Selected quad for the lemma: father_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
father_n	experience_n	young_a	youth_n	54	3	7.5800	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01992	The wise vieillard, or old man. Translated out of French into English by an obscure Englishman, a friend and fauourer of all wise old-men; Sage vieillard. English	Goulart, Simon, 1543-1628.; Williamson, Thomas, 1593-1639.; T. W., obscure Englishman.	1621 (1621)	STC 12136; ESTC S103357	144,385	222

Zenophon there are found to this purpose in question many worthy sayings Valerius Maximus in the eight booke of his Collection of auncient memorable acts and sayings doth set forth many notable examples of famous old men whereof some haue hitherto beene propounded by vs. It shall then be enough to adde yet some testimonies drawne and culled out of the hoard and treasurie of Stobeus in his hundred and sixteenth Discourse in fauour of old age The experience of old men can reueale and discouer more wisedome then the trauailes sweating endeuours tugging and striuing of young men It is true that the hands of young men are strong to execute but the braines of old men doe better seruice and preuaile and performe more For time is the father that begets varietie of wisedome and prudence Loue to commune and aduise with old men and abandon the foolish deuices and fond imaginations of young men wherein there is nothing appeares but vainenesse and fopperie So it is that the pleasure of a vitious and sinfull contentment doth not laste long Old age is not so neere the end of life as it is neere the threshold of the dore which opens to an assured happie life Hee that will take vpon him the wardship and tuition of some young man and to haue him well brought vp doth commit him to a wise old man euen as to qualifie strong fuming wines we doe brewe them with water Old men who are free and ridd of the so many euill lustes wherein young men doe furiously plunge themselues become like vnto God Also old men liue and die as if they were rather asleepe whereas the life and death of young men resembles boystrous tempestes and violent ship-wrackes It will be obiected against whatsoeuer I can all edge in fauour of old age that the heathens also haue spoken verie disgracefully and reprochfully of it witnes the hundred and seauenteenth discourse of Stobeus the scoffing taunts and quipps both of the Greeke and Latine comicall and Satyricall Poets in their Tractates And hee he may goe for a witnesse to who compares old age to Wine that is lowe and almost nothing but lees to a ware-house full of refuse and brayded wares whereof there is no reckoning to bee made to a sanctuarie or place of refuge whereunto all sortes of euilles seeme to retyre as to their garrison and hold to an eccho to a shadow to a vanishing dreame and to the dead time of Winter Horace in his art of Poetrie doth pensill and picture out an old man in this manner Many are the miseries of wretched man that is old Either because he hazards himselfe to get money and gold And when he hath got it his wretchednesse is such He dares not lay out a penny he loues it so much Or because in all things he takes in hand and goes about He is fearefull vnweldie full of suspition and doubt He puts off the day of death still his minde doth him giue And he verely hopes many a day longer to liue He lies lusking at home and loues to heare men relate All newes whatsoeuer yea the secrets of State He complaines of the times present is pensiue and sad And sayes his fore-fathers dayes were nothing so bad Iuuenal in his tenth Satyre describeth the infirmities of such old age But if wee heedfully consider the scoffing speeches of these Authors it will soone appeare that they speake either of the diseases of the body or of old age that is decrepit worne out quite spent and done not regarding the commodious helpes and vses of wise old men For otherwise to what dangers and disasters are young men exposed vnto And when should wee make an end if wee should take vpon vs to make a Catalogue of them The Heathens haue confessed that a young man was happy not in regard of his age but his vertue They haue affirmed as much of an old man adding further That an old man is already possessed of that which a young man expects and hopes for And what doe young men ayme at and hope after but to liue to a great age and to be old men They haue compared young men vnto men tossed vp and downe to and fro with the windes and waues in the middest of the Sea and old men to passengers which are neere their port and readie to caste Anchor Ought we to maruaile sayth Cicero if old men be sometimes feeble and decayed in strength seeing that young men cannot be exempt and priuilledged from consumptions or pynings away of the bodie There is no infirmitie whatsoeuer in old age which the wiser old men are not prepared and armed for and with greatnesse of courage and patience doe easily sustayne and endure Whereunto the verses of Horace doe fitly sort and agree who sayth If God to thee a time doe giue Wherein thou mayest full happie liue Most ioyfully this time embrace Doe not neglect too long a space The happie houre of thy Fate To enioy a life more fortunate But to the world proclaime throughout Thou art a voluntarie Souldier and stout And wilt not from thy coullors flie But stand thy ground couragiously And in another place he sayth Irkesome it is to be annoyde With euill a man cannot auoide But that which is past remedie Man beares at last contentedly When patience hath him vnder awe Yeelding obedience to her law Put case then that old age hath his opponents assaults and be exposed to diuers disasters and miseries so hath it also strong and fit weapons stratagemes directories and practised vertues to helpe at need Old mens mindes are still entire and sound so long as they are invred to studie and exercised Though their legges faile them their wittes doe not as Homer sayth bringing in Nestor speaking in this manner I will with my Counsell and Orations excite and pricke forward the youthes and young men This is the trade and practise of old men who haue more wisedome and iudgement then others and as Ovid affirmeth It is time that ripens experience The counsell and sawe of old men hath in it somewhat I know not what that is pleasing to heare gracefull and of venerable regard and well liking Euen as we see the Sunne at his decline With golden rayes more pleasingly to shine If Seneca the Tragedian bee heerein to be beleeued And it there be to bee found foolish impertinent and vnprofitable old men they are no other then fountaines without water forrests grubd vp and gladed trees without fruit starres without light and all their imperfections and defects proceed from ill education Remember saith Cicero that I commend that old age which hath had early good beginnings and beene well taught and trayned vp from childhood and youth For that old age is miserable that can plead nothing else for Atiquitie but the wrinckles of the face and the white haires Moreouer the more old age sees the time to approach of appearing before the tribunall of the Soueraigne Iudge the lesse it apprehends

had of some comfort after many sorrowes and afflictions yet may it be said that the world was then in his prime and best dayes At which time these good Patriarches were not booke learned but all the knowledge they had in naturall Philosophy or in the course of the Starres they got it by long obseruation and experience which from the grandfathers and fathers were deliuered ouer and taught to their children and to their childrens children as Iosephus witnesseth in his first booke of Antiquities and third Chapter Many wondering heereat haue mooued this question whether it be likely or probable that the Patriarched liued so long as nine hundred yeares and vpwards as our first father Adam Methusula and Noah did Some curious wits whose maner is to measure euery thing by the meat-wand and rule of their owne ouerweening pride who because they could not perswade themselues that the years of the Patriarches were composed of twelue moneths or of three hundred threescore fiue dayes euery day hauing foure and twenty houres and euery houre his ordinary minutes haue imagined as Saint Augustine reports in his 15. Booke De ciuitate Dei chap 10. 12. that the yeares of the first world were not reckoned according to our present computation and style but that one of our yeares now is as much in the ballance of account as tenne yeare then and they held their opinion for currant and to bee approoued for that the people of the old world doe still to this day differ about the calculation of the yeare For the AEgyptians had their yeare of foure moneths the Acarnans of sixe and the Lauinians of thirteene moneths Plinie the second hauing written that the Histories make mention of two whereof one liued one hundred fiftie and two yeares and the other liued two hundred yeares and of many that liued till they were eight hundred yeeres old addeth that the ignorance of the times gaue credit to such tales and reports because there were of the antienter men of those times that did shut vp and inclose the yeare within the seaesons thereof some of them reckoning the yeare by the summer season others did put the summer and winter season together and made two yeares of them both and some of them did reckon the interuall and space from the change of the Moone to the last day of the wayne for a whole yeere But besides that the history of the Deluge being heedfully looked into and examined according to his moneths and dayes doth confute this errour Saint Augustine declareth that such coniectures can haue no force or authoritie in this dispute and driueth these curious disputers into a manifest absurditie For if seuenty yeare 's then were but seuen of our yeares now Kenan when he was seuen yeares old begot his sonne Mahalaleel and Mahalaleel being onely fiue yeares old and a halfe should haue had Iered as Henoch also at the same age should haue begot his sonne Methusula But not to stand and relye vpon the vaine disputes of prophane people who being ignorant in the Art of Astronomy and Celestiall motions haue inuented yeares after their owne fancy and haue intricated themselues in infinite errours which time by the helpe and skill of learned Astronomers hath reformed and corrected Most sure and certaine it is that after the Deluge the whole earth by that fearefull punishment of the inundation of waters failed to yeeld his foison and strength as before and men being more luxurious and dissolute of life liued not so long as they did before as appeareth by the Genealogy of the sonnes of Sem in the 11. Chapter of Genesis Presently the yeares of the holy Patriarches did ebb and abate of their number and in processe of time men in their manners grew worse and worse so that at last in the time of Iacob the age of man did shrinke away and decay very much and afterward much more in the time of Moyses whereof wee may haue an instance and proofe in the nintie Psalme although the yeares there mentioned seeme to be abriged and cut off for an extraordinary rod of correction to them in the Desert Caius the lawyer giueth his iudgement that the houre-glasse of mans life euen of those that are of the ablest bodies and mindes cannot runne much longer then a hundred yeares In the bookes of Heathen Authors there are found notable and rare examples and perhaps fabulous of men that haue liued very old The yeares of Nestor are become a proueeb by reason that Homer gaue it out that he liued thee hundred yeares The Tragedian Poets broach it for a truth that one Tiresias liued sixe hundred yeares and Plinie in his 7. Booke Chap. 48. hath set downe a Catalogue of old men that liued to a very great age Sabellicus in his AEneades reporteth that in Arabia men liue till they bee foure hundred yeares full out Our French Historiographers doe celebrate the memory of one Iohn des temps who had an Esquires place vnder Charlemagne about the year 800. and liued vntill the yeare 1124. vnder the Emperour Conrad the third In our dayes there haue beene found in the East and West Indies old men that haue out liued two hundred yeares and in diuers parts of Europe chiefly in the temperate Clymates but especially in the mountaine countries there be found men aboue a hundred yeares old that are very voluble and fluent in talke and discourse But whether this bee so or no all wise men agree in this that although God by his speciall blessing for certaine great reasons hath drawne out the dayes of some of his children to a very great length and that oftentimes it falleth out that the wicked suddainly perish and haue their life taken away for their rebellion against him as the whole race of Cain was swallowed vp of the flood and not a man of them left aliue Yet this earth that beares vs vp and whereupon we tread is not the Land of the liuing as Basil declareth in his exposition vpon the 44. Psal For here before the soule goes out of the body we are often and long a dying feele many assaults of death who giues vs many a sore blowe deadly wound before he kil vs out-right first our infancy dies in vs next our childhood afterwards our youth or age of twentie or one and twentie yeares growth consequently our manly and middle age which is followed with old age which changeth both vs and our affections making vs to liue after another manner We shall then be in the land of the liuing when wee shall be the same men we seeme to bee vnchangeable without griefe of minde or sicknesse of body not subiect to any corruptions or defilements nor frowardly liuing in strife and debate While we liue in this tabernacle of the body as Saint Paul saith 2. Cor. 5. 4. Wee sigh and mourne being heauily burthened not that wee desire to be stripped or vnclothed but to be clothed againe that that which

pregnant ready and great memory but long age had brought him to this passe that he durst not relye or presume vpon his memory in any thing he should engage himselfe to doe or to promise Plinie in his seuenth booke 14. chapter sayth That the memory is one of the principall house imployments and vtensiles of our life and that Simonides did professe to know the art thereof but withall that nothing is more fraile and brittle in man then memory which by sundry diseases and mischeeuous accidents is impaired and made weake so that by a small accident some haue forgotten the names of their neerest allyes some the names of their seruants and some their owne names as Messala Coruinus did But Cicero maintaineth that forgetfulnes is not a vice of old age but rather of a dull sluggish heauy age which had need to be stirred spurred to imitate the schollers of Pythagoras whose manner was euery night to repeat all they had learned said and done the whole day Wee doe not readily forget that which runneth most in our mind and which wee doe most effect As old men doe precisely remember all their seuerall debtors and their manner of dealing and all the coffers cabinets odd holes and corners where they haue laid vp and hid their iewels and gold They carry an exact inuentory of them in their heads It is good oftentimes to put many things out of our minde and to forget them that so wee may remember our Creatour and Redeemer and whosoeuer remembreth him may say He hath forgotten nothing Who because wee are of our owne nature subiect to tread vnder our feet the memory of good things hath instituted that in memory of him wee should often communicate in the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist Me thinketh that it were expedient here by all waies and means to remember the prouidence of our all good and merciful Father in heauen who foreseeing that the last age of our life should bee obnoxious and subiect to many euils and infirmities hath giuen vs many remedies for our ease and comfort which are to bee found in the bookes of learned Physicians whereof it is not conuenient for vs to make a scrowle or catalogue in this Section because wee present not a booke of receites for the body but of instructions necessary and fit for euery wise old man Onely we will say that the Creatour hath beene bountifull in giuing infinite meanes to those who delight not in shamefull and exorbitant luxuries and riots to maintaine themselues in a competent strength of body vntill they be threescore and ten yeares old Yea their old age euen as a tree With goodly fruits shall loaded be Whose branches steept in summers dewe Shall goelie be and greene of hewe Which being seene to euery eye Aloud to all doth testifie Gods goodnesse and integritie Who is my strength and my defence And keepes me by his prouidence That I doe liue without offence It is impossible in mine owne opinion that so great ingratitude should enter into the minde or soule of a wise old man to forget the innumerable blessings which God in fauour hath enlarged vnto him and to complaine more of the euills which he doth iustly suffer Iustly then did Cicero taxe and blame Cecilius who maintained that among other the miseries of old age this was one that liuing long we see many things which doe discontent and displease vs. For wee see also other things which doe giue vs all contentation pleasure and delight whereof we are altogether vnworthy if God would strictly examine our life But Cecilius addeth further that it is a misery and a death to bee contemned and to bee a burthen to others as it happeneth to those old men who for many yeares lie bedred of the gout and are a trouble to themselues and to all their seruants and family by reason their weake decrepit old age hath made them vnable to helpe themselues or to doe any thing but lie stil expecting to be laid in their graue I say that these are offences and discommodities which proceed from the frowardnesse or ingratitude of our seruants and those of our house or we our selues are the cause of them hauing liued so wretchedly and vntowardly that wee haue not gained the loue of any or our owne follies haue made vs to be had in contempt of euery one or we doe receiue the reward of our owne arrogant and insolent behauiour towardes our ancestors fathers mothers masters schoole-masters tutors whereby it commeth to passe thorough the iust iudgement of the Almighty that our children seruants or those of our family doe render the like vnto vs. Not to harpe vpon this string if old men bee odious despised and scorned it is of gracelesse villaines for whom the gallowes groans who neuer thinking on the frailty of man and that they themselues are as subiect to the vncough and strange accidents which in this life doe blast great and meane persons doe as proudly disdaine and vilifie the honour of old age as they doe the maistie of God which they blaspheme reuile and rend and teare it asunder How should such desperate wretched persons regard old men when they shew themselues so refractary and vntractable at the good admonitions and reproofes of euery man that grauely telles them of their follies and faults to haue them abhorre and detest them Reuerend old men are worthy of commiseration and to bee supported in their infirmities to bee honoured in their age and the wiser sort of persons doe so esteeme and regard them yea euen those old men against whom information is giuen and complaint is made that they are Dotardes whose number for the most part is but small Howsoeuer their case be these Dotardes these twice children these that are become childish againe doe leaue among good men an honourable memorie of themselues and haue no lesse at their seruice their holy Angells beholding the face of their Father and watching ouer them then heretofore those little children had of whom Iesus Christ speaketh in the 18. Chapter of S. Mathew This is spoken of wise old men as for those men who hauing not enough glutted themselues with the slipps and peccadills of their youth with the sinnes of their middle and manly age doe fill vp the measure of their iniquities with the vices of a shamelesse old age killing their bodies by foule excesses and surfeits of gluttony drunkennesse whoredomes adultries by madd bickerings and suddaine quarrells rising of choller and anger by vnlawfull practiques and vniust dealings proceeding of couetousnesse and by niggard-shipp and extreame parsimony on the one side by prodigalities profuse and inordinate expences to satiate their accursed lustes and appetites on the other side These men build themselues most noysome and nastie prisons where they are to be seene now and then to languish long and pyne vnder the vneasie yoake and in the stockes of sharpe diseases which doe torment and torture them in the sight of all the