N00425:102
Addresses to old men, and young men, and little children. In three discourses ...…
Addresses to old men, and young men, and little children. In three discourses ... To which may be added, a short scriptural catechism, accommodated unto their capacities. / By Cotton Mather.
Boston: printed by R. Pierce for Nicholas Buttolph, 1690
THE OLD MANS HONOUR OR, The HOARY HEAD found in the way of RIGHTEOU… › Counsel 3: The third Counsel.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The third Virtue that should set off an old man, is that of Temperance. The Greek word also signifies Discretion. An old man should be a wise man; for, no fool so bad as the old fool. An old man should as the phrase imports, Keep his mind under Government; and restrain and repel inordinate Affections. Mortification is but proper for them that are just ready to Dy. Be pruden•• […] ⟨p. 36⟩•ary in your whole Behaviour, and be moderate in […] your inclinations towards the pleasures, or the profits, or the honours of this deceitful world. You know who said, Among the Ancient is Wisdom, and […] the length of days is Understanding.
The third Vertue that should set off an old man, is that of Temperance. The Greek word also signifies Discretion. An old man should be a wise man; for, no fool so bad as the old fool. An old man should as the phrase imports, Keep his mind under Government; and restrain and repel inordinate Affections. Mortification is but proper for them that are just ready to Dy. Be pruden•• 〈…〉 ⟨p. 36⟩•ary in your whole Behaviour, and be moderate in 〈…〉 your inclinations towards the pleasures, or the profits, or the honours of this deceitful world. You know who said, Among the Ancient is Wisdom, and 〈…〉 the length of days is Understanding.
A fourth Virtue, necessary to an old man is Orthodoxy. You must be sound in Faith. You are […] be our Teachers, our Tutors; our Eyes are upon you for a Tradition of the Faith once delivered unto the Saints. If you be wavering in any ••int of our Faith, it will cause us much more to umble and stagger at it. You that have had the Word of God so long, should now at least be well red, and well settled in the principles of Christianity; and not be tainted with any Scepticism or heresy. When we see an old man that leans upon a Reed, we should not see, A Reed shaken with the Word. May you that are just upon Dying, not only be careful to Die in the Truth, but be as dy to Die for it, as that blessed old Babylas, who at Ninety Years of Age, going to his Martyrdom cried our, Return to thy Rest, O my Soul, for the Lord has now dealt bountifully with thee.