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vigilant for you are upon the confines of the everlasting World a World wherein all sensual enjoyments will be for ever out of date endeavour to go off the Stage without a Blemish When some Courtiers were sent to S r Fr.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
have so often seen these Properties of his exemplified to others and to your selves so many wonders of Providence done in your remembrance that ye your selves must be the greatest wonder in case you do not believe and trust him When your Soul is cast down you may do as David did remember God from the Land of Iordan and of the Hermonites from the Hill Mizar that is you may review the help and comfort which you have had in this and the other place of your Pilgrimage and so hope still in God that the Help of his Countenance will be the Health of yours Psal. 42. 5 6 11. Learn therefore this life of Faith and endeavour as you grow weaker in body to grow stronger in Faith. 1. For Temporal mercies You may be tempted to fear want in your Old-age here 's now occasion for Faith whereby you are firmly to believe either that you shall want nothing or else no good thing Psal. 34. 9 10. That the Lord will either supply your wants or inrich you by your wants It was a memorable saying of an Ancient pious Woman I have made many a meal upon the Promises when I have wanted bread And Christ hath said it that Man lives not by bread only but by every word that cometh out of the mouth of God Matth. 4. 4. So that a child of God shall never want a livelihood so long as there is a Promise in the Book of God. But then he had need of Faith and the stronger the faith the chearfuller life he lives For as by it he injoyes God in all things in case of plenty so by it he injoyes all things in God in case of want 2. For Spiritual blessings it concerns you to live by Faith to wit for Pardon Grace and Comfort You have bin long conversant with the Promises of God for these mercies and have had often Experiences of the Grace and Mercy of God unto you and so may conclude with the Psalmist The Lord hath bin mindful of us be will bless us Psal. 115. 12. He that forgave you ten thousand talents upon your first Repentance will readily forgive an hundred pence upon your second And he that gave you good Desires when you were not worth a good thought will surely give you your Desires of more grace when your hearts are now fully set upon it And he that spoke Peace to your Consciences when you were younger will restore unto you the joy of his Salvation as soon and as far as is good for you now you are older though at present you walk in darkness and see no light For an old servant he never utterly casts off Cast not you away therefore your confidence which hath great recompence of reward the dimmer the eye of your sense grows the clearer let the eye of your Faith become by which you may see as Moses did on mount Pisgah into the promised Land and may Comfort your hearts with the foretasts of Glory By this Faith it was that Isaac when he was blind through Age blessed Iacob and Esau concerning things to come By this Faith Iacob when he was dying for Age blessed both the Sons of Ioseph and worshipped leaning upon the top of his Staff Heb. 11. 20 21. In short nothing is more needful for the Old person whose limbs are weak eye-sight weak memory all weak than a strong and lively Faith. And this you must labour for by earnest and frequent Prayer for every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh sindeth Cry out therefore with the Apostles Luk. 17. 5. Lord increase our faith and when you find it waver then cry again with the man Mark 9. 24. Lord I believe help mine unbelief Wee 'l relieve a poor Old man when we pass by the younger and he that hath planted that Compassion in us hath much more in himself And then consider often of the Truth and Faithfulness of God whose Word is as sure as Deed. For all his promises are Yea and Amen in Christ. Which Promises you ought to store up and study instead of counting over your Coyn or surveying your Bonds review the rich and precious promises of God and clear your Interest in them and they will beget new blood and spirits in your Souls so that your youth will be renewed as the Eagles And as long as ye are able attend upon the Preaching of Gods Word for as Faith comes so it comes on by hearing The same Texts the same Truths the same Promises which you have often read and heard will still afford new strength to your Faith and Hope as long as you live SECT III. THE Third Grace proper for Old-age is Wisdom which we take here in the largest and yet truest sence not once regarding that meer worldly wisdom which is not only earthly and selfish but wicked and devilish that is only skill'd in getting an Estate by hook or crook and in keeping it without respect to God or our Neighbour No this cannot in any tolerable sence be called Wisdom It 's absolute folly to lose yea to venture a Soul for what may be utterly lost to morrow But I speak here of true Wisdom in its latitude teaching men to live safely and comfortably here and happily hereafter as it fixes upon a right End and chuses and uses the proper Means to attain it This Grace directs a man to make choice of God for his Happiness and then diligently to apply himself to know love serve and enjoy him This also guides him in all his imployments in this world to attempt nothing but what is possible honest and useful to chuse the fittest means for the attainment of his just ends to place his words and actions in their proper circumstances not alwayes to take the next but the safest way to his desires and in short to order his affairs with discretion And this is the crown of Old-age Every Aged person is or should be truely wise multitude of years should teach wisdom Iob 32. 7. The crown of youth is their strength but the glory of Old-age is their wisdom And wisdom is better than strength Eccl. 9. 16. VVisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men in a city Eccl. 7. 19. By this the Aged are better inabled to discharge their duties to Husbands Wives Children Servants and Neighbours than ordinarily younger people are to dispose Spiritual and Secular duties in their right places to temper and guide that zeal and affection which without it is foolish and dangerous The Rashness of young Counsels is evident in the case of Rehoboam 1 King. 12. who following the heady and fierce advice of his Young Courtiers lost ten Tribes in one day which the sage Counsel of his Old Counsellours had certainly preserved And it is known how often the Common-wealths of Athens and Rome were indangered by the folly and rashness of young heads had they not bin ballasted by the Sober and wary Interposition of graver persons Younger people
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
fourscore and four years yet departed not from the Temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day Luk. 2. 37. So that all Aged persons are not precluded from spiritual exercises And though they should become unable to frequent the Publick Ordinances of God yet they may pray and sigh and meditate in their chambers and these proceeding from a sincere and sensible Soul are most acceptable unto God. As for the external Acts of Religion they avail nothing without faith and love which lodge in the heart The immanent Acts of the Soul which are to understand to meditate to will and to desire do most perfect the same And where the Deed cannot be done God doth accept the will for the Deed. The weakest and poorest Old man or woman may have high meditations under a low roof and a large heart within narrow walls No Aged person therefore should be discouraged by their Inability for Gods Service since He knoweth their frame he remembreth that they are but dust The Lord hath said When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them I will open Rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys I will make the Wilderness a pool of water and the dry Land springs of water Isa. 41. 17 18. In the want of ordinary supplies I will provide them with extraordinary supports the wilderness shall produce a pool of water rather than any Child of God shall dy for thirst When they cannot wait upon God as before he will wait to be gracious to them he will come to them and teach and comfort them If indeed a man be inwardly pleased that his weakness excuseth him from his Devotions he hath cause to blame himself but if he hath the same desires and holy affections with others the old Law shall stand to wit he that stayes by the Stuffe shall part the Spoil with him that goes out to battel You have a trade going in every Ship an Interest in every holy Assembly in the World. SECT X. THE Tenth and last Inconvenience in Old-age is That they are Terrified with the approach of Death For Death is a word hard of digestion to any man. The Philosopher counted it of all dreadfull things the most Terrible And Mr. Latimer observes of Hezekiah that he was more afraid of Death than of all Senacheribs Army Now Old-age is a near neighbour to it and the aspect of it alwayes before them is not very pleasant Most men saith Seneca are miserably tost between the fear of Death and the miseries of Life are unwilling either to live or dy Especially they who have had their portion in this life and have made no provision for a better This made Lewis 11 th of France to charge all about him to forbear the mention of Death The strict Account which follows it and the long Eternity which follows that makes Death a most serious matter No wonder if the hand tremble when it is going to take that Cup which will mend or end them Now the Old man is at the door of this fatal place Though a Casualty may bring Death suddenly though a sickness may bring it probably yet Old-age brings it certainly Peradventure there are fifty weeks or dayes remaining in their life peradventure but forry five perhaps but forty but thirty yea but twenty as Abraham said of Sodom nay since it is dubious every moment and no mortal man knows at what Watâ—… of the Night he shall be called the 〈◊〉 person that is but a step from death must be through fear of Death in continual bondage But the Lyon is not so terrible as he is painted neither is Death so formidable as it is by many represented Though it be against the Desires of Nature yet it is not against the Series of Nature For if we consult this we find Autumn kindly after Summer and Winter after Autumn and Death is as natural after Old-age And the Light of Nature taught some of the Heathens to reckon the worthy men especially that are dead to be most truly alive in that while we live in this world the Soul is imprison'd in the body and is set at liberty by Death Thus Xenophon brings in Cyrus discoursing to his Children on his Death-bed Think not O my Sons that I leave you quite and am lost when I dye perhaps you will not see me neither do you now see the most Essential part of me nor never did only by my actions you believed it was in this body and that will live out of this body as well as in it And if Pagans set so light by Death what notion should we Christians have of it that can look more clearly beyond it It is styl'd a falling asleep and what 's more welcome to an Aged person than a sound sleep And from that Expression 1 Thess. 4. an Old Toletan Council ordained that the dead should be followed with Psalms of Praise to their Graves In short 1. All Aged People are not oppressed with the fear of Death Too few there are that think at all of it Men generally put far from them the evil day and it will be an evil day to such as put it far from them Most people can think of any place in the Parish rather than the Church-yard yea I doubt it be one of the Faults of the Aged to think seldom of Death and they who think little of it are in no danger of being frighted with its thoughts 2. The Young have the same reason to be concern'd about Dying as the Old. For Youth hath more wayes to Death than Age hath And far more dye in their Youth than that dye for Age. It 's true they hope to live longer but their hopes have no good ground at all They have neither Promise nor Experience to build their hopes upon And in Young Peoples Death they being in their strength Nature receives a more violent shock whereas the Aged are more quietly extinguished like a Candle in the Socket 3. No good man need be affrighted at the approach of Death For the power and sting of Death is utterly taken away by our Saviours Death and so it can do us no hurt A Child of God doth not so much as tast Death The true Believer now hath not to do with Death but with its shadow with a toothless Dog with a dead Lyon with a Wasp without a Sting with a conquer'd Enemy What man in his wits is afraid after a tempestuous Voyage that he is drawing nigh his Haven It was a sweet saying of S. Ambrose near his end I have not so lived that I am ashamed to live among you neither do I fear to dy going to so good a Master The unprepared and the ungodly may dread Death As Aristippus told the wicked Mariners trembling in a Storm You may well
felicity in Heaven that no Sin lodgeth there and the Aged person is hastning thither and consequently strives to break this Yoke and fit himself for that Estate As the pleasures he hath had in these is gone so his desires after them are gone also He now finds that there is more Satisfaction in not desiring them than there is in enjoying of them and so is far from being grieved at his releasement from those Shackles He would not live over again his sinful life for all the world and he is concern'd not because they are past but because at any time they had dominion Yea he finds more real content in his Poenitential Tears than ever he had in his Youthful Frolicks with what contempt doth he behold the Debaucheries the Duels and the frothy Follies of the roaring Sparks which they triumph in as in an Heaven upon Earth But he hath fathom'd them and found them empty as vanity and filthy as the Mire He now believes what he had often heard that the pleasures of Sin are but like a golden dream which leave nothing but Pensiveness behind them till God upon his repentance restore unto him the joys of his Salvation Now the Varnish of his Sin is worn off he sees the filthy and ugly nature of it and wonders that any rational person should ever love it He is now frighted at the remembrance of those Pranks that he formerly committed without remorse and in short he is well pleased that he hath a weak body instead of his strong corruption and is ready with that excellent Philosopher to count his Old-age his flourishing age because he only finds his Vices and the fewel of them withered and that his mind began now to be freed from the Snares wherein it was held by the Body c. Let every Aged person labour to find these blessed Effects and so be content with the fall of that House which was continually haunted with such Furies But take heed of being only Passive in this parting these Fires should not only go out of themselves but should be quenched by true Mortification It is not sufficient that Sin be dead in you but you must be dead to it you must be Active in the Crucifixion of it or else the Corruption of one vice will be the Generation of another If ye through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the Body ye shall live Rom. 8. 13. SECT IV. THE Fourth Priviledge of Old-age is That it is Proner to Piety True and solid Piety is the Dominion of Gods Fear and Love in the Heart of Man and exerts its self in the constant Practice of all the Duties of Religion in a conscientious manner For in Religion there is a Body and a Soul. The Body of it consists in the Form of Godliness the Soul of it is that which animates all the outward Acts and is fitly called the Power of Godliness for that the Activity and force of any thing proceeds from the Soul or inward Principle Now the separating this form and power of Godliness like as that of the Soul and Body is the death of Godliness And therefore though we prefer the Soul or inside of Religion yet we divorce it not from the Body but do take Piety in it's just Latitude comprehending the Acts of Devotion from a right principle in a right manner and to a right end and expressing it self in a sober righteous and godly life And however the prophane Atheist may wickedly deride it on the one hand or the rotten Hypocrite falsly pretend it on the other yet there is a wonderful excellency in it and an absolute necessity of it even the Consciences of it's greatest Enemies first or last being Iudges To this serious Piety Old-age is more propense than any other age of man. Insomuch as we find divers in Scripture and other Stories bent for Heaven in their declining years who in the former parts of their lives minded nothing but the World and the Flesh. They whom no Perswasions no Ordinances no Afflictions could fully reduce to the obedience of Christ yet the lively sense and feeling of their own decay and of their approach to the eternal Judgment obligeth them to true repentance and to make their calling and election sure So that it hath pass'd for an Observation that they who are not fair at twenty strong at thirty wise at forty rich at fifty pious at sixty are never like to be fair or strong or wise or rich or religious When any man is warn'd out of the House he lives in laying aside all other unnecessary business he sets himself to provide another Habitation Now every decay of strength of sense every gray Hair or Wrinkle is a sensible warning out of the earthly House of his Tabernacle and he must be strangely stupid that buckles not in good earnest to provide for his Soul when not only it may suddenly but must shortly go either to Heaven or Hell. These kind of Sentiments caused that learned Grotius to profess when he approached Death that he would gladly exchange all his Learning and Honour for the plain integrity of one Iean Urick who was a devout poor man that spent eight hours of his time in Devotion eight in Labour and but eight in Sleep and all other Refreshments So also that great States-man S t Tho. Smith Secretary of State to Q. Elizabeth some time before he fell sick sent for Directions to two Bishops how he might live most piously and make his peace with God Besides all the unruly Passions being now cooled by time and years Reason obtains a fair hearing and the Spirit of God gets a compleat victory over the Heart that had resisted so long Even as a City which hath been long besieg'd and often summoned to surrender yet stands it out till provisions begin to fail and that the defender of it sees the Walls terribly shaken and then he finds it high time to capitulate and deliver it so Almighty God calls and cryes and knocks time after time at the sinners Heart but it is heedless of these calls it 's feasted and filled with the Vanities of this present life but when it finds all the Fabrick ready to fall upon it's Head and no provision made for a future and eternal State it is high time to be getting Oyl and laying up a good foundation for the time to come And for those who have been well disposed before yet Old-age is a great Incentive to greater holiness As a Man in sailing saith Mr. Bradford the nearer he comes to the Shore the nearer he would be so the nearer I am to God the nearer still I would be A person of years must needs have a more clear and comprehensive knowledge of the Doctrine and Duties of Christianity of the life of Faith of Mortification of the extent of the Divine Law of the Nature and Power of Godliness and having more leisure and being somewhat retired out of
his And we cannot better approve our selves to be members of that mystical Body than by our incessant Prayers for the Increase the Unity and the Happiness thereof And when you are thinking of your Countrey of your Kindred and of your Friends add an Ejaculation to every of these your thoughts for a blessing upon them These are Employments fit for a Christian Aged person and will become them better than endless Complaints or groundless Presages Pray pray and do not Prophesie was holy Mr. Palmers saying to those that were alwayes boding misery I tell you that you may do your selves the Church the Nation and Posterity more service by your fervent Prayers than you have done by the cares and labours of your whole life And then 2. For Praises when you consider all the Good which God hath done In you the Good he hath done For you and the Good he hath done By you you cannot sure be silent Reflect upon your own Hearts and remember what a plight you were in when his Grace and Mercy found you out what Methods he hath used to recover you what light and love and life he hath bestowed upon you what outward Means and inward Motions he hath vouchsafed you how he hath rescued you out of various temptations recovered you out of sad relapses stablished you in times of tryal and defection and brought you within sight of the Promised Land. And then review your whole Life and consider what great things he hath done For you Observe Old Davids course Psal. 71. 6. By thee have I bin holden up from the Womb thou art he that took me out of my Mothers bowels my praise shall be continually of thee Remember the care he took of your Education the wonderfull Preservations in your Childhood and Youth when your rashness and folly did every day precipitate you into palpable dangers how many sicknesses and distempers he hath either prevented or healed in how many Iourneys and Voyages his Angels have had the Charge of you in what perils by day and by night by Land and by Sea he hath preserved you O remember the works of the Lord surely you should remember his wonders of old Psal. 77. 11. Have you not heard of that Man who having pass'd over a Plank on Horseback over a deep River over night and being brought in the Morning to see his deliverance fell down dead with the apprehension How many Lives have you had given you How many thousands have bin cut off and you have bin spared What a wonder is it that your Eyes and Limbs have bin kept safe so long Now you are weak but remember how long you were strong now you cannot eat or sleep as â—…heretofore but you have lost your Register if you have forgotten the chearful meals and restful nights you have enâ—…oyed 〈◊〉 in respect of your Outward Estate â—…emember how naked you came into the world how the Lord hath fed you all â—…our life long he it is that hath given â—…ou power to get wealth he hath still spread your Table and filled your Cup and â—…ent you more than ever you expected at â—…east deserved Remember how merciful â—…e hath bin unto you in your Names in your Relations Posterity every way And â—…hen conclude with David 2 Sam. 7. 18. Who am I O Lord God and what is my house â—…hat thou hast brought me hitherto My â—…outh shall shew forth thy Righteousness â—…nd thy Salvation for I know not the numâ—…ers thereof I will hope continually and will â—…et praise thee more and more Psal. 71. 14 15. Let Hallelujah be your Song as â—…t was the Motto of Godly Mr. Bruen which he wrote in the first leaf of all his Books Let not your present weakness and pain bury your sense of all your former health and ease A thankfull life is a pleasant life And lastly review the Good that God hath done By you that still God may have all the praise You have wrestled with God in Prayer though now you are soon faint and weary You have measured many a step to hear Gods Word though now you cannot and have read many a good Book though now your Eyes be quickly dazled Many a Soul hath bin the better for your Counsel and many bowels have bin refreshed by your relief Now as God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love so your remembrance of it in this your Old-age must oblige you to renewed thanks and praise Thus David in that Psal. 18. which he spake unto the Lord when he was delivered out of the hands of all his enemies toucheth all these Topicks or Heads of Mercies and then cries out vers 46. 49. The Lord liveth and blessed be my rock and let the God of my Salvation be exalted It is God that Therefore will I give thanks unto thee O Lord among the Heathen and sing praises unto thy Name Thus will you conjoyn the Life of Heaven and Earth you will end your Lives with that work wherewith you will begin your Everlasting Life SECT IV. THE Fourth Work of Old-age is Instruction of the Younger God hath in great Wisdom lodged his various gifts in divers subjects that there may be a mutual dependance one upon another and a mutual helpfulness of each to others Thus he intrusts the Young with Strength to support and aid the Elder whose strength is decayed and the Aged with knowledge and wisdom to guide the younger whose judgment is yet unripe And as it is a great misery when the Aged are not relieved by the strength and industry of those that are young so it is a great infelicity when the Aged are either unable or unwilling to instruct or when those who are young are too careless or conceited to receive Instruction That is therefore a barbarous Precept in the Alcoran and like the rest of that Divinity You are not obliged to lead men in the right way God guideth whom he listeth But we have better learned Christ. The whole Current of Scripture runs for this Practice Thus did Abraham as we may gather from Gen. 18. 19. Thus Iacob Thus Moses leaving more especially that excellent Chapter Deuter. 32. just before he died for an Instruction to those he left behind him The like did Ioshua in Cap. 24. when he was Aged and about to dy So Samuel 1 Sam. 12. So David 1 Chron. 28. 9. to his Son. And thou Solomon my Son c. Thus did Peter when he was ready to put off his Tabernacle 2 Pet. 1. 12 13. and the like did Aged Paul in his Epistle to Timothy when the time of his departure was at hand 2 Tim. 4. 5 6. So that we have a whole cloud of Witnesses showring down their counsels and directions on the younger sort And the Aged are furnished for this Imployment having Ability and Opportunity for such purposes Their peculiar Talent lies this way For Dayes should speak and multitude of years should teach knowledge Ioh 32. 9. You
you when this life is ended Now you may feed the poor cloath the naked redeem the captive incourage learning promote Soul-saving Preaching c. Are you any other than Gods Stewards and poor Christians poor Tradesmen poor Scholars poor Ministers are Gods Assigns to whom he appoints you to do good out of his stock in your hand according to your ability and their necessity You do but draw Bills upon Almighty God by every good Work which he will most faithfully and fully pay in the Kingdom of Heaven I omit the Story of Synesius our blessed Saviour hath said enough to perswade us if we be not Infidels from that Parable of the unjust Steward Luk. 16. where he thus concludes ver 9. Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations Consider now before it be too late what a sad prospect it will be for you on your death-bed to review the book of a life wherein is nothing but Blots transgressions on the one side of the page and Blanks omissions of good on the other Bethink your selves therefore which way you may yet do some good in the world Do not live do not dye to your selves poor Christ in his members begs of you to remember him Oblige him here in the Countrey and he will befriend you at the Court. Whilst you have opportunity do good unto all especially to the houshold of faith Gal. 6. 10. your opportunity will shortly be over and past yet you have something to give and some body to give unto but if you refuse or delay it shortly you will have nothing to give no body to relieve And remember Gods Counsel 2 Cor. 9. 6. He which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully I urge you not to undoe your selves by doing good to others but that ye be ready willing and rich in good works according to the talents wherewith you are intrusted And this will be a good Proof that your Faith is sound when you can part with present and visible things upon the word and promise of an Invisible God for future things which are unseen And if the circumstances of your Estate will bear it let me prevail with you to make your own Eyes your Overseers and your own hands your Executors For though I would not discourage any one from making pious or charitable Bequests in their Wills by bewailing the uncertainty the abuse and loss of such intentions But the thing it self is no way so laudable or acceptable only to part with what we cannot keep it insinuates that if we could alwayes live we would never part with any thing whereby there is neither that Faith nor that Charity exercised which becomes a Christian. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due mark it is due to them when it is in the power of thine hand to do it Prov. 3. 27. You are just ready to travel into another Countrey take care to send something before you lest you lose both Earth and Heaven at once SECT IX THE Ninth Work of Old-age is Meditation of Death and Eternity Meditation in general is the application of our thoughts to some particular Subject which being imployed about things Holy becomes one of the parts of Inward Religion A most excellent and useful exercise and which greatly inriches the Soul It was a clear proof of the great sanctity of Davids heart that he was so frequent and familiar in this imployment sometimes on God sometimes on his Word sometimes on his Works both of Creation and of Providence c. O that we all had the Art of it the Heart of it for the heart is all Doubtless if our Love were stronger our meditation would be longer on these things for where the treasure is there the heart will dwell also I know some Constitutions of body are more capable of it than others but certainly the more the soul is sanctified that is mortified to things below and vivified to things above the more chearfully will it dwell upon spiritual things such as the Stomach is such food will it desire But among other useful Points The Aged is greatly concern'd to Meditate on Death and the endless Life after it which is to pencill out before the Eyes of his mind the time of his Departure the serious Circumstances and Consequences of it We should place our selves upon our Death-beds gasping there for breath our Friends ready to close our Eyes the dabbe of flegme ready to stop our breath and our Souls just forsaking the poor carkass When we look upon our hands and feet it should be attended with these thoughts that shortly they will be turn'd to rottenness that the worms will make furrows in our faces and feed upon our very hearts yea that we at present do breed and nourish the vermine that wait for to devour us that e're long we shall have nothing to do here our house and goods in the possession of those that would be affrighted to see us again that we must lodge a long time in the dark grave and the Soul must go into an unknown world and that unto all Eternity These are thoughts for Aged persons and not to be roving about things past to no purpose or contriving about things of this world to come This is in some sence to dy daily to wit by serious thoughts concerning our latter end The truth is this is a duty incumbent upon all Hence that saying Deut. 32. 29. O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end A Deaths-head is no unfit furniture for a young persons closet The serious apprehensions of the exceeding great change which Death will make would give a check to that wantonness worldliness and vain-glory which cleaves to us all by nature For Death observes not our humane order it is anomalous we are not called according to our Age it proceeds not according to our Registers Your considering of Death will not make you Older but Better But principally it concerns the Aged who live in the confines of the grave You should be acquainted with it for you are neighbour's to it It is one of the Spanish Proverbs That the Old mans Staff is the Rapper at Deaths-door When Cato would awaken the Roman Senate to level Carthage he brought in some green figs thence among them thereby to shew unto them how soon those their inveterate Enemies their distance being so small might be with a Fleet among them alas how small is the distance between an Old man and his grave Is it not reasonable therefore is it not necessary that we should be provided for this enemy and since we cannot escape it ought we not to be reconciled to it to be better acquainted with it yea and learn some way to overcome it And certainly the more we rightly think of it the less we shall fear it