Ἐν κοίνῳ λύπης τε όδονας τ' έχειν μιρος ;* to partake secretly, and in her heart, of all his joys and sorrows; to believe him comely and fair, though the sun hath drawn a cypress over him;† (for as marriages are not to be contracted by the hands and eye, but with reason and the hearts; so are these judgments to be made by the mind, not by the sight:) and diamonds cannot make the woman virtuous, nor him to value her who sees her put them off, then, when charity and modesty are her brightest ornaments. Οι κόσμος, ουκ ω τλήμων, αλλ' ακοσμία And indeed those husbands that are pleased with indecent gayeties of their wives, are like fishes taken with ointments and intoxicating baits, apt and easy for sport and mockery, but useless for food; and when Circe had turned Ulysses' companions into hogs and monkies, by pleasures and the enchantments of her bravery and luxury, they were no longer useful to her, she knew not what to do with them; but on wise Ulysses she was continually en * Propert. I. 150. 1. Quid juvat ornato procedere vitta capillo, Naturaeque decus mercato perdere cultu, Nec sinere in propriis membra nitere bonis ? Why bind those locks which nature taught to flow? Give unbought honour for some venal show, And meanly shine with not a charm thine own? A. † πρωται μεν γε τουθ' υπαρχειν καν αμορφος η ποσις χρη δοχειο ομορφον είναι τη γενούν κεκτημένης ου γας οφθαλμος το κρίνειν εστιν αλλα τους. Not decency, but immodest gayety, Thou, fool, esteem'st a pearl. amoured. Indeed the outward ornament is fit to take fools, but they are not worth the taking; but she that hath a wise husband, must entice him to an eternal dearness by the veil of modesty, and the grave robes of chastity, the ornament of meekness, and the jewels of faith and charity; she must have no focus but blushings, her brightness must be purity, and she must shine round about with sweetnesses and friendship, and she shall be pleasant while she lives, and desired when she dies. If not, -Κατθανουσα δε κεισταί, Ουδε τις μνημόσυνα σε εν εσσίλαι, Ου γας μετεχεις ρόδων των εκ πιορίης. Her grave shall be full of rottenness and dishonour, and her memory shall be worse after she is dead: after she is dead: for that will be the end of all merry meetings; and I choose this to be the last advice to both. 3. Remember the days of darkness, for they are many; the joys of the bridal chambers are quickly past, and the remaining portion of the state is a dull progress without variety of joys, but not without the change of sorrows; but that portion that shall enter into the grave must be eternal. It is fit that I should infuse a bunch of myrrh into the festival goblet, and after the Egyptian manner serve up a dead man's bones at a feast; I will only show it, and take it away again; it will make the wine bitter, but wholesome. But those married pairs that live, as remembering that they must part again, and give an account how they treat themselves and each other, shall at that day of their death be admitted to glorious espousals; and then they shall live again, be married to their Lord, and partake of his glories, with Abraham and Joseph, St. Peter and St. Paul, and all the married saints. Ένητα τα των θνητών και παντα παρέρχεται ήμας All those things that now please us shall pass from us, or we from them; but those things that concern the other life, are permanent as the numbers of eternity and although at the resurrection there shall be no relation of husband and wife, and no marriage shall be celebrated but the marriage of the Lamb; yet then shall be remembered how men and women passed through this state, which is a type of that; and from this sacramental union all holy pairs shall pass to the spiritual and eternal, where love shall be their portion, and joys shall crown their heads, and they shall lie in the bosom of Jesus, and in the heart of God, to eternal ages. Amen. SERMON XIX. APPLES OF SODOM; OR, THE FRUITS OF SIN. PART I. ROMANS VI. 21. What Fruit had ye then in those Things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those Things is Death. THE Son of Sirach did prudently advise concerning making judgments of the felicity or infelicity of men: judge none blessed before his death; for a man shall be known in his children.* Some men raise their fortunes from a cottage to the chairs of princes, from a sheep-cote to a throne, and dwell in the circles of the sun, and in the lap of prosperity; their wishes and success dwell under the same roof, and Providence brings all events into their design, and ties both ends together with prosperous successes; and even the little conspersions and intertextures of evil accidents in their lives, are but like a feigned note of musick, by an artificial discord making the ear covetous, and then pleased with the harmony into which the appetite was enticed by * Eccles. xi. 28. passion, and a pretty restraint; and variety does but adorn prosperity, and make it of a sweeter relish, and of more advantages; and some of these men descend into their graves without a change of fortune, Eripitur persona, manet res.* Indeed they cannot longer dwell upon the estate, but that remains unrifled, and descends upon their heir, and all is well till the next generation: but if the evil of his death, and the change of his present prosperity for the intolerable danger of an uncertain eternity, does not sour his full chalice; yet if his children prove vicious, or degenerate, cursed, or unprosperous, we account the man miserable, and his grave to be strewed with sorrows and dishonours. The wise and valiant Chabrias grew miserable by the folly of his son Ctesiphus; and the reputation of brave Germanicus began to be ashamed, when the base Caligula entered upon his scene of dishonourable crime. Commodus, the wanton and feminine son of wise Antoninus, gave a check to the great name of his father; and when the son of Hortensius Corbius was prostitute, and the heir of Q. Fabius Maximus was disinherited by the sentence of the city practor, as being unworthy to enter into the fields of his glorious father; and young Scipio, the son of Africanus, was a fool and a prodigal; posterity did weep afresh over the monuments of their brave progenitors, and found, that infelicity can pursue a man, and overtake him in his grave. This is a great calamity when it falls upon innocent persons; and that Moses died upon Mount Nebo, in the sight of Canaan, was not so great an * What though the owner die? The estate remains. A. |