Religion & morality > Human nature in its four-fold state ... in several practical discourses

388 A Spur inciting to prepare St. IV.
whether thou goefl. How can we be idle, having
fo great a Work to do, and fo little Time to do it
in ? But if the Time be (hort, the Work of Pre¬
paration fot Death, tho5 hard Work, will not lafte
long. The Shadows of the Evening make the La¬
bourer work cheerfully; knowing the Time to be
at Hand, when he’ll be caded in from his Labour.
(4.) Much of our Ihort Time is over already j and
the youngeft of us all cannot aflfure him felt, that
there’s as much of his Time to come, as is paft.
Our Life in the World is but a (hurt Preface to long
Eternity j and much of the ^tale is told. Oh !
Shall we not double our Diligence, when fo much
of our Time is fpent, and fo little of our great
Work is done? (5.) The prefent Time is flying
away : And we cannot bring back Time paft, it
hath taken an eternal Farewel of us: There’s no
kindling the Fire again, that’s burnt to Afhes. The
Time to come is not ours: And we have no A du¬
rance of a Share in it, when it comes. We have
nothing we can call ours, but the prefent Moment •,
and that is flying away: How foon our Time may
be at an End, we know not. Die we muft, but
who can tell us, when ? If Death kept one fet
Time for all, we were in no Hazard of a Surprize :
But daily Obfervation fhows us, there’s no fuch
Thing. Now the flying Shadow of our Life, al¬
lows no Time for Loitering. The Rivers run fpee-
dily into the Sea, from whence they came; but not
fo fpeedily as Man, to the Dull, from whence he
came. The Stream of l ime is the fwifteft Current,
and quickly runs out to Eternity. Laftly, If once
Death carry us off, there’s no coming back again,
to mend our Matters, Job xiv. 14. If a Man die,
Jhall he live again ? Dying is a Tiling we cannot
get