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A29380 A vvord to the aged. By Mr. Will. Bridge, sometime fellow of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and late preacher of the Word of God at Yarmouth. I commend this to be reprinted as a profitable and serious discourse. James Allen. Bridge, William, 1600?-1670. 1679 (1679) Wing B4475; ESTC R214754 12,516 21

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never so many and great yet you have a peculiar honour that is twisted with your infirmity for it is called the Crown of old age In times of the old Testament they were to rise up and to bow before the Ancient yea it is our duty to honour them for this honour is joyned and commanded with the fear of God Lev. 19. 32. Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honour the face of the old Man and fear thy God saith the Lord. The fear of God and honouring the old Man is commanded with the same breath linked together in the same sentence 3. Though you be very aged yet you may be very good was not Eli very good Yet very aged was not David very good yet he was very old when he said Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace was not Anna very good Yet she was very aged who doth not know what a good man Paul was Yet saith he Paul the aged good John was aged John Possibly then you may be very good though you be very aged labouring under much infirmity 4. And though your flesh be weak yet the Spirit may be willing the flesh indeed is weak said Christ when his Disciples slept through natural infirmity for it was late at night and they were full of grief but the Spirit is willing said he also and where the Spirit is willing he will pass by the weakness of the flesh and accept the willingness of the Spirit 5. These infirmities of old age are such as are not the fruit of our own sin the more any infirmity is caused by sin the more affiictive it is for sin is the sting of death I confess indeed they may be sometimes for the sins of youth do sometimes bite sore in age I eat so much of the forbidden fruit said a good man when I was young that God was fain to give much wormseed to kill the worm But the infirmities of old age are generally the decays of nature not of grace 6. They are good warnings of our change approaching and by them we dye daily that at last we may dye graciously and comfortably 7. And who are those that God doth reveal himself unto but to his old friends those he will acquaint with his secrets make known his mind unto Job 12. 12. with the Ancient is wisdome and in length of dayes understanding 8. And though your legs be weak yet they may be strong enough to carry you to Heaven that better Country wich you are now going to and are very near indeed your own present Country is a good Country but the Country you are now going to is a better Country Heb. 11. 6. 1. Better in regard of buildings whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11. 10. 2. Better in regard of Inhabitants where no unclean thing doth enter Rev. 3. Better in regard of quietness and freedome from trouble where all tears shall not only be wiped from our cheeks but out of our eyes as the Greek word bears it Rev. 7. insomuch as the eye shall never breed a tear again nor be the womb of tears 4. Better in regard of riches where you shall have an inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away 5. Better in regard of pleasure for saith the Psalmist at thy right hand there are rivers of pleasures and that for evermore 6. Better in regard of largeness for if the whole Earth be but as a pins head in comparison of the Heavens then surely there is room enough in Heaven for every one to enjoy a greater Kingdome then all England doth amount unto 7. Better in regard of self subsistence here one Country doth depend on another but Heaven is that Country alone which doth depend upon no other Country 8. Better in regard of our freedome from needs and necessities It was Augustines Prayer Deliver me O Lord from my necessities It is a great mercy now to have bread to eat when we want it but it is a greater mercy to have no need of it A great mercy it is to have a good bed to lye on and so to sleep quietly but it is a greater mercy to have no need of bed or sleep This is the state of that Heavenly Country where you have not these blessings but where you have no need of them 9. Better also it is in regard of continuance where every mercy and blessing grows upon the stalk of Eternity and if it be a good thing to have a Lease of a good house and Land for one hundred years what a blessed thing then is it to have a glorious Mansion and Inheritance lying in the Fields of Eternity When you come to a great Palace and see fair Barns and Stables and out-houses you say then if the out-rooms and Stables be so costly and sumptuous how costly and glorious is this Palace within why lift up your eyes and behold that spangled Cannopy of the Heavens that is over your head Are not the Sun and Moon and Stars glorious Yet these are but the out-houses of Heaven and if these out houses be so glorions how glorious is the Palace within Yet this is that Country that better Country that you are going and drawing nigh unto and your passage thither is very short for no sooner do ye step out of this World but if godly gracious and in Christ you step immediately into that Country there is no sleeping of the Soul after death some have dreamed of such a sleep but Solomon tells us that the body upon death goes to the dust the Spirit unto him that gave it Ecclesiastes Christ said to the Thief this day shalt thou be with me in Paradice and the Apostle Paul tells us that Paradice and the third Heaven are one and the same thing 2 Cor. 12. Yea saith paul I am in a straight betwixt two not well knowing whether I should desire to dye for mine own injoyment or to live for the Service of the Churches Phil. 1. 22 23 24. whereas if the Soul did sleep in the Grave with the body he needed not to have been in that strait I desire said he to be disiolved and to be with Christ If with Christ presently How can the Soul sleep with the body in the dust But we know faith he 2 Cor. 5. 1. That if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens What then though your turn house now be ready to fire into a F●aver with every spark of distemper is there not enough in that house above to pay for all surely there is Why then should ye not lift up your heads ye old men and be of good comfort under all your natural in firmityes 2. And as for your moral infirmityes if you would strengthen your self against them and root out these weeds there 1. Be sure that you study and think much on Christ crucified who alone is our
righteousness and our strength Temptations or sins blown out by reason or resolution will easily light again but quenched in the blood of Christ and they light no more When the Israelites was stung with the fiery Serpents he did not stand looking on his swoln arm or leg but on the brazen Serpnt and so was cured Christ lift upon the Cross is our brazen Serpent and he hath said look unto me O all ye ends of the Earth and be saved 2 Then by way of consideration think and think much with your selves what an evil thing it is to sin when a man is ready to dye Thus you leave not your sin but your sin you 3. Be sure that you do not chew the Cud of your former sins by musing on them with delight for thereby you justfie your former practice but rather mourn over them for the way to be kept from future sins is to mourn for former and the way to be kept from sins of old Age is to mourn for the sins of our youth 4. But above all things under your study of Christ crucified be sure that you strengthen your love to God in Christ for if the boughs of the Tree be weak the way to strengthen them is not to carry up dung to the boughs but to lay the dung to the root for by strengthening the Root you strengthen the branches Now the Root of all our mortification is love for love is the cause of hatred Ye that love the Lord hate evil Love to God eats out our love to sin as the fear of God eats out our fear of men and your love to God is strengthened by the sight of his love to you For love is the cause of love the more we see Gods love to us the more we love him and do hate our sins Would you therefore take up your sinful weeds by the roots Then strengthen your love and this shall be a Staff in your hand to strengthen and bear you up under all your infirmities both natural and moral CHAP. III. The OLD MANS GVIDE BVt there is yet one thing remaining and incumbent on the Aged and that is to plant the positive grace and virtue which doth best suit with his foyland condition Quest What are those good things therefore that Old men epecially are to do in their old Age. Answ 1. They are full of experience and therefore should be full of Faith For though Gods word only be the ground of our Faith yet experience is a great help to Faith Now there is a Faith of relyance and a Faith of assurance Faith of relyance justifies Faith of assurance comforts Old men therefore are to exercise the Faith of relyance relying upon Christs righteousness renouncing their own and to exercise the Faith of assurance For it is ill dying with a doubting Soul As Zeal is the young mans virtue so Faith is the old mans grace 2. Then it is their work and duty to renew their repentance for they ar● shortly to appear before the Lord and to give an accoun● of all that they have done in the flesh will they appear before him in their filthy rags Now though we are only washed from our sins by the blood of Christ unto Justification yet we are washed from our filth by the hand of r●pentance unto sanctification For as God promised to wash us with clean water so he commands us to wash our selves Isai 1. And if a man will not wash and repent at last when will he repent When the leaves are off the trees we see the birds neasts in the Trees and bushes Now in our old age our leaves are off then therefore we may see those neasts of sin and lusts in our hearts and lives which we saw not before and so be sensible and repent of them 3. Then are they also to be much in reading the Scripture M●ditation and Prayer for by this reading they shall gain knowledge by meditation upon their reading they shall add affection to their knowledge and by Prayer they shall add devotion unto their affection 4. And because they are ready to weigh Anker and to set sail for the other World it will be good for them to observe what is the proper work of this World and to be much therein For everything is beautiful in the time thereof Now is a time for Believing Heaven is no time for Faith for in Heaven we live by sight Now is a time for repentance in Heaven there is no repentance for there is no sorrow Now is a time for Patience in Heaven there is no Patience under Affliction for there is no Affliction Now is a time of hearing the Word preached and for Sacraments and Ordinances there is no preaching Sacraments and Ordinances in Heaven Now is a time to relieve the Poor in Heaven there is no room for such charity It is that Country where no beggar lyes at your door Now is a time to observe our Relations in Heaven there are no such Relations for they neither marry nor are given in Marriage bu● are as the Angels Now therefore what ever is in the power of your hand to do do it with all your might for in the grave there is no work nor in Heaven there is none of this work whether you are going This therefore that is to be done here and cannot be done there is now to be done especially 5. Then it is the old mans work and duty to live much in a little time to be more exact and strict in his life then ever for the nearer the stone comes to the Center the faster it moves the more wisdome any man hath the more exactly he works Wisdome and exactness go together See that you walk exactly not as fools but as wise sayes the Apostle Now gray hairs should be found in the way of wisdom and the more frequently a man doth work the more exactly he may do the same Now those that are ancient have or should have been frequent in holy duties they therefore of all men are to live walk most exactly Thus it shall not be said of them as Seneca says of one he did not live long but he was long 6. Then are they to knock off from the World and to use the World as if they used it not for the fashion of this World passeth away the time is short therefore their moderation should be known unto all men for the Lord is at hand If a tooth be to he drawn and the gum be cut the tooth doth come out with ease but if it be fast set in the gum and not first loosned from the gum it comes out with much difficulty and what is the reason that many dye with such difficulty but because they are so fast set in their worldly gums they are not loosned from their relations Good therefore it is for old men who are upon the brink of death to cut their gum and to loosen themselves from this world and all