Job vi.

27.

unto him, Thou Fool, this Night thy Soul fhall be required of thee; Then whose fhall thofe Things be which thou hast provided? So is He that layeth up Treafure for himfelf, and is not Rich towards God, Luke xii.

All Things here are Tranfient and Uncertain; and end in Delusion and Disappointment. They may fuddenly, and will soon be snatch'd away from Us, or We from Them: Therefore in point of Wisdom we should Use this World with a Kind of Indifference, not fet our Heart and Soul upon it, nor expect our Happiness from it. If we will make Sure and Lafting Provifion for our Happiness, it must not be by laying up Trea fure upon Earth, which will be fubject to a thousand Accidents; but by laying up for ourselves Treasures in Heaven, which will never be fubject to Accident nor Decay. We fhould fet the main Bent of our Heart and Thoughts upon an Enduring Subftance: Our principal Care and Concern fhould be, not for the Meat that perisheth, but for that Unperishable Meat that endureth to Everlafting Life. I fay, the Main Bent, and Principal Care; for This World must, and will have a Share of our Care and Thoughts whilft we Live in it: Only let it not govern Us nor our Confcience, nor ever fway us against our Confcience: But let us keep the World, and our Love to it, under Command, and be ready to part with it, whenever God,

in his Providence, fhall fee fit to require it of us, or any Part of it.

And a Wife Man will confider, and fettle all his Worldly Concerns whilst he is in perfect Health; Not only to be Provided against Sudden Death, but to be Ready for any Sort of Death, unto which it shall please God to call him; free from the Cumber and Distraction of a Croud of Business and Worldly Affairs upon his Thoughts, when he has fo much Weightier Things to think on. And will well Obferve, and wifely Confider, How short his Days are here on Earth and how they Slide away *: How this Life wears off, and how his Age creeps on every Day, Step by Step, infenfibly stealing in upon him t.

But

*Eheu fugaces, Pofthume, Pofthume,

Labuntur Anni; &c.

Feftinat decurrere Velox

Hor. Od.

Flofculus Angufta, miferaque breviffima Vita

Portio: Dum bibimus, dum ferta, Unguenta, Puellas
Pofcimus, Obrepit non intellecta Senectus. Juv. Sat.

t Seneca pleasantly tells his Friend, how He was grown Old e're he was aware, and how he had been put in Mind of his Old Age. 66 Going (fays he) the other Day to my Country-Houfe, and complaining of the great Expence of "Repairs, Alas! Sir, fays the Steward, It is no Neglect of "Mine; I have done all that a Man can do, but the Villa is "grown Old. Now this Houfe (fays he,) was of My Build

ing; what then must become of Me, if the very Stones that "are of My Age are coming to Decay? But being (fays he,) a little piqu'd at this, I took the next Occafion of venting "myself, But it is plain that these Trees have been Neg

"lected:

yet

But though Time is always upon the Wing, and flyeth away so swiftly from us, I fear there are Few of us that have been fo Wife and Provident of our Time as we might have been: We have not fufficiently valued it, nor employed it fo well as we ought to have done, to the good Purposes for which it was given us. Therefore where much of it has been fquandered away in Trifling, and Vanities, and Follies, there is no More to Lofe. It fhould in that Cafe concern us at laft, to do all that in us lies to Redeem the Time, and with double Care Employ what Remains, to the Best Advantage.

It were indeed much to be wish'd, that All would Remember their Creator in the Days of their Touth, and fo on from their Youth upwards; making the Service of God the Bufinefs, as it is the Duty, of their whole Lives, and not leave all to a Bed-rid Piety: That they would Confider the Shortness of their Time, and the Greatness of the Work they have to Do in it; To fubdue their

"lected: See how ill-favouredly they look; how Knotty and « Scrubbed they grow. But the Steward fwears, that there "had been no Care wanting on his Part, but the Trees were grown old. Now (fays he) Inter Nos, Between You "and Me; The Trees were of My Planting..

.

Then he

thought it Time to confider, that He himself was grown "Old; and after That, which way foever he turn'd his Eye, "he faw nothing but Tokens and Memorandums of his Old

Paffions, to Change their Nature, to get a New Frame and Temper of Soul, and to mortify a whole Body of Sin: That at least therefore, fince they have fuch a Work as this to do, they would take fome Time for it, whilst they have yet fome good Use of their Faculties left, and fome healthful Days remaining; and not leave the greatest Work and Concern of their Life to the Dregs of their Age. Though if thou haft unhappily neglected the Care of thy Soul till Then, it is even yet the Best Thing, nay the Only Thing thou canft Do, to Try the Mercy of God, if peradventure he will give thee Re-2 Tim. ii. pentance, that thou mayeft recover thyself 25. out of the Snare of the Devil. But then thou hadst need have little elfe to Do with fo great a Work upon thine Hands, as Repentance is, when begun in Old Age. Confider then that thou art upon thy Laft Hopes: Accidents, Dangers, or Diseases, may possibly be remedied, or avoided; But Old Age is Unavoidable; It comes on inexorably and irrefiftibly, and will neither be Prevented nor Cur'd; nor yet be adjourn'd or respited, no not for a Day. Therefore double thy Diligence, and confider well what thou haft to do. Thy Day is far fpent, thy Night is coming upon thee: The Small Remainder of thy Days are thy precious Moments of Salvation: Trifle them not away; Let the Time Paft fuffice to have spent in Idleness

14.

and Vanity Set thyself now with all thy Might to thy great Work: It is for thy Soul; Thou art working for Eternity.

But indeed, I should think it very defirable, generally in all Cases, especially for Men of Bufinefs, that have lived in a Hurry all their Life, (if Competent Provifion is made for their Family, fo that Circumstances of Fortune will any way allow of it,) when they have Warning given them, by Age, or Infirmities, or Diseases, or any other Symptoms of Death making towards them, that Deut.xxxi. their Days approach that they must Dye, to draw off from the World and all its Noife and Clamours, and from Business and all its Distractions and Cares, to fome Convenient Solitude, that they may get fome Breathingtime for their Souls. They have all their Time robb'd God and their Souls of many Hours, and it is Time now at last to make Reftitution, if God will in Mercy accept it. And fuch Men may find Bufinefs enough, and proper Business for their Retirement in their Old Age, to make a Review of their Lives, to Search their Consciences, to recollect the Sins of their Youth, to examine their former Repentances, to reconcile themfelves to the Thoughts of Death, to fet their Souls in order, and dress them up for a State of Holiness and Immortality.

They have long liv'd to the World; It is Time now to begin to wean themselves