Time,wajling Jini. to be alJOided. thing thlt is good, that they c:tn find and feed a difcourSe of nothin!,, many hours an~ days together i and as they think, with fuch fcecundiry and floridnefs of fiyle, as d~it:rveth acceptatJCC tf noc ~pplzufe: I have ma1vellcd oft at fame wordy Preachers, with how little matter they can handfornly fill up ~h hour ! But one would wonder more to hear people till up, not an hour, but a great part of rhe1t day, and of their lives, and rhat without any Hudy at all, and without any holy and fubfian_tiai Sub-. jcCl, with words, which if you ~ould write them all down an.d perufe them, you would hod that the (urn and conclufion of them ts 1tothing! HO\v fdf-applaudmg!y and pleafingly they cancx temport talk idly and of nothing a great p.ur of rheir lives ! I have hear~ many of rhem marvel at a poor unlearned CbrijliaJt, that can pray ex tempore many hours together m very good order and weii-com~ pofcd words: But are they not more w be marvelled ar, that can very handfomly·talk of nothing ten times as long, with greater copioufnefs, and w.ithout repetitions, and th~t ex tempore, when they have not that variety of great commanding SubJeCts to b~ the matter ~f the1r fpeech? [cell you, when Time mui\ be reviewed, the confumption of fo much in idle talk_, will app~ar to have been nd fuch venial fin, as empty cartldS finners now imagine. . 9· 56. Tb. 7· Another Thief which by the aforefaid means would Ileal your Time, is Vain and fin- Tlmf1• ful company. Among whom a fpiritual Phyficion that goeth to cure them, or a holy perfon that is full and rcfolute eo bear down vain difcourfe, 1 confefs may well eFilploy h1s T1me, when he IS call upon it or called to it. But to dwell with fuch, or choofe them as our familiars, or caufi{fiy, or for cmn... p!'acency keep among them, will unavoidably 1ofr: abunda~ce ~f your time! 1f you would do good, they will hinder you : lf)•ou will [peak of good, they wtll dtvert you, or reproach you) or wn11gle and cavil with you, or feme way or other llop your mouths. They will by a itream ofvain difcourfe, either bear down, and carry you on with them, or till your ears, and interrupt and hinder the very thoughts of your minds, by which you defire to profit y011r felves, when they will not let you be profitable ro others. 9· 57· Tb. 8. Another notorious Time-wafting Thief, is needle[r,inordinate /poru and gamer, which Thief 8, are commonly·Higmatired by the offenders themfelves, with the infamous name of PASTIMES; La~rtiM fa.itH and masked with the deceitful tirle of Recreations: fuch a~ are Cards and Diccl and Srage·p1ays, and of S~/on, tbst D,mcings, and Revellings, and exceffes in .rlie moHJawful fports', .efpeci.ally in Hunting, and Hawking, ;ehde}:~e';ea8~ and Bowling, &c. whether all thCfe are lawful or unlawful in themfelves, is nothing !O the prefenr docere prohiR queHion: but I am furc that the precious hours which they rake up, might have been improved eo buit, inmilem the fa.ving oLmany a thoufand fouls, that by the 16fs of Time are now undone and pafi recovery : e:.s fat.filo- .. except malicious enemies of Godlinefs, I fcarce know a wretcheder fort of people on the earth, and qu~uam vo~ more to be lamented, than thole flefhly perfons, who through the love of fenfual pleafure; do watl:e ea • many hours day afrer day) in Plays and Wrning and Voluptuous courfes; while their miferable fouls: are de_ad in fin, cnflaved to their fleihly lufis, unreconciled to God, and find no delight in him, or in his fCrvicc, and cannot make a recreation of any Heavenly work. How will it torment thefe unhappy fouls, 10 think how they p"id away thofe hours, in which they might have been pleafing God, and prc.vcnting mifery, and laying up a treafure in Heaven? And to think that they fold that pre· cious time, for. alitclc fldhly fport,in which theylbould have been working out their falvation,and making rhtir calling and election furc? Btit [ ha~e more to fay to the(e anorr. 9· 58. Th. 9· Another Time-wajling Thi<f is, ixcefl of worldly carer and b~tfimJl. 'thefe do not T/Jief ~· only as forne more difgraced fins, pollute the foul with deep !lains in a little tirile, and then recede; but they dwell upon the mind, and keep poffctlion, and keep out good: They rake up the greatcft part of the lives of thofe that arc guilty of them. The world is rirll: in the morninO' in their_thoughts, am_llafl at night, and almolt all the day: The world will not give them leave, to acntcrtam any fober tiXed thoughts, of the world to come; nor to do the work which all works Jl 1 ould give place to. The World devourerl1 all the Time almoit that God and their fouls fhou!d have : It will not give the_m leave tO ~)rayl or Read, or Mediure, or Difcourfc of holy things: even when they feemto be Praymg or hearmg the Word of God, the World is in their thoughts: And as it's fJid, Ezek. 33· 3r. They come tt.nto thee M the people comctb ; and thty fit befqre tbee iJf my pe~ple, and they hear thy wor~.r, but tbey wzll not dfJ tbem: .f.or with t~ir moutb they fherv much love ; bm their he.Jrt goab after thn~Covetouforjf: [p moHfamd:es there IS almoft no tall( nor doings but all for the world: Thefc: alfo will know, that they had greater works br their precious time, which fhould have always had the precedency of the World . . §. 5.9· 1b: IO· Another 1ime~wafter is? v:tin ung(}Vermd and finful tboug!Jt.r. When men are wea-1b.ief zo 4 lied w_1th v_a1n work,! and ffiorts, they contmue unwearied in vain thoughtJ; when they want company for vam Dlfcourfe_and Gltnc:s, they can walle the time in idle, or luflful, or ambitiom or CovetOus thoughts alone, wa_hout any company. In the very rtighr time while they wake and as they travail by the way, yea whde they feem to be ferving God, they will be waning the Time in ufelefs thoughts i fo tharth1s devoureth a greater proportion of pretious Timel than any of the former; when Time mufi be reckoned for, ~hat ?bundance will be.found upon mofi mens accounts, as fpent in idle finful t~oughrs ! 0 \~ate~ th1s Tl~tef ; and remember, though you may think that a vain Thuught is but a ~Jttle fin, yet 1une ts not a httle or contemptible commodity, nor to becafi away on fo little a thing as tdlc-thoughts: and to vilifie thus fo choiee a treafiue is.. not a little fin : And that it is not a little Work that you have to do in the Time which you thus waa. And a daily courfe of idie thoughts doth wafie fo great a meafure of time, that this aggravation maketh · it more heynous than many fins of greater infamy. But of this more in tb.e next part. '
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