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

First, Be sensible of, be affected with, the change that will immediately be made upon you. What is a Senex, but a Seminex: An old man, is half a dead man. It was the petition in Psal. 90. 12. Teach us to Number our Days. Let that Sacred Arithmetic be your Exercise; compute, How few days of your Appointed Number can be still behind. ⟨p. 39⟩•e willing to hear of Dying; and not like […] English Queen, who cast a Minister […] of her Favour, for telling her in a Sermon, That old time bad sprinkled his Meal upon her Aged Head. Promise not your selves always, to rub out still […] Lustre of years more in the world; although, one of the Ancients has told us, Nemo tam Decrepi•oe Sen•ctutis est, ut non se putet unum adbuc Annum […] victurum. Ever mark it, when you hear an Old Man brag how strong and hale he still is, and how likely to live at least, one dozen more of years, 'tis a thousand to one but that Old Man is within a few months of his unsuspected end. I pray; look often into your Coffins; and if you have no other Monitors of your Mortality, let your own Children, and your own Bodies, perform that Office for you. Perhaps you see your own Children becoming Parents, and the third and fourth Generation is arising from you. The fight of them gives no little pleasure unto the yet living Ancestor, who commonly proves, the Older the Fonder; but methinks it should give you a solemn Warning too, and cause you to Remember, That you are now marching off apace. You must needs also feel your crazy Bodies under daily and speedy Approaches to a Dissolution.

First, Be sensible of, be affected with, the change that will immediately be made upon you. What is a Senex, but a Seminex: An old man, is half a dead man. It was the petition in Psal. 90. 12. Teach us to Number our Dayes. Let that Sacred Arithmetic be your Exercise; compute, How few days of your Appointed Number can be still behind. ⟨p. 39⟩•e willing to hear of Dying; and not like English Queen, who cast a Minister of her Favour, for telling her in a Sermon, That old time bad sprinkled his Meal upon her Aged Head. Promise not your selves always, to rub out still Lustre of years more in the world; altho, one of the Ancients has told us, Nemo tam Decrepioe Senctutis est, ut non se putet unum adbuc Annum victurum. Ever mark it, when you hear an Old Man brag how strong and hale he still is, and how likely to live at least, one dozen more of years, 'tis a thousand to one but that Old Man is within a few months of his unsuspected end. I pray; look often into your Coffins; and if you have no other Monitors of your Mortality, let your own Children, and your own Bodies, perform that Office for you. Perhaps you see your own Children becoming Parents, and the third and fourth Generation is arising from you. The fight of them gives no little pleasure unto the yet living Ancestor, who commonly proves, the Older the Fonder; but methinks it should give you a solemn Warning too, and cause you to Remember, That you are now marching off apace. You must needs also feel your crazy Bodies under daily and speedy Approches to a Dissolution.