〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Roman Senate and the Saxon Aldermen Though younger People were sometimes join'd in the Commission The Reason is plain Matters of Moment being to be managed with Conduct and Temper the Aged have always stood fairest for such a Trust and Honour And among several Nations and particularly the Lacedemonians and from them the * Credebant hoc grande nefas morte piandum si Juvenis vetulo non assurrexerat Juvenal Satyr 29. in Euterp Romans they were honour'd as Fathers of their Country and reverenc'd almost as Gods To honour Ancient People is join'd with worshipping the Gods in several Countries Temporal Jurisdiction and Spiritual the Magistracy and the Priesthood for the most part have been appropriated to the Elder as the Names for both in almost all Languages will evidence And therefore whatever Alterations there may seem to be in Elder Persons by reason of their Age that may any ways expose them to Contempt if they are such who have had Great and Useful Imployments in the World their very Infirmities are to be attributed to their Generous and Profitable Labours and look'd upon as Honourable Sears They having spent themselves in the Service of Christ and the Souls of Men or in the Service of their King and Country and so the very Decays of Nature in such Persons should rather move Respect than Pity God hath commanded us to honour Old Age Lev. 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. It is injoyn'd as an Instance of the Fear of God So that the Contempt of Old Age is not only Rudeness and Incivility but Irreligion not only shews the want of good Manners but it is Profaneness Rebuke not an Elder or Ancient Person but intreat him as a Father 1 Tim. 5.1 2. Likewise you Younger submit your selves to the Elder 1 Pet. 5.5 Especially Children to Parents You know the Punishment of Disobedient Children Prov. 21.18 If a Magistrate neglected his Duty the Ravens of the Valley shall pluck out his Eyes and the young Eagles shall eat them As to Parents the Obligation is manifold not to despise their Age but reverence and honour them to advise with them to hearken to them and be guided by them especially in the great Turns of Life Prov. 23.2 Hearken to thy Father that begat thee and despise not thy Mother when she is old Because the Mother is more likely to be slighted than the Father God commands the Honour and Fear of the Mother first Lev. 19.3 Ye shall fear every Man his Mother and his Father c. And here may be considered what is certainly confirmed by Experience in very many Instances That when God makes any Breach in a Family by the Death of a Parent whether Father or Mother there are hardly any Children though never so Respectful Affectionate and Dutiful to the Deceased but have many a serious Thought upon their Decease Oh were my Honour'd and Dear Parent now alive I think I should express my Duty and Affection in this and the other Instance more and better than I did Even they who did observe the Fifth Commandment so as to be accepted with God and with their Parents yet after their Death will have some such Thoughts There is doubtless more of Religion in the good Carriage of Children toward their Parents than is commonly believed especially in their declining Years Reverence and Respect is due to them for their Age if they were not our Parents 'T is a very ill Symptom upon any Nation when Children behave themselves proudly against the Ancient and the Base against the Honourable * See an Instance of this even among the Tartars and Chinese how the Love Obedience and Respect of Children for their Parents is conducive to the Publick Peace of a Country P. le Comte 's Memoirs and Observations of the Empire of China 8vo 1698. Part. 2 of their Policy and Government p. 264 265 c. Isa 24.2 And considering how soon they are to remove out of this World to take their final leave and imbark for a Foreign Country 't is but a piece of common Justice to our departing Friends 't is no more than is due to their Condition to shew them Respect and Affection at last to signifie we are loath to lose them and that we wish them Happy in their Removal Secondly Let me apply this for Exhortation to Younger and to Elder Persons First to Youth in Three Things First Do not count upon it with any Certainty that you shall live to be Old How few comparatively do out-live Thirty And whether you are call'd away in Youth or Riper Years there is a Blessed or Miserable Eternity to follow O that it were consider'd and believ'd you shall not dye the sooner by being ready and prepared to dye while you are Young And as it will not hasten your Death so neither will it spoil the Pleasure and Comfort of your present Life but every way contribute to it But how little ground have you to expect to live to be very Old when so many dye suddenly and so many dye Younger than you And you know there is no Opportunity beyond the Grave of making Peace with Heaven if you dye in your Sins Your Work is great and you cannot begin too soon you may not live to that time unto which you adjourn your good Purposes It is the Devil 's great Artifice to cheat Men of the present Season by the Promise and Expectation of future Time We are not certain whether God will try us with another Day or if we trifle now whether he will then vouchsafe his Grace therefore now while it is called to Day hear the Voice of God Remember thy Creator and work out thy Salvation How many of your Acquaintance have dyed Younger than you who were as likely to live and more so You think you have a great while to come Thirty Forty Fifty Years this seems at a mighty distance though they who have liv'd so long when it is gone say it is past as yesterday they can't tell how A Week to come seems longer than a Year that 's past But think seriously how many more have dyed before they have arriv'd to your Age than ever did attain to it And how unreasonable is it to desire to dye of Old Age and of the Decay of Natural Strength considering that is a kind of Death of all others the most rare If that be most Natural that is most common to dye of Old Age is a Death rare singular and extraordinary and so less Natural than any other of the numberless ways of dying and the less to be expected 'T is not always true that the fewer Days and Years a Man has past the more he has to come A new built House may fall when an old one stands Therefore count not upon a long Life but begin presently to prepare to dye God
not prove but it would be of great Advantage to consider it Dye we must as Men whose Souls dwell in such Earthly Tabernacles it is unavoidable And as Sinners we are under a Sentence of Death by a Divine Constitution and Appointment Which is a Kindness unto Good Men who cannot else have their promised Rest and Crown by the full Accomplishment of their Desires and Hopes They can't be perfectly freed from Evil nor partakers of compleat Felicity without Dying The Capacity of our Nature the Improvements we may attain to and the admirable means which God hath appointed to fit us for a nobler Life may easily convince us that he hath prepared another State and Life and World which it is now our Business to provide for It were well if the best Christians would consider it more to make them diligent to improve this Life wisely to imploy their Talents and carefully to do all the Good they can before the Night comes And it were well if others would consider it who are related to them who have Opportunity to converse with them and are capable of receiving Good by them if they would consider that such Useful Excellent Persons are not to stay always with us If you that are Younger should have many Years longer to stay your most valuable Friends who are advanc'd in Age must shortly be gone And let All seriously count upon it that 't is but a little while and every one of us shall be call'd away The oldest Man or Woman the longest Liver that we read of did not reach that which in comparison with God's Eternity is called one Day did not live a Thousand Years Methuselah is the longest Liver upon Record and yet 't is a much longer Time since he dyed than that was which he liv'd Before the Flood they liv'd nine or ten times as long as now we do yet all dyed Enos 905 Years Seth 912 Adam 930 Jared 962 Methuselah 969 yet all dyed They who tarried longest on the Stage were at length called off Moses speaks of the ordinary Duration of the Life of Man to be Seventy Years and reckons it a great matter if any attain to Fourscore as now and then there are Instances of some that do yet is the Strength of their Years but Labour and Sorrow But because Moses himself was Fourscore Years old when God made him a Captain and Aaron Eighty Three before he was made High Priest we may not conclude the Age of Eighty at that time to be a very decrepit old Age Therefore the Account given by * See Dr. Hammond on Psalm XC Moses may rather be understood either to refer to after Ages or to the particular Case of the Children of Israel in the Wilderness where multitudes were destroyed for their Murmuring and Unbelief so that in Forty Years time all the Males of Twenty Years old and upwards that were able to go forth to War were cut off except Caleb and Joshua The number of such as dyed under the Age of Eighty must be reckoned very great at least Three Hundred Thousand Men. But the longest Life of Man absolutely and in it self consider'd is very short Once in a Hundred Years the Scene of the World is shifted and all the Actors go off the Stage and others come in their room And how soon and suddenly are Individuals called away There is hardly any thing that is weak and withered that is vanishing and of no continuance that is movable and may be taken down at pleasure but the Life of Man is compar'd to it To a Vapour To the Flower of the Field To a Tabernacle To a Shepherd's Tent To a Shadow c. And in comparison with several other Creatures it is also short for we read of divers Animals that liv'd sometimes thrice as long as Man ordinarily hath done How little at longest is the measure of our Days that may be reckon'd up by one Figure and a Cypher What is this to Everlasting Life The Life to come will continue more Millions of Ages than there are Moments now in the longest Life of Man yea if it were Ten Thousand times longer than Methuselah's The present Life is to the future but as one Moment in the Apostle's Reckoning 2 Cor. 4.17 And 't is shorter yet if compar'd with God's Eternal Duration which hath neither Beginning nor End Mine Age is as nothing before thee Psal 39.5 and Psal 90.4 There is no Proportion between the greatest number of Years and an endless Life How certainly how soon will the little number of the Days of the Years of our Pilgrimage be ended Though we should be favour'd by Divine Providence more than others and flourish in outward Prosperity to a great Old Age yet what Man is he that liveth and shall not see Death let him live never so long and never so well Shall he deliver his Soul from the hand of the Grave Psal 89.49 Jacob was an 130 Years old when he said to Pharoah Few and Evil have the Days of the Years of my Life been and yet that time was short in comparison of the longer Lives of his Fathers But unconceivably shorter in comparison of the Everlasting Life which this is the passage to I have read of certain little Beasts on the Banks of the River Hypanis in Poland that never live above a Day they which dye at Eight a Clock in the Morning dye in their Youth they which dye at Five in the Evening of the same Day in their extremest Old Age. Who would put so small a Continuance into the Consideration of Good or Evil And yet the longest of our abode in this World in comparison with Eternity is much less than the Life of one of those Creatures compar'd with Methuselah II. It is a Mercy to dye in Peace so as to have a Grave and Burial To dye in Peace is sometimes opposed to an untimely violent Death 1 Kings 2.6 It was promised to Zedekiah that he should not dye by the Sword but dye in Peace Jer. 34.4 To do so and to be decently Interr'd is an additional Mercy which the best Men have desir'd and been concern'd for We read that Abraham purchased a Burying-place for his Dead God incourag'd Jacob by the Promise that his Son should take care of his Funeral And God expressed his Kindness to Moses in that particular that he buried him And Joseph of Arimathea is commended for his Care in the Burial of our Saviour And 't is threatned and inflicted as a Judgment to want a Sepulchre As in the Case of Baasha and Jezabel Jehojachim and others Jer. 22.19 Psal 143.11 It is threatned to this purpose Jer. 14.16 That the People should be cast out in the Streets and none to bury them and that the Bones of the Kings and Priests and Prophets should be taken out of the Grave and laid open to the Sun and Moon 'T is part of a very sad Complaint Psal 79.2 The dead Bodies of thy Servants have
may call thee forth to that War from which there is no Discharge without giving thee an Hours Warning You know not what shall be on the morrow Jam. 4.14 Listen not to those while you are Young who would perswade you to put off your Repentance to a further time Who will tell you you are in the heat and flower of your Youth and should now if ever indulge your selves That Religion is a melancholly thing and you 'll have time enough for it hereafter But who would defer his Repentance till hereafter that doth not know but he may dye to Night Who would put it off to Old Age when 't is so uncertain whether he shall not dye Young Ludovicus Capellus tells us of one of the Rabbins that when one of his Disciples came to him to know what was the fittest Time to repent in He answer'd One Day before his Death meaning Presently Because the youngest have no Assurance of another Day Secondly Take Care in Youth to lay a good Foundation for Old Age by being such who may apply the Promises of long Life unto whom they are like to be made good There 's nothing but serious Religion betimes can bring you to a healthful and comfortable Old Age. This would tend to promote and preserve your Health as well as Interest you in the favourable Protection and Providence of God Serious Godliness is a Friend to the Health of our Bodies and the Chearfulness and Content of our Minds and not to obey God is ordinarily to neglect our * See Dr. Lucas The true Notion of Humane Life 8vo p. 187. Shewing how the lengthning of our Lives depends on the Cheerfulness of the Mind the Health of the Body and the Providence of God for Protection besides the Good Will of our Fellow Creatures and how serious Religion doth contribute to it on all these Accounts present Interest as well as our Eternal Salvation To fear the Lord and depart from Evil is Health to the Navel and Marrow to the Bones To how many Lusts and Vices is an untimely Death threatned And of how many is it a Natural and Ordinary Consequence There are Promises of long Life made to such as are Just in their Dealings and Charitable to the Poor to such who are Meek and Patient who trust in God and do all the Good they can in the World But for Sensual Men they dig their own Grave by their Vices They pour in Wine and strong Drink and let out Life They strangle themselves with their Intemperance and hasten the Infirmities of Old Age by the Excesses of Youth He who would have his Health hold out must live Regularly and not too fast He that will indulge Youthful Lusts will corrupt his Blood and weaken his Constitution and give Death opportunity to enter And if he live shall possess the Sins of his Youth his Bones shall be filled with them they must lye down with him in the Dust Job 20.11 What painful Methods will Men submit to for the Preservation of Life Skin for Skin and all that a Man hath will he give for his Life But he that loveth Life and desireth many Days and to see Good let him fear God and keep his Commandments for after all the endeavours used to keep off Death and prolong Life there 's none like remembring our Creator in the Days of our Youth And 't is not only for Murder and Adultery and the vilest Impurities that God threatens an untimely Death but for Disobedience to Parents for Covetousness Oppression Injustice and Worldlyness Jer. 17.11 As the Patridge sitteth on Eggs and hatcheth them not so he that getteth Riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his Days and at his end shall be a Fool. Prov. 28.16 He that hateth Covetousness shall prolong his Days 'T were easie to inlarge on this Head Let me only add that yet such as are Religious in their Youth should not be over desirous of living very long For though it is a Blessing as hath been prov'd when join'd with Piety and if God think fit that we may live to be Instrumental to God's Glory the Good of others and our own Benefit yet if we consider our Enemies and our Temptations and our own Corruptions the odds is on the other side Blessed are the Dead who dye in the Lord tho' in their Youth Thirdly If you should live to Old Age and feel the Infirmities of it you will not be able to bear up then without living well now Nothing but the Comforts of a good Conscience will be able to support you when the Evil Days shall come wherein you shall have no Pleasure as 't is describ'd at large Eccl. 12. which I thought to have Paraphras'd and Explain'd but 't is well done by many in several Books easie to be consulted Your Sun and Light and Moon and Stars will grow dark and the Clouds return after the Rain one Infirmity following another as a sign of approaching Night as a warning that the Grave is ready for you and you should be for it You may reasonably expect that the time will come when you shall complain of darkness of Mind and dry Affections dull Senses and faulty Memories your Eyes dim your Ears heavy your Limbs feeble and Feet lame your Joints benumb'd c. You cannot ordinarily think of meeting a great Old Age without some of these Inconveniencies Though by a peculiar Providence some are in a great measure exempted from them Now consider what can support and comfort you in this Condition but the Sense of God's Favour and the Testimony of a good Conscience and Reflections on a well-spent Life To look back how you have imploy'd your Time What Good you have done in the World What Provision you have made for Eternity What Care you have taken for your Souls These Questions well answer'd will be a great Support in Old Age and keep off much of the Weight of it and make many Years sit more easily upon you 'T is true a good Conscience will not make a Man Immortal but the Quiet of our Minds and Spirits will contribute much to the Strength of our Bodies and inable us to bear the Infirmities of Old Age and slide into the Grave more gently But above all it will give you Hope of finding Favour with God in another World and that being satisfied with long Life God will shew you his Eternal Salvation And so I come to speak a few words to the * See more largely the Duty of the Aged very well explain'd and urg'd by Mr. Steel in his Discourse of Old Age 8o. 1688. Aged First Unto such who have liv'd a great many Years in the World and are yet unfit to dye who by reason of Ignorance Impenitence and a Wicked Life are altogether unprepared to leave this World having nothing but a miserable Portion to expect in the next You lose the Crown and Glory of Old Age you are the old
Servants of the Devil and Slaves of Sin you have long treasur'd up Wrath against the Day of Wrath and are going shortly to receive your Wages even double Condemnation How many Years time have you mis-imploy'd that you are now to reckon for What a shameful Bill may be made of the Expence of so long a time of Tryal and of all the Talents you have had How can you look back without Amazement and Horrour Your lost Hours can never be recall'd you must Repent speedily or you are undone for ever There is but a step between you and Death between you and Hell Oh how near do you stand to the Judgment of God A young Sinner may perish shortly and he may not for God may spare him and give him Time and Space and Grace to Repent But you must be gone there are but a few Sands in your Glass but a little Oyl in your Lamp to preserve the Flame Your active Time is gone and yet your great Concern and main Business for the Everlasting World is now to begin We read of old Adulterers as an Agravation of their Sin Ezek. 23.43 And the Prophet Jeremy saith I am full of the Fury of the Lord I will pour it forth upon the Aged and him that 's full of Days Jer. 6.11 Let us consider the sad Circumstances of those Persons who wax old in Wickedness and Irreligion and Contempt of God how dead and disinclin'd their Spirits are to God and Spiritual Matters how every Day more unwilling to Repent how they are hardened by a long Impunity finding that though they have sinned for Twenty or Thirty Years or more they are well still and all the Preachers Sermons but harmless Thunder We shall find that they still grow worse and worse Be sure they that defer their Repentance to Old Age their Repentance comes off the harder their Zeal is less their Love is weak and so is every thing they do But though there be less Hope of such who have been all their Days under the Preaching of the Gospel and not converted till they are old yet we can't limit the Grace of God We dare not say their Case is hopeless He that quickens the Dead and raised Lazarus out of his Grave can breathe on those dry Bones and make them live The Penitent Thief proves a late Repentance possible to be true I grant except a Man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but say not therefore How can a Man be born again when he is Old For He that of Stones can raise up Children to Abraham can sanctifie and renew an old Sinner and make him a real Saint Let such therefore awake and bethink themselves and seek his Grace How many Years hath God waited on you How many Mercies how many Afflictions how many Warnings have you had How many Calls by his Word Providence and Spirit And now you are in view of the Grave stooping to it Death begins to seize you it hath seized some Parts of you already it is manifest in your Eyes in your Ears Hands and Legs you can't see without Art or hear without Difficulty or walk without Pain you can't look into a Glass but you may see something of the Pourtraicture of Death in your Face if you can see at all You are filled with Wrinkles which is a witness against you and your Leanness rising up in you bears witness to the Face Job 16.8 O think how near you are your Journeys-end and lose not one Minute longer You are on the brink of Perdition and therefore should speedily escape Every Hour you delay you 'll be more unfit and indisposed So much of your Time Parts and Strength is gone already you should use the remainder to the best Advantage You have seen by your own Experience the Vanity of all Worldly Things and the Misery of a wicked Course and may have many Things to help your Seriousness in this Age. You have no other Imployment proper for you but to be preparing for Death to be bidding adieu to the World to be casting up your Accounts to be fitting to abide in that State for ever into which you are next to pass Therefore awake and give all Diligence Certainly we can never set about this Work too soon but let none think 't is too late to begin to be devoted to God and live to him It is always the best thing we can do and therefore we should at any time endeavour it and there are special Reasons for it in every Age. It is seasonable for the Youngest but 't is absolutely necessary for the Aged to make all the haste possible Secondly To you my Fathers who are old Disciples whose Hoary Head is found in the way of Righteousness who have served the Lord from your Youth Let me recommend a few Things First Think how near you are to the Grave You have but one Remove more to make till you get thither Your Warfare is almost accomplished O be not strangers to the Thoughts of Death thereby to quicken your Actual Preparation Improve every Providence to that End especially every Breach in your own Families by Death Particularly as in the present Case of Him who though the deepest Mourner does not mourn alone When the Companion of your Life is gone before with whom you have pleasantly comfortably and usefully convers'd for so many Years Who was the Instrument of so much of God's Mercy to you with whom you have worshiped God so often in Publick and Private pray'd together wept together and sang the Praises of God together and mourn'd together under Difficulties and Tryals and help'd to bear one another's Burthens c. God calls aloud to you for serious Preparation to follow that you may be both ready and willing Secondly Look back on your past Lives and consider the many Instances of the Care Wisdom Faithfulness and Goodness of God to strengthen your Faith for the last Scene of your Life Reflect humbly upon the Time you have lost how much more Good you might have done how many of your Talents you might have better improv'd how many * Heu quam multa Paenitenda occurrunt diu vivendo Seneca Errors and Follies you have committed and beg of God to forgive the Sins of your Youth And yet look back with Thankfulness to God that 't is no worse that Goodness and Mercy hath followed you all your Days Can you not say Thou hast been my God from my Mothers Womb my Praise shall be continually of thee Thou hast been the Guide of my Youth and the Stay of my Riper Years Thou hast been my Dwelling-place in all Generations Thou hast furnish'd me with Opportunities of doing and receiving Good Thou hast built up my House and made it to grow when thou pullest down others Thou hast been my Shield Refuge and Hiding-Place in Times of Danger when Thousands have fallen on the right-hand and on the left Thou hast been with me and mine Abroad