If it was a capital crime in Tiberius his days, to carry the image of Augustus upon a ring or coin into any sordid place, as Suetonius saith it was ; what crime must it be in those masters who despise, revile, re- proach, scorn, abuse, and tread under foot, such servants as have the image of the great God stamped upon their souls, and all because they look God-ward, Christ-ward, heaven-ward, holiness-ward, duty-ward ? Masters should never twit their servants in the teeth with their in- feriority, penury, poverty, misery, mean parentage, or servile condition ; but remember that these things are more the Creator's pleasure than the servant's fault, and that that God that hath made the master rich and the servant poor, can as quickly make the master poor and the ser- vant rich, Prov. xxii. 2, xvii. 5. God many times puts down the mighty from their seats, and exalts them of low degree, Luke i. 52. Certainly, no master nor mistress should dare to insult or triumph over such servants as have souls as noble as their own ; but they should seriously and fre- quently consider of Solomon's aphorism, * The righteous, though a ser- vant,' though the meanest among all the servants, 'is more excellent than his neighbour,' and accordingly give them a little time and liberty to converse with God in secret. And oh that all gracious servants would discover themselves to be more excellent than their neighbours, by making more conscience of private prayer than their neighbours do, and by being more in their closets than their neighbours are, and by delighting themselves in their secret retirements more than their neigh- bours will, and by redeeming some time for God, for their souls, and for eternity, more than their neighbours do. But,
(7.) Seventhly, I answer, That God is only the Lord of time} Time is more the Lord's than it is thy master's ; and therefore it is no ne- glecting of thy master's business, to take a little time daily for private prayer. Times do belong to providence as well as issues ; and as God is the God of our mercies, so he is the Lord of our times: 'My times are in thy hands,' saith David, Ps. xxxi. 15. Not only the times of his sorrows, but also the times of his comforts; not only the times of his miseries, but also the times of his mercies ; not only the times of his dangers, but also the times of his duties, were in the hands of God.
It is observable the Psalmist doth not say time, but times, in the plural, to shew that every point and period, of time depends upon the hand of God.
One, complaining of those who say. Come, let us talk together, to pass away the time, with grief of spirit cries out, 0 donee prcetereat hora, &c., ' Oh until the hour be gone, oh until time be past, which the mercy of thy Maker hath bestowed upon thee to perform repentance, to procure pardon, to gain grace, and to obtain glory.' ^ That servant that borrows a little time every day to seek the face of God in a corner, borrows it rather of God than of his master; and therefore why should his master swell, or rage, or complain, considering that God never made him Lord of time ? But,
(8.) Eighthly, J answer. That servants should rather redeem time from their sleep, their recreations, their daily meals, than neglect doset-duty a day. And certainly those servants that, out of conscience
* Hub ii. 3 ; Dan. xi. 27, 29, 86 ; Job vii. 1 ; Ps. cii. 13 ; Eccles. iii. 1 ; Dan. ii. 21 ; Isa. Ix. 22 ; Job xiv. 14. » Bernard, serm. de tripl. cuitod.
216 THE PRIVV KEY OF HEAVEN. [MAT. VI. 6.
towards God, and out of a due regard to the internal and eternal wel- fare of their own souls, shall every day redeem an hour's time from their sleep, or sports, or feedings, to spend with God in secret, tliey shall find by experience that the Lord will make a few hours' sleep sweeter and better than many hours' sleep to them ; and their outward sports shall be made up with inward delights; and for their common bread, God will feed them with that bread that came down from heaven. Sirs, was not Christ his Father's servant?^ Isa. xlii. 1. 'Behol^ my ser- vant, whom I uphold, mine elect' (or choice one), ' in whom my soul delighteth' (or is well pleased) ! ' I have put my Spirit upon him ; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.' And did not he redeem time from his natural rest, rather than he would omit private prayer? Mark i. 35, ' And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.' Christ spent the day in preaching, in healing the sick, in working of miracles ; and rather than these noble works should shut out private prayer, he rises a great while before day, that he might have some time to wrestle with his Father in secret. So Luke vi. 1 2, ' And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.' O sirs ! did Christ spend whole nights in private prayer for the salvation of your souls ; and will you think it much to redeem an hour's time from your natural rest to seek and to serve him in a corner, and to make sure the things of your ever- lasting peace ? The redeeming of time for private prayer is the redeem- ing of a precious treasure, which, if once lost, can never fully be re- covered again. If riches should make themselves wings, and fly away, they may return again, as they did to Job ; or if credit, and honour, and worldly greatness and renown, should fly away, they may return again, as they did to Nebuchadnezzar ; if success, and famous victories and conquests, should make themselves wipgs, and fly away, they may return again, as they did to many of the Roman conquerors and others; but if time, whom the poets paint with wings, to shew the volubility and swiftness of it, fly from us, it will never more return unto us.*
A great lady [Queen Elizabeth] of this land, on her dying bed cried out, ' Call time again, call time again ; a world of wealth for an inch of time !' but time past was never, nor could never be recalled.
The Egyptians drew the picture of time with three heads.
The first was of a greedy wolf gaping for time past, because it hath ravenously devoured even the memory of so many things past recalling.
The second of a crowned lion roaring for time present, because it hath the principality of all action, for which it calls aloud.
And the third was of a deceitful dog, fawning for time to come, be- cause it feeds fond men with many flattering hopes, to their eternal undoing. Oh that all this might prevail with servants to redeem time for private prayer ! And if my counsel might take place, I should rather advise servants to redeem some time for private prayer from their sleep or lawful recreations, or set meals, &c., than to spend in. private prayer that time which their masters call their time, especially