"Seek ye Jehovah
while he may be found." If through your neglect he pass by, all
seeking then will be vain.

For more than twenty years in my cloister I experienced the meaning
of such disappointment. I sought God with great toil and with severe
mortification of the body, fasting, watching, singing and praying. In
this way I shamefully wasted my time and found not the Lord. The more
I sought and the nearer I thought I was to him, the farther away I
got. No, God does not permit us to find him so. He must first come
and seek us where we are. We may not pursue and overtake him. That is
not his will.

13. Then be careful to avail yourself of the present opportunity.
Embrace it while he is near, and faithfully consider what he requires
of you. To ascertain this, go to the Creed and the Ten Commandments.
They will tell you. Regulate your life by them. Be helped by the
Lord's Prayer. Begin with yourself; then pray for the Church. Let it
be your desire that God's name be everywhere sanctified and that your
life conform to his will. If you are faithful in these things,
assuredly you will walk wisely; you will avoid sin and do good. For
the study and practice of these precepts will leave you no
opportunity to do evil. God's Word will soon teach you to sanctify
his name, to extend his kingdom, to do your neighbor no injury in
mind, body or estate.

14. Observe this is "redeeming the time." This is employing it well,
while the golden days last in which we have remission from pain and
sin. Not such remission as the Pope grants in his jubilees, wherein
he deceives the world. Right here let us be careful not to cheat
ourselves with the false idea that salvation cannot escape us. Let it
not be with us as befell the children of Israel, of whom it is said
in Psalms 95, 11 and Hebrews 4, 3 that because of their unbelief they
entered not into the rest of God. They would not accept their
opportunity in the forty years wherein he gave them his Word and
showed them his wonders, daily admonishing them and calling to
repentance and faith. They but tempted and provoked him the more.
Hence another admonition was given the people of God and a certain
day appointed: "Today if ye shall hear his voice, harden not your
hearts." Heb 4, 7. Every day with us is "today" and we are permitted
to hear God's voice still imploring us not to waste the time.

15. Surely we ought supremely to thank God, as the latter part of our
text enjoins, for the great