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
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
they given to be meat unto the Fowls of the Heaven the Flesh of thy Saints unto the Beasts of the Earth Their Blood have they shed like Water round about Jerusalem and there was none to bury them The Romanists have been often very Barbarous and Inhumane to our Protestant Brethren in this particular by prohibiting their Burial and ill treating their dead Bodies and digging up their Bones c. And yet we should not make too much of this For if I dye in the Peace of God and Christ receive my departing Soul whether my Body putrifie above ground or under that concerns the Living and Survivors more than me Christ will recollect my scattered Dust and raise it a Glorious Body like his own Though sown in Corruption and Dishonour it shall be raised Incorruptible and Glorious But it 's reckon'd a Priviledge to be Buried David acknowledged this to the Men of Bethshemeth in Burying the Body of Saul 2 Sam. 2.5 Blessed are ye of the Lord who have shewn this Kindness to Saul and have buried him The Lord shew Kindness and Truth to you It ordinarily bespeaks Kindness and may imply the Hope of the Resurrection of those Bodies that are committed to the Ground But this Expression Thou shalt come to thy Grave may denote further that not only shall they be Buried and have a Grave but Dye at Home have a Peaceable End Dye among their Relations so as to be Buried in their own Sepulchre and have their Bones laid in the same Grave or Vault where their nearest Kindred have been Interr'd with those of their own Family who Dy'd before them III. That to come to ones Grave in a full Age is a very great Favour God hath put an Honour upon Old Age and promised it as a Blessing to them that fear him He hath requir'd us to honour the Face of the Old Man and made it a part of Religion by connecting it with the Fear of God Lev. 19.32 This is one Duty requir'd in the fifth Commandment which is the first with Promise Eph. 5.2 And when God would threaten to punish a Family He declares there should be no Old Man in it 1 Sam. 2.31 It was foretold to Abraham as a Blessing that he should dye an Old Man that he should go to his Fathers in Peace and dye in a good Old Age Gen. 15.15 He that feareth God and walketh in his way he shall see his Childrens Children and unto such God hath said With long Life will I satisfie him and shew him my Salvation Psal 91. ult and 128. ult There shall not be an Old Man who hath not filled his days Isa 65.20 is a Promise that concerns the later Ages of the World i.e. The Aged shall compleat their time and fall ripe into the Grave They shall not be taken away as Corn on the House-top that withers before it be grown up But as Corn that is fully ripe and fit to be gathered into the Barn S. John the most beloved Disciple liv'd longest of any of the Apostles He was banish'd in the time of the Emperour Domitian which was Eighty Years after Christ and so he could not be less than a Hundred Years old Length of Days long Life and Peace are promised in many places to such as please God and obey him Zach. 8.4 Thus saith the Lord of Hosts There shall yet Old Men and Old Women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you that ye may live and that it may be well with you and that ye may prolong your Days in the Land which ye shall possess Deut. 5.33.25 ch 15. What Man is he that desireth Life and loveth many Days that he may see good Keep thy Tongue from evil c. Psal 34.12 13. By me thy Days shall be multiplyed and the Years of thy Life shall be increased If Life it self be a Blessing if to be taken away by Death sooner than according to the ordinary Course of Nature were not an Evil God would not have promised to reward with length of Days It were not the subject matter of a Promise if it were not Good You have the contrary Threatnings in many places Job 18.16 18 19 20. So Chap. 21.17 That the Years of the Wicked shall be shortened That his Candle shall be put out That he shall not live out half his Days Prov. 10.27 Psal 55.23 I will be a swift witness against the Fornicator Adulterer and false Swearer The triumph of the Wicked shall be short and the joy of the Hypocrite but for a moment The Years of the Wicked shall be shortened his Root shall be dryed up beneath and above his Branches shall be cut off his remembrance shall perish from the Earth and he shall have no name in the Street He shall be driven from Light into Darkness and chased out of the World He shall neither have Son nor Daughter among his People nor any remaining in his Dwelling Such are the Dwellings of the Wicked and this is the Portion of them that know not God His Branch shall not be green he shall shake off his unripe Fruit as the Vine and cast off his Flower as the Olive His Candle shall be put out and sudden Destruction shall overtake him He shall be as Stubble before the Wind and as Chaff which the Storm carries away It was for the Wickedness of the Old World that God shortned the Life of Man after the Flood And again at the Building of Babel for the Sins of those that went about to build it And again in the Wilderness because of the Peoples murmuring and despising the promised Land of which Moses speaks Psal 90.7 8 9. But to come to the Grave in a full Age may likewise import more than barely living long First Riches and Honour are often joyn'd with Length of Days Though Old Age and Long Life are prefer'd before them as the right-hand Blessing Prov. 3.16 Length of Days are in her right-hand and in her left Riches and Honour It is mention'd with Advantage concerning David that he dy'd in a good Old Age full of Days Riches and Honour 1 Chron. 29.28 'T is a Mercy when our Relations and Friends do not leave the World in Disgrace That they do not set in a Cloud and go off undesired and unlamented But honour'd with the Affections of many living and their Lamentations when they are remov'd Secondly In a full Age so as to be satisfied with having liv'd so long and willing to dye With long Life will I satisfie thee and shew thee my Salvation There are few Wicked Men who are satisfied with living they would fain be Immortal here God is forc'd to Demand and require their Souls of them This Night shall thy Soul be required of thee But many a Good Man can say with the Prophet Elijah and in a much better Temper than he was in when he used these words 1 Kings 19.4 It is