i the deceitfulneffe of mans heart. l 157 and placeî,where we live, and the wickednes ofmen with whom we conver(c.Se caufe the times general- ly are fo corrupt and evillitherefore we think if we be corrupt in them, the faulc is not ours , but the tinies. S.Pauls argument is clean contrary , Redee- ming the tinie,becanf the daies be evils. The badneffe of the times did not ferve with S. Paul for a cloak to excufe our conformity to the times 9 in wailing our time wickedly , as others do; but as a fpurre to excite us to bee fo much the more carefull of our {elves, not to be fwayed with the common ífream, in the idle and prodigtll expence of our time,but to refcue it out of the hands of fiafull vanities, and to {Fend it wholy for the good of our own fouls. And good reafon have we to make this ufe of the corrup- don ofthe times; for,if the aire be generally infetti- ous , had we not need to be fo much the more ftric( in our diet, and careful] in the ufe of wholfome pre fervatives ?Surelythe worfe the times are,the neerer grow they to their end , and therefore fo much the more apprehenfive ought we to be of the occafionm of good , becaufe the day, in which onely wee can work is declining apace i and that fearefull night approacheth, wherein none can work. But yet, for all this,ir is no lefle ufuall for men to Qfe this excufe in defence of their own enormities now, than it hath been heretofore. Seneca fheweth how in his time many would bee ready to plead thus for themfelves; I am not ambitious; hut vo man can live otherrrife inRome..Zana not prodigally fumptu- ous:but theCity Trill put a man to great cloarg,s: it is not siiy fault that ota ,sjet I am not entred into a fetledcourfe Iphef. f. Won ego ¡ton ambitiofus : fed nemo Rome ter vivere pote(t: non ego f. ptuo- fus fed serlas ipfa magnas iet?p?fas exigit. Non efi meum vitium, es's of.
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