THE OLD MANS STAFFE Two Sermons SHEWING THE ONELY WAY TO A COMFORTABLE old Age Preached in Saint Maries in Douer by IOHN READING Psalme 71. 9. Cast me not off in the time of age forsake me not when my strength faileth LONDON Printed by Bernard Alsop for Iohn Hâ—dgets 1621. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE EDVVARD Lord Zouch Sr. Maurc and Cantelup Constable of Douer Castle Lord Warden Chancellor and Admirall of the Cinque-ports c. Of his Maiesties most Honorable Priâ—te Counsell through Great Britaine my singular good Lord encrease of true blessednesse RIGHT HONOVRABLE THese Sermons which I tender your Lordship I preached to a zealous Congregation with assurance that GOD who vouchsafed to speake out of the bush was also powerfull in my weaknesse and for that I am resolued that what some profitably heare they and others may also profitably reade with like confidence I venture them into the iawes of a censuring age not caring how they displease curious eares so they may benefit the good I shall â—udge them happily borne what euer they suffer if of many Readers some lay them to heart I confesse they are an vnworthy interest of that I am indebted to your Honor therefore am contented if they go but for two mites so that they may be layed vp in the treasurie which weigheth all offerings by the Giuers mind Bee pleased to accept them and I will daily beseech the Lord all-sufficient to adde many comfortable yeares to your Honorable age that it may be crowned with immortall glorie in his kingdome In whom I am Your Honors most humble Seruant IOHN READING THE OLD MANS STAFFE PROV 16. 31. The hoarie head is a Crowne of glorie if that it be found in the way of righteousnesse MAns life is but a iourney to the graue a way a short way to death Infancy the way to childhood childhood to youth youth to the strongest age that to olde age and old age the Thule and ne plus vltra of Nature is the confines of Death The old man standeth like the Israelite departing from Egypt eating the Passeouer with sowre hearbs and his Staffe in his hand Some leane on superstitious vanities their Staffe teacheth them but to erre others to that Staffe of Reede the World which confidence is an Egypt to Israel breaking in their hand and wounding them which trust to it The blessed man maketh righteousnesse his Staffe not that of the Law that is a Rod of Iron to breake the vngodly that can discouer but not take away sinne but the righteousnesse of Faith in Christ Arod of the stocke of Ishâ—i and the complete armour of God which furnished the Patriarkes and Prophets which being fully reuealed in the old age of the World to comfort her eâ—ill daies are like Dauids Staffe and Scrip furnished with stones taken out of the brook a sure defence against the enemie Blessed is the man planted by these waters hee shall bring forth fruit in due season his leafe shall not fade his olde age shâ—ll be blessed The hoarie head is a Crowne of glorie These words containe this proposition the old age of a righteous man is honorable and blessed yet in a second view I see them like the riuer of Paradise diuiding themselues into foure heads The first runneth towards the last part of mans earthly pilgrimage set downe heere vnder hoarie haires an effect or signe of Old Age. The second proposeth a reward to those which arriue at this age of sorrow and care A Crowne of dignitie The third lookâ—th vp toward the all-seeing eie of Iustice beholding all our way and accordingly rewarding as it is found The last pointeth out the only meanes to obtaine that Crowne of glorie an honourable old Age which is to be had in the way of righteousnesse The hoarie head or old age is a Crownâ— of glorie My discourse must begin at the end like the motion of the inferiour Spheres ab occasu from the euening and setting of life The last Scene to be acted on Natures Stage is the Prologue the exordium of my Text. The Argument and summe which all our numbred daies shall teach vs is our present lesson We must be old There is a certaine course and one onely path of Nature an headlong way of time wherein is no stay but such easie passage that the Infant and lame old man runne with equall pace to a more distant or neerer end Mans state was by creation immortall but the day that sinne was borne man began to die had he not sinned there should haue beene a comfortable maturitie in age and if our liues like some long kindled lampes should haue consumed it must haue beene without all paine sicknesse want of strength sense or feare of death for without sinne there could haue beene no punishment so that if we define old age a câ—rtaine ripenesse of life and length of time to a blessed translation then age is naturall but if we describe it according to our present being it is a continuall disease the grounds and lees of life in which the bodie languisheth one part fore-running the rest toward the graue in which the keepers of the house tremble and the strong men bow themselues the griâ—ders cease and they waxe darke which looke out of the windowes therefore I may say of it as Ambrose of death God gaue it not a principio sed pro remedio non naturaest sed malitiae 〈◊〉 is no Child of Nature but Disobedience and now our liues decay is a remedie against the life of sinne that therefore in this senio mundi doâ—age of the world our liues like winter Sunnes hasten to their sâ—tting shortning from hundreds to tennes It is the mercy of God that our sinnes so quickly mature should not liue too long to greaten his iudgements For whose sake â—ime and age now pull vs by the hands as the Angels did Lot and part of his familie lingring in the condemned Sodome and we must soone be old God said it in the first siâ—ners doome and againe he calleth â—an earth earth earth remembring him what he was is and shall be Experience telleth vs one day telleth another one night certifieth another our life is but of few daies and we like those which saile arriue insensibly at our Port. Oâ—r griefes tell it vs growing in our decreasing waxing strong in our feeblenesse All the Creatures tell it vs which haue 〈◊〉 senium as of all things there is a maturitie so of life which is old age the long liued trees haue their age of decaying nay the glorious piles of building â—â—ately Sepulchers of Charitie grow old the graues are buried in their dust and monuments by some esteemed the onely suruiuers of their families are entombed in obliuion I haue not yet said all Death himselfe that meagre Sarcophagus greedie stâ—â—ueling hauing deuoâ—red all like Time shall eaâ—e himselâ—e and die of Famine The last enemie
the benefits and blessings which God giueth them by their age for their age and at the end of their age of which I will speake in order if you will first consider with mee these six things which seem to make old age vnhappy Some are troubled for their beauties decay in age they may learne a worthy saying of a most vnworthy Iulian It is a shame for the wise to be ambitious of his bodies praise since hee hath a soule beautie is fading a fraile good vnworthy a wise mans care in possessing or sorrow in losing Secondly for that it is full of infirmities but they which so obiect doe more properly blame the disease then age To these I only say if thou art good thine infirmities cannot make thee vnhappy Thirdly for that age like Delilah cutteth off our strength as we sleep in her lap leauing old men like Mercuries which they painted without hands feete vnapt for imployment but it is neither strength of old men nor counsell of young which is expected happy state where yong mens armes and old mens counsel preuaile When Sophâ—cles sonnes before their time enquired into their fathers yeres he repeated to the Iudges the verses he was making for which he was iudged able still to manage his affaires greatest aâ—chiuements are not managed so much by strength as wisedome But who so weake that câ—nnot serue God Remember that thou art subordinately borne for thy Countrey thy friends thy selfe but primarily for Gods seruice Fourthly because it 〈◊〉 pleasures but since we want to our opinion onely what we desire that fault is not in age but euill appeâ—â—â—e of things at least not seasonable and to reason nothing is properly wanting which is not numerable among things necessarily good Want of abundanâ— riches or youil full pleasure are improper and abusiue speeches for one we should say want of a mind not couetoâ—s for â—he other want of temperance though with some diffâ—rence abundance may be more happily enioyed then desired all may possesse none may be coâ—â—â—ous but pleasures are for the most part more happily desired then enioyed For they like one Zoroastres laugh at their birth but like all others borne dying end with sorrow pleasure is counsels foe reasons snare and the wits tyrannicall master it is the deuils grand-factor the baite to couer the hooks of sinne the sweete mortall poyson which drieth the veines and enfeebleth the sinewes of vertue no wonder if Marcus Curius wished his enemies giuen to pleasure he knew suchidefendants vnhappy next them against whom death fighteth with his double armour the Sword and Famine Happy age then which taketh 〈◊〉 which would make vs more vnhappy which maketh vs lesse desirous of that which wee should not desire so many are the mischiefes which this bewitching Siren conueieth to the hart through the senses that many may auow that which Appius Clauâ—ius said when he heard the ouerthrow which Pyrrhâ—s gaue the Romans Before I grieued that I was blind but now I wish me deafe also not to speake of the miseries of these euill times which seem to pronâ—uÌ„ce the deafe happier theÌ„ their hearers I dare conclude that the damned haue experience hereof it had bin better for them to haue bin blind and deafe then to haue their pleasures in this 〈◊〉 changed for eternall torments in hell Fiftly that which some obiect the aged are froward petish hasty malicious dispraising the present praising the ages past selfe-opinioned forgetfull and the like is not our ages fault but ours that it is talkatiue he well confessed and excused who said I thanke mine age which made me lesse intemperate though more talkatiue young men blame the aged for speaking much when their owne eares itch to be running out into their tongues or when they heare their iust reproofes the speaker maketh discourses long or short I neuer heard a wiseman speake too much or a foole too little Lastly some therefore esteeme old age vnhappy because it is neere death these may as iustly think al the life wretched of which no part is far from death and if this life be but a shadow of true life then hee that hath most to spend of an vncertaine life is neerer 〈◊〉 euill to be feared then the aged who as he is in probability neerer death so in truth is he neerer the beginning of a true and eternall life Opposite to these seeming euils are sixe reall benefits whereof God giueth the first foure by our age the fift for our age that is with man the last at the end of our age and these are like sixe pretious Iewels set in this crowne of glorie dignifying a righteous old man The first is wisedome the beauty and vigor of the mind The ancient heathen pourtrayed out our ages with the same colours and pensill which now opinion worketh with making theÌ„ like Nebuchadnezzars Image an head of gold breast of siluer the last parâ— mixed with Iron clay But the word of God doth otherwise describe youth an age of errour and folly but old age the last golden part a crown of digâ—ity Some may truly say it is more easie and common to be old then wise I must borrow his forme of speaking If Sophocles no doter if a doter no Sophocles if any be this blessed old man he is wise if not wise not this righteous old man as will appeare in the last part What theÌ„ if these wrincles are the monuments of thy beauties ruine and decay yet in those furrowes experience hath sowed wisdome The spring is louely for hopes but the autumne for fruits the glory of yong men is their strength and the beauty of old men is the gray head There is beauty for beauty but as God hath giuen the flower of our life to adorne our youth otherwise full of deformities of mind so hath he giuen the fruit of wisedome the late comlinesse of mind to honor age else full of infirmities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 age is the flowre of wisedome or rather wisdome is the fruit of age as if God made this age amends with greatest excellency of mind not to tell of the aged necessitie of aged experience to the happy being of a State where like the contrarie motions of the heauens Rehoboams yong States-men are to be moderated by the aged nor of the miserie of that Common weale where Princes are children where those young Phaetons obtaine power to set the world on fire I may easily say it is the helme of the minde and age bringeth that maturitie which maketh wisedome a skilfull Pilot which in the yong at best is but in Theorie in hope The second is age maketh vs abandon many noysome affectioÌ„s which loaded our youth as the storm forced Ionahs Mariners to cast their wares ouer-board when once we haue receiued the sentence of death in our selues we do without much difficultie cast off the care of vain delights Barzillai who liued in a
the aâ—cients of the house of Israel do in the dark Therefore Gods wrath was kâ—â—dled it aggrauated the fault that they were Elders Some thinke if they be rigid censurers of the yong it is enough but see thou giue good example remember thouart old many yonger eies deriue their libertie of sinning from thine intemperance Fourthly there is nothing in the world more wretched then a vicious old man who in a diseased bodie hath a more corrupted soule The Heathen said wel We must not burden old age alreadie ouer loaden with miseries Some men may say Peccatum reuixit ego autem intery the more they grow the more youthfull their sinne And among all that dropsie of the soule the disease of age Couetousnesse maketh an old man vnhappie at euen burieth him aliue in the earth Sathan hath his variable Porters to watch at the doores of this world at our comming in he fetteth his faire sweete-singing hand-maids those are pleasures at our going out standeth his eager long-fingered Groome Couetousnesse to attend our age which commeth like and enuious Philistiâ— to Isaacs Well with his earth to fill vp our hearts you shall haue many men how carelesse soeuer they haue beene in their youth yet in their age their thoughts are fixed on the world as Archimedes on his Geometricall Tables when his seruants pulled him vp to eate and had annointed him he pourtraied his workes vpon his oylie bodie Heare they pray they if you could open their heart you might see the picture of the world sitting like Silenus Image in the broken stone therefore though Couetousnesse be the roote of all euill yet it is like Iosephus Baaras it is death to pull it vp it is rooted in the heart All the best riches are but a viaticum enough is vsefull too much a burden good men vse the world as if they vsed it not as Plinies Cranes about to flie ouer the Seas take vp stones in their feete and sand in their throat to giue them weight against the winde and as they came neere the land they by little and little cast them downe so lightning themselues that the desired shoare seeth the last stone not taken away but let fall So the Children of God take vp the care of riches to serue them in their life but as they come neerer their desired rest they more and more disburthen themselues What old mens Couetousnesse meaneth I know not why they should be so carefull for this nothing so nothing carefull for the life to come there is no reason In the reserued Manna of euery day there was a Worme saue onely that which was laied vp for the Sabbath that which thou laiest vp for the eternall rest shall not perish what euer else thou storest vp shall bee lost and thou canst carrie nothing with thee Saladin would therefore haue his exequies thus solemnized a shirt fastned to the point of a lance in fashion of a banner and a Priest going before crying Saladin Conquer our of the East of all the greatnesse and riches he had in this life carrieth not with him after his death any thing more then this shirt If there could be any excuse for the couetous the yong man had most rightto it Couetousnesse is vaine in any but in the old it is most vnseasonable as Elisha said to Gebaza Is this a time to take money and to receiue garments and Olines and vineyards and sheep and oxeâ— What wilt thou lay hold on the world with a dying hand with one leg in the graue what more foolish then to take vp more prouision for the iourney by how much lesse thou hast to go which bringeth me vpon my next Motiue Thou hast now but a little time to watch and the Bridegroome will come Sleepe not without Oyle in thy Lampe The Deuill faith as one to the Cynicke Seâ—exes quiesce Master fauour thy selfe but he answered well If I were running in a race should I slacken my pace towards the end and not rather hasten it Be zealous it is but a little while and thou shalt be crowned Sixtly thine age hath placed thee like Aaron in the campe of Israel betwixt the liuing and the dead There is nothing more to be admired then a wicked old man who being placed at the doore of the world neuer looketh out albeit a thousand forerunners continually cry The Iudge is at the doore Seuenthly the old man hath many remembrancers when the sense of death with varieties of infirmities when thy dim eyes thy 〈◊〉 legges thy trembling ioyntâ— thy staffe in thine hand thy gray haires all together preach vnto thee the Epilogue of dying Iacobs Sermon to his Sonnes I am readie to be gathered to my Fathers it is impossible for thee to forger except thou wiâ—â— not remember thine end Hast thou forgotten the insuries done thee Hast thou forgotten thy debtours If thou hast thou maist the better remember God Death hath three Nancioes chance 〈◊〉 it and old age these runne like Ahaziâ—es Captaines ouer fifties to Eliah on Carmel if we escape the first the last bringeth vs downe The first relleth vs of Deaths ambushments the second of the Sable flag displayed the third of the battle ioyned Infirmitie seemeth to instruct age the second childhood bending him downeward as if it sayd Man behold thy mother into whose bosome thou art returning for thy long rest But old age full of infirmitie being the last scene of our life assureth vs we are neere death Eightly it is a marke of Gods children to be more fruitfull in age they are like Plinies Amygdala more abounding with fruit as more in yeares It is a way of righteousnesse importing we must not stand still in it our life is a course and we must runne and that strenuously like him which as he passeth regardeth not rayling mocking prayses disprayses wife children friends any thing which may hinder him onely he hastneth for the crowne Some say I haue been zealous in my youth then I fasted prayed heard read now mine eyes are bad my hearing sayleth me now I must spare my selfe would God thou wouldst which onely may be by liuing vprightly Tell me not of the old vertues of a former life God requireth not strength of body but a zealous heart â—e loueth not a man like the Indians gray headed in their youth waxing blacke in their age No louer patiently beateth forsaking if we forsake the good way we wâ—re in we must not hope to finde God vniust Ninthly the wicked old man shutteth vp the gate of mercy against himselfe How canst thou say forgiue me the sinnes of my youth which committest the same in age Lastly thou hast lesse excuse for thy sinne for as much as the sinnes of youth which carryed thee like the man possessed haue now left thee at least thine age might haue dispossessed thee of them if thou fall backe it sheweth a disposition extremely