you will be followed with great distress and of long continuance and sore sickness and of long continuance as is threatned Deut. 28. 59. You cannot reasonably expect but that at least some bodily distemper will last as long as your life yea peradventure such painful diseases as will put all your patience to the rout if the Lord be not your helper but yet you must not murmur nay you must not grudge nor make hast but indure the Lords pleasure and wait the Lords leisure I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it The sight of the haven animates the weather-beaten mariner Hitherto the Lord hath helped you and as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him He that hath put that compassion into the heart of a father hath a surpassing infinite Ocean of it in himself and withal he knows our frame he remembers that we are but dust Psal. 103. 13 14. He that hath the wisdom and power of a God and the pity of a father will be sure to lay no more upon you than he will inable you to bear and to overcome And therefore the Aged must beware of the other Extream namely the Gulf of Despondence and Dejection of Spirit Their Sins are mustered up against them their outward strength is decayed their Spirits broken with a succession of cares and troubles their distempers and pains are heavy upon them their friends and relations seem to be weary of them and an unperswadable Enemy Death stands just before them And what flesh alive can bear up under such and so many weights together But besides what hath been offered before I adde that as all these Mortifications are needful to wean us from this world from the love whereof even these can hardly divorce us so all such Discomsorts should drive the Aged person no lower than his knees even unto God who hath said Be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness Isa. 41. 10. Have not all the Saints and Servants of God that have lived to Old-age pass'd these pikes before you have they not born these burdens that you sink under There is no temptation befaln you but what is common to men Where is the faith where are the prayers that you have been laying up for such a time O miserable Old-man said the Heathen Orator that in so long a life hast not yet learned to despise Death which is not at all to be feared if it extinguish the Soul and greatly to be desired if it convey the Soul into an everlasting good condition And then for the pain in Death the same Author tells us that if there be any sense of pain in dying it is but very short especially to Old people that have prevented it and tasted it by degrees And therefore never render your life or death unquiet as many do that even dye for fear of dying that create by their melancholy fancies greater torments to themselves than Death brings with it Behold it through the glass of Gods word which represents it only as a Dissolution to wit out of a prison to go to Christ Phil. 1. 23. Going to rest Isa. 57. 2. Finishing our course 2 Tim. 4. 8. Falling asleep in Iesus 1 Thes. 4. 14. and a stepping out of this world unto our father Joh. 13. 1. and why should the prospect hereof at all deject us Yea in case you should have the honour to be called to suffer Death for Christ and his Truth yet fear it not under its most terrible Aspect for the Supports and Comforts of that Tryal will ballance yea surmount the fears and pains thereof As the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ 2 Cor. 1. 5. Strive therefore rather to adorn than to avoid the Cross considering that as it is a great honour for you in your Old-age to suffer for the Truth so it is a great shame that the Truth should suffer by you It was the worthy Resolution of Old Eleazar when he was urged to counterfeit the eating of Swines flesh to save his life No saith he it becometh not our Age in any wise to dissemble whereby many young persons might think that Eleazar being fourscore and ten were now gone to a strange Religion And so they through my hypocrisie and desire to live a little time should be deceived by me and I get a stain to my Old-age and make it abominable Wherefore now manfully changing this life I will shew my self such an one as mine Age requireth So Polycarp when he was tempted to deny Christ and to swear by the Fortune of Caesar answered Fourscore and six years have I served Christ and have found him a good Master and should I now deny him I have lived by him and I will live and dye to him Let us resolve by Gods grace to write after these Copies Doubtless if there be any going to Heaven on horse-back as Mr. Bradford styles it that is in Honour and State it is by Martyrdom Nay it is not enough that we be content and quiet under these discouragements that we who have received good at the hands of the Lord be content with evil also but we should triumph over them In all these things we should be more than conquerours through him that loved us Our rooted Faith our fixed Hope our long Experience should lift us up to surmount all these fears and troubles The veterane Soldier must not be scared with such Hydra's We are near the promised Land the news of these Anakims in our way should not affright us they are bread for us as Ioshua said When these things come upon you then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life Rev. 2. 10. And thus we are at length arrived at the end of the Aged persons Work which was the Seventh and Last thing to be treated of in this Subject The Practice of these things now only remains That we study to correct the Causes avoid the Sins obtain the Graces sustain the Inconveniences improve the Priviledges and dispatch the Work described before us Wherein we must earnestly implore the gracious Assistance of God who worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure and who will not fail us therein unless we be wanting to our selves And O that all Younger people would learn Knowledge Temperance and Industry in their youth which will be the only means to attain to an Healthy Wealthy and Holy Old-age FINIS Books Printed for and sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns at the lower end of Cheap-side near Mercers Chappel A Present for Teeming Women to be given to them by their Husbands or Friends By Iohn Oliver Minister of the Gospel In Octavo A
When for the time ye ought to be teachers c. you have been long in Christs school you should be perfect in the Rules of Christian life They who had received Five talents will not be accepted unless they bring ten again If your figs be not good very good it is probable they will be bad very bad If an Aged person be not ripe for Heaven let him take heed he be not ripe for Hell. SECT VI. THE Sixth Priviledge of Old-age is That it is worthier of Respect than those of an inferiour Age. I mean hereby both an Inward Reverence and the External expression thereof and the former is and ought to be the foundation of the latter An Aged person even on that account though neither ricâ—… nor wise though neither noble nor pious yet deserves a respect for the Priority of his Being The Veneration dâ—… to them is founded on the Law of Nature Hence Plato appoints that everâ—… one should honour the Aged both in word and deed and this he often repeats And it was much observed in Three Indians once in Paris that kept strictly to the order of their Age in speaking without any Directour but the Law of Nature All the disputes abouâ—… the Antiquity and consequently the Dignity of Families or Cities is groundeâ—… on this foundation Why should Olâ—… Monuments Old Coins yea even Olâ—… Ruines be regarded and not Old men and Old women This is also directly injoyned in the Fifth Commandment where by Father and Mother that are to be honour'd Divines do rightly determine that such as are Elders by Age as well as those that are so by Relation and Office are intended And Honour in that Précept means an inward Esteem and Reverence in the heart and the same expressed by a suitable behaviour towards them in word and deed And this is expresly specified Levit. 19. 32. Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honour the face of the old man and fear thy God I am the Lord. The Iews indeed had a Tradition hereupon that it was not only fit to rise when an Aged person was passing by us but that we should rise up when they were four cubits distance from us and then we should presently sit down again thereby to manifest that we rose up in honour to them But the plain scope of that Command is only that we ought to make all due expression of Respect to the Aged And the indefiniteness of the Precept shews that it is due to all that are Aged even that pale and wrinkled face challengeth a regard and the fear of God is joyned with it q. d. As you fear God honour the Aged and because the young the rich and the proud will be loth to stoop herein therefore he adds I am the Lord Whose Authority is unquestionable and whose Will is the highest Reason who will reward the keepers of this law and punish the breakers of it Agreeable to this is that Prov. 23. 22. Hearken unto thy father that begat thee and despise not thy mother when she is old Likewise 1 Tim. 5. 1 2. Rebuke not an Elder but intreat him as a father and the younger men as brethren the elder women as mothers Where you see the Apostle interpreting the Fifth Commandment as abovesaid elder men as fathers elder women as mothers Accordingly it is threatned as a sore Iudgment when the child shall behave himself proudly against the Ancient Isa. 3. 5. and so it was resented when it was executed Lam. 4. 12. When the faces of the Elders were not honoured And we have a Comment upon this in a heathen Poet who tells us that they held it for a wickedness worthy to be expiated by Death if one that was young did not rise to shew respect to one that was Old. Let those consider this who make no difficulty to take place of their elders meerly because themselves are somewhat richer And upon this very Principle the Eldest son is by a natural right concluded to be heir and I question whether he should be defeated of it for any defects or immoralities Upon all which it is apparent that there is a special Respect and Reverence due to Old-age Now let us consider what Priviledge there is herein If there were nothing in it but a matter of Preference or precedence it were no great attainment though many an Estate hath been spent and many a Life lost for the compassing of these But this Respect is chiefly valuable for its Use. For hereby the Aged person is fenced from Contempt unto which he is liable enough through his impotence poverty and infirmities and any ingenuous man had rather dye with comfort than live in contempt But principally they are hereby preserved in a capacity of doing some good their example their instructions their reproofs and their advice will become significant We generally value mens Iudgments and Determinations according to the persons that give them Great care they should have how they advise and a great deference should be given to their advice So the Apostle 1 Pet. 5. 5. Likewise ye younger submit your selves to the elder And hereupon I would exhort and charge all young people that shall cast their eyes on these papers to remember their place and duty to deny themselves their own humours and preconceits and to strike sail to their Seniors They were praying perhaps before you had a being they had done God and their Countrey good service before you had done one stroke of work Holy Paul laid something upon seniority in Grace Rom. 16. 7. Andronicus and Iunia who were in Christ before me and by the like reason it is some Dignity to be in the world before others Insomuch as when the Latines would express their esteem of any thing they use this word of Antiquity to express it by Away then with that unchristian yea unmanly and unmannerly pertness and disrespect too frequent every where towards Aged persons Instead whereof reckon it to your good Breeding yea charge it upon your Conscience to give Honour to whom honour is due SECT VII THE Seventh Priviledge of Old-age is That they are Further from the World than younger persons are These are in the midst of it and of all its troubles and temptations but those have travelled through them and are now almost past them There are Two things in the World that make it uneasie Sin and Suffering Sin that makes it uneasie to Good men Suffering that makes it uneasie to All men A good man hath contracted a deep hatred against sin and yet he cannot be rid of it He meets with it in every place among the looser sort of people it swarms he sees and hears that every day which vexeth his righteous soul and returning home he finds it in his own heart and that grieves him most He is chain'd to a body of death without any remedy and the more knowledge and grace he hath the more he hates it and
accuse it So that though we commonly say That every thing is worse for its age yet a pious Old person is the better and therefore no man needs to be as too many are ashamed of their gray hairs Forasmuch as Old-age is Greater in Authority than any other age Richer in Experience Freer from sin Proner to Piety Riper in its Fruits Worthier of Respect Further from the World and Nearer to Eternity And so much for the Priviledges of Old-age which is the Sixth point to be handled CHAP. VII The Work of Old-age SECT I. AND so I come in the Seventh and Last place to treat concerning the Work and Business of Old-age What special and proper Imployment besides their necessary and ordinary affairs their Years obligeth them unto Their labouring and travelling dayes are done but yet they have much Work to do Sith they have not yet apprehended this One thing they must do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before they must press towards the mark There is no compleat rest for the body on this side the grave nor for the soul on this side Heaven They that were Idle in the eleventh hour were checkt with Why stand ye here idle all the day Matth. 20. 6. You have been busie a great while for Time it is but reasonable you should take some pains for Eternity The shadows of the Evening have overtaken you ye have but a little time to work in It was wise counsel of the Wise man Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest Eccles. 9. 10. Behold and see how fast the sands of your glass are running hearken how fast the Pendulum of your Clock hastens The Bills of Mortality besides other Diseases contain some weekly that dye for Age and which week your Name will be called you know not But when it is called you must go no Bail is taken by Serjeant Death Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh findeth so doing And therefore to use the Prophet Ioel's words Ioel 1. 2. Hear this ye Old men and give ear all the inhabitants of the land Suffer the word of Exhortation and buckle in sober sadness to these Imployments of Old-age The First Work of Old-age is Repentance of your sins This is a bitter Pill to flesh and blood but it must be swallowed here or hereafter When it is tasted here it is only bitter-sweet there is comfort in it there is comfort after it It is like the pains of an honest woman in travel the remembrance of the loving Father supports her at present and the birth of a comely child revives her after but if it be deferr'd and plac'd on the wrong side of Death then it will be bitter bitter there is no present no future comfort Then it will be like the gnawing pains of a woman with a Cancer though infinitely sharper and infinitely longer So that it is not referred to the Old-man or any man else whether he will Repent or not for it â—…annot be avoided but whether he will repent for a time or repent for ever whether he will repent with hope or repent with despair Now Repentance may be considered in a Double respect 1. Initially at the first Conversion of the Soul to God and 2. Secondarily at the Renewing of the acts thereof afterwards It concerns Ancient people to be acquainted respectively with both This needful message then is directed 1. To such Aged persons who are yet in the state of unrenewed Nature who have never past through the New-birth nor know any thing by experience of Regeneration which was the Case of Old Nicodemus though a Master in Israel Joh. 3. 9. Now that a Fundamental Repentance or Conversion call it how you will is necessary to all that shall be saved I should think is past dispute For it cannot be denyed that we come into the world in a sinful state And it is manifest that Baptism doth not cure the Soul of that Disease but that all people in general have a strong propensity either to the lusts of the flesh or to the lusts of the eyes or to pride of life until an inward Change be wrought in the heart which is the effectual Calling of a careless Sinner to turn to God and Godliness Now if an Aged person have been a stranger to this Grace though perhaps he hath led a sober industrious just yea a charitable life and also hath complied with the outward acts of devotion in use Yet except the tree have been made good by Regeneration it cannot have its fruit unto holiness nor the end everlasting life I would therefore conjure all such Unconverted Old people to apply themselves with all speed and seriousness to this First Repentance to be renewed in the spirit of your minds to make you new hearts and new spirits or else infallibly you must dye Say not with Nicodemus How can a man be born when he is old For the Work is possible and the Method is plain Harder it may be for an Old man to become a New man than for the younger hence the Proverb An old naught will never be ought That is rarely or difficulty according to the Greek saying For that the Faculties of the Soul are enfeebled and the Habits of Sin strengthened by continuance former guilt and negligence makes men to doubt of future assistance or acceptance But since God doth call Old people to Repent sith he hath spared you alive hitherto and to them that are joyned to the living there is hope sith there be innumerable instances of Old Converts In fine sith God looketh upon men and if any mark if Any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profiteth me not he will deliver him from going down to the pit Iob 33. 27 28. Never question the possibility but set about the work Set the Necessity against the Difficulty it is Turn in Time or Burn in Eternity for Truth hath said Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of heaven How can you imagine that a limb of the Devil should become a member of Christ a child of wrath become a child of God but by Regeneration Outward Reformation may shave the hair but this Leprosie must be cur'd inwardly O lay to heart the long time you have lived in sin and in enmity to God the short time you have to live in the world that Death makes no Converts and Sickness but a few Consider what mercies and deliverances you have received from this good God and how little true service you have done him and whether it be not now high time to turn unto him with your whole heart and not feignedly If that Holy man would not be in an unregenerate state but one hour for all the world left he should dye in that hour