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A29380 A vvord to the aged. By Mr. Will. Bridge, sometime fellow of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and late preacher of the Word of God at Yarmouth. I commend this to be reprinted as a profitable and serious discourse. James Allen. Bridge, William, 1600?-1670. 1679 (1679) Wing B4475; ESTC R214754 12,516 21

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righteousness and our strength Temptations or sins blown out by reason or resolution will easily light again but quenched in the blood of Christ and they light no more When the Israelites was stung with the fiery Serpents he did not stand looking on his swoln arm or leg but on the brazen Serpnt and so was cured Christ lift upon the Cross is our brazen Serpent and he hath said look unto me O all ye ends of the Earth and be saved 2 Then by way of consideration think and think much with your selves what an evil thing it is to sin when a man is ready to dye Thus you leave not your sin but your sin you 3. Be sure that you do not chew the Cud of your former sins by musing on them with delight for thereby you justfie your former practice but rather mourn over them for the way to be kept from future sins is to mourn for former and the way to be kept from sins of old Age is to mourn for the sins of our youth 4. But above all things under your study of Christ crucified be sure that you strengthen your love to God in Christ for if the boughs of the Tree be weak the way to strengthen them is not to carry up dung to the boughs but to lay the dung to the root for by strengthening the Root you strengthen the branches Now the Root of all our mortification is love for love is the cause of hatred Ye that love the Lord hate evil Love to God eats out our love to sin as the fear of God eats out our fear of men and your love to God is strengthened by the sight of his love to you For love is the cause of love the more we see Gods love to us the more we love him and do hate our sins Would you therefore take up your sinful weeds by the roots Then strengthen your love and this shall be a Staff in your hand to strengthen and bear you up under all your infirmities both natural and moral CHAP. III. The OLD MANS GVIDE BVt there is yet one thing remaining and incumbent on the Aged and that is to plant the positive grace and virtue which doth best suit with his foyland condition Quest What are those good things therefore that Old men epecially are to do in their old Age. Answ 1. They are full of experience and therefore should be full of Faith For though Gods word only be the ground of our Faith yet experience is a great help to Faith Now there is a Faith of relyance and a Faith of assurance Faith of relyance justifies Faith of assurance comforts Old men therefore are to exercise the Faith of relyance relying upon Christs righteousness renouncing their own and to exercise the Faith of assurance For it is ill dying with a doubting Soul As Zeal is the young mans virtue so Faith is the old mans grace 2. Then it is their work and duty to renew their repentance for they ar● shortly to appear before the Lord and to give an accoun● of all that they have done in the flesh will they appear before him in their filthy rags Now though we are only washed from our sins by the blood of Christ unto Justification yet we are washed from our filth by the hand of r●pentance unto sanctification For as God promised to wash us with clean water so he commands us to wash our selves Isai 1. And if a man will not wash and repent at last when will he repent When the leaves are off the trees we see the birds neasts in the Trees and bushes Now in our old age our leaves are off then therefore we may see those neasts of sin and lusts in our hearts and lives which we saw not before and so be sensible and repent of them 3. Then are they also to be much in reading the Scripture M●ditation and Prayer for by this reading they shall gain knowledge by meditation upon their reading they shall add affection to their knowledge and by Prayer they shall add devotion unto their affection 4. And because they are ready to weigh Anker and to set sail for the other World it will be good for them to observe what is the proper work of this World and to be much therein For everything is beautiful in the time thereof Now is a time for Believing Heaven is no time for Faith for in Heaven we live by sight Now is a time for repentance in Heaven there is no repentance for there is no sorrow Now is a time for Patience in Heaven there is no Patience under Affliction for there is no Affliction Now is a time of hearing the Word preached and for Sacraments and Ordinances there is no preaching Sacraments and Ordinances in Heaven Now is a time to relieve the Poor in Heaven there is no room for such charity It is that Country where no beggar lyes at your door Now is a time to observe our Relations in Heaven there are no such Relations for they neither marry nor are given in Marriage bu● are as the Angels Now therefore what ever is in the power of your hand to do do it with all your might for in the grave there is no work nor in Heaven there is none of this work whether you are going This therefore that is to be done here and cannot be done there is now to be done especially 5. Then it is the old mans work and duty to live much in a little time to be more exact and strict in his life then ever for the nearer the stone comes to the Center the faster it moves the more wisdome any man hath the more exactly he works Wisdome and exactness go together See that you walk exactly not as fools but as wise sayes the Apostle Now gray hairs should be found in the way of wisdom and the more frequently a man doth work the more exactly he may do the same Now those that are ancient have or should have been frequent in holy duties they therefore of all men are to live walk most exactly Thus it shall not be said of them as Seneca says of one he did not live long but he was long 6. Then are they to knock off from the World and to use the World as if they used it not for the fashion of this World passeth away the time is short therefore their moderation should be known unto all men for the Lord is at hand If a tooth be to he drawn and the gum be cut the tooth doth come out with ease but if it be fast set in the gum and not first loosned from the gum it comes out with much difficulty and what is the reason that many dye with such difficulty but because they are so fast set in their worldly gums they are not loosned from their relations Good therefore it is for old men who are upon the brink of death to cut their gum and to loosen themselves from this world and all
those that are good while they are young to shew mercy to them when they are old The hand of a Child may pull up a plant when it is young tender but if it grows to a Tree all the Horses in the Town cannot pluck it up so in regard of sin let your mortification of sin therefore begin betimes If the paper be clear and clean you may write any thing on it but if other things be scribled on the p●per it is then unfit to receive any writing or impression so in regard of the impressions of good upon the Soul and heart Let your vivication therefore and holiness begin betimes Thus let your first be given unto God 3. And though you have not so great parts and gifts as others have yet let your desires of good be as full as any others what you want in expression make up in affection when nature is wanting in one thing it supplies it in another The blind man hath the best memory and that God which gives you a heart to d●sire will give you your hearts desire if your parts be taller by head and shoulders then others then expect envy and pray much for humility 4. In case you sin at any time as you will often then be sure O my Children that you delay not your repentance for the green wound is most easily cured The Thief indeed was converted at the last but it was as soon as he was called some come in at the last hour of the day but they come when they are called now you are called to day and therefore defer not till the morrow 5. Let your company be good for every man is as the company of his choice is Solomon saith Eccl. 12 Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth which if you please you may read according to the Hebrew in the dayes of thy choice or choices because in the dayes of youth a man makes choice of his Trade or Calling then he makes choice of his Religion then he makes choice of his Wise and then he makes choice of his Company Now then my Son have a care of these choices 6. And let your discourse be alwayes seasoned with salt for by your words you shall be justified and by your words you shall be condemned at the last day sayes our Saviour for Sermo Index animi words are the Index of the mind a good Soul never lives at the sign of ill sp●ech 7. And as for the world and the things thereof though you may pray for much yet you must be content with little The way to have a mercy or blessing is to be content to go without it the way to avoid any evil is to submit to it to remove it is to bless God over it as Job did 8. Let your Recreation O my Children be sparing for they are but Condimentum your sauce and not nutrimentum your nourishment your Cordial and not your diet 9. Of all Books study the Bible of all duties be much in prayer of all graces exercise faith of all dayes observe the Lords day and of all things in Heaven or Earth be sure that you get an interest in God by Jesus Christ 10. And by any means O my Children and Friends le● brotherly love continue for love is the fulfilling of the Law who can break a faggot when the sticks are joyned together by the common Band but if the sticks be parted how easily are they all broken and what is the reason that such judicial breaches are made upon us but because our pride and want of love doth make such sinful breaches among us Cyprian tells us that the divisions and dissentions of the Churches was the cause of the persecution in the primitive times for said he Those evils had not come to the brethren if the brethren had been united or animated into one But I am sure that our Saviour Christ saith By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if you love one another and John the Disciple of love saith By this shall you know that you are translated from death to life because you love the Brethren See therefore that you love the Brethren and that because they are Brethren For possibly a man may love those that are good yet not because they are good for then he would love them better that are better and those best that are best if you love those that are good it is well yet this may be from some self concernment and your love then will be narrowed and your affections monopolized by some only of your own perswasion or relation but if you love those that are good because they are good this is better for then you will love all that is good though of some different perswasion from you for a quatenus ad omnia from all to all is a good consequence Thus therefore O my Sons let your love be stated continued and increased towards men but above all be sure that you love Jesus also for Jesus Jesus is hardly loved for Jesus but do you love Christ for himself and let the only measure of your love be to know no measure Thus let the old man do and dye and as he lived by Faith he shall dye in the Faith And as Motives unto all these things let the old man consider 1. That in so doing he shall leave a sweet perfume behind him and many shall bless God for him when he is dead 2. That there is enough in Heaven to pay for all his pains here on Earth 3. That he is not so weak but he is strong enough to sin and shall we be strong to sin and not to serve 4. That it may be it was late ere he came into Gods work and if you played away the forenoon of your age will you not work the harder in the afternoon 5. That God will accept from youth and old age from youth because it is the first and from old age because it is the last and from much weakness 6. That Gods promise is very full for he hath promised and said Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full old age and as a shock of corn cometh in his season Job 5. 26. yea he hath promised that those that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God they shall bring forth fruit in old Age they shall be fat and flourishing Psal 92 13 14. 7. That thus they shall not be afraid to dye but shall say with that good man dying I have not so lived that I am afraid to dye but I have so learned Christ that I am not afraid to dye 8. Yea and thus shall his old Age be a good old Age and he so number his dayes it is not said his years nor his moneths nor his weeks but dayes for his life is so short that it is rather to be numbred by dayes then by years or moneths or weeks that he should apply his heart unto wisdome FINIS