which is counted as loathsome as death it selfe There is a Treatise of OLD-AGE of old time written by the purest Latinist that ever spake or wrote for the elegancy of stile for the solid matter of that Treatise and for many other ornaments wherewith it is decked it hath ever beene highly accounted of and learned in most Grammar schooles yet as farre as divine learning excells humane as farre as a judicious Divine may goe before a learned Philosopher so farre is this Treatise here tendred to thee to be preferred before that If the Oratour said truely of his Treatise The making of this Booke was so delight some to me as it did not onely remove all the troubles of OLD-AGE but also made it easy and pleasing much more truely and justly may the Author of this Treatise say the like of his A Preachers frequent and serious meditating and ruminating on that which hee is to preach to others doth oft very much affect him before hee utter it in uttering of it and ever after How much more when hee sets his after thoughts upon it and more accuratly revieweth it for the view of all that desire to have their meditations helped about this excellent subject OLD-AGE For my part I heartily thanke God that I came to such a thorow view thereof as I have had and withall as David blessed God and Abigaile in the same cause I heartily thanke the Author my Ancient good Tutor to whom for all the good I received in Kings College Cambridge under God I owe all the praise this Author I heartily thanke for vouchsafing to communicate to his unworthy Pupill these his labours So well I approoved this Treatise in my judgement such profit sweetnesse and comfort I have found and felt in reading it over againe and againe as I could not but doe my best to bring it forth to that publick view which now it is brought to Now I bow my knees to the Ancient of daies that as hitherto he hath done he would yet longer and longer continue to preserve the two good Old-Men the Author of this Treatise and his Friend to whom he hath dedicated it to be mirrours of such an OLD-AGE as in this Treatise is set out that in and by their example and patterne what is here written of OLD-AGE may be verified and ratified WILLIAM GOUGE The Author to the Reader Generous Reader I Doe willingly give thee an account both of my first thoughts and intentions and also of my proceedings in the ensuing discourse Thus conceive of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know thy selfe is said to be a voice from heaven and ever hath it beene held for an high and necessary point of wisdome as contrarie-wise nothing comes neerer to a benâ—…mmed sottish and Nabal-like disposition then ignorance in this case Know you not your owne selves saith the Apostle Many there are that with great labour no lesse expence and extreame hazard of their lives travell into the remoâ—…e parts of the world onely out of a desire to know them and yet know little of their owne countrey others that search curiously into the pollicie of forraigne kingdomes ignorant the meane while of the state of that in which they are natives Some againe are busie priers into their neighbours houses and affaires never taking notice how it stands with their owne at home all with shame enough iâ—… that they are lesse carefull of what more neerely concernes them A mans proper and neerest home of all is himselfe The consideration hereof caused me to looke backe to the sundry passages of my life past and to fixe mine eye on my present condition being now farre gone in yeares and in this Meditation I fell upon a serious thought of my Old-Age as what the discomforts of it are that so I might addresse my selfe to seeke after the true remedy what good I may find in it for comfort to countervaile the evils it brings and lastly what opportunities it may afford me for my present and future happinesse Having as I thought found something by this enquirie I was willing my pen should helpe my memory and so my paper was my storer for it Thinke not I doe it out of that itching humour Scire tuum nihil est c. No being conscious to my selfe of my emptinesse I have ever in privatest places of my abode said with the Poet Hae latebrae dulces Take this rather for the true cause of my suffering the discourse to come abroad To impart to others what we have thought of and laboured in for ourselves is especially when it passes not immediatly from the partiall hand of the Author but hath approbation from others more judicious a thing usuall not discommended no not in these scripturient times and in my opinion it sorts well with society for Bonum est natura sâ—…a diffusivum usu quo communius eo melius Every good thing is naturally communicative and in use the more common the better and more profitable If any shall thinke the subject of which I have made choice to be but meane and unworthy of my so many lines in writing and his so much paines in reading I would offer to his consideration these three things First touching the contempt of this age how great and common a sin it is Secondly what need men in yeares may have in respect of some bodily defects of inward comforts as of a staffe to support them that so they may passe on to the end of their race with patience And lastly whether it will be lost labour timely to minde young men of the evills which not prevented will dogg them to the age towads which they securely passe along and which is to such as one termes it non intellecta senectus Sure I am it iâ—… now no lesse needfull then it was in Salomons time to reâ—…rove them for their rejoyeing in their youth c. and to forewarne them of their account as Eccles. 11. also to counsell them even in the daies of their youth to remember their Creator Eccles. 12. Let no man thinke that this Treatise is onely for OLD-MEN chiefely it looks towards them yet every age once come to yeeres of discretion may hap'ly by it be put in minde of some thing or other that will concerne it for the present and if GOD blesse them with long-life the benefit of it may be the greater We may say of it as the Poet doth in another case Aequè neglectum pueris senibusque nocebit And so gentle Reader thou hast my reasons such as they are for my undertaking this taske If thou dislike them not then reade on The Introduction to the whole Discourse AN Old-Man though but meanely learned may treat of OLD-AGE out of some experience feelingly and in that respect may be the more fit to discourse of this subject Onwhich I do not find that many have lighted among Divines very few Some Heathen Writers
Vindiciae Senectutis OR A PLEA FOR old-OLD-AGE Which is Senis cujusdam CYGNEA cantio And the severall points on parts of it are laid downe at the end of the following Introduction By T. S. D. D. LEVIT 19 32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honour the face of the OLD-MAN and feare thy GOD I am the LORD ECCLES 11. 10. Child-hood and youth are vanity PROV 30. 17. The eye that mocketh at his FATHER and despiseth to obey his MOTHER the Ravens of the Vallie shall pick it out and the Eagles shall eat it LONDON Printed by George Miller dwelling in Black-Priers MDCXXXIX TO THE WORTHY AND LIVELY Patterne of a good OLD-AGE Mr. Doctor CHADERTON all the blessed comforts of it and after it everlasting happinesse Reverend SIR THe Meditations here in this Treatise presented to you are at their highest pitch of ambition if they may obtaine that your judicious eyes at your convenient leasure shall passe over them I suppose it will be asked why they solicit you rather then any other for this favour It is first for your many yeares with which GOD hath crowned you and then also in respect of your experience in your owne particular of what in this Tract is deliver'd that is of GODS freeing this age from the Imputations cast in a generality upon it and his deyning you above many others the blessed and comfortable priviledges of which it is capable and for which it hath the best helps and most opportunities I desire not to be made knowne unto you It sufficeth that to me you are well knowne and â—…hat not by heare-say though with that pretious ointment a good-name Eccles 7. you are renowned but cheefely out of my many observations when I was a Student in the Vniversity and for a long time one of your Auditors Every way you ratifie and make good this Encomium SENECTVTIS And therefore yours it is and to you it comes both to bee corrected and disposed of incase it may seeme in any degree worthy your so much paines And certainely should I cause my thoughts to range abroad among the Worthies that are knowne unto me none would be found that might give so ample testimonie to what you shall heere reade or be so living an example of it as your selfe This I hope will excuse my presumption and prevaile with you for your paines in reading the Discourse though it should not with your judgement for approving it I beseech the ANCIENT OF DAIES to continue and increase unto you the good your many yeeres have possessed you of that as they are found in the way of righteousnes so they may be to you a crowne of glory Prov. 16. and a crowne of righteousnesse 2 Tim. 4 To the Reader Courteous Reader Young or old HEre is presented to thee by an Old-Man past his great climactericall yeare a Treatise of OLD AGE indited and penned by one who hath attained to those yeares whereunto hee who attaineth is accounted Wondrous old and dedicated to him that hath almost attained to those yeares beyond which there is no ordinary reckoning The Author in dedicating his Treatise of OLD AGE to a more aged Friend imitates the Oratour who thus saith of himselfe Being an Old-Man I wrote to an Old-Man of Old-Age As the Author by reason of his much reading strong memory profound judgement and long experience was well qualified and enabled to undertake such a taske so most wisely hath he made choice of a very fit Patron who notwithstanding his exceeding great Old-Age and the small characters in which this Treatise was written read it without spectacles and with no lesse prespicacie of judgement then of sight gave his approbation thereof If therefore DAIES may be heard and a testimony given by multitude of yeares may gaine credit there are as many as the Divine Law exacteth for witnesse bearing that commendeth this Treatise to thee and those old enough especially the two Elder who by their many yeares so well imployed as they have imployed theirs have attained to great experience and gained much wisdome so as in them this Adage multitude of yeares teach wisdome is verified All the three intimated witnesses were Academicks together All of one and the same University The Dedicatee was * Master of Emmanuell Colledge Cambridge within few yeares after the Author of this Treatise came to Kings College yet had this Author beene more then a Bachelour of Divinities time in the College before he chose the Publisher hereof out of Eton schoole to the said Kings College A favour very great in the kinde and in the manner of conferring it most free Possumne ingraius immemor esse In all humble and hearty gratitude is this publicke acknowledgement made of a gratious Tutors goodnesse by his much bounden Pupill Gratitude therfore is one inducement which hath brought me on to lend an helping hand to the publishing of this Treatise which is my onely taske But an other and greater inducement is the work it selfe both in regard of the subject matter of it which is OLD-AGE and also in regard of the exquisite manner of handling it it being performed by an Old-Man who hath written hereabout what experience hath verified in himselfe For hee himselfe is a lively image and representation of that true Old-Man which he describeth and whom hee doth vindicate and defend from the undue calumnies of youth If any imagine that OLD-AGE as it bringeth feeblenesse upon the body and upon all the parts thereof so it blunteth the understanding dulleth the wit weakeneth the memory and much impaireth all the powers of the soule I referre him to S. Hierom who in that very place where he granteth the forementioned bodily infirmities and other like to them to be incident to OLD AGE sets downe these good things to abide in it and with it It keepes us from pleasures the most impudent masters it puts a meane to appetite it subdueth the violence of lust it increaseth wisdome it gives more mature counsell c. And in another place he giveth us a catalogue of many heathen men who being very old and neere to death sang their Swan-like songs more sweetly then they were wont in younger yeares The Author of this Treatise hath given us a larger catalogue not only of heathen men but also of holy men Gods worthies who in their OLD-AGE have beene endowed with excellent and eminent abilities especially of mind withall he sheweth that if it so fall out as is objected it is in such an OLD-AGE as followeth upon distempered youth and disordered manage but where former yeares have beene temperately ordered and well imployed OLD AGE though somewhat debilitated in bodily strength will prove vigorous in the indowments of the soule Of such an Old-Man speaketh an ancient Poet to this purpose His foot in pace is flow His wit doth swiftly flow This our Author hath oft most truely and
is not disabled for ACTION The Second answers the objections touching its uncapablenesse of pleasures The Third shewes that it is not so weake an age as is thought The Fourth and last Chapter makes answer to the imputation of its beeing neere to death Secondly I offer to consideration the dignity of this age in respect of sundry priviledges in the second Booke The First Priviledge is its being the store-house or treasury to receive and keepe whatsoever good in the afore-going ages hath beene brought in Chap. 1. The Second is opportunities and helps by a long time afforded for a greater measure of grace Chap. 2. The Third Honour above other ages Chap. 3. The Fourth Vacancy for private devotion Chap. 4. And Lastly you have the conclusion contayning an exhortation or admonition to the foure capable ages Chap 5. I trouble not my selfe nor my Reader with any further minsings or subdivisions because it is but a Discourse A Preface to the first Booke conteyning accusations and complaints against OLD-AGE TO complaine grudgingly or dis contentedly of the afflâ—…ctions and miseries oâ—… this life or to frame accusations against the time in which they befall us is the property of ignorant and wicked men of such as have no true knowledge either of God or of themselves and their owne condition When any querimonies of this kinde sound in our eares we may seeme to beare the voice of Cain repining against God and his just proceedings My punishment saith he is greater then I am able to beare Or of the Israelites murmuring in the wildernesse by accâ—…sion of every want or distresse Cain should have complained of the sinne he had committed that is of himselfe who had so unnaturally so treacherously so wickedly slaine his righteous brother Abel And the Israelites should have knowne and considered that their wants and afflictions in the desart were from the hand of their gratious and loving God of whose love and care of them they had not long before so joyfull experience in their miraculous both deliverance out of Egypt and preservation at the red Sea all which had they not beene more then unthankfull would have beene fresh in their remembrance They should have considered likewise that those afflictions were not punishments so much as fatherly corrections by which they were to be schooled and nurtured being as yet a rebellious people unfit and unworthy to become inhabitants in that happy land of Canaan Both Cain I say and that people should have turned their complaints and accusations against themselves And so all men of what age soever when the infirmities of this miserable life lye heavy upon them should looke backe to the first punishment of the first transgression In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread c. And againe Dust thou art c. And also to their inbred corruption and manifold actuall sins they should have had an eye because they had deserved the afflictions of which they complained as they are punishments and did necessarily require them as fatherly chastisements And this one consideration might stop the mouthes of those complayners whether they be such as before they come to this age having studied for some exceptions against it fall into a base account of it or Old Men themselves unworthily so called which are ever whining and complaining of their onus Aetna gravius so they tearme it a burden forsooth tha lyes heavier then the hill Aetna upon their shoulders as if the multitude of yeares were the cause of alâ—… miseries But let them goe on both the one sort and thâ—… other and not spare any one of the imputationâ—… wherewith commonly they load this age which iâ—… the end or period oâ—… mans pilgrimage that 〈◊〉 we may see whether there be any soundness 〈◊〉 truth or reason in them Vindiciae Senectutis OR A PLEA FOR OLD-AGE BOOK I. CHAPTER I. Which conteynes the first imputation and the answer thereunto THey disable this age first for imployment in the necessary affaires of this life as if men farre growne in yeeres were altogether unprofitable both in respect of God and men And is it so are wee in Old-age quite worne out and good for nothing certainly when any fall into such a debaushnesse they may thanke their younger yeares for it For the proverb is true Erigere durum est qui cadit juvenis senem A hard thing it is to make him stand firme in Old-age that fell in youth Quis ullam spem ullius boni habebit in eo cujus primum tempus aetatis fuerit ad omnes libidines divulgatum Who saith one can have hope of any good in him whose first yeeres have beene spent in all manner of lusts and luxury Senes in melius mutari ab inolita vitiorum consuetudine difficilimum est sayes S. Bernard Hard it is Old-men after a long continued custome in viciousnesse to be reformed The young-mans intemperance must beare the blame of his deficiency when he is in yeeres His idlenesse in youth and wast of imployment then in honest and profitable courses is the cause of his inability for action when hee is aged I except here the deficiency that comes by sicknesse or any other accident which may and doth enfeeble the youngest and ablest body as we see by dayly experience But if it stand thus why is Old-age blamed for that which younger yeares bring upon it Howbeit wee here stand upon our deniall and doubt not to say that elder yeares are best fitted for the greatest and most important employments and that when the former ages are brought into comparison with this it may bee truly said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Eagles old-age is better then the youth of a Lark And to this purpose one saith more plainely multis juvenibus antestat senex cui mens adest generosa An Old-man of a generous disposition is to bee preferred before many young-men If wee should deny this experience in sundry examples would confute us The examples I say of not a few worthies who in extreame age either by their naturall constitution or by their sobriety and temperance in the former part of their life or by Gods hand and speciall working in them have beene fit and able to mannage great matters Moses lived to 120. and then his eye was not dimme nor his naturall strength abated and how wise valiant and industrious a captaine was he â—…o that people how faithfull also to God in a service so difficult that when he considered the weight of it and cast his eye from it to himselfe he drew back as wee know Who am I that I should goe to Pharoah c. Behold him in the 31 and 32. Chapters of Deutrenomie how hee carryes himselfe towards Ioshua in putting courage into him chap. â—…1 verse 7 8. and towards the Priests and Elders Ibid. v. 9 c. towards the whole people also throughout both
elder yeares disable not for publique service either in Church or Common-weale Now trie we whether the like may be made good touching private businesses They are domesticall or personall First of affaires in the family We may not thinke that the house thrives and prospers onely or chiefely by the toyling labours of such as in it have stronger bodies and doe more servile works The Masters knowledge for ordering every businesse his eye for oversight his authority for holding every one to his taske his wisedome and discretion in governing all that are under him his assiduity in prayer for a blessing upon all their indeavours and lastly his instructing them according to his measure of knowledge that they may understand themselves and doe what is required in their severall places first in obedience to God their great master that hath called them thereunto and then also to him whom God hath set over them that they may doe their worke not with eye-service but in singlenesse of heart as unto Christ and as the servants of Christ. These things are cheefely conducing to the welfare and prosperity of a family When these duties of the Pater-familias are omitted God is excluded from building the house and so that house hath a miserable downe-fall they all labour in vaine that build it And contrariwise these thinges duly performed are the most necessary and strongest pillars to uphold the family Now for these Old-age is ever the fittest in regard of its endowments afore mentioned And heere because as one saith it is adull and livelesse discourse that wants examples for proofe of what is said let us see how this point may be exemplified Abraham was 140. yeares old when hee tooke that wise and religious course for the placing of his sonne Isaack in marriage the most important businesse of a family which wrought on Rebeckah that holy passion expressed Gen. 27. 46. I am weary of my life for the daughters of Heth If Iacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth like these of the daughters of the land what availeth it mee that I live In like manner Isaack when hee was old and his eyes dimme with age provided in this kinde for that his sonne Iacob In Iacob the father of 12. sonnes wee shall see a worthy example of an able Pater-familias even then when yeares were multiplied upon him if wee behold him Gen. 48. and 49. Chapters how when his sonne Ioseph was come to doe the duty of an obedient and gracious sonne to his sicke and now dying father hee rouses himselfe up in his bed takes strength both of body and minde and in that strength as a Prophet foretells what would be the lot or condition of every one of his children even to the comming of Christ transferring the right of the first borne both touching the inheriting the double portion in Canaan otherwise due to his eldest sonne Ruben Deut. 21. The cause whereof is exprest Chap. 49. v. 14. to the two sons of Ioseph Ephraim and Manasses and also concerning the dignity the other part of the first-bornes right to Iuda in whose tribe the authority and power for governement was constantly to remaine to the comming of Shiloh so of the rest as in these two Chapters David is another example he was old and a dying man when hee gave order for the setling of Salomon in the kingdome a most important businesse not politicke onely but domesticke mannaged by him with great wisedome and courage as we may observe in every circumstance of it his age was no let One example more Appius Claudius caecus being of a great age and blind also most carefully and wisely governed a numerous family consisting of 4. sonnes and 5. daughters and many servants having also not a few clients belonging to him And now what shall we say to mens personall affaires are Old-men unable to manage them I passe by other particulars of lesse importance What thinke we of that greatest and weightiest worke that any man can take in hand in this life our often or rather daily casting up our account and making our peace with God that unum necessarium the thing that chalengeth our most earnest and most attentive thoughts and studies the thing to which our whole life is destined the businesse which who so neglects all his labours under the sunne will profit him nothing at all shall we can we thinkethat the servants of God for of such Old-men we speake all this while when they are growne in yeares and have served him long doe waxe worse and worse by their long continuance in their faithfull service they in whom the graces of Gods Spirit have had their increase yeare after yeare for a long space that they after all this shall be the weakest and most insufficient for this worke of their account doth God cast off an old servant that hath beene faithfull unto him or extinguish that fire of grace which hath beene so long in kindling and increasing No no to such an one he will say well done good servant and faithfull c. certainely whom God once loves he loves to the end and his gifts are without repentance For this David prayes Psal. 71. with faith and assurance of obtaining v. 9. Cast mee not off in the time of old age forsake mee not when my strength faileth and after v. 18. Now also when I am gray-headed forsake me not Againe touching our apprehension of Gods promises which concerne our salvation is it not most eager and ardent most hungring and thirsting in elder yeares when the good fight is fought and the race neere runne yes certainely Wee may have an eye before to the promised inheritance and to the recompence of reward with Moses but then in Old-age obuijs ulâ—…is with reached forth armes we embrace it Then Come Lord Iesu then our hand is on it as it were then we say with aged St. Paul Now hence forth is layed up for mee c. Then we earnestly endeavour to that which is before us and more neere us pressing hard towards the marke then with old Simeon we resigne our selves to God Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart c. The motion of each body is according to the quality of it things that are heavy we know are carried downewards that which is light soares upwards so the unregenerate the naturall man being earthly and of a lumpish quality sinkes downe still lower and lower even towards hell till he is converted and altered in his condition and inclination and the neerer he is to his owne place the faster hee moves if grace prevent it not So on the contrary the man that is spirituall being also heavenly moves towards heaven and therefore the neerer he approaches to that his place as in old-Old-age the stronger will his motion be An Old-man knowes that he is at the end of the day for which he is hired to
worke in Gods vineyard and therefore the time of his worke being neere upon expiring he will bestirre him least death as the night overtake him and put an end to his day or life before his worke be at an end hee will be carefull to observe that wise and necessary precept Whatsoever thy hand shall finde to doe doe it with all thy power for there is neither worke nor invention nor knowledge nor wisedome in the grave whither thou goest He will labour as the Apostle exhorts to redeeme the pretious time formerly neglected and lost as who loses not much and thus his age is so farre from disabling him for this work as that it is to him a speciall premonitor that doth aurem vellere and call upon him to be prepared for his dissolution and who then would complaine of so helpfull acompanion or be weary of him or accuse him of inability And heere now this also must be considered that every age or part of mans life hath as gifts different from the rest so likewise a different calling and employment or taske There is one of childhood another of youth a third of ripe age and Old-age differs from them all It were unreasonable to expect that of a child which is required of young-men or that of young-men which belongs to a greater growth so neither must every thing that any of the former should doe be required of Old-men To grow towards a conclusion of this point I say further if we grant that some inability for action is to be found in this age yet it will thence receive no disgrace nor hath any man in yeares cause to complaine in that behalfe For God is not to us as Pharaoh to the Israelites he is no exactor hee laies no more upon any man or age then he inables him to beare except it be in case of his disabling himselfe by loosing his talent God was so indulgent to the Levites as that their corporall and painefull service about the Tabernacle should determine and be no more required after the age of 50. When Moses was old Ioshua was appointed to be for him When Eli grew aged and weake God provided that Samuel should supply his defects St. Austin when he was in yeares gave over his Bishoprick to Evadius It was a law among the Romanes that after 50. none should be pressed to the warres whence was that verse s Miles depositis annosus secubat armis Neither might any be forced to be of the Senate of Rome after 60. Solve scnescentem maturè sanus equum ne Peccet ad extremum ridendus ilia ducat was the Poets suit to his Mecenas and his reason for it If in youth and ripe age wee have beene diligent and painefull there is not much left or in our hand to be done when wee are old If there be much behind let us blame the former part of our life not old-age A common too common a thing it is for men to spend their strength as one saith nihil agendo or aliud agendo or malè agendo in doing nothing at all or things impertinent or things that are evill These things men suffer sayes the same Author to weare out their life they divide it among them Not so saith he in their goods or lands they are prodigall of their time in which onely covetousnesse is lawfull because time is pretious but in other things where it is forbidden they are extreamely covetous If then Old-men be dispensed with they may rejoyce at it and comfort themselves in their manumission and sit downe well contented that being now emeritis stipendijs rude donati they are freèd from such labours and burdens as are too heavy for them Why should they be displeased at this so good a lot Senectut is sors est otium quies It is the lot of old-age saith one that he hath leave to live quietly and be at rest Mans life is a pilgrimage and will not the Pilgrim be glad of rest when he is weary Amens viator est qui labore viae exhaustus velit ad initium remeare It were madnesse in the Traveller that is spent with the labour of his journey to desire to be where at the first he was Our life is also a race and how doth he that runnes it rejoyce when he is at the end of it A wonder it is that any man should complaine of ease or blame his age for freeing him of the toiles of this life And as for its being an occasion of contempt in the eyes of younger folk let them know that one houre lost or ill spent by them while they are in their full strength and not dispensed with for the workes of their callings as none are is more disgrace to them and shall also have a heavier account then divers yeares of rest in Old-age when men may truely say DEVS nobis haec otia fecit God hath given us leave to be at rest The II. Chapter Conteining the second supposed disgrace cast upon OLD-AGE viz. Vncapablenesse of pleasures and the answer FOr the full understanding of what shall be said in answer to this imputation something is to be premised concerning the nature and divers kindes of pleasure First therefore to lay downe a generall and breefe description of it It is defined to be a lifting up of the minde by the presence or hope of some good that is come unto us or may befall us an elevating I say of the mind for as when any evill betides us or is towards us the minde is dejected and discomforted so when the contrary it is contrarily affected The object of pleasure is some good that accrewes unto us and according to the difference of things tearmed good must pleasures be differenced and distinguished for either they are falsely or they are truely so called Falsely divers wayes First when they are good in shew onely and opinion and then it is false pleasure that arises from them not unlike to that which was in Thrasilaus who thought all the ships that arrived at the haven to be his and received them with great pleasure and rejoycing that all likewise which set forth were his which he dismissed with a joyfull expectation of a gainefull returne all the while counting himselfe an happy man that was the owner of so great substance if any of the ships miscarried he enquired not after them if they returned safe hee rejoyced Thus was it with him in his frensy and when he came to himselfe he professed that he never lived more sweetely then when he was in that error for hee had much pleasure though false and no care or trouble at all Secondly things may not rightly be called good when they are not so good as they are esteemed And they also yeeld a pleasure at least in part deceitfull Lastly things may be thought good and alas nothing more common when they are
hope of legacies may gaine to him regard and love while hee lives from them who are apt enough to despise his gray-haires Molestus est inter juvenes senex sayes one OLD-AGE is troublesome and unpleasing to youth Many Old-men that have outed themselves of all or neare all while they lived have after it continued alive long enough to repent when it was too late Besides it is certaine that though this man of yeeres by help of his even temper is able to use the wealth he hath with greater benefit and lesse hurt to himselfe and others then younger men who hardly observe a meane in any thing yet being weaned from the pleasures of this world to which his riches might be the fuell or materials no marvell if he abstaine from a much delightfull use of them While his mind feedes on better food his body and mind both are contented to want the use of the worser strange it were if such contentednes and moderation should breed reproach But S. Austen may seeme to stand against us in this point He tels us that in Old-age all other vices decaying covetousnesse juvenescit encreaseth and groweth daily I answer first it is unlikely that this his censure was generall because hee knew well how farre himselfe in his elder yeares was from it and doubtlesse if he wrote it while he was young when he was growne old he would have retracted it from his experience in himselfe had he meant it of all Probable it is that he said it either according to the common tenent of the disgracers of this age or because some Old-men of the worser sort are such and in that case it is morum vitium non senectutis to be ascribed not to the age but to the viciousnesse of the former part of mans life whence the habit of covetousnesse might grow up It is absurd saies the Patron of this age that an Old-man should as an Old-man he meanes bee covetous no lesse absurd then for one to vex himselfe with getting still more and more provision for his journey when he is come neare the end of it Certainely that which it is absurd for a man to doe and incredible that he will do it it is as absurd to thinke he is culpable in it or to accuse him of it Lastly it may be answered that were the Old-man faulty herein somewhat might be said for him by way of excuse viz. that it is caused by an incident infirmity which is feare of want arising partly from the coldnesse of his temper and in part from his inability now to get any thing by his labours or indeavours which may seeme to free him from the scraping covetousnesse though it put him hap'ly upon parsimony or warinesse in spending One being asked what was in vita calamitosissimum the heaviest calamity in this life answer'd well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the estate of a poore needy Old-man So then the calamity of want being greater to this age then to the other to be sparing in it is skarse any fault at all For nature it selfe gives every creature a kind of care and desire to preserve it selfe Further It is said that the Old-man doth all things with feare coldly and slowly Warily as I conceive it having observed in his long experience the innumerable mischiefes into which the rashnesse and unadvised hastinesse of young men doth carry them The Philosopher gives this very reason why youth is bold and age fearefull It is saith he because youth wasts knowledge for who so bold as the blind and age sees the danger of being over-hasty It is added that hee desires and longs for better times True because he hath seene much evill in the world and is wearied with greeving at it No man can fault him for this Againe he is hard to please This may arise from his dislike of mens evill manners with which no man should be pleased He is said to be a prayser of former times Not without cause sith the world growes daily more and more out of frame and wicked He cannot winke at the vices of disordered young-men but sharpely reprooves them Who may more justly take to him this so necessary an office or execute it with so much gravity so great authority so mature wisedome discretion and moderation as the Old-man of whose well-meriting love and indeavours for the common good all men have had long experience and triall By this which hath beene said it is plaine and evident first that all the ages of mans life are infirme Secondly that each hath its proper defects and lastly that the infirmities of Old-age are not so great as of the rest all things duely weighed and consider'd Now they are to be compared likewise in the point of sicknesse But this part of my taske I am willing to cast upon the Physitian both in regard of his farre greater knowledge this way and to avoid the blame of putting my sickle into an other mans harvest and leaping out of mine element Fearing to be Piscis in arido mâ—…nachus in forâ—… Yet something of it out of mine owne profession Health is indeed a blessing upon blessings one that seasons and sweetens all the rest But the perfection of it was onely in Paradice For immediately after the fall came the curse first upon man that had sinned In the very same day saith St. Austin began Adam and Eve to dye in which they received the law of death After the curse fell for man and his transgression upon the earth and the other bordering elements and on all the creatures conteined in them While man was faithfull in serving his Creator the creatures served him as their second Lord but presently upon his fall from his God they all fell from him and shaking off the yoke of their allegiance turned enemies and rebells against him Before man had the meanes of health and life and immortality to which he was created laid up for him in those creatures then all good But since through the curse they are become the instruments to inflict on him that punishment the bodily death or rather so many Sergeants to arrest him And the infinite number of diseases bred by the earths curse are likewise busy tormentors to waite on him for the execution of that punishment which the transgression had justly deserved Dust now wee are and to dust wee shall returne dead-men we are and to death the creatures are appointed to bring us In the sweat 〈◊〉 our faces we eat our bread Our daily labours in our callings are now not as Adams in Eden but sweating labours which make way to sicknesse and consequently to death drying up sensim sine sensu by little and little unperceivably the radicall moysture and wasting the naturall heate and withall enfeebling the body and so farre disabling it to beare the distempers as that it is sooner
generatio alterius the dying of the seed is the life of the corne that springs from it Thou foole saith th' Apostle that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die Thus we see there is still happinesse in death The grave may be likened to the Gold-smiths Forge in it our bodies are refined and polished by Gods Almighty hand and by the power of Christs Resurrection and they are made of corruptible incorruptible and of mortall immortall and so that comes to passe which we have Rom. 8. 28. That all things worke together for good to them that love God it is true of afflictions which are the fore-runners of death and true of death it selfe and therefore the Apostle tells us that whether it bee life or death things present or things to come all are ours and well saith Saint Bernard Bona mors quae vitam non aufert sed transfert in melius O happy death that deprives us not of life but changes this for a farre better Dies mortis saith Seneca quem tanquam extremum formidas aeterni natalis est How art thou deceived in thy thoughts of death the day of thy death which thou so much fearest as thy last day to thee is the Birth day of eternity and Euripides answerably vivere mori est mori autem vivere to live is to die and to die is to live viz. eternally But now another block lies in our way another Objection which must also bee answered How blessed by that may some man say which is a curse and punishment for sinne that which God hath armed against us as was said before for the execution of that doome In the day that thou eatest thou shalt die the death To this I say first that the Apostle answers it 1 Cor. 15. 54 55. the most hurtfull creatures if once they bee disarmed and weakned cannot hurt us much lesse when they are overcome and slaine for us and to our hand as we say so is death Christ hath taken away the sting of it and conquer'd it and all adverse power that might stop our passage to Heaven And as when Goliah was overcome by David this victory made all the people of Israel for whom hee fought Conquerours and freed them from the power of the enemie so our David having overcome and conquered death we are safe being all more then Conquerours by and in him Now the second point followes which I proposed for the answering of this last accusation that Old-age is a neere neighbour to death viz. that other ages are as liable to it as this and many times as neere It is observed by one that there are three messengers of death casuality sicknesse and Old-age Casualities and the unhappy accidents that doe befall men and shorten their lives are indeed many somewhere whole Cities have beene overthrowne by earthquakes others burnt up by lightnings some by fire whole regions swallowedup by the earths gaping for them many men and places destroyed by the inundations of the sea and many other casualities happen daily a haire drunke in milke a stone in a grape a small bone in a fish have beene meanes of choaking some have dyed with suddaine joy Warres and the Pestilence how many thousands doe they devoure a multitude of such accidents there are but no age is more free from these messengers then this we speake of and that for these reasons First because this is an age of the best temper and greatest moderation and circumspection whereby divers of those dangers are avoided Secondly because it is not so much in bodily action as the rest Thirdly for that it mooves lesse stirres lesse abroad giving it selfe to retirednesse Fourthly it is not prest to the warres where death compasses men about and is daily and hourely expected Besides it is free from quarrells and lesse subject to surfettings to breaking and disjoynting of limbs or to deadly wounds c. Touching the second messenger of death Bodily diseases they are in other ages moe more sharpe and more incurable every man will grant it If it be said that though these two messengers should passe by Old-men yet their age it selfe will stand ready every houre to arrest them I answer that neither is that so for the Schooleman tells us that old-OLD-AGE sometimes equals all the other in yeeres and durance and whereas of the rest there is a certaine set period and end of this there is none for no man knowes when an Old-man shall die and cease to be an Old-man Saint Ierome tells us that Nemotam fractis viribus decrepitae senectutis est quin non se putet unum adhuc annum esse victurum that there is not any in strength so decayed and in age so decrepit as not to thinke he shall live yet one yeere longer Further we know that the yongest hath no lease no certainty of the number of his daies and therefore must still be in expectation of death as well as the aged for it behooves him that hath no set day for his debt to be at all times solvendo ready for payment Socrates was wont to say that to Old-men death stands before them continually in their sight but to young men hee lurks behind that unawares he may come upon them as an enemy that lies in ambush The third part of my answer remaines which retorts the fault if it be one of Old-ages being so neere to death upon the true cause of it viz. mens intemperance and disorder in the former part of their life I will briefly passe through the particular foregoing ages In Infancy many times the milke in the nursing or food when it hath left the brest is unholsome whereby an ill foundation is laid for the bodily constitution And heere by the way I cannot but blame the indiscreet peremptorinesse of some who doubt not to make this a generall rule or Maxim that God never makes the wombe fruitfull and the brest barren and thereupon stick not to conclude that no woman may put forth her childe to nurse true not of nicenesse and to shunne the paines and trouble of it Yet it cannot be denied that there are many cases in which the mother not onely may refuse this office which in it selfe is most naturall I confesse and lies neerely upon her but is a cruell mother to her child to say nothing of her selfe if shee doe otherwise for what weaknesse and how many deseases may bee derived from a mother in some cases I say and of some constitutions to the child to its utter overthrow and undoing and besides it is not true that the mothers breasts are never dry nor that there can be no other thing that may justly excuse her refusing to be a nurse But I leave the digression having but occasionally and by the way fallen upon it And now further I say that often through want of attendance the poore infant falls into many
mischiefes all which it carries with it to Old-age if the grave prevent it not Child-hood is subject to as great distempers and hurts The Young-man is next and his affections for the most part are strong and violent as hath beene shewed whatsoever comes of him he resolves to please his appetite in diet to satisfie his desire of pleasures in immoderate recreations and to nourish the pride of his bodily strength and activenesse in violent exercises and his lusts also in wantonnesse and then no marvaile if an intemperate youth leaves to OLD-AGE a weake and worne-out body Of mature or the ripe age what shall we say that a man would thinke will be wary of doing wrong to so good so neere a neighbour as OLD-AGE is to it Yet we know and cannot but observe so much that the two vices before noted do adhere to it covetousnesse and ambition put men upon many labours toyles and attempts which hotly and eagerly pursued according to the extent of their desires cause surfetings and bring many infirmities old- and diseases upon it which tend directly to death Now all these evills in the end fall to the lot of the Old-man brought upon him as we see by the foregoing part of his life and therefore to it they must be imputed and it may truly be said that if Old-men bee neere to death they are thrust upon it by their predecessours the former ages So it is saith Seneca wee have not received a short life but wee have made it short the time wee have is not little but wee lose much of it by wastfull prodigality And that the sicknesses of elder yeeres the causes of deaths approach bee they moe or be they fewer are to be imputed to former errors disorders in diet we may have some proofe from those two famous Physitians Hippocrates and Galen of whom the former lived to an hunder'd the other to an hunder'd and foure and how but through their knowledge and care by which they attained to a rare temperance in the former part of their life The Essaei also a Sect among the Jewes were very temperate and sparing in their diet and by meanes thereof lived ordinarily to an hunder'd To conclude when all is said that may bee brought either by the despisers or accusers of this age It must bee confessed that length of daies is a great blessing when a man comes to his grave in a full age like as a shooke of corne commeth in in its season And howelse can it bee the subject of a promise as in the fift Commandement Honour thy Father c. that thy daies may bee long in the land c. and 1 Kings 3. 14. If thou wilt walke in my waies saith God to Salomon I will lengthenthy daies Or how can the contrary be a curse or punishment The wicked shall not live out halfe their dayes Certainely long life hath ever beene a boone by which God would expresse his love to his dearest servants Among other temporall blessings which he affoorded to Abraham this is one and the chiefe Thou shalt be buried in a good Old-Age and it was accordingly performed Gen. 25. 8. Isaac likewise died an Old-man and full of daies Iacob lived to a 14. 7. yeares David esteemed it a blessing earnestly to be prayed for Spare mee that I may recover my strength before I goe hence and bee no more seene And againe Now when I am old and gray-headed O God for sake mee not untill I have shewed thy strength unto this generation c. and he obtained it 1 Kings 2. Now can any man bee so shamelesse as to reproach that age of mans life which God himselfe hath graced by promising and giving it as a speciall blessing to such as he entirely loved and by threatning and inflicting the contrary upon the wicked I have blessed Jacob saith I saac to Esau yea and he shall bee blessed Mans blessing there stands firme and irrevocable and shall not Gods much more Yes certainely and therefore OLD-AGE is both truly and firmely blessed Riches and Honour may be a left-hand gift but length of daies comes to us in Wisedomes right-hand Excellently Saint Ambrose Quid naturam accusas O homo habet illa impedimenta quadam senectutem infirmitatem senectus ipsa in bonis moribus dulcior c. O man why art thou so injuriously busie in accusing nature shee is not altogether free from impediments as OLD-AGE and infirmity but even that weake age in a good and holy life is more comfortable in counsell more wise for constancie to entertaine death more able and to suppresse lust more strong then any other age the infirmity of the body is the mindes sobriety saith he THE SECOND BOOK In which it is shewed that length of daies is dignified by time and opportunity with many speciall priviledges more then any other age CHAP. 1. Wherein it is proved that OLD-AGE is as a rich store-house or treasurie HItherto I have done my best to free my Client OLD-AGE from Calumniations my forlorne Client that sues in forma pauperis or hominis neglecti and I doubt speeds accordingly yet through my want of skill rather then of will and desire to manifest the goodnesse of his cause I will now try what may be said for him the next thing proposed by way of demonstration that the evills to which he is subject are fully recompensed by the opportunity and meanes for good which hee hath above all other ages And first of his first priviledge I will not doubt to say that whatsoever good things accrew to man in the other part of his life doe all ordinarily meet in this age and in it are much neerer to perfection As first the ornaments of the minde KNOVVLEDGE formerly gotten by reading and study WISEDOME gathered both by study and experience for he is indeed truly wise who hath found the propositions which hee hath laid up for his use to be true by long triall and is able rightly to apply them in his practise PRVDENCE or discretion purchased by a long continued observing of all pertinent circumstances in every case FORTITUDE and courage aâ—…ising from a right apprehension of all occurrences whereby it comes to passe that he feares where there is cause to feare a necessary vertue which who so wants is rather foole-hardy then valiant and where there is no cause of feare or doubt is hardy and bold as a Lyon PATIENCE growing from the many victories which hee hath had over afflictions outward and inward CONSTANCY as being by experience also setled and well grounded in his judgement of good and evill truth and falsehood In a word to passe by other particulars the multitude of his yeeres have given time to the many actions from which habits doe arise so that through long custome both his wits are exercised to discerne of
It is this that yee must be so farre from the common sinne of casting a scornefull eye on Old-men as to thinke your selves never so well sorted as when yee are in their company And this counsell yee shall take not from me but from Saint Ierom Difficilibus ac morosis senibus aures libenter praebeto qui proverbiorum sententijs adolescentes ad recta studia cohortantur Lend thy attentive eare willingly to Old-men seeme they to you never so froward and hard to please for by their wise speeches and counsels young-men are brought into a right course of life And with him also agrees Saint Bernard Aequalium usuâ—… dulcior senum tutior hap'ly saith he thy converse with thy equalls who are ready to humour thee may bee more pleasing to thee but thy safest and most profitable way is to be conversant with thy betters and elders so much as thou maist Resolve therefore as one did Quoad possitis liceat a senis latere nunquam discedâ—…re never to depart from the side of the Old-man with whom thou maist have leave to converse And heere it may fitly be remembred that the young-men which gave Rehoboam bad counsell were such as had growne up with him 1 King 12. 8. Now to men of mature or middle-age thus much This is your Autumne the yeare of your life is whirl'd about and now come towards the period Have yee hitherto beene unthrifts hath your child-hood and youth brought in little or nothing O then how must you now bestirre you Yee have neglected the first spring of your yeere the latter is now come and that is your next season though not so hopefull as the other Yet now at last awake and begin to looke about you Repent you of your former failings and presse now hard towards the marke the harder because formerly ye have lost much time and that which remaines to you is but short On the contrary have yee thrived by your endeavours and Gods blessing upon them in times past are yee now increased both in outward and inward riches and become great among them with whom yee live O then let your neighbours bee the better for it Let there bee to them ali quid boni propter vicinum bonum Let not your greatnesse make others little either in themselves or in your esteeme Let not your wealth bee their woe and poverty your honour their disgrace and abasement Bee not like the tall Cedars that overtop the the lowly shrubs If yee be wise and know much let others light their candle at your lampes Know that whatsoever you have or are you have received it and not for your selves alone but that others may have from you as freely as you from the great DONOR Lastly to my selfe and my coetanei all that are farre gone in yeares Let us now being neere the end of our journey of our travaile towards the heavenly Canaan and having passed through the dangerous and trouble some wildernesse of our life imagine our selves to bee on some high mountaine on Pisgah the top of Nebo if you please where Moses was being of the age of 120 when he had finished his course and his many his 42. wearisome journeyes were at an end and from thence let us looke back to the sundry passages of our life past as hap'ly Moses did to his and the peoples wandring in the wildernesse though hee ascended the Mount to another end calling to mind how God hath dealt with us least wee fall into the unthankfullnesse of that people how God hath preserved and kept us continually in the wombe and in our comming into the world as forth of our prison in Egypt in our infancy childhood and riper age And on the other side that wee may see and acknowledge that Gods patience hath still gone along with his mercies and bounty towards us Let us cast up so neere as wee can all the particular failings and errors of our life How wee have wandred up and downe in the daies of our pilgrimage towards heaven How wee have as the Israelites in our journeyes gone crookedly sometimes forward otherwhile backward now neere to our Canaan anon further off never making straight steps to our feet And chiefly let our greatest sinnes stand ever before us as Davids did Psal. 51. 3. and be laid to heart and that now while it is a time accepted and the day of salvation While it is our day this certainely is ours whether the morrow will be our day we know not That which often deceives younger men the blind hope that they shall live yet many yeares and that therefore there is no hast of their repentance or amendment cannot have the least colour for our deferring Our very yeeres besides the sense of our frailty daily and hourely call upon us to prepare for death by making up our last account To conclude all because in the precedent Tract something hath beene said in the defence and praise of our despised age for admonition therefore least we should deceive our selves in our particulars let the following Distick bee ever remembred by us Qui laudat quasi jam facias quae non â—…acis ille Laudando wonet quae sacâ—…enda noâ—…at Art thou heere prais'd unworthily Then to be worthy learne thereby Imprimatur THO WYKES R P. Ep. Lond. Cap. Domest An Alphabeticall Table A ACtions nor all nor the best in bodily strength Page 23. Man casting up his Account a weighty worke Page 47. Old men fittest to cast up their Accounts Page 48. Afflictions are to weane us from pleasures Page 7â—… Agamemnon preferred old Nestor before the Worthies of Greece Page 83. Age increaseth learning Page 26. Every Age hath proper imployments P. 53 God laies no more on any Age then what it is able to beare Page 53. All Ages subject to casualties Page 148. Every Age hath a more certaine period then Old-Age Page 150. Resemblances betwixt the seasons of the yeare and Ages of man Page 165. Agesilaus his hardinesse Page 15. Apostles most excellent in their elder yeares Page 174. B Bodies abilities common to wicked and beasts Page 20. Body not destroyed by death Page 131. C Casualties befall all Ages page 148. Cato Major learned the Grecke tongue in his Old-Age page 16. Child-hoods infirmities page 91. Childrens yoke page 92. Contemplation an Old-mans joy page 192. Contemplation commended page 186. Contemplation sweet pag. 190. Correction of children page 93. Children in what cases they may be put out to nurse page 152. Children happy if well seasoned page 196. Causes of death in Child-hood page 154. Complaints should be against ones selfe p. 8. Corporall pleasures See Pleasures Corruption the way to generation page 130. D Death what makes it most greevous to good men page 126. Mens rashnesse in speaking against Death page 127. Death wherein terrible page 128. Death remedy against it page 128. Death a blessing page 130. Death destroyes