X.

Now either these Complaints were true SERM. or they were falfe. 'Tis all one, as to the Matter in Hand, which of these it be; for if they were true, the Point is gained; and if they were never fo false and groundless, yet ftill they will ferve the Purpose they are brought for; they are fufficient to fhew, that whatever good Opinion the Complainers of latter Ages may have of the former Times, they that lived in thofe Times thought otherwise, and made that the Subject of Complaint which others have fince made the Subject of their Approbation.

But the Truth of the Matter is this: The Times are generally the fame, and I believe it will readily enough be granted, that they are always worse than a good Man could wish them to be; but then to afk why the former were better, generally proceeds upon a Suppofition, that former Times were better purely because they are paft, and therefore will serve no Manner of Purpose, but to prove the Folly of the Enquirer. It has been the Complaint of our Forefathers, fays Seneca,

(De

X.

SERM. (De Ben. Fol. p. 268.) that Virtue and Good Manners are rooted up and deftroy'd; that all Manner of Wickedness prevails, and triumphs in the Room of them; and that the Times are worfe than ever, we complain of the fame Thing, fays he, and our Pofterity will do the fame; whereas thefe Things are much the fame now as they were then, and fo they will be for the future: They only move a little to and fro, fometimes inclining to one Kind of Vice, fometimes to another; for Vices don't prevail always alike, and continue in one Stay, but are moveable, and as they differ widely, they become tumultuous, and drive and fly from one another: However, this we ought always to fay of ourfelves, that we are evil, that we have been fo, and I am unwilling to add, fays he, we fhall continue to be fo.

We find in the early Ages of the World, that the Wickedness of Man was great in the Earth; and that every Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually. David in many Places gives an Account of the Wickedness

of

X.

of the People in his Days; and St. Paul, SERM. talking of the People in his Days, tells the Galatians, that as heretofore, be that was born after the Fleft perfecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even fo it is now. So that it is true enough, that the Times are wicked and bad, but then it is what they have ever been, and as long as bad Men live in them, it is what they always will be. There will be the fame Rapine, Fraud, Injustice, and Oppreffion, as long as there are the fame Paffions to create them; for the fame Caufes will produce the fame Effects; and as long as we fet up a falfe Happiness to ourselves, fo long fhall we cherish the fame Paffions, and keep alive the fame Evils; and thus it has always been. Is there any thing whereof it may be faid, See, this is new! it has been already of old Time which was before us. The Thing that hath been, it is that which fhall be, and that which is done is that which fhall be done, and there is no new Thing under the Sun,

But

(

SERM.

X.

4

But notwithstanding all this, every Age ftill fends us to the former for better Times, and that again to the foregoing; fo that if the former Times were better, it is because they are paft, and confequently that the prefent Times are worse for no other Reafon than because they are prefent. And here lies the Miftake: The former Times we only hear of, or if we do happen to remember them, yet the Days of our Youth have little or nothing to do with the Troubles of any Age; that Part of Life is generally taken up with the Pleasures of the World, and therefore can't furnish a Man with Experience enough to draw the Comparison between Times of fuch a Distance. Whereas, when Age comes upon us, and our Views are enlarged, we have then a greater Knowledge of the World, and a more fenfible Perception of the Nature of Human Life; for we come at that Time to fhare the Troubles likewife, as well as Pleafures of it. Things at a Distance always appear lefs than they really are, and we only fee

the

X.

the best fide of them; but when they are SERM. brought home to our Eyes, we fee them with all their Defects and Inconveniencies. So that to infinuate that the former Days were better than thefe, most commonly proceeds from a want of enquiring wifely concerning this: For by the fame Rule that we fo much admire the former Times, will the present, when they are old enough, be the Envy and Admiration of the Age to

come.

Indeed we need go no farther back than the laft Century, and view the Troubles which this Day's Anniverfary always puts us in Remembrance of, to prove what I have been saying under this Head; and to fhew the Mistake of thofe, who copy after the Murmurers in the Text.

And as

all the Outrages of these distracted Times were owing to this restless, complaining, turbulent Spirit; fo this Day may be a Warning to the Murmurers of our Times, how they indulge themselves in fuch a troublesome mischievous Temper; fince no one knows to what extravagant Lengths it may carry a Man, and what Evils it may