that look out of the windows be darkened;" that is, the eyes, verse 3: "and the doors are shut in the streets when the sound of the grinding is low;" that is, the lips are shut and kept close, lest the meat should fall out of the mouth through want of teeth: " and all the daughters of music are brought low;" that is, both the speech and hearing, verse 4. "Then the almond tree flourisheth;" that is, the head doth grow grey and hoary: "a grasshopper is a burden;" for an old man cannot bear the lightest burden: "and desire faileth ;" that is, the appetite unto meat, drink, and the marriage bed, verse 5. "Then the silver cord is loosed;" that is, the marrow of the back: "and the golden bowl is broken;" that is, the skull, which is round, yellow, and doth contain and preserve the brain: "and the pitcher is broken at the fountain ;" that is, the bladder which did hold the urine, which in old age doth insensibly pass away: "and the wheel is broken at the cistern;" that is, the lungs are broken off from their motion of respiration or inspiration by pleghm from the stomach, or the circulation of the blood interrupted or hindered, verse 6. Thus the natural infirmities of an old man are very many, and the day of old age is an evil day in that respect; yea, upon this account, an old man is but half a man, "for eyes hath he, aad seeth not; ears hath he, and heareth not." But as the day of old age is an evil day in regard of natural, so in regard of moral infirmities; for,

Then men are apt to be too drowsy and remiss in the things of God.

Then they are apt to be too covetous and tenacious for the things of the world: fugientem sequimur mundum: as wantonness is the young man's vice, so covetousness is the old man's sin.

Then are they apt to be too timorous and fearful: we read but of one man that came to Christ by night, out of fear, and he was a rich and old man, Nicodemus.

Then are they apt to be too touchy, peevish, angry and froward, for old age is a continued sickness, and in sickness men are apt to be angry.

Then are they, also, unapt to be taught, and are very unteachable; they think they know more than others, and that they are not now to learn, Eccles. iv. 13.

Then they are hard to be pleased, and as hard to please

others.

Full of complaints they are of the present times, praising the former days of old, which the old men of those days did as much complain of as they do of these.

And of all men, if they be not good, they are the most impenitent, for by custom, and long continuance in sin, they are the most hardened, and so the least penitent.

Apt they are, also, to think and speak of the sins of their youth with delight, and so to commit them again by thought and word which they cannot come at by their action.

They are full of suspicions, and very apt to surmise, suspect and fear the worst, for experience giving notice of former dangers, keeps their souls in continual alarm.

Having therefore, and labouring under all these and other infirmities, both natural and moral, a threefold work is incumbent upon the aged: First, To comfort and bear up themselves against their natural infirmities. Secondly, To strengthen themselves against their moral infirmities, and to root them out. Thirdly, To plant that positive grace and goodness in the room thereof which doth best suit with their soil and condition.

CHAPTER II.

THE OLD MAN'S STAFF.

COMFORTS against the natural infirmities of old age are very many.

Christ himself did bear them, and still, as our High Priest, doth sympathize with us under them; such did he single out for his care and cure when he was here on earth. John v. There were many that lay by the pool of Bethesda, among the rest there was one that had lain sick and diseased thirty eight years; a young man, therefore, he was not; he would have stept into the pool, but others stept in before him, and he had no man to help him in. A poor neglected man he was, whom others minded not. Yet this was the man that Christ came to cure, whom Christ minded, and sought out, and cured. What, then, though you be a poor neglected old

person, and have lien long under your infirmities, yet Christ hath a cure for you. The blind men cried, and their cries put Christ to a stand for mercy, Matt. xx. 31, 32.

Though your infirmities be never so many and great, yet you have a peculiar honour that is twisted with your infirmity, for it is called the crown of old age. In times of the old testament they were to rise up and bow before the ancient; yea, it is our duty to honour them, for this honour is joined and commanded with the fear of God. Lev. xix. 32, " Thou shalt rise up before the hoary, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God, saith the Lord." The fear of God and honouring the old man is commanded with the same breath, and linked together in the same sentence.

Though you be very aged yet you may be very good. Was not Eli very good, yet very aged? Was not David very good, yet he was very old when he said, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace?" Was not Anna very good, yet she was very aged? Who doth not know what a good man Paul was, yet, saith he, Paul the aged. Good John was aged John. Possibly, then, you may be very good, though you be very aged, labouring under much infirmity.

And though your flesh be weak, yet your spirit may be willing. "The flesh indeed is weak," said Christ, when his disciples slept through natural infirmity, for it was late at night, and they were full of grief; "but the spirit is willing," said he, also, and where the spirit is willing, he will pass by the weakness of the flesh and accept the willingness of the spirit.

These infirmities of old age are such as are not the fruit of our own sin. The more any infirmity is caused by sin, the more afflictive it is, for sin is the sting of death. I confess, indeed, they may be sometimes, for the sins of youth do sometimes bite sore in age. I ate so much of the forbidden fruit, said a good man, when I was young, that God was fain to give me wormseed to kill the worm. But the infirmities of old age are generally the decays of nature, not of grace.

They are good warnings of our change approaching, and by them we die daily, that at last we may die graciously and comfortably.

And who are those that God doth reveal himself unto, but to his old friends; those he will acquaint with his secrets,

and make known his mind unto. Job xii. 12, "With the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days understanding."

And though your legs be weak, yet they may be strong enough to carry you to heaven, that better country, which you are now going to, and are very near; indeed your own present country is a good country, but the country you are now going to is a better country, Heb. xi. 16.

Better in regard of buildings: "Whose builder and maker is God," Heb. xi. 10.

Better in regard of inhabitants: "Where no unclean thing doth enter," Rev. xxi. 27.

Better in regard of quietness and freedom from trouble: where all tears shall not only be wiped from our cheeks, but out of our eyes, as the greek word bears it, Rev. vii., insomuch as the eye shall never breed a tear again, nor be the womb of tears.

Better in regard of riches: where you shall have "an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away.”

Better in regard of pleasure: for saith the psalmist, “At thy right hand are rivers of pleasures, and that for evermore."

Better in regard of largeness: for if the whole earth be but a pin's head in comparison of the heavens, then surely there is room enough in heaven for every one to enjoy a greater kingdom than all England doth amount unto.

Better in regard of self-subsistence: here one country doth depend upon another, but heaven is that country alone which doth depend upon no other country.

Better in regard of our freedom from needs and necessities. It was Augustine's prayer, Deliver me, O Lord, from my necessities. It is a great mercy now to have bread to eat when we want it, but it is a greater mercy to have no need of it. A great mercy it is to have a good bed to lie on, and so to sleep quietly, but it is a greater mercy to have no need of bed or sleep. This is the state of that heavenly country, where you have not these blessings, but where you have no need of them.

Better, also, it is in regard of continuance, where every mercy and blessing grows upon the stalk of eternity. And if it be a good thing to have a lease of a good house and land for a hundred years, what a blessed thing then it is to have a

glorious mansion and inheritance lying in the fields of eternity? When you come to a great palace, and see fair barns and stables and out-houses, you say then, if the out-rooms and stables be so costly and sumptuous, how costly and glorious is this palace within? Yet this is that country, that better country that you are going and drawing nigh unto, and your passage thither is very short, for no sooner do ye step out of this world, but, if godly, gracious, and in Christ, you step immediately into that country; there is no sleeping of the soul after death. Some have dreamed of such a sleep, but Solomon tells us that "the body upon death goes to the dust, and the spirit unto him that gave it," Eccles. xii. 7. Christ said to the thief, "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise ;" and the apostle Paul tells us that paradise and the third heaven are one and the same thing, 2 Cor. xii. Yea, saith Paul," I am in a strait betwixt two, not well knowing whether I should desire to die for mine own enjoyment, or to live for the service of the churches," Phil. i. 22, 23, 24. Whereas, if the soul did sleep in the grave with the body, he needed not to have been in that strait. "I desire (said he) to be dissolved. and to be with Christ." If with Christ presently, how can the soul sleep with the body in the dust? "But we know," says he, 2 Cor. v. 1," that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." What, then, though your turf house now be ready to fire into a fever with every spark of distemper, is there not enough in that house above to pay for all? surely there is. Why, then, should ye not lift up your heads, ye old men, and be of good comfort under all your natural infirmities.

And as for your moral infirmities, if you would strengthen yourself against them, and root out these weeds there,

Be sure that you study and think much on Christ crucified, who alone is our righteousness and our strength. Temptations or sins blown out by reason or resolution, will easily light again; but quenched in the blood of Christ, and they light no more. When the Israelite was stung with fiery serpents, he did not stand looking on his swoln arm or leg, but on the brazen serpent, and so was cured. Christ lifted