THe scope of this reverent Divine is in these words to hold forth unto us, the excellencie of human wit and policy, in this self-seeking and deceitful world. And indeed I hope I have not made a wrong choice of my Text, not knowing any one whereon I could better ground the praises of our departed Brother here before us; you all knowing how great a Disciple of our Author he was, be­ing indeed the very pattern and exemplar of his Godly and Religious life. But now to explain the words aright, we shall deal with them, as Joyners do with court Cupboards and [Page 4] round Tables, first pull them asunder, and then put them to­gether again; I use this comparison, that you may know me to be a man of trade, that is to say, one that trades in the word, or if you will have it otherwise, a holder-forth, according to the last and most sanctifi'd institution. First, then, you have an exhortation in these words, Let us; Secondly, the time given us to make use thereof, while we live; Thirdly, the thing to which we are exhorted, that is, to make use of our time; and lastly the supreme reason of this exhortation, for a mans life is ended in a day. Let us while we live, make use of our time, for a mans life is ended in a day. First then of the first, that is to say, of the words, Let us; But here you must give me leave to excuse the great abuses that have been put upon these two poor innocent monosyllables. I confesse they have been crumm'd thicker than Habakkuks brown loaf into the por­ridge of the Cavaleers, commonly call'd the Common-Pray­er Book, when they cry Let us pray, Let us kneel; But believe it, my beloved, I have now rebaptized them, and wash'd them cleaner from that prophanation, than ever tripes were scowr'd from their filth by the nicest Huswife in Field Lane. Now being thus purifi'd, you will find Let us, to signifie sometimes as much as, hinder us not, Quixot the 12. verse 8. Hinder me not fair Dulcina from the enjoyment of your sweet Company, that is, Let me enjoy your sweet Company; sometimes as much as to say Suffer us; saith the reverent Buscon, chap. 7. verse 5. to his Master in great affliction, Suffer us not to be starv'd to death, that is, Let us not be starved, &c. Yet it is not meant here as in those places, by way of petition, but is a kind of rousing up of the spirits, to a certain action. As when the Carrmen would heave a great load into their Carts, they exhort one another by crying hey boys; or as when the Coachman would have his horses to goe faster than ordinary, he incourages them by saying stirr up, in which sense our learned Gusman uses this expression, Let us, in this place, as it were a word of incitement or stirring us up to any under­taking: Some when they use these words in this signification do clap one another on the back, which adds a greater empha­sis to them. But he goes on, Let us, saith he, while we live. [Page 5] And here you are to understand two things; what is meant by Wee, and secondly what is meant by the words in general while we live. Note then that Wee is a particle of distinction, which shews you that there is another sort of men to whom our deer Gusman doth deny the precious comforts held forth in this verse; for my beloved, I would not have you think, that when he spake this, he had piggs in his belly, as Calvin in his comments upon this place doth erroniously conjecture. By Wee then, is meant, the godly, such as I and you are whom the Lord hath chosen to the conjoyments of this World. The other sort of men here imply'd are all those who professe to be our enemies, men that would cut off our ears with the paring-shovels of their malice, and whip our backs with the scourges of their fury; for did not the word intimate this distinction, our deceased Brother had not used so many pious and painful endeavours to advance some men, and destroy o­thers, that is to advance his own godly partie, and destroy his wicked foes; Let us saith he, while we live, that is while we are in power, while we live in authority, or be in favour with those that Govern, whether it be a single person or a Commonwealth, or if you will have it otherwise, while we are in a thriving condition, while men think us Godly and Faithful, and consequently trust us with preferments or pro­fit, I say when the Lord shall put such opportunities and abi­lities into our hands, Then my Brethren, Let us make use of our time; Let us take hold of them with both hands, and hold them as fast as a Mastiff holds a Sow by the ear. Let us make use of our time, that is, Let us use all indeavours, ways, plots, means, manners, tricks, and policies, whether law­ful or unlawful, to raise and advance our own ends, whether they be only honourable, or profitable, or both. And when we have attained that which we seek, Let us use the same inven­tions, that the ungodly may not gain them from us, and thence take an occasion to triumph over us. The fathers of the order of Industry at the Council held at Biscay in the year 1590, made a decree, that every one should keep his own, and get what he could from another. I speak this, that I may not leave you altogether without authority in the expla­nation [Page 6] of my Text, but of this more anon. We shall now pro­ceed to the reason of the words, For a mans life is ended in a day; As much as to say, the life of man is very short; For whereas it was formerly above an ell and a nail long, it is now no longer than a span. How vast a while did Methuselah live to enjoy the pains and labours of his youth? But no soon­er had our dear Brother Mr. Peters got an Estate, a little Cha­riot, and an Onesimus or two to wait on him, thinking to comfort himself with the blessings of the creature, but he was snatch'd away from us, even as a boy snatches a pippin out of an apple-womans basket. Some in regard of the short­nesse thereof, have compared the life of man unto a Lilly; but I am clearly of opinion, that it was a mistake; seeing that of that flower is made a precious oyl that prolongeth the days of man by curing festred wounds, and broken pates. Others have likened it unto a rose; but with as little reason; for we know that of the rose is made that excellent conserve which is good against the cough of the Lungs, one of the greatest enemies to life; I therefore rather agreeing herein with that great light of the Spanish Church Lazarillo de Tornes, shall compare our beloved Brother unto a Marigold, and his ending in a day, unto the fading thereof. For as the flowers of a Ma­rigold swimming in the top of a messe of porridge which is the food of the body, is a great ornament thereunto, so my beloved, was he a great ornament to our Religion which is the food of the Soul; and even as that closes up at the setting of the Sun, so did he end in a day, even in that day that the Sun of our Religion was forc'd to withdraw himself from White Hall. Thus much for the Exposition; I shall now proceed to the Doctrine that creeps out of my Text, as a Fox creeps out of his hole; That it is the duty of every professour, seeing that he hath but a short while to stay in the world, to make the best use of his time; The particulars of which Doctrine I shall labour to make good unto you by reason and example. First then that there is a duty that lies upon every professour, we find evident by this, that there is in all men not only a labouring and panting, but also a tye upon them to look after self-pre­servation, for if a Child of God be in want and wofull necessi­ty, [Page 7] as many times they are, the Law of nature doth oblige them to seek after maintenance, and not to destroy them­selves and their family: saith Gusman in his second book, c. 3. v. 15. Poverty is dayly death, so that he who avoids not po­verty, seeks a dayly death, and is consequently a daily mur­therer of himself, at least he intends it: now an intention to Sin, without repentance, is a sin as great as the act it self. This it was that urged the Holy Gusman to undertake those many atchievements which he performed; For saith he in a­nother place, Book the 1st. c. 8. v. 12. I thought it not my Duty to live in Idlenesse; Therefore when Necessity, the best School-mistresse of the Godly, that maketh Magpies to speak and Spaniels to fetch and carry, had made him to consider his duty, he was not slack in the exercise thereof, so that be­taking himself to the religious calling of a Thief, he stole the Cooks silver Goblet, the Grocers Royals, and couzened the Cardinal of his Barrel of Conserves. Moreover my beloved, this Duty of self-preservation caus'd our dear Sister Agatha, as you may read in the first book of pious Francion, not only to bethink her self, but to bestirr her stumps also; Finding her self therefore to be of a well shap'd body, and of comly fea­tures, and lovely in the eyes of men, she became an Harlot, and was unto the brethren a great comfort in the frail distres­ses of Human nature: whereby she was stored with wealth, and increased in worldly enjoyments. This Duty it is that ob­ligeth Butchers to preach, and Coblers to pray, that teaches them to make profession of Religion, and then causeth them to take on them the gainful function of the Ministry, whereby they may be the better enabled, after the sweet consolations of boyl'd beef and bag-pudding, to sing Psalms, and rejoice in their families. All these things our deceased Brother knew full well, which made him persist in the performance of this duty untill the end. He soon found the sweet gain of preach­ing, and made such a dextrous use of it, that he was beloved of his Rulers, and dyed with the blessing of Job; for I may say of our dear Brother, as the Text saith of him, That the Lord blessed his latter end more than his beginning. The Lord re­ward that blessed man who first invented this profitable and [Page 6] advntagious science. Thus much for the first part of our Doctrine, That there is a Duty lying upon every Professor. Now my beloved I shall come to tell you what that Duty is: 'tis true the words of my Texts are so plain, that you may in a manner pick it out of the words, with as much ease, as you can pick out the marrow of a Leg-of-mutton-bone with a scewer, or the wrong end of a spoon; For say they, Let us while we live make use of our time, seeing the life of man is ended in a day. So that here you see what Duty that is, That you ought to make use of your time; But perhaps you doe not know what it is to make use of your time, which is the next thing I shall inform you. Know yee then my Brethren, there are swarms of such men as make profession of Religion, who are not all of one trade or occupation, but some follow one thing, some another, according to their several gifts. For some are Stitchers of cloath, some are Bodies-makers, some are Translators, some are Souldiers, and fight the battails of the Lord, some are Broakers, some are Hewers of wood, that is to say Carpenters, some are drawers of water, that is Victuallers, and Innkeepers, some are those that gape for State employments, and some, though I deny not that any of these may take the Ministry upon them in time, are Preachers of the Word, as soon as ever they have done play­ing at Trapp. Now that every one of these professions may profit in their several Vocations, there are required these nine gifts.

• The Gift of convenient boldness.
• The Gift of Nonsenc
• The Gift of Leasing.
• The Gift of accusing and in­forming.
• The Gift of Ignorance.
• The Gift of Cozening.
• The Gift of Thieving.
• The Gift of Covetousnesse.
• And the Gift of Hypocrisie.

I have plac'd the gift of convenient boldness in the Van, and the gift of Hypocrisie in the Rear, knowing that a professor can­not well go on upon any enterprise without the one, nor well come off without the other. Now though a Professor ought always to have an inward working of these gifts, yet the per­fection [Page 7] of them is required in some sorts of Professors more than in others: For example, The gifts of impudence, lying; and cozening, do more properly belong unto those who have trades and occupations of selling and buying. The gifts of ignorance, lying, impudence, informing, cozening, and hypo­crisie belong unto such as seek preferment, whether Civilor Military; but all of them together are requited to make up a Minister of the word. I shall not here stand to tell you in particular how every own of these callings ought accord ng to their several gifts to make use of their time; but in gene­ral, as a Foot-boy skippeth over kennels, skip over those in­structions which concern the Professors that are of my own Livery. First therefore, that a Preaching professor may make use of his time; it is required that he should be stored with Impudence, even as a Woodmongers Wharf is stored with Faggots and Sea-coal. The uses of it are these two, first, to encourage you to the most desperate enterprises; and second­ly, to make you scorn the reproaches of those that reprove ye: As for example my beloved, If you see one of your enemies seated in a warm living, and that your heart pant and thirst after the same, you ought then to put on your night-cap of Devotion, and your garment of Hypocrisie, and go unto your Superiors and say, Yonder is a man who is not of the Congre­gation of Professors, who is planted in a rich Living, he is a scandalous and disaffected person, and I am more worthy than he, pray put me into his place; If men therefore re­buke you, and call you accuser and devil, then ought you to make use of your gift of impudence, and laugh at them all. Thus did holy Nye throw out unrighteous Juxon out of his Parsonage of Fullham. Thus our brother Marshall became possessed of his fat Living in the Land of Essex. This embold­ned our departed brother to hold forth in the Pulpit of White-Hall, where so many learned (as the heathen call them) had been before him. What cared they for the reproaches of men, for their hearts were seared with the hot Iron of im­pudence finding themselves at ease and filled with joy? This likewise emboldened the poor Spaniard, as we find in the book of our dear Gusman, Book 1. c. 7. First to begg money, [Page 8] nd then without bidding sit down cheek by jowl with the Ambassador; for saith he in the last verse, He was carried away with bravadoes and an impudent behaviour.

The next Vertue, we are to make use of is the gift of Non­sence: for perhaps thou maist not be a Scholar, nor one of the number of the learned, and it may concern thee to talk two hours together; thou oughtest therefore to be well furnished with Nonsence, that thou maist be enabled to go through with thy work; to which purpose often repetitions, and telling of tales do very much conduce; as when our depar­ted brother, told the story of his being in heaven and hell, and the tale of Puss in her Majesty.

The next gift is that of Lying, which may be very profit­able to thee, and whereof thou maist make a very great advan­tage; for if thou art bid to preach for the benefit of thy Ru­lers, if then thou art furnished with soul-cozening doctrine; If then thou hast the right art of lying and wheedling the peo­ple, by telling them that the cause thou speakest of is the onely true cause, and that God will certainly own them in their obedience to it, then there will arise unto thee a very great emolument. With these arts our deceased brother furnished the Parliament with Basons, Rings, and Bodkins Thus he by telling them that Ireland was a place that flowed with milk and honey, and where broad-cloath of twelve shillings a yard grew upon the trees, inticed the souldiers over against the publike enemy. Thus we read in the fore­mentioned Chapter of Gusman, How the same Spaniard by relating the nobleness of his family, though he were but a Coblers son in Cordova, and by boasting of several great acti­ons, which he never did, got of the said Ambassador both money and his dinner. We find also Mr. Sterry practising this gift, when he to ingratiate himself with his new Master, our late Protector, he assured him that his father was sitting at the right hand of God, when most Divines do af­firm the contrary.

The next thing requisite for a man that will make ye but use of his time, is the gift of accusing and slandring; know­est thou not (O Man) that slanders are like the defilement of [Page 9] printers ink, easily laid on, but hard to rub off? If then thou seekest to work any one into disfavor with his Superiors, that thou maist obtain thy desired end, make thy first shot at him with the pot-guns of slander; for the disgrace thou throwest upon him, throws him out, and tosses thee into the haven of thy wishes. Thus our deceased brother never left accusing un­sanctified Lawd, till his head had satisfied his wrath, and the benevolences which the Professors bestowed on him out of his worldly profits had appeased the hunger of his almost famished purse: Thus the brethren likewise accused the Lord Craven, being of the race of Ishmael, and got his estate.

Thy next gift is Ignorance; For thou must know that there are few wise men in authority; Thinkest thou then O foolish Ga­lathian, that any man will advance such a one as is more cun­ning than himself, no thou must at least pretend ignorance, and if after such advancement, thou dost grow wiser than thy brethren, then I say make use of thy time, saith blessed Machiavel in his Book of the Right Path to preferment, Let every man counterfeit that humor which he finds most advan­tagious to his designs. Therefore neither our deceased bro­ther, nor any of his faithful brethren the Tryers would ad­vance those whom the heathen called the grave, learned, and wise, but the meanest of the people, that were of the simplest and weakest capacities. There came a learned man, and one of the weak brethren, and contended for a place, saith our, deceased brother to him that was learned, What is Faith? who answered him discreetly according to the learning of the Schools; then he demanded the same question of the other, who replyed that Faith was a sweet lullaby in the lap of Je­sus Christ; at which words our deceased brother, lifting up his hands to heaven, cryed, Blessed be the Lord who hath re­vealed these things unto the simple; Friend, thou according to thy deserts, shalt have the Living.

The next thing important is the gift of Cozening, For yot. know my beloved the common people are a simple soru N creatures, who must be deluded into their own good Do woe not otheir good is the good and safety of their Governors; w [Page 10] not deceive Children whom we would give Physick unto, by anointing the brim of the Cup with hony? So do we sweeten the bitter purges, which are the peoples Taxes and Impositi­an, with the delicate allurements of Liberty and Religion. So our late Reverend Lord Oliver of blessed memory, for whom our dear Brother, the Lord reward his Soul, hath pimp'd full often, as you may read in our dear Sister Brisco's book of Divine truths, so I say he by consening every body that he dealt with, by the right management, or the seaso­nable taking and breaking of his oaths and protestations, be­came a Monarch. Thus did the devout Lazarillo cousen the Priest his Master of his bread, I shall give you his own words, l. 1. c. 3. v. 11. I pray my beloved turn to the place and mark it, for 'tis a very pretious Text. Saith he, as I was musing how to get victuals, and feeding upon the sight of the Chest wherein my Masters bread was locked, there came a Tinker to the dore with a bunch of keys, who seemed to me to be an Angel in disguise, said I to him, have you a key that will open this Chest, he assay'd and open'd it, by which means I made many a fair loaf invisible that my Master never knew of.

Another thing mainly conducing to him that would make use of his time, is the Gift of Covetousnesse. Therefore saith the Text, of that blind Hermite who was Lazarillo's Ma­ster, that for all his gains, there was never a man so wretched a niggard. The reason thereof is, that there may come changes, and that the Professors may be forc'd to flye, it be hooves them therefore while they may to make use of their time, that is, to hoard up and save against the day of adver­sity. You have the examples of most Professors for it, whose dores we find continually shut, and never opening to the least expence of a crust, though a poor man should begg his heart out. This makes us, not to be content with our Li­vings, but to set up Lectures and private Congregations, which bringeth in unspeakable profit; nor content with this, ome of our Brethren sitting in the Tryers chair which is the seat of authority, have privately taken to themselves the r-ewards of well doing, loath to spoyl the charity of men, by [Page 11] receiving tankards of Silver, rundlets of Sack, and sometimes ready mony, the Lord of his mercy make them thankfull. Our deceased Brother was a mighty admirer of Canes with silver heads, and making his admiration known, he profited exceedingly.

The last important Gift is the gift of Hypocrisie. The rea­son hereof is, that he who will compasse a design must goe the best way he can to do it: Now he that cannot get his ends by force, must seek to attain them by cunning; but it is found, that in these dayes there is no cunning like that of seeming Godly. As Mr. Sedgewick hath well observed in his Book of spiritual experiences. Therefore is this gift very necessa­ry; For which cause, saith Tiberius the best of Christian Em­perours, That he who knows not to dissemble, knows not to rule, and with him accords our brother Spurstow in his book of the privileges of the Saints. All the world knows how conducing it was both to our deceased Brother and his dear Master, and what advantages they got thereby, I shall not therefore insist any more upon further examples.

Having thus made out by reason and example that it is the duty of every Professor, while he lives in this world, to make use of his time, and the means and ways how to do it, I shall now proceed to application. Is it so then that every Professor ought to make use of his time, then let this serve for a use of Exhortation, to exhort every one of yee to make the best use of your time; That is to say, get Mony, get Estates, get Friends at Court, and labour to enjoy the promises; the fat of the land, my beloved, is your fee-simple, therefore let not Canaan be taken from you. If your Rulers would have you worship them and adore them, do so, beloved, for they are Gods, and yee ought to do so. If they would have you preach false Doctrine and deceive the people, do so; It is their interest, and if theirs, yours also, do not they feed yee, and cloath yee, and put you into fat Livings? be there­fore obedient to them in all things. If they would have you procure, procure for them, as your deceased Brother did before yee, and went down unto his grave in peace. I but some will say these things are unlawful; But hear what saith [Page 12] our dear Brother Horace of sacred memory In vetitum nefas ruimus, we ought to run into that from which we are for­bidden. To confirm this, I shall only give you two or three motives, and so conclude. First from the inconveniencies following the neglect of your Duty, & 2ly. from the conveni­encies that hang upon it even as pears hang upon a tree at the latter end of Summer. The inconveniencies arising from the neglect of our Duty, are Poverty and necessity; Therefore Gus­man, being in great want, and finding that brickbats were too hard to feed on, and that the rafters of a house were not to be roasted, thought there was no better way to thrive, than by becomming a Churchman: for saith he, then shall I have something to eat, knowing well that a dominus vobis­cum never tasted of hunger. Again, if thou were maried, and thy wife should see her Neighbours goe finer than she, and should complain, and thou not be able to supply her, would it not be a great trouble and vexation of spirit to thee to hear the clamours of thy dear Consort? The next motive is the Folly and indiscretion that men would justly accuse yee off, that when it is in your power to make use of your time, you should be such wood-Cockscombs as to refuse it. The conve­niencies a rising are first the respect of men, secondly the re­spect of women, and thirdly the certain gain and profit which hath alwayes belonged unto us; For if you make use of your time, men will respect yee, worship yee, and place yee uppermost at their meetings, while you sit a straddle upon their Consciences, as Balaam rid upon his Asse, without the least wincing or contradiction at all. The women will feast yee, and cram not only your bellies but your purses, nor shall there be a good bit eaten at the table of their Husbands of which you shall not partake, to the great envie of the wick­ed. When you come down sweating from your pulpits, they will put yee into warm beds, and rub over your weary limbs with their soft and tender hands. An my beloved, these are pretious, I say pretious enjoyments; Therefore I shall con­clude in the words of my Text, Let us while we live make use of our time, taking for our pattern the life and manners of our deceased Brother here before us; of whom that I may make [Page 13] him a short Encomium, I shall say thus much; That from his youth he followed the calling of the Ministry, and because then the wicked prevailed, and he was a sufferer, he went about giving consolation to those that suffer'd for theft, and such like criminal offences. Afterwards he travailed, and as he found occasion he sowed his Seed sometimes in fruitfull, sometimes in barren soils: and I may say this of him, that while he liv'd such was his zeal, he lay'd many a Whore of Babylon on her back. When the faithful began to exalt their horns in this Nation, He was a great fomenter of the quar­rel, and gave occasion to the rest of his Bretheren to fish in troubled waters. To his Prince he was a great assistance in all his designs, laying aside that notional impediment of a Stateman, called Conscience, that he might be the more serviceable to his Country; His Charity was not unknown, He giving two notable examples thereof, in his relieving our two dear Sisters, the Butchers wife and Mrs. Littleton, in both their afflictions. He dy'd not without associates to ac­company him to his last rest; for as I am informed, that on that night that he departed, departed also a dear brother and Sister of ours, the Hangman and Moll Cutpurse. He was first unwilling to dye, knowing what comforts he left behind him, but seeing there was no remedy, he lean'd his head on the pillow, and peaceably yeelded up the Ghost. When T [...] ­ribazus a noble Persian was arrested, at the first, he drew his sword and defended himself, but when they charged him in the Kings name, then he yeelded himself willingly: So when Death arrested our dear Brother, at first he started and strug­led, as a man shrinks at his first putting his feet into the cold water, but when he recollected his thoughts, and conside­ring that death was sent to him as a messenger to bring him to Eternity, he embrac'd it, and he went to his long home as willingly as a young Bride goeth from her friends into the Country with her new maried Spouse. And thus having tired your patience, before which time we never use to make an end, I shall conclude, still desiring you not to forget the ex­ample of our departed Brother, and the words of my Text, Let us while we live make use of our time, for the life of man is ended in a day.