* Plutarch reporteth the like of Cato. [Sub nomine, i. e. Cato the younger. — G.] s As out of the houghs of a tree aro taken wedges to cleave it in pieces, so out of our >\\n lusts Satan works engines to destroy us.
1 Kings XIV. 13.] apples of gold. 211
his death, but neglecting the reading of it, was slain ; he slipped his season, and dies for it.1 Ah ! how many for slipping gracious seasons and opportunities, have died for ever ! Soul-opportunities are more worth than a thousand worlds ; mercy is in them, grace and glory is in them, heaven and eternity is in them.
Motive (5). Fifthly, To provoke you to be good betimes, consider, How just it is vnth God to reserve the dregs of his wrath for them who reserve the dregs of their days for him.
How can a husband embrace that wife in her old age, who hath spent all the time of her youth in following after strangers ? Will any man receive such into his service, who hath all their days served his enemies, and received such wounds, blows, and bruises, that renders them unfit for his service ?
Ah ! young men, young men, do not thus ' foolishly and unwisely re- quite the Lord/ Deut. xxxii. 6, for all his patient waiting, his gracious wooing, and his merciful dealing with you. Ah ! do not put off God to old age; for old, lame, and sick sacrifices rarely reach as high as heaven. Is not old age very unteachable ? in old age are not men very unapt to take in, and as unapt to give out ? In old age, oftentimes, men are men, and no men ; they have eyes, but see not, ears, but hear not, tongues, but speak not, feet, but walk not.2 An aged man is but a moving anatomy, or a living mortuary. Now how unlovely, how un- comely, how unworthy, nay, how incensing, how provoking a thing must this needs, be, when men will dally with God, and put him off till their doating days have overtaken them, till their spring is past, their summer overpast, and they arrived at the fall of the leaf, yea, till winter colours have stained their heads with gray and hoary hairs ! How provoking this is, you may see in those sad words of Jeremiah : Jer. xxii. 21, 22, 'I spake unto thee in thy prosperity ; but thou saidst, I will not hear : this hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyest not my voice.' But will God put up this at their hands ? No. Therefore it follows in the next verse, ' Surely thou shalt be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.'
Oh ! that young men would let this scripture lie warm every morning upon their hearts, that so they may not dare to put off God and pro- voke him to their own commission.3 Though you are young and in your strength, yet are you stronger than God, can you make your party good with him ? If you will needs be a-provoking, provoke them that are your matches, and do not contend with him that is mightier than you, that can command you into nothing, or into hell at pleasure.
Motive (6). Sixthly, consider, That the sooner you are good on earth, the greater will he your reward in heaven.
The sooner you are gracious, the more at last you will be glorious. You read in the Scripture of a reward, of a great reward, and of a full
1 Plutarch, Cces. 65 ; Zonaras, vol. i. p. 491, ed. Paris. — G.
* Multa senem circumveniunt incommoda, Horatius, ' Many are the inconveniences that do encompass an old man.' \_Ars Poetica, 169. — G.] The reproach of the evil of wicked- ness is not to be added to old age ; Solet enim senectus esse deformis, infirma, obliviosa, eden- tula, lucrosa, indocilis et molesta, saith Plutarch, in Apothegm Rom. For old age useth to be deformed, weak, forgetful, toothless, covetous, unteachable, unquiet. [Brooks seems, in the description of ' old age,' to remember Shakespeare's ' sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste,' &c — As you like it, ii. 7. The careful reader will trace numerous tacit references of this kind in Brooks.— G.] * Qu. ' confusion' ? — Ed.
212 APPLES OF GOLD. [1 KlNGS XIV. 13.
reward. Now those that are good betimes, that know, seek, serve, and love the Lord in the spring and morning of their youth, they are in the fairest way of gaining the greatest and the fullest reward.1 And this I shall make clear by that which follows. (1.) First, Tin sooner any man begins to be really good, the more good he will do vn this world. Now, the more good any man doth on earth, the more glory he shall have in heaven. Therefore, my beloved brethren, ' Be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord,' 1 Cor. xv. 58.
Man's wages, man's reward, shall be according to his works. He that doth most work here shall have most reward hereafter. God will at last proportion the one to the other, the reward to the work : ' He which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly ; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully/ 2 Cor. ix. 6. Though no man shall be rewarded for his works, yet God will at last measure out happiness and blessedness to his people according to their service, faithfulness, diligence, and work in this world, Rom. ii. 5-7. Grace is glory in the bud, and glory is grace at the full ; glory is nothing else but a bright constellation of graces ; happiness nothing but the quintessence of holiness. Grace and glory differ non specie, seel gradu, in degree, not kind, as the learned speak. Grace and glory differ very little ; the one is the seed, the other is the flower ; grace is glory militant, and glory is grace triumphant ; and a man may as well plead for equal degrees of grace in this world, as he may plead for equal degrees of glory in the other world. Surely the more grace here, the more glory here- after ; and the more work Christians do on earth, the more glory they shall have in heaven ; and the sooner men begin to be good, the more good they will do in this world ; and the more they do here, the more they shall have hereafter. Philosophers seem to weigh our virtues with our vices, and according to the preponderation of either, denomi- nate us good or bad, and so deliver us up to reward or punishment.
No man can commend good works magnificently enough, saith Luther, for one work of a Christian is more precious than heaven and earth ; and therefore all the world cannot sufficiently reward one good work. And in another place, saith the same author, ' If I might have my desire, I would rather choose the meanest work of a country Chris- tian or poor maid, than all the victories and triumphs of Alexander the Great, and of Julius Caesar.'