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A Pofthumous Fame not worth
the Seeking.

A

SERMON

On GEN. V. 25, 26, 27.

1

And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and
Seven Years, and begat Lamech.
And Methuselah lived, after he begat La-
mech, feven hundred eighty and two Years,
and begat Sons and Daughters.
And all the Days of Methufelah were nine
hundred fixty and nine Years, and he died.

CRITICAL Differtation concern- SERM.
ing the Age of the Patriarchs would XII.
be a Subject of fo little Ufe in a po-
pular Difcourfe, that I do not think it
worth infifting on. I fhall therefore

but juft obferve, that the Years, by which Mofes reckon'd, were neither Egyptian nor Arabian Years, the latter of which confifted but of fix Months, and the former but of thirty Days. But they were Years nearly, though not exactly of the

fame

SERM. fame Length with ours; And confequently the XII. Age of Methuselah was, according to our Account, very little different from that which is allotted him in my Text.

I fhall not trouble you with my Reasons for this Opinion, thinking it will be of more Benefit to all of us to raise a few practical Obfervations upon the Subject, that may have an Influence upon our Lives and Manners.

nine Hundred Sixty nine This is the whole Hiftory and this is a true Picture

First then, you may obferve, that the fhort Account, which I have read to you, is all that the divine Wisdom has been pleased to tell us concerning the oldest of the Sons of Men. That at the Age of one Hundred and Eighty feven he begat a Son called Lamech, that after this he begat other Sons and Daughters, that he lived Years, and that he died. of his Life and Actions; of the Generality of Mankind, who think themselves of great Confequence in the World. They marry and are given in Marriage, they perform the common Offices of Nature; they eat, and drink, and die And all that their Pofterity is like to know of them, is the Number of Years they lived, the Names of the Children they begot, and perhaps the Sum total of the Wealth they left behind them, after a painful and penurious Life. Now who would wifh for fuch a Fame as this, or who would defire to be fo impertinently remembred, for Circumftances. which do no Honour to his Memory? To have one's Name quite buried in Oblivion, and be as if it had never been, has indeed neither Good nor Harm in it: But for a Man to be recorded as a Trifler, to be distinguished for egregious Infignificance, is at least a Proof that he had no Merit to recommend him,

and

and a fhrewd Sign that he was memorable for his SERM. Vices.

It would be well therefore, if all those who are fo fond of this pofthumous Acquaintance with Mankind would confider in what light Pofterity will regard them; whether they think it will redound to their Honour, that they died on fuch a Day, that they measur'd fo many Years upon Earth, and did nothing worth recording upon their Monuments. In particular, they should bethink themselves, whether they are Mafters of any amiable, or any ufeful Quality; and whether, if their Actions were drawn out to View, they would appear in a better Light than Methuselah's. If not, their Names are not worth preferving, and Silence is the best Compliment that can be paid them.

Thus much for thefe Blanks and Cyphers in Society, which enjoy a kind of vegetable Life, without ever approving themselves to be rational Beings, or acting up to the Dignity of their Nature. There are others, of a more active and lively turn, who are as far from entertaining any manly Sentiment, or doing any thing more agreeable to their Reason; I mean those who are led away by their fenfitive Appetites, and have a great Alacrity in all brutish Pleafures. Methuselah, for ought we know, might be one of this latter Stamp, notwithstanding there is fo little faid of him in my Text. For of all the Sons of Adam, that make up the Genealogy of Noah, Enoch is the only Person, that is faid to have walked with God; from whence there is too much Reason to conclude, that the reft were of a different Character It being fcarce imaginable, that the Hifto. rian, who has taken fo much Care to do Honour to one of them, should have omitted to do Justice to VOL. I.

H

the

XII.

SERM, the reft. It is therefore no improbable Suppofition, XII. when we confider the Degeneracy of the Age he

lived in, and the univerfal Corruption of Manners, which at that time prevail'd, that our Patriarch might have caught the Infection. Who knows but he was a Pretender to Wit and Humour, a Ridiculer of the Preachers of Righteousness, and far gone in those fashionable Vices which caufed the univer fal Deluge? And what a mortifying Reflexion muft it be to a polite and well-bred Sinner, to confider, that even in that aukward Age, before the modern Arts of Gallantry were in Being, Iniquity fhould be carried to fo great a height, that it was very near extirpating the Species! Nothing can give us fo mean an Idea of the Pretenfions of our Men of Pleasure, as to compare them with an Antedilvian Reprobate. What a grotesque and uncouth Figure would Methuselah be apt to make, if he were drawn by a modern Painter; and yet, for ought any one knows, Methuselah might be as accomplish'd a Rake, as polite a Libertine as himself.

On the contrary, could we raise the Patriarch, up to furvey the Pleasures of his modern Followers, what a despicable Set of Wretches would he think them! Whatever we may fancy of our Refinements upon Wickedness, it will appear that we can no more out-act the Vices, than we can rival the Virtues of our Predeceffors. Some Advantages they certainly had above any of their puny Succeffors. They had a long Scene of Life before them, to perpetuate and lengthen out their Pleafures. They could fpin out an Intrigue for threefcore Years together, and beftow as much Time upon the Gratification of one Defire, as we can upon the whole Business of our Lives. Befides this, as their Bodies were more du

rable

rable than ours, fo were they likewife proportion-SERM, ably robuft. For without fuppofing the Strength of XII. Nature to decay, her Offspring to become more weak and feeble in the several Periods and Succeffions of Time, we may prefume that foon after the Flood, at least, the Strength of Men was much impaired, inasmuch as it requires lefs natural Vigour to fupport a Man to the Age of Eighty or Ninety, than eight or nine hundred Years. How muit

it move the Scorn then of one of these ancient Libertines, to see a Creature fo full of Weakness and Infirmity, pretending to the primitive Vigour and Activity, and aping his ftrong Progenitors! I chufe to represent these despicable Vermin as the Objects of Derifion only, because it is the Method, which they constantly make use of, to discountenance every thing that is of good Report: Befides that it is in a manner the only Sort of Argument, that we can suppose them capable of understanding. Not but if the abandon'd Wretches could be perfuaded to think seriously of their Condition, if they would look backward upon what they have been. doing, and forward upon what they have to do; if they would reflect upon the tranfitory Nature of their Enjoyments, and the Certainty of either a weak OldAge, or an immature and hafty Death, they could not, if they had the least Degree of Senfibility, withftand the Terrors of fuch a powerful Conviction. For I would ask one of this Stamp and Character, whether he thinks there was not once a Time, when Methuselah was as young as he; whether he expects to out-live that Patriarch; or if he does, whether he fhall never die. If it be true, that he must die at laft, no matter how long his Life is; no matter what Youth and Beauty, what Strength and Vigour

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