again And especially if they have had plenty and prosperity in the course of their lives their straits losses and troubles now aggravate their affliction Now to Mitigate these Pressures we must know 1. That these Crosses are common to all As they do not infallibly attend all Aged persons for many have fair weather all their journey long so they befall all mankind indifferently in every part of life If these be Miseries there 's no mortal man without his Misery We are in this World as Israel was in the Wilderness who had no day without a Cloud but then they had no night without a glympse of light Where dwells the man or of what Cloth is his coat made who hath not met with straits and with vexations that hath not buried many of his Relations and Friends so that we must quarrel with every age as well as Old-age yea with the Providence of God by this argument 2. These Crosses and Losses are absolutely Hurtful to none They are not properly and intirely Evils Criminal evils are real Evils poenal Evils are not so These fluunt a summo bono are inflicted by Him that is eminently Good ducunt ad summum bonum they guide and help us towards the greatest Good erant in summo Bono they were upon him who was intirely Good. Prosperity hath but Adversity hath never hurt a good man. Yea some of the Heathens have been bold to judge those men miserable that have never met with any troubles They are our Physick which may disturb us but Sin is our Poyson which will destroy us The bitterest Physick is better than the sweetest Poyson 3. They are Useful to those that are good Though they be briars thorns and thistles in themselves yet by the blessing of God they prove sweet-bryars and holy-thistles to holy men How many things do we count Evil that are most wholsom for us They Exercise our Faith our Wisdom our Patience and the tryal of these is more precious than of fine gold They teach us as was said of Diseases many lessons more effectually than the Word it self without them can do The Chyrurgeon and the Executioner do both bind men but to different Ends the one doth it to bereave of life the other to preserve it When the good man is bound in fetters and holden in cords of affliction Then the Lord sheweth them their work and their transgressions that they have exceeded He openeth also their ears to discipline Job 36. 8 9. 4. These Crosses and Afflictions are most fit for Old men They are or should be â—…ost strong to bear them they have 〈◊〉 a long Summer to lay up for a sharp Winter If they have not stored up a great deal of Faith and Patience they have slept in harvest They also have been trained and inur'd to them before this time of day by long experience They have received much good at the hands of the Lord and therefore may the better receive evil As Cato in Tully answers Caecilius who objected this against Old-age that living long a man sees many displeasing and uncomfortable events Yea said he and perhaps many comfortable things also But the true and only Remedy against this Inconvenience is Faith and Patience which the wise God hath largely prescribed in the 11th and 12th Chapters of the Hebrews By these a sound Christian shall not only bear these Onsets but overcome them and adorn the hoary head with trophies We cannot saith a Foreigner to Christianity change the course of things but we can take a good heart a masculine spirit to bear sad accidents with substantial courage and to be reconciled to Providence And presently again It is our best way to abide what we cannot amend and to attend God without murmuring from whom all ailments come for it is an ill Soldier that follows his Commander grumbling But we have a more sure word of prophecy Rom. 8. 28. All things mark it all things work together for good to them that love God that are called according to his purpose Which blessed word if it be understood believed and considered and our love to God and effectual calling evinced is alone able Gods spirit accompanying it to settle quiet and comfort our hearts under all troubles whatsoever Let it therefore be the chief care of all Aged Persons to make their calling and election sure to strengthen their Faith in God and by their hope to travel into the other World for then only will our afflictions feel light while we look not at things seen but at things unseen The thoughts of the grave will mortifie us to things seen and the thoughts of the Countrey beyond the grave will realize the unseen World and then our troubles will be easie and our crosses blessings The sight of the approaching shore will make an Aged Person bear the present storms with chearfulness knowing that he shall shortly be well either under Heaven or in Heaven None of these things move me neither count I my life dear unto my self so that I may finish my course with joy Act. 20. 24. SECT VII THE Seventh Inconvenience that is charged on Old-age is That it is attended with Contempt Old People commonly are despis'd especially when they are not supported with good Estates Most People avoid them and treat them as superfluous Creatures For the generality of men do value others not for their Wisdom or real Vertue but either for some likeness of disposition or some usefulness Now the Ancient are not by the disparity of their years so complaisant nor by their disability so helpful as heretofore and thereupon they are contemned by younger people Especially also when they are grown decrepit and confin'd to their chairs or chambers then are they an eye-sore to their successors who secretly wish them well in Heaven or any where out of their way upon Earth It is too evident how unpleasing their groans their coughing and their other weaknesses are They that can brook the peevishness and the uncleanliness of their Children cannot bear with it in their Parents All their former parts and pains are forgotten and they are beheld as last years Almanacks wholly out of date Now this is a sore Affliction and touches man or woman to the quick For such as have been regarded and reverenced to be neglected and despised grates even the most ingenuous spirits Iob 29. 30. Unto me men gave ear and waited and kept silence at my counsel but now they that are younger than I have me in derision they abhor me they flee from me c. Miserrimum est fuisse felicem The respects and honour that one hath formerly had makes his present contempt more intolerable Not but that a good man is satisfied with himself but he is aware that hereby he is rendred unuseful to others For when the Person is despised his Example nor his Counsel let them be never so profitable will be regardable or useful He passes for
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
why should you grudge at those that do but come after you It is like as if the Southern Husbandman who hath inn'd his Harvest in Iuly should repine at them that live more Northerly whose Harvest is in September why the former had his Harvest as well as the Other and hath reason rather to be thankful to God than to envy them that follow him Besides would you have two Harvests What answer can you give to our Saviours questions Matth. 20. 15. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own is thine eye evil because I am good He that grudges at Gods gifts would make a miserable distribution of them among men if they were at his disposal No no younger people have their proportion of comeliness strength estate honour and parts and you have yours and they are distributed by a wise Hand who is ever righteous in all his wayes and holy all in his works And therefore labour with all your might to extinguish this cursed flame Remember that wrath killeth the foolish man and that envy slayeth the silly one Iob 5. 2. You envy others but you hurt your selves Few sins have a more malignant influence upon Mind and Body than this Sin of Envy On the other side if you bless the Lord for other mercies you have the comfort of them if you repine at them you lose the comfort of your own I know that the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy Jam. 4. 5. but to them that seek it God giveth more grace Be contented with such things as ye have 't is not said with such things as 1. you have had or such things as 2. others have or such things as 3. you would have but with such things as ye have because he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee If you have him you have enough if you have him not you have too much Let him who is infinitely wise have liberty to dispose his gifts as he pleaseth and instead of grudging at the excellencies of others labour you for something in your selves to ballance them Your Gravity will be as valuable as their Beauty your Wisdom as their Strength your Grace as their Wealth They do but surpass you in things that will fade as yours have done but you may excell them in things which are everlasting Besides you should consider that we are all fellow-members of the same body and so we should rejoyce in their welfare and in their comforts that 's the way to bring them to sympathize with us in our defects and they that pay respect to those above them shall most usually receive it from them below them whereas the Envious man takes pleasure only in punishing of himself SECT IV. THE Fourth Vice too common to Old-age is Arrogancy and Conceitedness An humour whereby they assume so much to themselves as if they had a Monopoly of Wisdom to themselves and that their word must be a law in all cases so that they can endure no contradiction It is likely enough that Iobs friends had a spice of this distemper for they were very aged Iob 32. 6. and we find them very wise in their own conceit And it is most true as before that Dayes should speak and that they are most likely to be in the right Happy had Rehoboam bin if he had acquiesced in the counsel of the Old men for which is abler to advise they who are only helped by some natural parts a working fancy and a fluent tongue or they who have read many men as well as many books and have weighed things as well as words and by experience are grown wise These persons may certainly expect that a great regard be given to their opinions But yet as Iob c. 32. 9. Great men are not alwayes wise neither do the aged understand Iudgment All aged people have not a Patent for Infallibility nor any at all times If old Nicodemus his notion of Regeneration must have pass'd for Orthodox what kind of Divinity should we have had he knew not what it was to be born again though he were a Teacher in Israel and I greatly fear he hath his fellows in all Ages and Places Sometimes Old men dream dreams and young men see visions as Ioel 2. 28. The Almighty will not confine his Gifts no more than he doth his Graces to any order of men and therefore no man should think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly as God hath dealt to every man Rom. 12. 3. And accordingly the Aged are exhorted Tit. 2. 2. in the first place to be Sober It becomes no man to abound alwayes in his own sence or to dictate in every company but rather according to that Levites method Iudg. 19. last Consider the matter take advice and then speak your minds The Spirit of God dwells not in a proud heart Pride and arrogancy and the evil way and the froward mouth he hates Prov. 8. 13. Check therefore and mortifie this sinful Temper Mind the Apostles counsel Rom. 12. 16. Be not wise in your own conceits Let not your Determinations begg respect by the number of your years but command it by the weight of your Reasons so there will be more of God than of man in your Counsels Believe it neither great Age nor great Honour nor both together do infuse wisdom for Solomon hath said Better is a poor and a wise child than an Old and foolish King who will no more be admonished Eccl. 4. 13. Why should you therefore imagine that Wisdom must needs live and dye with you that your words must be alwayes Oracles O Labour for more Humility and be content with your proper measure Know for certain that all conceitedness comes from Pride which Sin cleaves to a man even to the grave Consider how the Scripture disgraces this humour of yours Prov. 26. 12. Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit there is more hope of a fool than of him Reflect sometimes how often you have bin mistaken even wherein you have been extreamly confident He must be omniscient that is alwayes infallible Let God be true but every man a lyar Young Elihu may sometimes out-strip Iob and his three friends and no meer man is wise at all times SECT V. THE Fifth and most Epidemick Sin of Old-age is Covetousness or Worldly-mindedness that is an inordinate love of Riches which is shown in an insatiable endeavour to procure them and in an unreasonable lothness to part with them Though this Vice be frequently found in young people as in that young man Matth. 19. 22. who was free from other gross Sins but infected with this yet it is a Disease more peculiar to Old-age They feel the decayes of Nature and think to support themselves by their abundance They must have some Recreation and are by reason of their Age incapable of other pleasures and so do place their delight in heaping
may excell in feats of activity but the Ancient do exceed in the skill of managery And upon this account that famous Fabius was called Maximus and was esteemed more useful to his Countrey by being the Buckler than Marcellus who was the Sword of the Common-wealth Young people indeed may sooner apprehend a business and may more strenuously execute it but the Old man by comparing and weighing all circumstances can make a better judgment of it and so give better directions for the execution of it As it is said of young Musicians that they may Sing tunes better but the Old Musician can set lessons better The Aged have not only read and heard but also seen such variety of Actions and Events that it renders them much more circumspect and wary in their courses This made that Roman soon answer the Consul that boasted he had many Arms by him Yes said he and I have many Years And the wisest of men concludes Eccl. 9. 18. that wisdom is better than weapons of war. And this is rarely found in Novices they are too young to look backward and too rash to look forward But the Aged person being taught by things past hath a clearer sight of things present and consequently doth more cautiously provide for things future Words and Shews and Appearances do more easily deceive the Young but the Old see through all such varnish and penetrate into the inside of men and things and so are strangely stupid if they be not much accomplished with this vertue Miserable is that Old-age saith Cicero that hath nothing grave besides gray hairs and wrinkles But any man that hath made but common Observations of what hath fallen out with their Causes and Effects during the space of forty or fifty years must needs understand better VVhat and How and VVhen a thing is to be done than those that have neither read seen or observed half so much Hence that Expression Psal. 119. 100. I understand more than the ancients which implies that the Ancients have ordinarily the greatest stock of understanding Hereupon Themistocles is said to be sorry to dye when he began to be wise being then an hundred and seven years of age which is the common fate of mankind to dye even just then when they begin to know how to live and therefore no man should deferr his careful endeavours to get wisdom since there is a price put into our hands for that end if we have but an heart to it Prov. 17. 16. Let it therefore be your study to get and increase in all wisdom chiefly for the attaining everlasting happiness For unto man God hath said Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil that is understanding Job 28. 28. For as it would be curious folly to contrive a neat House and then set it upon a quick-sand so doubtless all the policy of worldly men to get riches and a name if they do not truly fear God is but like an house upon the sand or a spiders web in the cieling which will quickly vanish It 's true Wisdom for every man to chuse the Chiefest Good for his ultimate End and then to take Gods Counsel how to obtain it I have seen five Princes said Sir Io. Mason on his death-bed and bin Privy Counsellour to four I have seen the most remarkable Observables in forreign parts and bin present at most State-transactions for Thirty years together and I have learned this after so many years experience that Seriousness is the greatest VVisdom Temperance the best Physick and that a good Conscience is the best Estate yea I would change the whole life I have lived in the Palace for one hours enjoyment of God in the Chappel O that all young persons would believe and consider this sage Observation of a dying man For judge your own selves Is it wisdom to do that daily and wittingly which must be undone To pretend the End happiness and neglect the Means holiness To maintain strong hope and yet to have no ground for it To chuse the worst of Evils before the chief Good To live in Sin and yet expect to dy in Christ To defer the greatest business till we have the least fit time and strength to do it and yet this is the wisdom that passes currant in this world Endeavour also to store your minds with Prudence to order your affairs aright There is no time or place or business but there is use for this not such constant use for Iustice Fortitude or many other vertues This will render your gray hairs really comely I had rather saith Nazianzen have one drop of Prudence than a Sea of worldly riches Integrity and Wisdom are good Companions A Serpents Eye is a singular ornament in a doves head Hereby you will be useful to your selves helpful to others beneficial to all Happy is that City said Plutarch where the counsels of Old men and the arms of Young men concurr for the Common good Your time will be rightly divided your household affairs calmly and constantly managed and your mind freed from the hurry and perturbation which fills the lives of other men Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly as far as light excelleth darkness Eccl. 2. 13. The first Direction which the Apostle gives to Old men is Tit. 2. 2. That the aged men be sober grave The infirmity of your bodies should promote the sobriety of your minds and folly is no where less excusable than in an aged person You should therefore pray incessantly unto God for this Blessing Jam. 1. 5. If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God and it shall be given him And improve your Thinking time for meditation inriches the mind and helps us to draw such Inferences from what we have read and heard and seen which will serve for Rules of practice in every case And especially Converse with the Scripture which will make you wise to Salvation Surely there is no book under heaven which affords such Rules of ture Prudence for the conduct of our lives as the Book of Proverbs And still remember this that the more wisdom the liker you will be to God and the more useful you will be to men And certainly Usefulness is next to the fruition of God the greatest happiness of man upon earth SECT IV. THE Fourth Grace that Old-age doth or should excell in is Patience Which is a quiet and chearful undergoing whatever Difficulties or Troubles are incident to us in this world It extends indeed in its largest sence to comprehend both VVaiting Gods time for the Blessings we want and Bearing what crosses he inflicts upon us either by his Own hand or by Others When we neither sink by Despondency nor rage by inordinate Passion either at the stone or at the hand that throws it And this not by vertue of a Stoical insensibleness or of some moral Arguments which might quiet
vivacity in both those Senses the greater cause they have to be thankfull for the same But though it must not be denyed that for the most part Old-age is dim of sight and dull of hearing yet 't is as true that even these decayes are incident to younger persons How many young people may we meet with that are defective in one or other of them Some that are purblind others dim-sighted some from their birth some by casual accidents some by distempers nay it is one of the wonders of Gods Providence that considering the folly and rashness of Children any of us carry our Eyes untouched unto elder years so that neither is this affliction to be confined to Old-age Yea if we grant that these Defects should unavoydably befall Old people yet they do not alwayes make them useless and then all 's well enough Even Blind and Deaf persons have bin more serviceable in their places than multitudes of some people that have their eyes and ears Tully tells of divers that were wholly dark yet Ornaments to their Countrey In particular he relates of Appius that was old and blind yet retaining his Authority he governed a great Family with that dexterity that his Children feared him his Neighbours respected him and when a dishonourable Peace was likely to be made with Pyrrhus he caused himself to be carryed in his Chair to the Senate and there did effectually interpose to hinder it But that which should chiefly support a wise and good man under these Decayes of the Senses is The comfortable review of the right use he hath made of them that he hath not us'd them as Instruments of unrighteousness unto Sin but as the Instruments of righteousness unto God or an hearty Grief for his Abuse of them And the joyful Prospect of the Resurrection when all our Imperfections will be done away and our vile bodies made like Christs glorious body There 's no body much grieved at the want of repair in a House which he is leaving when he is ready to go to one that will need reparation no more Yea there is cause of Thankfulness that we have enjoyed the use of these Senses so long whereas we might have bin born blind and deaf and dumb but especially that God hath given us a spiritual Eye and an inward Ear. Let that Soul exceedingly rejoyce said Basil that hath an Eye to discern invisible things even to behold him with whom it shall dwell for ever And thus Antony the Hermite comforted Didymus You should not saith he take it heavily that you want such Eyes as Mice and other brute Animals enjoy but rather reckon your self a blessed man in having such eyes as Angels have whereby you may behold God himself And through the Goodness of God it often falls out that these outward Defects are more than compensated with greater measures of Understanding and of Memory He may well be contented to lose an Eye or Ear which must perish at last that in lieu thereof receives a greater portion of Faith Love Wisdom and Patience and so becomes the better man and the better Christian. It is also some alleviation of this Affliction to consider that all these Visible things are but Vanity yea vanity of vanities That the Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Ear filled with hearing Eccles. 1. 2. 8. And that whose wants his Sight or Hearing escapes many a Temptation which do frequently surprize the Soul through those Windows and that as at other times so especially in the Service of God. How often doth the Heart walk after the Eyes and so steal away from God How apt is every noise to disorder the Soul so that as we are deprived of the comfort of these Senses so we are freed from the snares that attend them And the Answer is not to be forgotten which Maris the Godly Bishop of Chalcedon gave to Iulian the Apostate who upbraided him that his God had not cured him of his Blindness which was That he praised his God with all his heart for his Blindness whereby he was kept from seeing such an ungracious face as his was And lastly let us that feel these Decayes greatly magnify the Lord who hath directed us to the use of Glasses and Spectacles whereby we have in a manner new Eyes put into our Heads and are inabled to read and write and work even to the very Sun-set of our Lives This is so great a Mercy that we should do well to take thankfull notice of it every time we use them to the Praise of God who is the Father of Lights and from whose holy Spirit comes the knowledge of witty Inventions SECT V. THE Fifth Inconvenience incident to Old-age is That it is burdened with Distemper and Pain Thus Asa 2 King. 15. 23. in the time of his Old-age was diseased in his feet Then Aches and Diseases take possession of every part Megrims and Dizziness seize on the Head Catarrhs Ptisick and Astma's on the Lungs Palsyes on the Nerves Weakness and Pain on the Back and Loins Gravell and Stone on the Reins and Bladder The Gout on the Ioynts The Hypochondriack Melancholy on the Spleen The Colick on the Gutts and lastly a Dropsy or an Hectick which carry the man away So that an Aged person is a very Hospital and Old-age is it self an incurable Disease and any other added to it makes the case desperate Some of them indeed speed better than others but usually if they escape Acute diseases some Chronical distemper attends them to their Graves Now this is a very sensible Inconvenience None of these afflictions are joyous but grievous with a witness They vex and torment the Body that a man hath no mind to live and yet no power to dye Hear Iob c. 7. 20. I am a burden to my self Job 10. 1. My soul is weary of my life The Old person cries out with him Iob 16. 12. I was at ease but he hath broken me asunder he hath taken me by my neck and shaken me to pieces he cleaveth my reins asunder and doth not spare he poureth out my gall upon the ground He breaketh me with breach upon breach c. These Distempers and Pain imbitter all worldly comforts House goods Money Friends Relations they are all dead to a man that is sick and in pain They deprive a man of himself he hath Ears and Eyes but no comfortable use of them those things that used to refresh him now offend him his Meat Chair his Bed tires him his Friends their absence offends him and he is disturb'd with their presence poor wretch he is not well and nothing is well about him as to the giddy all things turn round These also waste his Estate what will not one spend for ease and health one Remedy is commended and used and then another one Physician employed and then another skin for skin all shall go for Life and Health Yea these have a sad influence upon the
had not beguiled us Hence comes Neglect of the means of Grace to which we may adde Drowsiness in the use of them Aged people are apt to satisfie themselves in the Omission of Reading Hearing Praying by their craziness and infirmities Indeed when we are inevitably hindred in these Means and are grieved for that hindrance God will supply those wants but if we be glad that we have an occasion comen in the way whereby we may without sin omit our duty it savours strongly of hypocrisie And Old people are more concern'd than others to be diligent herein for many of them have put off much of their greatest business to their Old-age and therefore their plea of Impotence will be overruled I have lost a World of time said the learned Salmasius on his death-bed If I had one year longer I would spend it in reading David's Psalms and in Paul's Epistles Neither imagine that you are too old to learn for the Fundamentals of Doctrine and Practice may easily and must necessarily be learned else he that made you will not save you and he that formed you will shew you no favour Isa. 27. 11. As weak as you are you could creep to the Assembly to be laden back again with Gold and a grain of grace is worth a world of riches When some outward sickness afflicts you find a man carried in a bed to Christ and the house untiled to let him down through the roof rather than continue under it Luk. 5. 18. and will you languish in your spiritual distempers and use no means for healing Be not deceived God is not mocked he never accepts the will for the deed if the deed can well be done nor chuses Mercy before sacrifice where both may be offered And though your Years may dispose you to Drowsiness in the service of God yet they will not wholly excuse you We read but of one person in the Bible that slept at Sermon and he was taken up dead thereby Act. 20. 9. It is a sin charged on them of old Isa. 64. 7. There is none that calleth on thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold on thee You should use all possible means to shake off that drowsie distemper and set the holy God before you and remember that your own cause is still pleading or trying that the diligent hand makes rich in this world and the diligent heart rich for ever and that Grace and Comfort are like the Manna which was to be gather'd early or else it vanished they that loved their beds starved their bellies How much good might you do and get notwithstanding your years if you would shake off that slothful distemper that haunts you how many have lamented at their end their loss of time Nothing so much troubled that Excellent Preacher Dr. Robert Harris when he was on his death-bed as Loss of time Rouse up then your benumbed spirits your time of Action will last but a while Consider wherein you are capable to serve your generation by the will of God and up and be doing The Grave will be most irksome to the loyterer but most welcome to the labourer for there the weary and only they will be at rest 4. The Fourth Temptation which Aged persons are liable unto is Expectation still of longer life No man is so Old saith the Orator but thinks it very possible to weather it out a year longer and such men do upon the matter think they may live alwayes It hath been an old complaint that men eat and drink as though they must dye to morrow and yet buy and build as though they must live alwayes How usual is it with very Aged men and women to contrive and appoint affairs for a month or a year beforehand It is not only young persons that say To day or to morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow For what is your life it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Jam. 5. 13 14. But even Old persons are apt to think the same thing The most decrepit person fancies he shall abide here a little longer and when that time is expir'd still reckons to continue a little longer The folly and ungroundedness of this Imagination is obvious For what should induce one that is already dying to think that he shall not very quickly dy out and out Alas Death hath laid its cold hand already upon us Our Eyes our Ears our Hands our Legs our Lungs our very Vitals are death-struck already Death puts in for a share in every day we spend Have we taken any Lease of our lives for a determinate time Can we produce any Reason any one Reason to prove that we should live a year or a week longer I am sure the provoking Sins which are in our Souls and the unruly Humours which are in our Bodies render our speedy death more likely than a longer life besides the rage of Satan against us and the many Casualties incident to us Now when a man expects any thing and hath no reason for such his expectation it is lamentably ridiculous But what little Reason soever there is for such an Imagination there is some Cause of it And the cause seems to be a Lothness to dy Too few there are that are willing to part with things seen for things unseen They are loth to go out of this world of men and women into a world of Souls Death is like a cup that will either mend or end and such a dose is taken with a trembling hand And therefore the heart cryes out Let me alone this year also Thus men would put far from them the evil day and it will prove an evil day when it is thus deferr'd Alas it is not the duration of ones life but the goodness and comfort of it that is considerable This the dim eye of Nature saw and concluded that a wise man chuses to live as long as he ought not as long as he could I know it is a hard pluck to have a Soul and a body that have lived long together to part a-sunder but it is irrevocably appointed unto men to dye and when a thing is indispensably necessary it is the best course to consider what will best mitigate and render it either desirable or tolerable Wherein as right Reason may contribute much so Christian Religion much more whereby the holy Soul is assured of a far better house than the body and the body of a far better estate after it hath slept a while in the grave To Remedy therefore this Temptation Consider the Folly and ill Effects thereof That is a foolish Traveller who being quite spent with the fatigue of his journey would turn again and traveâ—… it over again when as nothing is more welcome to the weary than a quiet lodging Upon
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
SECT VII THE Seventh Work of Old-age is Mortification And the Object hereof is double 1. That which is Evil in it self 2. That which is Lawful in it self The Religious Old person hath work in both these 1. One great work of Old-age is Dying to sin to all sin The time past of our life may suffice us to have walked in lasciviousness lusts excess of Wine revellings banquettings c. 1 Pet. 4. 3. We have sinn'd enough already yea much more than enough it is high time to undo that which hath almost undone us We are dying it is necessary that our sins dy before us and that by Faith in the death of Christ and Repentance from dead works for want of which course our Evidences prove litigious and snarled with inextricable doubts It is not enough that we want strength or opportunity to sin but our wills and desires towards it must be dead also Sin is only asleep or benumbed in us if we have not used Gods means to crucify it It 's not sufficient that we leave it except we loath it Go through-stitch therefore with this work do it quickly do it sincerely it is Kill or be Kill'd and necessity makes the Coward resolute Dread not any Scriptural severities necessary in Mortification Some Devils are not cast out without Prayer and Fasting and Hippocrates observes that Old-age is the fittest for the use of Fasting The wounds that sin hath made must be searched to the bottom and doubtless it is never crucified no more than Christ was without pain How justly doth the Scripture still stigmatize sin with the name of Folly to weave a Webb that must be unrav'led and to make us spend our lives between sinfull joyes and painfull sorrowes And though Old-age doth not mortify sin by it self yet cooling our lusts and passions it proves helpfull in that work and provided we be truly thankful unto God for that advantage and that we use other necessary means to that end we may comfortably acquiesce in that blessed effect and rejoyce that the things which are displeasing to God are become unpleasant to us But we must not be content to be only passive in the decayes of sin we must be active in that work If ye through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the Body ye shall live Rom. 8. 13. And as All sin must be the Object of Mortification so especially all Youthful sins For as Chrysostom says An Old man acting juvenile sins is far more ridiculous than young persons that commit those sins To have our hearts burn with Lust or Revenge when our veins are freezing with Age the soul rampant and the body dying is monstrous And yet we know how S. Hierom himself complains of scalding motions that were ready to invade his withered body And the Scripture gives us a sad Instance hereof even of Solomon the best and wisest of men alive that had done more for God and God for him than any man in the age he lived in that he when he was between Fifty and Sixty years of age should be so far inslaved to his strange wives as to be carried by them to worship strange gods For it came to pass when Soloman was Old that his wives turned away his heart c. 1 Kin. 11. 4. Whereby he set in such a cloud as hath drawn his very Salvation into question Let it be a warning to all Aged people to see that their Corruptions be not asleep but dead as far as is attainable in this life that the Old man as well as the outward man perish and which will be a good proof thereof that the inward man be renewed day by day That our Thoughts our Words our very Behaviour and Attire proclaim that Sin and we are parted never to meet again It was a good answer of a Lacedemonian to one that asked him why he wore his Beard so long Answ. It is to mind me that I do nothing unbeseeming my hoary hairs A light behaviour in a grave person is foolish and loathsome For as dead flies cause the ointment of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking saviour so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour Eccl. 10. 1. 2. The Other Object of Mortification proper for Old-age is The World and all the innocent but charming vanities thereof Not that they are bound actually to forsake the World either the needful cares or the lawful comforts of it But to wean and abate their desires of it their delights in it their cares about it This should be every Christians work but it should be the Aged persons care in a more eminent measure For they are ready to leave this world and ascend into another and every one takes off their mind from an house they are leaving The world also is forsaking them the pleasure they have formerly taken in meats apparel building is much decayed the things which did formerly ravish are now grown insipid and doth not this call aloud to them to real Mortification you should most readily consent to part with them and say Farewell my gold and all my gayeties I meant not to injoy but use you I can be happy without you It is the absurdest sight in the world to see one gaping and grasping after this world when he is going into another Let your moderation be known unto all men the Lord is at hand Phil. 4. 5. Your loyns should be always girded about and your lights burning and ye your selves like unto men that wait for your Lord Luk. 12. 35. I write unto you Fathers Love not the world neither the things that are in the world 1 Joh. 2. 14 15. Abate your love to things below and increase your love to things above Nothing can overcome love but Love love of earthly things but the Love of heavenly things as nothing can fetch out fire like fire O when we do love all these things for God we will willingly leave them all to go to God for whose sake only we valued them Otherwise you will find it an hard pluck to leave them even like the plucking the Skin off your hand whereas the heart that is mortified to them can part with them as easily as you can draw the glove off your hand How readiâ—… did 〈◊〉 gâ—… up into the mount and dye what little noise or dispute did Iacob or David or Paul make about leaving â—…he world They were dead to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that said I am ready to be offerâ—… had said before the world is crucified to me and I unto â—…he world So that the Aged person should be mortified to Life it self he should be very well content to dy It was a sad Confession of Caesar Borgia that ambitious Grandee when he was near his end that he was prepar'd for every occurrent but Death which was the only thing that he should have been most ready for But 't is Grace not years that makes us dead to