248 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.
again, call time again ; a world of wealth for an inch of time/ Ah, what a precious and gainful commodity would time be in hell, where for one day to repent, yea, for one hour to seek after holiness, a man would give ten thousand worlds, were they in his hands to dispose of. Time is so costly a jewel that few know how to value it and prize it at a due rate. Witness that sad and frequent complaint among many, Oh, what shall we do to drive away the time ? come, let 's go to cards to drive away the time ! or let 's go to tables to drive away the time ! or let 's go to the tavern, and take a pint and a pipe to drive away the time ! or let 's go and take a walk in the fields to drive away the time ! &c. Thus most are lavishly and profusely prodigal of that precious time which is their greatest interest to redeem. Time is a precious talent, and the non-improvement of it God will charge upon men at last, as he did upon Jezebel, Eev. ii. 20, 21, especially upon such who trifle away, who play away, who idle away, yea, who grossly sin away their precious time. How many are there like children, who play till their candle be out, and then they go to bed in the dark ! So these play and fool away their precious time, till the candle of life be out, and then they go to their beds, they go to their graves in sorrow, yea, they go to hell in the dark. I have read of a young man who, living vainly and loosely, was very fearful of being in the dark, who after falling sick and could not sleep, cried out, ' Oh, if this dark- ness be so terrible, what is eternal darkness ! ' i He that makes no conscience of trifling away his precious time, shall one day experience the terribleness of eternal darkness. The poets paint time with wings, to shew the volubility 2 and swiftness of it.^ 0 sirs, if the one sense of the brevity, shortness, and preciousness of time did but lie in its full weight upon your spirits, it would certainly put you upon a speedy and earnest pursuit after holiness ! Oh, then you would never say, hereafter, hereafter will be time enough to seek after holiness ; but you would address yourselves to a fervent and a constant pressing after holiness as the one thing necessary, and be restless in your own spirits, till you had experienced the power and sweetness that is in holiness ! But,
5. Fifthly and lastly, I answer. That it is the greatest folly and mad- ness in the luorld for thee to put of^ the great God and the great concernments of thy soul, so as thou darest not put off thy superiors. Where is the subject that dares put off a lawful duty urged upon him by his prince with a may-be, or with a hereafter it may be I will do it, or hereafter I wiU do it ? or where is that servant that dares put off his lord's present commands with a may-be, or with a here- after it may be I will do it, or hereafter I will do it ? or where is the ingenuous child that dares put off a present duty pressed upon him by his parents with a may-be, or with a hereafter it may be I will do it, or hereafter I will do it ? or where is the affectionate wife that dares put off the just desires and requests of her husband with a may-be, or with a hereafter it may be I will answer your desires, or hereafter I will answer your requests ? 0 sirs, you dare not put off your superiors
^ Drexellius. ['Considerations on Eternity,' a favourite of the Puritans, as translated by Winterton.— G.] " ' Kapidity.'— G.
* Sophocles, Phocilides, &c. [Aa before. — G.]
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 249
with may-bes, or with hereafters, and how then do you dare to put off the King of kings and the Lord of lords, with may-bes and with here- afters ? it may be I will look after holiness, it may be I will study holiness, it may be I will prize holiness, or hereafter I will press after holiness, I will pursue after holiness, hereafter I will follow hard after holiness. Oh, remember that as there is nothing that does more incense, enrage, and provoke a prince against his subjects, a lord against his servants, a father against his child, and a husband against his wife, than the putting off of their services and commands with may-bes or with hereafters ; so there is nothing that does more incense, inflame, and provoke the great God, than to put him off with may-bes, or with hereafters ; as you may see by comparing the scriptures in the margin together, i And oh that for time to come you would tremble at the very thoughts of a may-be, and at the very mentioning of a hereafter, that so you may never put off the commands of God, to pursue after holiness with a may-be, or with a hereafter any more. And let this suffice for answer to this second objection.
Object. 3. Thirdly, But if we should thus press and pursue after holiness, then we must take our farewell of all Joy and comfort, of all delight and pleasure, and never expect to enjoy one merry day more, for we observe that there are no persons under heaven that live such a melancholy, sad, sorrowful, pensive life, as those ivho press most after holiness, and wlio make most stir and noise about Jioliness, and there- fore if we should resolve to follow after holiness, we mu^t resolve to spend our days in sorrow and sadness, in sighing and mourning, and this we had as lief die as do, &c.
Now to this grand objection, I shall give these eight answers :
1. First, It may he thou loohest only on the dark side of the cloud, and not on the bright ; thou lookest only on thy left hand, where the mourners in Zion stand, but didst thou but cast an eye on thy right hand, there thou wouldst see many of the precious sons and daughters of Zion rejoicing and triumphing. 2 Now thus to look, what is it but to look for a straw to thrust out thine own eyes with. 0 sirs, it is neither wisdom nor righteousness to look only upon those who mourn, and not upon those that rejoice, upon those that sigh, but not upon those that sing, Isa. Hi. 8, 9 ; Jer. xxxi, 7, 12. Before you pass a judgment upon the people of God, or the good ways of God, look on both hands, I say again, look on both hands, and then you will be sure to see some saints in their wedding attire, as well as others in their mourning weeds ; no man in his wits will argue thus, because such and such men of such a calling or trade are in their mourning weeds,' therefore all men of that calling or trade are in their mourning weeds; and yet so witless are many men as thus to argue against the people of God, and the ways of God. But,
2. Secondly, I answer, As there are tears of sorroiv, so there are tears of joy? Jacob weeps over Joseph, but it was with tears of ex- ceeding joy. The sweetest joy is from the sourest tears. Tears are
^ Pa. xcv. 6, to the end. Heb. iii. 7, to the end. 2 Isa. Ixi. 1-3, 10, 11, and xixv. 10.
' Compare these scriptores together; Gen. xliii. 30, xlv. 2, and xlvi. 29, 30; 1 Sam. i. 13-20.
250 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.