give of your Repentance for the Sins of your Youth is a watchful care against the Sins of your Old-age otherwise your Sins are not forsaken but changed Withal if your Repentance be sound it is attended with a will and endeavour to make Restitution wherein you have injur'd any in their Souls Bodies Names or Estates This will be as Letters Testimonial of the truth of your Repentance you must not nay you cannot be quiet if your Repentance be sound until you have seriously endeavour'd as far as in you lies to recover the Souls to restore the Bodies to heal the Reputations and to repair the Estates which you have injur'd without which there can be no true Repentance on Earth and without which there will be no Remission in Heaven SECT II. ANother work of Old-age is obtaining Assurance of Salvation I mean hereby not only a General Certainty that some good people shall be saved for the Devils believe this and rage at it which I think is the same with Objective Certainty nor that Assurance which may come by special and extraordinary Revelation sith we find few or no examples in Scripture of such a thing but rather that the Apostle Paul himself grounds his Assurance of the Crown upon the righteousness of God which he extends to all them that love Christs appearing 2 Tim. 4. 8. Neither do I mean a Conjectural Hope of Salvation which admits both of anxiety and of slavish fear fith the Scripture represents it by Faith and full assurance and produceth Earnests and Seals for confirmation Nor lastly is this Assurance confin'd to Grace at present but extends to final Salvation Thus the Apostle 2 Tim. 1. 12. I know whom I have believed there is Assurance of his present State but was he certain of his Perseverance Yes that follows and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day That such Assurance hath been attained is clear enough from the Instances of Iob 19. 25 26. of David Psal. 16. 9 10. of Paul 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. and many others That it may be attained is as clear sith there is no intimation that these or the rest had any extraordinary Discovery thereof unto them but arriv'd thereat in the use of those means and by the consignation of that Spirit unto which we have access as well as they And the Apostle doth expresly comprehend the generality of Believers in this Priviledge 2 Cor. 5. 1. For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God c. That it ought to be endeavoured by all true Christians is most evident from the plain commands to that purpose 2 Pet. 1. 10. Wherefore the rather Brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure c. That few do labour to attain it thinking it to be impossible or unnecessary is to be bewailed That many deceive themselves with a false perswasion of present Grace and future Glory is manifest by Scripture and daily Experience And that it is most proper and needful for Old people the thing it self speaks For you cannot deny but that you have Souls immortal Souls which being Spirits cannnot dye but must return to God that gave them and are these Souls of so small value to be left to a Hazard to an everlasting venture And it is as evident that this life is uncertain we may say as Isaac Gen. 27. 2. Behold now I am Old I know not the day of my Death and therefore it 's time for us to go about this work without delay Children desire the time of youth and youth longs to be at mans age and they then would live to be Old but Old-age hath no further Age to desire it hath none other to succeed it here and they are wholly uncertain how long it will last and therefore it is absolutely necessary that they should be on sure grounds for Eternity and then the day of death will be better than the day of their Birth You know how much of your life is already spent you can see the Sands that are run into the nether end of the Glass but the upper Part is covered with a Mantle you know not how few Sands are left there to run Nay you cannot but perceive that Death is approaching very near you You are filled with Wrinkles which is a Witness against you and your leanness rising up in you beareth witness to your Face as it is Job 16. 8. For as it is observed of All men that they are Mortales apt to dye and of all Good men that they are Mortificati dying to Sin so it is of all Old men that they are Morituri about to dye And for such to have Oyl to seek when they should have it to Use Evidences to procure when they should have them to produce is an unexcusable neglect Especially knowing that your last Breath wafts you into an unalterable Estate What Journeys and Presents were heretofore made to the Oracles to assure the Votaries concerning the Event of some temporal affairs and how many do now Hazard their Souls by seeking to Necromancers to know the success of their Marriages Voyages and such like and yet a miscarriage in these things is remediable there may be some alleviation in them there may be some end of them but you are lanching into the Ocean of Eternity and are at no certainty whether it be eternal Happiness or eternal Misery What an anxious and uncomfortable State must this be If you were not loose in your belief of future things you would be restless in this condition you owe your Ease to your Letâ—…argy if you were not half Infidels you would be more than half distracted Which brings to mind the course which some Eminent persons among the Heathens took they durst not dye sober but drank great Draughts oâ—… Wine saying That no voluptuous person can go in his Wits into an invisible Estate With what poor comfort must that man dye that must cry out with that Old Philosopher I dye in great doubt and know not whither I am going yet out the Soul must go ready or unready Then will the careless sinner gnash his Teeth for rage at his slothful and sinful life which he hath spent as a Tale that is told Then will he have time enough to curse all the worldly business or wicked Company that hath devoured his precious time and left his Soul to shift for it self for ever Do not we in all other cases strive to be at a point will May-be's and Peradventure's satisfie us in any material humane affairs The Tenant who is warned out of one House cannot enjoy himself until he be sure of another The Steward that was discharged of his Office Luk. 16. took present course to be provided of some other Subsistence The poorest man is uneasie when his old Suit of Cloaths is worn out till he have a
the Lord it maketh rich and he addeth no Sorrow with it Prov. 10. 22. Assure your selves if moderate care and labour will not bring in Riches then they are not good for you and whatsoever is gained otherwise hath a Curse in it and will bring misery on the Body or on the Soul here or hereafter 4. A Fourth Cause which hastens Old-age is Intemperance that is excess in Eating or in Drinking or in lustful Embraces Any of these especially the last do bring Old-age into youthful years Sad it is that our Life being in its utmost extent so short and our Bodies by nature so frail we that have a desire to live and who for that end will be content to use the most irksome remedies should yet so commonly invite distempers by our Luxury and so shamefully dig our Graves with our Teeth and deprive our selves of the residue of our years In so much that altho in St. Hieroms time he affirmed that there were reckoned five thousand Martyrs for every day in the Year save one yet we may sadly conclude that Bacchus and Venus have had daily more Martyrs if we may so call them in one place or other of the World than Iesus Christ. In this sense doth Seneca truly say Non accepimus brevem vitam sed fecimus From whence come for the most part those pains of the Gout Stone Dropsy Convulsions and Apoplexies with such other Distempers but from Intemperance in some of the foresaid Objects A moderate use of Meat Drink and conjugal rights as it doth tend much to the alacrity of the mind so doth it no less to the Health of the Body but excess in any of them doth either suffocate Nature or else impoverish and exhaust it as it is observed of the more lecherous Creatures that they are short-liv'd in comparison of others If therefore you would arrive at a good Old-age good in respect of the comfort of the Mind or in respect of the welfare of the Body oppose and check your unruly Appetites resolve with the Grace of God Hitherto thou shalt come and no further conclude I am a Man yea a Christian and not a Brute and consequently am not to be guided by Sense but by Reason and Religion which teach me to use all these outward comforts so far as they will promote the Glory of my Maker and the present and future good of my Body and Soul. 5. Fifthly Inordinate Passions of the mind are another means to bring on Old-age such as Anger especially Sorrow For these do manifestly prey upon the Spirits and also produce such bodily Distempers as do hurry people into Old-age before their time Hence it was that Valentinian the Emperor by an excessive straining of his Voice in an angry reply against some Offenders fell into a grievous Fever which at length brought him to his End. And for Sorrow the wisest of men tells us Prov. 15. 13. A merry Heart maketh a chearful Countenance but by Sorrow of the Heart the Spirit is broken And when the Spirit is broken the Body must sensibly wast and decay For these Passions like a Torrent or Land flood break down and overthrow all before them you know a River while it proceeds with its usual stream passes harmlesly yea profitably through all the Fields and Meadows and makes no breaches on the Banks on either side but when a suddain and excessive Rain swells it up then it lays about it without mercy and tears up the Ground the Fences and Trees on every side And even so our Passions being moderate are innocent and useful but he that hath no rule over his own Spirit is like a Flood of Water broke loose or like a City that is broken down and without Walls Yea there have been Instances of such as by sudden Grief have grown Gray in a few days time and there be hundreds that carry the Badge of their great Sorrows on their Heads long before a due course of years would have brought them Let us not therefore suffer these Vultures to feed upon our Hearts nor yield our selves Slaves to these unruly Passions which war not only against the Soul but even against the Body and will ruin both except they be restrained and mortified by the Grace of God. Philosophy hath gone far in this work God forbid but that Christianity should go much further There are also other both Moral and Natural Causes of Old-age but these may suffice The curious may satisfie themselves elsewhere And by these Causes you may easily discern what are the best Preservatives against Old-age For tho no Art or Care can prevent the unavoidable access thereof yet effectual Means may be used to deferr it 'T is true Galen tells us of a Philosopher who affirm'd that there was a way to prevent it and wrote a Book of it when he was forty years old but the said Author takes notice that when he was arriv'd to eighty he was wasted to skin and bones and could not any way cure himself But the most effectual Preservatives are 1. Piety and 2. Sobriety SECT IV. FIrst serious Piety By which I mean a Course of life in the Faith and Fear of God and in holy Obedience unto him This is that Godliness which hath the promises of the life that now is as well as of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. This is the best Antidote against that Poyson which hath originally infected our Nature and which makes it swarm with Distempers that hurry us to Old-age and Death at last This is certainly the best Means whereby to avoid that fatal Curse so early pronounc'd or else to turn it into a Blessing If thou wilt walk in my ways to keep my Satutes and Commandments then I will lengthen thy days 1 King. 3. 14. What man is he that desireth Life and loveth many days that he may see good Depart from evil and do good c. Psal. 34. 12 14. It is the observation of Hierom and of Origen before him that Abraham is the first person called Old in the Scripture tho Adam and Methuselah and many others were richer than he in years but not in Faith and Obedience I know that some of the worst of men have without this flourished long and some that have been most Religious have withered quickly and therefore do conclude that all such Outward blessings and afflictions are conditionally promis'd and threatned and yet it abides certain that the ordinary way to a vigorous Age and a long Life is the true fear of God and that which makes it short and miserable is Ungodliness And the Holy Scripture is express herein Prov. 10. 27. The fear of the Lord prolongeth days but the years of the wicked shall be shortned For doubtless our Lord God who is the giver of Life is also the Conserver of it and whose word we may rely upon as the best Prescription and Preservative in this case This
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