veniencies, or any other Thing that the fleshly Principle within us is moft delighted. with. We Chriftians must act in our fpiritual Concerns, as Merchants and Tradefmen do in their temporal, who let flip no Time, no Seafon, no Opportunity of improving their Eftates, and making a good Bargain for themselves; but prefer the Gain of their Trade above all the little Defigns of Eafe or good Company, or the like. Now taking this to be the Meaning of redeeming of Time, there are three Things which the Duty will oblige us to.

1. To take Care that we employ our Time, and that we employ it innocently. And this indeed is the lowest Degree of redeeming our Time.

2. A Step higher than this, to increase and improve our Time, by cutting off, as much as in us lies, all unneceffary Confumptions of it.

3. And which is yet a further Degree of redeeming Time, to improve all that Time which we have gained to ourselves by the retrenching our fuperfluous Expences of it, to the beft and nobleft Purposes we can put

it to.

I fhall confider thefe Particulars a little more diftinctly and carefully,

1. The first and lowest Instance of Care that this Duty of redeeming our Time will put us upon, is, that we employ our Time, and that we employ it innocently. We are at no hand to pafs away our Time in Idlenefs, but conftantly to find fome Work for ourselves. For any Man at any time to be able to fay of himself, I have nothing to do; if he means thereby that he knows not how to employ his next Hour, is a certain Argument that the Man is either a very filly or a very diffolute Perfon. If it comes to that Pafs with us that our Time lies upon our hands, and we know not what to do with it, but are longing and wishing that this or the other good Hour would come when we shall meet with fomething whereby we hope to gratify ourselves, Things are in a marvellous bad Pofture with us. We ought to flee Idlenefs, as we would the worst Disease, not only because it renders a Man's Life burthenfome and uneafy, nay, I may fay, a very Torment to himfelf, but because it is very mifchievous and very criminal. It is that which makes a Man perfectly ufelefs in the World, and he lives to no other Purpose than, Cormorant like, to devour the Fruits of the Earth. It is the infallible Way to fpoil all that Briskness of Temper, that Vigour of Conftitution, and Quicknefs of Parts, that God hath given him, and to make him fottifh

and

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 ordinary Malignity that is in it. Our Time is 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 lose in Idleness, is impoffible to be retrieved by us, whereas we cannot fay that there is fuch a Flux in the other Bleffings we enjoy.

I wish this Matter was feriously confider'd by all of us. We fhould not then have among us fo many, who are at fuch a Lofs how to pass away their Time; who are fo cloy'd with it, that they know not what to do with themfelves for many Periods of their Life, and could be content to be in a State of perfect Infenfibility during thofe Intervals. But it will be

faid, Why do you blame these Perfons? for they have really nothing to do, they have no Employments to follow, they are not

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 Trust to manage with Reference to himfelf, and is bound, as he will answer to God, to make the beft 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, 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 Senfe 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 spend 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 idle, which is a Thing that the Heat and Briskness of our Tempers has a natural Aversion to, we will be doing the Devil's

Work,

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