Sir, I do not offer you that which cost me nothing, or little, Mai. i. 13, 14 God best knows the pains, the prayers, and the study that the travailmg of this treatise into the world hath cost me, in the midst of trials, troubles, temptations, afilictions, and my frequent labours in the ministry. The truths that I oflfer for your serious consideration m this treatise are not such as I have formerly preached, in one place or another, at one time or another, but such as, at several times the Lord has brought to hand; and, I hope, in order to the service'and savmg of many, many souls.2 And should you redeem time from your many and weighty occasions, and live to read it as often over as there be leaves in it, I am apt to think you would never repent of your pains when you come to die and make up your account with God Sir I must and shall say because I love and honour you, and would have you happy to eternity, that it is your greatest wisdom, and should be your greatest care, to redeem time from your worldly business to acquaint yourself more and more with the great and main points of rehgion to serve your God, to be useful in yo^ dav, an^tomS sure and safe work or your soul to escape hell and to get heaven Eph V. 15 16; Col IV. 5; Eccles. ix. 10. Sir Thomas More one of the great wits of that day, would commonlv say, There is a devil r.l Pd ^ot^uM, business, that carries more souls [o helTthrn aU th devils m hell beside. Many men have so many irons in the fire ^d Ire cumbered about so many things, Luke x. 40-42, that uponThe matter they wholly neglect the one thing necessary, thoughT hope X ter things of you.3 The stars which have the least circ,§t are nearest the po e, and men that are least perplexed with a crowd of worX busi- ness are commonly nearest to God. Sir, as you love God as vou W your sou , as you love eternity, as you would be found at Chris^riVht hand at last, and as you would meet me with joy in the S d^v of the Lord, make much conscience of redeemino- fimo Inf ? ^ secular affairs, to be with God in your cW ?n IT t ^^.^"T ^^"?
^ See the Spanish History in Philip the Second's life
ing hoTltSro^thX^^aTb: o';fn Ue^^f .If. '^^^ P-t > ^"t -t know.
" When one presented Antip^atert^ng ^k^SnirUti' 'TT^'' '''' ^''''^■ ne^, h.8 answer was ou scholazo, I am n!t at Sre ThZ n i ^^'^ ^"'^""^ «^ ^^PP'" to do on earth, that he had no time to look up toTeavcn ^^^^ ^^^ '° "^"^l'
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 11
morning dew. There is nothing puts a more serious frame into a man's spirit than to know the worth and preciousness of time. Time, saith one [Bernard], were a good commodity in hell, and the traffic of it most gainful ; where, for one day, a man would give ten thousand worlds if he had them. One called his friends thieves, because they stole time from him. And certainly there are no worse thieves than those that rob us of our praying seasons, our hearing seasons, our mourning seasons, &c. There was an eminent minister who would often say, that he could eat the flesh off his arm in indignation against himself for his lost hours, i
It was good counsel that an ancient Christian, that is now trmmph- ing in glory, gave to another, who is still alive. Be either like Christ or Mary : the first was always doing good, the latter was still a-receiv- ing good. This is the way to be strong in grace, and to be soon ripe for glory. Certainly time is infinitely precious in regard of what depends upon it. What more necessary than repentance ? yet that depends upon time: Kev. ii. 21, ' I gave her space to repent of her fornications.' What more desirable than the favour of God ? This depends upon time, and is therefore called ' the acceptable time,' Isa. xlix. 8. What more excellent than salvation ? this likewise depends upon time : 2 Cor. vi. 4, ' Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.' Pythagoras saith that time is anima coeli, the soul of heaven. But to draw to a close, what can there be of more worth, and weight, and moment, than eternity ? it is the heaven of heaven, and the very hell of hell ; without which neither would heaven be so desirable nor hell so formidable. Now this depends upon tune. Time is the prologue to eternity. The great weight of eternity hangs upon the small wire of time.2 Whether our time here be longer or shorter, upon the spending of this depends either the bliss or the bane of body and soul to all eternity. This is our seed-time, eternity is the harvest. Whatsoever seed we sow, whether of sin or grace, it cometh up in eternity ; ' Whatsoever a man soweth, the same shall he reap,' Gal. yi. 7, 8 ; 2 Cor. ix. 6. This is our market-time, in which, if we be wise merchants, we may make a happy exchange of earth for heaven, of a valley of tears for a paradise of delights. This is our workmg time : 'I must work the works of him that sent me; the night cometh, when no man can work,' John ix. 4. According as the work is we do now, such will be our wages in eternity. Though time itself lasts not, yet whatsoever is everlasting, dependeth upon it ; and therefore should be carefully improved to the best advantage for our souls, and for the making sure of such things as will go with us beyond the grave. _
Shall your lady live to be an honour to God, to be wise for eternity, to be a pattern of piety, humility, modesty, &c., to others, to be a joy- ful mother of many children, and to bring them up m the nurture and admonition of the Lord ? Shall you both live to see Christ formed up
1 Blessed Hooper was spare of diet, sparer of words, and sparest of time. And Brad- ford counted that hour lost wherein he did not some good by his tongue, pen, or purse. A heathen could say he lived no day without a line-that is, he did something remark- able every day Cato was wont to say that there were three things which he abhorred : 1. To commit secrets to a woman; 2. To go by water when he might go by land ; 3. To spend one day idle. — Plutarch.
^ A favourite emblem : as before. — Q.
12 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
in your offspring, and to see their souls floiu-ish in grace and holiness, and God bestowing himself as a portion upon them ? Shall you all round be blessed with ' all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,' and shall you all round be crowned with the highest glory, happiness, and blessedness in the world to come ? Shall you all live in the sense of divine love and die in the sense of divine favour ? l Now, to the everlasting arms of divine protection, and to the constant influences of free, rich, and sovereign grace and mercy, he commends you all, Gal. v. 22, 23 ; who is,
Your much obliged friend and soul's servant,
^ 1 Pet. iii. 3-5; 1 Tim. ii. 9, 10; Eph. vi. 4; Prov. ixxi. 1-3 ; Gal. ir. 19; 1 Tim. i 5, 6; Isa. xliv. 3, 4, and iix. 21 ; Ps. cxii. 1, 2 ; Eph. i. 3.