Lessons moral and Christian, for youth and old age in two sermons preach'd at Guildhall Chappel, London : chiefly intended for the use of this city / by John Stryp ...

Lessons moral and Christian, for youth and old age in two sermons preach'd at Guildhall Chappel, London : chiefly intended for the use of this city / by John Stryp ...

Table of contents

Title page

TO THE READER.

Admonitions TO YOUTH.

I.

II.

III.

Admonitions TO THE AGED.

I.

II.

III.

§

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LESSONS Moral and Christian, FOR YOUTH AND OLD AGE.

In TWO SERMONS Preach'd at Guildhall Chappel, London.

Chiefl [...] intended for the Use of this City.

Published at Request.

By JOHN STRYP, M. A. Vicar of Low-Leyton in Essex

LONDON, Printed for I. Wyat at the Rose in S. Paul's Church-yard, 1699.

TO THE READER.

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THO the publishing of Discourses of this Nature need no Apology, being designed for so good an End, to Reclaim, if possible, this degenerate Age of ours; yet in truth the Cause of the Author's Printing these Sermons, was a Letter sent him from some well-disposed [Page] Person, wholly unknown to him: Which is as follows:

SIR,

Hoping that you will not be offended at my Resolution, I make bold to acquaint you therewith; Which is as follows. That whereas you did Preach before the Honorable the Lord Mayor on Sunday last, it so fell out that I was then your Auditor. And truly I want Words to [Page] express the Satisfaction I took in that Discourse, and withall do judge, that it would be of mighty Advantage to Aged Persons to have that Sermon made Publick, there being not as I know of, any Discourse of that Nature made publick; especially in Words so plain and expressive of the Duty and Demeanour incumbent on them. And therefore Sir, I am bold to tell you, that as [Page] that Sermon was then taken in Characters, so I intend to make it publick, unless your self prevent my so doing, by causing it to be Printed by your own Order. Which indeed I rather desire, since it must needs come more perfect out of your Hand, than it can out of the hands of one, who writing in haste cannot but commit some Oversights: And especially since you mentioned [Page] another Sermon before Preached in that Audience, which was addrest to Young Persons. Which Sermon I did did not hear; but if there be in it those Marks and Tokens of a Christian Spirit as appeared in that other which was addrest to Aged Men, it is pity but the same should be made publick with it. And I hope you will do it, if you think fit to prevent this my Resolution, [Page] which I shall forbear to put in execution, till about a Month be past, that I may understand your Determination.

Sir, I humbly beg your Pardon for this Boldness, and hope you will not take it in ill part, since it is the Good of Mankind, that constrains me thereunto,

Who am yours I.

[Page]This Letter induced me to make these Two Discourses Publick, hoping they may prove as useful as they were by that Gentleman supposed to be. Tho I confess I have not been hasty to do it, till now a good while after, upon a particular occasion, Preaching one of them again, some that heard it thought it so seasonable for their own Spiritual Needs, that they desired to have it to Read, Consider, and make their Better use of; which is the True Cause of hastening this Impression. [Page] And thus wishing God's Blessing to accompany the reading of this Little Book, I bid the Reader Farewell.

J. STRYP.

Admonitions TO YOUTH.

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TIT. II.6.

Young Men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

THIS Honourable Auditory will excuse the Subject I have taken for my present Discourse, when they [Page] shall consider, how much the Future Good of the Universe depends upon the Sobriety of Youth. If they that are to come next upon the Stage of the World, to act their Parts there, would but avoid the Folly and Wickedness of the present Age, and frame themselves to better and wiser Courses than are now commonly taken, how much happier would the Condition of Mankind be? For 'tis a very bad World we live in, (that we all feel, and as many as are Good, lament). And such Root have Vices got in the Hearts of Men, that there is little hope to see any Amendment in our Days. And there [Page] is no Way but one to mend this Degenerate World under the mighty Grace of God; and that is, that Care be taken, that the next Generation be made better.

And to make that so, Youth must be better Principled, and better minded. Extraordinary Care must be taken of the Education of the Younger Sort; that they imbibe in their tender years Sobriety and Virtue; That their Souls may be imbued with a true Fear of God, and with right Apprehensions of Virtue and Vice. They must be taught from their earliest Days to hate Sin; and they must be shewn the Baseness, the Disorders, the Irregularities and Mischievousness of it. [Page] And they must be inwardly convinced of the Amiableness, and the Rectitude, and the Profitableness of a sober and just Life and Conversation. They must be learned to have a great Sense and Awe of Almighty God upon their Minds, and to make a great Conscience to Love their Neighbours, and to do them all exact Justice and Equity; and to be willing to be at Pains and Charges to do Offices of Friendship and Compassion to Men in their Necessities.

Could Young Men, who are the Expectation of the next Generation, and who must Act and bear their Parts in that▪ could they, I say, be thus Disciplined, What a Golden Age [Page] would return after this cruel Iron Age of Ours?

This will be sufficient to justify the Subject I have taken in hand to Treat of before you. Worthy Citizens, namely, To give some Seasonable Admonitions to Youth; which is such a considerable Part of this great City: Some Thousands of Young Persons being transplanted hither every Year from all Parts of the Nation, to learn Trades and Ocupations, and for the necessary Services of it. And these are in the next Generation to supply your Places, and to be the Traders, Members and Magistrates of London. The Wisdom and Sobriety of the Inhabitants whereof hath such a notable Influence [Page] upon the Welfare and Prosperity not only of the City it self, but of the whole Nation.

Let us therefore review the Text, and the Occasion of it. Young Men exhort to be Sober-minded.

St. Paul had sent forth Titus to be a Preacher of the Gospel, and to instruct Men in the Ways of Christian Piety and Peace. And here in this Epistle to him he is instructing the Instructer, and directing him in a faithful Discharge of his Ministry. And particularly he admonisheth him to apply himself and his Instructions to the People with respect unto their Age. To those that were well grown in years: Aged [Page] Men, Ver. 2. That he should exhort those to be Sober, Grave, Temperate, &c. Aged Women, Ver. 3. that he should remind them to be in Behaviour as became Holiness, not false Accusers, &c. And then Ver. 6. the Apostle directs him also to suit his Instructions to the Young as well as to the Old: Young Men likewise exhort to be Sober-minded.

There be various Vices incident to Persons according to their several Ages. The Elder Sort is addicted to such and such evil Ways and evil Qualities: And the Younger and more Gay, to many other sorts of Folly. And particularly as their Spirits are more hot and vigorous, so they are more violently [Page] carried out towards external Objects, that promise them Pleasure in the Enjoyment. And they cannot bear any Restraint. They must have their Desires, however inconvenient or unlawful they be. Their Lusts, and their Appetites and Passions, must be satisfied. And they will break through all Bars and Impediments whatsoever for the Gratification thereof. The Pleasures and Vanities of the World impetuously assault them; and they cannot withstand. And they want an Ear to listen to Reason and good Counsel, whensoever these would stop them in their Careers. Their Humours must be gratified, whatever come [Page] of it. And it is not Counsel and Consideration, nothing but Force, can keep them in. And therefore it is so necessary for such to be under Tutors and Governours.

And this is the proper Weakness and Frailty of Young Men; Great Addictedness to Pleasure, and Violent Pursuits of it. Now the contrary to this is Modesty or Sobriety. Which therefore Titus is bid here to take care to exhort them to. To be Sober-minded, [...]. It signifies to use a Bridle, to be Modest, and to keep in our Lusts and our Passions within their due Bounds and Limits. That we gratify them not at any time, or in any thing, whatever [Page] Cravings they make, if God forbid it, if Reason disallow it, if it draw Sin or Inconveniency after it; if God should be thereby disobeyed, or Religion dishonoured, or if it bring a Guilt upon Conscience.

And thus you have seen what it is to be Sober-minded, and what Reason the Apostle had to advise Titus to exhort Young Men so to be. My Business now shall be only

I. To do that which the Apostle here exhorts Titus, and in him all Gospel Ministers to do, namely, To instruct Young Men to be Sober-minded.

II. That my Exhortation may take the better Effect, I [Page] shall propound to them divers Motives and Considerations. And

III. I shall Conclude all with some short Address to them.

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] 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] 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] 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.

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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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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]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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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]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] 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] 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]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] 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] 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]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] 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]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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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]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] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] [Page] 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] 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] 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]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] 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] 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.

[Page]

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] 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] 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] 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]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.

Admonitions TO THE AGED.

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TIT. II.2.

That the Aged Men be Sober, Grave, Temperate, Sound in Faith, in Charity, in Patience.

THe last time I was called to speak in this Audience, [Page] I took upon me to be a Remembrancer to Young Men, and exhorted them with many Arguments to Virtue and Goodness, from the sixth verse of this Chapter, where the Apostle bids Timothy exhort Young Men to be Sober-minded. Now I shall carry over my Discourse from the Young unto the Old, and speak, if I can, something in season to you that are the grave Magistrates and Citizens; on whom lyes the Government of this great City, and the present good Estate of it so much depends: You that have lived in former Days, and are able to tell of the times that are past; You, to whom God hath shewn many Noble Acts of his Power [Page] and Providence. Give me leave now to be your Monitor also, that joyning with your Experience a prudent, a sober and a godly Conversation, you may in your Places and Callings, contribute to the bringing down God's Blessing upon your selves, and upon us all.

And truly it is sad to consider, what very Slaves to Vice and Sin many Aged Men are. Their Passions and their Follies are grown up with them. The sinful Frailties of their Youth are turned into the very Habits of their Old Age: and the longer they have lived the worse they have been, instead of growing better and wiser. They have smarted many times past of their Lives for their [Page] Vices and Iniquities, and yet have not had the Grace to mend them, nor to forsake those things that have cost them dear. Their bought Experience hath not made them wiser. They have felt God's Hand many a time upon them for their Sins, and yet they remain as bad as they were before. And so they grow Old and Gray-headed in their Evil Courses, as tho they resolved to live and dye in them. Days should teach Wisdom, saith the Spirit of God somewhere; but neither Days nor Years have taught them Wisdom. Vanity and Folly hath been bound up in their Hearts from their Childhood; and it is so fast bound up there, that it remains [Page] with them even to their Old Age; and none of God's Rods of Correction have driven it out. How many Men and Women have we known, nay perhaps do know, far gone in Years, that have spent Forty or Fifty, or Threescore Winters in the World, and are passionate and hasty, Covetous and Worldly minded, unclean in their Desires, Blasphemous and Vain in their Speeches, wofully negligent of God and their Souls to this Day. They draw near to Eternity, and yet little think of it. They are going to their long Homes, and have one Foot in their Graves, and yet take no care to make themselves fit for that other World: And have [Page] little regard of putting their Souls in such a Posture as they may be able with Comfort to stand before God. Gray Hairs are here and there upon them, and they consider it not.

Well then, be you Judges, whether even Aged Men have not need to be called upon, and to have a Monitor as well as the Younger. St. Paul knew this well enough; and therefore he instructs Titus to exhort the Aged to be Sober, Grave, Temperate, Sound in Faith, in Charity, in Patience. In all which respects the Aged in his Time were oftentimes too defective, and perhaps were neither Sober, Grave nor Temperate, however Old they were, nor Sound in Faith, in [Page] Charity nor Patience. But sure it is, these things are mighty becoming Years, and are proper Lessons and Practices for Elder Age; Namely, Sobriety, Gravity, Temperance, Soundness in Faith, in Charity and in Patience. These, O Fathers and Brethren, will be very great Ornaments of your Age; and not only Ornaments of your Age, but of your holy Profession too.

Now that I may discourse suitably and profitably upon this Argument, I shall do these two or three Things.

I. I shall shew you what that Behaviour is that is suitable unto Aged Men.

[Page]II. Unto this holy Behaviour I shall excite and stir them up by some Considerations.

III. I shall make a Practical Conclusion of my Discourse.

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] 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] 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] 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] 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]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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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]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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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]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] 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]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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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.

[Page]

Information about this book

Title statement

Lessons moral and Christian, for youth and old age in two sermons preach'd at Guildhall Chappel, London : chiefly intended for the use of this city / by John Stryp ...

Strype, John, 1643-1737.

Edition statement

1699

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Text Creation Partnership,

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Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2003-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A61859

ID [STC]

Wing S6022

ID [STC]

ESTC R33818

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

13568141

ID [OCLC]

ocm 13568141

ID [VID]

100346

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Early English books online.

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(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A61859)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 100346)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1050:12)

Source

— Lessons moral and Christian, for youth and old age in two sermons preach'd at Guildhall Chappel, London : chiefly intended for the use of this city / by John Stryp ..., Strype, John, 1643-1737..

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[10], 118 p.

Printed for J. Wyat ...,. London :: 1699.. (Imperfect: pages stained.) (Reproduction of original in the Union Theological Seminary Library, New York.)

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