Proposition 1

Prop. I.

The blessed God affords to men in this world a time to discharge the duties incumbent on them. There are two things incumbent on us: to do good, and to get good. The good we are to do is to honor God, and the good we are to get is to enjoy God. Those two things comprise all our duties, and they make up the errand which we come into the world upon. Now, while we are in this world, God allows us a time for this work; we have time not only in the larger sense of it, but also in the stricter sense of it; we have time not only in duration, but also in opportunity. There is not any duty enjoined upon us, but there is a season for it allowed to us. It is an observation about the things that shall be, in Ecclesiastes 3:1: To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose. Thus it may be said about the things that should be, there is no duty, but God has provided us a time and a season for it. We have some golden spots of time, whereof we may say, This is the time for such a duty; and again, This is the time for another duty.

First, we have a time to do good while we are here in the world. We have a time to exercise every virtue, to use all that piety and charity, all that holiness and righteousness, which the Lord requires of us. The good which we are to do is expressed in Micah 6:8: He has showed you, O man, what is good, to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. We meet with many times to do those good things before we die. We have now our time to acquaint ourselves with God, in all the methods of devotion; our time to acknowledge God in all the ways of new obedience. We have also our time to advantage our neighbors; our time to promote the internal and eternal salvation, and the external prosperity of them that are about us.

Secondly, we have likewise a time to get good while we are in the world. We have a time to obtain all that favor, and all that fellowship with God which our mighty Redeemer is the author of. The good which we are to get is comprised in Isaiah 55:3: The sure mercies of David. We have our times to secure all those good things. Every man of us may say, I have a time to get my sin pardoned; he may say, I have a time to get my soul renewed; he may say, I have a time to get all the promises of the New Covenant fulfilled to my soul for evermore.