SERM. cially venerable for his worth, or for his relation to us, XLV. whom we thould be afraid or ashamed to displease: and Sen. Ep. xi furely were the faith concerning God's presence, or the 25. fancy concerning the prefence of a Cato, or a Lælius, ftrong enough, they could not but have great effect: however, did we but live, even in our own presence, under the eye of our own judgment and confcience'; regarding not only the matter and body, but the reafon and ground, that is the foul, of our actings; even that would do much; the love and reverence of ourselves would fomewhat check and control us; we fhould fear to offend, we fhould be ashamed to vilify even ourselves by fond or en. Ep. 25. foul proceedings; it would, in the philofopher's efteem, fupply the room of any other keeper or monitor, if we Cum jam could thus keep ourselves; If, faith he, we have so far prótantum, ut fited, as to have got a reverence of ourselves, we may then well let go a tutor, or pedagogue. profeceris fit tibi etiam tui & dimittas pæda gogum. Ibid. 3 1 reverentia, 12. This practice doth much conduce to the knowledge licebit of human nature, and the general difpofitions of mankind, which is an excellent and moft ufeful part of wisdom : 'for the principal inclinations and firft motions of the foul are like in all men; whence he that by diligent ftudy of himfelf hath obferved them in his own foul, may thence collect them to be in others; he hath at least a great advantage of eafily tracing them, of foon defcrying them, of clearly perceiving them in thofe he converfeth with; the which knowledge is of great ufe, as directing us how to accommodate ourselves in our behaviour and dealing with others. No man indeed can be a good inftructor or advifer in moral affairs, who hath not attained this skill, and doth not well understand the nature of man: his precepts and rules will certainly be fallacious, or misapplied without it: this is that, which rendered the dictates of the Stoics and other fuch philofophers fo extravagant and unpracticable, because they framed them not according to the real nature of man, fuch as is exiftent in the world, but according to an idea formed in their own imaginations. Some caution indeed is in this matter to be used, that thofe motions of foul, which proceed from particular $ERM. temper and complexion, from fupervenient principles or XLV. habits, may be diftinguished from thofe which are natural and common unto all: which diftinction to make is of great use and benefit, in order to the governing, reftraining, or correcting them. If there be any in us, which are not obfervable in any other men; or in other men, which are not in us, those do not arife from common nature, but from the particular difpofition of one or other respectively. b. 13. I add laftly, that universally this practice is requifite and necessary for the well governing of our heart. Politicians inculcate much, that to the well governing of a people, fquaring fit laws for it, and keeping it in good order, the nature and humour of that people fhould be chiefly heeded and well understood; for that the grave Romans, and light Greeks; the foft Perfians, and ftout Germans; the fubtle Africans, and grofs Scythians, would not be well managed in the fame manner. So to govern any man's heart, (fince the hearts of men, as their faces, Vid. Naz. and as their voices, differ according to diverfities of com- Orat. 1. plexion, of age, of education, of custom and manner of living,) it conduceth to know how it is difpofed from any of thofe, or the like caufes. But how we are to guide and nd govern our hearts, and what particular influence this practice hath thereupon, I referve for other meditations; when we fhall endeavour more diftinctly to fhew how we may apply our thoughts to due objects; how curb and correct our inclinations; how order our paffions; how rectify our opinions; how purify our intentions now I conclude with the good Pfalmift's requefts to God Almighty: Teach us thy way, O Lord; unite our hearts to Pf.lxxxvi. fear thy name. Give us understanding, and we fhall keep Pfal. cxix. thy law; yea, we shall obferve it with our whole heart. 34. Search us, O God, TA 11. and know our hearts; try us, and know Pf. cxxxix, our thoughts; Jee if there 23. So teach us to number `our days, that we may apply our SERM. THIS Pfalm is upon feveral peculiar accounts very ret XLVI. markable; for its antiquity, in which it perhaps doth not 930 yield to any parcel of Scripture; for the eminency of its author, Mofes, the man of God, the greatest of the ans cient Prophets, (most in favour, and, as it were, most inti, mate with God:) it is alfo remarkable for the form and matter thereof, both affording much ufeful inftru&ion In it we have a great prince, the governor of a numerous people, sequestering his mind from the management of public affairs to private meditations; from beholding the prefent outward appearances, to confidering the real na ture and fecret caufes of things; in the midft of all the fplendor and pomp, of all the ftir and tumult about him, he obferves the frailty of human condition, he difcerns the providence of God juftly ordering all; this he does not only in way of wife confideration, but of ferious devotion, moulding his obfervations into pious acknowledgments and arnest prayers to God: thus while he casts one eye upon earth viewing the occurrences there, lifting up the other to heaven, there feeing God's all-governing hand, thence feeking his gracious favour and mercy. Thus doth here that great and good man teach us all (more particularly XLVI. men of high eftate and much bufinefs) to find opportuni- SERM ties of withdrawing their thoughts from those things, which commonly amuse them, (the cares, the glories, the pleasures of this world,) and fixing them upon matters more improveable to devotion; the tranfitoriness of their condition, and their fubjection to God's just providence ; joining alfo to these meditations fuitable acts of religion, due acknowledgments to God, and humble prayers. This was his practice among the greatest incumbrances that any man could have; and it should also be ours. Of those his devotions, addreffed to God, the words are part, which I have chosen for the subject of my meditation and prefent difcourfe; concerning the meaning of which I thall first touch fomewhat; then propound that observable in them, which I defign to infift upon. The Prophet David hath in the 39th Pfalm a prayer very near in words, and of kin, it feems, in fenfe to this 19 here; Lord, prays he, make me to know my end, and the pr. xxxix. meafure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail. Tam: concerning the drift of which place, as well as of this here, it were obvious to conceive that both these Prophets do requeft of God, that he would difcover to them the definite term of their life, (which by his decree he had fixed, or however by his univerfal prefcience he did difcern; concerning which we have these words in Job, See- Job xiv. 5. ing man's days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou haft appointed his bounds, that he cannot pafs ;) we might, I fay, at first hearing, be apt to imagine, that their prayer unto God is, (for the comfort of their mind burdened with afflictions, or for their better direction in the management of their remaining time of life,) that God would reveal unto them the determinate length of their life. But this fenfe, which the words feem fo naturally to hold forth, is by many of the Fathers rejected, for that the knowledge of our lives' determinate measure is not a fit matter of prayer to God; that being a fecret referved by God to himfelf, which to inquire into favours of prefumptuous curiofity: the univerfal validity of which reason I will not debate; but fhall defer so much SERM. to their judgment, as to fuppofe that the numbering of XLVI. our days (according to their sense) doth here only imply a confused indefinite computation of our days' number, or the length of our life; fuch as, upon which it may appear, that neceffarily our life cannot be long, (not, according to the account mentioned in this Pfalm, the fame with that of Solon in Herodotus, above 70 or 80 years, especially as to purposes of health, ftrength, content;) will probably, by reafon of various accidents, to which it is expofed, be much shorter, (7 or 10 years, according to a moderate efteem;) may poffibly, from furprifes undifcoverable, be very near to its period; by few inftants removed from death, (a year, a month, a day, it may be fomewhat lefs.) This I fhall allow to be the arithmetic that Mofes here defires to learn; whence it will follow, that teaching (or making to know, fo it is in the Hebrew) doth import here (as it doth otherwhere frequently in Scripture,) God's affording the grace to know practically, or with ferious regard to confider this ftate and measure of our life, (for in fpeculation no man can be ignorant of human life's brevity and uncertainty; but moft men are so negligent and stupid, as not to regard it sufficiently, not to employ this knowledge to any good purpofea,) This interpretation I choose, being in itself plausible enough, and countenanced by fo good authority; yet the former might well enough (by good confequence, if not fo immediately) ferve my defign; or be a ground able to fupport the dif courfe I intend to build upon the words; the fubject whereof briefly will be this, that the confideration of our lives' certain and neceffary brevity and frailty, is a mean proper and apt to difpofe us toward the wife conduct of our remaining life; to which purpose fuch a confideration ha feems alike available, as the knowledge of its punctual or definite measure; or more than it, upon the fame, or greater reafons. moh od tu noit · Οὐ γάρ ἐσι φρίνας ἔχοντος ἀνθρώπε ἀγνοεῖν ὅτι ἄνθρωπος ζῶόν ἐσι θνητὸν, ἐδ' környéyovsv sis tò åæedavsív. Plut, ad Apoll. p. J tim si of 202. |