Addresses to old men, and young men, and little children. In three discourses ...…

The second Virtue, that much adorns an Old man, is that of Gravity. The Greek word implies both Majesty and Modesty. An old man should keep up some Authority among his Juniors; and be able to say with him of old, Men have hearkened and waited, and kept silence at my Counsel, if I laughed on them, they believed it not. A trifling, & childish, & frolicsome sort of carriage, all Buffoonery in an old man, is very disagreeable; ⟨p. 35⟩it was old Chrysostom's Expression, That […] old man of a Juvenile Conversation is extremely ti• diculous. We cannot Reverence you, unless your grave Looks, as well as your grey Hairs, demand […] of us. But nothing is more Nauseous and Odious in an old man, than the Levity of Lasciviousness. For old men to talk bawdily and filthily, and for old men to discover that the cursed Fires of the•• Youth are not yet extinguished in them, Out upon it! For those Eyes that are sunk into their Sockets, to be yet full of Adultery for those Mouth• that are going to be filled with earth, to be yet full of Rotten Communication; 'tis, how incongruous! An old man should (as one says) be glad that Age has delivered him from a Mad-man that once had power over him. Unchastity in any man renders him the Abhorred of the Lord; but in […] old man it is more peculiarly fulsome, nasty, and that which also renders him the Abhorred of the Neighbourhood. As the old Eleazar chose rather to Die, than to eat forbidden Swines Flesh, a brutish Lust should be more abominable unto every old Professor.

The second Vertue, that much adorns an Old man, is that of Gravity. The Greek word implies both Majesty and Modesty. An old man should keep up some Authority among his Juniors; and be able to say with him of old, Men have hearkened and waited, and kept silence at my Counsel, if I laughed on them, they believed it not. A trifling, & childish, & frolicksome sort of carriage, all Buffoonry in an old man, is very disagreeable; ⟨p. 35⟩it was old Chrysoftoms Expression, That 〈…〉 old man of a Juv•nile Conversation is extremely ti• diculous. We cannot Reverence you, unless your grave Looks, as well as your gray Hairs, demand of us. But nothing is more Nauseous and Odious in an old man, than the Levity of Lasciviousness. For old men to talk bawdily and filthily, and for old men to discover that the cursed Fires of the Youth are not yet extinguish'd in them, Out upon it! For those Eyes that are sunk into their Sockets, to be yet full of Adultery for those Mouth that are going to be fill'd with earth, to be yet full of Rotten Communication; 'tis, how incongruous! An old man should (as one says) be glad that Age has delivered him from a Mad-man that once had power over him. Unchastity in any man renders him the Abhorred of the Lord; but in old man it is more peculiarly fulsome, nasty, and that which also renders him the Abhorred of the Neighbourhood. As the old Eleazar chose rather to Dy, than to eat forbidden Swines Flesh, a bruitish Lust should be more abominable unto every old Professor.