it I have done great things brought you out of the land of Egypt open your mouth wide that I may fil it Certainly God he hath dilivered us from the Egyptian bondage let us open our mouths and our hearts and our Arms and our hands wide and the Lord wil fil them and now the Lord grant to every one of you as he did to Lidia the text saith the Lord opened her heart and so the Lord open your hearts And as ye read there was an effectual door of faith opened to the Gentiles so let this be the conclusion of al I pray that at the last there may be a door of faith opened to this Congriation to receive these truths that have bin delivered by faith OLD AGE IS A Crown of Glory Especially When found in waies OF RIGHTEOVSNESS Preached before the Company of Mercers at their Chappel May 20. 1641 Proverbs 16 31. The hoary Head is a Crown of Glory if it be found in the Way of Righteousness I Have lately in this City Preached unto Young men and at this time supposing this auditory to be intended chiefly for grave Citizens though others come in I have prepared to speak suitable unto them Psal 148.12 Young men and Old men are called to praise the name of the Lord as it was a blessed time when the children cried Hosannah upon Christs comming to purge the Temple for that was the occasion so it shal be and is a blessed time when Old men are coming into God in the praise of his great works when God shal reign Gloriously before the ancients of Israel we have such a prophesie in Isa 24. verse the last When the Lord of Hosts shal reign in mount Zion in Jerusalem before the antients Gloriously A blessed time when the ancients shal behold the Glorious reign of Christ and be joyful in it and in Revela 4. It is prophecied again of the Elders in the latter end of the chapter that the Elders fel down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and cast down their crownes before him This text of mine it is a proverbial sentence setting out of the Glory of Old men in the waies of righteousness we may spare dependance for the proverbs are not as jewels linked in a Bracelet together but as so many several Diamonds lying one by another and some of them several Diamonds lying as it were in a box together Now this proverb hath in it two Diamonds set upon the crown of Old men one below it and the other a top of it that below it is the Hoary Head and a top of it is found in the way of righteousness The hoarie head is a crown to Old men if it be found in the way of righteousness Two doctrinal points we have in the words the First is Doct. 1. That Old Age is an honorable thing it is a Crown of Glory Doct. 2. But then especially honorable when it is found in the way of righteousness For it is not wholly limmited to the way of righteousness the word IF is not in the original it is honorable howsoever but then most honorable when found in the way of rigoteousness I shal first prosecute the first Doctrine It is a high expression of the Holy Ghost here The Hoary head is Glory and it is a Crown of Glory Corona ornatissima saith one Interpreter a Glorious Crown Corona exaltationis a Crown of exaltation saith another Corona pulchritudinis a crowne of beauty saith another The hoary head is a glorious crown a crown of exaltation a crown of beauty 1. God honors Old Age as by speaking honorably of it in Proverbs 20.29 Gray hairs are the beauty of Old men 2. God honors it by promising Old Age to the keeping of the commandements in Deut. 4.40 And you know that first commandement with promise the fift Commandement honor thy Father and thy Mother that thy daies may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee 3. God honors it by preferring it before al riches and before al other kindes of honors Proverbs 3.16 It is said that in the right hand of wisdom is length of daies in her left hand is riches and honors riches and honor is but in the left hand of wisdom and length of daies is in the right hand thus God honors Old Age. 4. God honors it by giveing a charge unto others to honor it in Leviti 19.32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the Old man and feare thy God I am the Lord It is one of the most solemnest charges that we have in the scripture mark with what gravity and solemnity the charge goes thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the Old man and fare thy God I am the Lord your feare of God is layed upon this And because I see many young ones here I shal somewhat direct my speech to you to you that make any profession of Religion you must manifest it in this would you make it appear that you fear the Lord Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the Old man and feare the Lord this is one worke of fearing of God to do this in obedience to God and if you be bold and impudent before the Aged know this is an argument that the feare of God is not upon you The beauty and glory of religion is to be shewen in the duties of our relations as between Father and Child Servant and Master inferior and superior young and old except religion doth manifest it self in our relations it is al in vain Thou shalt honor the face of the Old man and feare the Lord God laies the feare of his name upon this and this is a great honor that God putts upon Old Age. Secondly It is honored by all good men Job 32.5.6 And so Elihu there honors the Aged in diverse verses and when Paul writ to Phylemon in verse 9. of that Epistle he maketh it as an argument and Paul the aged knowing it was a powerful argument indeed with Phylemon Thirdly Old Age is honored by the heathen themselves I remember I have read of the Lacedemonians when their Embassadors were at Athens upon a time they were in a Theatre where abundance of people were gathered together there cometh a grave Old man in and presently the Lacedemonian Embassadors in reverance to the Aged man they rose up to make the Aged man roome and place upon this al the Athenians gave a great shoute in applauding this their work that they being strangers would shew such respect to age and this was when they came into a Theater This is a good rule when they come not into Theaters but into places of Gods assemblies when Aged men come not into Theaters to see plaies but when they come to worship God and hear his word that young men should rise up before them and reverance their Age and shew reverance and respect to
God threatens those that are disobedient and stout to their parents that the very ravens shal pick out their eyes and under the law they were to be punished with death if any parent would come and charge his son with disobedience he was to be stoned to death USE 2. You that are old and ancient seeing God hath put honor upon you take heed you dishonor not your hoary haires God saith you are a Crown of Glory dishonor not you this your Cown of Glory for your white haires wil make your sins so much the blacker and we read in Numb 6.7 that the high priest might not defile himselfe because the consecration of God was upon his head There is a Crown of Glory upon thy head therefore defile not thy selfe I have read of a Lacedemonian that wore his beard very long and it was white and one asked him why he wore it so long he gave this answer I wear it long that I seeing my white hairs may do nothing dishonorable to them may do nothing unbeseeming those white haires of mine If thou shouldest do any thing unbeseeming thy Hoary head and Crown of Glory thou takest the beauty away from thee there is a Puerilis Senectus an Old man may be a Child as wel as a young man may be Old A young man may be Old in respect of his spirit and demeanor and carriage And much vanity may appeare in those that are Old to make them be as Children Titus 2.2 3. you have there the exhortation of the Holy Ghost to Old men how they should carry themselves with al gravity and with modesty It is a notable place that we are to observe that Rehoboam though he were above forty years Old yet the scripture you shal find in 2. Chron. 13.7 cals Rehoboam a Child he was but a Child one that had a very childish Effeminate heart when Rehoboam was young and tender hearted and could not withstand them young a child tender hearted of a softly heart a foolish Effeminat childish spirit that is the meaning of it and yet this Rehoboam was above forty years Old whereas Joseph was a young man and the scripture in Gen. 45. cals him a Father unto Pharoah But Thirdly USE 3. If it be an honor to live many years in this world O! What an honor is eternity then to live for ever It hath been counted a great honor to have but any monuments of men after they are dead to last for a great while Julius Ceasar he hath appointed his ashes to be kept in an urine in a Room to this day as they say so very honorable is a monument But then to live to al eternity with God what honor is in that If the hoary head be a crown of glory what crown of glory is it for a man to have eternal life to have that eternal crown of glory put upon him what are a few years here in this world in comparison to eternity but a little plash of water in comparison of the infinite ocean If thou hast cause to bless God for a few dayes that he hath lengthened out to thee here what cause hast thou bless him for the hope of eternal life Again USE 4 If the hoary head be such a Crown of Glory if it puts honor upon men What then doth eternity it selfe put upon God If men be to be honored because of a few years here in this world how is God to be honored then that is eternal God doth glory himselfe in his eternity I am he that inhabiteth eternity And the Elders in Revel 4.8 they fel down and worshipped him that was and is and shal be for evermore I remember Pareus tels us of a custom of the Turks that they use every morning to have one proclaim aloud The lord that was and that shal be for ever the Lord is eternal he hath no beginning at al. Thou art but of yesterday though thou hast lived now many years the Lord he shal have no end at al but though thou livest long yet it wil be said within a little time such an one lived so many years and is dead as it is in Gen. 5. There Methuselah and others lived thus and thus many years and Adam and others and they died And I have read of one that hearing that Chapter read that such an one lived so many hundred years and he died and such an one lived so many hundred years and he died it made such an impression upon his spirit as took him off from al the things of the world and caused him to mind the provision of his eternal estate and was the cause of his conversion by reading the years of so many mens ages and yet they dyed Remember it must be said one day such a man was seventy or eighty years Old and he dyed but God abides for ever we are but as grass And therfore if God wil have honor put upon you because of your Age put you honor upon God because of his eternity God he can have no time added to his time there is no succession of time with him God cannot be said to have continued or to have lived a longer time now than he did live before the world began there is no time added to him he is beyond all measure of time and it is good for us when we injoy any continuance of time in any comfort to worship the eternal God to have our hearts to delight in that eternal God that is beyond al time It is a very observable place that we have in Genesis concerning Abraham it is in Gen. 21 That when Abraham had been going up and down a while and afterwards had a resting place the text saith Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba that notes that he was to abide where he planted a grove and what then and he called there upon the name of the Lord the everlasting God This is the first time that God is called in Scripture the everlasting God and then did Abraham call upon the name of the Lord the everlasting God when God did grant unto him â—ome abiding in that place where he was that he could stay and plant a grove Hath God caused an abiding in you that you have lived a long time in this Ciâ—y in a prosperous condition do you learn to cal upon the name of God the everlasting God give honor to the eternal God But we must pass from this first point though it be a point of great use yet the second is the principal The hoary head is a crown Glory but when When it is found in a way oâ— righteousness That is the Second Doct. 2. That it is the way of righteousness that puts the Crown of Glory indeed upon the hoary head That is the Diamond that is a top of the Crown if the hoary head be an honor this is the honor of that honor if it bee a Crown righteousness it is the Crown of that Crown Mensura vitae non
if thou thinkest that this is an argument of Reconciliation No the bottom of Reconciliation is non imputation Hast thou an evidence to thy Soul that God hath revealed Christ to thee and that in his Son he hath imputed thy sin to thee and do'st thou build thy peace upon that This wil hold Many build their peace upon this that their sins are not so and so great as others are What of that if it be but one sin that thou art guilty of though it be of the least nature yet if it be imputed to thee it is enough to make thy Soul and God eternally enemies Others there are whose sins were committed a great while ago and they have worne out the trouble of them now they are quiet and at peace But O! let them know there is stil the debt remaining upon the score it is not taken of And as a man that may stay a long while before he cals for his debt may cal for it when he pleaseth and first or last wil do it So thou hast gotten thy selfe into a kind of peace and worne out the trouble of thy conscience yet know that so long as thy sins are upon the score and are not wiped off God wil cal for payment sooner or latter therefore pleace not thy self in any things in the world as the ground of thy peace but thy being reconciled unto God in Christ he not imputing thy sins unto thee CHAP. 39 The Ministers Commission to Preach Reconciliation to the World We now pass on to the next thing And that is the Commission for declaration of this Doctine of Reconciliation with God in Chrst in the last words of the 19. verse And hath committed unto us the word of Reconcilation God hath committed unto us I find the words in the Original different from that they are read in your English Bibles the word Committed is and put into us so the words are put in this word of Reconciliation so if you read it word for word according to the Original Text it is thus And he hath put in us the word of Reconciliation But because this kind of reading would seem to be somthing harsh in our English phrase therefore the Translators have translated it thus And hath committed to us but the Original exprsses it in this manner to shew what it is that is needful to a Minister of the Gospel that he should have the Doctrine of Reconciliation to sink deep into his own heart first that so when he comes to speak to the hearts of other men he may speak from the heart and so to the heart the word that comes from heart we say goes to the heart therefore it is of great use that one that is a Minister of the Gospel should have the word of Reconciliation the mysteries of the Gospel deeply rooted in his heart that when he comes to speak to the people he may speak it not meerly from his tongue and head but from his heart eâ—perimentally that his heart may be in his ministry that so it may be more effectuall to go to the heart of the people to whom he speaks and that expression is somwhat like to this 1. Gal. 16. verse in the 15. verse it is said But when it pleased God who seperated me from my Mothers Womb and called me by his Grace to reveal his Son in me To reveal his Son in me he doth not say to reveal his Son to me but in me so the words are so that indeed it doth befit a Minister of the Gospel to be a profitable Minister when Jesus Christ comes to be revealed in him And so much for the expression hath committed unto us that is put in us the word of reconciliation As if the Apastle should say whereas the Lord hath been from al eternity plotting as it were the great work of reconciling the world unto himself in that great mistery of godliness doing of it in Christ and this is the work that above al things concerns the glory of God and the good of Soules and the Lord hath been pleased to appoint some select messengers for to carry this his name about the world and to shew unto the world what those glorious counsels of his wil hath been from al eternity concerning the Children of men this great Doctrine of reconciling the world unto himself in Christ is the very buisness that we are sent about the world for and are as the Embassadors of Christ to come and in his name to treat with the world about Reconciliation with God about making up their peace with God so that here you have the work of the Ministers of the Gospel what great things are committed to the Ministers of the Gospel He hath committed unto us the ministery of Reconciliation that is the work so that from hence the point is this according to the words of the text Doct That the Ministery of Reconciliation with God is committed unto the Ministers of God to preach unto the World The Ministers of God have a comission both from the Father Son and Holy Spirit to preach the Doctrine of Reconciliation to the people for here we have it in the very words which follow We are Embassadors of Christ as if God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be you Reconciled to God for Father Son and Holy Spirit is likewise in the commission of Gods Ministers when they come to preach in the name of God and that you have in Nehem. 9.20 Thou gavest thy good spirit It was the Prophet that came to instruct them it was the Spirit of God in the Prophet that did instruct them So that the Ministers of God have their commission from the Father from the Son and from the Holy Spirit to come to the people and to reveale the great counsels of God unto them they are sent by the whole Trinity unto the people here is their commission you have it clearly But the commission is more imediately from Christ though there is the Father Son and Holy Spirit in it yet it is more imediatly from Christ because Christ is the great Prophet of the Church it is part of the prophetical office of Christ to have the great counsel of God his Father in the mistery of our Reconcilliation to be opened to the people Christ was first annointed and then he doth as it were annoint other officers to this great work in Isa 61. There you shal find the great Prophet he is first annointed The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath annointed me To what To Preach good tidings unto the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken heart to proclaim liberty to captives and the opening of the Prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable yeare of the Lord and the day of Vengence of our God to comfort all that mourne to appoint unto them that mourne in Sion to give unto them beauty for ashes