18. Consider therefore this; how would you condemn the folly of a man, that should lose his share of future glory, for the sake of being _rich_, or _great_, or _praised_, or delighted in _any enjoyment_, only _one poor_ day before he was to die! But if the time will come, when a number of years will seem less to every one than a day does now; what a condemnation must it then be, if eternal happiness should be lost, for something less than the enjoyment of a day! Why does a day seem a trifle to us now? It is because we have years to set against it. It is the duration of years that makes it seem as nothing. *What a _trifle_ therefore must the years of a _man_’s _age_ appear, when they are forced to be set against _eternity_, when there shall be nothing but eternity to compare them with! *And this will be the case of every man, as soon as he is out of the body; he will be forced to forget the distinction of days and years, and to measure time, not by the course of the sun, but by setting it against eternity. As the _fixed stars_, by reason of our being placed at such distance from them, appear but as so many _points_; so when we, placed in eternity, shall look back upon _all time_, it will appear but as a _moment_. *Then, a _luxury_, an _indulgence_, a _prosperity_, a _greatness_ of _fifty_ years, will seem to every one that looks back upon it, as the same _poor short_ enjoyment, as if he had been snatched away in his _first sin_. These few reflections upon _time_, are only to shew how poorly they think, how miserably they judge, who are less careful of an eternal state, because they _may_ be at some _years_ distance from it, than they would be, if they knew they were within a few _weeks of it_. CHAP. XII. _Concerning that part of devotion which relates to |times| and |hours| of |prayer|. Of daily |early| prayer in the morning. How we may improve our |forms| of prayer, and increase the |spirit| of devotion._ 1. HAVING in the foregoing chapters shewn the necessity of a devout spirit, in every part of our common life, in the discharge of all our business, in the use of all the gifts of God: I come now to consider that part of devotion, which relates to _times_ and _hours_ of prayer. *I take it for granted, that every Christian, that is in health, is up _early_ in the morning; for it is much more reasonable to suppose a person up _early_, because he is a _Christian_, than because he is a _labourer_, or a _tradesman_, or a _servant_, or has business that wants him. *We naturally conceive some abhorrence of a man that is in _bed_, when he should be at his _labour_, or in his _shop_. We can’t tell how to think any thing good of him, who is such a slave to drowsiness, as to neglect his business for it.