[3.] And in the third place, it is irrecoverable when it is gone. There is no recalling back of time when it is past. In all these respects we must be good husbands ; we must be thrifty of our time, and not take care how to drive away that, that flies away of itself so fast. It is a precious thing, precious for great purposes. What is this little time given us for ? To provide for eternity, world without end. And we trifle it away about this thing and that thing to no purpose ; we fill it up with vanity, and with sin, which is worse. In this little time we do that, that in a long time we cannot undo again. That is om' madness and folly. Therefore ' the time being short,' let us take heed what we do in it. We may do that in a little time that we may rue for eternity. We may do that good, and get that good in a little time, that may stand by us world without end. Those that have but a little plot of ground, they will husband it so, as not to lose a handful of it ; so those that have but a little time, let them husband it well, sow to the Spirit, that our harvest may be eternal life ; that we may say. Oh ! it was a great blessing, that God gave me a little time to get into Christ, to repent of my sins, &c. Beloved, there are three main parts of this little time : ;
Past, present, to come.
(1 .) The time that is gone ; let us repent of it, if it have not been spent well. That is the best use we can make of the time past ; for there is nothing to be done in the time that is past. But if things have been done ill, repent.
(2.) The time present is to do good in ; and for the time to come, it is out of our power ; and therefore even for the present we must woHi. The time past ; the best use we can make of it, is to comfort ourselves, as Hezekiah, in our sincerity, Isa. xxxviii. 3, or to repent if anything have been done amiss. But look to the present, put not ofi", do the work for which we came into the world, presently. ' The time is short,' the journey is long, the business is great. It is a gi'eat journey from earth to heaven ; it is a great matter to get from earth to heaven.
THE SPIRITUAL MAN S AIM. 45
(3.) Now having such business as to go to heaven, let us, I beseech you, consider the xveight of the business, and (jive our eyes no sleeji, nor our eyelids slumber, till we me f/otten into such a state and condition as is not liable to time: let us make this special use of precious time. Those that are young, let them be advised to take time along with them, which is to be esteemed far above gold, and consecrate the prime and the flower of their time to God and to the best things ; especially considering, that we have no assur- ance of this time. And those that are old, that through age arc going into the grave, let them not neglect their time. A young man, as we say, may die soon ; an old man cannot live long. And therefore let those that are stricken in years be put in mind to think that their time is shorter than others'. All men's times are short, old men's shortest. Let those there- fore think of this, ' The time is short.' Our folly is this, we make it shorter than it is by our ' Vanity, vanity.' It were well if it were only vanity. By sinful and intemperate courses many shorten their days, and so are felons upon themselves ; or by their wickedness, they give God occasion to shorten them. ' A bloodthirsty and cruel man shall not live out half his days,' Ps. Iv. 23. God meets with him. So * the time is short,' and we make it shorter. We are guilty of the shortness of it. Let us take heed of that. But I have been over long in this point ; only because it is the prime reason, set before all the particulars, I beseech you consider, * the time is short.' If we do not make use of it we ai'e worse than the devil himself ; he makes use of the shortness of his time. What doth he ? ' Because the time is short,' he doth all the mischief he can, Rev. xii. 12. He fills up his time to increase his kingdom ; he doth all the mischief he can, for this reason ; because his time is short. Let us learn somewhat of the worst of spirits. But that which it serves for in particular here, is this ; we have many things to do, -and the time being short, let us be sure we do the main thing that we come for, and other things as they help the main, and not hinder it. The time is short, and we have maii}^ businesses to do ; let us be sure that we do our business, so as that we leave not the main undone. That is the thing he aims at here. ' The time is short.'