A discourse concerning old-age tending to the instruction, caution and comfort of aged persons…

SECT. V.

THE Fifth Excellency that doth or¹ should adorn Old-age, is Steadfastness: Which is a fixed settledness of the Soul, influencing our Life and Actions; and is opposed to that Levity and Inconstancy which is incident to young persons. The Aged man is Steadfast in his Mind and Judgment, and not easily unhinged ⟨p. 107⟩there; he is Fixed in his Will, and not easily charmed or drawn from his well-chosen Objects. In respect of God and the things of Religion, a person in years is or should be like a Rock, unmoveable, not like the Ship that is tossed to and fro. Having considered and weighed their Principles, no worldly consideration, no plausible harangues, no loss or punishment will induce them easily to alter the same. In respect of Others, their Friendship being grounded upon a firm bottom is constant, and they have learned to overlook ordinary failings, and to put the best sense on the words and actions of a Friend. So likewise their Conjugal Love, though the frothy fondness of it be worn off, yet the strength and substance of it is unquestionable and unalterable. And then as to Themselves, their Passions are by long endeavours so moderated and regulated, that as their temper is far more even and uniform, than once it was; so also their Actions and course of life are more steady and consistent, than in the days of their Vanity.

THE Fifth Excellency that doth or¹ should adorn Old-age, is Stedfastness: Which is a fixed settledness of the Soul, influencing our Life and Actions; and is oppos'd to that Levity and Inconstancy which is incident to young persons. The Aged man is Stedfast in his Mind and Iudgment, and not easily unhinged ⟨p. 107⟩there; he is Fixed in his Will, and not easily charm'd or drawn from his well-chosen Objects. In respect of God and the things of Religion, a person in years is or should be like a Rock, unmoveable, not like the Ship that is tossed to and fro. Having considered and weighed their Principles, no worldly consideration, no plausible harangues, no loss or punishment will induce them easily to alter the same. In respect of Others, their Friendship being grounded upon a firm bottom is constant, and they have learned to overlook ordinary failings, and to put the best sense on the words and actions of a Friend. So likewise their Conjugal Love, though the frothy fondness of it be worn off, yet the strength and substance of it is unquestionable and unalterable. And then as to Themselves, their Passions are by long endeavours so moderated and regulated, that as their temper is far more even and uniform, than once it was; so also their Actions and course of life are more steady and consistent, than in the dayes of their Vanity.