain to every soul, whether the present day may not determine his lease in this tabernacle, and a writ of ejection be served by death upon his soul to-morrow, James iv. 13. Luke xii. 20.
(6.) As soon as ever time shall end, eternity takes place. The stream of time delivers souls daily into the boundless ocean of vast eternity. Ab hoc momento peiulet ceternitas. We are now mea- sured by time, hereafter by eternity.
(7.) In eternity all things are fixed and unalterable. We have no more to do, all means and works are at an end, John ix. 4. and Eccl. xi. 3. " As the tree falls, so it lies." Oh that these weighty considerations might lie upon your hearts, as long as you are in these tabernacles ! If they did, (1.) The unregenerate would not so desperately hazard their eternal happiness, by trifling away their precious seasons under the gospel. Oh how many aged sinners, gray-headed sinners, hear me this day, who in fifty or sixty years never redeemed one solenm hour, to take their poor souls aside out of the clutter and distracting noise of the world to ask and debate this question with them, Oh my soul, how stands the case with thee in reference to the zcorld to come ! They liave found no time to bethink themselves in what world their souls shall be landed, when time shall deliver them up into eternity. Their whole life
16 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN.
hath been but a continual diversion from one trifle to another: thev have been serious in trifles, and trifled in things most serious ; tliis will afford horrid reflections in the world to come. (2.) The regenerate would not cast away the comfort of their lives, in the evidences of eternal life, at so cheap a rate as they do. May I not say to you as the apostle doth, Heb. v. 12. for the time you have had under the gospel you might have attained a rich treasure, both of grace and comfort ; Turpe est esse senex elementarius. Is it not shameful and inexcusable, to be where you were twenty years past? Oh ! let these things sink deep into every soul.
Inf. 4. Must we shortly put off" these our tabernacles ? Then slack your pacCy and cool yourselves ; he not too eager iii the prosecution of earthly designs. O what bustling is here for the world, and for provision for futurity, whereas far less would serve the turn ! We need not victual a ship to cross the channel to France, as if she were bound to the Indies. Most men's provisions, at least their cares and thoughts, are far beyond the preparations of their abode in this world. The folly of this, Christ discovers in that parable, Luke xii. 19- and on this very account gives him the title of a fool, who provided for years, many years ; when poor soul, he had not one night to enjoy these provisions.
Oh the multitude of thoughts and cares this world needlessly de- vours ! We keep ourselves in such a continual hurry and crowd of cares, thoughts, and employments about the concerns of the body, that we can find little time to be alone, communing with our own hearts about our gi*eat concernments in eternity. It is with many of us, in respect of our souls, and their great interests, as it is with a man that is deep in thoughts about some subject that wholly swallows him up, he seeth not what he seeth, nor heareth what he heareth of any other matter : his eyes seem to look upon this or that, but it is all one as if he did not. So it was with Archimedes, who was so intent upon drawing his mathematical schemes, that though all the city was in an alarm, the enemy liad taken it by storm, the streets filled with dreadful cries, and dead bodies, the soldiers came into his particular house, nay, entered his very study, and plucked him by the sleeve, before he took any notice of it : even so many men's hearts are so profoundly immersed, and drowned in earthly cares, thoughts, projects, or pleasures, that death must come to their very houses, yea, and pull them by the sleeve, and tell them its errand, before they will begin to awake, and come to a serious consideration of things more impor- tant.
Inf. 5. If we must shortly put off these tabernacles, then the groaning and mournwg time of all believers is but short ; how heavy
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