of Temperance and Sobriety And that both for Others sakes and for your Own. You should be examples O be not stumbling Blocks to younger people Your vices may propagate when your persons are past it and those that are Eye or Ear-witnesses of your follies may derive the practice of them to the Child that is yet unborn and altho you may recover by true Repentance yet they may stumble upon you and fall and never rise again Entail not a Curse upon your Posterity do not nourish in them that natural depravation which in equity you ought rather to cure And for your Own sake be sober be vigilant for you are upon the confines of the everlasting World a World wherein all sensual enjoyments will be for ever out of date endeavour to go off the Stage without a Blemish When some Courtiers were sent to S r Fr. Walsingham being sick and sad to make him merry God said he is serious in his Law Iesus Christ was serious in his Death the Holy Ghost is serious in his dealing with our Souls all in Heaven and Hell are serious and shall a Man that hath one Foot in the Grave Laugh and Iest Take warning by poor Noah One hours Drunkenness discovered that which Six hundred years Sobriety had concealed If his inexperience did in any degree excuse him you can make no such pretence If you have any regard to the Health and Vigour of your Bodies to the quiet and welfare of your Souls to the pleasing and honouring of God bridle your appetite and check the pleasures of your Senses In short there is as we observed before no better way to spin out your lives to make Old-age pleasant and Death easie than the exercise of this Vertue The instance of Cornaro a learned and rich Venetian is common that with a sparing and orderly Diet lived to a great Age with little inconvenience To deny a mans self is the way to please himself at length and by opposing the preternatural desires of the Body we contribute to the true happiness even of the Body it self And here comes in the use and exercise of Mortification wherein tho a wise man may make some steps yet the work cannot be done without the assistance of Gods Holy Spirit If ye through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the Body ye shall live Rom. 8. 13. Implore therefore the aid of this good Spirit who can make you mortally to hate that which you now do ardently love and will pluck up the roots of that whereof Morality doth only shave the Hair. Set the Spectacle of Death oft before you and of that endless Estate to which you are such near Neighbours and think how unsuitable a vain life is to a serious Death Be much in Prayer and if need be add Fasting thereunto that your moderation may be known unto all men seeing undoubtedly to Old people The Lord is at hand SECT VII THE Seventh Grace proper for Old-age is Charity or Love. Not that sensual or carnal Love which is proper or rather common to Youth and which hath long since dropt off like Leaves in the Autumn of their Age but that Grace which disposeth the Heart to think the best the Tongue to speak the best and the whole man to promote the Welfare of Others The Seat or chief Mansion of this is the Heart which being filled with this Grace it is diffused every way and the whole man is tinctur'd with it It obligeth a man to Think the best of every man. Charity thinketh no evil believeth all things hopeth all things beareth all things By this we are ready to account the Certain good things in Others better than they are the certain Evils in others less than they are the good that is but doubtful in others certain and doubtful Evils none And it rests not in Opinion but works by Desire whereby the Heart doth unfeignedly desire the Temporal Spiritual and Eternal good of all men Neither doth it rest there but shews it self in Endeavour and that both by Word and Deed speaking To them Of them For them to God and man what may conduce thereunto in their Lips is the Law of kindness Charity vaunteth not it self is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly is not easily provoked 1 Cor. 13. 5. Neither will Words satisfie it but doth actually help and cheerfully succour every Body as their occasion requires and his own ability extends And in this Grace doth every good Old Man and Woman excell This was the eminent Grace of the Evangelist Iohn in his Old-age for he lived longer than any of the Apostles and his Swan-like Song still was Love as is evident in all his Epistles yea some Church Historians affirm that when he could go no longer by reason of his Age into the Christian Assemblies yet he was instant to be led or carried there where the substance of what he was able to say was little Children love one another And you may find how pathetical was Paul the Aged in his tender charity to Onesimus Philem. 9. Being such a one as Paul the Aged for loves sake I beseech thee for my Son Onesimus And this Spirit did continue in the Ancient Christians in the Primitive times who loved as Tertullian tells us as Brethren and were ready to dye for one another We that did hate one another saith Iustin Martyr now do live familiarly together and do pray for our Enemies In all Ages as men have increased in Piety they have increased in Charity and come to relent of their rigour and keenness It was Age Experience and Consideration as well as a Prison that melted Bishop Ridley to accost his Brother Hooper in this manner However in some by-matters and circumstances of Religion your wisdom and my Simplicity hath a little jarred yet now I sincerely love and imbrace you You know Rehoboams Old Counsellours were for lenity when the young were stern and furious It 's true the natural tempers or painful distempers may incline some Old people to too much Acrimony yet all Aged people that are considerate have taken more degrees in Charity than young people have It was an Old man in Gibeah that had more of this Grace than all the City besides Iudg. 19. 16. For besides the advantage they have had of Gods holy Ordinances the Scope whereof is to increase our Faith and Love they have found by experience that the Life and Soul of Religion lies not in these lesser matters that have caused the greatest noise in the World that every difference in Religion makes not a different Religion so that wheresoever they see any thing of Christ these they love Their Consciousness of their own mistakes and of their own imperfections hath forced them to more charitable thoughts of others They have observed that true Grace hath lived in the midst of great infirmities yea they have found this Flower in divers persons where they thought there had been nothing but
they see a tempting troublesome world so looking forward they see by Faith a state of perfect Holiness and Happiness prepared for them This Faith assures them that the end of their fight is the beginning of their Victory and as they part from their labours they take possession of their honours And doth not any Apprentice rejoyce when the time of his service is near its expiration I know Nature recoils at the approach of Death in the best but Faith is then of greatest need and use and the just may be said to dy as well as to live by his faith Thereby he sees Life and Immortality just before him and one only miry step to pass and then he is well Indeed the idle man desires not to go to bed but to all that take or suffer pain saith S. Chrysostome an end of it is sweet the traveller gladly beholds his Inne the hireling often computes when his year is out the husbandman greedily expects harvest the pregnant woman waits for her expected deliverance and the Aged person for his Writ of Ease One would wonder what shift even the Heathen made to render Death desirable who had such weak glimmerings of any other life And yet even they would thus argue Death either it annihilates us or else translates us Annihilation will but reduce me into the State wherein I was and if it translate me it will put me into better lodgings my Soul can be no where so pen'd up as here it is in the Body What boast would they have made of Death had they but firmly believed everlasting life For this it was which enabled the Apostle to make this expression Phil. 1. 23. Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better For where should the Spouse desire to be but with her husband or where the members but with the head And upon this account that good Lady Falkland would usually say when she was going to bed Now am I nearer Heaven by one day than ever I was The Aged person sees a wofull wilderness behind him and the blessed land of Promise before him and therefore no wonder that with Moses he longs to be in it And the nearer the holy Soul approacheth its perfection the more earnest and almost impatient it is to attain it And one great Advantage of the Aged lies in this that the Meditation of Death which is then in view is of great use to compose the Mind to keep us in the Fear of the Lord all the day long and our Consciences void of offence towards God and men to work in us a great contempt of the World and a singular freedom of spirit and of speech It will make us neither much to fear nor much to hope or desire any thing that the world can do for us or against us and finally doth greatly conduce to keep us steady and constant in faith and holiness And if some Ancient people do not make this use of their approaching dissolution what would they or others do if they did not grow Old at all what a careless worldly and vain life would men live if they had no certain Indications of their dying Surely the nearer to Heaven the more heavenly we should be as any man when he is come to the confines of another Countrey will frame himself to the guise thereof so he that hath this hope in him doth purifie himself as he is pure and will begin the Life below which he expects to live above And the other Priviledge herein contained is this that being weary they are near to their Journeys end They have bin long toss'd upon the Sea and now they see the Haven and rejoyce that they are ready to put into it This could make Cato in Tully to say My old-age is herein pleasant to me that by how much I approach nearer to death so much sooner do I as it were descry land and after long sailing am ready to enter the Port. Not that a good man should desire to dye for ease only to be freed from the troubles of life all the tribulations of that blessed Apostle Paul never made him cry out O wretched man that I am but his body of death forc'd him to it But whil'st we carry these earthly Tabernacles about us even the Sufferings of this present time will make us rejoyce in hope of the glory of God. Especially when we behold that innumerable company of Angels the general assembly and Church of the first born the spirits of just men made perfect yea God the Iudge of all and Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant amongst whom we are going to reside in perfect bliss then will our heart and our flesh cry out O when shall we come and appear before God! And this is the Priviledge of Old-age that there is but one feeble life between them and a Crown and you know that he who is shortly to be invested in some Dignity feasts himself with the hopes of it Yea this is the constant relief of the Aged man under all his bodily and other temporal afflictions that they will last but for a moment Hold out Faith and Patience the Iubilee is at hand Therefore it behoves all that are in years to lay up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life to get some unquestionable evidence of their right to the tree of life of their part in Paradise and then their thoughts of what 's beyond death will support them against all events on this side it or in it That Death is never to be dreaded saith an Heathen Poet which is followed with Immortality All your riches reputation or friends will then nothing comfort you like a lively sense of Christ in you the hope of glory He that hath liv'd to God will chearfully go to him and they who have run with difficulty will dye with ease And thus you have an account of some of the many Priviledges of Old-age for besides all these it is a Priviledge to attain to such an Age as that we may our selves see to the Education and Disposal of our Children and also to have the comfort of their piety and prosperity Thou shalt see thy childrens children and peace upon Israel Psal. last Hereupon it is recorded among and as the crown of the Blessings bestow'd upon Iob after his restoration that he lived an hundred and forty years and saw his sons and his sons sons even four generations Job 42. 16. From all which we may conclude that although every Age of mans life hath its peculiar bitterness and sweetness yet all things well weighed a quiet and honest Old-age is to be preferr'd before any other age It is the assertion of the learned Petrarch who thereupon breaks forth into the praises of it concluding them unworthy to arrive at it that are afraid of it and them unworthy to possess it that
or be hurt by it We must drink this Cup and therefore it is all the reason in the world that we should take some foretasts of it especially considering the sequele of it that it sets us on an everlasting shore It 's time for Old people to bethink them well sith a Crown or Flames are just before them When you sit trimming the fire ponder this whether you can indure the fire that is unquenchable when you lift up those dazled eyes towards Heaven consider what title you have to the blessed Mansions there What have you to do below your traffick now should be in Invisibles you have studied long enough how to live at length you should study how to dy These Meditations are certainly of great Excellence and of great Use. Better it is to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart Eccl. 7. 2. 'T is more pleasant indeed to go to the house of feasting how gladly do people go that way but it is better to go to the house of mourning for there we see what is the end of all men and so the living will lay something that 's useful to his heart These thoughts will quicken any rational man to do and get all the good he can while he is on this side the line of Eternity The less a poor Old creature can do about the affairs of this life the more he should endeavour to do about that better life These presentiating thoughts of Death will make us careful and conscionable in all our wayes as seeing that Change alwayes at hand I write this Letter saith Seneca with such a mind as if Death were to call me away before I have done and being ready to go the less I value Life the more comfortably I enjoy it For as the same Authour saith in another place Theirs is the most anxious life that forget what 's past neglect what 's present and are afraid of what 's to come For certainly they that forget their past sins and neglect their present duty have cause to fear their reckoning to come As on the the other side he that having an inlightned and sensible Conscience can think of Death without disturbance hath made a good progress in Religion And yet if Death were only the finishing of Life these Thoughts about it were not so necessary or considerable but we are assured of an Everlasting Life immediately following that the extremest happiness or misery commences thereupon which also never ends Now what Thoughts or cares can be so momentous as those about our endless Glory or Torment Sit down then compose your selves to this Meditation draw a Curtain over all this present World and your Concerns therein and open a window into Eternity and by Faith look steadily into it Look Upward first and survey those blessed Mansions that glorious Company the sweet Imployment the unconceivable Injoyment the transcendent Bliss of Body and Soul in the full Fruition of God to all Eternity And will not these Meditations nullifie all the faint and fading comforts of this Life will they not cause you to trample under foot the Pleasures of sin that are but for a season will they not easily wean you from your dearest Relations upon Earth will they not carry you with longing desires to injoy the beatifical Vision will you not cry out with Augustine Can no man see thy face and live O let me dy then to see thy face Again look Downward into that Bottomless Pit and by faith behold the desperate condition of the Damned lay your Ear to the Key-hole of Hell and hearken a while to the weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth there Consider the torments of a roaring Conscience the fury of exasperated Devils the unspeakable racks and tortures of wofull Bodies which must be as much beyond what the most cruel Malice can invent or act as the Almighty and just indignation of God exceeds the weak and finite wrath of Man And these to continue during the innumerable spaces of an unconceivable Eternity and the Aged man must conclude that there is no other way for him to take at Death but into one of these Receptacles and that he may justly expect by reason of his Age very shortly to determine this point that he is even at the door that he hangs over this Etenity by a slender twist which is now almost fretted through and that before a few weeks or days are come he must go the way whence he shall not return What agitations of heart would these Meditations produce in us what diligence in making our Calling and Election sure what contempt of all the World what detestation of the sweetest sins In short the Thoughts of Eternity would effectually disgrace the trifles of Time and prepare the Aged for the injoyment of it How comes it then to pass that we are so backward to the thoughts of Death and the World to come The truth is it is not gratefull to Flesh and Blood. Hence when thousands died in the Wilderness which should probably of it self have made impressions on the rest yet then Moses finds it needfull to beg of God Psal. 90. 12. So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts to wisdom Alas we find that we can think on any Person in the world rather than of God and of any Thing in the world rather than of our Soul and of any part of our Lives rather than of Death and of any place in the world rather than of Heaven But should Flesh and Blood be gratified rather than our Maker our Redeemer our Comforter our own Souls God forbid How many unpleasant doses do we take to preserve or recover the health of the body But here the health and happiness both of body and soul are concerned I may boldly say that Death will prove a bitter Cup to those that live at ease and that will make no acquaintance with it before it seize upon them We are surpriz'd with any thing that is altogether new but frequent converse maketh the most fearfull Objects familiar Walk then into the place of Skulls make room for your Coffin in your Chambers or in your Minds and call before you all the solemn Circumstances of your own Funerals and step now and then into the other world by holy Meditation Your natural Eye growes dim open then the Eye of Faith and penetrate into things unseen You cannot work but you can think your sleeps are broken but then you may have golden hours When you have various discomforts below you may have hereby unspeakable comfort above yea this will inure you unto and begin that blessed life which you hope to live for ever He that thus travels often to Heaven while he lives will more certainly and comfortably be lodged there for ever when he dies SECT X. THE Tenth and last Work of Old-age
fourscore and four years yet departed not from the Temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day Luk. 2. 37. So that all Aged persons are not precluded from spiritual exercises And though they should become unable to frequent the Publick Ordinances of God yet they may pray and sigh and meditate in their chambers and these proceeding from a sincere and sensible Soul are most acceptable unto God. As for the external Acts of Religion they avail nothing without faith and love which lodge in the heart The immanent Acts of the Soul which are to understand to meditate to will and to desire do most perfect the same And where the Deed cannot be done God doth accept the will for the Deed. The weakest and poorest Old man or woman may have high meditations under a low roof and a large heart within narrow walls No Aged person therefore should be discouraged by their Inability for Gods Service since He knoweth their frame he remembreth that they are but dust The Lord hath said When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them I will open Rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys I will make the Wilderness a pool of water and the dry Land springs of water Isa. 41. 17 18. In the want of ordinary supplies I will provide them with extraordinary supports the wilderness shall produce a pool of water rather than any Child of God shall dy for thirst When they cannot wait upon God as before he will wait to be gracious to them he will come to them and teach and comfort them If indeed a man be inwardly pleased that his weakness excuseth him from his Devotions he hath cause to blame himself but if he hath the same desires and holy affections with others the old Law shall stand to wit he that stayes by the Stuffe shall part the Spoil with him that goes out to battel You have a trade going in every Ship an Interest in every holy Assembly in the World. SECT X. THE Tenth and last Inconvenience in Old-age is That they are Terrified with the approach of Death For Death is a word hard of digestion to any man. The Philosopher counted it of all dreadfull things the most Terrible And Mr. Latimer observes of Hezekiah that he was more afraid of Death than of all Senacheribs Army Now Old-age is a near neighbour to it and the aspect of it alwayes before them is not very pleasant Most men saith Seneca are miserably tost between the fear of Death and the miseries of Life are unwilling either to live or dy Especially they who have had their portion in this life and have made no provision for a better This made Lewis 11 th of France to charge all about him to forbear the mention of Death The strict Account which follows it and the long Eternity which follows that makes Death a most serious matter No wonder if the hand tremble when it is going to take that Cup which will mend or end them Now the Old man is at the door of this fatal place Though a Casualty may bring Death suddenly though a sickness may bring it probably yet Old-age brings it certainly Peradventure there are fifty weeks or dayes remaining in their life peradventure but forry five perhaps but forty but thirty yea but twenty as Abraham said of Sodom nay since it is dubious every moment and no mortal man knows at what Watâ—… of the Night he shall be called the 〈◊〉 person that is but a step from death must be through fear of Death in continual bondage But the Lyon is not so terrible as he is painted neither is Death so formidable as it is by many represented Though it be against the Desires of Nature yet it is not against the Series of Nature For if we consult this we find Autumn kindly after Summer and Winter after Autumn and Death is as natural after Old-age And the Light of Nature taught some of the Heathens to reckon the worthy men especially that are dead to be most truly alive in that while we live in this world the Soul is imprison'd in the body and is set at liberty by Death Thus Xenophon brings in Cyrus discoursing to his Children on his Death-bed Think not O my Sons that I leave you quite and am lost when I dye perhaps you will not see me neither do you now see the most Essential part of me nor never did only by my actions you believed it was in this body and that will live out of this body as well as in it And if Pagans set so light by Death what notion should we Christians have of it that can look more clearly beyond it It is styl'd a falling asleep and what 's more welcome to an Aged person than a sound sleep And from that Expression 1 Thess. 4. an Old Toletan Council ordained that the dead should be followed with Psalms of Praise to their Graves In short 1. All Aged People are not oppressed with the fear of Death Too few there are that think at all of it Men generally put far from them the evil day and it will be an evil day to such as put it far from them Most people can think of any place in the Parish rather than the Church-yard yea I doubt it be one of the Faults of the Aged to think seldom of Death and they who think little of it are in no danger of being frighted with its thoughts 2. The Young have the same reason to be concern'd about Dying as the Old. For Youth hath more wayes to Death than Age hath And far more dye in their Youth than that dye for Age. It 's true they hope to live longer but their hopes have no good ground at all They have neither Promise nor Experience to build their hopes upon And in Young Peoples Death they being in their strength Nature receives a more violent shock whereas the Aged are more quietly extinguished like a Candle in the Socket 3. No good man need be affrighted at the approach of Death For the power and sting of Death is utterly taken away by our Saviours Death and so it can do us no hurt A Child of God doth not so much as tast Death The true Believer now hath not to do with Death but with its shadow with a toothless Dog with a dead Lyon with a Wasp without a Sting with a conquer'd Enemy What man in his wits is afraid after a tempestuous Voyage that he is drawing nigh his Haven It was a sweet saying of S. Ambrose near his end I have not so lived that I am ashamed to live among you neither do I fear to dy going to so good a Master The unprepared and the ungodly may dread Death As Aristippus told the wicked Mariners trembling in a Storm You may well
give of your Repentance for the Sins of your Youth is a watchful care against the Sins of your Old-age otherwise your Sins are not forsaken but changed Withal if your Repentance be sound it is attended with a will and endeavour to make Restitution wherein you have injur'd any in their Souls Bodies Names or Estates This will be as Letters Testimonial of the truth of your Repentance you must not nay you cannot be quiet if your Repentance be sound until you have seriously endeavour'd as far as in you lies to recover the Souls to restore the Bodies to heal the Reputations and to repair the Estates which you have injur'd without which there can be no true Repentance on Earth and without which there will be no Remission in Heaven SECT II. ANother work of Old-age is obtaining Assurance of Salvation I mean hereby not only a General Certainty that some good people shall be saved for the Devils believe this and rage at it which I think is the same with Objective Certainty nor that Assurance which may come by special and extraordinary Revelation sith we find few or no examples in Scripture of such a thing but rather that the Apostle Paul himself grounds his Assurance of the Crown upon the righteousness of God which he extends to all them that love Christs appearing 2 Tim. 4. 8. Neither do I mean a Conjectural Hope of Salvation which admits both of anxiety and of slavish fear fith the Scripture represents it by Faith and full assurance and produceth Earnests and Seals for confirmation Nor lastly is this Assurance confin'd to Grace at present but extends to final Salvation Thus the Apostle 2 Tim. 1. 12. I know whom I have believed there is Assurance of his present State but was he certain of his Perseverance Yes that follows and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day That such Assurance hath been attained is clear enough from the Instances of Iob 19. 25 26. of David Psal. 16. 9 10. of Paul 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. and many others That it may be attained is as clear sith there is no intimation that these or the rest had any extraordinary Discovery thereof unto them but arriv'd thereat in the use of those means and by the consignation of that Spirit unto which we have access as well as they And the Apostle doth expresly comprehend the generality of Believers in this Priviledge 2 Cor. 5. 1. For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God c. That it ought to be endeavoured by all true Christians is most evident from the plain commands to that purpose 2 Pet. 1. 10. Wherefore the rather Brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure c. That few do labour to attain it thinking it to be impossible or unnecessary is to be bewailed That many deceive themselves with a false perswasion of present Grace and future Glory is manifest by Scripture and daily Experience And that it is most proper and needful for Old people the thing it self speaks For you cannot deny but that you have Souls immortal Souls which being Spirits cannnot dye but must return to God that gave them and are these Souls of so small value to be left to a Hazard to an everlasting venture And it is as evident that this life is uncertain we may say as Isaac Gen. 27. 2. Behold now I am Old I know not the day of my Death and therefore it 's time for us to go about this work without delay Children desire the time of youth and youth longs to be at mans age and they then would live to be Old but Old-age hath no further Age to desire it hath none other to succeed it here and they are wholly uncertain how long it will last and therefore it is absolutely necessary that they should be on sure grounds for Eternity and then the day of death will be better than the day of their Birth You know how much of your life is already spent you can see the Sands that are run into the nether end of the Glass but the upper Part is covered with a Mantle you know not how few Sands are left there to run Nay you cannot but perceive that Death is approaching very near you You are filled with Wrinkles which is a Witness against you and your leanness rising up in you beareth witness to your Face as it is Job 16. 8. For as it is observed of All men that they are Mortales apt to dye and of all Good men that they are Mortificati dying to Sin so it is of all Old men that they are Morituri about to dye And for such to have Oyl to seek when they should have it to Use Evidences to procure when they should have them to produce is an unexcusable neglect Especially knowing that your last Breath wafts you into an unalterable Estate What Journeys and Presents were heretofore made to the Oracles to assure the Votaries concerning the Event of some temporal affairs and how many do now Hazard their Souls by seeking to Necromancers to know the success of their Marriages Voyages and such like and yet a miscarriage in these things is remediable there may be some alleviation in them there may be some end of them but you are lanching into the Ocean of Eternity and are at no certainty whether it be eternal Happiness or eternal Misery What an anxious and uncomfortable State must this be If you were not loose in your belief of future things you would be restless in this condition you owe your Ease to your Letâ—…argy if you were not half Infidels you would be more than half distracted Which brings to mind the course which some Eminent persons among the Heathens took they durst not dye sober but drank great Draughts oâ—… Wine saying That no voluptuous person can go in his Wits into an invisible Estate With what poor comfort must that man dye that must cry out with that Old Philosopher I dye in great doubt and know not whither I am going yet out the Soul must go ready or unready Then will the careless sinner gnash his Teeth for rage at his slothful and sinful life which he hath spent as a Tale that is told Then will he have time enough to curse all the worldly business or wicked Company that hath devoured his precious time and left his Soul to shift for it self for ever Do not we in all other cases strive to be at a point will May-be's and Peradventure's satisfie us in any material humane affairs The Tenant who is warned out of one House cannot enjoy himself until he be sure of another The Steward that was discharged of his Office Luk. 16. took present course to be provided of some other Subsistence The poorest man is uneasie when his old Suit of Cloaths is worn out till he have a
you will be followed with great distress and of long continuance and sore sickness and of long continuance as is threatned Deut. 28. 59. You cannot reasonably expect but that at least some bodily distemper will last as long as your life yea peradventure such painful diseases as will put all your patience to the rout if the Lord be not your helper but yet you must not murmur nay you must not grudge nor make hast but indure the Lords pleasure and wait the Lords leisure I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it The sight of the haven animates the weather-beaten mariner Hitherto the Lord hath helped you and as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him He that hath put that compassion into the heart of a father hath a surpassing infinite Ocean of it in himself and withal he knows our frame he remembers that we are but dust Psal. 103. 13 14. He that hath the wisdom and power of a God and the pity of a father will be sure to lay no more upon you than he will inable you to bear and to overcome And therefore the Aged must beware of the other Extream namely the Gulf of Despondence and Dejection of Spirit Their Sins are mustered up against them their outward strength is decayed their Spirits broken with a succession of cares and troubles their distempers and pains are heavy upon them their friends and relations seem to be weary of them and an unperswadable Enemy Death stands just before them And what flesh alive can bear up under such and so many weights together But besides what hath been offered before I adde that as all these Mortifications are needful to wean us from this world from the love whereof even these can hardly divorce us so all such Discomsorts should drive the Aged person no lower than his knees even unto God who hath said Be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness Isa. 41. 10. Have not all the Saints and Servants of God that have lived to Old-age pass'd these pikes before you have they not born these burdens that you sink under There is no temptation befaln you but what is common to men Where is the faith where are the prayers that you have been laying up for such a time O miserable Old-man said the Heathen Orator that in so long a life hast not yet learned to despise Death which is not at all to be feared if it extinguish the Soul and greatly to be desired if it convey the Soul into an everlasting good condition And then for the pain in Death the same Author tells us that if there be any sense of pain in dying it is but very short especially to Old people that have prevented it and tasted it by degrees And therefore never render your life or death unquiet as many do that even dye for fear of dying that create by their melancholy fancies greater torments to themselves than Death brings with it Behold it through the glass of Gods word which represents it only as a Dissolution to wit out of a prison to go to Christ Phil. 1. 23. Going to rest Isa. 57. 2. Finishing our course 2 Tim. 4. 8. Falling asleep in Iesus 1 Thes. 4. 14. and a stepping out of this world unto our father Joh. 13. 1. and why should the prospect hereof at all deject us Yea in case you should have the honour to be called to suffer Death for Christ and his Truth yet fear it not under its most terrible Aspect for the Supports and Comforts of that Tryal will ballance yea surmount the fears and pains thereof As the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ 2 Cor. 1. 5. Strive therefore rather to adorn than to avoid the Cross considering that as it is a great honour for you in your Old-age to suffer for the Truth so it is a great shame that the Truth should suffer by you It was the worthy Resolution of Old Eleazar when he was urged to counterfeit the eating of Swines flesh to save his life No saith he it becometh not our Age in any wise to dissemble whereby many young persons might think that Eleazar being fourscore and ten were now gone to a strange Religion And so they through my hypocrisie and desire to live a little time should be deceived by me and I get a stain to my Old-age and make it abominable Wherefore now manfully changing this life I will shew my self such an one as mine Age requireth So Polycarp when he was tempted to deny Christ and to swear by the Fortune of Caesar answered Fourscore and six years have I served Christ and have found him a good Master and should I now deny him I have lived by him and I will live and dye to him Let us resolve by Gods grace to write after these Copies Doubtless if there be any going to Heaven on horse-back as Mr. Bradford styles it that is in Honour and State it is by Martyrdom Nay it is not enough that we be content and quiet under these discouragements that we who have received good at the hands of the Lord be content with evil also but we should triumph over them In all these things we should be more than conquerours through him that loved us Our rooted Faith our fixed Hope our long Experience should lift us up to surmount all these fears and troubles The veterane Soldier must not be scared with such Hydra's We are near the promised Land the news of these Anakims in our way should not affright us they are bread for us as Ioshua said When these things come upon you then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life Rev. 2. 10. And thus we are at length arrived at the end of the Aged persons Work which was the Seventh and Last thing to be treated of in this Subject The Practice of these things now only remains That we study to correct the Causes avoid the Sins obtain the Graces sustain the Inconveniences improve the Priviledges and dispatch the Work described before us Wherein we must earnestly implore the gracious Assistance of God who worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure and who will not fail us therein unless we be wanting to our selves And O that all Younger people would learn Knowledge Temperance and Industry in their youth which will be the only means to attain to an Healthy Wealthy and Holy Old-age FINIS Books Printed for and sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns at the lower end of Cheap-side near Mercers Chappel A Present for Teeming Women to be given to them by their Husbands or Friends By Iohn Oliver Minister of the Gospel In Octavo A
will the keepers of the house tremble that is the arms and hands which defend the Body will by reason of their cold and dry temper shake and quiver And the strong men will bow themselves that is the thighs and leggs which have strongly born up the structure of the Body will be weak and need the support of a staff to assist them And the grinders will cease because they are few that is the Teeth which chew and grind our meat will break rot and fall out so that being reduced to a few they will be unable to do their office And those that look out of the windows will be darkened that is the Eye-sight will fail the Organs of the Eye through which as through a window the Soul looks out being dried up and weakned And the doors shall be shut in the streets that is the Lips and Mouth will be disabled from speaking or eating When the sound of the grinding is low that is Digestion which is furthered by chewing and perfected in Chylification Sanguification c. will be obstructed And he shall rise up at the voyce of the bird that is our Sleep will be so shallow that the least noise will awake us and so short that it will prevent the Cock-crowing And all the daughters of musick shall be brought low that is our Ears will grow dull so that as we cannot so we care not for the sweetest musick Also they shall be afraid of that which is high that is we shall by reason of weariness dizziness or short-windedness be afraid of mounting up to high places and attempting such high things as in youth we adventured upon And fears shall be in the way that is we shall be afraid of and in our Iourneying lest we dash our weak and weary foot against a stone And the almond-tree shall flourish that is our Head will grow hoary like the almond tree which soon ripens And the grashopper shall be a burden that is the least weight shall load our infirm Body yea we being then like enough to grashoppers will grow burdens to our selves and others And desire shall fail that is our Appetite to meat and our desire to Marriage-imbraces will be cooled and cease by degrees At length the silver cord will be loosed that is the Chine-bone with its marrow and the Nerves and Fibres thereunto belonging will be resolved and weakned And the golden bowl will be broken that is the vessel and membrane that contains the Brain which is aptly called golden both for its colour and value will at last be shattered And the pitcher will be broken at the fountain that is the Veins will cease from doing their office at the right Ventricle of the Heart which is the fountain of life and so our blood stagnating we are soon extinguished And the wheel will be broken at the cistern that is the great Artery which is knit to the left side of the Heart by which the Blood is derived into the parts ceases its action and the Pulse with it which are the immediate forerunners of Death And then the Dust returns to the Earth as it was and the spirit returns unto God who gave it Thus you see Mans Body like some curious Edifice first battered by various Storms at length the Roof and Walls decay and at last falls to the ground but our Blessed Redeemer hath provided for the Inhabitant an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens SECT I. AND now let us more distinctly survey the Inconveniences of Old-age the chief whereof are these following First The Aged are Deprived of many Pleasures They cannot divert themselves by Hunting Hawking Fishing They can neither well ride abroad nor walk about home They have done with Visits and Feasts and Musick All the recreations of sense are generally tastless to them Yea they have scarce any pleasure in their meat and drink and sleep So that their Condition seems to be sad and lamentable And we have the substance of all this confessed by an Old man himself namely Barzillai 2 Sam. 19. 35. I am this day fourscore years old and can thy servant tast what I eat or what I drink can I hear any more the voyce of singing men and singing women q. d. These things will signifie nothing to me they have forsaken me and I value them as little Here you have the Verdict which Barzillai brings in the Case Yea instead of Pleasure a constant Sadness takes place in their Countenance without and as may be judged in their Hearts within Sobs and sighs are the accent of their language and their complaints are frequently mixt with tears Their Condition then must needs be miserable when they have such constant heaviness within and no recreation without to alleviate it Company burdens them and Solitariness saddens them Yea they are loth that any body should be merry about them So that they seem to lead a dolorous life and to be estranged from all manner of Pleasure Now Pleasure is the life of Life What is Life without Delight why do men toyl to get Estates but for the pleasure they take in them why do others hunt for Applause and climb for Honour but to please their fancy and their humour even the Schollar would take leave of his Books if he had not Delight in them So that Pleasure acts all mankind and rules the world Now those years are lamentable wherein a man shall say I have no pleasure in them And this makes some Old People weary of their lives they reckon that a Life stript of joy and comfort is not worth the keeping Nevertheless Old-age may support it self very well under this Inconvenience Inasmuch as the Pleasures they are deprived of are in themselves and to their experience dangerous Injoyments For nothing is more apt to disorder and fully the Soul than carnal Pleasure Those very Recreations which may be harmless in themselves yet too commonly lead to Intemperance to Lasciviousness to Quarrels and other mischiefs Now if a Dish be never so palatable yet if there be but danger of Poyson in it no wise man will meddle with it Therefore Tully brings in Cato congratulating with himself that he was delivered from the slavery of Pleasure and concludes that it is a singular Priviledge of Old-age that it frees us from that which is most pernicious in youth And whatever regard weak men may have to these Vanities the wisest among the very Heathens have concluded that there is no plague so deadly to man as the pleasures of the body And that comes to pass through the depravation of our Natures whereby we can hardly enjoy them but we run mad upon them we exceed the limits and miss the ends which should be observed in the using of them Wherefore Cicero tells of Sophocles who being askâ—…d whether he did still converse with Womankind answered The Gods have done better for me I have willingly left that furious Master Indeed the greatest
part of the Pleasures aforesaid do belong only to the brutal part of man and consequently the defect of them little concerns the Rational Creature For as a late worthy Author saith None can think God so unkind to his own Image in humane nature as in dispensing Felicity to assign the larger share to the Beast No all these sensual Pleasures are so distracting or so fulsome or so transient that the utmost fruition of them cannot make a man happy nor the want of them miserable And this is the more Evident in that the wisest men have found the greatest Pleasure in refusing those pleasures and as an Epicure hath eaten for his pleasure so many an Abstemious man hath profest that he hath forborn for his pleasure also Again as the Aged person is deprived of these Pleasures so he is freed from any Desires after them As his sensual Delights fail so his Desires to them fail also As he hath not the Pleasure of Scratching so he is free from the trouble of Itching and what man ever complains of such a want We are never molested by the want of any thing which we do not desire Neither is Old-age without it's particular Pleasures Tully tells us of divers Old-men that diverted themselves with great delight in their Studies And for those that have any smattering of Learning there is no Earthly Pleasure comparable to that of penetrating into the works of Creation and Providence of observing the Natures Causes and Effects of those things the Surface whereof only is known to younger people Furthermore the Religious Old person hath an unexpressible Pleasure in the Reflexion of a well-spent Life and upon the various Preservations and Deliverances which the Lord hath vouchsafed him out of many Temptations and Afflictions They have also the solid comfort of seeing their Posterity grow up in the endowments of Mind Body or Estate and so of a Generation after them to serve and honour God while the World stands There are also several honest Recreations in which their Years do not hinder them And however it can be no disparagement to them if they can take as much Pleasure in Reading and Meditating upon Gods Word as ever they did in any other Divertisement whatsoever This is certain that their Pleasures are more Pure more Sound more Strong and more Lasting than the frothy and unsatisfactory pleasures of Sense and Sin which are but for a Season Finally Sickness of Body or Trouble of Mind to both which the Young are equally obnoxious as the Old are able to divorce the youngest persons from all sensible Pleasures and to cloath their Faces with sadness so that this Inconvenience must not be so appropriated to Old-age but that any Age may partake thereof Even St. Augustine tells us that in his younger years he had contracted such sadness upon his Spirits upon occasion of his good Mothers Death that nothing could comfort him He went into the Bath hoping for some refreshment thereby but his sorrow met him when he came out again A thousand Accidents may fix such sorrow even upon young people which all the Pleasures in the World cannot remove And tho the consideration of their own and others Sins and of the Effects of them do make them often sad yet there is both a secret comfort at the bottom of it and a certain Ioy at the end of it they know what belongs to the Laughter of the Soul and have frequent tasts of the joy that is unspeakable SECT II. A Second Inconvenience which attends Old-age is this That their Strength and Beauty is decreased Those Arms and Hands which once were able and useful for any imployment are now scarce strong and steady enough to feed themselves The Legs and Thighs that have carried them many a pleasant journey yea to many an holy Exercise are grown stiff and weak and grudge to carry them up Stairs to Bed. Yea that Back which was the support of the whole building and many a Load that was piled upon it begins to bow and bend and can scarce carry it self erect Their Parts and Members in general are quite enervated and spent as if they were weary of their Imployment so that there seems to be left little of a Man but his Shape according to the Proverb Senex est non est He is old and so is No-body Like some ruinated Palace here was the stately Porch there the fair Stair-case the shape of a fair Parlour below and the shadow of an handsome Chamber above so here the Carkass of the Man remains but the Beauty is changed into wrinkles and the Strength into weakness They had a pleasant prospect in their Glass but their Flesh hath bid them farewell their Roses and Lillies are withered and a wan duskishness hath taken possession their Strength and Beauty are buried both together So that it was a Saying among the Romans Sexagenarius de ponte dejiciendus He is sixty make away with him For when a mans Strength is gone he seems to be useless He can neither defend himself nor help others He can neither fight in War nor labour in Peace Whether he be in the Temple or in the Campaign whether he be in the Shop or in the Field he is quickly weary He that could run to Sin can hardly creep to Church He that had Strength to vanquish his Adversary hath now scarce strength to wrestle with his Cough and the burden of his discourse is I have known the time that I could have done this and that Thus Milo that prodigious man of strength when coming in his Old-age to see them exercise in the Olympick Games is said to look down with tears on his own Arms and to cry Alas these now are dead Yet this Loss some Aged persons can better bear than Others can digest the decay of their Beauty O to be lean withered and deformed vexeth them at the Heart They cannot look upon themselves with Patience and they conclude that when they be so unwelcome to themselves they must be unacceptable to every body else Job 14. 20. Thou changest their Countenance and sendest them away But yet neither of these Inconveniences are chargeable upon Old-age it self For as Tully well observes the defects of strength whereof we are sensible do rather proceed from the Vices of our Youth than from the fault of Old-age An intemperate Youth transmits a weak body unto the time of Old-age and then we lay all the blame on Age. Galen in one place tells us About the 28th year of my Age when I knew there was a certain way to preserve Health I followed the same all my life after so that I was never Sick but of an Ague for a day and that seldom and thereby he was vegete and brisk at Sevenscore years of Age. And M. Valerius Corvinus was strong enough to be the sixth time Consul when he was an hundred years old Whereas on the contrary a Luxurious
Soul. When it is lodg'd in a ruinous body it is stifled within it self for want of motion and move it cannot or but lamely for want of Organs It is like a traveller with a tired Horse he spurs and strains but his Horse is foundred so here the Soul would pray and meditate and flie upward but the dead weight of a crazy Body hinders so that both his flesh upon him hath pain and his Soul within him doth mourn Job 14. 22. But yet this Burden is not to be appropriated to Old-age as if they and they only were the subject of distempers and of pain For if we observe it we shall find Diseases more common yea and more dangerous among Young people than among Old In the Sacred Story you will meet with more young People brought to our Saviour for Cure than Old. There was Iairus daughter there was the Noblemans son there was the Syrophenicians daughter and then the Centurions servant with many others In contagious Diseases it 's evident that they are sooner infected and every Register will inform us that a far greater number of Infants and Young People are yearly carried to their long home than of Aged Persons And then for Casualties there are far more of young and middle-aged persons that are slain and taken captives than of the Old. Neither are all Aged people so laden with these pains and distempers many of them having a very convenient measure of health to their lives end Thus Tully brings in Cato at eighty four years of age declaring that notwithstanding these years he was well enough to appear in the Senate to defend his Client and to entertain his Friends And Masinissa King of Mauritania that at fourscore and ten years old he would not be perswaded to ride in his journeys or to be covered on his head in the hardest frost or sharpest storm And one of the old men mentioned in the first chapter made nothing of walking twenty miles to dine with a Relation when he was above an hundred years old Neither are these Diseases always the fruits of Old-age but rather of an heedless and intemperate youth This layes up such crudities surfeits and noxious humours which lurk in us till Old-age and then seize upon us and then we find fault with the Choler in our Stomack but forget the sweet meats which have caused it So that this Inconvenience doth neither befall all Old People nor only them nor only upon the account of their Old-age The best Supports however for the Aged under their Maladies are a deep Study on the Wisdom Power Goodness and Promises of God. His Wisdom whereby he knows what condition is best for us His Power whereby he hath all Diseases at his Command as the Centurion had his servants His Goodness whereby he pities us more than the tenderest Parent doth his weak Child who also knoweth our frame and remembers that we are but dust Psal. 103. 13 14. His Promises that he will not afflict without need Lam. 3. 33. that he will correct in measure Jer. 30. 11. that he will not leave us Psal. 23. 4. that all shall work for the best Rom. 8. 28. that he will cease when his good Ends are accomplished Lam. 3. 22. And then we should revolve the great Benefit and use of them For by our Distempers the Lord is pleased to shew us more effectually the frailty of our Condition the Evil of sin the Vanity of the World and many other Lessons that are not commonly learn'd otherwise It 's plain that these are fair warnings to us to provide a better house for the Soul that will endure In this Disease said Old Olevian I have learned to know aright what sin is and what the Majesty of God is Nay said that Learned Rivet near his death I have learned more Divinity in these Ten dayes of my Sickness than in Fifty years before it hath sent me home into my self And now who would not be Content with such useful Discipline To conclude try it who will there is no Condition of Life without some Inconvenience Marriage is desired they are S. Basil's words but how many troubles in it Children are long'd for but how many griefs with them rich People are counted happy but how many thorns are found there These are the tributes of Life which if a man know how to bear patiently his Soul will be bettered and his Vertues adorned Our business is to prepare for them beforehand to lay up a stock of Prayers of Patience of Promises of Faith of Evidences and when they come to possess our Souls in patience to resign up our selves to the holy will of God and if we cannot turn off this our Burden to carry it with all the ease and satisfaction we can and to keep a sound mind if we cannot have a sound body SECT VI. A Sixth Inconvenience in Old-age is that it is broken with Crosses and outward Troubles These though they meet us in every stage of our life yet a whole troop of them commonly fall upon us in Old-age Then doth Poverty often come as an armed man His getting dayes are gone now his spending time is come And if he have need of much and yet hath little in store he seems to be in a miserable Condition The Cynick Philosopher when he was asked what was the most calamitous Creature in the world confidently answered It was an indigent Old person Likewise every body is ready to injure and run down the Aged reckoning that they are least able to defend themselves For as to the weakest part of the body there is a confluence of all humours which settle there so very often it falls out that a combination of troubles seize upon Aged people Ioh. 21. 18. Verily verily I say unto thee when thou wast young thou girdedst thy self and walkedst whither thou wouldst but when thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldst not And of these Troubles the sharpest are from their Relations the Disobedience of some or the Death of others How doth the pride prodigality or wilfulness of Children or Grand-children provoke and grieve the hoary head And how many Aged persons see husband wife children and other dear Friends and Relations posted to the grave before them which do each of them as it were tear away a piece of him and leave him as a sparrow alone upon the house-top In short Old-age is recorded as the Sink of mans life into which run all the miseries incident to humane nature And that which makes this Burden more grievous is That these seize upon the persons when their strength is spent their spirits low and their bodily infirmities many They are within sight of the shore and yet in danger to be sunk and wrack'd with the storms which beat upon them When they had thought all their troubles had been blown over it frets them sore to meet them
be afraid going to receive your just punishment but hoping for my reward in the other Life I am not amazed with this at all But now when a man hath set his House and Heart in order and finisht his work he may sing his Nunc dimittis with comfort and say as that holy Woman x I am one that neither wisheth Death nor feareth his might but as merry as one that 's bound for Heaven 4. There is much Folly in this slavish fear of Death A holy Care to prepare for it is far better than an unprofitable Fear For the passion of Fear is planted in us for the avoiding of things hurtful but there is no avoiding of this fate There is no man that hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit and there is no discharge in that War Eccles. 8. 8. That disquiet is therefore foolish that torments but profits not How can the mind be quiet at any time which is afraid of what is impendent at all times It is observed by Seneca that neither Children nor Idiots are afraid of Death and he infers that it is a base thing that Reason I add the Scripture should not work as much security in us as Folly doth in them Shall learned Old men fear that which foolish Young men do not O wretched Old man said Tully that in so long life hast not learn'd to despise Death I end this with the Observation of Iudicious Mr. Calvin He that cannot quiet his Heart in the holy contempt of Death hath profited but little in the Faith of Christ. Let it therefore be the business of each Aged person to be reconciled to Death to be dying daily by Mortifying your affections to all the vanities of this life and by meditating on the life to come Never fret at that Death which leads you to immortality Rather rejoyce that you are taking leave of a World of Sin and taking flight into a Land of uprightness O Father said an Officer to a noble Ancient Persian Minister that trembled at the approach of Death shut your Eyes but a little and you shall see God in Glory And thus I conclude this Particular that too many Old people never fear Death for they never spend thoughts about it that the young have as much reason to apprehend it as the Old that a slavish fear of it is folly in any and that no good man needs to be affrighted but rather comforted with it So that upon a just Survey of all the Inconveniences of Old-age all Aged persons may answer as Tully tells of one Gorgias who being 107 years old was asked why he was contented to live so long Why said he I have nothing whereof to accuse Old-age and the truth is it seems perverse and unreasonable that all people should desire to attain unto it and then when they have attain'd it to dislike it Difficulties and Disadvantages there are with it Whereof no Age or condition is free but they are Tolerable and Ordinable to the good of all that fear God. And so much may suffice for this fifth Point to be handled CHAP. VI. The Priviledges of Old-age SECT I. I Proceed now in the Sixth place to discourse the Priviledges and Comforts of Old-age That there is some peculiar Blessing and Dignity in Old-age is evident both by the Light of Scripture and the Light of Nature The First Commandment with promise is Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee The like Promise you will find Psal. 91. last With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my Salvation Which shews that Old-age whatever Inconveniences it is attended withall is in its self a special Blessing And on the Contrary it is threatned as an heavy Judgment unto Eli that God would cut off his Arm and the Arm of his Fathers House that is he would take away his might and the strength of his Family in that there should not be an Old man in his House 1 Sam. 2. 31. And in general that bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days Psal. 55. last Whereupon holy David prays Psal. 102. 24. O my God take me not away in the midst of my days Finally the Holy Ghost assures us that the Beauty of old men is the Gray Head Psal. 20. 29. By all which it plainly appears that Old-age is a desirable Mercy in the judgment of God himself Agreeable hereunto is the Ancient Hebrew Proverb in Ben Syra to this effect Senex in domo bonum signum in domo And if that be a real good thing which all men desire then certainly there is some peculiar Goodness in Old-age for that all men desire to attain it So also we mingle among our good wishes to others this of a long life When Kings and Grandees are saluted this is the common Acclamation that they may live long and if it were possible live for ever And Antiquity is so valuable a thing that not only Families and Cities but Nations have had long and sharp disputes about the Antiquity of their respective people as the Egyptians Phoenicians Scythians And the Athenians had this Character affixed upon them that they could discourse well but the Lacedemonians could do well because an aged person coming upon a time into a great Assembly at Athens had no Respect given him but at Sparta in the like Convention they all rose up to seat him So that it grew Proverbial That Old-age dwelt most like its self at Sparta So then as there are some Inconveniences in Old-age which yet as you have seen have divers things to mitigate them so it hath many Priviledges and Comforts which do over-ballance them God hath set the one over against the other to the end that man should find nothing after him There is only this difference that all our Troubles spring from below but all our Mercies drop from above The particular Priviledges and Comforts of Old-age are these following First Old-age is Greater in Authority than any other Age. There is an Authory resulting from the Law of Nature as well as that which is conferr'd by Civil Laws the former is that wherewith Old-age is invested God himself who is the Fountain of Honour hath given them a Patent for it so that their Authority hath something in it divine and they seem to have a kind of Natural Government over others Hereby the Sentence or Opinion of the Aged may well conclude as much as the Arguments of the younger and he must have a great deal of Wisdom or of Confidence that shall contradict what a wise Aged person hath asserted That there is a certain Authority in Old-age is plain from divers Scriptures As Isa. 9. 15. The Ancient and the Honourable he is the Head. Now we know that the Head is the Seat of Rule When Moses had occasion for some Coadjutors with
felicity in Heaven that no Sin lodgeth there and the Aged person is hastning thither and consequently strives to break this Yoke and fit himself for that Estate As the pleasures he hath had in these is gone so his desires after them are gone also He now finds that there is more Satisfaction in not desiring them than there is in enjoying of them and so is far from being grieved at his releasement from those Shackles He would not live over again his sinful life for all the world and he is concern'd not because they are past but because at any time they had dominion Yea he finds more real content in his Poenitential Tears than ever he had in his Youthful Frolicks with what contempt doth he behold the Debaucheries the Duels and the frothy Follies of the roaring Sparks which they triumph in as in an Heaven upon Earth But he hath fathom'd them and found them empty as vanity and filthy as the Mire He now believes what he had often heard that the pleasures of Sin are but like a golden dream which leave nothing but Pensiveness behind them till God upon his repentance restore unto him the joys of his Salvation Now the Varnish of his Sin is worn off he sees the filthy and ugly nature of it and wonders that any rational person should ever love it He is now frighted at the remembrance of those Pranks that he formerly committed without remorse and in short he is well pleased that he hath a weak body instead of his strong corruption and is ready with that excellent Philosopher to count his Old-age his flourishing age because he only finds his Vices and the fewel of them withered and that his mind began now to be freed from the Snares wherein it was held by the Body c. Let every Aged person labour to find these blessed Effects and so be content with the fall of that House which was continually haunted with such Furies But take heed of being only Passive in this parting these Fires should not only go out of themselves but should be quenched by true Mortification It is not sufficient that Sin be dead in you but you must be dead to it you must be Active in the Crucifixion of it or else the Corruption of one vice will be the Generation of another If ye through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the Body ye shall live Rom. 8. 13. SECT IV. THE Fourth Priviledge of Old-age is That it is Proner to Piety True and solid Piety is the Dominion of Gods Fear and Love in the Heart of Man and exerts its self in the constant Practice of all the Duties of Religion in a conscientious manner For in Religion there is a Body and a Soul. The Body of it consists in the Form of Godliness the Soul of it is that which animates all the outward Acts and is fitly called the Power of Godliness for that the Activity and force of any thing proceeds from the Soul or inward Principle Now the separating this form and power of Godliness like as that of the Soul and Body is the death of Godliness And therefore though we prefer the Soul or inside of Religion yet we divorce it not from the Body but do take Piety in it's just Latitude comprehending the Acts of Devotion from a right principle in a right manner and to a right end and expressing it self in a sober righteous and godly life And however the prophane Atheist may wickedly deride it on the one hand or the rotten Hypocrite falsly pretend it on the other yet there is a wonderful excellency in it and an absolute necessity of it even the Consciences of it's greatest Enemies first or last being Iudges To this serious Piety Old-age is more propense than any other age of man. Insomuch as we find divers in Scripture and other Stories bent for Heaven in their declining years who in the former parts of their lives minded nothing but the World and the Flesh. They whom no Perswasions no Ordinances no Afflictions could fully reduce to the obedience of Christ yet the lively sense and feeling of their own decay and of their approach to the eternal Judgment obligeth them to true repentance and to make their calling and election sure So that it hath pass'd for an Observation that they who are not fair at twenty strong at thirty wise at forty rich at fifty pious at sixty are never like to be fair or strong or wise or rich or religious When any man is warn'd out of the House he lives in laying aside all other unnecessary business he sets himself to provide another Habitation Now every decay of strength of sense every gray Hair or Wrinkle is a sensible warning out of the earthly House of his Tabernacle and he must be strangely stupid that buckles not in good earnest to provide for his Soul when not only it may suddenly but must shortly go either to Heaven or Hell. These kind of Sentiments caused that learned Grotius to profess when he approached Death that he would gladly exchange all his Learning and Honour for the plain integrity of one Iean Urick who was a devout poor man that spent eight hours of his time in Devotion eight in Labour and but eight in Sleep and all other Refreshments So also that great States-man S t Tho. Smith Secretary of State to Q. Elizabeth some time before he fell sick sent for Directions to two Bishops how he might live most piously and make his peace with God Besides all the unruly Passions being now cooled by time and years Reason obtains a fair hearing and the Spirit of God gets a compleat victory over the Heart that had resisted so long Even as a City which hath been long besieg'd and often summoned to surrender yet stands it out till provisions begin to fail and that the defender of it sees the Walls terribly shaken and then he finds it high time to capitulate and deliver it so Almighty God calls and cryes and knocks time after time at the sinners Heart but it is heedless of these calls it 's feasted and filled with the Vanities of this present life but when it finds all the Fabrick ready to fall upon it's Head and no provision made for a future and eternal State it is high time to be getting Oyl and laying up a good foundation for the time to come And for those who have been well disposed before yet Old-age is a great Incentive to greater holiness As a Man in sailing saith Mr. Bradford the nearer he comes to the Shore the nearer he would be so the nearer I am to God the nearer still I would be A person of years must needs have a more clear and comprehensive knowledge of the Doctrine and Duties of Christianity of the life of Faith of Mortification of the extent of the Divine Law of the Nature and Power of Godliness and having more leisure and being somewhat retired out of
occasion of this groundless Expectation in that rich man Luk. 12 our Saviour plainly calls him Thou fool For it is the rankest folly to expect when winter is coming that it will relent and retire again because we distast it No more will Death forbear us but when our Name is called we must go But this vain expectation of a longer life unfits us for Death it keeps the Soul secure and careless we deferr that till to morrow which should be done to day we lose the present time and dispose of the future which is not in our hands but in Gods This causes Men to procrastinate their Repentance to deferr the Good works which they have purposed to do yea the very making of their Last Will hath been protracted hereupon by many until they have bin uncapable to do it Let all Aged persons therefore be advised to set Death each morning between themselves and the ensuing night and every night make that reasonable supposition that it may arrest you before morning The messenger that you have so long looked for will not amaze you when he comes As the meeting of a stroke breaks the force of it so the Sting of death is in a great measure lost when we are first aware of it He that in this respect dyes daily will easily and happily dye at last SECT VI. THE Sixth Work of Old-age is Providence for Posterity Too many when they are going out of this World care not what becomes either Temporally or Eternally of those that shall come after them And accordingly will neither plant'a Tree nor repair an House nor do any thing for the benefit of Posterity They cry It will serve our time and so suffer all things to go to ruine because they are removing into another world themselves yea and commit or permit wilfull wast divers ways for somepresent small advantage leaving great inconveniences to their Successors whereas the very Heatheus had better principles and injoyned their Old men to plant trees c. which might be usefull to another Generation Thus a man may be benefiting others still after he is dead and gone and God may be praised for your care and kindness by them which succeed you And another sort there are that in stead of leaving any Blessing or benefit do lay up a Curse for their Posterity by leaving them Estates which they have got by Fraud and Injustice or some unconscionable course which is the ready way to melt away the rest how justly soever obtained You cannot invent a more compendious and infallible means to undoe all your Posterity than by transferring to them Goods or Estates indirectly gotten for God is righteous and will not prosper unrighteous dealings Those riches will perish by evil travel and he begetteth a Son and there is nothing in his hand Eccl. 5. 14. But if you have any care or concern for your Posterity lay up a stock of Prayers for them and leave them as is aforemention'd wholsome and good Rules concerning Piety Equity and Charity Leave them an Account of your own Experience in all things material that so if they have any brains they may cheaply learn what you have dearly bought And especially leave them a Copy of your own good Example which will be a constant Monitor and Check to them in the whole course of their conversation But these having bin touched before that which remains for the Peace Comfort and good of Posterity is a Prudent and seasonable Settling of your outward Estate It is strange to see the great backwardness of many Aged persons to this work as if making their Will would either lessen their Estates or shorten their Lives a gross and groundless Opinion whereas the neglecting of this affair hath a train of very ill consequences particularly many of the most tedious Suits of Law are occasion'd thereby mutual Love among Relations spoiled the poor overcome by the rich the simple by the cunning the Orphan by the Guardian and very often the whole Estate squandred away in trying for it What a folly is this to neglect that which would both quiet your own minds and preserve quiet among them that come after Ten lines discreetly written would prevent ten thousand lines when you are dead When the Lord therefore sent a Message of Death by the Prophet Isaiah to King Hezekiah he commanded him to set his house in order Isa. 38. 1. as if that work must of right go before his death The Aged person then ought to present this Message daily to his Soul Man Woman set thy house in order For since it is uncertain in what place or in what moment Death waiteth for us it behoves us to wait for it in every place and every moment and consequently to set not only the heart but the house in Order And in the doing of this work let Reason and Iudgment over-rule Passion and Affection If need be advise in Law the neglect whereof renders the Testaments of many persons nothing but Bones of Contention and so the sparing of a small Fee at present proves the spending of many in a short time But however weigh your Purposes in a good Conscience and remember that you are only Deputies under God whose you are and your whole Estate that it be so Devised as may agree with his Revealed will Think with your selves what judgment wise and impartial persons will pass upon your Disposals when you are in the grave Pray therefore unto God on this occasion that he would first Direct and then Establish your Purposes which is the likeliest way to bring them to pass And dispatch this affair Timcusly while you are in health and strength For you can never do it as you would nor perhaps as you should when you are in the power of those that stand waiting for your Estate They who are so weak that they must be beholden to their Relations for every Refreshment they have need of cannot have the liberty or opportunity to order their affairs in an impartial manner What if upon the alteration of your circumstances you revise your Will and alter it every year Is it not much better to be at that trouble than either to deferr it till you can make none at all or such as must savour greatly of your present weakness Do not imagine that the Expedition of this will hasten your Death For what influence or efficacy can this have to procure any such effect It were easie to produce those that have never bin without a Will written and sealed for Thirty or Forty years together It affords a man great satisfaction in case any sudden sickness seize upon him that he hath nothing of any earthly affairs to trouble him nothing to do but to bear or to be relieved of his distemper For when our inward State is fixed and our outward State is settled yet we shall find it work enough to grapple with the disquiets of a disease and with the pangs of Death
adolescentibus verecundia Bern. de ordin vitae m Temeritas est florentis aetatis prudentia senectutis Cicer. de senect n Senex plus prospicit meliùs consulit minus decipitur certiùs judicâ—…it Palaeol o M. Castritius Placentinus Carboni consuli Val Max. p Difficile est verba dare seni Proverb q Misera quippe est senectus quae praeter rugas canos nil senile habet Cicero r Senectus aetate fit doctior usu tritior processu temporis sapientior Hier. ad Nepotia Ut aequalium usus dulcior it a senex tutior est Amb. de offic c. 43. s Senectus nostra albescat canis sapientiae non marcescat carnis vetustate Aug in Ps. 112. t Consilia senum hastas juvenum esse u Infirmitas corporis est sobrietas mentis Ambros Hex lib 1. c. 8. â—… 4. Patience w Patientia est honestatis utilitatis causà rerum arduarum ac difficilium voluntaria diuturna perâ—… Cicero x Patientia servunt Domino dominum Deo commendat faeminar exornat virum approbat amatur in puero laudatur in juvene suspicitur in sene Tert. de pat c. 15. y Patientia iram temperat linguam fraenat mentem gubernat pacem custodit Cyprian § 5. Stedfastness z He dyed at 107 years having lived in nine Kings and Queens reigns a Pius esse nequit qui non est fortis Dr. Sanderson b Sola mens senescens juvenescit Plutarch †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazian § 6. Temperance c Sobrietas corporis mentis Rivet Vinum lac senum Plato de legibus Dial. 2. d Habeo senectutis magnam gratiam quae mihi sermonis aviditatem auxit potionis cibi sustulit Cato in Cicerone e Amor in puero pudor in virgine rubor in fâ—…minâ furâ—…r in juvene ardor in sene risus Epictet § 7. Love. f Charitas dicit alioram bona certa mâ—…liora certa mala minora bona dubia certa dubia mala nulla g Occultis se notis noscunt amant mutuò penè antequam noverint Min. Fel. h Principium vitae fides finis charitas haec duo perficiunt Dei hominem Ignatius i Old Fish old Oil and an old Friend are best Ital. Proverb Cap. 5. The Inconveniences of Old-age k Malè a particulari ad universale argument antur nec distinguere volunt aut valent interea quae propriè senectuti conveniunt ea quae ei ex accidenti adveniunt quae omnibus vitae gradibus aut communia sunt aut non infrequentia Rivet desen bonâ l Senectus mare malorum Plaut m Extreme displicent Geier in loc n Miseria est copia tribulationis inopia consolationis §. 1. It is deprived of Pleasures o Magnum munus senectutis est quod id nobis aufert quod in adolescentia est vitiosissimum Cicer. p Nulla capitalior pestis est quam corporis voluptas Architas Tarent q Dii melipra libenter 〈◊〉 tanquam a Domino â—…urioso proâ—…ugi Cicer. de senect r Gentlemans Calling s Nihil autem molestum quod non desideramus Non caret is qui non desiderat Cicer. t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato § 2. Strength and Beauty decreased u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. miâ—… x Intemperans Adolescentia effaetum corpus tradit senectuti Cicer. y Ista ipsae defectio virium adolescentiae vitiis efficitur saepius quam senectuti Id. z Non sunt senibus vires nec postulantur vires à senectute Cicero a Euripides b Quid times ne te abjiciat in tempore senectutis cum defecerit virtus tuâ—… Immo tunc in te erit virtus ejus quando defecerit virtus tua Aug. in Psal. 70. § 3 Faculties weakned c In omnibus iis studiorum agitatio vitae aequalis fuit Cicer. §. 4. Senses decayed d Constant Visus Auditus nec quicquam in iis imminutum experior Guil. River aetatis 70. Nec dum caligant oculi eo usque ut perspicillis opus sit And. Rivet aetat 78. e Sozom. lib. 3. c. 14. Hieron ep ad Abigaum §. 5. Distemper and Pain Senectus incurabilis morbus f Dr. Harris his Sermon on Hezekiah's recovery g Faciliùs in morbos incidune adolescentes graviùs aegrotant tristiùs curantur Cicer h Hom. 11. in Hex §. 6. Broken with Crosses i Nihil infelicius mihi eo videtur cui nihil unquam evenit adversi Seneca k Chamier l Quod diu vivendo multa quae non vult videt R. Et multa fortasse quae vult Cicer. m Quo fortiter fortuita patiamur naturae consentiamus Senec. n Optimum est pati quod emendare non possis Deum quo auctore cuncta proveniunt sine murmuratione comitari malus miles est qui Imperatorem gemens sequitur Sen. §. 7. Attended with Contempt o Beatus juvenis qui benè vivit sed magis beatus est senex qui benè vixit quod enim juvenis sperat adeptus est senex Ambr. de Iacob vit beat c. 8. §. 8. Disabled from Service p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato q Nullane res seniles sunt quae vel infirmis corporibus animo tamen administrentur Cicer. §. 9. Unfit for Religious Exercises §. 10. Terrified with the approach of Death r Plerique inter mortis metum vitae tormenta miseri fluctuant vivere nolunt mori nesciunt Sen. Ep. 4. s Casus nunciat mortem latentem infirmitas apparentem senectus presentem Ex incertituditudine timor ex infirmitate dolor ex certitudine afflictio Palaeot ex Hug. de claustr anim t Every thing is good that is agreeable to Nature what more natural than for an old man to dy u The Godly in Death is alive Hebr. Prov. w Vita Christi instruxit nostram mors Christi destruxit nostram Bern. z Mrs. Ann Aiscough y Mortem timere dementis estquia certa expectantur dubia metuuntur Senec Ep. 30. z Nulli potest secura vita contingere qui de producenda nimis cogitat Id. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Menecrates Valeant sâ—…olidi illi qui dum abest senectus eam optant dum adest accusant Cicer Cap. 6. The Priviledges of Old-age b Ad multos Annos c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proverb Lacedemone esse honestefri domi inline senectutis Cicero § 1. It is greater in Authority d Qui cum refugeret Apostolum se scrsbere senioremscripsit Ambros. in Psal. 37. e Arist. polit lib. 7. cap. 14. f Ut quisqaetate antecellit ita sententiae principatum tenet Ciâ—…r g Senibus Authoritas major 〈◊〉 quod plurâ—… nôsse vidisse creduntâ—…r Quintil lib. 1â—… c c 4. h Multum est quod à sapiente vel tacente proficias Senec i Non cani noâ—…rugae repentè authoritatem aferre possunt sâ—…d honestè acta superior aetas â—…ructus capit authoritatis extremos Cicero § 2.