The Benefits of this Exercise.
The Protective Power of Diligence
A disciplined life serves as a vital safeguard against the temptations of idleness and the creeping influence of small sins.
Beyond its influence on our entire lives, this practice has a special power for preventing: beggarly sins—that is, the sins that idleness and beggary usually lead people into, such as lying, flattery, stealing, and dissimulation.1 2. It is a fitting antidote against carnal sins, and against those that come from fullness of bread and emptiness of work.2 3. It is a great way to prevent the smallest sins and irregularities in our lives, which usually creep in on people who are idle, unoccupied, and idly curious.3 4. It not only teaches us to avoid evil, but sets us to doing good as the proper business of all our days.
Readiness for the Lord's Return
The careful stewardship of time ensures that the believer remains prepared for the sudden arrival of the day of the Lord.
5. It prepares us for sudden changes so we won't be caught off guard by the sudden arrival of the day of the Lord; after all, anyone who is careful with their time won't easily be found unready or unequipped.4
Read the original Latin
This exercise, besides that it hath influence upon our whole lives, it hath a special efficacy for the preventing of, 1. beggarly sins, that is, those sins which idleness and beggary usually betray men to; such as are lying, flattery, stealing, and dissimulation. 2. It is a proper antidote against carnal sins, and such as proceed from fulness of bread and emptiness of employment. 3. It is a great instrument of preventing the smallest sins and irregularities of our life, which usually creep upon idle, disemployed, and curious persons. 4. It not only teaches us to avoid evil, but engages us upon doing good, as the proper business of all our days.
5. It prepares us so against sudden changes that we shall not easily be surprised at the sudden coming of the day of the Lord: for he that is curious of his time will not easily be unready and unfurnished.
Notes
- 1 ↩"Beggarly sins" is Taylor's distinctive label for base, low sins bred by idleness and destitution; kept as a technical term rather than softened to "petty sins."
- 2 ↩"Fullness of bread" preserves the biblical phrasing (cf. Ezek. 16:49) rather than flattening it to mere overeating; it names satiety that breeds sensual sin when paired with empty occupation.
- 3 ↩Period "curious" here means given to idle prying or restless inquisitiveness, not healthy interest; rendered "idly curious" to keep that force. "Disemployed" modernized as "unoccupied."
- 4 ↩Source "curious of his time" uses the older sense of careful, exacting, and attentive about time, not mere nosiness; rendered as "careful with his time."
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