new one what then are your Souls dreaming on which find the Garment of the Body quite worn out your earthly House ready to fall upon its Head and yet Sleep quiet only with some weak ungrounded hopes of endless happiness Have you left your outward Estates under no better Assurance your Conveyances your Fines and Recoveries will rise up in witness against you and you will be found at last to be wise in trifles and Fools in the things of moment Yea you will see when Friends and Relations will leave you your Estates and Pleasures leave you Life it self leave you that they who make not sure of Heaven are sure of Nothing Think not that your Outward Blessings are any certain Arguments of Gods love to you that because God hath done much for you in this World he will therefore Crown you in another or because ye have lived long here in the day of his Patience that you must live always with him in Heaven No no Iob 21. 7. 20. Even the wicked live become old yea and are mighty in power yet his Eyes shall see his Destruction and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty Many a man hath been strangely saved from Death that will not be saved at last from Hell and men do hold temporal mercies by one Tenure and Eternal by another Be advised therefore to set about this â—…eedful work with all possible speed â—…nd care And to that end chuse out â—…wo or three Scriptures which do most â—…vidently describe a Sanctified Heart â—…ch as Mat. 5. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. Or â—…om 8. 1. 5. 9. and endeavour by the best hâ—…lps you have to know the true Genâ—…ine meaning thereof Then compare your own Hearts with them And whatsoever doubt you have of your Conformity thereunto examine it to the bottom and in case of any insuperable difficulty consult with some discreet Messenger of God. And when you have throughly sifted one Scripture go to another and another that in the Mouth of two or three witnesses your Assurance may be established And this done betake you to your Knees and spreading these tryed Evidences before God humbly beg the help of his Holy Spirit both to clear your understanding to guide your Conscience and to seal you up to the day of Redemption And then you must patiently wait in the use of all the means of Grace Sermons Prayers and Sacraments until His Spirit witness with your spirit that ye are the Children of God. SECT III. THE Third Work of Old-age is Prayers and Praises 1. For Prayers I do not here mean only the Ordinary Devotions which I presume every good Christian useth both Old and Young and whereby indeed the Soul Breaths for a true Believer lives by Faith and breaths by Prayer whereof that excellent Bishop Hall thus concludes I may truly say that man hath no Grace nor Goodness in him that Prays not by Himself and with his Family but also that they should be frequent in Prayer It is said of Luther that he spent daily at least Three hours in Prayer And holy David saith Psal. 55. 17. Evening and Morning and at Noon will I Pray and cry aloud yea in his Old-age we may conclude that he dyed with a Prayer in his Mouth from Psal. 72. last The Prayers and belike the life of David the Son of Iesse are ended together And therefore the Egyptian Hieroglyphick of an Aged person was a Swan whom they imagined to dye Singing for there is no Musick so sweet in the Ears of God as hearty Prayers and Praises And if you find your selves unable to hold out in the more stated and solemn Prayers you should be more frequent and fervent in shorter Addresses for it is not the length but the strength of a Prayer that carries it with God. And in case of the want of Ability or Opportunity for this frequency for every poor crazy Old Man or Woman hath them not you may and should abound in holy Ejaculations or short Elevations of the Soul to God sometimes by way of Confession sometimes by way of Admiration sometimes by way of Petition and sometimes by way of Thanksgiving of all which there are various Instances in Scripture And these you may dart upward as you sit by the fire as you lie in your beds as you put on and off your cloaths Thus ye may pray without ceasing as it is 1 Thes. 5. 17. And the Lord will accept of these coming from a sincere and holy heart and which in its present circumstances can do no better But still Prayer is the proper Province of the Aged person and both you and your Pictures will look best when they are as Paul the Hermites carkass was found in a praying posture For as was noted before your labouring and travelling dayes are done your Hands and Feet have done their work the best service you can now do is upon your knees There you may do much therein you may ingage Him who can do All nothing can stand before the prayer of Faith. And therefore when you reflect upon the slips and falls in the course of your Life so that your hearts begin to ake and faint for fear then enter into your Closet and pour out your hearts before God and that will revive you When that coward Satan sets upon an Aged man or woman with his Assault and Battery either to weaken their faith or to unravel their repentance or to cloud their comforts their only course is to run to God by Prayer God is a refuge for us When we feel the decayes of Nature and are almost overwhelmed with Distempers or Troubles then let us by Prayer cast our burden upon the Lord and he will sustain us Thus that learned and holy Rivet did every day in his Old-age repeat the seventeenth and eighteenth verses of the seventy first Psalm O God thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works Now also when I am Old and gray-headed O God forsake me not untill I have shewed thy strength to this generation and thy power to every one that is to come And here the Aged shall do well not only to plead their own Cause with God but to lay up a stock for Posterity that the generations yet unborn may be the better for them Thus David in that Psal. 72. 1. Give thy Iudgments to the King O God and thy righteousness to the Kings Son c. What you are now sowing may be reaped by your Posterity hundreds of years afterwards And perhaps this will be the best Intail which you can make of your Estates for hitherto whatever Settlements the Will of men hath devised the Wit of men hath defeated but by faithfull Prayer God himself is made Trustee who only can establish your Purposes So also you should be instant with the Lord for his Church Truth and Gospel So was David Psal. 122. So was Paul alwayes in every Prayer of
up Riches as some of them have ingenuously acknowledged They also know that their weakness and infirmities do expose them to contempt and therefore endeavour to obviate that by their Wealth and so make themselves considerable by their Estates These are the â—…rutches which when weakness overtakes them they lean upon and support their fainting spirits withal And they want not variety of Pretences whereby to justifie their course as that they are only providing for a rainy day for troubles and Casualties that may besall them that they ought to lay up for their Children and Posterity or else they were worse than Infidels yea that they are gathering only to bestow it at their death on some pious or charitable use And Satan is not wanting to nurse this humour in them by suggesting to them expectations of a long life a distrust in the Providence of God and continual fears of want which is nursed by the coldness of their temper and by their consciousness of their inability to get much by their labour And these meeting with that inveterate Self-love which is inherent in them and consequently an uncharitable frame of mind towards others hardens them in their tenacious temper so that as they grow weaker this lust grows stronger until Divine grace doth open their eyes or else the Earth at last stop their mouths This bitter root spoils their Devotions interrupts their prayers renders the word of God tastless becramps them to all God Works this disturbs their Rest the thoughts and cares about these things do visit them last at night and meet them first in the morning and disquiet them the day throughout for where the treasure is there will the heart be also Oh the cares the fears the vexations that possess a covetous heart but only that we can digest any thing that we delight in though it be never so bitter else no man could endure the life of a covetous miser But it is the Old-mans recreation the best of his time and the strength of his spirits are consumed either about the keeping of what he hath or about getting more for as he hath no vent for his abundance so he observes no limits for his desires As the bladder the more it is filled with wind it stretches the more so the more his riches increase the more his heart is set upon them so that he seeth more beauty in his Money than in the Sun in the firmament No thoughts no discourse no design pleaseth them except it end in gain but when there is an opportunity of doing good the heart is cold and the hand is lame Nay some of them will not afford conveniences scarcely necessaries to their families or to themselves but run in debt to their own backs and bellies to their children and servants and foolishly choose to live poor that they may dy rich Now this Vice in it self it is plain Idolatry and the root of all evil leading men into temptation and a snare into many foolish and hurtful lusts which at last drown men in destruction and perdition 1 Tim. 6. 9 10. For the worldly man gets and keeps his Estate with travel to his Body vexation to his Spirit scruple to his Conscience with danger to his Soul with envy of his neighbours with suits to his children and with a curse to his posterity Do but turn to Iob 20. 15. and read that chapter out But in no sort of men is Covetousness so unaccountable so very foolish as in Old people For what can be more absurd said a Heathen than to be so much concern'd for travelling Expences when we have so small a part of our way to travel Or as St. Augustine expresseth it to load our selves with the greatest Burdens when we are nearest the end of our Journey It is no doubt a plain infatuation and an instance of the power of the Prince of this World on mens minds and of the Corruption of our Nature to effect this that those who have seen the Vanity of all these things the uncertainty the unsatisfactoriness the vexatiousness of them should so dote upon them that they who not only know but even feel in themselves that they must shortly and may suddenly leave them all and perhaps have no thanks at all from them that enjoy them that yet these persons wise in other things should set their Hearts upon them and hunt after a World that is flying from them How much more comfortable were it to do all the good they can to feed the hungry cloath the naked to procure the Prayers of the distressed while they have opportunity to make Friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness to be esteemed of men to be loved and honoured of God! A good man sheweth favour and lendeth he will guide his affairs with discretion Surely he shall not be moved for ever the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance Psal. 112. 5 6. The Pleas which they produce for their Justification or Excuse are all insufficient Have you no other Recreation Surely there are more and better Diversions Natural Artificial and Spiritual than heaping up riches Instance but in the last of these Psal. 119. 14. 72. I have rejoyced in the way of thy Testimonies as much as in all Riches yea The Law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of Gold and Silver Again Do you think that these will defend you from Contempt True Piety and Charity is a far better way Psal. 112. 9. He hath despersed he hath given to the Poor his righteousness endureth for ever his Horn shall be exalted with Honour Think you that in your decays of Nature there be no better supports than your Riches Yes the favour of God the love of Christ the comforts of the Spirit the feast of a good Conscience and the joyful hopes of eternal Happiness are as much beyond them as the Sun iâ—… brighter thanâ—… Glow-worm Will providing for Contingencies excuse you Alas your Riches will be no certain refuge for you Prov. 18. 10 11. The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the Righteous runneth into it and is safe The Rich mans Wealth is his strong City and as an high wall but 't is only in his own conceit That bond Heb. 13. 5. sealed to us is worth all your Specialties and all your Estates He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Can you justifie your immoderate scraping by a just provision for your Children and Relations No no That 's but an excuse for they that have no Children are as sick of this Disease as others But if you have Children this course of yours is the way to undo them A moderate care for Posterity is a Duty wherein we may expect a Blessing but the Covetousness of the Parent doth but provide for the Luxury of the Child and so the Parents Soul is ruin'd in the getting and the Child 's in the spending of what is so gotten If your
have lived too long O that I were in my grave But this Distemper argues great weakness of Grace yea a great weakness of Spirit Hence that Philosopher that sometimes resolved that a wise and couragious man should not flee from life how discommodious soever but fairly depart from it yet at other times advised to let the wearied Soul out of the useless body before its time A crime of the deepest tincture to snatch the Prerogative of our Soveraign Creatour out of his hands whose rightful priviledge alone it is to give life to men and to take it away And why should you be so uneasie under these momentany tryals Is it not the Lot which your heavenly Father hath in great wisdom set out for you It is better to be Old and crazy on earth than to have been sent young to hell You have your ailments and if you were privy to others mens you would be reconciled to your own It was Socrates his Observation that if every mans burden were laid on a common heap each man would be glad to take up his own again You should rather be thankful to God for the blessings of the former part of your life than murmur at the troubles of the present You think it the only happiness to have all the Comforts of this World but Others have thought it a greater to have a Mind above them You have or else the fault is your own the Company of a gracious God and a good Conscience when you are uncapable of other company You should imitate the Grashopper to whom the Old man by some is likened who is made the Emblem of Contentation because she only sucks the dew and sings and is content with that hoping for better One Crown will swallow up all your Crosses whereas Discontent makes your Condition most uneasie here and most unfit for Heaven hereafter 2. Another Temptation which you that are Old are in danger of is Hardness of Heart and Security You haâ—… sinned often and perhaps repented buâ—… seldom you have heard and read many convincing Sermons and made but slender application of them you have seen many swept away by the hand of God and you have escaped yea some of you peradventure have lived long in some sinful course are grown Old in adulteries Ezek. 23. 43. or in oppression or in some other Sin. These things you have done and the Lord hath kept Silence and now you are ready to think that He is such a one as your selves and to bless your selves in your woful wayes till your iniquity be found to be hateful The Aged person surely must have either a very tender heart or a very hard one If Gods Ordinances and Providences that is Mercies and Afflictions have made a due impression upon you your hearts must be very soft but otherwise you are in the greatest danger of a hard heart and a spirit of slumber Watch and pray therefore in the fear of God against this dangerous Temptation They are most guilty of this distemper that were never afraid of it Preserve a due tenderness in your Consciences suffer not any sin to ly upon them unrepented Endeavour to have daily a clearer sight of sin and a deeper sense of the evil of it Let the exemplary Judgments upon others startle you Know that if you sleep in sin your Preservation will be but a Reservation to some fearful issue Remember that though a Sinner do evil an hundred times and his dayes be prolonged yet it shall not be well with the wicked Eccl. 8. 12 13. The greatest Iudgment that can befall a man upon earth is to prosper in any sinful way There is a Natural hardness in All men there is an Habitual hardness in some men but there is a Iudicial hardness only in such as are ripe for hell And the First if it be not cured by Gods grace leads to the second and the second prepares for the third Of all sorts of men ye that are Old have least cause to be secure that have one foot already in the grave The green apple may be pluckt off but the ripe one is falling off already But it is not the approach of Death without the effectual influence of Gods Spirit that will soften an hardned sinner as is too evident in the Malefactors in Newgate that will be drunk and swear at a dreadful rate when they know that the Execution-day is certainly at hand Be instant therefore with the Lord to deliver you from hardness of heart from a spirit of slumber and from a reprobate sense 3. A Third Temptation which Old-age must watch against is Slothfulness of Spirit The decay of natural Spirits disposeth them hereunto and corrupt Nature joyns with the temptation It is an easie thing to be idle and flesh and blood is glad enough of excuses from pains and trouble Indeed where natural Parts or natural Strength are wasted much cannot be expected Iob 30. 2. Yea whereto might the strength of their hands profit me in whom old age was perished yet that which will release them in part will not do it altogether Time is so short so precious so irrevocable that it should not be slept or trifâ—…ed away if we can do any thing for the ends of life The Aged person must consider how much wast ground there hath been in the field of his life how many years are lost in Infancy and Childhood how much time at riper years in unnecessary sleep and recreations how much hath been consumed in doing nothing and how much in doing worse than nothing and that it is an easie thing to lose time that it is an hard thing to redeem time and that it is an impossible thing to recall time and therefore they who have lost so much time and can recall none of it had need to redeem and make the best of that which is left Few men will throw away their money but most men squander away their lives being most prodigal of that wherein we may most justly be covetous as the same Philosopher discourseth Let no Aged person imagine that they are to live to no purpose The Levites though at Fifty years of age they were discharged from the most laborious service of the Temple yet they were not left to be Idle but to do the work of the Lord in some more easie imployments Tully brings in Cato telling how he learned Greek in his Old-age and that even at those years no body came to see him but they found him imployed and he reports of Leontius Gorgias who was an hundred and seven years old and yet never was weary of his studies and labours The truth is sloth is a vice that accelerates Old-age as you heard before and abetts that languishment of the Spirits which furthers it We shall not feel it so sensibly while we are continually imployed How much knowledge and wisdom have we neglected which we might have obtained if our sloth