ST. Paul in this Epistle having shewn them to whom it was sent, the Great Excel­lency of the Christian Religion, and the mighty Advantages and Privileges that might be received from the hearty belief of it; pro­ceeds to shew what a wonderful Change had been made in their Condition by embracing the Gospel of Jesus Christ; That whereas before their knowing and believing that Chri­stian Doctrin, they were covered with Dark­ness, and altogether lost in Vanity and Error, and might be said to be even dead in Tres­passes [Page 6]and Sins, Ephes. 2.1. They were now become Children of Light, by being the Children of God, their Minds were enlighten'd, and themselves quickened, —5. and raised as it were from the dead to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. —6.

Having thus laid down the mighty Things which had been done for them, Our Apostle does very easily and very regularly too, pass on to inform them, what They also were to do, and what returns They were to make to God for such his abundant Mercy to them. Upon this he gives them a great many Dire­ctions and Rules for the Management of them­selves so as to please God in every Condition and state of Life whatsoever, whether of Mar­ried or Free, whether of Publick or Private, of Son or of Servant; but above all he takes heed to mind them of their Care of That, in which all these things were to be done, all the Duties he mentioned were to be perform­ed; and that is, the Good Improvement of their Time, that they would lose none of that, since they had such occasion for it all, and yet were in such apparent Danger of losing too much of it, through the Wickedness of the World they must Converse with; Redeeming the Time, because the days are evil.

Which Words afford us these things for our Consideration,

1^st. What great Reason we have all to im­prove and to make a good use of our Time.

2^ly. How much more Reason we have to Redeem it, and to double our Diligence, when we have lost any great share of it.

3^ly. To inquire what can be the Hindrances of our Care in a Matter of so much moment.

4^ly. To give some Rules herein, and to ex­hort to the Practice of them.

1^st. What great Reason we all have to im­prove, and to make a good Use of our Time.

One would think it the most easie thing in the World to convince Mankind of the Truth hereof; but I know not well how it comes to pass that this, which might challenge our As­sent upon the very naming of it, That every Man ought to make the best use of Time, should be so little regarded by the far greatest part of the World; and nothing can be more strange than this, that while all the World, the Wise and the Foolish are agreed in their [Page 8]valuing so much those things which they love and take delight in, They should [...] in having little or no regard [...] which only they can obtain any of those things they so much prize and long after.

However, every Man must acknowledge the very great Reason there is for us all to im­prove and to make a good Use of Time, when­ever he is serious, or would but consider these things with me,

1^st. How great a Work every Christian has upon his Hands to perform.

2^ly. How many Impediments He will meet with in his discharge of it.

3^ly. How short the time of our Sojourning here in this World must be. And

4^ly. How much shorter the Mispending of our Time does generally make it.

1^st. How Great a Work every Christian has upon his Hands to perform.

Indeed if One were to judge of the Business of too many Christians by their Behaviour, one would be able to make but a very indiffe­rent Judgment concerning it. To behold the Course of the World, would tempt a Man to believe that neither Reason nor Religion were regarded by the far greatest part in it: to see some as unactive and idle, as if they had no more to do than the Flower in the Garden, or the Grass upon the Ground, had nothing to do but to receive Nourishment, and grow; To see others Sotting away their Time, haunting the Publick Houses conti­nually, and distinguishing their whole Time into but three parts, the first of which they spend in Sleeping, the second in Eat­ing, the third and greatest in Drinking; to see them minding nothing but what is ex­travagant and unmanly, loving no Plea­sures but what are unlawful, giving their Strength to strange Women, their Ears, their Eyes, and all their Senses up to those Charms, which are often Bitterness in the Taste it self, but most certainly Shame and Destruction at the last: To see some from whom one might expect a better Sense of Religion, rest­less, and turning every Stone, trying every way to be Rich, and minding nothing else but to leave a great Estate, and resolved to do [Page 10]it, though at the Expence of Religion and Conscience, of Honour and of Justice, though they must disregard the Tears as well as the Rights of Widows and Orphans, and tram­ple upon the Helpless and Afflicted to come at those Estates they have already swallow­ed in their Desire: To see others Sacrifi­cing all they have in this World to Ambiti­on, Prostituting their Virtue and Honour, Flattering and using the worst of Men, if they will but give a lift towards that Height they are gazing at, and preferring Greatness, though it prove never so short-liv'd, to all the Virtue, and Honour, and Conscience in the World. To see these and a great many other, as ridiculous Scenes of Humane Acti­ons and Behaviour here, too tedious to be mentioned or minded, must make one to conclude, either that Mankind are but a sort of Animals devoid of Reason, that excel the Serpent and the Ape only in a little Cun­ning, as they excel the rest of their Fellow-Creatures, or that there is no God in Hea­ven, and they may do whatever is right in their own Eyes, as the Israelites did when they had no King, on Earth, or that they are for such their Behaviour inexcusable Mad­men.

And Mad-men they are, since how busie soever they are about all these things, this was not their Business into this World; and how much soever they may have pleas'd themselves in their several Actions, yet God can never be pleased with them, since it was for another, a more noble Purpose, that He Created Man upon the Face of this Earth: He planted us here, as in a place of Tryal, He appointed us a Work, which is no less than to purchase a bles­sed Immortality for our Bodies as well as our Souls in his Kingdom of Heaven, by our leading Lives of Piety and Virtue here. This is our chief Business into this World, and the Care of it ought to be constant­ly in our Eye, not only for the Worth, but also for the Difficulty of it: It is a difficult Work indeed, but were it Ten Thousand times more difficult than it is, there is a Reward that would deserve it all: But God has been infinitely gracious to us in this Respect, has been far from making the Difficulty equal to the Greatness of this blessed Reward.

This however ought always to affect us, that it is a great and large Work, and this every one does know that has made never so little Progress in it: How much Study and Diligence is necessary to obtain, and to preserve a just Knowledge of God and his Attributes, and of that wonderful Dispensation towards the Sons of Men by his own ever blessed Son? To preserve our Faith pure and undefil'd from the Arts of Hereticks, and others that are still laying wait to deceive with their enticing Words? To have our Judgments rightly informed, and firmly settled as to Matters of Faith and Knowledge, and the whole Nature of our Christian Duty? How difficult a Task does it prove to incline the Will, and subdue it to the Obedience of Reason and Religion, to keep it even and constant to the Choice of real Good, and our Chri­stian Duty? What a severe and lasting Con­flict must we have with those Corrupt Affe­ctions, those unruly Desires, and inordi­nate Passions that are always hanging a­bout us, and ready to betray us upon every Occasion, upon the least Tempta­tion that presents it self? These must all (in order to that Life which God requires [Page 13]of us) be mortified, and restrain'd, and if we can, perfectly subdued.

We have not only a great many Virtues to learn and practise, but a great many Vices to unlearn, which we must thank our own Folly for. We have not only Vices that must be parted with, but too many among us great habits of them, and what Time, and Pains, and Diligence are necessa­ry to the curing our Selves of any one ha­bit of Wickedness! It was with some Care and Regret that we did bring our selves to venture on such or such a Wasting Sin, it was with more Pains and Diligence that we brought our selves to commit it with Greediness, and a particular Pleasure in it: and can all this be undone and changed in a Moment, and when we have a mind? It must be with far more Pains, and Care, and Diligence, that we can tear it from our Breast, abandon, and quite forsake it, and not only forsake it, but frame our Mind, our Will, and our Temper, to that Virtue which is so contrary to it. One brisk Onset cannot do our Business herein; we may with Courage and Resolution set upon these Home-bred Enemies, and over-come them; but how long must it be before we can rec­kon [Page 14]our selves truly Conquerors over our flesh­ly Lusts?

What a large Field then is that of the Knowledge, which is necessary as we are Chri­stians, how many are the Snares and the Sins that we must (upon our greatest Peril) a­void and preserve our selves unspotted from? Have we then all of us so great, and so very large a Work as this is to perform? What Time can be enough for it? Blessed God! What Knowledge and Skill, and Diligence and Application, is necessary for the knowing and performing this our Duty, what Time can be too much for such Business? And yet Mankind must certainly think its far from requiring all our Time, since they commonly do spend so much of it on quite other Matters. It was that Great Father of the Physicians Advice or Complaint, That Life was short, but Art long, that Men had a great deal to learn, but too little time to acquire it in; how much more Reason has the Christian to cry out, that his Work is great, but his Life too short for it? and yet how many of us do squander away even that which we have.

There is too much of our precious Time forc'd away from us by the Necessities of our Nature, or our Relation and Care of others, how can we then find in our Heart to throw the rest away after it? Is not the Race mark'd out for us, is not our Task allotted, and the time it must be done in, while it is Light? Let us then but inquire at home, and see how we have manag'd our Selves or our Time; if our Life be so short, and our Work so great, have we employ'd it all therein? Is so much knowledge of God and his Laws ne­cessary to our ever being Happy, and have we made it our constant Care to study God's Word, to consult those Lips that should pre­serve Knowledge, and used all the Helps that might direct us in this? Are there so many Vir­tues that God would have us Adorn our selves with, and so many Errors that we must aban­don, and guard our Heart and our Life against with all Diligence, how much Time then have we employ'd to gain the one, or banish the o­ther? Let us ask our own Hearts what one Virtue it is we are entirely in Possession of, what one Vice it is, that we have perfectly rid our Selves of? Has all the Time we have employ'd, as we ought, not made us Master of any one Virtue, nor so much as Conqueror over any one Vice, and can we think we have enough of [Page 16]Time, and to spare, which we may employ as our selves please? If all the Time that some of us have been in this World, (and how much has that been!) has not yet taught them one line, as I may say, of this large Lesson, what time, how many hundreds of Years would be necessary to teach such their whole Duty in?

This Consideration therefore should awaken us all, should prompt us to Diligence and In­dustry in our Christian Duty, since there is no Danger of our Times being too long for the Learning and Practice of our Duty, but too much Reason to fear that it may prove too short; especially if we remember the second Rea­son for this our Care, viz.

2^ly. How many Impediments He will meet with in his discharge of it.

If our Task be large enough for our whole Time, as I have already proved, what Appre­hensions should it cause in us to consider how much of that Time (which was all but neces­sary and little enough) is ravished from us by our necessary Occasions, how much more is sto­len from it by our Sins and our Folly? Our Life is very fitly called in Scripture a Warfare, since if we look about us, and consider how [Page 17]much we have to do, and what great Difficul­ties we have to struggle through, it would make the stoutest Heart to Despond, but for the Grace of God, that will strengthen and as­sist us, but for the Reward that will so glori­ously Crown us after our Success in the Con­flicts we shall be engag'd in here below.

God has not been so liberal to us in the Term of our Lives, that we should be so lavish, and squander away such large Portions of it. What a great share of our Time does Necessity force from us? Our Sleep does almost cut our Life in two, and take an equal part; the satisfy­ing of those daily returning Wants of Food and Nourishment does take up at least a third part of what remains; and for the rest, how much does lawful Recreation take for its share, how much does want of Health, or the Care of a weak and uneven state of Health take also for its certain part? After such a Division one would think little could be left for worldly Con­cerns, and none at all for other Matters, and yet we see how much of their Time does the Business and Employments of Mankind require, how much Care, and Time, and Diligence, is necessary to procure but a tolerable Subsistance for the far greatest part in the World: Indeed this Time is all spar'd to them who have these [Page 18]things left to their Hands, that are born to large Estates, and have no occasion to spend any of their Time this way; but then alas, Ex­perience shews us, that too many of these who have so much more Time to spare than others, do generally make the least and worst Use of it. Not only our own Affairs, but those of Re­lations and of Friends, nay, of meer Strangers, swallow up great part of our Time, and would spend us more of it, if Nature and Necessity would but give leave.

Let us then compute our Time, and see what can remain, when Sleep and Nourishment, and Recreation and Health, and Business, have car­ried off such large Shares, have we such a migh­ty Portion left for that our Great Work, for the taking Care of our Last and Greatest Con­cern? Would we but reflect a while on this account, it would make us blush, and be hear­tily asham'd for all the Time we have ever mis­pent in Sin and Folly; for these alas, crowd into the account of Impediments, and make too too great a Figure there, though we want no such Hindrances. One would think Men could have no leasure for the Service of these, that their manifold Business would have kept them always out of harms way, if we did not, to our Sorrow see, that though Men do so of­ten [Page 19]complain that their Business takes up their whole Time, that they can get no part of the day to employ as they willingly should, and own they ought, in Holy Duties, yet that they can and will rob their Business to spend upon their Lusts and Pleasures; That they will bor­row for a Boon Companion, for a Wanton Harlot, or a Drunken Club, though they will not for Religious Matters, Reading good Books, or to dedicate it either to the Publick or Private Worship of their God.

Are not these then Hindrances big enough in our Great Work, which our Necessities and our Business give us? What must we say then when Wickedness comes in for a share, and robs us most of all, when it's content with no mean share, but insinuates more and more, till all other Care is quite laid aside, and it engros­ses our whole Time? Should not this persuade us, should it not teach us, that since the Busi­ness is really so great for which we were brought into this World, and the Time so uncertain, that we have to finish it in; that want of Time will not pass for Excuse in the other World, when our Sins and our Lusts have squander'd so much of it here; that since God has so form'd our Nature and our Tempers, that a great part of our Time must certainly be em­ploy'd [Page 20]in the Care of these, and a great deal more of it may be snatch'd from us by Sick­ness or uncertain Health; we should never for­get to employ well that Time which we can only call our own, to emprove all those Sea­sons, and Opportunities which God vouchsafes, and Time does reach out to us, to all the great and good Purposes for which our Lord did place us here.

But alas, we forget all this, we do not only forget that our Work is so great, and that the Impediments we meet with in this our Jour­ney are so many, but which is altogether as unhappy, we forget in the Third place,

3^ly. How short the Time of our Sojourning here in this World must be.

It has been an old and a great Complaint of the Shortness of Humane Life, and if when the Lives of Men were far longer than they now are, and they had lived twice as long as the Generality of the World now does, they could complain that their days had been few: Gen. 47.9. We must not wonder at any Complaints we hear now. Our Life is fitly compar'd in Gods Word to the Grass of the Field, to the more tender Flower, which though it is sometime in grow­ing [Page 21]up, yet soon fades, is withered and gone; and as if this was not sufficient to Convince us of the Shortness and Vanity of our Lives, the Scripture has thought fit to descend, and make even a Vapour and a Shadow the Emblems of our short and fading Time, and to use them often as the fittest Emblems to express it by. Job's Friend pleads this in excuse for his Ig­norance, and it will serve for the rest of Man­kind, Job 8.9. For we are but of Yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon Earth are a Shadow: And Job himself concludes this as the common Lot to us all, that we are but of few days, and which is more Unhappy, that they are full of Trouble; That Man cometh forth [indeed] like a Flower, but is cut down; Job 14.1, 2. that he fleeth also as a Shadow, and continues not.

And the same Sense have the wiser part of the Heathen World had of the Condition of Mankind, that his Life is very short, too short in their Opinion for so Noble and so Wise a Creature: They have compar'd it to a meer Point, and indeed, what is the longest Life more to the days of Eternity? They have laught at the dividing this little Point into so many parts, but most of all at Mankind, for misimploying any part thereof. And does it not appear the same to us all? As for the Time past, for all [Page 22]the Years we have lived hitherto, how wonder­fully short and inconsiderable does it appear to us? How little a Time is it, think we all, since we were Children, since we came abroad into the World? It's all gone as swiftly as a Shadow, and is vanish'd as if it had been re­ally but a Vapour. The Time present of our Life, which is all that we can justly call the time of Life, how fleeting and uncertain is it also, and how hasty to be gone? How little will it stay for us? It does not wait our lei­sure, nor can attend till we'll be pleased to em­ploy it to its just and proper use: We may call it our own indeed, and it's all we can call so; but then it will not for all that be at our Command, there is another Lord over it as well as us, that will not let it wait for us, nor stay for our Appointments. And if our pre­sent time of Life be so very little in our Power, what shall we say concerning that part of it, which is not yet in View, but wholly in the Hands of God, and known only to him, whe­ther we shall see it ever at all? This is the State of Human Life, and can this deserve to be thought otherwise of than as very short and very uncertain? We get through indeed a great many Months and Years, some a very great many; but then, if we take a Stand and look back, it appears nothing, is as invisible as the [Page 23]Morrow to us all, as the day that is not yet in Being.

This is God's fatal and irreversible Decree upon us; it is not only appointed for us all to Die, but to die soon, after a few years of La­bour and Sorrow here: We begin the World as if we knew all this before we came out of the Womb; we Lament betimes as it were our hard Fate, that we must live so few Years here, and those too not Happily: As soon as we are born, we draw to our End, and some indeed do end as soon as they have begun; they enter the Stage of this World indeed, but like Mutes, they have no other part there but to be Seen, and then immediately are car­ried off; some stay longer indeed upon it, but there are too few that stay out the last Scene; their Generation is hastned off to make room for the next that is to come, and so the World does very quickly change all its Inhabitants, and in a short space of Years, shews a perfectly new Set of Faces there.

Are all things then in such a changing con­dition? Is it so diminutive a part of Time that we are suffer'd to stay here before our Great Change? And is our Life it self so much short­er [Page 24]in Comparison, and so uncertain, that when we are going to Sleep, the Cunningest Man ith' World cannot assure us that we shall wake in this Life any more; that after we are risen, we shall ever come into a Bed to take our Rest again? Are all things, I say, in such a condition with us, and can we for­give our selves the mispending all our preci­ons Time, or too great a share of it? May we be beckon'd out, or justled off our present Station so very soon, and can we find in our Hearts to have done nothing that became us either as Men or Christians? Have we but one day of Life to do all our mighty Business in, and can we afford to stand it all out idle and gazing? This is Folly indeed, and what God will never forgive us, tho we are so over-kind to our selves. Our Life spends as fast, and our Hours run off as swiftly while we are loytering and gazing about us, as when we are diligent at our proper Work.

Let us therefore, since we are certain to have but little of Time allotted to our share, be careful to spend all that little well; let not Business, or Diversion, or Friends, rob us too much, or spend too much of our small Stock; but let us rather borrow from each of them all the Time we can to Dedicate to the Glory [Page 25]of our Great God, and to the Saving of our Im­mortal Souls: But above all, let us not suf­fer Sinful Pleasures to rob us also. If we do not keep directly on in our way without faint­ing towards our Journey's end, let us not for God's sake lose our selves so far as to turn quite back, and go directly from it; if we scarce have Time or Strength to perform this our Course once, let's not think of running it all twice over without Strength or Time. We have no continuing City here below, we be­long to another, which we must make all our way to get to with what speed we can, since we have but one Day to do it in, and when the Night comes, we are sure to be wildred and lost and quite excluded.

But further, we are not only to consider how great our Work is, how many the Impe­diments are, and how short our Time to do all in must be, but this also should add very much to our Care to reflect,

4^ly. How much shorter the Mispending of our Time does generally make it.

In their worldly Affairs Men do always con­clude, that the not Employing that Time to their chief Business for which it was allotted, is generally a direct Mispending of it, though it should not be quite lost, but employ'd about Things that are of less Concern: This is their Judgment about the Matters that concern this World, that concern their Health or Estate here; but it is not in those Spiritual Affairs, that be­long to the Soul and another State; they can with Patience enough suffer the Time allotted to these Best Things to be ravished from them, without Noise, or any of the Passion with which they are so Loud, when they are in­terrupted in their other Affairs: It too often proves a Grateful Diversion to be disturb'd in their Care of these, and they can be so good-natur'd as not only to forgive others their taking from them that their set Time for Re­ligious Duties, but to forgive themselves as ea­sily, when they neglect them, even upon the most frivolous Pretences. But these Men real­ly are too too much good-natur'd, and it were Happy for them if they had a great deal less of this which they call Good Nature, and a great deal more of that, which the World will call Morose Incivility: It would really be much better, and much more Happy for them by a little of This to secure and rescue that Time [Page 27]wherein they might make themselves everlast­ingly Blessed, than by the help of the Other to lose their Time, and their Soul together.

This is a Concern wherein the least loss is very dangerous, since the Stake is so very great, and therefore no Care of ours can be too great for it. We do not only lose all that our Time that is Mispent on other things than that of our great Concern in this Life, but our Mispend­ing does too often prey upon our Time it self, and cut that shorter: The Time we squander away in idle Speculations, or in things that are not directly Sinful, will, whenever we come to our selves, be a Grief of Heart unto us, since we shall then find and know, that we had a far better Use to have employ'd it to: But with what Heart shall we behold our selves, when we find that all the Time we have spent in Sin, did directly tend to the shortening of our days, as it ever most cer­tainly did. There are none of those Sinful Plea­sures, and Drunken Bouts, there is no Revel­ling, nor Wantonness, but costs the Man that is employ'd therein, too much of his Life, and often all that is remaining of it. Without be­ing Physician, every one can see how often Dropsy and Gout are the Fruits of Drunken­ness, Consumption and Palsy, and Diseases not [Page 28]fit to be nam'd, are the certain Effects of un­lawful and Unchast Pleasures: Need any Man be told, that these cut short the Life of Man? The Sinner himself needs it least of all, who feels to his too great Cost, and by dear Ex­perience, the dismal Truth of it; The Life that's cark'd with anxious Cares for the get­ting Wealth, that will see no end, nor dare to taste the Fruit of all its Care, but ventures Health, and Friends, and Life it self, and which is more, all his future Hopes for an­other bag, is far from scaping free on this Account: And there is no other Vice that Men allow themselves in, which has not this Skill, and never fails, to shorten the Lives of those that are so blindly fond of it. But if these Sinners should be so Discreet in their Folly, and Temperate as it were in these their Ex­travagancies, as not to hasten too soon their End by them, yet this can give them but small Comfort, since God may be provok'd by their Sins, so far as to cut off their Days, and shor­ten (as he often has done) the Lives of all such careless and bold Sinners: And this Con­sideration ought to be well weighed by them all, who are so daring against God; for what­ever Care may do for them against their own, or other Mens Vices, it can do nothing for them against the Vengeance of an Offended [Page 29]God, which can never miss its aim, or return again empty without accomplishing that Judg­ment upon Careless and Wicked Men which God has appointed it. And how often has he appointed and declar'd, that they who make the worst use of Time, shall have the least share of it to Mispend; that he will cut off half the days of the Wicked, and hasten them off the Stage of this World to Judgment, who of all Men Living are the least prepar'd for it? It is Employing our Time well, and the Fear of our God that will prolong our days, but for the Years of the Wicked, Prov. 10.27. He has de­clar'd, That they shall be shorten'd. The Candle of the Wicked is often soon put out; Job 21.17. and when Men begin too soon, when they set up for Atheistical Debauchees in the Bloom of their Years, God's Judgment can be as quick with them, and not only shorten the days of their Youth it self, but cover them (and their Me­mory also) with Shame and Disgrace.

Having now gone through all the Reasons I did believe sufficient in this Matter, it is Time to take a short View of them altoge­ther, and to see what urgent and unavoid­able Necessity they lay upon us to be very strict in the Improvement of our Time, since it is by the Benefit of this alone that we can [Page 30]do any part of our greatest Work in this World. Can we suffer our selves to be rust­ed with Idleness, or worn out in the Ser­vice of Sin and Lusts, who have no less a Work on our Hands than the gaining Hea­ven? Let us up and be doing, since if we Faint, we shall get nothing but what we shall for ever after wish we had escaped; but if we Faint not, we shall be secure of an ex­ceeding great Reward, which will infinitely surpass all the Pains that we can ever take to obtain it.

We know that our Work is great, we see that our Hindrances and Impediments are too many, and we cannot but feel, that the Time of our Sojourning here must not be long. What Time can we have for the Service of Sin, who have not enough for our lawful Con­cerns, but especially for our greatest Work? And yet we can rob from these to spend upon our Lusts, which do not only Mispend, but shorten our Time, which do not only give us nothing for it, but do most wickedly rob us also of That wherein we might have made some amends to God for our past Follies. But above all, let us look up to the Judgment, which is so like to overtake us in our Sin, and cut off our Life for our Wickedness, and [Page 31]oftentimes in the very Act of it. Awake then, O thou who sleepest, Awake to Righteousness, and give thy Strength and thy Time to God; let him only have the continual Service of it, who will so abundantly reward it.

I cannot enter upon the next Particular, which was to shew, How much more Reason we have to Redeem our Time, and to double our Diligence, when we have lost any great share of it. I have already trespast on your Pati­ence too far, and I hope I need add no more to Convince us how great a Concern we all ought to have for our Precious Time; if what I have already said does not, I despair of be­ing able to urge any thing further that can teach us this Wise Lesson. Let us Reflect then with Care on all these Reasons, and since so much of Time slips from us Useless, let us be careful of the rest, that while it is called Day, and we have Time, we may be employ'd about our Master's Business, and when he calls us hence, we may be found at it. But for all that Time which we have lost, and is irre­coverably gone, Let us go to the Blessed Je­sus, that most Merciful Saviour, Let us cast our selves at his Feet, and with Contrite Hearts bewail the Loss and the Abuse of our past Time, and beg of Him, that He would pass [Page 32]over the Follies of our Child-hood, that He would not remember the Sins of our Youth, nor the more grievous Transgressions of our Riper Years, but would Forgive us all that is past, and grant us his Grace, that we may all of us henceforth Serve and Please Him in Newness of Life, to His Glory, and our Sal­vation. Amen.