I.

To Exhort Young Men to be Sober-minded. And they have certainly great need of it, because there are so few that are so. The younger sort is sadly corrupted, and vitiated ever from their tender Age. They have imbibed loose Prin­ciples, that may best comport with loose Inclinations, and suit to their Lusts. And as they grow up in Years, they grow up as fast in Folly and Rashness. They do not love [Page 12] Advice, and Detest sober Counsel, and hate to be check­ed in their Pursuits and Appe­tites: and are apt to despise and scoff at their Elders, and to think themselves far wiser than they: That they may the more securely and uncon­trollably follow their Vanities. And so they commonly stain their Souls with grievous Blots of Sin and Wickedness. It is a sad Consideration indeed to observe how viciously disposed the Youth of our Age for the most part is. And it is a rare thing to see a Man young in Years, Sober, and Modest in his Manners, Ingenuous in his Behaviour, choosing good Courses, and treading in the Steps of Virtue. This I say [Page 13] is somewhat rare to see; scarce one in a Thousand. And this I speak, not only of the Youth of the common sort, but of the Superiour Ranks and Degrees among us: the Children of Worshipful and Honourable Families: Who, if they live, must have a great Influence upon many their Dependents, their Servants, Tenants, and Inferiours, that will follow their Example. So that whole Towns, whole Counties, the whole Kingdom is in danger to be corrupted and spoiled by their Means.

And therefore surely there is high Reason most earnestly to deal with Youth by all the Ways and Means possible, to Season their early Years with [Page 14] Sobriety, to excite them to be Wise, and to lay Restraint upon themselves, and to pre­vail upon them not to run out into those Excesses of Riot and Wantonness that others do. To all Young Men there­fore, I say, as St. Paul did to young Timothy; Flee also youth­ful Lusts. But follow Righte­ousness, Faith, Charity, Peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure Heart, 2 Tim. II.22. Flee these Lusts, as ye would flee from a Serpent. For they have as much deadly Ve­nom. But that my Exhorta­tion may take the better Ef­fect,

II.

I shall in the next place pro­pound divers Motives and Considerations for this Pur­pose.

1. Let young Men consider Seriously what Obligations lye upon them from God. Oh! let them remember how pecu­liarly good and gracious he hath been to them. And will not they express their Sense of Gratitude to this their good God, by being Sober, and keeping his Commandments? It was his Goodness that brought them into the World, and provided them kind and indulgent Parents, that che­rished them, and most tender­ly [Page 16] brought them up in their helpless Infancy. Their help­less Infancy I say. For a Hu­mane Creature of all others, when it is first born, is most unable to help it self, and must inevitably perish from the very Womb, without the mere Mercy of God encline others to interpose their tender Care of it, to feed, and cloath, and keep it warm, and defend it from Injury. This is God's Goodness, thus to incline the Hearts of others to us in this poor forlorn State wherein we are cast, when we first come into the World.

And it is God's Goodness still to us, that under all the Troubles and Sorrows we cre­ate our Parents and Friends, [Page 17] and our many unhansome and disobliging Carriages towards them, while we are thus young, their Tenderness and Patience towards us still per­severes and holds out. And as we grow up in Days and Months, and Years, they take care of our Youth, to Educate and Instruct us, and to Sup­ply us with whatsoever we need, Streightning themselves for our Accommodation; and procure to have us informed in such Knowledge, Arts and Sciences, as may enable us to provide for our Selves, and to live comfortably when they are dead and gone, and can take no more Care of us.

These Instincts of Love, Tenderness and Kindness, are [Page 18] all owing to God, that inspi­red our Friends and Relations with these Indulgences to­wards us.

Moreover, 'tis his Goodness to thee, O Young Man, that he hath made thee a Rational Creature; given thee Reason and Understanding, and ad­vanced thee above the Rank of inferiour Creatures; That teacheth thee more than the Beasts of the Earth, and maketh thee Wiser than the Fouls of Heaven, Job xxxv.11. It is Elihu's Contemplation.

Again, It is his Goodness to thee, O young Man, that when thou hast not remem­bred thy Creator, but hast so often, and so sadly forgotten him, he hath spared thee, and [Page 19] not punished thee with some grievous Judgment in the Act and Commission of thy Sin. Thou hast broken his holy and awful Commandments (it may be from the first Com­mandment to the last) not­wlthstanding thou hast known them, and been taught them by thy Parents, and by thy Instructers. Nay, and in the mean while thou hast been so far from Repentance, that thou hast hardly been sensible what a young Rebel thou hast been to thy great and good God. And yet he hath forbore to strike thee, as he justly might.

This, and a great deal more might be added to shew, what mighty Obligations young Men lye under to their Maker. And [Page 20] should not this stir them up to love and fear him, and to re­strain themselves from doing any thing to offend and anger him; but rather to lead their future Lives in that Sobriety, Care and Watchfulness, that would be so acceptable to him?

2. Young Men have a Pro­spect of a longer Tract of Time to live, than the more Elderly. And therefore Sobriety is ne­cessary for them, that they may order and dispose them­selves, that the Series and Course of their Lives may be comfortable and happy to them. Which it cannot be, if Men begin with Vice and Licentiousness. Man's Life is a Race. Now if a Man were [Page 21] to run a Race, and should set out with all the Violence and Irregularity that ever he could, he were like to Tire before he were got half way: And so should render all the rest of his Way very wearisome and irk­some to him. But if he be­gan with more Deliberation, and set out with more Sobrie­ty, he would with more Ease and Comfort hold out all along the rest of the Way he was to go. And just so it is with our Lives. Most Men set out this Race of humane Life with a violent Propension to Evil, and a continual Gratification of the Lusts and Desires of the Flesh; Spend their Health, and their Credit, and their Estates often­times too, in Debauchery and [Page 22] Disorder. And so the Thred of their Lives is either cut off in the midst, or if it be not, all the rest is spent in Vexation and Trouble, in Sickness & Sorrow, in Poverty, and a Thousand Miseries, that our first and early Follies have drawn upon us.

And therefore, O young Man, as thou wouldst pass that Life that God hath allotted thee in this World, (how long or how short soever it be) with Peace and Comfort, the best way is to begin it well, and to avoid those Follies and Errors that are so apt to defile that Age. For

3. Consider further, how the Sins of our Youth will cre­ate much Uneasiness and Sor­row afterward, when we grow [Page 23] further into years. And this will appear in these two re­spects.

First, God sometimes pu­nisheth a Man many years after for the Iniquities of his Youth. There be many Afflictions and Calamities that befall us from the Hand of God, which make our Lives not seldom very grievous unto us. And in our Search into the Causes of them, one Rank of them must be the Sins of our Youth. To this it was that Iob attributed his pre­sent Extremities, Iob xiii.26. Thou makest me to possess the Iniquities of my Youth. Iob was a good Man. He set God's Fear before his Eyes, and par­ticularly he was a Man of great Charity and large Compassion [Page 24] to all poor, necessitous People. And that made him speak so largely in his own Justificati­on. But yet he was it seems, in his early Age carried away as well as others with youthful Lusts and Pleasures, and did not remember his Creatour as he should have done in those days. And this he concludes was a Reason why God laid his Hand so heavy upon him: Thou makest me to possess the Ini­quities of my Youth. And that is the Observation that Zophar one of Iob's Friends, makes of those that begin early in Sin, That their Bones are full of the Sins of their Youth, Job xx.11. It seems to mean, those Diseases that the Sins of Men's Youth oftentimes leave behind them [Page 25] in their Bodies. It sticks to their very Bones; and is ap­pointed by God to be a severe Remembrancer, as long as they live, of the vile and wretched Courses that they took when they were young.

Why did David pray to God not to remember the Sins of his Youth? Remember not, Lord, the Sins of my Youth, Psal. xxv.7. Remember them not now, O Lord, in mine elder Age to punish me for them. David had left the Va­nities of his Youth, and was become a Man after God's own Heart; and yet David met with very great Afflictions and Sufferings; and God seemed [...]n them to have remembred the Sins and Follies of his [Page 26] Youth. For God, tho he Par­doneth Sins, and imputeth not unto us our former Iniquities, where he sees a penitent and reformed Heart and Life, yet it is seldom but he takes some temporary Punishments upon Man for them first or last. As he pardoned the Sin of the Golden Calf, yet when he Vi­sited, he would visit upon the Israelites that Sin. And therefore a good Man as long as he lives in his Prayers and Devotions, among the rest of his Sins, prays for the Pardon of his Youthful Sins, and that God would be merciful to him, and not punish him for them; which he very often doth, to the rendring the Christian's Life bitter unto him, it may be as long as he lives.

[Page 27] Secondly, The Sins of your Youth will create much Un­easiness and Sorrow to you, in respect of the Reflexions that your Consciences will make against you many years after. The Remembrance of your former Sins will be like a hea­vy Burden upon your Consci­ence. Conscience will put you in mind, it may be twenty, or thirty, or forty years after, of the Wickedness of your Youth; of your Lyes and Shifts to con­ceal your Extravagances, of your Disobedience and Obsti­nacy to your indulgent Parents, of your Scoffing at their good Counsels, of your Stealing from them to spend upon your Lusts, of the Griefs and Afflictions you have caused to their gray [Page 28] Heads; and of all the rest of your Uncleanness, of your Debaucheries and Excesses. And if you have any Grace in you, and have not utterly sin­ned away Conscience, these things will now and then fly in your Face, and be like so many Worms, to bite and sting your very Hearts.

I dare appeal for the Truth of this unto your Selves, (as many as God hath given Grace unto afterward to grow wiser and better) how your youth­ful Lusts and Sins do rise up sometimes and reproach and upbraid you; and the thoughts that you have been so bad, and committed so much Sin in se­cret, do still by Fits molest and trouble you. I have known a [Page 29] Person that hath condoled to me some particular Follies and Errors of his Youth thirty or forty years after, with exces­sive Bitterness and Anguish of Mind. And tho, as he told me, he had most heartily repented of those Rashnesses and Sins, yet the Conscience thereof made his whole Life uncom­fortable to him, and so inter­rupted his Devotions and Ser­vices of God, that he could not look up to him with any Comfort, but was so Self-con­demned, that he was afraid that God would throw all his Service like Dung back into his Face, because they pro­ceeded from so unworthy a Wretch as he had been.

[Page 30]And therefore let that be another Motive to young Peo­ple to take heed now to them­selves, that they preserve them­selves in Sobriety and Virtue, that they may not afterward have such severe Reckonings, and lay a Foundation of so much Trouble and Sorrow to imbitter their future Days.

4. On the other hand, consi­der the Comforts that will arise to Age from an innocent well-spent-Youth. When we come to Years, and begin to grow Gray, and our Age puts us in mind of our Mortality, and that we must not, can not tarry much longer in this World then we begin, I trust, to think seriously what sort of Enter­tainment we are like to meet [Page 31] with in the other World, and how God will look upon us when we come to dye; and how it is like to fare with us to all Eternity. And this will put us upon thinking on our past Lives. And our Thoughts will run back to our early years; how we led our Lives then; how God was sought and served by us from our Youth. And if after this Search we find, that God's Grace re­strained us from youthful Fol­lies, and that we remembred our Creator in the Days of our Youth; that we were just and honest, sober and clean, then there cannot happen a greater comfort to us: It will mighti­ly strengthen our hopes, that we are among the Number of [Page 32] God's Elect, and that our Lot is among the Just.

Besides, the Comfort of our Youth spent soberly and well, appears in this, that a Man hath kept up his Credit and Repu­tation throughout his whole Life; that from his Youth to his Old Age he hath constantly walked as became a good Man; that he hath never stained nor bespotted his Life with delibe­rate and habitual Sins and E­vils: that his Life hath been all of a piece, and his Youth hath not shamed his Old Age. What a Comfort and a Re­joycing will this be? There were two Sorts of Old Men among the Jews: One Sort were such as had lived loosly in their younger days, and af­terwards [Page 33] took up, and grew Sober and Wise. But there was another sort among them, whose Youth and Old Age both were well spent. They began well, and so they continued. These two Sorts of Old Men in one of the great Feasts at the Temple, used to stand in one of the Courts, and pro­nounce these Words: The for­mer sort said thus, Blessed be our Old Age, that hath made amends for the Sins of our Youth. But the latter said with more Comfort, Blessed be our Youth, that hath not shamed our Old Age. For indeed there is a Shame belongs to a Man as long as he lives, for the Intem­perance and Vices of his young­er Years. But when any of us [Page 34] have had the Grace to spend our young days well, it will be a Reputation and Honour unto our Old Age. And the Con­sideration of it, as it is matter of Thankfulness to God, that hath given us such Grace in our Youth, so it is matter of Peace and Comfort unto us, that we have kept up a fair Name in the World all our Days.

5. Young Men are subject to Death as well as the Elder. Nay, sometimes the younger are taken off, when those that are gone further into Age and Years remain behind. And therefore ought not they to be Sober, that whensoever they dye, they may not be taken unprovided? It is a foolish [Page 35] thing to put off the Purposes of a good Life on this Score, that Men are young, and may have many years more to live, because nothing is so uncertain as the Life of Man. And we see Thousands of Instances of Men, young in Years, strong in Body, vigorous in Health, cut down suddenly by Fevers, or some Accident or other: And they dye and go to their long home, as well as such who have lived to Gray Hairs. And what a sad thing would it be for a young Man to suffer him­self to be so cheated out of Heaven and Happiness, be­cause of the Conceit that he was young, and might have lived many years more? Oh! it ought to be every Man's [Page 36] Care above all his other Cares, to think of Death, and to pre­pare for the main Chance; that when he goes out of this World, he may pass into a better, and leave a good Name behind them. And of all the Madnesses of Youth, certainly this is one of the greatest, that they are so apt to put away the Day of their Death from them; and to indulge to all Sensuality, as tho they were sure of many future years; and to cry, that it will be time enough hereafter to grow So­ber. And then (Alas!) Death comes on a sudden, and sur­prises them with all their Sins and Faults, and Follies about them. And so they are undone to all Eternity.

[Page 37]And therefore it is the only wise Course for young Men to take, Viz. To Fear God in their Youth, and to Depart from Evil at this present Time, that in case Death should over­take them, as it hath done o­thers as young and flourishing as they, it may not endanger their Everlasting Well-being.

6. To name no more, in or­der to a sober Conversation, let young Men consider some notable Instances, of Persons that have been exemplarily good from their Youth. For, thanks be to God, however corrupt the Generality of Youth are and have been, yet there have been some admirable In­stances, of young Men that have begun, and held out well [Page 38] in a holy, chast, wise and God­ly Conversation. And methinks these Examples should inflame Youth to labour to imitate them, and to live and to do as they have done. Youth is apt to Aspire, and to be Ambiti­ous, and to reach after high things. Certainly there is no Ambition, no Aspiring, like that of endeavouring to come up to that Perfection and Glo­ry, that some young Men like themselves, have done.

What a brave young Person was Obadiah, one of Ahab's Courtiers. A wicked Prince, and a wicked Court; but yet Obadiah was not infected by either; but feared the Lord from his Youth, when almost all the rest had cast him behind [Page 39] their Backs. He would not turn Idolater, when the King and every one else did. No, he feared the Lord from his Youth. So he tells Elijah; But I thy Servant fear the Lord from my Youth, 1 Kin. xviii.11. And that made him do such an ad­venturous Act, to hide God's Prophets by Fifty in a Cave, and feed them with Bread and Water, when Iezabel had slain so many as she could find; and probably had made it Death to conceal them. And what a World of Good did that single good Man in those wicked Times? And that chiefly, because of that Fear of God which possessed his Mind from his Youth; and so influ­enced all his after-Age.

[Page 40]Again, What an incompa­rable Person was young King Iosiah; and what admirable Service did he do for God and his Honour, when his King­dom had been by the Default of former Kings, so polluted with Idolatry? What a Re­formation did he make in Iu­dah, when he was very Young? What Zeal for God was he en­dued withall; and how sweet is the Remembrance of him unto this Day, through so ma­ny successive Generations of the World? That a Man so young in years should have such a great Sense of God upon his Soul, and have the Courage to do so much for him. Of him thus doth Iesus [Page 41] the Son of Syrach speak, Ecclus. xlix.1, 2. The Remembrance of Josias is like the Composition of the Perfume that is made by the Art of the Apothecary. It is sweet as Hony in all Mouths, and as Musick at a Banquet of Wine. He behaved himself uprightly in the Conversion of his People (he means from their Idolatry) and took away the Abominations of Iniquity. He directed his Heart unto the Lord, and in the Time of the Vngodly he established the Worship of God. And that which was the Glory of all the rest, this he did even in his young and tender Age. In the Eighth Year of his Reign (that is when he was but Sixteen years old) while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of [Page 42] David his Father, 2 Chron. xxxiv.3. And in the Twelfth Year (that is, being but Twen­ty years of Age) he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high Places and the Groves, &c.

Iob also from his tenderest Age was disposed and addict­ed to Piety. He loved, and was tender of the Poor even from his Childhood; as he tells us himself: If I have with-held the Poor from their Desire, or have caused the Eyes of the Wi­dow to fail: Or have eaten my Morsel my self alone, and the Fa­therless hath not eaten thereof, Job xxxi.16, 17, 18. And then observe what followeth, For from my YOUTH, he (that is, the Fatherless) was brought up [Page 43] with me as with a Father. (From his Youth he was as a Father to the Fatherless.) And I have guided her (that is, the Widow before spoken of) from my Mo­ther's Womb. From my Mo­ther's Womb; he means, from his very first Age, when he was very young, he had a Love and a Compassion for poor Widows; and when he was but a Child, he shewed him­self a Father to Orphans. And as he grew on in years, still he persevered in the same charita­ble, compassionate Sense of their Wants; and according to his large Ability and Autho­rity, relieved them.

Such another early good Man was Iesus the Son of Syrach, who was the Compiler of that [Page 44] excellent Book of Ecclesiasticus, so replenisht with Sentences of great Wisdom, and Rules of Admirable Morality and good Life. This Man from his Youth thirsted after Wisdom, (that is, the Fear of God) and prayed to God to bestow it on him; and added his own En­deavour, and obtain'd it. Which he thus relateth to us himself, Ecclus. Li.13, &c. When I was yet young, or ever I went abroad, I desired Wisdom openly in my Prayer. I prayed for her be­fore the Temple, and will seek her out even to the End. Even from the Flower till the Grape was ripe, (that is, from the Spring of his Years till the Au­tumn of his Age) my Heart de­lighted in her; my Foot went the [Page 45] right way. From my Youth up I sought after her. And so he goes on relating his Youth spent in the Pursuit of Virtue. I purposed to do after her, and earnestly I followed that which was good. My Soul hath wrestled with her, and in my Doing I was exact. I stretched forth my hands to the Heavens above, and be­wailed mine Ignorances of her. I directed my Soul unto her, and I found her in Pureness; (that is, in my Pure Age, before the Defilements of Age corrupted it) I have had my Heart joyned with her from the Beginning. And this excellent young Man was Iesus the Son of Syrach.

But there was another young Iesus, greater than this Iesus, even our ever blessed Lord [Page 46] and Master CHRIST JESUS. We have not much recorded to us of his young years, till he came to display himself for the Messiah about the Age of Thirty. But what is set down in Holy Writ before that time concerning him, sheweth, how early his Piety appeared. It is said of the Days next after his Infancy, That the Child grew, and waxed strong in Spirit, filled with Wisdom, and the Grace of God was upon him, Luk. ii.40. However weak in Body, young in years he was, yet he was Strong in Spirit, and filled with Wisdom. And the next News you have of him was, that being but Twelve Years Old, when he and his Parents came to Ierusalem to Worship [Page 47] God, he goes into the Tem­ple, and sits among the Doctors to confer with them upon Points of Religion; and thought himself obliged so early to be occupied about his Father's Business. As he tells his Pa­rents that had lost him, and found him at last in the Tem­ple; Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's Business?

To all these admirable Ex­amples of excellent Young men in former Times, I will add one modern one; And that is of K. Edward VI. our English Iosiah. Of his rare Parts, and extraordinary Learning even in his Childhood, I shall not speak: But of his good Dispo­sition and Religious Mind, I shall make a little mention, for [Page 48] the enflaming of Youth, (espe­cially Youth of Nobility and Blood) to labour as much as they can to be such as he was. He was addicted to a Fear of God from his youngest years. And that appeared in the migh­ty Reverence he bore to the Holy Scriptures. When some­thing he was minded to have was somewhat higher than he could well reach, and one of his Play-fellows brought him a great Bible to stand upon, he refused it with Indignation, abhorrring to shew any such Irreverence towards that Holy Book, as he conceived it would be, if he should have trod up­on it.

He came to the Crown at the Age of Nine Years, and [Page 49] Two or Three Months; and there is an Author, that lived in those Times, Bal de Vir. Illustrib. and knew that young King well, that at his Coronation, when Three Swords were pre­sented to him, in token of the Three Kingdoms to which he was advanc'd, the Royal Youth said to the Nobles about him, that there was one Sword yet wanting. And when they asked him what that was, he answered, The Bible. ‘That Book, added he, is the Sword of the Spirit, and much to be preferred before these other Swords. He that Rules without it, is not to be called God's Minister, nor ought to bear the Name of King. [Page 50] Under that we ought to Live, to Fight, to Govern.’ And when he had said these, and the like Words, he com­manded the Bible to be brought and with the greatest Reve­rence to be carried before him.

When he was between Ele­ven and Twelve Years of Age, he wrote, without the Help of any Instructor, an ingenious Tract in French, against the Abuses put upon the World by Popery. Wherein by Rea­son and Variety of Places of Scripture, he confuted most of the Popish Errors.

Throughout his Short Reign, he had a peculiar Care of Re­ligion, and gave all Encou­ragement to the right Reform­ing and Settling of it on Scrip­ture Foundations.

[Page 51]He gave free Invitation and gracious Reception to all For­reign Professors of the Gospel, persecuted at home for their Religion. So that tho he were but a Child, he was a Father, a true Nursing Father, to God's Church and People. And truly it was not without a notable Providence of God, not to be forgotten, and which under God was the great Cause of the Preservation of the Re­formed Religion, that while the Gospel at that Time was miserably opprest, almost in all Parts of the World, in Flan­ders, in Germany, in France, in Spain, in Italy, in Poland (for in all these Countries the Reli­gion had already taken sooting) and Combinations were entred [...] [Page 48] [...] [Page 49] [...] [Page 50] [...] [Page 51] [Page 52] into by the Rulers of the World to extirpate it every where; England was in this King's Reign the common Asylum for Religious and Learned Men to fly unto. And hither they flocked daily both for Shelter and Subsistence. And Abun­dance of Annuities and Pensi­ons did the young Godly King grant unto them out of his own Treasures; and bestowed many of these Exiles in Places in the Church, and in both the Universities.

And such was his Care for the Education of Youth in good and Christian Manners, that during his Short Reign, which was not Seven Years, he founded more Schools throughout all Places of the [Page 53] Nation, than I believe did all the Norman Kings that Reign­ed before him put together. And I find that in little less then the space of twelve months he founded at least twelve Free-Schools. And his Care of the Education of Youth, further appeared in the Order he took in his own Family for his Henchmen, that is his Pages, and other Youths attending him. For whom he appoint­ed a School on purpose, and retained a Schoolmaster. And for his Encouragement assign­ed him a Salary for Life.

And as for his Charitable Mind, it was scarce to be pa­ralell'd. And this City feels the good effect of it to this day, and will do I hope to the [Page 54] World's End. For excited by a Sermon, which was preach­ed before him by Ridley the Martyr, then Bishop of Lon­don, he settled upon your City for the Relief of your Poor, the Hospital of St. Bartholomew, the Gray-Friars Church near Newgate, now called Christ's Hospital, and Bridewell the An­tient Mansion of the English Kings, and the Savoy too, with the Lands thereof. But this last Gift he lived not to finish. Yet he had such a real Inten­tion to pass it to the City, that he left it in his Will, That the Grant made to the Mayor and City of London touching the Savoy and the Lands thereof, should be performed.

[Page 55]And as he lived so he dyed, most piously and devoutly, re­commending most heartily himself and his Kingdoms to God. He had a grave and manly Mind in a Young Body. All Foreigners that saw or heard of him, admired him, and wrote vast Characters of him. Cardanus the great Phi­losopher, who saw and talked with him, reported in a print­ed Book, That all the Graces were in him, and that he lookt like the Miracle of a Man. Cae­lius Secundus Curio, another great learned Foreigner of Ba­sil, called him a Prince of Di­vine Hopes, and a Godlike Youth, adding, ‘That had he lived to adult years, and had come to the Government of the [Page 56] Kingdom, freed from the Tuition of his Courtiers, (which were none of the best) what Realm on Earth had been happier, what Nation ever more blessed? But God was minded only to shew him to the World, and suffer him no longer to abide in it.’ But I must refrain, begging your Pardons for saying so much, it being hard in such a pleasant Subject to contain my self.

To hasten to a Conclusion. Are not young Men stirred up by these brave Examples that I have set before them? Can they consider these Men, how well they began their Lives, how Serviceable and Zealous they were for God and his Glo­ry, [Page 57] and what Attainments they made in Virtue and Goodness, even in their tender Years; and are they not inflamed to follow such notable Patterns? Is it not more for their Repu­tation and Honour, for their Comfort and the Satisfaction of their Consciences, than to run with the Heard of Youth in this our evil Age towards all Loosness and Licentiousness, Filthiness and Uncleanness in their Words and Deeds, to the Pollution of their Souls, and the drawing down the Anger of God upon them.

III.

And now to make an end, I cannot think but that all in­genuous Youth, after all that I have said, will feel strong Inclinations in themselves to take the Apostles Counsel, to be Sober-minded: To Watch their Affections, to lay upon themselves the Bridle of Con­tinency and Modesty, to curb and rein up their Passions and their unruly Desires; to chuse the Fear of God rather than the Pleasures of Sin for a Sea­son. If you want direction in this Work; if you would know how you should keep your selves clean, David will teach you: Who asketh this need­ful [Page 59] Question, and answereth it full well: Wherewithal shall a Young Man cleanse his Way? By taking heed thereto according to thy Word, Psal. cxix.9. Or, according to the Old Transla­tion, By ruling himself after thy Word. Oh! Let God's Word be thy Guide and thy Rule. And then thou hast God him­self and his Holy Spirit to be thy Directer: Who is best able to instruct thee, and shew thee the Courses thou oughtest to take, and which will prove most advantagious to thee. Stir not an Inch from the Pre­scriptions of God's Word. Let that be thy Maxim and thy Principle.

'Tis a dangerous World we live in, and we ought to have [Page 60] our Wits about us, how to behave our selves in all the various Circumstances of hu­mane Life: lest by some Slip or Error, or Inadvertency in the Beginning of our setting out, we draw misery and trou­ble upon our selves ever after. And we ought to have some Wise Person to be our Coun­sellor for this Purpose. But there is no Counsellor so safe as God himself. And then we have him for our Counsellor, when we take his Word for our Rule, and ask Counsel there. Oh! therefore let all young Men diligently read the Scriptures, and make them their Study and their Practice. And let them never doubt to follow most strictly the Coun­sels [Page 61] and Admonitions thereof, however at first Sight they may seem inconvenient or dan­gerous to take. For be assu­red Integrity and Righteous­ness, Truth and Innocency, and an Awe of God, upon which all the Precepts of Holy Scripture are founded, will bear a Man out best at the last, and give our Lives the best Conclusion.

I conclude all therefore with the Son of Syrach's Exhortati­on to young Folks to get the true Wisdom; Draw near un­to me ye unlearned, and dwell in the House of Learning. Buy her for your selves without Mony. Put your Neck under the yoke, and let your Soul receive Instru­ction. She is hard at hand to [Page 62] find — Work your Work be­times (that is, while you are Young) and in his time he will give the your Reward, Ecclus. Li. 23, 25, 26, 30. Unto which Reward God Almighty bring us all, Amen.

I.

I shall shew Elderly Men what that Good Behaviour is that they should follow after, and make their Practice: And for that I shall refer my self unto the Apostle in the Text. I shall not offer mine own Conceptions here to the Aged, but what Paul the Aged, nay Paul the Saint, the Inspired, offers to them. He it is that would have them instructed to be 1. Sober, 2. Grave, [Page 71] 3. Temperate, 4. Sound in Faith, 5. Sound in Charity, 6. Sound in Patience. And that you may know the full Import and Meaning of each of these, which will make a very accomplisht Old Age, I shall speak of them distinctly.

I. Aged Men must be Sober. This Word our Translaters do interpret sometimes, To be Watchful, and sometimes, To be [...], Sober. And there­fore Bullinger in his Exposition of this Place useth both words, Vigilantes ac Sobrios. Which two Expressions may inform us of the full Sense and Mean­ing of it.

First, They must be Sober, that is, Abstemious in Drink; avoiding all Excess in that. [Page 72] That it may not impair their Health, nor their Understand­ing: Both which Age renders so infirm, and places in so un­certain and ticklish a Conditi­on. And therefore especially Men in Years should not be Drunkards or Sots, but use Wine or Strong Drink mode­rately. Which if they (espe­cially) take in too great Quan­tity, it will soon wear their Bo­dies out, and weaken their Minds, Memories, Judgments and Understandings. Which Age of it self will do at last, and needs not to be helped and furthered by our own Vices. And indeed to see an Old Man a Drunkard, to see him intox­icating himself, and falling in­to all the frantick and foolish [Page 73] Frolicks that that Sin draws with it, how odious is it; how unbecoming that Gravity that Years call for? And what an abominable ill Example will this give unto Children, and the younger sort? And what a Sport and Pastime will an old Drunkard render him­self unto such, who are called upon to reverence the Aged, and to respect Gray-Hairs? And what an Aggravation and weight of Guilt will it add un­to the old Man's Drunkenness, that he who by his Age ought to excel others, and to go be­fore them in a vertuous and so­ber Demeanour, should here­by invite them to Sin, and tempt them to follow him in these Excesses? A thing which [Page 74] Young People are very apt to do, viz. to follow such Exam­ples; especially if they have a Dependence upon the Elder: If they be their Masters, or Fa­thers, their Landlords, or Su­periors.

This then is one Sense of the word Sober, that is, Not ad­dicted to too much Wine, and to use no more than may tend to the supportation of Nature, and preserving the Body in Health.

Secondly, They must be so­ber, that is, they must be watch­ful. For so the word also sig­nifies. And therefore Watch, and be sober, are the Phrases that the Scripture puts toge­ther, as being very near of kin, or all one. Therefore let [Page 75] us not sleep, as do others; but let us WATCH, and be SO­BER: So St. Paul. 1 Thess. v.6. And so the Apostle St. Peter, 1 Pet. v.8. Be SO­BER, be VIGILANT, or Watchful. But in other places, this very Word, Be Sober, is translated Be watchful. So St. Paul exhorts Timothy, 1 Tim. iv.5. [...] Watch thou in all things. And so St. Peter, 1 Pet. iv.7. [...]. Watch unto Prayer. Where the word Watch is of the same Original, with the word Sober, in the Text. Hence we may infer, That the Meaning of this word, and perhaps the chief Meaning and Sense of it, re­lates to Watchfulness.

A great and a proper Duty [Page 76] and Exercise for Aged Men a­bove all others, To watch for their Lord's Coming, whose Time is so near spent in the course of Nature. To watch, and be in Expectation of their Departure into another World. To Watch unto Prayer, in the place before men­tioned, [...]. or In Pray­ers, as the Words may be rendred. That is, to be always praying unto God; lifting up their Hearts to him in holy and devout Ejacula­tions, spending much of their Time in converse with their Maker, and in earnest Ad­dresses to Him, to forgive un­to them all their past Errors; to beg and implore his Grace to be their Comfort in their [Page 77] old Age, and that He would not leave them in the needful time of their Trouble, their Sickness, their Pain, their Dy­ing Hour.

Again, They must be watch­ful, to keep themselves clear and free of Sin, to preserve themselves in a holy, blameless Behaviour; that they may be fit to meet the Lord, and to make their personal Appear­rance before their Judge, which they are so suddenly to do. And therefore Let not them sleep as do others, but let THEM (especially) Watch, and be Sober, as the Apostle advises all Chri­stians, 1 Thess. v.6.

This Watchfulness also con­sists in their diligent Atten­dance upon all God's holy Or­dinances. [Page 78] As for Example, in a conscientious celebrating of God's Sabbaths, resorting unto the Places where his Honour dwelleth, with all Devotion and Seriousness of Soul; and and there hearing God's Word read and explained by his Mi­nisters, with an humble, obe­dient Ear; joyning their Hearts and their Mouths in the Pray­ers and Supplications that are put up there, for our selves, and for all the Wants and Necessi­cities of our Fellow-Christians; in an universal spreading Cha­rity: And as often as the holy Communion is administred, repairing unto God's Table, with Earnest Minds, and holy Affections, to partake of that comfortable Commemoration [Page 79] of Christ's Death, and Passion; whereby he hath procured of his Father the Pardon and Re­mission of our Sins, to our end­less Comfort and Benefit. And by these Ordinances, we draw near to God, and acquaint our selves with Him against the Time we hope for ever to dwell with Him, and to enjoy His Blessed Face. In these Or­dinances we hold a Communi­on with God, and God with us; and we do accustom our selves to those very Exercises, that, if ever God vouchsafe to bring us to Glory, shall be in effect our great Employment there.

Thus the Aged Men should Watch. And what a happy thing would it be for them, if Death should find them thus [Page 80] Watching. They should (and I hope they do) consider, that God will e're long send for them. And therefore it should be their Endeavour, that when­soever He doth send, He may find them upon their Knees, or at their Devotion, or busied in some holy, good, charitable, or at least warrantable, Exer­cise. And this is the first great Point of that Behaviour, that is so sutable to the Aged, That the Aged Men be SOBER, or Watchful.

II. The Aged Man must be Grave; that is, his Carriage and outward Deportment must be managed in that De­cency and Reverence, as may bespeak the inward Goodness of his Mind. He must so de­mean [Page 81] himself, that it may ap­pear, That there is within him a true Sense of God and Good­ness, and an Aversion to every thing that is foul, unjust and dishonest. All Lightness, Idle­ness, Vanity of Behaviour, Frothiness of Speech, Playing, Toying, Sporting, Chamber­ring and Wantonness in Words and Actions, and such like, so contrary to the Decorum of their Age; these things are by all means to be avoided by Men of Age and Years, so dissonant to Gravity. There must be a Severity in their Behaviour: They must not endure to see or to hear any thing that is im­modest, or unseemly, much more that is vile and wicked. And if they are Magistrates, [Page 82] they must shew their Dislike of it, by punishing and cor­recting it: If of more ordinary Rank and Quality, they must reprove it, or withdraw them­selves from it, or give some plain Evidence of their Dis­allowance and Disapprove­ment of it.

There is a Lightness, and Frothiness of Conversation, which this present Generation of Ours is too much addicted to. And it is this in a great measure, (more than most are aware of) that doth so indis­pose and prejudice Men against Religion; which indeed will not away with it. For that is a Serious and Solid thing. It will not allow of that Airiness of Behaviour, that Vanity and [Page 83] Idleness of Speech, and Trivial Conversation, that is in too great Fashion and Vogue a­mong us. It was a Saying of one of the Fathers, Ludicra Chri­stianorum de­bent esse seria. Even the Sportings of Christians ought to have a kind of Seriousness in them. Every Man should do that which becomes him. And there is nothing becomes a Christian, but what is virtuous, what is just, what is innocent, and what is modest, and what hath the stamp of Truth and Goodness on it. A Heathen gave us this Advice: Quod bonum est, hoc tantum te decere puta. Reckon that nothing becomes you, but what is good. And it is the Apostle's admirable Councel to his Philippians, in [Page 84] the Conclusion of his Epistle to them; Whatso­ever things are true, Phil. iv.8. [...]. whatsoever things are HONEST, (The word in the Text) i. e. Whatsoever things are Grave, or Decent, or Agreeable to your most ho­ly Profession) Think on these things,

This then ought to be the Deportment of all Christians, all that have taken on them Christ's holy Name; but chiefly all Elderly People. Their Years call upon them to be Grave; countenancing what is Good, discountenancing what ever is Evil. Which will shew the inward Good, and Godly Tem­per of their Minds and Spirits. The aged Men must be Grave, [Page 85] or Serious: that is their second Qualification.

III. They must be Tempe­rate. An Aged Man must be a Man of Temper. Temper in his Passions. He must not be testy, morose, and froward: a Vice to which Old Men are wont to be addicted. He must not be a Demea, as he in Te­rence, a peevish, fretful, capti­ous Man. He must not be a Nabal, as he in the Book of Sa­muel, such a Son of Belial, that a Man cannot speak to him. There must be a Temper also in his Wrath. He must not let that impotent Passion rule him, and carry him beyond all the bounds of Reason and De­cency, and hurry him away in­to Transports. Which com­monly [Page 86] make a Man utter many blasphemous Oaths and Curses, take up wicked and ungodly Resolutions, and put him for­ward to unchristian Revenges, and implacable Animosities. This also an Aged Man must take heed of.

There must also be a Tem­per in his Desires of Earthly things. It is highly disbecom­ing a Man that is going into another World, to be griping and scraping for the Things of this. To oppress and vex his Creditors, his Tenants, his Underlings; to prog and cark for Wealth, and to fill his Bags, and to labour night and day for more and more of these fading Riches, and in the mean [Page 87] time to neglect the true Riches, that will make a Man rich to God, and furnish him with Treasures that will do him good in another World.

Thus the Aged must be Temperate. [...]. The Word indeed sig­nifies, and is often translated Sober; and is the same Word with that in the sixth Verse, where Young Men are exhor­ted to be Sober-minded. It seems Sobriety is a Duty ne­cessary to be urged both upon Old and Young: That is, both ought to lay Restraint upon their Lusts and Passions, to govern their Appetites, to keep themselves within due Bounds, and to be temperate in all [Page 88] things: Which is the true No­tion of Sobriety. For the Old as well as the Young are apt to fly out, and to go beyond their due limits, that God and Nature hath set them: And so to draw Misery, Trouble, Guilt and Destruction in the end, upon themselves. That is the Third: The Aged must be Temperate, or Sober.

The three other Directions for Aged Men that remain, do more particularly respect them as they are Professors of Chri­stian Religion: Which mainly consists in Faith, in Charity, in Patience. And therefore Aged Christians should be sound in all these Graces. Age hath ren­dred them frail, and weak in their Bodily Strength; but [Page 89] they must not be so in their Graces, but SOUND in them. And the longer they live, to the more Healthfulness in Spirit, and Soundness in all Christian Vertues they must aspire: And especially they must be sound in these three.

I. In Faith: That is, in the Christian Doctrine. They must hold fast Christ's Truth; that which is call'd Sound Doctrin, in the first Verse of this Chap­ter. This they must Hold fast, and maintain in their old Age, and not let go those holy Do­ctrines, that they have been taught, that Form of sound Words, wherein they have been instructed. And not as some are wont to do in their elder Years, to Aposta­tize [Page 90] and Backslide, and to for­sake the ancient Truth for new Doctrines, and be carried away with errors, by the subtile In­vention of Deceivers and false Prophets, that come in Sheeps Cloathing. But the Aged who are come to Maturity of Years, should be of Mature Judg­ment, and to be too well grounded and principled in the Truth, to be inticed away by such as lay in wait to deceive unstable Souls. Thus the Aged must be sound in Faith.

Or else he must be sound in Faith, taking Faith to signify more particularly Faith and Trust in God. When Age comes upon us, and various In­firmities, Pains and Sicknesses attend it, and Troubles and [Page 91] Cares do now more than ever oppress our Minds; and the Reflexions it may be upon the infinite Miscarriages of our past Lives deject us, what need have we then of this Faith in God, to enable us to rely up­on him, and his Goodness, and his Promises? What need to put a firm Trust and Confi­dence in him? To have an Eye of Faith to see him that is invisible, and a Hand of Faith, to take fast hold of him, and not to let him go? I mean to be possest with a good and well grounded Assurance, that he will not leave us in our Old Age, nor lay to our charge the Sins and Follies of our past Life, since we have repent­ed of them, and forsaken [Page 92] them. And this is to sound be in Faith.

II. In Charity. Aged Men above all, who are going into another World, must not harbour Malice in their Hearts against any; but reduce themselves to an hearty Love, and Good-will to every Man universally. The Man of Years must be endued with that [...], that Well-pleasedness of Mind to others, that [...], that Friendly Affection to Mankind, that God hath de­clared himself to have towards us all. For he is going, as he hopes, to that God. And if he be not of that gracious, kind Temper that he is of, he must never expect to see his Face, nor to dwell in his Presence. [Page 93] For we must be like him, if ever we intend to live with him.

III. Lastly, he must be sound in Patience. In Faith, in Cha­rity, and in Patience. Patience in the New Testament often signifies Perseverance in the Faith of Christ, and Persistance in well-doing, notwithstand­ing all the Discouragements and Persecutions of an evil World: Upholding a Man's self by the strong and vigorous Expectation of the infinite Re­wards to be bestowed in God's good Time. And this Patience, or patient Expectation, the Aged should be sound in: Waiting for the Time when his God shall call him to him­self to bestow upon him a [Page 94] Crown of Life, and say to him, Well done, Good, and Faithful Servant, enter into the Ioy of thy Lord. He must be sound and strong in this Patience.

Or else, he must be sound in Patience, as it importeth a quiet bearing of Sufferings and Pains, and Afflictions: Which in Old Age are wont to be more and greater than at any other Time. He must not be fretful and peevish under the Weakness and Infirmities of Old Age. He must not be an­gry, and displeased, and fro­ward under the Calamities that lye upon him: but bear them with an even and con­stant Spirit, with Equanimity and Silence, not opening his Mouth in Impatience: As re­membring [Page 95] that it is but the condition of Humane Nature; and that it is what comes from God, for the Correction of our Faults, and for the Exercise of our Patience, and the Tryal of our Graces. And after this manner should the Aged be sound in Patience.

And thus I have, under the Direction of this excellent Text, shewn what that be­coming and truly Christian Behaviour is, that Men should exercise, when Age and Years are come upon them.

II.

I am now to endeavour by Arguments and Considerations to excite the Aged to this wise [Page 96] and good Demeanour. And for this purpose I shall lay before them these five or six Things.

I. Age expects Honour and Reverence to be pay'd it. And that deservedly; and the Scripture requires it: Thou shalt rise up before the hoary Head, and honour the Person of the Aged. And God did most signally once punish a parcel of loose Youths, for despising an aged, holy Man, and crying to him in Derision, Go up, thou bald Pate, Go up, thou bald Pate, 2 King. ii.23. They were torn in pieces, Forty Two of them at once by Bears out of the Wood: A Warning to all succeeding Generations of the World, that the younger are to respect and reverence the [Page 97] Aged. There is in truth a De­ference to be given to Years: and we do with good Reason require it from the younger Sort.

But Alas! mere Age with­out some other Qualifications, will reconcile to us little Ho­nour. An old Drunkard, an old Sot, an old Humorist, an old Sinner; who can honour such, who have in that man­ner dishonoured themselves, and treasured up Shame to their Old Age? But when Age is accompanied with Gravity and Wisdom, and the Fear of God, that makes Age to be truly Honourable; and all Men will rise up to such an Hoary Head. His Hairs are a Crown of Glo­ry to him. The Hoary Head is [Page 98] a Crown of Glory, if it be found in the way of Righteousness, Prov. xvi.31. When a Man walks in the way of Righteousness, and holds out therein unto old Age, that is the way to make Men revere and honour him: and that not only in the Body and the outward Deportment to give them Respect, but in­wardly, to Love and Affect them.

II. We expect to find Wis­dom and Counsel with the Aged. Years teach Wisdom; and Men that have lived a great while in the World, and seen Changes and Vicissitudes in Towns, in Cities, in Fami­lies, in Kingdoms, make Ob­servations hence, and learn much Experience, and treasure [Page 99] up to themselves Understand­ing, and are able to give Ad­vice, Counsel and Instruction. And therefore Princes usually make use of the Aged for their Counsellors, to consult with them about their weighty Matters, as they do of the younger Sort for Action. And surely that Man hath spent his Years to little purpose, that is a Child in his Old Age; and tho he wears a Gray Head, hath still but a Boys Under­standing; that is rash and foolish, vain and frothy still, after he hath lived it may be Fifty or Sixty Years. What will ye never be Wise? Never know how to govern your Tongues, and your Appetites? Never be Men, capable to [Page 100] Counsel and Avise your selves as long as ye live? To what purpose have ye spent so ma­ny a fair year, and seen so much? To be Fools at last, and to dye as Fools dye, in their Sins and Follies?

We use to say, every Man at Thirty Years of Age is ei­ther a Fool or a Physitian: That is, by living so long he hath learned by Experience the State and Condition of his own Body; so that he is be­come in a tolerable sort able to be his own Physitian, to know what is good and what is bad for him; Or else he is a Fool. But how many are there that have lived to Thirty Years of Age twice told, that are very sorry Physitians to their Souls, [Page 101] and but mere Fools still; void of all Understanding to take the proper Courses for their Souls Welfare? To such elder­ly Fools I may, I think, cry out as Wisdom doth, O ye sim­ple Ones! how long will ye love Simplicity? Prov. i.22. How long? What? to Old Age? What? to the Day of your Death? This ye see, O ye Aged Men, reflects closely upon your Understanding at this Time of Day. For with the Aged we all look for Wis­dom and Counsel. But

III. To pursue this Argu­ment a little further. Aged Men and Women have lived long enough to be thorowly convinced of the Vanity of the World, and of the miserable [Page 102] Issues of Sin. And will they not yet be Sober, Grave, Tem­perate?

First, They have seen by long Experience the Vanity of this World. So that methinks they should be able to say as David did, I have seen an end of all Perfection, Psal. cxix.96. And as Solomon, I have seen all the Works that are done under the Sun, and behold all is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit, Eccl. i.14. All these Things that Men are apt to set their Hearts upon, to mind too much, to the neglect of their Duty to God and to their Neighbours, and to them­selves: to pursue Night and Day by Right and by Wrong: Imagining Honour & Wealth, and these fading Pleasures of [Page 103] the World to be brave things. And alas! in the End they are but mere Vanity, and Vexa­tion of Spirit.

They are Vanity. They are vain, they are false, they are lying. They deceive us: they promise us more than they can perform. Or else they are Vain, they fly away from us, and leave us in a Fools Para­dise.

And they are Vexation of Spirit. They Vex and Disturb us; they gall and chafe us a Thousand Ways; and our Spirits find no Rest, no Satis­faction in them. Doth not every Aged Person, that hath lived any considerable time in this World, perceive and learn this by the Observations he [Page 104] hath made in himself and in others?

And therefore is it not time now for him, (if he hath not hitherto been so) to be Sober, Grave and Wise, considering the long Experience he hath had of these Vanities of the World, and how it hath fru­strated his Expectations.

Secondly, Aged Men have also seen by long Experience, the miserable Issues of Sin: and will they still continue in it, and never forsake it? Have they in their Time seen Hun­dreds and Hundreds undone and ruined by it, and yet will they follow them, and take no Warning still? Have they in their Days seen Thousands of Sinners fall on their Right [Page 105] Hand, and Ten Thousands on their Left, by their own Follies and vicious Practices? Have they beheld, how God hath met with those that have set themselves against him by wicked Works, and hath struck them down with his Mighty Hand? And this done some­times in such a manner, as if God had intended that all might see it and take Warning. Have they not seen, how God hath cut off the Posterity of the Wicked; and how Riches got by Wrong, Knavery and Oppression, have not continu­ed? Have they not had abun­dance of Experience of these and the like remarkable Con­clusions of Sin and Violation of God's most holy Laws and [Page 106] Precepts? What Advantages are these administred to the Aged to make them Sober and Wise, to leave those Follies that to their Knowledge others have so smarted for?

And it ought to be look'd upon by them as the wonder­ful Grace of God to them, that he hath spared them so long, to see and be convinced of these things; that they may repent, and dedicate their Old Age unto God and his Ser­vice.

IV. How many remarkable Providences hath God exer­cised the Aged with through the long Course of Life they have lived? And to what Purpose, but to remind them of him, to reclaim them from [Page 107] some evil Ways they have chosen, to make them recol­lect themselves, repent and amend, to grow wise and good? It is Religious, to look upon all the Notable Accidents of our Lives as peculiarly com­ing from God for holy and good Ends towards us. And it is a great Fault in Men, when they have escaped some imminent Danger, or obtain­ed some extraordinary Bene­fit, or fallen into some sad Sickness, or Calamity, I say, it is a great fault in any, when it thus happens to them, not to acknowledge God in this, nor to see his Hand; but to pass it over stupidly, without any particular Contemplation of God, or Remembrance that [Page 108] this was his Doing; This is highly blameworthy. As Iacob spake in another Case, Surely God was in this Place, so ought we to say upon any extraor­dinary Providence, Surely God was here; The Finger of God was in this Deliverance. In this Emergence God called me to remembrance. This severe Stroke was God's Rod: This Loss was God's Correction, to bring me from such or such Sins, to which I have been too much addicted.

Of these remarkable Provi­dences of God we have all par­took, but most of all they that have lived long in the World. If they would but bethink themselves, what a vast Num­ber of them hath happened in [Page 109] their Lives? What long Sto­ries may they tell of the Deal­ings of God with them; what a Train of Mercies hath fol­lowed them; What Straits he hath delivered them out of; What Preservations he hath wrought for them even in the very Jaws of Destruction? How hath he brought them up even from the Valley of the Shadow of Death? How hath he sometimes given them that which they have most earnest­ly sought for and desired, to the infinite Comfort and Satisfaction of their Lives? And how hath he it may be sometimes not granted them that which they desired, out of Mercy and Goodness. Which Desire if they had had fulfilled [Page 110] to them, would have proved their Undoing, or their per­petual Affliction. Such ill Choosers we oftentimes are for our selves. How many, sun­dry and various have these Dispensations of God been to Aged Men? And should not all this make them turn to God, Love him, and Fear him, and adhere to him, and frame the last Scene of their Lives to such Courses as may please him?

V. What a sad Sign will he give of desperate Stupidity and final Impenitency, that still even in his Old Age lyes soak­ing in his Sins, and wallowing in the Mire of his unclean Lusts and Passions? I know that God hath determined to de­stroy [Page 111] thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my Counsel, said the Prophet to Amaziah, 2 Chron. xxv.16. And we may say to the same effect, We know too, that God hath purposed to destroy a Man, when his Wickedness continues with him in his Old Age; and the last Days he hath to live in this World are even of the same Thred with the former: And negligently enough spent. One may con­clude it some judicial Obdura­tion sent from God upon a Sin­ner, when his Old Days are his worst Days, and the longer he lives the Worse he is. When under all the Means of Grace, and the Calls of God by his Ministers for many hundred [Page 112] of Sabbaths that he hath lived, he remains like a Stock or a Stone, and hath not left a Sin, nor parted with one Folly, to which he was addicted be­fore.

Oh! lay this to heart, and tremble all you Aged People, that are Aged in Sin too. It looks I say like a desperate Stu­pidity, or a Judgment of Im­penitency sent upon you by God in terrible Justice.

VI. Lastly, Antient Folks are drawing near that solemn day, when they must depart out of the World, and give up to their Judge an Account of the spending of their Lives. They are as St. Paul speaks of himself, ready to be offered up, and the Time of their Dissoluti­on [Page 113] draweth nigh. Should it not therefore be their Care to bring themselves to such a Frame as to be able to say, as he doth upon the same occasion, I have fought the good Fight, I have finished my Course, (or my Race) I have kept the Faith; Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness, 2 Tim. iv.7, 8. O happy that antient Man that can sustain his Soul in these Contempla­tions! that can look back upon his past Life with Comfort, and that can look forward up­on the Life he is entring into without Fear. Whose sincere Love to God casts out that Fear that hath torment in it, that tormenting Fear of Hell, and of going into everlasting [Page 114] Perdition, the sure Reward of a loose exorbitant Life.

The Aged are waiting till their Change cometh. The Sands of their Glass are wast­ed: their Strength and Vigour abated: Diseases and Infirmi­ties creep upon them; and they know their Time here cannot be long: and they have one Foot, as we say, in the Grave already. Doth it not infinitely concern them to be Sober, Grave, Temperate, Sound in Faith, in Charity, in Patience? That when God comes and calls for them, they may be found in him, and re­ceive his Well done, good and faithful Servant.

And thus I have finished those Considerations that I [Page 115] had to recommend unto the Aged in order to the rendring them Sober and Virtuous.

III.

And nothing now remains, but to make some Conclusion of this Discourse. Which must be by way of Address to those elderly Persons that hear me this Day.

You O Fathers and Brethren! are by the great Patience and Favour of God, arrived to Ma­turity of years; You have seen Abundance of Chances and Changes in your Days. You have seen wonderful Revolu­tions in Kingdoms and States. You have seen the Policies of the World baffled, and strange [Page 116] Disappointments happening to humane Affairs: And even there where Men have been most confident: And many other Things of such a Nature, that you cannot but acknow­ledge an Almighty Hand and Wisdom therein. You must own that there is a great King that sits above, and that con­trouls all Sublunary Things, and exerciseth a notable Pro­vidence among us; and takes particular Notice of Men and their Doings. And do not you fear and adore this great and mighty God? And whatsoever others do, those that have not seen so much of God's wondrous Works as you have, yet for your Part, you, I hope, Sancti­fy him in your hearts, and [Page 117] make him your Fear and your Dread. I write unto you Fa­thers, (or Antient Men) be­cause ye have known him that is from the Beginning, 1 Ioh. ii.13. St. Iohn takes it for granted, that Fathers, Men of Years and Experience, know him [...]hat is from the Beginning. They know him, that is, they so know him and have Experi­ence of his Doings, as to fear, serve and obey this God that is from the Beginning, from all Eternity.

O take you heed to your selves; and you that are Gray in Hairs, be not Gray in Sin. Carry not your Guilt with you to your Graves. But let your Years remind you of the years of Eternity. Make amends [Page 118] for the Vanities of your Youth, by the Sobriety and Discretion, and Godliness of your Old Age. Serve the Lord now at last with the most vigorous Affe­ctions, and dedicate the re­maining Sands of your Life t [...] his Glory. Let an aged Mi [...] be in an aged Body. And th [...] nearer you come to the end of your Days, make your selves the fitter for God. Become more Devout, more Serious▪ more frequent in Prayer and Meditation, and the more will­ing to depart and to be with Christ. Which God of his Mercy grant that we may do through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.