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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61390	A discourse concerning old-age tending to the instruction, caution and comfort of aged persons / by Richard Steele ...	Steele, Richard, 1629-1692.	1688 (1688)	Wing S5386; ESTC R34600	148,176	338

the throng of worldly business they are fitter to recollect these things and to reduce them into practice And this certainly is a great Priviledge to have a greater Aptitude to that which is good Alas young people are under a great disadvantage herein it 's true their Faculties are more nimble and their Memories more fresh but then they come into the World like raw Souldiers into the Field they are compassed and daily allured with divers Temptations and have boisterous lusts within themselves and so they are in a more remote distance from true Piety They are like an unruly Colt in a large and fat Pasture there 's no coming near them till they are driven into a Corner till their way be hedged up with Thorns and then you may catch them Such is the fate of young people they are born like a wild Asses Colt Job 11. 12. they care not for any thing that 's good they fear not any evil adding Iniquity unto Iniquity until it come to snow upon their Heads and that their Arms and Legs begin to fail them and then the Voice of God will be heard and his counsel shall be followed So that though Old-age will not bring a man to Heaven yet it will fit a man for it it removes the Obstacles of repentance and promotes the Exercises of Religion And it is high time it should be so their activity for this world is past if they do not grow active for another they will be good for nothing They cannot work O but they can fast and pray and that 's better The Aged person remembers that he is going into an holy world and labours to have on Earth some suitableness to the life of Heaven because men begin their Heaven or Hell upon Earth And this age fits his purpose being proper for Mortification and Meditation The more knowledge and holiness he arrives at here the riper and fitter he is for that place to which he is ready to goe Let every Aged person then endeavour to verify this Priviledge by their solid Piety in all the instances thereof Let there be a Principle of holiness within and the Practice of it without in all manner of Conversation for as you were told then is the hoary head a crown of glory when it is found in the way of righteousness Prov. 16. 31. SECT V. THE Fifth Priviledge of Old-age is That it is Riper in its Fruits than any other age That is their Iudgments are more refined their Passions more sedate their Devotions more strong their Actions more regular and uniform and their spiritual Stature taller This may be gathered à fortiori from the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. 11. When I was a child I spake as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child but when I became a man I put away childish things The words and the thoughts then of an Aged experienced man must by a just inference be very solid and weighty Every man must needs observe the rawness of his younger conceptions and the lightness of his former assertions that Dies diem docet every day learns somewhat of that which went before it and so I may allude to that passage Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night addeth knowledge Yea the Psalmist ex●…sly tells us that the righteous shall 〈◊〉 bring forth fruit in Old-age yea that they shall be fat and flourishing Psal. 92. 14. And to this do other Authors and Experience bear witness Trace some Aged good men from morning to night you shall still find them humane and unavoidable infirmities excepted so discreet in their Charity so grave in their Counsels so savoury in their Discourse so constant in their Devotion so considerate in their Resolutions so faithful in their Reproofs so poized in their Temper so charitable in their Censures and so uniform and useful in their Lives that their Practice may be a perpetual Sermon and Copy to teach others their duty to God and man So that it was no small Title of Honour which was given to Mnason Act. 21. 16. That he was an Old Disciple And there is a rational account to be given of this seeing the Aged person hath had Time and means to sift and weigh all vulgar Notions to observe the frailties both of himself and others to distinguish realities from appearances and to penetrate through the surface ●…nto the substance of spiritual things and of temporal They have past through all Relations and having been Children and Parents Husbands or Wives for a ●…ong time and many of them Servants and Masters they are hereby inabled both to speak and to act in all cases with the greater solidity and efficacy Add to this that their long acquaintance with God cannot but assimilate them unto him and make their fruits holy just and good Let observation be made and it will be commonly found that the Discourses the Sermons the Books that proceed from persons of years thô they may want the external ornaments and ardour which are usual with younger persons yet have that congruity weight and wisdom that raise their value and render them more truly useful So that we may well say in this Case that the best wine is reserved to the last Now this is a valuable Priviledge For who doth not rather chuse the fruit that is ripe than that which is raw if it be not to some palates more toothsome yet it is to all bodies more wholsome Summer fruit may be more luscious but Winter Old-age fruit is more solid and will keep longer The stony ground were they that received the Word with joy but having no root they soon withered But the good ground were they that kept the word and brought forth fruit with patience And that which puts a value upon these ripe and well-digested fruits is that they tend more eminently to the glory of God hereby they shew forth the vertues and so the praises of him that hath called them And they do more largely conduce to the good of all that have occasion to use them or are conversant with them To which purpose Plutarch observeth that as they who teach Musick do by their own singing direct their Scholars so they that would instruct young men in private or publick affairs must not only outwardly dictate good axioms and rules to them but by their own steady course in word and deed endeavour to frame their minds to vertue There is an incredible charm in Example and thereby a good man is a common blessing Let all you Aged persons then consider what fruits ye bring forth It doth not become you to be credulous in what ye hear nor rash in what ye speak nor precipitate in what ye do Whatsoever savours of youth is unseemly in you You must study to live as patterns you should do more than others They that have been long at a Trade should be accurate in it The Apostle puts much upon the Time Heb. 5. 12.

instruction of my Children but the prudent Parent will conclude tho some of the best Education do miscarry and some with the worst do flourish yet I ought and will take the likeliest course to bring up my Children in the fear of God Even so in this case the Old-age and Death do seize upon divers pious and circumspect persons as soon or before they come upon others yet is it the Interest and Duty of all such as regard God or wish well to themselves to use the fittest means to preserve their strength and vigour until their time and work be done For it is certain that when the success answers not the means and that Distempers notwithstanding our Piety and Sobriety do overtake us then it is permitted and ordained by the Wisdom of God for the setting forth some way of His Glory and for the real Good of the party affected For an Holy and Good God never makes Exceptions to his General Rules but in Cases reserved for his greater honour and his Servants greater good For all the paths of the Lord tho never so cross and crooked are Mercy I say Mercy and Truth to those that keep his Covenant and his Testimonies Psal. 25. 10. And thus you have had some Account of the true Causes and the best Antidotes against Old-age which is the second Point to be handled CHAP. III. The Sins of Old-age SECT I. I Come in the Third place to treat of the Vices and Sins which are most incident to Old-age for the best Wine that is hath some Dregs And tho there be none of Old-folks Sins but they are found in some Young-folks breasts yet there are some particular vices which are more proper because more common to Aged pesons than to others Nevertheless as the work of Sanctification hath been deeper and the care in Education greater so far the less lyable shall the Aged persons be unto these Corruptions He that bears the Yoke in his youth will be happily fortified against them in his age I do not therefore charge every Old man or woman with the following Faults for many have better learned Christ and are as free from them as any other but for the most part Old people are propense to these Vices First Frowardness or peevishness whereby they are prone to be morose wayward and hard to be pleased easily angry often angry and sometimes angry without a cause Seldom are they pleased with others scarce with themselves no not with God himself yea they think as poor Ionah did that they do well to be angry Too apt they are to aggravate every fault to its utmost dimensions and so never want matter for unquietness Now this is both a Sinful and Miserable distemper It is displeasing to God and it is very uncomfortable both to themselves and to others It s true that Anger in it self is not evil our Blessed Saviour was once angry but it was at Sin and it was accompanied with Grief for the hardness of their Hearts Mark 3. 5. When we are angry at Sin we are angry without Sin. And it is also true that Old people by reason of their knowledge in matters do see more things amiss and blame-worthy more Sin and more evil in Sin than others do and having liberty by reason of their Age and Authority to speak their minds they are too prone to express that which others must digest with silence and withall their bodily distempers dispose them to more testiness than others whose continual health and ease makes their Conversation more smooth and quiet and lastly they discern themselves in some danger of being despis'd and therefore are tempted to preserve their Authority by frequent and keen reproofs and reflexions and so iniquum petunt ut justum ferant they require too much lest they should receive too little But tho these things may abate the faultiness of this Sin yet they are far from being sufficient to justifie the same Say that this froppishness is their Disease rather than their Sin yet the Disease is the effect of Sin and the cause of Sin and Sin it self The mind is distemper'd by it both your own and others the Body is disordered unjustifiable words are spoken the Soul unfitted for any serious devotion and the proper ends of reproof seldom attained for as the wrath of man never works the righteousness of God so it rarely cures the iniquities of men The plaister being too hot burns more than it heals and the frequency of finding fault tempts the faulty to heed it the less yea they are prone to harden themselves in evil by retorting your unquietness upon you as a Sin you live in without reformation Strive therefore against this infirmity pray earnestly unto God for a meek and quiet Spirit connive at smaller slips be not severe against involuntary faults expect not the same Wisdom or Circumspection in young people as you have in so long time attained bridle the first emotions of anger and weigh the nature and quality of a miscarriage before you let fly at it and do not kill a Flea upon the Forehead of your Child or Servant with a Beetle Learn of Plato an Heathen who being incensed at his Servant desir'd his Friend Xenocrates who then came in that he would correct him for now saith he my anger surmounts my reason Or rather go to School to your heavenly Master Christ Iesus who was meek and lowly who being reviled reviled not again and when he suffer'd threatned not Give place to any one rather than to the Devil Resolve if others cross you that yet you will not punish your self for frowardness hurts no body so much as ones self And mortifie Pride from whence for the most part these passions spring for we are apt to assume so much and value our selves so highly that we think every one should humour us and they that expect much will meet with many disappointments Say not that the cure is impossible for in all ages there have been Instances of victories in this case There was Patricius the father of St. Augustine and there was Mr. Calvin both of them naturally of hot and hasty spirits yet did so moderate their temper that an unbeseeming word was scarce ever heard to come from them yea divers of the Heathen were eminent herein and doubtless the Grace of God will not be wanting to you if you sincerely seek it which will of lions make you lambs SECT II. A Second Folly incident to Old-age is Loquacity or Talkativeness that is an exceeding proneness to speak much so that it hath pass'd into a Proverb Senex psittacus an old person is a Parrot Herein they are twice children whose faculty you know lies this way Speech is a most wonderful and excellent Faculty conferr'd only on humane nature and for their common good and it is great pity that it should be abused As our Reason begins to work so our Speech comes in