[3] Worldly profits and emoluments, which at death will be of no use to us : Mat. xvi. 26, ' For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul ? ' The soul may be lost by sins of omission as well as commission. If our worldly projects have distracted our minds, and bereft us of our time, oh, how grievous will the
372 SERMONS IJFON EPHESIANS V. [SeR. XX.
thought and remembrance of it be at the hour of death ! Job xxvii. 8, • For what is the hope of the hypocrite, tliough he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul ? ' Jer. xvii. 11, ' As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not, so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.' Therefore, though we overlook some worldly conveniences, yet if we gain time, we have made a good purchase. Why should we be greedy of wealth and prodigal of time ? All the wealth in the world will not purchase one day longer, nor procure a little respite for us, when God requireth our souls from us. And in the other world it is of no use to us ; our works follow us there, but our wealth doth not : Eccles. V. 1.5, ' As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour which he may carry in his hand.' We must go out of the world, and shall survive the present estate, and then all that we have heaped up cannot stead us in that other world. Oh, how much better is it then to redeem the time, to mind such things as will be serviceable to us in the country to which we are a-going, and to seek after these things here below with weanedness and moderation, that we may have time and a heart for better things ! 1 Cor. vii. 29-31, 'But this I say, brethren, the time is short : it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none ; and they that weep, as though they wept not ; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not ; and they that buy, as though they possessed not ; and they that use this world, as not abusing it ; for the fashion of this world passeth away.'
10. The necessity should quicken us, because there are many things which are apt to steal away and engross our time, and therefore must be redeemed ; as —
[1.] Sloth and idleness. Some are loath to be put to the trouble of any serious work ; though their time hangeth on their hands, and they know not what to do with themselves or with their time, yet they spend it in roving thoughts or trivial actions, being unfit for aught that is serious ; they lie open to temptations, especially the temptation of mis- spending time. Now it is no hard bargain to exchange a sin for a duty, to part with our sloth and do our proper work. Sloth is an averseness from labour, through a carnal love of ease or indulgence to the flesh ; and if this labour be to be exercised about our most necessary duties, it is the more culpable. Sluggishness is so contrary to reason (and by the sentiment of nature a slothful servant is an evil servant), that the most backward cannot allow themselves in their negligent and careless course of living without some pretences and excuses. One is, they desire better things ; but ' the soul of the sluggard desire th, and hath nothinj^,' Prov. xiii. 4. And why? Another proverb will tell you that ' his hands refuse to labour,' Prov. xxi. 25. Another is, there is some difficulty they must grapple with : Prov, xx. 4, ' The slug- gard will not plough by reason of the cold ; therefore shall he beg in harvest.' Ploughing is when the season begins to grow wet and cold : ' The slothful man saith. There is a lion in the way ; I shall be slain in the street,' Prov. xxii. 13. In those countries lions raged in the night ; sometimes they came into the towns and villages to seek their prey : Prov. XV. 19, ' The way of the slothful man is as a hedge of thorns,
VeR. 16.] SERMONS UPON EPHESIANS V. 373
but the way of the righteous is plain/ Every little opposition and diffi- culty will put him by a duty ; he goes about it as if all the way were strewed with thorns, and he multiplies his fears and difficulties. Something is out of the way when he should do anything for God and the good of others. So Prov. xxvi, 16, ' The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.' Though they do nothing for God and eternal life, yet they seem to be wise, carp at the diligence of others, and excuse their own negligence ; and with- drawing themselves from labour and danger, accuse others as fools and melancholy persons, and so condemn what they should imitate, though others be as wise as the counsellors of princes. Seven was their number in the oriental countries : Esther i, 14, ' The seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king's face, and which sat the first in the kingdom.' Now the soul being thus disposed, time must needs run on, and our great work left undone.