the kindness of thy youth, the love of tliine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.' It is nothing to follow God in a paradise ; but it is a glorious, God-taking thing to follow him in a wilderness.
[5.] Fifthly, The glorious appearances of God for you do bespeak you to set some character of favour and love upon the instruments of your mercy. I need not tell you that it was the custom of the Romans to reward and crown their soldiers for their good services, but because I understand your hearts have been and are drawn out this way, I shall say no more to this, but sit down satisfied, that you will honour them whom God has honoured, and bless them whom God has blessed, though all the world should sliglit and curse them.
[G.J Sixthly, The glorious appearances of God for you do bespeak you to hnprove your time and opportunities, for the honour and advancement of the glory of that God that hath taken all opportunities to set all his golden ivheels, his glorious attributes, at icorkfor your good, and for all our safety and security. Oh do much for that God in a little time, who hath done exceedingly much for you in so short a time. Time is a jewel more worth than a world. Time is not yours to dispose of as you please ; it is a glorious talent that men must be accountable for as well as any other talent. Cato, a heathen, held that an account must be given not only of our labour, but also of our leisure. You have no lease of your lives, and death is not bound to give you warning before it gives you that deadly blow that will send you to everlasting misery or ever- lasting felicity. Of all talents, time is the hardest well to improve. Chilo, one of the seven sages, being asked what was the hardest thing in the world to be done, answered. To use and employ a man's time well. It was a notorious reproach to Domitian the Roman emperor, that he spent much of his time in killing of flies. And it was a reproach to Artaxerxcs, that he spent liis time in making hafts for knives, and to Solymau the great Turk that he spent his time in making notches of horn for bows, and to Archimedes that he spent his time in drawing lines in the dmt, when he should have been fighting for his life with his sword. Ah, Right Honourable, was their spend- ing their time so vainly such a reproach to them, and will your mis- spending your time be an honour to you ? Oh spend your time so as God may have much honour, the connnonwcalth much good, and your souls much comfort and boldness when you shall stand before the judgment-seat, where princes must Iny their crowns, and parliament- men must put off their robes. Oh, when you have spent your time in the parliament, or in the committees, in shewing your wit and the strength of your parts to oppose and cross one another, when you should have all readily, cheerfully, and willingly agreed together for common justice and righteousness towards all men, — oh then cry out with Titus Vespasian, ' 0 my friends, I have lost a day ! I have lost a day !' Bernard brings in the vain person thus lamenting him- self: Oh what a wretch ! what a beast ! what a mad devil was I ! 80 woefully to waste the marrow and fat of my precious time in sinful pleasures and delights ! I have read of one that, upon his dying-bed, would have given a world for time, he crying out day and night, Call time again ! oh, call time again ! The desires of my soul to God for
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you shall be, that you may so improve your time, that you may never have cause lamentingly to cry out, ' Call time again ! oh, call time again ! ' Ah, beloved, have not you need to improve your time, who have much work to do in a short time: your souls to save, a God to honour, a Christ to exalt, a hell to escape, a race to run, a crown to win, temptai^ons to withstand, corruptions to conquer, afflictions to bear, mercies to improve, and your generation to serve.
[7.] The glorious appearances of God for you do bespeak you to rest and rely upon God in future distress, notiuithstanding cdl your unright- eousnesses, weaknesses, and disadvantages. 0 beloved, this glorious appearance of God in the mount for you, does for ever bespeak you to rest and rely upon him in your longest day of trouble, and in your darkest night of sorrow. David, in the day of sore distress, does heighten his confidence by former experiences ; and so do those wor- thies in 2 Cor. i. 8-10. There is nothing that engages God to act high for his people when they are low, like resting and relying upon him; as you may see in that 2 Chron. xiii. 16-18 verses compared. It is a scripture worthy to be writ in letters of gold. Abijah and his people slew five hundred thousand chosen men, because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers. The Hebrew word that is ren- dered ' relied,' ''i;:i^, is from a root that signifies to ' lean' or ' rest' upon the Lord, as a man does upon a staff or rest. Oh, nothing does engage God to act for a people like leaning upon God, chap. xiv. 8-15 com- pared with 7-9th verses of the 16th chapter. Now if you would lean upon God in your distress, then keep open the eye of your faith. So long as faith sees in God a fulness of abundance — in [Deo] plenitudo abundantice et plenitudo redundantice — and a fulness of redundancy, the soul cannot but lean on God.
[8.] Eighthly, Another thing that the glorious appearances of God for you do bespeak of you and the whole nation, is to set light by all worldly glory. You are not ignorant how that hypocritical nation began to pride themselves, and to exalt themselves, and glory in their arm of flesh ; but in the things wherein they did deal proudly, the Lord was above them, and has laid their glory in the dust. Oh it is high time to set light by all earthly glory, when God hath taken counsel to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth, Isa. xxiii. 9. The word that is rendered ' purposed' may be read counselled : the Lord has agreed upon it in counsel, to stain. In the Hebrew jt is ' to polhite' the pride of all glory, &G.
Severus the emperor, finding the emptiness and insufficiency of all earthly happiness, cries out at last, Omnia expertus fui et nihil expedit, I have tried all things, and find no solid content in anything. Charles the Fifth, in his old age, he curses his honours, and curses his victories, &c., saying, Abite hinc, abite longe. Get you hence, get you far away ! Severus his soldier could say, when one asked him why he did not wear his crown as the other soldiers did, A Christian ought not to wear his crown in this life ; Non decet Christianum in hac vita coronari.
[9.] The ninth thing that the glorious appearances of God for you do bespeak of you, is to live to him that has given you your lives as a
384 THE HYPOCRITE [ISA. X. G.