So likewise is it requisite that thou being emptied and stripped of the world and the concupiscences and lustes thereof shouldest be wholly changed and deuoted to further and aduance the glory of God Whereupon the Apostle said That our old man is crucified that the body of sinne may be destroyed Our Lord hauing beene nayled to his crosse is there-dead and wee his members ought to die to the world and to our selues in such sort that as those which are dead we should make no more reckoning of the things of the world should be without sense or feeling of them and should haue neither synewe nor veyne stretching or tending that way To this purpose S. Paul said to the Colossians you are dead and your life is hidd in Christ Furthermore we must also be buried with the same Sauiour He that is dead hath no more care of the world yet before he be buryed the world hath care to winde him vp in a sheete to Coffyn him then to carry him to his graue where being interred all societie and dealing one with another is at an end In this sort many who thinke themselues to be dead to the world pretending and making semblance to haue renounced it are not yet buryed because the world makes great account of them doth reuerence and worship them But it behooueth vs to be dead and buryed to the world in such sorte as we haue as small accompt and esteeme of it as of a stinking carrion and that it esteeme so of vs. For it is an ill signe when the children of this world speake well of vs. It is then a thing requisite and necessary that we be buryed with Iesus Christ by Baptisme into his death And it is fit also that we descend as our head into hell that is that we haue a right knowledge and a liuely feeling of our sinnes which is done when wee feele in our hearts the loue of God our Father in Iesus Christ crucified For being convicted to haue offended him we must descend to confesse and earnestly to decest and abhorre our pride ignorance infidelitie malice obstinacie and other vices Seeing then that these pollutions and defilements haue so much and so greatly displeased God that to purge them out of the world he hath deliuered his owne sonne to death we are brought to this point in some sorte to know our misery and how much we our selues doe displease God Moreouer as the Sauiour is risen againe so his members ought to rise againe in newnesse of life in such sort that afterwardes they haue no motion or inclination whatsoeuer but to glorifie God walking as persons whose conuersation is alreadie in heauen Christ is risen againe therefore his members ought to rise againe not onely at the last day but hourely and continually in newnesse of life so that thence forward they haue no motion or disposition whatsoeuer but to glorifie God Christ is risen immortall for that hauing triumphed ouer death death hath no more dominion ouer him Thereupon S. Peter sayth to Christians seeing our Sauiour hath suffred for vs in the flesh it is reason that we be armed and resolued in mind that he which hath suffred in the flesh hath ceased from sinne willing and ready to say that Christ the head pledge and suretie for all Gods children comming to die consequently to satisfie fully and wholly the Iustice of God for them hath clearely discharged the debt for all his members who are obliged to him vnlesse they would crucifie him againe and hold the precious bloud of the euerlasting couenant for a prophane thing to cease and giue ouer to sinne For being dead to sinne buryed to the world risen againe to God they ought to sinne no more nor to die in sinne much lesse to remaine dead therein Sinne ought no more to raigne nor haue dominion in them they ought no longer to obey their euill lustes but to curbe and restraine them by the spirit which doth quicken guide and gouerne them Our Lord is ascended vp into heauen In like sort if we be liuing members of his mysticall body we ought zealously and with all our affections to be elevated and raised vp vnto God truely to say with S. Paul that our conuersation is in heauen The same S. Paul sayd to the Colossians Chapter 3. 1. If you be risen againe with Christ seeke the thinges which are aboue that is heauenly and diuine not earthly and sensuall Now as this good Sauiour soone after his ascension into heauen for a testimony of his infinite glory in that he is set at the right hand of God the Father Almightie sent his holy spirit in a visible forme vpon his twelue disciples So we likewise after we are raised vp to God shall feele our selues filled with this spirit and with feruent charitie which will then appeare when wee shall illuminate kindle and inflame our neighbours in the loue of God not onely with our wordes but especially with our doings and deedes by the good examples of a blamelesse life Iesus Christ ought to come to judge the quicke and the dead And if we be his members a liuely fayth will make vs to feele the sweetnesse of these wordes of our Sauiour Come yee blessed of my Father possesse the inheritance prepared for you before the foundation of the world Let vs adde that as the judge of all shall be judged of none so shall it be with all his true members in the great and last day And who should judge them seeing the Father iustifieth them in his son and by the mouth of his sonne pronounceth them just blessed and heires of the kingdome of heauen Wherefore Christ Iesus denounceth that he which heareth his word and beleeueth in him hath eternall life and shall not come to condemnation that is shall not be judged but is passed from death to life Ioh. 5. 24. This needes no further exposition And it were to blaspheme whosoeuer would call into question the certaintie of our saluation by Iesus Christ alone who is dead for our sinnes risen againe for our iustification that we might be the righteousnesse of God in him Let vs say further with S. Paul 1 Cor. 6. 2. 3. Know yee not that the Saints shall judge the world Know yee not that wee shall judge the Angells But as after the last judgement Christ Iesus shall remaine in heauen in incomprehensible glorie so true Christians already risen againe by faith and sitting together in the heauenly habitations with their head hauing their conuersation in heauen shall there appeare and be found all perfect entire in their bodies and soules with their Sauiour who in raising them vp againe shall change their vile and contemptible bodies so as they shall bee made conformable to his glorious bodie according to the power and efficacie whereby he is able to subdue all things to himselfe If wise old men doe in a quiet and sober moode meditate and consider these thinges euery one of them hanging
things in the world and not to be paralleld whereof the reason is hid from vs though we see the things themselues But there is a great difference betweene the destruction or annihilation and the change of nature As we beleeue the resurrection of this our flesh so is it certaine that the nature of the same flesh shall subsist and remaine in the life eternall But the condition shall be changed in as much as this flesh vile and miserable shall be made glorious and happy These are some proofes brought by Tertullian Lactantius Firmianus in his Booke of the Heauenly Reward Chap. 23. obserueth That the Pagan Philosophers who desired to discourse of the last resurrection haue confounded and soyled this Article of our faith as al the Poets haue done Pythagoras maintained that the soule did transmigrate and passe out of one mans body into anothers and that he himselfe in the Troian warre was Euphorbus Chrysippus the Stoicke hath made a better answere who in his Booke De Prouidentia discoursing of the restauration of the world addeth This being so wee see that it is not impossible that after our death at the end of the reuolutions of some ages wee may bee restored againe into the state and condition wherein we are now But as Lactantius addeth the faith of Christians is much otherwise and their hope much more certaine For they vndoubtedly beleeue the resurrection of the flesh confirmed by most sacred and inuincible proofes of the holy Scripture by the promises of God and by the motions of the Spirit which raysed vp Christ Iesus from the dead as the Apostle declares it in the eight Chapter to the Romanes saying If the Spirit of him that raysed vp Iesus from the dead dwell in you hee that raysed vp Christ from the dead shall quicken also your mortall bodies because of the Spirit dwelling in you True it is that the wicked shall rise againe in their bodies but this shall not bee for any communion they haue with the body of Christ Iesus nor with his Spirit but simply by the absolute power of God who shall giue them againe their being life and motion to suffer the second death being for euer damned in their bodies and soules So then such a resurrection cannot be counted grace nor called regeneration nor a resurrection to life but a repairing to condemnation whereof S. Iohn writes these wordes in the twentith Chapter of the Apocalips Verse eleuenth c. I saw a great white throne and one that sate on it from whose face fled away the earth and the heauen and their place was no more found I saw the dead great and small standing before God and the Bookes were opened and another Booke was opened which is the Booke of Life and the dead were iudged by the things which were written in the bookes according to their workes and the Sea gaue vp her dead which were in her and death and hell deliuered vp the dead which were ion them and they were iudged euery man according to their workes And the wicked were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death And whosoeuer was not found written in the Booke of Life was cast into the lake of fire Blessed then bee God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who by his great mercy hath regenerated vs into a liuely hope by the resurrection of Christ Iesus from the dead to obtain an incorruptible inheritance which cannot bee defiled nor fade away reserued in the heauens for vs who are kept by the power of God thorough faith to haue the saluation prepared to be reuealed at the last day wherein we reioyce being now made heauy by diuers temptations as it is meete to the end that the triall of our faith much more precious then gold which perisheth and yet is tried in the fire may turne to our prayse honour and glory when Iesus Christ shall be reuealed who speaketh thus vnto vs in the person of his Disciples in the beginning of the 14. Chapter of S. Iohn Let not your hearts bee troubled You beleeue in God beleeue also in me There are many dwelling places in my Fathers house I goe to prepare a place for you and when I shall be gone hence and shall haue prepared a place for you I will come againe and will receiue you to my selfe that where I am there may you be also Then shall be the true regeneration and restauration of Gods children when the soule emptied of all errour ignorance and malice shall be filled with new illumination perfect righteousnesse and holinesse when the body clothed with glory and immortalitie shall see death swallowed vp in victory In him there shall be no fainting decâ—ying drooping nor old age The bodies of the Saints sayth S. Augustine in the 19. chap. of his Manuel shal rise againe without blemish without deformity without corruption heauines or impediment This shall as easily be done as their felicity shall be consummated for which cause wee call them spirituall although their bodies ought still to remaine not to be changed into Ghosts and Spirits As for the corruption which now presseth downe the soule and the vices by whose meanes the flesh lusteth against the spirit such flesh shall cease to be because it could not be able to possesse the Kingdome of God In regard of the substance of the same flesh it shall not be abolished but still remaine but euerlastingly glorified For this cause S. Paul said That the body being sowen a fleshly body shall rise againe a spirituall body because there shall be so strong an vnion betweene the soule and the body that the soule making the body to liue without any supply of nourishment and hauing no more combate and striuing within vs betweene the spirit and the flesh all being then spirit we shall not feele any enemies assaults nor dangers whatsoeuer without nor within but shall be repleat compassed about saciated crowned with permanent glory Behold as touching this point of the resurrection of the flesh The beleefe of this Article encourageth all Christians but particularly wise old men patiently to beare their infirmities and maladies remembring the counsell of the Apostle S. Peter in the third Chapter of his second Epistle Seeing that so it is sayth he that the heauens and the earth must be dissolued what manner of persons ought wee to bee in holy couersation and holy workes looking for and hasting vnto the comming of the day of the Lord by whom the heauen being set on fire shall bee dissolued and the Elements shal melt with heate But according to his promise wee looke for new heauens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse Wherefore beloued seeing ye looke for such things be diligent that ye may bee found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse Let vs strengthen this Article of the resurrection by the notable sayings of S. Paul to the Corinthians Chap. 5. of the 2. Epistle We must all appeare before the iudgement
The sequele of the points propounded in the former Section concerning the resolutions and consolations against death Page 160. Chapter 19. Of the resurrection of the bodies and of the immortalitie of mens soules Page 180. Chapter 20. The conclusion of the Worke with a serious exhortation to old and young Also two Prayers for wise old men Page 196. Ay mee I lacke but life to make my will If thou hadst life it would be vnmade still Il y a esperance on vn bien faict Le plustost est le meilleur Hee that to doe nor good nor harme hath no deuotion Differs not from a Picture but in motion Dum Scribo Morior THE WISE VIEILLARD OR OLD MAN CHAP. 1. Of long life and the desire men haue to liue long in the world WE labour and essay in this Discourse that the aged person may haue his thoughts and affections somewhat more stayed and setled then those of younger yeares to the end to make him truely wise by expecting and longing vntill hee may bee perfectly euerlastingly wise in heauen By the wisdome which we wish vnto him no other thing is meant then that he should meditate and exercise himselfe in pietie iustice or vpright dealing charity or brotherly loue duties beseeming and requirable in the ancienter sort of persons in euery thing they doe so long as they soiourne and make their abode here on earth It is a thing very vsuall and common vnto vs all our life long which is but short to cast imagine continually with our selues the many difficulties and dangers are in it and it is a wonder to see how ingenious and witty we are to vexe and afflict our selues for triffles and things of no value There is nothing somuch doth trouble vs and makes old age terrible vnto vs as the feare to depart hence and to leaue this withering and transitory life whereof old age is the Catastrophe and last concluding act making an end of vs speedily and may be called the sunne set of our dayes Consider the ancienter sort of persons and you shall obserue almost no one humour so much predominant and raigning in them as a feruent desire to auoide all surfeitings and excesse and to keepe a good diet to the end to maintaine a little strength and to hold our life be it but for an houre and to perswade themselues they may liue one yeare longer at the lest Would you gladly please or flatter them doe but make them younger in yeares then they are by telling them they are not so old as they reckon and take themselues to be and that there is no cause or likelihood but they may liue many a yeare longer then others and forget not in words to extoll their experience sufficiency prudence and wisedome to contriue and wade thorough great matters you are by and by their onely man who but you none more made on It is a point of vndoubted truth that God created Adam and Eue not onely to enioy a life for some hundred of yeares but to liue for euer whereupon there was fixed and imprinted in their heartt a feruent desire to liue and not to see death For although that masse and lumpe of dust whereof the first mans body was formed and made did inuest him with mortalitie yet in regard of the likenesse and similitude which hee had with God death had neuer seized on him but Adam all his posteritie had subsisted and continued long vpon earth in a large and pleasant plot of ground purposely ordained for them to dwell in the whole world before sin entred being wonderfully beautifull vntill such time as he and all his posteritie without feeling griefe of minde or paine of body had beene by God translated into heauen if they had remained in the first estate wherein they were created But Adam and Eue hauing wilfully suffered Sathan to efface and deface the image of God in them they both and all their naturall off-spring long of them were made subiect vnto death became strangers to the life of God and were called Flesh an appellation and name very fit for them Howsoeuer this bee so yet by the speciall blessing of the Father of heauen through the meanes and fauour of his beloued Sonne who was ordained to be the Sauiour of all mankinde this present life how miserable soeuer it be by reason of sinne is no small Donation or pettie Legacy but a most excellent gift of God vnto his children I speake of long life promised to them which shall beare and behaue themselues as they ought to doe toward God and toward their neighbours as is recorded in the second and fifth commandement of the morall law where the promises are set downe whereunto that which is further added in the end of the 91. Psalme is referred and hath relation That hee which vnfainedly loueth the Lord shall be satisfied with long life But this longitude and length of life must not cause vs to forget especiall in all our troubles and trialls that by death wee haue rest and case from our toylings and labours and that this life of ours is a paineful pilgrimage a Sea-voyage full of danger and perill a mercilesse war sparing none making hauocke of all deseruing by reason of the euills that wee suffer and indure in it to bee tearmed rather a death then a life Vpon the consideration whereof a certaine graue ancient Father cried out O death how welcome and pleasing is thy doome and sentence to him that is in want to the man whose strength faileth him to him that is waxen very old and is afflicted on all sides hauing no part of him free from paine to the man that is at defiance and out of loue with himselfe and to him that hath cast off patience and is growne desperate What thing is there that may bee more desired then speedily to shake off and rid vs of these chaines to get out of the prison and darke and fearefull dungeons and deserts wherein wee are confined fast tied and bound that so wee may recouer the precious libertie to goe to our home to dwell in the house of the Lord and in his Palace of glory to triumph and reioyce What doth long life bring with it but a Chaos and infinite number of euills It hath beene said many yeares agoe This grieuous penalty vpon old men is set All the day long at home to grieue and to fret With sorrowes and woes they are compast about Still one paine or other they are neuer without They consume and weare old as they goe mourning in blacke And so at last with griefes heauy load away hence doe packe But he that hath liued well although he die when he is but twentie yeares old ought to haue his tombe erected and placed with the oldest and wisest and with great ioy and applause to haue this for his Epitaph I haue liued long enough and am content here to lye Because nature is pleas'd I should so
doth transforme them into prophane persons and desperate Atheistes If the exhortation was necessary which the wise man hath giuen to euery young man in the twelfth Chapter and third Verse of Ecclesiastes To remember his Creatour in the dayes of his youth before the euill dayes doe approach what is to be said to old men vpon whom those dayes and painefull to passe and vndergoe because of the miseries that doe accompany them are already come more then halfe gone and past and almost at an end What a shame were it to old men to be reproached and iustly that they play at leap frog vse fond courtings and make foolish toyes and brauadoes and gadde vp and downe whethersoeuer their affections lead them and the lusts of their eyes It were well done to proclaime and cry out with a loud voyce Know that for all thy euill wayes God will bring thee to iudgement O hypocrite where art thou canst thou hide thee from others from thy selfe from God thy Soueraigne thou hast one foot in the graue and thou wilt fetch gambols and friskes and caper aloft that the world may see thou art still one of her minions and a fauourite of her vanities But let vs consider the disorder and licentiousnesse of youth which soone enough procure a miserable old age which besmeare and rudely handle the sinner and lewd liuer The first disorder and licentiousnesse as Philosophers Physicians and Diuines say is found in whooredome adultery and such like abominable sins of the flesh Aristotle in his Tractate of the length and shortnesse of life saith That the males of all creatures which bill often with the females are quickely old and doe waste and consume their bodily strength Galen said that Venus which doth coole the blood too much and weaken the body is the capitall enemy of old men and of hote complections Long before him the holy Ghost hath giuen a good and wholesome caueate and precept thereof by the instruction of Bethsaba to King Salomon her sonne for whom shee made so many vowes Giue not thy strength to women following the way which is the destruction of Kings If such infamous disorders and licentiousnesse bee insupportable and perilous in young men how much more in old men who are obliged and bound to remember the holy statutes and ordinances of their Soueraigne who in his inuiolable law ratified vnder great paines and penalties cryes out Thou shalt not be a fornicatour Thou shalt not commit adultery God will iudge whooremongers and adulterers and such persons shall not inherite the kingdome of heauen Wise old men tremble at the words of their great Prince who telles them in plaine tearmes That whosoeuer lookes vpon a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her in his heart Matth. 5. 28. They mourne and lament when this interrogatory is ministred vnto them by the Apostle Know yee not that our bodies are the members of Christ Shall I then take the members of Christ to make them the members of an harlot God forbid Also he sayth Fly fornication for euery sinne which a man committeth is without the body but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his owne body Know yee not that your body is the temple of the holy Ghost which yee haue of God and yee are not your owne men 1. Cor. 6. 15. c. The reason which he giues doth ouerthrow and cut off all pretexts that young and old men which despise the truth can alledge or take hold of to excuse themselues in accusing themselues You haue sayth hee beene bought with a price glorifie then God in your body and in your soule Let vs without producing further allegations and proofes in this case end it with the words of the same Aduocate of holinesse and truth This is sayth he the will of God and your sanctification that yee should abstaine from fornication and that euery one of you should know how to possesse his vessell in holinesse and honour and not in the lust of concupiscence as the Gentiles doe which know not God 1. Thessal 4. 3. c. The Prouerb is That when the belly is full the bones desire rest or we are apt for wanton delights Delicious fare gluttony drunkennesse cause young men and old to liue so dissolutely and licenciously as before is mentioned And whereas the heathen people sought to finde veritie in wine the Apostle saith to the Ephesians That in wine there is found vanitie dissolutenesse disorder and all misgouernment and misrule Bacchus and Ceres as a heathen man said are the fewellers and fier-makers to Venus Wine and belly cheare dull the vnderstanding and bereaue a man of his senses And it is the onely time for old men to remember the notable sayings of Salomon to this purpose when they are at their great feasts and iunketting bankets I will content my selfe with repetition of those sentences which are contained in the end of the three and twentith Chapter of the Prouerbes where both the vices are set downe together close one by another My sonne sayth the wise man giue me thine heart and let thine eyes be watchfull and looke to my wayes For a whoore is a deepe ditch and the strange woman is a narrow pit Also shee lieth in waite as for a prey and will make the trecherous rebellious and transgressours among men to bee many in number To whom is woe is mee to whom is sorrow and alas to whom are vproares to whom are murmurings to whom are strifes and quarrels without cause to whom are redde eyes To those that sit long at the wine and which goe to seeke mixt wine Looke not vpon the wine when it is redde when it showes his collour in the cup and goes downe plesantly It biteth in the end like a serpent and stingeth like a cockatrice Then thine eyes will looke vpon strange women and thine heart will speake lewd things Thou shalt bee as one that sleepeth in the middest of the sea and as hee that sleepeth in the top mast of a ship They haue buffetted me thou wilt say and haue giuen me many cruell blowes but I was so past sense I felt not when I did awake I will yet goe seeke after new wine To these elegant sayings heere described I will adde the precept of our Sauiour who saith Take heed to your selues least your hearts be oppressed with gluttony drunkennesse and the cares of this life and the last day come vpon you vnawares Luke 21. 34. Saint Peter saith Be sober and watch because your aduersary the diuell goes about you like a roaring Lion seeking whom hee may deuoure 1. Peter 5. 8. And lastly Saint Paul hath this sentence That fornicators adulterers effeminate wantons drunkardes and other wicked persons who are dead asleepe and hardened in their sinnes shall not inherite the kingdome of God 1. Cor. 6. 10. I forbeare to speake of the diseases which proceed of the disorders and licenciousnesse formerly specified or of the extraordinary plagues
and stooping in the showlders and be still an able and practised man And that this is true Cicero giues vs some examples Neither the Kings counsell Table sayth he nor his Court of Common-pleas nor my Clients for whom I pleade at the barre nor my friends nor strangers can complaine that they lacke me or my helpe Zenophon reportes that Cyrus in a Discourse which he made a little before his death maintained that he neuer felt himselfe to haue a lesse able bodie in his age then he had when hee was young Cicero sayth further that when he was a childe he saw L. Metellus a very aged man so strong of body that he cared not to be young Masinissa king of Numidia could not be perswaded to goe couered with a Hatt on his head when he was fourescore and ten yeares old but in raine hayle frost and snow went bare headed Appius when he was very old blind gouerned a great familie had a spirit like a bow alwayes bent prepared and resolued to dare defye and wrastle with old age in such sort that he bore all the sway of Command in his house and kept all his family in so good awe and order that he was reuerenced of his children and beloued of his neighbors Some doe accuse old age in men that it makes them heauie headed and dull to haue no mirth nor musicke in them and to abandon and cast of all pleasures But if they account the follies fond iollities and gambolles of youth for true pleasures their accusation is false and they speake iniuriously of Old age which procures great good vnto vs blotting out quite whatsoeuer is most vicious and bad in young men to wit carnall pleasure a capitall enemies to vs all which headlong plungeth all those that are vassalls and slaues vnto her into gulfes of eternall perdition is the mother of gluttony drunkennesse whoredome adulterie of all dissolutenesse and debauched villanies and in fine is the cause of the ruines of Common weales and families Old men which are free from the coulp and guilt of these and the like vices and abominations haue lesse torture and torment of mind and haue the more reuerence and authoritie giuen them which is the Crowne of their age The approches of death seeme to strike a terror and astonishment into many old men But wretched is the man who all the time of his life hath not learned to make light account of death which he ought before hand to envre and frame himselfe to wish for and expect seeing death is his guide and conuoy to heauen and bringeth with him a dedimus potestatem to put him in possession of his euerlasting inheritance which the Sonne of God hath adiudged vnto him which iudgement is entred in despite of Sathan who continually in this world brings cauelling suites and actions against vs to molest and interrupt vs in our iust clayme thereunto More occasions and causes therebe of diseases in yong men by reason they are put to all hard labours and iourneyes whereby for the most part they do vntimely end their liues so that death doth as ordinarily seize vpon them as vpon old men Some doe reply that such yong men haue a hope to liue long but it is a foolish perswasion by reason that they take that which is doubtfull for sure and certaine and that which is false for true As the time of Autumne succeedes the spring time and Summer so there is nothing more naturall to old men then to die The death of young men resembles a great flaming fire which is not quenched but with much water but old men are like a dry chipp of wood or a small gloing fire which dyes and goes out of it selfe Why should wee mourne and lament for him who when he dies findes immortalitie and whose practise and studie hath beene from his tender youth to contemne death that his soule might be at rest in a place conuenient This is briefely the substance of that which Cicero in his Dialogue of old age doth handle more at large Christians haue more excellent remedies helpes and refuges against the miseries of old age and the assaults of death which hereafter in their order we will declare That old age hath his particular miseries in regard of the bodie and minde we are not now to dispute It is that which we are next to speake of CHAP. IX A more speciall Catalogue or numbring vp of some miseries in old men in regard of their bodies VErily that man which should take vpon him to maintaine that old age is exempt and priuiledged from all discommodities and miseries should reason against sence experience and nature it selfe which beares witnes against him For although the life of man from the beginning to the end hath no part of it free from diuers calamities which it is to resist and conflict and that man from his birth seemes to bee made to liue in paine and sorrow Yet wee must know and acknowledge that feeble and decrepit old age is incident to many particular miseries which are the causes that weake old men are commonly testie froward sad melancholy especially those who are cholerique fretfull and impatient by nature or are not armed and prepared before hand to vndergoe such assaults and to stoope to the miseries which the last age of their life shall lay vpon them It is a well worne saying That as lees and dregs doe sinke downe and lie at the bottome of vessels so the excrements noysome humours and all the miseries of our life doe settle in old age their last lodging place One compares very fitly the condition of old men to a little City halfe ruinous and decayed whose walles moulder away are almost all broken downe and is altogether vnprouided of munition and victualls to fortifie and succour it selfe if need require For wee see in all old men their eye sight by little and little to faile them that they are duller and deaffer of hearing their teeth to fall out their hands and feet to haue the palsie briefly this building of clay and spittle to haue many defects and decayes and daily to waste and impaire more and more expecting a totall ruine But the more these euills doe presse and molest vs the more we thinke vpon desire and expect to make an end of our painefull pilgrimage to hit the marke we ayme at to be quietly seated in our true dwelling place eternall habitation Those persons who from their youth haue learned to submit themselues to the diuine prouidence and to meditate and reuolue with themselues a better life doe with greater case sustaine and beare all the miseries of their long age And the weakenesse of body in old men doth not hinder them from doing that which is meete and behoouefull for them to doe But it is a great reproach and obliquie to old men if in the eye of good men without shame or feare of their great and soueraigne Iudge who is to bee feared
Daniel calles him The Ancient of dayes not that therefore it is lawfull to represent God in the shape of an old man with a great long white beard as many ignorant folke doe which neuer read Moses nor the Prophets and which are ignorant of the nature and essence of the true God But that wee should conceiue this incomprehensible Maiestie to bee nothing else but wisedome a venerable supremacy and greatnesse of estate and a perfect sanctitie Secondly wee are taught to reuerence old men to honour their persons to rise vp with great respect to these white heads and beards and to shew thereby that we acknowledge in this their old age the stampes and prints of God as Moses exhorts vs in the 19. Chap. Leuit. v. 32. which we recite to the same end and purpose as wee haue done other sayings and sentences before whereunto wee adde this of a wise Elder who writ Ecclesiasticus in the third Chapter of which booke hee sayth My sonne helpe thy father in his age and grieue him not so long as hee liueth when his vnderstanding faileth him haue patience and beare with him and dispise him not but honour him as much as thou canst For the good intreaty of thy father shall not bee forgotten but shall bee a fortresse for thee against thy sinnes The women of Bethlehem are friendly and kind to the good old Naomi for that her daughter in law Ruth had borne a sonne to Boaz. This say they may bring life againe to thee and lenghthen thy dayes and cherish and comfort thine old age Ruth 4. 15. God by his Prophet Isaiah reprochet the Babilonians that they were cruell and vnmerciful to the Iewes and laid a very heauy yoke vpon them Chap. 47. 6. Also these wicked people were as hammers which the iust Iudge of the world vsed to breake in peeces the old and the young as Ieremie speakes in the 52. Chapter Vers 22. whence proceeded those woes and alasses of the Prophet in his Lamentations 4. Chap Vers 16. They reuerenced not the face of the Priests nor had compassion of the Elders And in the fift Chapter following Vers 12. The Princes are hanged vp by the hands and they reuerence not the face of the Elders That which Ezechiel proposeth in the 9. chap. v. 6. is most feareful and it sufficeth vs to marke and obserue it that our wise Vicillard doe thereby take heed On the contrary in Zachariahs dayes there being a question and demurre concerning the reestablishment of the people and of the fauours that God was minded to bestow vpon them Zachariah declares in the 8. Chapter Vers 4. That the God of hostes sayd thus There shall old men and women dwell in the streetes of Ierufalem and euery man haue his staffe in his hand for very age But Isaiah in the third Chapter Vers 2. and 5. putteth for signes of the terrible iudgement of God to Ierusalem That the old men shall be taken away and destroyed that the childe shall exalt himselfe and presume against the auncient and the abiect and vile against the honourable If in these times there bee any presage of the decay and ruine of Churches and Common-weales it is that the number of wise old men is very smal that the age of the worthies and renowned men is vanished and past That those that are children in yeares and vnderstanding are percht vp and set vp in the places of the experienced valiant and learned An extreame misery which we cannot sufficiently describe and lament But as good fruit when it is ripest and mellow is most delicate and pleasant to the taste and as the last draught contenteth the thirstie person In like sort pleasure seemes to reserue her dainties to the last and for the last seruice and messe So likewise wee say that old age hath in it I know not what that is notable and more excellent then other ages and the sayings of the auncients as the singing of swannes are daily excellent monitors and admonitions to vs. If wee listen to the last wordes of the Patriarches Moses Ioshua Dauid and giue them the hearing wee shall in them finde an ample proofe heereof Such Histories are familiar to wise old men and it is much better to read them in themselues then heere to recite them What illumination of Gods spirit is reuealed and manifest in the sayings of infinite Martyrs especially of such as were old euen from the Apostles time till now It is matter for a greater booke then this small Tractat or Manuel In the second booke of the Maccabees Chap. 6. It is spoken of Eleazar one of the chiefe Scribes an aged man who being pressed and instantly solicited to feigne and make semblance to adhere and obey to the superstitions of the Heathens vpon an honest and vpright minde worthy his age the excellency of his yeares the honour of his gray hayres his good conuersation from his childhood and chiefly Gods holy law suddenly required that hee might bee led to the place of execution adding these words worthy of memory It becommeth not our age to dissemble least many yong persons diffident and wauering that Eleazar being fourscore and tenne yeares old was gone and yeelded to prophane ceremonies thorough mine hypocrisie and dissimulation for a smal moment of a caduque and transitory life might bee seduced and I bring a malediction and curse and a staine and reproach to mine old age for though I should bee deliuered from the torments of men yet could I not escape the hand of the Almightie neither aliue nor dead Wherefore manfully changing and giuing vp this life I shall shew my selfe such as mine age requireth and meriteth And I shall leaue a notable example for such as be young to die willingly and couragiously for the venerable and holy lawes To this worthy old man let vs ioyne the constant Martyr Polycarpus a Disciple of S. Iohn the Apostle and of the Church of Smyrna in Asia As he was brought to the torturing fire the Proconsul hauing most earnestly solicited him to recant and renounce his faith with promise of libertie I haue said this wise old man and constant Martyr these fourescore and sixe yeares serued Iesus Christ and all this time he did me no outrage nor hurt how should it then be possible to bring me to bee of the minde to blaspheme my Sauiour and King I will neuer doe it If you feigne and pretend you know not my qualitie I would haue you to know that I am a Christian Many other words of admirable constancie were then vttered by this reuerend old man who being armed with inuincible courage presently suffred death for the name of the Lord. These two examples shall suffice to shew that the neerer wise old men are vnto death be it easie or violent the greater is their courage the neerer are they to the kingdome of Heauen And still as their bodies growe weake the holy Ghost doth fortifie and strengthen them in such sorte that
and new Testament is the rule of his obedience Thirdly That he renounce himselfe to the end to yeeld and submit himselfe vnto God Fourthly That he patiently and cheerfully beare the crosse that is all kind of affliction that it shall please God to inflict vpon him Fifthly That in all his course of life hee meditate vpon that better life which is prepared in heauen Sixthly That the vse of transitory goods doe prouoke and incite him to goe forward more couragiously to the end of his high calling CHAP. XVI Worthy Meditations for all persons especially the wise Vieillard of what quality and condition soeuer he be WE propound further to the wise Vieillard that which followes to the end that in his owne particular for the dignity and honour of his age in the sight of God and good men he meditate thereon I say then thaâ—â—â—ery man especially he that is farre gone in yeares ought continually to haue Iesus Christ in his meditation and thought which he shall stay and settle vpon the considerations following As Iesus Christ after he was baptised was solemnly and with a loud voyce from heauen declared to be the beloued Sonne in whom the Father delighted So a Christian inwardly may know by the efficacy of the holy Spirit witnessing in and with his that he is the childe of God And when after his initiation and entry into the house of God sealed by the sacred signe of Baptisme it happeneth vnto him at many yeares end to bee led into the desart as his head was there to bee brought to extreame hunger to be pressed with sundry necessities and wants enuironed with the dangers persecutions miseries and aduersities of this world by meanes whereof Sathan assayeth to make him thinke as he assayled on the same side at first our Lord Iesus that he is out of the number of Gods children being destitute of all helpes and comforts and many wayes perplexed Thou oughtest not O wise Vieillard of what quality or condition soeuer thou be to resigne and yeeld vp the buckler of faith but opposing it against the fiery darts of that wicked one firmely beleeue that God is thy Father hath care of thee that all his visitations are full of loue doe proceed from his wisedome for his glory and thy saluation and welfare I know that this outragious one will perseuer and goe on in his calumny will say that thou shouldest make request vnto God if thou bee one of his children that these stones be turned into bread that is that these hard sharpe and violent aduersities which doe batter and split in peeces thy heart be changed into prosperitie But doe thou answere as thy Sauiour that the children of God are not sustayned and maintained by goodes and things transitorie and perishing but by God himselfe and by his rich and blessed promises If he charge and set vpon thee another way exclamining that if thou thinke thy selfe so priuiledged that thou shouldest cast thy selfe downe headlong from the top of the pinacle of the temple that is from the high degree of the spirituall politicall oeconomicall dignitie and iurisdiction wherin thou art promoted and aduanced far higher and aboue many others to tumble thy selfe into some stinking sinke of impietie iniustice defamatorie lewdnesse and villanie and he doe add withall that nothing shall follow of it which thou oughtest to feare that no body shall know ought of it that thou shalt haue a foule wide mouth and a brasen impudent face to deny all yea euen that God is much obliged to thee that his Angells haue a care of thee that thou alwayes haue at a pynch of need ready in thy sleeue a good peccaui that whatsoeuer happen if thou goe the way leading to hell it is notwithstanding the way to Paradise Make him this answere It is written Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God but on the contrary seeing that of his so great benignity goodnesse and grace he hath made mee his I am so much the more obliged and bound to honour him thanke him and to study and indeuour to assure my calling Againe if the tempter set before thine eyes all the world and thereupon demaund of thee to doe him homage and worship thou feeling thy selfe by faith to bee the sonne of God and heyre of heauen disdaine and dispise these shadowes dreames smoakie vapours falling downe prostrate before the only true God thy hope life and saluation Who where-as thou wert by nature a childe of wrath a member of the first Adam a brance of a thorny bitter venomous corrupt and wilde plant hath cut and taken thee from it and graffed thee into Iesus Christ the stocke of life and the fruitfull pure oliue branch so that thou hast beene made a liuing member of him which requires that thou haue neyther strength or vigour nor motion or progresse whatsoeuer but as thou art mooued and directed by the Spirit of Iesus Christ dwelling in thee that thou oughtest not to thinke to will desire or doe any thing but by diuine inspiration and as much as is behoouefull for a liuing and spirituall member of the Lord. Vpon this thou art bound often to meditate especially when the case is so that thou art put to thy tryall and to stand to thy tackling And when thou doest any thing vnbeseeming and not agreeing to the dignity of a Christian of one adopted of God and of a brother and member of Christ be ashamed of thy selfe and deferre not to repent and amend But forasmuch as our Sauiour was crucified it followes that all his members ought to bee nayled to the crosse with him Which is first done by a feruent charity as it falles out to all those who being enflamed and changed by an intire loue to their Redeemer feele all his sufferings and are mortified with him in his crosse Secondly thou must yet in another manner bee crucfied with Iesus Christ to wit if thy feete will trample and trot vp and downe to and fro in the world to doe some euill nayle them to the crosse of the Lord with strong nayles of charity Does as much to thy hands if they enterprize and take vpon them to doe and commit some mischeeuous act and designe and with thy wanton lustfull eyes including and shutting vp in Christ thy intellect and vnderstanding with his cogitations the will with her desires and lustes and the soule with all her faculties and powers so that all the old Adam being crucified the saying of the Apostle may be verified in thee That those that are of Christ haue crucified their flesh with the lustes thereof Thirdly thou oughtest further to be fastened in another manner to the crosse of Christ that as when hee hanged on the crosse he was beheld naked forlorne emptied and destitute of all the fauour friendship respect and wisedome of men of all worldly riches pompes dignities and pleasures by reason whereof himselfe said That the Prince of the world found nothing of his in him
cost but six Liards three halfe pence or thereabouts and there were burned with faggotts of reedes or brush wood which were set round about them Behold sayth he our equipage our munition and armour of victorie this is out triumphall Chariot Eusebius writeth in the fiftie booke of his Historie of a holy martyr burned aliue with certaine plates of iron made red hot and set to his naked bodie notwithstanding which tormentes hee made a constant profession of the Christian faith even to the last gaspe Eusebius addeth that this sheweth that nothing is terrible to him which feeles that God loueth him and that whosoeuer seekes the glory of Christ Iesus is guarded and saued harmelesse from euery painefull and terrible accident and casuall event As for the vncouth and strange diseases and kindes of hideous death whereunto to mans life is exposed as they are to be seene in the horrible convulsions of Epilepsies falling sicknesses in the violent fittes of Apoplexies in cruell and hot burning feavers these are pittifull cases to behold and incident to our fraile and sinnefull nature But they are also certaine monitors of a better life seeing that our health and happinesse consisteth not in a sound temperature of humours but in this that our names are written in heauen and that wee haue bin dedicated to Iesus Christ For the Lord God who knoweth our heartes who in his secret judgement exerciseth some more then others regardes and considers what he hath done for vs and what the holy Ghost who comforteth vs in such accidents and cases doth for vs by vnspeakeable groanings not the intemperature of our bodies nor the effectes of it For this is an assured thing that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Iesus and that nothing is able to seperate vs from the loue which the father of heauen beares vs for his sonnes sake yea that all things doe helpe together for the good of those whom according to his determinate counsell he hath called to the participation of his grace Therefore all Christians ought to remaine vndoubted and resolued in this poynt that there is no kinde of maladie torment or death which doth hurt Gods elect that there is no death happie ioyful peaceable to the wicked vnbeleeuers and miscreants whom God often times for a while doth vphold in this world to the end more heauily to punish them after hee hath dragged and haled them out of the earth Hereupon it will be demanded wherefore then so many great personages members of the Church of God and Christ Iesus himselfe the head thereof did feare death and prayed to be guarded and secured from it I answere that there was something of singular note in our Lord and which must be differenced and distinguished from others In that he not onely bore and felt a common death or seperation of the soule from the bodie but also vnder-went and sustayned the wrath of God and all the torments and agonies that may be imagined without sinne notwithstanding because hee was an hostage and pledge for vs Neuerthelesse in such sort that he did not yeeld nor shrinke vnder the burthen nor murmured a whit against God but voluntarily offred himselfe in sacrifice stood not demurring and shifting of death with natures delayes wholly submitted himselfe to the will of God his Father as it was foretold and figured by Dauid in the fortieth Psalme Here am I O God that I may doe thy will Behold as touching the head of the Church who had had no subiect of combat and victorie if he had not felt the tormentes and terrors of death without sinne or any offence and fault on his part In respect then we are his members let vs keepe and obserue this rule That wee cannot commend euery refusal or euery desire of death nor discommend all contempt of death Some wish death not so much for any desire they haue of a better life as for the despite and dislike they conceiue against their abode and stay in the world where they see miseries which their weake mindes cannot brooke and endure and which giue terrible shockes and assaults to the most resolued and stoutest hearts The Israelites wanting bread in the wildernesse wished death as also when newes was brought them that the Cananites were men of a very tall stature Iob in the depth of his panges and griefes desired to die as also the Prophet Eliah did during his escape in the Desert On the contrary Dauid Ezechias and other great personages very much feared death and instantly besought the Lord to guard and saue them from it But this was for a speciall consideration to wit in as much as they being afraide of the threatninges and judgements of God the approach of death appeared more terrible vnto them or because they wished to continue longer to aduance Gods glory and to yeeld their helpe and seruice to the edification of the Church Againe the same personages banished all feare from them looking vpon death according as now it is made vnto vs by the grace of God the rest from our labours the passage to a better life In this sense the Patriarch Iob spake in the 19. Chapter I know that my redeemer liueth and that I shall rise againe at the last day that I shall be againe cloathed with my skin and shall see the Lord in my flesh So Dauid did sing in the 16. Psalme For this cause my heart is glad my tongue reioyceth Moreouer my flesh resteth in assurance for thou wilt not leaue my soule in the graue And in the 23. Psalme Though I should walke in the shadow of death I will feare no euill because thou art with me CHAP. XVIII The sequele of the poynts propounded in the former Section concerning the resolutions and consolations against Death IF there be any men bound to meditate ordinarily vpon death to be armed with remedies against the alarumes of it to procure that their children friends and families doe liue as prest and readie to die wise old men are especially they whose true Philosophie is called the Meditation of death To draw them so much the more easily vnto it we will remember to euery one of them some sayings of wise Pagans and Heathens which will cause vs to say to all persons who vaunt themselues of the name of Christians At least doe not afflict and torment your selues more with the death of the your selues and yours then the silly Heathens who had no hope who so manfully contemned the approches of death who with so great constancie haue embraced it and striuen against it I speake thus considering the cowardize of some Christians who haue nothing so much in their mouthes and take so little to heart as death S. Ierome in the Epistle to Heliodorus shewing how we ought to be more resolute against the assaults of death and all accidents and casualties of humaine life then Infidells were maketh mention of Xerxes that mightie Monarch who ouerthrew mountaines and paved