Thief 11· Thief 12• S.rl I• Sort 2. Sotl 3• aPeC·4·3• Ttme,wafting Jim ta be a1Jaided. §. 6o. 1b. 11· Another dangerous Time-wafting fin, is the Rtading of vai11 Bool(f, Pl•y·bookJ, Ro– mance.r and feignedHiflorie.r; amlal(o unprofitableftudier, undtrtaktn but foT\vain·glqry,or tbepleafing of a carnal or curiouJmind. Of thts I have fpoken in my Book of Stlf-dmyal' l fpeak not here how pemicious this vice is by corrupting the fancy and affcCl::ions, and breeding a difeafed appetite, , and putting you out of rclifh to neceffary things: But bethink you before you fpend another hour in any fuch Books, whether you can comfortably give an account of it unto God ! and how precious the Timt is, which you are walling on luch Childilh toys. You think the Reading of fuch things is law– ful: but is it lawful to lofe your precious Time? you fay that your petty jludies are detirable and laudable : But the ncglctl- of far greater nccetfary things, is not laudable: I difcourage no man from labouring to know all that God hath any way revealed to be known. But I fay as Seneca, We arr iJ!,noram of tbing1 neccffaiy, becaufe we learn tbhtgi fuperfluozu and U1tneceffary: Art is long and life is !hart: And he that hath not time for all _lhould make fure of the greatcH matters; and if he be ig– norant of any thmg, let 1t be of that which the Love of God and our own and other mens falvation~ and the publick good, do leJ.ll: require, aud can befl fpare. Its a pitiful thing to fee a man wafrc hi 5 time_ in Griticizing, or in growingwife in the lefs neceffary Sciences and arts, while he is yet a ih.ve of pride or worldlinels, and harh an unrenewed foul, and hath not learned the myfieries nccetfary to his own falvation. But yet rhefe fiudies are laudable in their feafon ; But the Fanatick lludies of rhofc that would pry into Ultrtvtaled things, and the lafcivious employment of thofe that read Love.books, and Play.books, and vain flories, will one day appear, to have been but an unwife ex.. penfe of Time, for thofe that had fo much better and more needful work ~o do with it. I think there is few of thofe thar plead for it, that would be found with fuch Books in their hands at death, or will then find any pleafure in the remembrance of them. 9• 61. 1b. 12• Butthe Majler-Thief that robs men of their 1ime, is an unfanllifitd, ungodly btart; For this lofeth Time wh.u~r;f.r men are doing: Becaufe they never truly intend the Glory of God: and having not a rigbt principle or a right enJ., their whole courfc is Hell-wards ; and whatever they do, they are not working out their falvation; And therefore they are fiill lofing their Time, as ro themfclves, however God may ufc the Time and gifts of forne of them, as a mercy to others. Therefore a New and Holy Heart, with a fleavenly intentionand dejign of life, is tbe great thing necef.. fary to all that will favingly Redttm their Time. Tit. 5· On w!Jam tbio dtetj of il\gdeemi1:g Time, u princip,llly incumbent. §. 6z. THough the Redeeming of Time be a duty of grand importance and necellity to all, yet aU thefe forts following have jpecial obli&ations to it. Sort. I. Th~Je that are in theyouth anti vigour of tbeir Time ; nature is not yet fo much corrupted in you, a:s in old accufiomed £inners; your hearts are-not fo much hardened: fin is not fo deeply rooted and confirmed ; Satan hath not triumphed id fo many vitl-ories: you are not yet plunged fo deep as: others, into worldly- incumbrances and cares: your underllanding, memory and tlrength are in their vigour, and do not yet fail you? And who lhould go fafiell, or work harden but he that hath the greaccfi firength? You may now get more by diligence m a day, than hereafter you can get in ' many: How few prove good Scholars, or wift: men that begin not lO learn till they a·re old? Fly youthfullufts therefore, 2 'fim. 2· 22. Remember your Creator in the d.JJI nf your youth, Eccl. u. 1. • If you be now trained up in the way you !h~uld go, you ''"ill not depart from it when you are old, Prov 2 2.6. 0 that you could but know what an unfpeakable advantage, and benefit, and comfort it.is, to come to a ripe age with the provifions and fmniture of that wifdom, and holinefs, and acquaintance with God, which ihould be attlined in your youth? and what a rnifery it is to be then to learn that which you lhould have been many years before in praCl:iling, and to be then to begin to live when you muft make an end ? much more to be cafi to Hell, if death fhould find you unrcady in your youth? or to be forfaken of God to a hardened age! Happy they that with 1imotby and Obadiah, do learn the Scripture and fear God in their Childhood, and from their youth, I King. 18. 12. 2 Tim.3. '5· 9· 63. Sort 2· N~c~ffity maketh _it incumbent on the Jv.e_ak.. and fick.. and aged in a fpccial manner to Redeem their Time. If they Will not make much of 1t that are fure to have but a liltle; and if they. willf~ifle and loyter it away, that know they are neartheir journ..ys end, and ready to give up their accounts, they are unexcufable above all others. A Thief or Murderer will pray and fpeak good words when he is going out of the World. Well may it be faid to you, as Paul doth, Rom. 13. I z, I2• Now it Mhigh timt to arva~ out of jleep; when your falvation or damnation is (o near! It is high time for rhat man to look about him, and prepare his foul, and lofe no time, that is fa fpeedily to appear before the moll Holy God, and be ufed for ever as he bath lived hue. 9· 64- Sort 3· It is fpecially incumbent on them to Redeem the Time, who have loytered and mifpt:nt much time already. If Confcience tell you that you have loll your youth in ignorance . and vanity, and much of your age in negligence and worldlinefs, it is a double crime in you, if you Redeem not di1ige.mly the Time that is left. The jufi care of your falvation requireth it, unlefs you are willing to be damned: lngenuiry and duty to God requireth it; unlcfs yo.u will defie him, and refolvc to abufe and dcfpife him to the utmoll, and fpend all the time againfi him which he fuall give you,
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