XLIX. 6, 15. Luke xviii. us to train up a child in the way he should go, SERM. St. Peter doth intimate the same when he biddeth us as newborn babes to desire the sincere milk of Prov. xxii. the word; and our Saviour, when he said, Suffer 1 Pet. ii. 2. little children to come unto me, for of such is the 16. kingdom of God; that is, the more simplicity and innocence a man is endued with, the more apt he is to embrace and comply with the evangelical doctrine. Aristotle therefore was out, when he would exclude young men from the schools of virtue. It is observable that he contradicteth himself; for Ou μικρὸν διαφέρει τὸ οὕτως ἢ οὕτως, εὐθὺς ἐκ νέων ἐθίζεσθαι, Eth. ii. 2. ἀλλὰ πάμπολυ, μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ πᾶν. It is, saith he, of no small concernment to be from youth accustomed thus or thus; yea, it is very much, or rather all. And how shall a young man be accustomed to do well, if he be not allowed to learn what is to be done? Again; Are we old? it is then high time to begin; we have then less time to spare from our most important business; we stand then in most imminent danger, upon the edge of perdition, and should therefore be nimble to skip out thence; our forces being diminished, our quickness and industry should be increased; the later we set out, the more speed it behoveth us to make. If we stay, we shall grow continually more indisposed and unfit to amend; it will be too late, when utter decrepitness and dotage have seized upon us, and our body doth survive our soul'. When so much of our time, of our parts, of our strength, are fled, we should husband the rest to Quod facere solent qui serius exeunt-calcar addamus. Sen. Ep. 61. 76. 19. XLIX. SERM. best advantage, and make the best satisfaction we can unto God, and unto our souls, with the remainder. 31. This age hath some peculiar advantages, which we should embrace: the froth of humours is then boiled out, the fervours of lust are slaked, passions are allayed, appetites are flatted; so that then inclinations to sin are not so violent, nor doth the enjoyment. thereof so much gratifym. Long experience then hath discovered the vanity of all worldly things, and the mischief of ill courses ; so that we can then hardly admire any thing, or be fond of enjoying what we have found unprofitable or hurtful. Age is excused from compliance with the fashions, and thence much exempted from temptations of the world; so that it may be good without obstacle or opposition. It is proper thereto to be grave and serious, and, consequently, to be virtuous; for gravity without virtue, and seriousness about vain things, are ridiculous. Nothing doth so adorn this age as goodness, noProv. xvi. thing doth so disgrace it as wickedness; The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness; but it is a mark of infamy, if it be observed proceeding in a course of iniquity; it signifieth that experience hath not improved it; it Ἡ μὲν γὰρ νεότης πελάγει προσέοικε μαινομένῳ, κυμάτων ἀγρίων, καὶ πνευμάτων γέμοντι πονηρῶν· ἡ δὲ πολιὰ ὥσπερ εἰς λιμένα ἀκύμαντον τὰς τῶν γεγηρακότων ὁρμίζει ψυχάς, παρέχουσα τῇ παρὰ τῆς ἡλικίας ἐντρυφῶν ào paneig. Chrys. tom. vi. Orat. 38. argueth incorrigible folly, or rather incurable mad- SERM. ness therein. XLIX. There is indeed no care, no employment proper for old men, but to prepare for their dissolution; to be bidding adieu to the world, with its vain pomps and mischievous pleasures; to be packing up their goods, to be casting their accounts, to be fitting themselves to abide in that state into which they are tumbling; to appear at that bar before which suddenly nature will set them. As a ship, which hath long been tossed and weatherbeaten, which is shattered in its timber, and hath lost much of its rigging, should do nothing in that case but work toward the port, there to find its safety and ease; so should a man, who, having passed many storms In freto and agitations of the world, is grievously battered moriamur and torn with age, strive only to die well, to get safe into the harbour of eternal rest. In fine, Epicurus himself said well, that no man is either immature or overripe in regard to his soul's health; we can never set upon it too soon, we should never think it too late to begin to live well is always the best thing we can do, and therefore we should at any time endeavour it; there are common reasons for all ages, there are special reasons for each age, which most strongly and most clearly do urge it; it is most seasonable for young men, it is most necessary for old men, it is most advisable for all men°. » Οὔτ ̓ ἄωρος οὐδείς ἐστιν, οὔτε πάρωρος πρὸς τὸ κατὰ ψυχὴν ὑγιαῖνον. Epict. ad Monoc. • Quare juventus, imo omnis ætas (neque enim rectæ voluntati serum est tempus ullum) totis mentibus huc tendamus, in hoc elaboremus; forsan et consummare contingat. Quint. xii. 1. viximus, in portu. Sen.Ep.19. SERM. Again; be our condition what it will, this advice XLIX. is reasonable: Are we in health? we owe God thanks for that excellent gift; and the best gratitude we can express is the improving it for his service and our own good: we should not lose the advantage of a season so fit for our obedience and repentance; while the forces of our body and mind are entire, while we are not discomposed by pain or faintness, we should strive to despatch this needful work, for which infirmity may disable us. Are we sick? it is then time to consider our frailty, and the best we can to obviate the worst consequences thereof: it is then very fit, when we do feel the sad effects of sin, to endeavour the prevention of worse mischiefs that may follow; it is seasonable, when we lie under God's correcting hand, to submit unto him, to deprecate his wrath, to seek reconciliation with him by all kinds of obedience suitable to that state; with serious resolutions to amend hereafter, if it shall please God to restore it is most advisable, when we are in the borders of death, to provide for that state which lieth just beyond it. Are we rich and prosperous? it is expedient then presently to amend, lest our wealth do soon corrupt us with pride, with luxury, with sloth, with stupidProv. i. 32. ity; lest our prosperity become an inevitable snare, an irrecoverable bane unto us. Are we poor or afflicted? it is then also needful to repent quickly, that we may have a comfortable support for our soul, and a certain succour in our distress; that we may get a treasure to supply our want, a joy to drown our sorrow, a buoy to keep our hearts from sinking into desperation and dis consolateness. This condition is a medicine, which SERM. God administereth for our soul's health; if it do XLIX. not work presently, so as to do us good, it will prove both grievous and hurtful to us. 13. Lastly, we may consider, that, abating all the rueful consequences of abiding in sin, abstracting from the desperate hazards it exposeth us to in regard to the future life, it is most reasonable to abandon it, betaking ourselves to a virtuous course of practice. For virtue in itself is far more eligible than vice; to keep God's commandments hath much greater convenience than to break them; the life of a good man, in all considerable respects, is highly to be preferred above the life of a bad man for what is virtue, but a way of living that advanceth our nature into a similitude with God's most excellent and happy nature P; that promoteth our true benefit and interest; that procureth and preserveth health, ease, safety, liberty, peace, comfortable subsistence, fair repute, tranquillity of mind, all kinds of convenience to us? To what ends did our most benign and most wise Maker design and suit his Deut. x. 13. law, but to the furthering our good, and securing Neh. ix. 13. us from mischief, as not only himself hath declared, but reason sheweth, and experience doth attest? Ps. xix. 9. What is vice, but a sort of practice which debaseth and disparageth us, which plungeth us into grievous evils, which bringeth distemper of body and soul, distress of fortune, danger, trouble, reproach, regret, and numberless inconveniences upon us; which, for no other reason than because it so hurt P Est virtus nihil aliud quam in se perfecta, et ad summum perducta natura. Cic. de Leg. 1. Mic. vi. 8. Rom. vii. cxix. 107. |