part of the Pleasures aforesaid do belong only to the brutal part of man and consequently the defect of them little concerns the Rational Creature For as a late worthy Author saith None can think God so unkind to his own Image in humane nature as in dispensing Felicity to assign the larger share to the Beast No all these sensual Pleasures are so distracting or so fulsome or so transient that the utmost fruition of them cannot make a man happy nor the want of them miserable And this is the more Evident in that the wisest men have found the greatest Pleasure in refusing those pleasures and as an Epicure hath eaten for his pleasure so many an Abstemious man hath profest that he hath forborn for his pleasure also Again as the Aged person is deprived of these Pleasures so he is freed from any Desires after them As his sensual Delights fail so his Desires to them fail also As he hath not the Pleasure of Scratching so he is free from the trouble of Itching and what man ever complains of such a want We are never molested by the want of any thing which we do not desire Neither is Old-age without it's particular Pleasures Tully tells us of divers Old-men that diverted themselves with great delight in their Studies And for those that have any smattering of Learning there is no Earthly Pleasure comparable to that of penetrating into the works of Creation and Providence of observing the Natures Causes and Effects of those things the Surface whereof only is known to younger people Furthermore the Religious Old person hath an unexpressible Pleasure in the Reflexion of a well-spent Life and upon the various Preservations and Deliverances which the Lord hath vouchsafed him out of many Temptations and Afflictions They have also the solid comfort of seeing their Posterity grow up in the endowments of Mind Body or Estate and so of a Generation after them to serve and honour God while the World stands There are also several honest Recreations in which their Years do not hinder them And however it can be no disparagement to them if they can take as much Pleasure in Reading and Meditating upon Gods Word as ever they did in any other Divertisement whatsoever This is certain that their Pleasures are more Pure more Sound more Strong and more Lasting than the frothy and unsatisfactory pleasures of Sense and Sin which are but for a Season Finally Sickness of Body or Trouble of Mind to both which the Young are equally obnoxious as the Old are able to divorce the youngest persons from all sensible Pleasures and to cloath their Faces with sadness so that this Inconvenience must not be so appropriated to Old-age but that any Age may partake thereof Even St. Augustine tells us that in his younger years he had contracted such sadness upon his Spirits upon occasion of his good Mothers Death that nothing could comfort him He went into the Bath hoping for some refreshment thereby but his sorrow met him when he came out again A thousand Accidents may fix such sorrow even upon young people which all the Pleasures in the World cannot remove And tho the consideration of their own and others Sins and of the Effects of them do make them often sad yet there is both a secret comfort at the bottom of it and a certain Ioy at the end of it they know what belongs to the Laughter of the Soul and have frequent tasts of the joy that is unspeakable SECT II. A Second Inconvenience which attends Old-age is this That their Strength and Beauty is decreased Those Arms and Hands which once were able and useful for any imployment are now scarce strong and steady enough to feed themselves The Legs and Thighs that have carried them many a pleasant journey yea to many an holy Exercise are grown stiff and weak and grudge to carry them up Stairs to Bed. Yea that Back which was the support of the whole building and many a Load that was piled upon it begins to bow and bend and can scarce carry it self erect Their Parts and Members in general are quite enervated and spent as if they were weary of their Imployment so that there seems to be left little of a Man but his Shape according to the Proverb Senex est non est He is old and so is No-body Like some ruinated Palace here was the stately Porch there the fair Stair-case the shape of a fair Parlour below and the shadow of an handsome Chamber above so here the Carkass of the Man remains but the Beauty is changed into wrinkles and the Strength into weakness They had a pleasant prospect in their Glass but their Flesh hath bid them farewell their Roses and Lillies are withered and a wan duskishness hath taken possession their Strength and Beauty are buried both together So that it was a Saying among the Romans Sexagenarius de ponte dejiciendus He is sixty make away with him For when a mans Strength is gone he seems to be useless He can neither defend himself nor help others He can neither fight in War nor labour in Peace Whether he be in the Temple or in the Campaign whether he be in the Shop or in the Field he is quickly weary He that could run to Sin can hardly creep to Church He that had Strength to vanquish his Adversary hath now scarce strength to wrestle with his Cough and the burden of his discourse is I have known the time that I could have done this and that Thus Milo that prodigious man of strength when coming in his Old-age to see them exercise in the Olympick Games is said to look down with tears on his own Arms and to cry Alas these now are dead Yet this Loss some Aged persons can better bear than Others can digest the decay of their Beauty O to be lean withered and deformed vexeth them at the Heart They cannot look upon themselves with Patience and they conclude that when they be so unwelcome to themselves they must be unacceptable to every body else Job 14. 20. Thou changest their Countenance and sendest them away But yet neither of these Inconveniences are chargeable upon Old-age it self For as Tully well observes the defects of strength whereof we are sensible do rather proceed from the Vices of our Youth than from the fault of Old-age An intemperate Youth transmits a weak body unto the time of Old-age and then we lay all the blame on Age. Galen in one place tells us About the 28th year of my Age when I knew there was a certain way to preserve Health I followed the same all my life after so that I was never Sick but of an Ague for a day and that seldom and thereby he was vegete and brisk at Sevenscore years of Age. And M. Valerius Corvinus was strong enough to be the sixth time Consul when he was an hundred years old Whereas on the contrary a Luxurious
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
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
vivacity in both those Senses the greater cause they have to be thankfull for the same But though it must not be denyed that for the most part Old-age is dim of sight and dull of hearing yet 't is as true that even these decayes are incident to younger persons How many young people may we meet with that are defective in one or other of them Some that are purblind others dim-sighted some from their birth some by casual accidents some by distempers nay it is one of the wonders of Gods Providence that considering the folly and rashness of Children any of us carry our Eyes untouched unto elder years so that neither is this affliction to be confined to Old-age Yea if we grant that these Defects should unavoydably befall Old people yet they do not alwayes make them useless and then all 's well enough Even Blind and Deaf persons have bin more serviceable in their places than multitudes of some people that have their eyes and ears Tully tells of divers that were wholly dark yet Ornaments to their Countrey In particular he relates of Appius that was old and blind yet retaining his Authority he governed a great Family with that dexterity that his Children feared him his Neighbours respected him and when a dishonourable Peace was likely to be made with Pyrrhus he caused himself to be carryed in his Chair to the Senate and there did effectually interpose to hinder it But that which should chiefly support a wise and good man under these Decayes of the Senses is The comfortable review of the right use he hath made of them that he hath not us'd them as Instruments of unrighteousness unto Sin but as the Instruments of righteousness unto God or an hearty Grief for his Abuse of them And the joyful Prospect of the Resurrection when all our Imperfections will be done away and our vile bodies made like Christs glorious body There 's no body much grieved at the want of repair in a House which he is leaving when he is ready to go to one that will need reparation no more Yea there is cause of Thankfulness that we have enjoyed the use of these Senses so long whereas we might have bin born blind and deaf and dumb but especially that God hath given us a spiritual Eye and an inward Ear. Let that Soul exceedingly rejoyce said Basil that hath an Eye to discern invisible things even to behold him with whom it shall dwell for ever And thus Antony the Hermite comforted Didymus You should not saith he take it heavily that you want such Eyes as Mice and other brute Animals enjoy but rather reckon your self a blessed man in having such eyes as Angels have whereby you may behold God himself And through the Goodness of God it often falls out that these outward Defects are more than compensated with greater measures of Understanding and of Memory He may well be contented to lose an Eye or Ear which must perish at last that in lieu thereof receives a greater portion of Faith Love Wisdom and Patience and so becomes the better man and the better Christian. It is also some alleviation of this Affliction to consider that all these Visible things are but Vanity yea vanity of vanities That the Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Ear filled with hearing Eccles. 1. 2. 8. And that whose wants his Sight or Hearing escapes many a Temptation which do frequently surprize the Soul through those Windows and that as at other times so especially in the Service of God. How often doth the Heart walk after the Eyes and so steal away from God How apt is every noise to disorder the Soul so that as we are deprived of the comfort of these Senses so we are freed from the snares that attend them And the Answer is not to be forgotten which Maris the Godly Bishop of Chalcedon gave to Iulian the Apostate who upbraided him that his God had not cured him of his Blindness which was That he praised his God with all his heart for his Blindness whereby he was kept from seeing such an ungracious face as his was And lastly let us that feel these Decayes greatly magnify the Lord who hath directed us to the use of Glasses and Spectacles whereby we have in a manner new Eyes put into our Heads and are inabled to read and write and work even to the very Sun-set of our Lives This is so great a Mercy that we should do well to take thankfull notice of it every time we use them to the Praise of God who is the Father of Lights and from whose holy Spirit comes the knowledge of witty Inventions SECT V. THE Fifth Inconvenience incident to Old-age is That it is burdened with Distemper and Pain Thus Asa 2 King. 15. 23. in the time of his Old-age was diseased in his feet Then Aches and Diseases take possession of every part Megrims and Dizziness seize on the Head Catarrhs Ptisick and Astma's on the Lungs Palsyes on the Nerves Weakness and Pain on the Back and Loins Gravell and Stone on the Reins and Bladder The Gout on the Ioynts The Hypochondriack Melancholy on the Spleen The Colick on the Gutts and lastly a Dropsy or an Hectick which carry the man away So that an Aged person is a very Hospital and Old-age is it self an incurable Disease and any other added to it makes the case desperate Some of them indeed speed better than others but usually if they escape Acute diseases some Chronical distemper attends them to their Graves Now this is a very sensible Inconvenience None of these afflictions are joyous but grievous with a witness They vex and torment the Body that a man hath no mind to live and yet no power to dye Hear Iob c. 7. 20. I am a burden to my self Job 10. 1. My soul is weary of my life The Old person cries out with him Iob 16. 12. I was at ease but he hath broken me asunder he hath taken me by my neck and shaken me to pieces he cleaveth my reins asunder and doth not spare he poureth out my gall upon the ground He breaketh me with breach upon breach c. These Distempers and Pain imbitter all worldly comforts House goods Money Friends Relations they are all dead to a man that is sick and in pain They deprive a man of himself he hath Ears and Eyes but no comfortable use of them those things that used to refresh him now offend him his Meat Chair his Bed tires him his Friends their absence offends him and he is disturb'd with their presence poor wretch he is not well and nothing is well about him as to the giddy all things turn round These also waste his Estate what will not one spend for ease and health one Remedy is commended and used and then another one Physician employed and then another skin for skin all shall go for Life and Health Yea these have a sad influence upon the
then in years that he was able to repeat Two thousand Names in Order so faithfully did his Memory stick to him in his Old-age And there are many Instances every day of fresh and lively parts in withered Bodies Yea for the most part we may observe that according to the Old saying Omnia quae curant Senes meminerunt What old people most regard they best remember They seldom as Tully observes forget their Bonds their Mortgages what they owe or what is owing unto them or where they have laid up their Treasure So that this charge lies not against all Old people nor in all cases 2. These Decays proceed not from Old-age only but many times from Sloth and Negligence Their Faculties would continue more intire to them if they did exercise them with Study and Industry but the best mettal will rust with disuse and the meanest by constant use will be kept bright and in good order 3. The blastingof Parts is not peculiar to Old-age For many Diseases and other Accidents do often Eclypse our Faculties as well as Old-age Witness Messala Corvinus who was so weakned in his Head that he forgot his own Name Yea many a mans bad Morals have spoiled his good Intellectuals before he hath made one step into Old-age And therefore this misery is not to be confin'd to Old-age which neither attends all old people nor only such nor meerly upon the account of their Age. 4. There is this Comfort that tho all these Decays be the fruit of Sin yet in themselves they are rather Afflictions than Faults and so are more ordinable to our good How much better is the Decay of our faculties than the perverâ—… use of them Nay how many thingâ—… may we afford to forget rather than chuse to remember Again as there may be quick Apprehension clear fancy and firm memory without one grain of Grace so there may be strong Graces where there are but lame Faculties You may have a warm Heart tho you have but a weak Head. The Favour of God is not determin'd by our natural parts but is disposed according to his everlasting Covenant according to which he will require no more than he gives He will welcome him that improveth his Two talents to Four with the same words as he was received that made Ten of his Five And finally It is a Mercy that the use of your Faculties is not wholly lost that you are able in some measure to expound the Book of Ecclesiastes concerning the Vanity of all things below though you cannot so clearly unfold the Book of Canticles that you are able to understand and chuse the best things that you can press others to the things that you cannot now perform your selves An Old man can direct though he cannot work When David was almost spent yet if you read 2 Sam. 22. 〈◊〉 23 Chapters you will find his Last words were not in vain In short in unavoidable Shipwracks as these are we must not vainly murmur at what we have lost but thankfully and diligently improve what we have left for it is certain that in this case habenti dabitur to him that hath and improveth what he hath it shall be given and he shall have abundance SECT IV. A Fourth Inconvenience incident to Old-age is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Senses and especially in â—…ose which are called Senses of Discipline Seeing and Hearing by which as through windows Light is derived into the Soul. For as in Natural things nothing is found in the Understanding which was not before in the senses so in Spiritual things the Mysteries of Religion are not invented by our Minds but conveyed to us by the sacred Oracles And therefore it is very probable that Satan beareth a particular spite to these as some have observed from the Persons possest by him whom he so frequently struck deaf and dumb and blind But it is evident that as by these Doors sin entred into the Soul so we find our Decayes sooner in them than in our other Senses The Eye it grows dim and the Ear it grows dull and both grow worse and worse and that without hopes of Cure. This was the case of the Patriarch Isaac Gen. 27. 1. And it came to pass that when Isaac was old and his Eyes were dim so that he could not see c. whereupon using his Hands for Eyes he was mistaken in his own Sons Indeed the Degrees of these Decayes are different in some less in some greater but as in Houses the Windows suffer first and most so in our houses of Clay the Organs of sight and hearing do more or less wax out of tune before the Fabrick fall Now the Decayes of the Eye and Ear are grievous Afflictions when one can scarce discern one thing or person or one letter from another to continue in a perpetual night or twilight how uncomfortable must it be Or to see people speak and yet scarce to hear what they say it is next to being buried alive For man is a sociable creature and the All-wise God saw that it was not good for Adam himself to be alone but the Privation of these senses leaves a man to himself alone He sitteth alone and keepeth silence because he hath born it upon him He is liable to be abused and injured both in word and deed and is uncapable to help himself He is also rendred useless hereupon T. Manlius Torquatus excused himself from the Consulship saying it was not fit he should be intrusted with the Lives and Fortunes of others that could not see or hear but with others eyes and ears yea which is worst of all such persons are precluded from the Means of Grace and Salvation There is no better company sometimes than a good Book but they cannot see a letter And then Faith comes by Hearing and it is preserved and increased by the same means but let them press never so near they can scarce hear a distinct word much less a whole sentence and what a dry and dead Soul must that be that lives out of the road of these ordinary helps It is some Question whether of these losses is the greater of the Eye-sight or of the Hearing And upon some accounts the latter seems to be the sadder loss of the two partly because God hath ordained Hearing to be the ordinary Means of Grace and Comfort partly because there are no such at least no such ready and commodious Helps yet found out for the Dulness of the Ear as there are for the Dimness of the Eye However the Decayes of either of them especially of Both these senses are a great Disadvantage and a heavy burden upon Old-age Notwithstanding all this allegation Old-age is not altogether so miserable as it is painted For there are many Aged People of whom it may be said as it was of Moses Deut. 34. 7. his Eye was not dim nor his natural force abated So it pleaseth the Lord to continue to many Aged persons very great