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

If therefore you would arrive at a good Old-age, good in respect of the comfort of the Mind, or in respect of the welfare of the Body, oppose and check your unruly Appetites^z; resolve with the Grace of God, Hitherto thou shalt come and no further: conclude, I am a Man, yea, a Christian, and not a Brute; and consequently, am not to be guided by Sense, but by Reason and Religion, which teach me to use all these outward comforts, so far as they will promote the Glory of my Maker, and the present and future good of my Body and Soul.

1. zPont gulae metas, ut sit tibi longior aetas. Esse cupis sanus? sit tibi parc• manus.

5. Fifthly, Inordinate Passions of the ⟨p. 30⟩mind are another means to bring on Old age; such as Anger, especially Sorrow. For these do manifestly prey upon the Spirits, and also produce such bodily Distempers, as do hurry people into Old-age before their time. ^aHence it was, that Valentinian the Emperor, by an excessive straining of his Voice, in an angry reply against some Offenders, fell into a grievous Fever, which at length brought him to his End. And for Sorrow, the wisest of men tells us, Prov. 15. 13. A merry Heart maketh a cheerful Countenance; but by Sorrow of the Heart, the Spirit is broken ^bAnd when the Spirit is broken, the Body must sensibly wast and decay. For these Passions like a Torrent or Land flood break down, and overthrow all before them: you know a River, while it proceeds with its usual stream, passes harmlessly, yea, profitably through all the Fields and Meadows, and makes no breaches on the Banks on either side; but when a sudden and excessive Rain swells it up, then it lays about it without mercy, and tears up the Ground, the Fences and Trees on every side: And even so our Passions being moderate, are innocent and useful; but he that hath no rule over his own Spirit, is like a Flood of Water broke loose,