Small Offers Towards the Service of the Tabernacle, Discourse 2
TIME DISCERNED.
ECCLES. VIII. 5.
A wise man's heart discerneth TIME
THe Famous Writer of these Words was that Royal Preacher, Solomon. After much Experience of the World, and after much Repentance for that Experience, he drew up a Treatise De summo bono, concerning the chief Good of man. The penitent and inspired Monarch, having arrived unto the Top of this world, pitties the poor men whom he sees toiling and sweating to get up the rocky hill after him, and expecting to find Happiness there▪ & with a loud voice he gives this warning to them, Sirs, You will be all mistaken, you will meet with nothing but Vanity and Vexation here.
The Context here contains the Reflections of this wise prince on the Countenance which he had given to publick and open Idolatry in Israel, and the compliance which they that should have advised the contrary yeilded thereunto. Men seek out many inventions to excuse themselves from bearing an humble but a faithful Testimony against any sinful thing which their Superiors may invite them to. One of these Inventions is mentioned in the fourth verse of this Chapter; it is drawn from the Vncontrouleable Power of them that sometimes enjoin a sinful thing. To this Excuse we have a two-fold Answer in the fifth verse. We have two things in it. First, the Good of Religion. Tis sai…, Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing. q. d. Be true to Gods Commandments & thy own Conscience, let who will be offended at it; the wonderful providence of the Almighty will in the mean time be concerned for thy Safety and Security. A man gets no real Hurt by doing of his Duty. Secondly, the Need of Discretion. Tis said A wise mans heart discerneth both Time and Iudgment. q. d. In the doing of this, and every other Duty, two things are to be much regarded. Mind the Season of the duty, and mind the Manner of the duty: much harm will thereby be prevented in discharging of it. Tis the former of these two Regardables that I would now insist upon. Behold a general Rule apply'd unto a particular Case: the Case is, the Rebuking and Refusing of Sin; but the Rule is, A wise man alwai…s will discern his time to do what he has to do. To Discern the Time,—it must needs also signifie to Improve the Time. Wherefore the Doctrine is,
A wise man will discern and improve his Time, to do what is incumbent on him.
Our Propositions are to be such as these.
Prop. I.
The Blessed God affordeth to men in this World a Time to discharge the Duties incumbent on them. There are two things incumbent on us; to Do good, and to Get good. The good we are to do, is to Honour God; and the good we are to get, is to Enjoy God. Those two things comprise all our Duties; and they make up the Errand which we come into the World upon. Now, while we are in this world, God allowes us a Time for this work; we have time not only in the larger sense of it, but also in the stricter sense of it; We have time not only in Duration, but also in Opportunity. There is not any Duty enjoined uppon us, but there is a Season for it allowed unto us. Tis an Observation about the things that shall be, in Eccles. 3. 1. To every thing there is a Season, and a Time to every purpose. Thus it may be said about the things that should be, There is no Duty, but God hath provided us a Time and a Season for it. We have some golden spots of Time, whereof we may say, This is the Time for such a duty; and again, This is the Time for another duty.
First, We have a Time to do Good while we are here in the world. We have a time to exercise every Vertue, to use all that Piety and Charity, all that Holiness & Righteousness, which the Lord requireth of us. The Good which we are to do is expressed in Mic. 6. 8. He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good, to do justly, …and to love Mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. We meet with many Times to do those Good things before we dye. We have now our …me to acquaint our selves with God, in all the methods of Devotion; our Time to acknowledge God in all the waies of New Obedience We have also our Time to advantage our Neighbours; our Time to promote the internal and eternal Salvation, and the external Prosperity of them that are about us.
Secondly, We have likewise a Time to Get Good while we are in the world. We have a Time to obtain all that Favour, and all that Fellowship with God which our Mighty Redeemer is the Authour of. The Good which we are to get, is comprised in Isai. 55. 3. The sure Mercies of David. We have our Times to secure all those Good things. Every man of us may say, I have a Time to get my Sin pardoned; he may say, I have a Time to get my Soul renewed; he may say, I have a Time to get all the Promises of the New Covenant fulfilled unto my soul for evermore.
Prop. II.
It is no small part of Wisdom for men to discern and improve the Time which God affordeth unto them. When the Gales of Opportunity blow in the Sails of Time, every man should see and watch his own Opportunity. To Discern the Time, is to mind the time, and to use the time, for the performance of our Duty. Now tis a wise man that will so discern the Time. Sapience or Wisdom is a Vertue of the Vnderstanding, whereby a man perceives the Dependence of things; the Co…nexion of things, and the Consequence of things being understood, therein Wisdom is discovered. To discern the time is an instance of this. Tis Wisdom for a man to lay his Time and his Work together. Tis Wisdom for a man to fore-see what will be the Issue of such a Work at such a Time. But besides the Nature of Wisdom evidently appearing in this thing, we have a two fold further witness to the Wisdom of it.
First, The Testimony of Scripture there about, shewes, that it is Wisdome for men to discern and improve their time. What the all-wise, the only-wise GOD calleth Wisdom, is unquestionably to be esteemed so. The Redeeming of Time is great Wisdom in the Language and the Account of God. Twas said in Eph. 5. 16. Walk as wise, Redeeming the time—Much of the same Date and Tenour, was the Epistle to the Colossians. In that Epistle also we have the like passage, in Cap. 4. 5. Walk in Wisdom, Redeeming the time. Tis probable the Apostle therein has a special Reference to Persecutions, which good men were then exposed unto. To Redeem the Time, was a proverbial Phrase of old, signifying, To Keep out of trouble as long as one can. Thus the Chaldean-Soothsayers were told in their distress, Dan. 2. 8. I know that ye would gain the time. This was the Counsil of the Apostle, By a prudent, holy, careful, and inoffensive Carriage towards them that would interrupt you in the worship of Iesus Christ, gain Time what you can for the quiet practice of it. Well, If it be Wisdom to gain time for the Service of God, surely, tis Wisdom to spend time in the Service of God. It was the singular Character & Commendation of the Issacharites, in 1. Chron. 12. 32. They had Understanding in the times, to know what Israel ought to do. Tis an understanding man, who doth so know his Time, as to do his Work. Of a Time-losing man, the Scripture saith, He is a Fool. It saies in Prov. 18. 16. Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a Fool?
Secondly, The Prevention of Sorrow thereby, shewes, That it is Wisdom for men to discern and improve their Time. It is great Wisdom to prevent great Sorrow. Now nothing in the world fills the heart of man more with Anguish and Anger, than the Missing of Time. When a man has missed his Time for his Work, it causeth an unspeakable Regret within him. We read of some professors, who missed their … to Entertain Christ Jesus and His Mercy: with what a marvellous Agony did they cry out, in Matth. 25. 11. Lord, Lord, open to us! Well might they be called Foolish, who thus cam… too late. The horrour of it being once only Represented by some profane people, who acted the Foolish Virgins in a Play, at a City in Germany, it even kill'd a Prince that was a Spectator of it. Tis impossible to utter the Confusion which the slipping of time does put the souls of men into. When Esau had missed his Time to procure a Blessing for himself, how did he resent it? We are told in Gen. 27. 34. He cry'd with a great and exceeding bitter Cry. Alas, how should it be otherwise? The slipping of Time is an Ill, and an exceeding bitter thing. There are but two sorts of men; both of them find the Loss of time, to prove at some time or other, a sad, an evil, a troublesome thing unto them, 'Tis thus esqecially when their time is come to Dy, when their time is to be no more. As for Good men, the Loss of time usually strowes Thorns on their Beds when they come to dy. It grieves the best man to think, My Time, my Time, I have not so laid it out for God as I should have done. He was a painful & a pious Minister of the Gospel, who yet breathed out this among his last, Groans, O the Loss of Time! it … on my spirit now. As for Bad men, the Loss of Time flash… Hell fire into their spirits when they come to Dy. It causes terrible wounds▪ and pains in the departing soul of a Sinner to think I had, once a Time to Beleeve, a Time to Repe…t, a Time to lay up for Eternity, but now my Time is gone for ever. The sh…ek of a poor man going out of the world sometimes has been, A would of Weal…h for an inch of Time. …, tis Wisdom to prevent such things as these.
The Vse of these things remains.
USE.
Let us all he hence advised to Discern and Improve Time, which we have to discharge our D… tyes in. The most of us, tis to be …, may discern Iudgment; we know … our Duty is, and How it is to be dispatched. … us also discern Time: Suffer we not our time to run from us, while we neglect the great Ends which we, have it for. O let not the Lord have cause to complain of us as in Jer. 8. 7. The Birds in the Heaven know their appointed times, but my people do not know.
That we may Discern time, and improve time, such Directions as these may well be followed.
Direction I.
Let us Discern our Time▪ and not Mis-spend our Time. Avoid those Time-wasting things, Which would serve us about our Time, as the High-way men did the poor Traveller in Luc. 10. 30. in his way to Iericho. We are all Travelling in the the way to Eternity; there are these and those Robbers in the way that would plunder us of our time: shun them, fly them. Count Mis-spenc… of Time one of the most wicked and woful follies in the world.
Let us discern three things in all Time, and permit no Time to be devoured by two things which we may be under Temptation to.
The things which we are to discern in all Time are these,
First, let us discern the Worth of all Time. Let not an hour pass without this opinion of it, This hour is too good to be lost. If we prise the Jewel we shall not lose it. It is for our shame that even an Heathen made that complaint, Q…uem mibi dabis qui diem est…met? Where will you find a man that esteems his Time as he ought to do?
Ponder well what a vast price our Lord paid for our Time. We had forfeited all our Tune into the hands of infinite revenging Justice; the just wrath of God would have taken away …ime and Life from us long ago, if our Lord Jesus had not laid down such a price as that in 1. Pe…. 1. 18. Ye were redeemed, not with silver and gold, but … the precious bloud of Iesus Christ. O don't throw away any of that which cost so dea….
And ponder well what a vast price the dying & the damned set on their Time. We may say of it as Iob of another thing, in Cap. 28. 22. Destruction and death, say, we have heard the fame thereof with our ears. Even so, Destruction and Death set an high rate upon it. Ask men when Destruction and Death is near to seizing upon 'em, How much would you give now for a little of the time that is gone? They will reply, O, whole mountains of gold for one hour of it! Judge now as you will judge then.
Secondly, Let us Discern the Irrevokableness of our Time. When our time is once gone, it remains Irrevokable, and Irrecoverable for evermore. We may say of every Time that is past, as in Psal. 49. 8. It is precious and it ceaseth forever. The Wish of Hezekiah could once bring back the shadow of the Sun, but never could any man procure a Return of his Time. Sometimes the doleful Cryes of distressed ones have been, Call Time again! call Time again! But alas, Time won't come back for Calling. Oh how should this make us to takeheed that we don't abuse any part of our Time, I shall never have this time again! When once our Time has taken wing, what is said of Love▪ in Cant. 8. 7. that may be said of Time, If a man would give all the substance of his house for it, it would utterly be contemned, When once Time is gone, 'tis gone.
Thirdly, let us Discern our Accountableness for all our Time. God maintains us and supplies us with Time continually. He keeps a Sun to measure it. The time will come when He will reckon with us about all our Time. Tis said in Ecc. 11. 9. O young man walk in the wayes of thy heart; but know thou that for all these things, God will bring thee into judgement. In like sort, let me say, Come, squander away thy Time, even contrive to get the dead commodity off thy hands; but know thou that in the day, when God shall judge the world, all this Time of thine must be accounted for. It was the Law of old, in Exod 21. 18. If one man smite another, so that he keep his bed, and yet walk abroad again, he shall pay for his healing and the Loss of his Time: Truly so, if we impenitently lose any of the Time which God hath given us, He will make us pay for it, in the day of his pleac…ng with us. Tis said in Matth. 12. 36. Men shall give an account of every idle wo…d. Much more in that day shall men give an account of every idle Hour. The God that hath numbred our Hairs, hath also numbred our Hou…es▪ It will be a fearful thing, if at last He say unto us, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thy life has been made up of idle hours.
These things are we to discern in all Time. For the sake hereof, let us now permit no Time to be misplac'd in such things as these.
First, Let us mispend no Time in vanity, of them that live in vain pleasures 'tis said in 1 Tim 5. 6. they are Dead while they live. They discrn no Time, and enjoy none. Too much Time is not to be laid out in Eating and Drinking. To affect Long Meals, or to tarry long at the Wine, does not become a Christian. Thy Soul is a little too noble a thing sure to be made the Cook of thy Body. Moreover, Too much Time is not to be laid out in Attiring and Adorning. It made an holy man among the Ancients to weep, when in a morning he …aw a person longer in Dressing, than himself had been in praying. Thy Carcase that is to feed the Worms ere long should not put by thy cares about thy Spirit, which must be in Weal or Woe for ever. Once more, Too much Time is not to be laid out in Sporting and Gaming. There are some lawful Recrea…ions, of which we should be shy, lest they steal away our Heart and our Time. That blessed Martyr, Iohn Hus, just before he dyed, in a Letter thus bewaild himself, O beg of God to pardon me for the Time I have lost at such a Play, that yet in it self was very innocent. But there are some unlawful Recreations also, in which multitudes play away their Time. The plays which depend upon a pure Lot are such. The moral Heathen Zealously reproached them. And severe Statutes were made against them when the Roman Empire became a Christian. Men always loose at them, those things which are better than any that they win, their Time, if not their Soul.
Secondly, Let us mispend no Time in Idleness. It was an ill world where the Apostle could say, as in 2. Thes 3. 11. There are s…me that walk disorderly, working not at all. Every man should be able to make a good Answer to the Question which Pharaoh put unto Ioseph's Brethren, I pray, What is your Occupation? A big part of our Time should be laid out on our particular Callings. A Calling is an Ordinance of God; Adam in Paradise had a Labour imposed on him. Be diligent in some one or other. No man so fully and foully falls into the possession of the Devil, as the idle man. The Ants, the Bees, and all the Creatures exclame against him. Idleness, ti… thundred against in Ezek. 16. 49. as one of the Sins that brought Hell out of Heaven upon Sodom long ago; it will carry from Earth to Hell the souls of them that in it snore away their lives.
When men do'nt misspend their Time, then do they discern it.
Direction, II.
Let us Discern our Time, and Attend every Duty in the proper Time.
There is a two-fold Prudence which the Wise man's heart is to be no stranger to.
The First Prudence is,
Let no Duty be done out of its Time. We are told in Eccles 3. 11. God hath made every thing beautiful in the Time of it. There is a Nick of Time that we are to take for all we do. Not Snow but Fruit is beautiful in the Summer. Tis not beautiful for the Duty of Prayer, to be done at a sleepy time, or at a busy time. Tis not beautiful for the Duty of Reproof to be done at a time when it can do no good at all. Set not upon this or that Duty at a time when God calls to another Duty. Tis said in Eccles. 8. 6. To every purpose there is a Time and Iudgement. We may render all our Duties like Apples of gold in pictures of silver, by well timing of them.
The Second Prudence is,
Let no Time pass away without its Duty: Let none of our times be unaccompanied with the Duties which belong unto them. As now, there are Duties that belong to a time of Prosperity, and Duties which belong to a Time of Adversity.
Tis said in Eccles. 7. 14. In the day of Prosperity be joyful, but in the day of Adversity Consider. In a time of Prosperity: now is a time for men to Remember their Creator before the evil days come; Now is a time for men to set their heart and their soul to seek the Lord who hath given them rest on every side. In a time of Adversity, now is a time for men to bring sin to remembrance; now is a time for men to meet the Lord in all the ways of Repentance and Obedience. This is to Discern the Time. But there are especially three sorts of times which we are to fill with the Dutyes of those Times.
First. Let the Dutyes of Worshipping times, be done in those times. We have our times every day wherein the Lord saith, seek my Face. Now let the Echo of our souls be that in Psal. 27. 8. Thy Face, Lord, we will seek. We have every day our times for private Prayer, our times for secret Prayer, our times for Reading of, and Thinking on the Word of God. Let those things be faithfully done in those Times.
Especially, Remember the Sabbath Day. Let Sabbath-time be sanctifyed time. On this day, ly all the day long at the pool of Mercy; Mercy, Mercy, and Salvation for an immortal soul is this day to be traded for. Tis a Time that the great God is very Jealous about. He does wonderfully curse the Souls, and blast the Houses, and ruin the Countryes where this Holy Time is not acknowledged. He will terribly break the rest of those whom His Rest shall not be regarded by.
Secondly, Let the Dutyes of Visiting Times be done in those Times. Tis too commonly seen that Amici temporis Fures; our Friends are our Theeves; they Steal our time, b…ause we don't use our time, when then they are with us. Tis observable, in Col. 4. 6. as soon as the Apostle had said, Redeem the time▪ he adds, Let your speech be always with Grace. That, that indeed is a rare way to Redeem the time. Let us ordinarily study to do some good, whatever Company we come into. It was observed of that excellent Vrsin by his renowned Friend, I … was in his company, but I went away (Doctior …ut Melior) the wiser or the better from him. Abhor, O abhor the useless visits that are quite contrary to all such designs. Mourn if you have been in any Company without being profitable thereunto.
Thirdly, Let the Duties of Intervening times be done in those times. We have large Fragments of time, that are the Intervals of our businesses; about these Fragments of time, I would say as our Lord said about the Fragments of Bread, in Joh. 6. 12. Gather up those Fragments that nothing be lost. How many thousands of happy thoughts might we have as we are sitting in the House, or walking in the Street, otherwise wholly unimployed? The very Filings of Gold and of Time are not to be cast away. To discern our time, is to adapt our time.
Direction. III.
Let us discern our Time, and make none but Good B…gains about the time. The Scripture once and again tells us, as in Eph. 5. 16. that we are to Buy up the time, or buy out the time. This is to discern the Time! We must be at some Cost, and at some Charge for it, if we would not be ill-husbands of our time: We must pay down either Mony or Monyes-worth for it; we must fore go and under go many things for it. Many things must we give up, that our time so may be well-imployed. The case is ordinarily so, that either we must resign many Pleasures, many Profits, many Honours, or else we must part with our time. Now rather give up all Delights, than suffer precious time to be pyrated away. All the things of time, are sometimes Expence little enough for time. Yea, many things must we give back, that so we may not misemploy our time. The Devil and our Lusts have been trucking for our time. The Devil, that hellish Hucster, would engross all our Time for his own. He deals with us as the Europeans dealt at first with the silly Indians, who le… go their …old, and Silver, and Diamonds for glass-Beads and tinsil-Toyes. The Answer that our Lust makes to the Tempter is, Let me have the pleasures of sin for a season, and every season of my time shall be thine. O but we should be content to give back all that Satan has proffer'd us for our time; let it be never-so-much that we might have had for the misuse of time, begrutch it not. 'Twas the Speech of Austin, Perde aliquid ut Deo vaces If you would have Time for God, or any Good, you must part with something for it.
In a Word, Let us labour now to Regain the Time that we have been cheated of. The cheef way to do that, is, By a double Diligence for the time to come. Make up the time we have made an ill market of, by an extraordinary Industry and Activity in the time yet before us. The Israelites in their Journey to Canaan made more way the last year or two, than they had done in almost forty years before. All the many Sermons in the Book of Deuteronomy seem preached by Moses in the last month or two before he dy'd. O sit down and think well, How shall I lay out my time for the best Advantage? Let that be said of us when we dye, Diu vixit, licet non diu fuit. He lived long in a little time.
To Purchase our time, is to discern our time.
Direction. IV.
Let us Discern our time, and let us Improve the Present time, to make our peace with the Eternal God.
Alas, All the sinful and woful time of our Vnregeneracy is Lost time. One that was converted but about seven years before he dyed, ordered that Epitaph to be inscribed on his Grave, Here …es an Aged man who dy'd but seven years old. Thou dost not live till thou dost repent, till thou dost beleeve.
Be sure, there is no Duty so much incumbent on us, as that of Turning from Sin to God in Christ. Well, the great God hath stated the present time for the doing of it. Tis the Warning, the solemn warning of the Holy God unto us, 2. Cor. 6. 2. Behold, Now is the Accepted time, Now is the Day of Salvation. Let those that are not yet born-again, discern this their time. O yee souls in peril, What is it that ye resol…e upon? Your time is to Day, to Day, if you will hear the voice of God. Let me say about this Time, as Boaz about that Land in Ruth, 4. 4. If you will redeem it, redeem it. O Delay not; Dally not, Trifle not about this grand Concern; Do not say as the unhappy Felix did, I'le mind it at a more convenient season. No, No, Discern it, that the most conv…nient season is just NOW. O that all unconverted men would consider the Danger the Madness of their Procrastinations. Tis said in Eccles. 9. 12. Man knoweth not his time. Man, discern thy time as a flying time, and an uncertain time. A Jewish Rabbi gave that Co…nsel to a Scholar of his, Besure you repent at least a day before you dy. Truly, tis a fearful thing for a man when he comes to dye, not to be able to say, Tis at least a day since that I made my peace with God. Well, who of us can say, that this day is not our last day? We cannot be sure that we repent a day before we dy, unless we repent this very day. Suppose you were to suffer an horrible Death in case you had not finished some notable Undertaking before night. O how would every stroke of the Clock strike to your very hearts within you! Behold O Sinner, be amazed, stand Astonished, and take the present time to get out of thy present state. Tis possible thou mayst be a dead man before to morrow, tis possible this night thy soul may be required. Horrid will thy condition be, if this happen before thy peace be made with GOD. There are Graves in the Burying-Place shorter than the youngest of us all. Thou mayst Conclude with saying as David to Ionathan, As the Lord lives, there is but a step between me and death. Wherefore, let me Conclude with saying as Michal to David, O save thy self to night, for to morrow thou mayst be slain. Let no man Repent too late, but let every man Discern the time. Tis the sigh of our GOD over us, O that they understood! that they would Consider their Latter END!