SERM. worth; that we are also thereby rescued from adLIV. miring ourselves, and that overweening self-conceitProv. xxvi. edness, of which the Wise Man saith, The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. 16. It is a calling, whereby we are qualified and enabled to do God service; to gratify his desires, to promote his honour, to advance his interests; to render his name glorious in the world, by teaching, maintaining, and propagating his truth; by persuading men to render their due love, reverence, and obedience to him; than which we can have no more honourable or satisfactory employment; more like to that of the glorious and blessed spirits. It is a calling, the due prosecution whereof doth ingratiate us with God, and procureth his favour; rendering us fit objects of his love, and entitling us thereto in regard to our qualities and recompense of Wisd. vii. Our works: for God loveth none but him that dwelleth with wisdom: and, So shalt thou find favour Prov.iii. 4. and good understanding in the sight of God and 28. Psal. v. 5. man. It is a calling, whereby with greatest advantage we may benefit men, and deserve well of the world; drawing men to the knowledge and service of God, reclaiming them from error and sin, rescuing them > from misery, and conducting them to happiness; by clear instruction, by faithful admonition, by powerful exhortation. And what can be more noble, than to be the lights of the world, the guides of practice to men, the authors of so much good, so egregious benefactors to mankind? It is a calling most exempt from the cares, the crosses, the turmoils, the factious jars, the anxious LIV. intrigues, the vexatious molestations of the world; SERM. its business lying out of the road of those mischiefs, wholly lying in solitary retirement, or being transacted in the most innocent and ingenuous company. It is a calling least subject to any danger or disappointment; wherein we may well be assured not to miscarry or lose our labour; for the merchant indeed by manifold accidents may lose his voyage, or find a bad market; the husbandman may plough and sow in vain: but the student hardly can fail of improving his stock, and reaping a good crop of knowledge; especially if he study with a conscientious mind, and pious reverence to God, imploring his gracious help and blessing. It is a calling, the industry used wherein doth abundantly recompense itself, by the pleasure and sweetness which it carrieth in it; so that the more pains one taketh, the more delight he findeth, feeling himself proportionably to grow in knowledge, and that his work becometh continually more easy to him. It is a calling, the business whereof doth so exercise as not to weary, so entertain as not to cloy us; being not (as other occupations are) a drawing in a mill, or a nauseous tedious repetition of the same work; but a continued progress toward fresh objects; our mind not being staked to one or a few poor matters, but having immense fields of contemplation, wherein it may everlastingly expatiate, with great proficiency and pleasure. It is a calling, which doth ever afford plentiful fruit, even in regard to the conveniences of this pre LIV. 18. iii. 16. iv. 8, 9. SERM. sent and temporal state; the which sufficiently will requite the pains expended thereon: for if we be honestly industrious, we shall not want success; and succeeding we shall not want a competence of wealth, of reputation, of interest in the world: for concerning wisdom, which is the result of honest study, the Prov. viii. Wise Man telleth us, Riches and honour are with her, yea, durable riches and righteousness: Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour: Exalt her, and she shall promote thee; she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her; she shall give to thine head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. In common experience the wealth of the mind doth qualify for employments, which have good recompenses annexed to them; and neither God nor man will suffer him long to want, who is endowed with worthy accomplishments of knowledge. It was a ridiculous providence in Nero, that if he should chance to lose his empire, he might live by fiddling: yet his motto was good; and Dionysius, another tyrant, found the benefit of it; τὸ τεχνίον πᾶσα γαῖα τρέφει, he that hath any good art, hath therein an estate, and land in every place; he is secured against being reduced to extremity of Eccl. vii. any misfortune: Wisdom, saith the Wise Man, is a defence, and money is a defence; but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. Money is a defence, of which fortune may bereave us; but wisdom is beyond its attacks, being a treasure seated in a place inaccessible to external impressions. 12. Prov xii. 8. be com And as a learned man cannot be destitute of substance; so he cannot want credit, having such an cording to Prov. i. 22, 12. ornament, than which none hath a more general SERM. estimation; and which can be of low rate only among LIV. that sort of folk, to whom Solomon saith, How long, mended acye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?-and fools his wisdom. hate knowledge? It is that which recommendeth a 7. xxii. 17. man in all company, and procureth regard, every one yielding attention and acceptance to instructive, neat, apposite discourse, (that which the scripture calleth acceptable, pleasant, gracious words ;) men think themselves obliged thereby by receiving information and satisfaction from it; and accordingly Every man, saith the Wise Man, shall kiss his lips Prov. xxiv. that giveth a right answer; and—for the grace of 26.: his lips the king shall be his friend; and, the Eccles. x. words of a wise man's mouth are gracious. It is that, an eminency wherein purchaseth lasting fame, and a life after death, in the good memory and opinion of posterity: Many shall commend his under- Ecclus. standing; and so long as the world endureth, it shall not be blotted out: his memorial shall not depart away, and his name shall live from generation to generation. A fame no less great, and far more innocent, than acts of chivalry and martial prowess; for is not Aristotle as renowned for teaching the world with his pen, as Alexander for conquering it with his sword? Is not one far oftener mentioned than the other? Do not men hold themselves much more obliged to the learning of the philosopher, than to the valour of the warrior? Indeed the fame of all others is indebted to the pains of the scholar, and could not subsist but with and by his fame: Dignum laude virum Musa vetat mori ; learning consecrateth itself and its subject together to immortal remembrance. xxxix. 9. SERM. LIV. It is a calling that fitteth a man for all conditions and fortunes; so that he can enjoy prosperity with moderation, and sustain adversity with comfort: he that loveth a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counsellor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter. By study, by reading, by thinking, one may innocently divert and pleasantly entertain himself, as in all weathers, so in all fortunes. In fine, it is a calling, which Solomon, who had curiously observed and exactly compared and scanned, by reason and by experience, all other occupations and ways of life, did prefer above all others; and we may presume would sooner have parted with Prov. iv. 7. his royal state, than with his learning; for Wisdom, saith he, is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding; Eccles. ii. and, Then I saw (then, that is, after a serious disquisition and discussion of things, I saw) that wisdom excelleth folly (that is, knowledge excelleth ignorance) as light excelleth darkness. 13. These things and much more may be said of learning in general; but if more distinctly we survey each part, and each object of it, we shall find that each doth yield considerable emoluments and delights; benefit to our soul, advantage to our life, satisfaction to our mind. The observation of things, and collection of experiments, how doth it enrich the mind with ideas, and breed a kind of familiar acquaintance with all things, so that nothing doth surprise us, or strike our mind with astonishment and admiration! And Eccles. i. 8. if our eye be not satisfied with seeing, nor our ear filled with hearing, how much less is our mind satiated with the pleasures of speculating and ob |