66 The nearest >ap in Cicero's encomium on old age. proach to it is, perhaps, where he says, "Est etiam quietè, et purè, et eleganter actæ ætatis, placida ac lenis senectus." ""* But surely neither this, nor the "Cruda viridisque senectus," of Virgil, nor the Tranquilla senectus +," of Horace, is comparable to A GOOD OLD AGE. The truth is, philosophize as they might, the wisest heathen could not but feel old age to be a burthen. "Onus Ætna gravius +," says Cicero. Therefore the most encomiastic language which they bestow upon it, has a mixture of the melancholic. It communicates the impression of something rather to be endured than enjoyed. It was the fate of Tully, to stigmatize the love of fame, in words which prove him its devoted victim §; and to panegyrize old age, in expressions which betray a conscious dread of its approaches. Not so with those who inherit the faith and hope of Abraham. (10) Page 114. The Narrative of Abraham's life, is the model of our conduct.] At the first view, it might appear, that the time, the place, and the manners of the patriarchal history, are too remote, too distant, and too abhorrent from the usages of cultivated life, to bear upon the great questions of our moral conduct. And indeed, this objection might be just, if Holy Scripture resembled any other volume of ancient * "Of a life passed in quiet, pure, and elegant pursuits, the old age is mild and placid." +"Tranquil old age." § See DOCTOR JOHNSON. "A burthen heavier than Etna." Rambler, No. 118. history. But, in the sight of God, the distinctions of tribe and nation, of climate and kingdom, of years and ages, are altogether evanescent. He views man, as man; as a moral and spiritual being, divested of all occasional and local peculiarities; as a rational and accountable agent, who must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, in that day, which will bring together all the successions of all the people, and nations, and languages of the earth ; when the men of Nineveh shall stand up with the inhabitants of Jerusalem; when the queen of the South shall stand up with the men of Judah; when Tyre and Sidon shall be confronted with Chorazin and Bethsaida; when Sodom and Gomorrah shall be weighed in the balance with Capernaum; and when many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. This final adjustment is every where anticipated in Scripture. The moral man is exhibited in his moral nature; we have individual character, divested of all useless accompaniment. The tempers, the feelings, the affections, the passions of mankind, are displayed with grand simplicity; minutely, in whatever is fitted to instruct all men, of all ages; rapidly, in whatever is either temporary in its nature, or limited in its application. Scriptural narrative, therefore, is never obsolete; scriptural facts are never inapplicable. The manners of heathen antiquity, are the manners of some special time and country. The manners of the patriarchs, are the manners of all times, and of all countries. And, in any age or nation, that man must deserve well of his country, and mankind, who shall imitate the undaunted resolution, the domestic virtues, the courteous liberality, and, above all, the fervent piety, of the father of the faithful. ΕΠΟΥ (11) Page 115. He followed God.] "That which is celebrated," says SAINT AMBROSE," as a great saying among the precepts of the seven sages,- Eпor E-follow God, was fully accomplished by Abraham. Virtues which philosophy could not imagine in her wishes, he exemplified by his conduct. Her ideal pictures were surpassed by his actual performance. And the simple faithfulness of truth, was superior to the ambitious eloquence of fiction." De Abraham, lib. i. cap. 2. SAINT CLEMENT of Alexandria, says that the philosophic precept, Eпor E2, was actually borrowed from the obedience of Abraham. Perhaps this notion is somewhat fanciful. See his Stromata, lib. ii. p. 465. of Potter's edition. (12) Page 116. He brought the nearest and dearest of his kindred along with him; his aged father, &c.] It has been proved by Lightfoot, and other commentators, (see especially) Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. ii. p. 124.) that there were two calls of Abraham. The first, while he was at Ur of the Chaldees, is recorded Acts, vii. 2-4. The second, while he was at Charran, is recorded Genesis, xii. 1. Upon K 3 his first call, Abraham induced his father to accompany him from Ur to Charran. The intermediate delay of fourteen years at Charran was doubtless ordered for wise and good purposes. It probably contributed to diffuse more widely the knowledge and worship of the true God. It, perhaps, was the means of weaning Abraham, and especially his companions, by gradual transition, from a stationary to a migratory life. And may the conjecture be admitted, that it was deemed inexpedient to introduce Abraham, the head of nations, and the father of the faithful, into the promised land, before he was completely sui juris; that is, before the death of his father. Terah? This conjecture seems to be favoured by the manner in which Saint Stephen (Acts, vii. 4.) notices> the death of Terah. That death appears connected with Abraham's immediate removal into Canaan, as the cause with the effect, or at least, as the occasion with the consequence, Κακείθεν, μετα το αποθανειν τον πατερα αυτου; (ὁ Θεος) μετώκισεν αυτόν εις την γην ταυτην. † A difficulty, it must be admitted, would appear to grow out of Genesis, xi. 31. "And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, &c." "That word," says Bishop Patrick, "is much to be remarked, which makes Terah the principal agent in their removal; Abraham himself being governed by his motion." But the words of Moses are rather to be regarded as indicative of the respect At his own disposal. +"And from thence, upon the decease of his father, God transferred him into this land." shewn in the patriarchal times, and even in his own day, to parental authority. The father of the emigrants, is named as though he were the author of the migration. It is the courtesy of days, when it was esteemed a sacred duty, Αιδείσθαι πολιοκροτοφους, είχειν δε γερουσιν Phocyllides. "There was a time, And pity 'tis, so good a time had wings (13) Page 122. head." "Age was authority." This world is the world of God.] "The general design of Scripture, considered as historical, may be said to be, to give us an account of the world, in this single point of view, as GOD'S WORLD." BISHOP BUTLER. Anal. part ii. ch. 7. (14) Page 122. He shall receive an hundred-fold, now in this life; houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, and in the world to come, eternal life.] The reader versed in Scripture, will at once perceive, that two important words are here omitted:"with persecution." This weighty clause has not been omitted, with any view to sink, or to evade its force; but simply, because it could not, in the body of the sermon, be suitably expanded. It may suffice here, to observe, that those obloquies and insults, to which religious men are frequently |