of Temperance and Sobriety And that both for Others sakes and for your Own. You should be examples O be not stumbling Blocks to younger people Your vices may propagate when your persons are past it and those that are Eye or Ear-witnesses of your follies may derive the practice of them to the Child that is yet unborn and altho you may recover by true Repentance yet they may stumble upon you and fall and never rise again Entail not a Curse upon your Posterity do not nourish in them that natural depravation which in equity you ought rather to cure And for your Own sake be sober be vigilant for you are upon the confines of the everlasting World a World wherein all sensual enjoyments will be for ever out of date endeavour to go off the Stage without a Blemish When some Courtiers were sent to S r Fr. Walsingham being sick and sad to make him merry God said he is serious in his Law Iesus Christ was serious in his Death the Holy Ghost is serious in his dealing with our Souls all in Heaven and Hell are serious and shall a Man that hath one Foot in the Grave Laugh and Iest Take warning by poor Noah One hours Drunkenness discovered that which Six hundred years Sobriety had concealed If his inexperience did in any degree excuse him you can make no such pretence If you have any regard to the Health and Vigour of your Bodies to the quiet and welfare of your Souls to the pleasing and honouring of God bridle your appetite and check the pleasures of your Senses In short there is as we observed before no better way to spin out your lives to make Old-age pleasant and Death easie than the exercise of this Vertue The instance of Cornaro a learned and rich Venetian is common that with a sparing and orderly Diet lived to a great Age with little inconvenience To deny a mans self is the way to please himself at length and by opposing the preternatural desires of the Body we contribute to the true happiness even of the Body it self And here comes in the use and exercise of Mortification wherein tho a wise man may make some steps yet the work cannot be done without the assistance of Gods Holy Spirit If ye through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the Body ye shall live Rom. 8. 13. Implore therefore the aid of this good Spirit who can make you mortally to hate that which you now do ardently love and will pluck up the roots of that whereof Morality doth only shave the Hair. Set the Spectacle of Death oft before you and of that endless Estate to which you are such near Neighbours and think how unsuitable a vain life is to a serious Death Be much in Prayer and if need be add Fasting thereunto that your moderation may be known unto all men seeing undoubtedly to Old people The Lord is at hand SECT VII THE Seventh Grace proper for Old-age is Charity or Love. Not that sensual or carnal Love which is proper or rather common to Youth and which hath long since dropt off like Leaves in the Autumn of their Age but that Grace which disposeth the Heart to think the best the Tongue to speak the best and the whole man to promote the Welfare of Others The Seat or chief Mansion of this is the Heart which being filled with this Grace it is diffused every way and the whole man is tinctur'd with it It obligeth a man to Think the best of every man. Charity thinketh no evil believeth all things hopeth all things beareth all things By this we are ready to account the Certain good things in Others better than they are the certain Evils in others less than they are the good that is but doubtful in others certain and doubtful Evils none And it rests not in Opinion but works by Desire whereby the Heart doth unfeignedly desire the Temporal Spiritual and Eternal good of all men Neither doth it rest there but shews it self in Endeavour and that both by Word and Deed speaking To them Of them For them to God and man what may conduce thereunto in their Lips is the Law of kindness Charity vaunteth not it self is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly is not easily provoked 1 Cor. 13. 5. Neither will Words satisfie it but doth actually help and cheerfully succour every Body as their occasion requires and his own ability extends And in this Grace doth every good Old Man and Woman excell This was the eminent Grace of the Evangelist Iohn in his Old-age for he lived longer than any of the Apostles and his Swan-like Song still was Love as is evident in all his Epistles yea some Church Historians affirm that when he could go no longer by reason of his Age into the Christian Assemblies yet he was instant to be led or carried there where the substance of what he was able to say was little Children love one another And you may find how pathetical was Paul the Aged in his tender charity to Onesimus Philem. 9. Being such a one as Paul the Aged for loves sake I beseech thee for my Son Onesimus And this Spirit did continue in the Ancient Christians in the Primitive times who loved as Tertullian tells us as Brethren and were ready to dye for one another We that did hate one another saith Iustin Martyr now do live familiarly together and do pray for our Enemies In all Ages as men have increased in Piety they have increased in Charity and come to relent of their rigour and keenness It was Age Experience and Consideration as well as a Prison that melted Bishop Ridley to accost his Brother Hooper in this manner However in some by-matters and circumstances of Religion your wisdom and my Simplicity hath a little jarred yet now I sincerely love and imbrace you You know Rehoboams Old Counsellours were for lenity when the young were stern and furious It 's true the natural tempers or painful distempers may incline some Old people to too much Acrimony yet all Aged people that are considerate have taken more degrees in Charity than young people have It was an Old man in Gibeah that had more of this Grace than all the City besides Iudg. 19. 16. For besides the advantage they have had of Gods holy Ordinances the Scope whereof is to increase our Faith and Love they have found by experience that the Life and Soul of Religion lies not in these lesser matters that have caused the greatest noise in the World that every difference in Religion makes not a different Religion so that wheresoever they see any thing of Christ these they love Their Consciousness of their own mistakes and of their own imperfections hath forced them to more charitable thoughts of others They have observed that true Grace hath lived in the midst of great infirmities yea they have found this Flower in divers persons where they thought there had been nothing but
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
Holy course doth contribute to this end 1. In a Natural way And that 1. By Mortifying and discarding those Sins which do more directly hurt the Body Such are those Passions and Excesses above-named such is Anger Envy Covetousness Ambition and many such like which like wind in the Intrails of the Earth do rend and shatter it I think there is no Sin whatsoever but it hath a malignant influence upon the Body either to disorder and inflame it or to macerate and dispirit it Now the Fear of God obliges a man not only to restrain but to pluck up all such by the Roots Those are the Weeds which both rob the sweet Flowers of their nourishment and also depauperate the soil where they grow which being cast out the whole man fares the better after them And 2. True Piety refresheth the Body with the Comforts of a good Conscience That Peace that Hope that Joy which result from a Conscience that is pacifi'd by the Blood and purified by the Spirit of Christ do most efficaciously cherish the whole man they daily feast him This is that merry Heart that is called a continual feast Prov. 15. 15. And that doth good like a Medicine Prov. 17. 22. There is that Intimacy between the Soul and the Body that whatsoever refresheth the one doth also cheer the other Whereupon the Learned have judged that Hope Love and Ioy are great prolongers of Life by the influence which these have upon the Humours and Spirits in the Body much more when these Affections have heavenly and eternal things for their Object and the Holy Scripture speaks that way when it saith Prov. 19. 23. The fear of the Lord tendeth to Life and he that hath it shall abide satisfied 3. True Piety is the best Preservative against Old-age in a Spiritual way to wit by Procuring the Blessing of God. For when the Body is consecrated to him and imployed for him we may expect it to be blessed by him it is under his peculiar care and Providence When it is united to Iesus Christ it will receive influence from Him for its good So that true Religiousness tho it more immediately tend to the recovery and felicity of the Soul yet it is really most friendly also to the Body He that feareth God and walketh in his ways shall see his Childrens Children Psal. 128. last And on the other hand all those destroying and life-shortning Diseases mention'd Deut. 28. 27. 61. even every sickness and every plague are denounced to the ungodly And fully Eccl. 8. 12 13. Tho a Sinner do Evil an hundred times and his days be prolonged yet surely I know it shall be well with them that fear God which fear before him But it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his days which are as a shadow because he feareth not before God. Therefore you that would protract the time of your flourishing strength learn to love and fear God devote your selves to him bestow your Hearts upon him imploy your time and strength to please and honour him abide not in a State of ungodliness rest not with a form of Godliness but resolve upon that Real Holiness which will produce a long and happy life in this World and a longer and happier life in a better 2. The Second Preservative against Old-age which indeed is contained in the former is Temperance and Sobriety I mean that gracious Vertue which retains the Sensitive Appetite within the bounds of Reason and Religion whereby we keep a Mediocrity in the use of Meats both in respect to their Quantity neither loading nor pining the Stomack and in respect of their Quality neither debauching it by too much Variety nor injuring it by things noxious The same care in Drinks lest the Quality of them be pernicious or the Quantity of them prejudicial That the Marriage-bed be moderately used so that the vital Spirits be not exhausted Now mans sinful Nature above all other Creatures inclines to excess in all these and it is pleasant to the Flesh but it is the pleasure of poyson At last they bite like a Serpent and sting like an Adder Prov. 23. 32. not the Soul only but the Body They do insensibly but infallibly weaken nature disorder the Harmony of the parts breed the most fatal distempers and render him as we may daily observe old in infirmities that is but young in years So that if they who give themselves up to Gluttony Drunkenness or Lasciviousness did truly love their own Souls or yet their own Bodies they would bridle their unruly Appetites for their own sakes and not pay so dear for that which must be repented of And as a plain and even way is much more delectable than always to be going up Hill and down so certainly there is a thousand times more ease and sweetness in an even and temperate course than in the perpetual unevenness of intemperance How should that body hold out that is daily clogg'd and inflam'd with preternatural excesses The intemperate man is constantly feeding an Enemy whom it is charity to starve and deals with his Body as the Ape who is said to hugg her young to death Whereas a wise Sobriety is health to the Navel and marrow to the Bones by it the Humours the Blood the Spirits are all maintain'd in order and in vigour His meals are pleasant and his sleep is sweet and he is a Stranger to those crudities and consequent distempers which pester others Thus Plato by his careful temperance spun out his life tho a great Student till he attain'd above fourscore and Galen to above sevenscore years and Seneca concludes that there is no way to retard Old-age like a frugal Sobriety Let me then persuade all such as are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God or of their own Souls to have some pity on their poor Bodies O break off your destructive Course sow not the Seeds of consuming Maladies in your own Flesh. Be not among Wine-bibbers amongst riotous eaters of Flesh. Put a Knife to thy Throat if thou be a man given to Appetite Prov. 23. 1. 20. Give not your Strength unto Women nor your ways to that which destroyeth Kings Prov. 31. 3. Let not the Beast captivate the Man nor your Reason be enslav'd by Sense but recover a just dominion over your blind and brutish affections that your days may be long and lively in the Land which the Lord giveth you If it be here Objected that the most Religious and temperate persons grow old as soon as others It is Answered that tho in these external things all things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked yet every wise man will take the likeliest course for the blessing he desires Tho some Children that have had no good Education nor good Example have afterward proved eminent men yet who but a desperate man will hereupon resolve I will take no care about the
up Riches as some of them have ingenuously acknowledged They also know that their weakness and infirmities do expose them to contempt and therefore endeavour to obviate that by their Wealth and so make themselves considerable by their Estates These are the â—…rutches which when weakness overtakes them they lean upon and support their fainting spirits withal And they want not variety of Pretences whereby to justifie their course as that they are only providing for a rainy day for troubles and Casualties that may besall them that they ought to lay up for their Children and Posterity or else they were worse than Infidels yea that they are gathering only to bestow it at their death on some pious or charitable use And Satan is not wanting to nurse this humour in them by suggesting to them expectations of a long life a distrust in the Providence of God and continual fears of want which is nursed by the coldness of their temper and by their consciousness of their inability to get much by their labour And these meeting with that inveterate Self-love which is inherent in them and consequently an uncharitable frame of mind towards others hardens them in their tenacious temper so that as they grow weaker this lust grows stronger until Divine grace doth open their eyes or else the Earth at last stop their mouths This bitter root spoils their Devotions interrupts their prayers renders the word of God tastless becramps them to all God Works this disturbs their Rest the thoughts and cares about these things do visit them last at night and meet them first in the morning and disquiet them the day throughout for where the treasure is there will the heart be also Oh the cares the fears the vexations that possess a covetous heart but only that we can digest any thing that we delight in though it be never so bitter else no man could endure the life of a covetous miser But it is the Old-mans recreation the best of his time and the strength of his spirits are consumed either about the keeping of what he hath or about getting more for as he hath no vent for his abundance so he observes no limits for his desires As the bladder the more it is filled with wind it stretches the more so the more his riches increase the more his heart is set upon them so that he seeth more beauty in his Money than in the Sun in the firmament No thoughts no discourse no design pleaseth them except it end in gain but when there is an opportunity of doing good the heart is cold and the hand is lame Nay some of them will not afford conveniences scarcely necessaries to their families or to themselves but run in debt to their own backs and bellies to their children and servants and foolishly choose to live poor that they may dy rich Now this Vice in it self it is plain Idolatry and the root of all evil leading men into temptation and a snare into many foolish and hurtful lusts which at last drown men in destruction and perdition 1 Tim. 6. 9 10. For the worldly man gets and keeps his Estate with travel to his Body vexation to his Spirit scruple to his Conscience with danger to his Soul with envy of his neighbours with suits to his children and with a curse to his posterity Do but turn to Iob 20. 15. and read that chapter out But in no sort of men is Covetousness so unaccountable so very foolish as in Old people For what can be more absurd said a Heathen than to be so much concern'd for travelling Expences when we have so small a part of our way to travel Or as St. Augustine expresseth it to load our selves with the greatest Burdens when we are nearest the end of our Journey It is no doubt a plain infatuation and an instance of the power of the Prince of this World on mens minds and of the Corruption of our Nature to effect this that those who have seen the Vanity of all these things the uncertainty the unsatisfactoriness the vexatiousness of them should so dote upon them that they who not only know but even feel in themselves that they must shortly and may suddenly leave them all and perhaps have no thanks at all from them that enjoy them that yet these persons wise in other things should set their Hearts upon them and hunt after a World that is flying from them How much more comfortable were it to do all the good they can to feed the hungry cloath the naked to procure the Prayers of the distressed while they have opportunity to make Friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness to be esteemed of men to be loved and honoured of God! A good man sheweth favour and lendeth he will guide his affairs with discretion Surely he shall not be moved for ever the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance Psal. 112. 5 6. The Pleas which they produce for their Justification or Excuse are all insufficient Have you no other Recreation Surely there are more and better Diversions Natural Artificial and Spiritual than heaping up riches Instance but in the last of these Psal. 119. 14. 72. I have rejoyced in the way of thy Testimonies as much as in all Riches yea The Law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of Gold and Silver Again Do you think that these will defend you from Contempt True Piety and Charity is a far better way Psal. 112. 9. He hath despersed he hath given to the Poor his righteousness endureth for ever his Horn shall be exalted with Honour Think you that in your decays of Nature there be no better supports than your Riches Yes the favour of God the love of Christ the comforts of the Spirit the feast of a good Conscience and the joyful hopes of eternal Happiness are as much beyond them as the Sun iâ—… brighter thanâ—… Glow-worm Will providing for Contingencies excuse you Alas your Riches will be no certain refuge for you Prov. 18. 10 11. The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the Righteous runneth into it and is safe The Rich mans Wealth is his strong City and as an high wall but 't is only in his own conceit That bond Heb. 13. 5. sealed to us is worth all your Specialties and all your Estates He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Can you justifie your immoderate scraping by a just provision for your Children and Relations No no That 's but an excuse for they that have no Children are as sick of this Disease as others But if you have Children this course of yours is the way to undo them A moderate care for Posterity is a Duty wherein we may expect a Blessing but the Covetousness of the Parent doth but provide for the Luxury of the Child and so the Parents Soul is ruin'd in the getting and the Child 's in the spending of what is so gotten If your
That 's the happy man either young or old who is like Athanasius Magnes Adamas of a temper and converse to attract Love and Respect and yet of Principles and Resolutions to withstand in a good cause all opposition The weakness of your Limbs and Senses should be compensated with stability and strength in your Spirit The Aged mind alone grows young We faint not saith the Apostle but as the outward man perisheth so should your inward man be renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4. 16. For this purpose you should weigh and examine your Principles well Those of Religion by the Rule of the Scriptures those of humane Life in the scales of Reason and having once well fixt them alter them not upon every Suggestion The manifest cause of most mens Unstedfastness both in Iudgment and Practice is their rash embracing of those Points that should have been well weighed at the first for what they have swallowed down by Wholesale they will Vomit up again by Retail in time of tryal My Lord Verulam's observation is very true He that begins in doubts will end in certainties and he that begins in certainties will end in doubts Add to this a conscionable Practice of your sound and honest Principles This will acquaint you with that comfort and sweetness which will stablish your mind in them more and more A rotten Heart is apt to produce a giddy Head whereas righteousness both directs and keeps him that is upright in the way Prov. 11. 5. with chap. 13. 6. All the parts and learning in the World will not fix the Head and Heart like Sincerity It is good that the Heart be established with Grace Heb. 13. 9. Experience in Religion will make you stedfast in Religion And lastly Pray earnestly unto God to make you stedfast See how emphatically the Apostle Paul mentions this 2 Thes. 2. 17. Now our Lord Iesus Christ himself and God even our Father stablish you For we are weak Creatures yea Knowledge and Grace are but Creatures but earnest Prayer will ingage the help and support of Almighty God who can and will stablish strengthen settle you 1 Pet. 5. 10. SECT VI. THE Sixth Grace wherein Old-age doth or snould excell is Temperance and Sobriety That 's the Injunction of the Apostle Tit. 2. 2. That the Aged men be sober grave temperate By this Temperance I understand that Fruit of the Spirit which bridleth our inordinate affections in all outward mercies or more strictly which observes a right mean in desiring and using the Pleasures of the Senses and so in respect of Meat it is Abstinence in respect of Drinking Sobriety in respect of other carnal pleasures Chastity All these the Temperate man curbs by holy Reason and by holy Force Hereby he stiâ—…es the inordinate Desire and restrains the Use within its due bounds he mortifies the unlawful and moderates the lawful pleasures and recreations of the Body He neither absolutely refuseth them nor inordinately desireth or useth them Now this Grace is very proper tho not peculiar to Old-age They especially do or ought to excell herein There is indeed a Proverbial saying that Wine is the Milk of Old-men some intemperate men there may be of every age but God forbid that this Proverb should be adaequate to Old-age True it is that where there be the decays of Nature there is more need of reparation and that the most reviving means are expedient for that end Whereupon Plato permits ancient persons to drink more liberally to alleviate their troubles and to soften their Spirits as Iron is softned by the Fire But commonly the Aged are by Gods Grace weaned from the excesses of Youth The Lusts of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life have too usually their distinct Seasons of rule or at least molestation in the Soul of man. And the First having had its course in the time of Youth its reign is expired and the Aged must now combate thâ—… other Two as well as he can The Decays of natural strength are great helps to the Old-mans Temperance he cannot if he would Eat and Drink and act his Lust as heretofore and altho this Inability doth not make him a Temperate man yet hereby the Discontinuance of the Acts weaken the Habit and his contentedness therewith and his hearty thankfulness for this reformation may be accounted real Temperance especially when he can reflect upon his former disorders with Grief Hatred and Shame Now they find by experience that a man may live more comfortably and healthfully with less Meat less Drink and less Sleep than young people indulge themselves withal and other carnal pleasures are indifferent to them because desire doth fail and it is much better and easier to want desires than to fulfill them as it is far better not to Itch than to have the pleasure of scratching where it itcheth But now the pious Old person hath really crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts His Sins did not leave him but he hath left them They have not heard and read the Scripture so long in vain which every where disgraceth and condemneth all excess and riot all Chambering and Wantonness and obligeth all Christians to deny themselves and to pluck out the right Eye that doth offend them They have found by experience that as true Vertue so true Satisfaction is only found in a Mediocrity and that all extremes and inordinacies are offensive both to the Mind and Body I said of Laughter it is mad and of Mirth what doth it Eccles. 2. 2. This was the Verdict which wise Solomon brought in his Old-age when he had not withheld his Heart from any joy c. yet then he concludes all was vanity and vexation of Spirit and there was no profit under the Sun Eccles. 2. 10. Besides they who have lived long have seen the woful Effects of Drunkenness Uncleanness and Luxury how many Bodies they have destroyed how many Estates and Families they have ruined and what small pity the miserable Spend-thrift meets with in those persons and places where he hath consumed his substance These and such like observations have contributed to the Aged mans Sobriety they have been Pillars of Salt to him So that any Licenciousness in a person of Years as it is most pernicious to him so it is intolerable to him It makes them the objects both of laughter scorn and detestation Every excess in them debilitates their Nature sullies their Reputation and shakes their Grace exceedingly When Old people fall they fall with a great weight and are crush'd more than younger people and perhaps they have more difficulty to rise again Far more excuses are found for the Lapses of young people than can be pretended by the Aged their faults are crimes and their crimes are prodigies As their Diseases so their Exorbitances are far more dangerous Let it therefore be your constant care to keep your selves within the bounds
VVeeds Being conversant most at home in their own Souls they have in their long experience discovered so much Vanity and Iniquity there that they are are very charitable Iudges of all other persons They grow like the famous Pliny who so past by others offences as if himself had been the greatest offender and yet was so severe to himself as if he would pardon no body their Charity covers a multitude of Sins In short their Age and Afflictions have so happily humbled them that they are ready to esteem every one better than themselves and so they are far from that uncharitable Censoriousness which tears mens Names in pieces and keeps up a continual civil War among mankind And then for other Acts of Charity who should be more ready to Give a part than they that know they must shortly leave the whole who should be good in his Stewardship but he that is sure he must shortly be out of it But the noblest Charity is that which respects the Soul which consists in Counselling Perswading Reproving and Praying for Others And Old-age is evidently qualified for these above the young Their Wisdom and Authority gives them a great advantage herein and they have found by experience that sometimes a word of good Counsel and charitable Reproof fitly spoken hath been like Apples of Gold. And then for Prayer it is observed that the Charity of young persons therein doth begin and end at themselves whereas the Prayers of the Aged are much imployed for the good of others Few Children pray for their Parents as the Parents pray for their Children Yea they have learned to love and pray for their Enemies as well as for their Friends and for the ungodly as well as for the godly And the poorest Old Man or Woman may be rich in these acts of Charity Therefore as ye abound in every thing in faith in utterance and knowledge see that ye abound in this Grace of Charity also It is the Apostles Exhortation 2 Cor. 8. 7. We use to say that in Winter the natural heat retreats inward and there resides about the vital parts ye that are in the winter quarter of your life let this warm Grace dwell richly in your Hearts and then it will influence all your words and actions It is the Image of God for God is Love it is the fulfilling of the Law and it is the great command of the Gospel and tho you have Knowledge Faith Wisdom Riches c. yet if you have not Charity you are nothing You are going out of the World now is your time to exercise this Grace In the World where you are going there will be no infirmities to cover no poor to relieve no injuries to forgive no ignorant persons to instruct no miserable Creature to pray for and you have but a short time for these imployments Yea perhaps you are reprieved all this while for these Services and to be useful in these and such like ways is the greatest happiness on Earth it is the next step to eternal Glory Yea nothing should hire an Old person or make him content to live out of Heaven with such a Body of Sin about him but only that they may do God and Man that service which cannot be done in Heaven And for the obtaining this sweet Grace the Scripture tells us that it is a Fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. and there it is ranked in the first place It must be sought then in the Word of God which is the vehicle of the Spirit where it being carefully read and heard we shall find an account of the infinite love of God to us and of the stupendous love of Christ. There we shall discern how nearly we are related to all men especially to all Christians and how unnatural it is for one hand to be unkind to the other And in short we shall there find that Love and Charity is still the Character of good men and hatred and uncharitableness of the bad And you must beg this Grace of God that the Spirit of Love would plant this Grace of Love in your Hearts You will feel your hearts warming as you are praying and the Lord will fill you with this Charity which is the bond of perfectness And so I have done with the Vertues and Excellencies of Old-age Whereby you may perceive that all Old things are not to be cast away But as Old Wood is best to burn Old Wine best to drink Old Authors best to read and Old Friends best to trust so Old People if they have improved their Time aright are good for something yea are eminently good for their Knowledge for their Faith for their Wisdom for their Patience for their Stedfastness for their Temperance and for their Charity And so much for the Fourth Point concerning Old-age viz. The Graces most proper for it CHAP. V. The Inconveniences of Old-age I Am come now in the Fifth place to examine the Inconveniences and Disadvantages of Old-age adding withall somewhat towards the Mitigation thereof as I pass along Some here set themselves with immoderate vehemence to cry down Old-age and to load it with such intolerable Miseries as might affright one And to this purpose they muster all the Evils which are either the effect of mens Vices or other separable Accidents of their Age and put all these upon its score to inflame the reckoning Insomuch that some of the Old Philosophers took upon them to quarrel with Providence for giving man Life and thereby involving him in a continual state of misery And all this partly out of their Ignorance of mans Primitive happiness and woful fall and partly out of their dim-sightedness about his endless felicity about all which material points they lived in great uncertainty Others on the Contrary have been ready so to mince the matter as if there were nothing in Old-age but what is desirable guilding its hairs and smoothing all its wrinkles as if the Spiritual advantage did annihilate the corporal burdens The truth dwells as I conceive between these extremes And it must be granted that as the dreggs of the purest Wines are left in the bottom so Old-age hath many Inconveniences peculiar to it for which cause those dayes are called Evil dayes wherein the man hath no pleasure or with which he is greatly displeased Eccles. 12. 1. But yet the same Old-age hath divers Priviledges to ballance them and their pressures are not properly Miseries because there is abundance of Comfort and Benefit which mitigate them We have an Elegant Description of many of them in that Twelfth Chapter of Ecclesiastes vers 2 3 c. Then the Sun and the Light and the Moon and the Stars will be darkned that is all Outward Comfort or Prosperity whether by Day or by Night will be eclypsed and withdrawn from us And the clouds will return after the rain that is one bodily Distemper and outward Trouble will successively follow another Then
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
must have a stock of Observations and your Speech commonly is least impaired of all Faculties and it is best imployed in communicating your usefull Notions unto others The Vestal Virgins of old in the First part of their time learned the Mysteries of their Religion in the Second they produced them into Practice in the Third they taught them unto others One end of our learning any thing is that we may instruct others And the Heathens thought that the greatest part of our time should be devoted to the Common good Hide not therefore your Talent in a Napkin but produce your Stock and without impoverishing your selves inrich those that need it You have Opportunity you have your Children and Posterity about you you have some Authority with them let your words drop as the dew and let your lips feed many What profit have they by your longevity if you further them not in goodness In short our lives are little worth when they are not usefull and we cannot better bestow them than in making others better And here is a large field to walk in You should be able and ready to instruct the younger in the Word of God in the Doctrine of the Gospel in that great mystery of Godliness God manifest in the flesh The publick Explications hereof should be familiarly opened by you at home You should talk of them as you sit in your house as you walk by the way when you lye down and when you rise up Deut. 6. 7. Thus David Come ye children hearken unto me I will teach you the fear of the Lord Psal. 34. 11. So also Solomon at large Prov. 4. 1 2. Hear ye children the instruction of a father and attend to know understanding For I give you good doctrine c. Thus Timothy's mother yea and grandmother instructed him You are to instruct them also in the Works of God both of Creation and Providence wherein you may convey to them many things tending to the glory of youâ—… Maker and the benefit of their Souls You should acquaint them with such particular Instances of the Wisdom Righteousness Power and Goodness of God which you have read heard or seen That the generation to come might knoâ—… them even the children that should be born who should arise and declare them to theiâ—… children that they might set their hope iâ—… God and keep his Commandments Psal. 78 6 7. You can tell them also the Methods of Satan and the wicked devicâ—… whereby he beguileth poor Souls â—… Slave who hath been in Algier and iâ—… redeemed or rescued can discover the miserable bondage there and relate with pleasure the means of his Deliverance You can describe the intriegues of Sin and warn young people of the deceitfulness and folly thereof by your own experience They who have been almost mir'd in a puddle or quagmire can easily shew others the place and direct them to avoid it In Summe you should instruct the younger to know and serve and trust in God and whatsoever you have observed in the course of your lives conducive thereunto you should impart unto them That as ungodly men do wickedly communicate their sinful acts and practices and endeavour to propagate them unto posterity that each generation may be worse than other so all wise and good men especially when they are in years should transmit the knowledge and practice of Piety to their Successors that the next age may be better than this and that when we are dead and gone yet it may be truly said the world was the better for us Besides these Instructions in the excellent matters of Religion it lies in the power and way of many Ancient persons to direct and advise the younger in many useful Observations otherwise As concerning the Education of their Children and the disposing of them into Callings or Marriage concerning the preservation or recovery of their health And in case they have any peculiar Skill Receipt or Art useful for the good of Mankind they ought not to bury it in their graves but to assign it to Posterity And whatsoever you have learned or observed that may be beneficial or any way useful to the Church or Common-wealth to your Countrey Town or Family all these Notices you should communicate to those that are younger with all possible fidelity and exactness And if need be commit them to writing for the benefit at least of your own posterity And although your Instructions may not at present seem to be much regarded yet be not discouraged by this for the wise Counsels of the Ancient like the seed of the word of God seems to dye and to be lost and yet in process of time it revives and brings forth fruit Howbeit there is Wisdom to be used in the Instructing of young people For they too commonly are proud conceit ed and self-witted your Lessons therefore must be at such seasons and by such degrees as may render them most valuable and welcome and must be sweetned with that love and dearness and withal interlac'd with such pleasant Diversion that their Appetite may not be cloyed nor your grave Advices be distasted Thus the Emperor Augustus accosted his Hearers Audite Iuvenes senem quem senes juvenem audiverunt You that are young hearken to me that now am old whom Old men hearkened unto when I was yet but young Finally your Example should be a Continual Instruction to young people They that will not heed your good words yet seeing your good works will have a constant copy before them and be induced to write after it The objects of the Eye make deeper impression than those of the Ear When they see the constant practice of piety and charity prudence and patience they conclude that your Directions are in good earnest that they are practicable that they are necessary or else what the right hand of good Counsel builds up the left hand of a loose practice will pull down SECT V. THE Fifth Work of Old-age is Watchfulness against your special Temptations For besides the abovesaid Sins that are most usual in Old-age there are some particular Weaknesses to which they are rather tempted than overcome wherein if they be not watchful they will become miserable Such as 1. Discontentedness of mind This is a Distemper to which Old-age is very liable They want this and they want that which perhaps they have had heretofore and they cannot bear these wants One loss or cross befalls them and e're they have well digested this another comes One while this Disease or pain afflicts them and that no sooner over but they are smitten in another part so that they are prone to perpetual murmurings Never was any bodies life so miserable as theirs they are ready to quarrel at God at men at any thing at nothing They are neither content to live nor ready to dy but yet seem to be fallen out with life and to be in love with death whereupon their common note is I
have lived too long O that I were in my grave But this Distemper argues great weakness of Grace yea a great weakness of Spirit Hence that Philosopher that sometimes resolved that a wise and couragious man should not flee from life how discommodious soever but fairly depart from it yet at other times advised to let the wearied Soul out of the useless body before its time A crime of the deepest tincture to snatch the Prerogative of our Soveraign Creatour out of his hands whose rightful priviledge alone it is to give life to men and to take it away And why should you be so uneasie under these momentany tryals Is it not the Lot which your heavenly Father hath in great wisdom set out for you It is better to be Old and crazy on earth than to have been sent young to hell You have your ailments and if you were privy to others mens you would be reconciled to your own It was Socrates his Observation that if every mans burden were laid on a common heap each man would be glad to take up his own again You should rather be thankful to God for the blessings of the former part of your life than murmur at the troubles of the present You think it the only happiness to have all the Comforts of this World but Others have thought it a greater to have a Mind above them You have or else the fault is your own the Company of a gracious God and a good Conscience when you are uncapable of other company You should imitate the Grashopper to whom the Old man by some is likened who is made the Emblem of Contentation because she only sucks the dew and sings and is content with that hoping for better One Crown will swallow up all your Crosses whereas Discontent makes your Condition most uneasie here and most unfit for Heaven hereafter 2. Another Temptation which you that are Old are in danger of is Hardness of Heart and Security You haâ—… sinned often and perhaps repented buâ—… seldom you have heard and read many convincing Sermons and made but slender application of them you have seen many swept away by the hand of God and you have escaped yea some of you peradventure have lived long in some sinful course are grown Old in adulteries Ezek. 23. 43. or in oppression or in some other Sin. These things you have done and the Lord hath kept Silence and now you are ready to think that He is such a one as your selves and to bless your selves in your woful wayes till your iniquity be found to be hateful The Aged person surely must have either a very tender heart or a very hard one If Gods Ordinances and Providences that is Mercies and Afflictions have made a due impression upon you your hearts must be very soft but otherwise you are in the greatest danger of a hard heart and a spirit of slumber Watch and pray therefore in the fear of God against this dangerous Temptation They are most guilty of this distemper that were never afraid of it Preserve a due tenderness in your Consciences suffer not any sin to ly upon them unrepented Endeavour to have daily a clearer sight of sin and a deeper sense of the evil of it Let the exemplary Judgments upon others startle you Know that if you sleep in sin your Preservation will be but a Reservation to some fearful issue Remember that though a Sinner do evil an hundred times and his dayes be prolonged yet it shall not be well with the wicked Eccl. 8. 12 13. The greatest Iudgment that can befall a man upon earth is to prosper in any sinful way There is a Natural hardness in All men there is an Habitual hardness in some men but there is a Iudicial hardness only in such as are ripe for hell And the First if it be not cured by Gods grace leads to the second and the second prepares for the third Of all sorts of men ye that are Old have least cause to be secure that have one foot already in the grave The green apple may be pluckt off but the ripe one is falling off already But it is not the approach of Death without the effectual influence of Gods Spirit that will soften an hardned sinner as is too evident in the Malefactors in Newgate that will be drunk and swear at a dreadful rate when they know that the Execution-day is certainly at hand Be instant therefore with the Lord to deliver you from hardness of heart from a spirit of slumber and from a reprobate sense 3. A Third Temptation which Old-age must watch against is Slothfulness of Spirit The decay of natural Spirits disposeth them hereunto and corrupt Nature joyns with the temptation It is an easie thing to be idle and flesh and blood is glad enough of excuses from pains and trouble Indeed where natural Parts or natural Strength are wasted much cannot be expected Iob 30. 2. Yea whereto might the strength of their hands profit me in whom old age was perished yet that which will release them in part will not do it altogether Time is so short so precious so irrevocable that it should not be slept or trifâ—…ed away if we can do any thing for the ends of life The Aged person must consider how much wast ground there hath been in the field of his life how many years are lost in Infancy and Childhood how much time at riper years in unnecessary sleep and recreations how much hath been consumed in doing nothing and how much in doing worse than nothing and that it is an easie thing to lose time that it is an hard thing to redeem time and that it is an impossible thing to recall time and therefore they who have lost so much time and can recall none of it had need to redeem and make the best of that which is left Few men will throw away their money but most men squander away their lives being most prodigal of that wherein we may most justly be covetous as the same Philosopher discourseth Let no Aged person imagine that they are to live to no purpose The Levites though at Fifty years of age they were discharged from the most laborious service of the Temple yet they were not left to be Idle but to do the work of the Lord in some more easie imployments Tully brings in Cato telling how he learned Greek in his Old-age and that even at those years no body came to see him but they found him imployed and he reports of Leontius Gorgias who was an hundred and seven years old and yet never was weary of his studies and labours The truth is sloth is a vice that accelerates Old-age as you heard before and abetts that languishment of the Spirits which furthers it We shall not feel it so sensibly while we are continually imployed How much knowledge and wisdom have we neglected which we might have obtained if our sloth