and stupid. It is the Inlet to Temptations
of all Sorts, and the Occafion of moft of
thofe Mifadventures that befal us in this
Life. The Devil never wants Baits for
fuch kind of People, and however they be
applied, 'tis odds but they fucceed, and
the Man is caught. And befides all this,
Idleness is a great Sin in itself: It is one of
those three Sins that brought Fire and
Brimstone upon Sodom, as the Prophet tells
us; and therefore furely it is not an ordi-
Our Time is
nary Malignity that is in it.
one of the most precious Talents that God
has intrufted us with, and in this refpect
more precious than any of the reft, that it
is only ours for the prefent, and gone the
next Moment; fo that whatever Portions
of it we lofe in Idlenefs, is impoffible to be
retrieved by us, whereas we cannot say that
there is fuch a Flux in the other Bleffings
we enjoy.

I wish this Matter was feriously confi-
der'd by all of us. We should not then
have among us fo many, who are at fuch a
Lofs how to pafs away their Time; who
are fo cloy'd with it, that they know not
what to do with themselves for many Pe-
riods of their Life, and could be content
to be in a State of perfect Infenfibility du-
ring those Intervals.
said, Why do you blame these Perfons? for
they have really nothing to do, they have
no Employments to follow, they are not

But it will be

under

under the fad Circumftances of being neceffitated to drudge and take Pains for the getting a Livelihood. But is this a Sufficient Excufe for their being idle? Has not every Man in the World Work enough to employ himself about all the Days of his Life, tho' his Life were twice as long as it is? Hath he not a Soul to fave, and will not fecuring that Concernment put him upon daily Study and Exercife? Is he not a Member of a Society, and accordingly is bound to improve all his Faculties as much as they are capable, for the doing Good to his Family, to his Country, to the Kingdom where he lives? Hath he not a Truft to manage with Reference to himfelf, and is bound, as he will answer to God, to make the best Improvment he can of those Talents of Wit and Reason, and other Endowments, that his Lord hath bestowed upon him? Are there not every Day Opportunities put into his Hands, which, if he will lay hold of, he may either do Good to others, or to himself?

We may please our felves with idle Fancies as much as we think good : But the Time of our Life is rather too fhort than too long for the Work we have to do in it. And tho' we have been fo good Husbands of our Life, as to have fecured our main Concernment, yet it is impoffible we should have any Time left, which we may not employ to very good Purposes: Nay,

Nay, there is none among us that need to throw away an Hour idly, who can either think or meditate, or who can read, difcourse, or work, or is fit to keep Company, or manage any Business, either within or without Doors; or who hath any Sense of Devotion, or hath any Skill in any Art that is ingenious or ornamental, or can do any thing that is praise-worthy and acceptable to Mankind. If there be any who have none of thefe Qualifications, let them be idle, and pass away all their Days in Sleep, if they think fit; but God help all fuch as are in fuch Circumftances, for in truth they are very miferable.

But there is another Thing to be confidered under this Head. As every one is to take Care that he employ his Time, fo he must also take Care that he employ it innocently. As he is not to fpend it idly, much lefs is he to spend it viciously; for this is worse than the former, or, to speak more properly, it is a Pursuance of a bad Principle to its worft Confequences. We had better do nothing, though that be bad enough, than do an ill Thing. And yet, God knows, this we are often too prone to. In order to avoid one Extreme, we are apt to run into another. Rather than fit

the Heat and

idle, which is a Thing that Brisknefs of our Tempers has a natural Averfion to, we will be doing the Devil's

Work,

Work, and helping forwards to our own and other People's Undoing. For truly, no better do fome among us employ themfelves. We hate to fit ftill: We must bufy ourfelves fome way or other. This is very well: But yet if our Bufinefs be to spend the Time in good Fellowship, as we call it, in drinking and revelling, to the Prejudice of our Health, and the Inconvenience of our Families, and the unfitting ourselves for the Performance of thofe Duties which our Station in the World requires of us. If our Business be to profecute any Design or Intrigue of Luft or Wantonnefs, or any ways making Provifion for the Flesh, to fulfil the unlawful Defires of it: Ifour Bufinefs be to go about as Tattlers and Bufy bodies in other Mens Matters, telling Stories of this or the other Perfon, and making our felves pleasant at their Charge: If our Bufinefs be to game and play, or, which is as bad, to defign the Over-reaching of others, and making a Gain of them to our felves in any other, tho' the more ferious Way: Laftly, If we bufy ourselves in any thing that doth not become a Christian, that is contrary to that Innocence and Purity which the Gospel requires of us; in all these Inftances we had much better have been doing nothing. This Kind of Bufiness is worse than Idlenefs, and we are fo far from well husbanding our Time, that we have the fevereft Account to make for it that is poffible.

2. But

2. But fecondly, If we would redeem our Time, it is not enough that we be not idle, ór ill employed, but we muft alfo make as much as we can of our Stock of Time, by cutting off from it all thofe unneceffary Confumptions, in which we are often too

lavish of it.

It would make most of us (nay, even those among us, who are not addicted to any great Vices) very melancholy to fit down, and seriously confider in what Way the greatest Part of our Time is spent. As Things commonly go, one Half of it, very near, if not altogether, is taken up in eating, and drinking, and fleeping. And of the other Half, how much of it goes in little impertinent Affairs, in idle Chat and Talk when we are in Company,in vain and foolish Thoughts and Fancies when we are alone, in paying or receiving Vifits from our Acquaintance, in Divertisements and Recreations, and the like? So that in truth it is but a very little Portion of Time that moft Perfons (even they who cannot be said to be vicious Livers) can give a good Account of, as having employed it to any really ufeful Purposes.

I do not deny but there is a Time to be allowed for all thefe Things, for they are in their Degree and in their Seafon very neceffary, or at leaft very convenient. Without fome of them we cannot live; and VOL. V.

M

with