to wit Gospel Ordinances will cry come and be like a Roe for swiftness Cant. 8. last Upon such Christ comes not as a Thief in the night 1 Thes 5.3 for they love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 and they are blessed Rev. 16.15 Such as fear to live and see that day shall not see it to live c. The Third great Friend we must watch is the Holy Ghost for 't is a Divine Precept He that hath Ears to hear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches Rev. 2.7 And this is said again and again both in the 2 d and in the 3 d Chapter to all the Seven Golden Candlesticks seven times over the sense whereof is we must watch and hearken what God the Holy Spirit will speak Psal 85.8 not so much with the Gristle on the Head but more by the Ear of the Heart for God may speak once and twice and man perceive it not Job 33.14 until God bore our Ears as he did David's Psal 40.6 and open our Hearts as he did Lydias Acts 16.14 and until our Lord put his Finger into the Hole of our Ear and looking up to Heaven he cry Ephphatha that is be opened as he did to the Man that was possessed with a deaf Devil Mark 7.34 We must pray with the Spouse for this purpose saying Lord thy Companions hearken to thy Voice cause me to hear it also Cant. 8.13 when this Quickning Spirit as he is called Joh. 6.63 even this Spirit of Truth cometh he guideth us into all Truth Joh. 16.13 and blessed is that Soul which watcheth the Motions of this Holy Spirit in a Sanctified Conscience and can discern a difference of such persuasions as come not from him that calleth us Gal. 5.8 The Steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord Psal 37.23 Blessed are they that hear the joyful sound of this breathing Spirit they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy Countenance Psal 89.15 they follow the footsteps of his Anointed ver 51. and David must then bestir himself when he heard the sound of God's goings upon the Tops of the Mulberry Trees 2 Sam. 5.24 This Holy Spirit is a delicate thing Psal 143.10 as Junius reads it and therefore must not be vexed Isa 63.10 nor grieved Ephes 4.30 much less quenched in its motions 1 Thes 5.19 they that are led by the Spirit are the Sons of God Rom. 8.14 as Paul was Acts 16.6,7 and Simeon was led by the Spirit into the Temple Luke 2.27 Yea and our Lord Jesus himself was led up by the Spirit into the Wilderness to conquer the Tempter in a Duel upon the Devil 's own ground Matth. 4.1 Thus Abraham that Father of the faithful went out he knew not whether nor when he should return nor how he should subsist c. yet he well knew with whom he went Heb. 11.8 for he put himself as a Child into his Father's hand who called him and the conduct of the Holy Spirit carried him dry-shod to the last Thus likewise if we be the Sons and Daughters of Abraham the Holy Spirit will teach us all things John 14.26 that blessed Anointing is our best Instructer 1 John 2.20.27 We should lay our selves as Instruments open to the Touchings of this Holy Spirit and submit to his Discipline which requires much self-denial then shall we bring forth the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.22,23 which is in all Goodness and Righteousness and Truth Ephes 5.9 And could we but watch its whisperings more and better so as to obey them we should not so oft be found in Fundo Diaboli upon the Devil's ground in places of Temptation but as the Spirit suffered not Paul c. to go unto such and such Places Acts 16.6,7 even so would it be with us could we but put our Souls wholly under the conduct of this Holy Spirit If once we dare presume to break this Divine Hedge that Old Serpent will surely bite us Eccles 10.8 We may not live at Random and without a Rule but we must mind and watch the Teachings of this Divine Unction which never teacheth us any thing but what is consonant to the Holy Scripture endited by it 2 Pet. 1.19,20,21 Now come we to the Second Trinity or three sorts of Foes or Enemies to be duly and daily watched The first Foe is the World which is a woful Witch and must be burned for a Witch at the Last Day 2 Pet. 3.7,10 and therefore ought we to watch this Witch well that we may not be bewitched by it It is well known that such persons as are bewitched do not only lose their Likeness and Beauty but also do suffer many sad Paroxysms and Fits of strange Distempers c. As all this holds true literally to bewitched Bodies c. so no less is it true mystically to bewitched Souls which are captivated by the two fair Breasts or rather Botches this Witch the World exposeth to their view namely Pleasure and Profit Such have horrible Fits of Madness as Saul had when the Evil Spirit came upon him 1 Sam. 16.14,23 c. and such have Leanness sent into their Souls Psal 106.15 Besides the World must be well watched because it is such an Enemy as continually besiegeth us and we cannot flee from it while we live in it therefore we must be sure to have a Lid or Covering for our Hearts Those Vessels that wanted Coverings the Law doomed them Unclean Numb 19.15 and so are our Hearts without a Covering of the Spirit Isa 30.1 The Dirt of a dirty World will unavoidably be often falling into an open uncovered Heart whereby both Mind and Conscience are defiled Tit. 1.15 We should keep the World under our Feet where God placed it Psal 8.6 and not set it in our Hearts Eccles 3.11 The Second Foe to be watched is Satan who is called the God of this World 2 Cor. 4.4 and dealeth with Worldlings as unlucky Boys do with silly Horses they first catch them with a little Provender and then backs them whips and spurs them into an High Gallop and rides them till they be tired and at last lodges them in the Stable at night c. We are told how Satan considered Job and better considered him Job 1.8 and 2.3 that is he watched all Advantages to Tempt that none-such Saint and Servant of God c. Oh then how much more ought such weak worms as we are to consider him who so much consiâ—ers us and watches us to take all advantages against us for we are not ignorant of his Devices 2 Cor. 2.11 We read of Rizpah how she watched her Royal Seed upon the Rock c. and suffered neither the Birds of the Air to rest on them by day nor the Beasts of the Field by night 2 Sam. 21.10 Thus every Believer ought to do as Rizpah did in watching the Royal Seed even the Seed of God in them that it be not wronged either by night or day by Satan who is called
be demonstrated from Scripture the first man defiled Nature and ever since Nature hath defiled every man his whole Frame is out of frame whole evil is in man and whole man is in evil As in Noah's Flood not any one part of the Earth could be seen dry So nor any one part of man can be found that is not infected with this Original Pollution and the chief cause of all our Actual Sins is charged not upon Satan but upon this Evil Concupiscence that is inbred in us Jam. 1.15 The Tempter might strike Fire long enough in vain if we did not find him dry Tinder for his Sparks to fall upon We cannot say as our sinless Lord said the Prince of this World cometh and finds nothing in me that is to favour his Temptation Joh. 14.30 But alas when he comes to tempt us he finds a Treacherous Party within this Birth-sin of ours which betrays us oftentimes into his hands as hath hapned unto some Cities besieged whose Gates have been opened by some Traiterous Citizens within for a free entrance of the Enemy that were besieging it round about Hence is it that all men are said in Holy Scripture to be dead in sin Ephes 2.1 and Bondslaves to Satan Heb. 2.15 and subject to all Calamities of this Life under the Curse of God Gal. 3.10 Yea and good men even the best of men are but men at the best for Original Sin in them is stronger than their Grace for if God should leave us with our stock of Grace that he hath graciously given us and let us be alone but a while in the hands of our own Counsels this sin of our Nature would easily swallow up our stock of Grace wo to us when God departs from us Hos 9.12 The Reason is because Grace given to us is like the putting of Hot Water into that which is Cold Tho' this will warm it for the present yet the Water will reduce it self into its own natural temper of Coldness unless Fire be kept continually under it Take another Example as a River would run caeterâ—…s paribus the nighest way to the Seaâ— which is the Receptacle of all Rivers were it let alone to its own tendency by nature but we see the various situation of the Earth in some places higher than others and by the Art and Industry of Man the most Rapid River is madd to run in crooked Streams in and out to break its forcible passage even so this Original Sin would drive all persons the nighest way to Hell were it not that it meets with not only the several Tempers and Dispositions of Nature in the Sons and Daughters of Mankind which makes it work variously according to their various Constitutions as David saith I have kept my self from my iniquity Psal 18.23 that is from my Constitution sin c. but also and that more especially through the over-ruling Power of God and that by two ways 1. Either by giving Restraining Grace even to Pagans as he did to that Pagan King Abimelech Gen. 20.6 whereby God kept him at a modest distance from medling with Sarah Abraham's wife which otherwise he would have undoubtedly defiled seeing so many Kings tho' called Christian make it their too common practice or 2. By giving Renewing Grace even to his own chosen and called ones whereby he changeth their Natures so that one of the Antient Fathers tells this Story of a Young Man who had been for some time intangled with an Harlot and meeting with some Remorse of Conscience he withdrew from her upom some occasions he had in another Country and after a â—ittle time returning home this impudent Whore meets him takes hold of him and said to him Ego sum Ego I am the same Woman I was when you left me at which he smartly replied to her sed ego non sum ego but I am not the same Man I was through the Grace of God whereby he said with David The Snare is broken and my Soul is delivered Psa 124.7 therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature old things are past away behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5.17 VVhere Christ comes he saith Behold I make all things new Rev. 21.5 both all the Members of the Body and all the Faculties of the Soul These all were formerly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weapons of wickedness unto sin but now become weapons of Righteousness unto Holiness Rom. 6.13,17,18,19 so that Christ makes new understandings new wills new memories new consciences c. in the inner man yea and new tongues hands and feet c. to talk walk and work for God in the outward man ☞ Let this likewise be well weighed how this Original pollution of the faln Nature is like the first Confused Chaos at the Creation of the World which had the seeds of all several kinds of Creatures in it and that prolifick Vertue continues unto this day even so in Original Sin lays the Spawn of all several kinds of sins which lasteth all our lives until death destroy this body of Death at the last as the other will last while the World lasteth So This fretting Leprosie of sin is typically described in the Law of that Plague Levit. 14.41.43,44,45 The house which hath that Contagion all the scraping of the Walls within it will not cleanse it until the house it self with the Stones and Timber of it be broken down yea and it begins betimes as well as it lasts long This sour Leaven doth leaven the whole lump with its sowrness and spreads it self over all the Ages of Man as Infancy Childhood Youth and old Age. 1. Infancy Austin's story Vidi Zelantem parvulum I my self saw a little one rise up in Rage against his fellow-suckling for beguiling him of his Mothers Milk from whence that Antient Father proves and confesses that sin began betimes both in himself and in others 2. Childhood there is much folly bound up in the heart of a Child Prov. 22. v. 15. as fardles or packs are bound upon the Carriers Horses back and these bonds of Iniquity keeps him fast in the gall of bitterness Acts 8.23 so makes not only Childhood but also 3. Youth to be not only Vanity but likewise often abounds with Villany Eccles 11.9,10 with 12.1 where the Preacher presseth upon Youth to indulge themselves in their youthful lusts if they dare do so adding a stinging But which marrs the Yonkers mirth God will judge thee for all thy Tricks of youth account them not Trifles which both Job and David so bitterly bewailed Job 13.26 and Psal 25.7 Therefore he exhorts such to remember their Creators at that time as Psal 119.9 before 4 ly Old Age come which is an Evil Age both for sin and misery But more plainly this Truth of Man's Malady and Danger is held forth in that Text The strong Man armed c. which declares Man's Malady and Danger Luke 11.21 where Satan is described 1. By his
5.2,9 We are top-full of evil Imaginations of carnal Reasonings and wholly filled with all unrighteousness Rom. 1.29 so that quisque sibi Satan est every Man becomes a tempting Devil to himself and is drawn away of his own Lust and enticed Jam. 1.14,15 Satan hath only a persuading slight but not any enforcing might 't is our own carnal Concupiscence that carries the chiefest stroke in all our sins which indeed is a compound of many Fleshly Lusts that all war against our Souls 1 Pet. 2.11 as we read of Joshuah how he conquered one and thirty Kings of the cursed Canaanites houghing all their Horses and burning all their Chariots with fire as before yea and those Kings of Canaan are named one by one Josh 12.9 to 24. And as we also read of David how one Gyant after another did fall by his hands Goliah one Jeshbibenob one Sippii one Lahmi one and then that Monster of Mankind is mentioned who was a double Monster both in his Stature and in the number of his Fingers and Toes having upon each Hands and Feet a Finger and a Toe more than ordinary twenty four in all yet all those monstrous Gyants fell by the Hands of David and by the Hands of his Servants 1 Chron. 20.4,6,8 Thus the same may be said so of those Souls upon whom Christ this Stronger Man hath made a Conquest and resides there as a Conqueror that Soul may reckon up one by one all the conquered Tyrants who have ruled over it formerly with rigour As 1 st With Joshuah Pride and its King one Passion and its King one Concupiscence and its King one Covetousness and its King one Unbelief and its King one Hypocrisie and its King one and so on forward until the same number amount up to the number of one and thirty as in Josh 12.9 to 24. and so likewise the Soul may 2 dly Reckon with David many monstrous Temptations have been conquered by Christ in me the hope of Glory Col 1.27 I have had monstrous temptations to Atheism to Blasphemy to Self-murder to Filthy Uncleanness and to many more such Abominations c. as 1 Chron. 20.4 to 8 But now blessed be the Free Grace of God toward me my spiritual Joshua my spiritual David even my dear Redeemer the Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in Battle Psal 24.8 that Elshaddai which Abenezra reads that Conqueror the King of Glory even he hath conquered and captivated all those monstrous Tyrants and Tempters he hath pulled down also their Strong Holds in me and for me And tho' as some Castles wherein the Enemy seated themselves in our late Civil Uncivil Wars proved so strong that a double Difficulty did attend them For 1 st It was a Work of great Difficulty to conquer those so strongly fortified Forts they stood it out many a long Siege and cost the Lives of many brave Soldiers yet at the last were taken by the besieging Commander And then when publick Authority commanded that those Receptacles of Rebellion must be demolished and raced down to the very Foundation Then 2 dly Appeared another Difficulty in pulling them down it was found the Stones were so strongly cemented together that they did abide many a lusty Blow and they did bear many a strong Stroke yea much Time Cost and Pains were spent yet all would not do no not any Undermining of the Walls until at the last the whole Fabrick was blown up with many Barrels of Gun-powder prudently lodged in the very Bowels of them and all this little enough to level them even with the ground for we have a plain prospect of the Scars of those Castles still remaining unto this day even so it is with the Strong Holds of Satan in us As 't is a Work of great Difficulty to overcome them so 't is no less to level them and quite to bring them down to an utter demolishment some Scars will still remain in us Wherefore how ought we to double our Diligence in that most Necessary yet much Neglected Duty of Self-examination the Apostle useth a double Spur to stir us up unto a serious Self-trial saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prove your selves and try your selves as the Gold-smith does his Coin or the Lapidary his Stones upon a lydius lapis or Touch-stone to discover them from such as be counterfeit The fineal Trial of our Eternal Estate doth indeed belong immediately 〈◊〉 solely to the Court of Heaven but the discerning of our sincerity and singleness of Soul God-ward appertain to the Court of our own Consciences for our own comfort for if our own Hearts condemn us God is greater than our Hearts and will condemn us much more c. 1 John 3.20,21 As the Decisive part belongs to God so the Disquisitive part belongs to us Therefore it is added know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 which follows that of the same Apostle about the pulling down of the Strong Holds of Satan c. 2 Cor. 10.4,5 through the indwellings of Christ This is so needful a Duty that the Precept is double Zeph. 2.1 Gather up your selves gather up your thoughts excutite vos iterum excutite as Tremellius renders it shake your selves and better shake your selves in Self-examination the omission whereof as it is much easie so it is most dangerous How happy are such Souls who can say in the witnessings of the Holy Ghost that this Stronger Man hath raised Batteries and sprung several Mines against the Strong Holds of Satan in them that the Lord hath battered the Walls thereof with his Battering Rams and with his Great Cannon of a Soul-searching Ministry and with his Spirit of Burning so called Isai 4.4 because it burns up the combustible matter of our Corruptions refining our Dross and kindling up Repentance unto Life c. and that Christ hath been lustily hammering the Sides and Corners of those Strong Holds with the great Hammer of his Word and with the strong Hand of his Spirit thus saith the Lord Is not my word like as a Fire and like an Hammer that breaketh the Rock in pieces Jer. 23.29 the Workman's Hammer which Jael took in her Right Hand to nail great Sisera fast to the ground Judg. 4.21 and 5.26 was a fair resemblance of this mighty Work of the Right Hand of the Almighty God upon this Strong Man Satan All such Souls I say who can truly experience those effectual operations of an indwelling Christ in them must not be discouraged although they find and feel this work of Mortification or putting to Death as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Rom. 8.13 to be an hard and tedious Work and although after the Walls be in part demolished yet some Relicks will remain and much Rubbish we meet with to be removed for we may say with Joshuah that we are not yet cleansed from the iniquity of Baal-peor that Idol of opening in Lustful Contemplations and Heart-adulteries Matth.
not so easily pleased again 4. Another Moral Evil in the Aged is to complain of present Times but praising former Days of old which the Old Men of those Days did as much complain of as he doth of these Whereas indeed the fault lieth not in the Times either present or former but in the Persons that liveth in those Times for in every Age better Hearts and Lives would make better Times Then 2 dly After these Moral Vices do follow Spiritual Sins which are found in Old Age such as 1. Ignorance a meer Child for knowledge no Fool like to an Old Fool and therefore tho' this silly Child be an hundred Years old he is denounced by a Divine Mouth to be accursed Isai 65.20 Thus the Old Age of that silly Child Shimei who childishly plaid away his own Life could not exempt him from Justice for it was David's charge to his Son Solomon let not his Hoary Head go down to the Grave in peace 1 Kings 2.6 2. An indocible untractable Frame attends Old Age to learn the great Mysteries of Godliness as appeared in Old Nicodemus tho' a Master in Israel and could not but have read of a New Heart which God promised to give c. in the Prophet Ezekiel and in other places of the Old Testament yet how aukward was he in entertaining the Doctrine of Regeneration objecting against it First How can a Man be born again And after Christ had told him that the way of the Spirits working this work was incomprehensible c. yet comes he off again with his How can these things be John 3.4,10 This Old Man nay an Old Master in teaching work understood no more of the Mystery of the New Birth than a rude Rustick can comprehend the profoundest Points of the Mathematicks which be no better than Gibberish to him when he hears them NB. However it is no matter how dull the Scholar is when Christ himself will become the Teacher as here for this Nicodemus who had long been a Night-bird during the Life of Christ did at the last break forth as the Sun from under a Cloud to manifest his Love to his Lord after his Death John 19.39 3. To illustrate this farther Old Age is Self-conceited and cannot easily be convinced through Pride of Spirit rooted in it he is too wise to learn therefore was it that Solomon preferred a poor and wise Child before an Old and Foolish King who abhors to be admonished Eccles 4.13,14 for the Young Child is apt to learn and ready to receive Instruction and will be as careful to follow it and all this is true Wisdom Whereas an Old and Foolish King is not only weak but also wilful and his Pride is the ground of his Wilfulness as he is short-sighted in his Mind so he is stubborn and unconvincible in his Will There have been such Kings in the World who in their Old Age have shewed themselves so self-willed and so wedded to their own vain Opinions that they never endured to ask Advice and if any were given them what they fancied not they assuredly rejected it though they sometimes yea very seldom ask Counsel yet never follow any but their own until they ruin themselves and their People 4. As the Three former brings Ruine c. to the Bodies not only of Old and Foolish Kings but also of Old and Foolish Subjects who do harden their Hearts against all good Counsel yea and that which is worst of all these Three afore-named bring destruction to their Souls likewise by their living and dying in that great sin of Unbelief and final Impenitency which their custom in sin taking away all conscience of sin doth at last seal them up in where the superabounding Grace of God doth not interpose to disappoint it This refractory and untoward untractable Temper of abhorring to be taught hath been a long time observed universally to accompany Old Age insomuch that this was the first ground of that Old Greek Adage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senum Doctor a Teacher of Old Persons by which Phrase the Wisdom of the Ancients used to express any labour in vain like those other Phrases Aethiopem lavare to wash a Blackmore white which Phrase is used in Scripture Jer. 13.23 And to the same purpose is that Adage used by Pagan Authors Sysiphi saxum voluere a Poetical Fiction that this Sysiphus was doomed unto as a punishment for his former Faults that he was to roll an heavy Stone up the Hill which then did run down again of it self with its own weight and when it came to the bottom his work was to roll it up again yea and that which was the Mischief and Misery of this Man in this Work it must be his only and continual Task for all his time c. All these Adages do demonstrate the unteachableness of Old Age and that if we do not through the Grace of God remember our Creator in the days of our Youth while that tractable Temper continueth with us but still drive it off until Old then become we so slow so oblivious and so setled upon the Lees c. insomuch that the Ministry of the Word that they sit under is labour in vain to such and Christ's Ministers may complain with the Prophet as to such as hate to be reformed and are incorrigible I have laboured in vain and I have spent my strength for naught and in vain Isai 49.4 NB. Note well how besotted and even bewitched are such Persons to make that the Task of their Old Age which ought to be the Trade of our whole Life and to settle their everlasting and surest making or marring upon so sandy and sinking a Foundation as Old Age is well called an Evil Age for Reasons aforesaid Now the next and Second Point to be discoursed upon is How this Evil Old Age may become a Good Old Age as was Abrahams Gen. 25.8 and Isaac's Gen. 35.29 and Davids 1 Chron. 29.28 hic labor hoc opus est this is an high and an hard undertaking for the accomplishment whereof let this be the method As 1 st The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it may be so seeing the Evil Old Age which is so in it self and by decays of Nature hath been made a good Old Age by the power of Grace as in those three aforenamed 2 dly The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Reasons why it ought to be made so because our eternal Weal or Woe hangs upon it And 3 dly The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the means whereby this marvelous change from Evil to good may be wrought First of the 1 st That it may be so 't is clear not only from the many Examples of Holy Men and Women upon Record in both the Old and New Testament who all lived holily to a good Old Age and died happily at the last and the Scripture gives this honourable Character concerning Mnason that he was an Old Disciple of Christ Acts 21.16 And the Ancient
to Second Causes some have shortned their own Lives c. Tho' the Moral of this Fable hold true in some singular Instances yet for the General 't is an undeniable truth that Old Age may comfort it self with this blest freedom from Youthful Lusts Aged People cannot be so Eye-sick nor so Heart-sick of Lustful Desires as the Young are but are then arrived into a more quiet Harbour from the furious Tempests of Carnal Concupiscence Secondly The Aged may comfort themselves with their long experience in the World for experimental Knowledge doth far exceed and excel that which is meerly Notional and upon this account 't is truly said Tho' Young Men think Old Men Fools yet the Old are sure that the Young are Fools for want of experience For as Experience is called the Mistress of Fools so it truly is the Mother of Prudence It was a Prophane Saying of a Pagan Poet that Prudence was above Destiny but a Christian may safely say that next to Divine Providence Humane Prudence may challenge the highest place in the management of Humane Matters and that Old Age hath the chiefest interest in that Prudence Young Elihu did acknowledge this for a great Truth saying multitude of Years should teach Wisdom Job 32.7 And Musicians do experience that Old Lutes make a sweeter Sound than New Ones The not knowing of this Truth was both the Folly and the Ruine of that Foolish King Rehoboam who choosd to follow the Counsel of his Green-heads that stood before him rather than of those Grave Senators who had stood before his wiser Father 1 Kings 12.6,7,8,9,10 c. As Young Men are properly for Action so Old Men are principally for Advice and therefore the Roman Senate consisted of Senators so called for their Age which became so famous in the World that it occasioned that saying Romani Sedendo Vincunt as if the Advice of their sitting Senate did contribute more to all their Glorious Conquests than all the brave Actions of their Fighting Soldiers and thus the Heads of Cities c. are hence called Aldermen c. Thirdly The Aged may comfort their own Hearts with this Consideration likewise that they have so long weathered the point under the conduct of their Gracious God through such a broad and tempestuous Sea of a most troublesome Life Oh happy are those that can say many have been my Troubles but the Lord hath delivered me out of them all Psal 34.19 and God's Angel hath redeemed us from all our Evils in our whole Lives hitherto Gen. 48.16 and that the Pillar of Divine Providence hath hitherto been our Guide in the Wilderness of this lower World as the Cloudy Pillar did guide Israel in that wayless Waterless Wilderness in their many motions and mutations and we have walked all along as Helpless Children in the Hands of our Heavenly Father whom we have sometimes followed as it were blindfold like Abraham the Father of the Faithful who went out not knowing whither he went Heb. 11.8 who tho' he knew not whither he went yet he well knew with whom he went for he was ever as a Child in his Father's Hand Happy are such as can say Lord thou hast been our King of old Psal 74.12 and we have been Young but now are Old yet never saw the Righteous forsaken nor his Seed tho' begging Bread Psal 37.25 and we will Remember the days of Old c. Psal 143.5 and this God is our God for ever and ever he will be our Guide even unto Death Psal 48.14 Fourthly The Aged may comfort themselves that now they are approaching near the end of their troublesome Voyage through a dangerous Sea both of manifold Tribulations and of many Temptations also yea and nigh to the end of their Toilsom Travel and Wandrings in the Wilderness of this lower World and now drawing nigh toward their Harbour and Haven of Eternal Happiness in Heaven The end of all Motion is Rest and the nearer we come to our Centre the more active and hastening we ought to be that we may contradict that uncharitable Proverb Juvenis in Sanctis Senibus Satanizat in Annis that is Young Saints sometimes prove no better than Old Devils whereas such as are Saints while they are Young ought to become Angels when they come to be Old for the Path of the Just is like a Shining Light that shineth more and more to a perfect day Prov. 4.18 Plutarch affirms concerning the Laborious Bee that it never degenerates into an idle Drone And Augustin's Character of a true Christian is Semel Electus Semper Dilectus once Elected and ever Beloved this therefore makes our Election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 As we draw daily nearer our best Home then to hunger after it and hasten toward it so much the more c. Fifthly The Old Disciples of Christ may comfort themselves with this consideration that the Lord loveth his Mnasons Acts 21.16 even when they are past their work forasmuch as they have taken heed to fulfill their Ministery they received in the Lord Col. 4.17 Hitherto to the best of their Abilities their Consciences bearing Witness hereto in the Holy Ghost Rom. 9.1 2 Cor. 1.12 Acts 23.1 and 24.16 they are still beloved of God for what work they have already wrought for his Glory and for the good of many Saints the reflection of this cannot but conduce much to the Comfort of their own Souls Tho' now they be like Travellers that ride upon Tired Horses they can proceed no farther in publick Generation-work yet they can say with Paul the Aged Philem. ver 9. to will is present with us but how to perform we find not Rom. 7.18 And now their only work is to Ripen fast and to become fully Mellow to be gathered home c. NB. Note well The Lord 's tender loving-kindness to the godly Levites under the Law in giving them leave when Old to retire from that Laborious Service of his Sanctuary Numb 8.23,24,25 yet were they as Judges c. all which may comfort us under the Gospel c. Still God commands let the Younger submit to the Elder 1 Pet. 5.5 and as David was kind to Young Chimham for Old Barzillai's sake 2 Sam. 19.38 So the Lord is kind to the Off-spring of his Old Servants who are Children of many Prayers c. Thus tho' they be laid aside as Old Almanacks useless by Men they are not so by their loving God c. Secondly The Cordials and Comforts that the Lord hath left us upon Record against the Fear of Death If we would get good Gold we must go to Ophir good Balm we must go to Gilead c. So if we would get good Comfort we must go to the God of all True Comfort 2 Cor. 1.3 and to the Book of God which consists of those full Breasts of Consolation which we are commanded to suck and be satisfied against all our Fears c. Isai 66.11 Job calls Death the King of Terrors chap. 18.14 and so