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
may excell in feats of activity but the Ancient do exceed in the skill of managery And upon this account that famous Fabius was called Maximus and was esteemed more useful to his Countrey by being the Buckler than Marcellus who was the Sword of the Common-wealth Young people indeed may sooner apprehend a business and may more strenuously execute it but the Old man by comparing and weighing all circumstances can make a better judgment of it and so give better directions for the execution of it As it is said of young Musicians that they may Sing tunes better but the Old Musician can set lessons better The Aged have not only read and heard but also seen such variety of Actions and Events that it renders them much more circumspect and wary in their courses This made that Roman soon answer the Consul that boasted he had many Arms by him Yes said he and I have many Years And the wisest of men concludes Eccl. 9. 18. that wisdom is better than weapons of war. And this is rarely found in Novices they are too young to look backward and too rash to look forward But the Aged person being taught by things past hath a clearer sight of things present and consequently doth more cautiously provide for things future Words and Shews and Appearances do more easily deceive the Young but the Old see through all such varnish and penetrate into the inside of men and things and so are strangely stupid if they be not much accomplished with this vertue Miserable is that Old-age saith Cicero that hath nothing grave besides gray hairs and wrinkles But any man that hath made but common Observations of what hath fallen out with their Causes and Effects during the space of forty or fifty years must needs understand better VVhat and How and VVhen a thing is to be done than those that have neither read seen or observed half so much Hence that Expression Psal. 119. 100. I understand more than the ancients which implies that the Ancients have ordinarily the greatest stock of understanding Hereupon Themistocles is said to be sorry to dye when he began to be wise being then an hundred and seven years of age which is the common fate of mankind to dye even just then when they begin to know how to live and therefore no man should deferr his careful endeavours to get wisdom since there is a price put into our hands for that end if we have but an heart to it Prov. 17. 16. Let it therefore be your study to get and increase in all wisdom chiefly for the attaining everlasting happiness For unto man God hath said Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil that is understanding Job 28. 28. For as it would be curious folly to contrive a neat House and then set it upon a quick-sand so doubtless all the policy of worldly men to get riches and a name if they do not truly fear God is but like an house upon the sand or a spiders web in the cieling which will quickly vanish It 's true Wisdom for every man to chuse the Chiefest Good for his ultimate End and then to take Gods Counsel how to obtain it I have seen five Princes said Sir Io. Mason on his death-bed and bin Privy Counsellour to four I have seen the most remarkable Observables in forreign parts and bin present at most State-transactions for Thirty years together and I have learned this after so many years experience that Seriousness is the greatest VVisdom Temperance the best Physick and that a good Conscience is the best Estate yea I would change the whole life I have lived in the Palace for one hours enjoyment of God in the Chappel O that all young persons would believe and consider this sage Observation of a dying man For judge your own selves Is it wisdom to do that daily and wittingly which must be undone To pretend the End happiness and neglect the Means holiness To maintain strong hope and yet to have no ground for it To chuse the worst of Evils before the chief Good To live in Sin and yet expect to dy in Christ To defer the greatest business till we have the least fit time and strength to do it and yet this is the wisdom that passes currant in this world Endeavour also to store your minds with Prudence to order your affairs aright There is no time or place or business but there is use for this not such constant use for Iustice Fortitude or many other vertues This will render your gray hairs really comely I had rather saith Nazianzen have one drop of Prudence than a Sea of worldly riches Integrity and Wisdom are good Companions A Serpents Eye is a singular ornament in a doves head Hereby you will be useful to your selves helpful to others beneficial to all Happy is that City said Plutarch where the counsels of Old men and the arms of Young men concurr for the Common good Your time will be rightly divided your household affairs calmly and constantly managed and your mind freed from the hurry and perturbation which fills the lives of other men Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly as far as light excelleth darkness Eccl. 2. 13. The first Direction which the Apostle gives to Old men is Tit. 2. 2. That the aged men be sober grave The infirmity of your bodies should promote the sobriety of your minds and folly is no where less excusable than in an aged person You should therefore pray incessantly unto God for this Blessing Jam. 1. 5. If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God and it shall be given him And improve your Thinking time for meditation inriches the mind and helps us to draw such Inferences from what we have read and heard and seen which will serve for Rules of practice in every case And especially Converse with the Scripture which will make you wise to Salvation Surely there is no book under heaven which affords such Rules of ture Prudence for the conduct of our lives as the Book of Proverbs And still remember this that the more wisdom the liker you will be to God and the more useful you will be to men And certainly Usefulness is next to the fruition of God the greatest happiness of man upon earth SECT IV. THE Fourth Grace that Old-age doth or should excell in is Patience Which is a quiet and chearful undergoing whatever Difficulties or Troubles are incident to us in this world It extends indeed in its largest sence to comprehend both VVaiting Gods time for the Blessings we want and Bearing what crosses he inflicts upon us either by his Own hand or by Others When we neither sink by Despondency nor rage by inordinate Passion either at the stone or at the hand that throws it And this not by vertue of a Stoical insensibleness or of some moral Arguments which might quiet
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