.· '( ·i'; ) . tneri ·: 'Heaven and earth are not fo lik! ~ nor the way to each of themfo Jik..;, but it may _partly.be di~cern.ed which way men are going, and what they dnve at tn thetr da1ly courfe.. . But I will urge you no further to the tryal : I wtll t2\ke tt for granted that your Confciences are. telling f!uny of you,. that you . havebeen troubled about many thmgs.. wht!e the ONe thsng Nud· fu/ hathbun negleEled : And if indeed this be your cafe, fuffer me to tell the guilty plainly, what it is that they have done. I. Whatever you have been doing in the world, you have lo/f your Time, if you have not been feeking the One thing neceffary. If you have.been gathering richei, or growing up in honour as the ruili groweth in the mire, ( ?ob 8. I r.) or filling your purfes or your barnes, or pleaGng your fanrafies and fl.efu; you have but fooled away your rime, and done juft nothing, and much worfe : Nothing is done, if the One thing Necef{.-try be undone. Believe it, Time 1s aprecious rhing, and ought not to have been thus cafr away. When you come to the end ·of it • the worfl: and proudefi of you £hall confefs it is precious. Then 0 for one year · more, ! 0 for a few daies or hours more, to make fure of this Ont t h:ng, which you thould have fpcnt your lives in making fure of. Will you then think thus, and yet: can you new afford to cart away twenty or thmy years upon Nothing? If Time be worth NrJthing, your Lives are worth Noth;ng : And why fuonld a man dejirc to Livefor NGthing ? You Love your livu too much, ·and ye t will you fo con temptuoufly cafl: them away? He bath loft his life, who bath loO: the End of hu life. The lofs of an hundred pound in money is not ( eo your fe lves) fo great: a lofs, as the lot$ of a dayes or hours time . What then is the Jofs of fo many yutrs ? Did you ever well confider of this ?- If you live a thou– fand yea.rs,ir isallloH:, if you have not fpent it in making fure of t~eOne thz'ng Neetf{4t')· For is not that l o~ ,and worfe a thoufand ttrnes then lo~, c.hat is fpent ·in croffing the End that it is given for ?and wfuch ts no comfort , bm terrour in the review and which leavech no fruit ,but grief and difappointment? Let ~e tell you, if yDu hold on thus unto the end, you will wifu and wifu a thoufand times , either that you had never had an hours time– or elfe that you ~:·1d had h ~ ans, to have better perceived eh~ won? and u~e of 1c , then to cafi it away as you have done upon nothmg. ! t lS but One thing that is worth your Time and Lives. A --- ~ -- ~~ w~~~~
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