Concerning Old Age, Chapter 1
CHAP. I. The Description of Old-age.
SECT. I.
FOR the First, we must come to a§ 1. The Names for Old-age. right Notion of Old-age, partly by its Name. The Words which are used for it in the Oriental aforeignLanguages, do only signifie Persons or Things …at are durable, that have lasted long; And some of them are us'd promiscuously for such as are dignified by Office, as well as for such as have filled their Days. And none of them do direct us in the Computation, when it begins; but do comprehend as well those Persons that are decrepit, as those that are only decayed. For in Gen. 18. 11. Abraham was an Old Man; and in Gen. 24. 1. there he is called with the very same word, but an Old Man, tho he was then forty years older than before. The Hebrew commonly calling an Old Man, one full of days, or stricken in Years, tho sometimes they are distinguished, the aged with him that is full of days, Jerem. 6. 11. by which it should seem, that Old-age comes somewhat short of fulness of days bSenectus non est aetas ultima. Hier. in Jer. 6..
The Greek cforeign. vel quasi foreign, terr…stris. Aristot. Vetus à foreign vel quasivietus. i. e. sine vi.words also for an Old Man do signifie one that hath lived long; or one that looketh towards the Earth; or whose vital moisture is dried away, and nothing but an earthy matter left. The Latine dAntiquus qui ante nos fuit. Senex, quasi seminex, semimortuus.words for Old-age, do signifie multitude of years, or Decay of strength: Or Precedence and Priority of Existence. But the most usual and proper word for it denotes a Person, who hath one Foot in the Grave, that is half dead already; tho some derive it from the Diminution of the Senses, as if no body were old, till they were decrepit and began to dote.
Our English word Old is of a German descent. The High-Dutch calling an Aged person, Alt-man. The Saxons, Eald or Olt-min; the Low-Dutch, Oud-man. All which some derive from the Latines, eAlt. quasi aetate altus.others from the Hebrews fVel à foreign alah, as…ndere in altum▪ Minshew▪: but none of them affording us any light concerning the proper Nature, or distinct Time of Old-age; tho, in their native signification, it is likely they in some sort did express the Thing in question.
It is clear, that there are divers Periods in the life of Man, which are like so many Stages in the Race which is set before us. Herein we have some light in the Holy Scriptures. In Levit. 27. 3, 4, &c. where One Interval of time is, from a Month to Five years of Age; a Second, from Five years of Age to Twenty; a Third from twenty to sixty; and the last from sixty to the end of Life. And mens Strength and Ability, at least in those Times and Places, may be collected from their Valuation, which is there adjusted by God himself. Humane Authors have variously divided the Life of Man. Some into Four parts, answering the four parts of the Year; Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Others into Seven; assigning each part of it to a different Planet; and so Old-age to Saturn. But Man's Age seems most fitly to be distributed into, 1. His Growing. 2. His Ripe or consistent, and 3. His Decaying Age.
As to the First of these; we need not be so Critical, as to begin it at his Conception, or Quickning in the Womb, tho he doth then begin to live and to grow; sith the Holy Ghost in the Scripture above-said makes no reckoning of his Age, until he be a Month old. Leaving therefore that State of Non-age, we may distinguish his Growing Age into Infancy, Child-hood and Youth. Infancy ends when we begin to go and speak. Child-hood reacheth to the fourteenth or fifteenth year; and Youth lasts to Twenty five. Unto these years we usually increase in Strength or Stature. Not but that some particular Persons, or in some Countries do ripen sooner; and also that Females are reckon'd to attain to the Second Stage of their Growing Age, two years sooner, and to the third Stage, four years sooner than the Males; yet still the foresaid Computation agrees with the nobler Sex, and comprehends the Generality of them.
The Ripe Age of Man follows, when the Parts of his Body, and the Powers of his Soul are come… to some Consistence; and therefore it may be called his Best Estate, or as the Hebrew signifies in Psal. 39. 5. his setled Estate: Verily every man at his setled, or best Estate, is altogether Vanity. The former is the Spring, this is the Summer of a mans life; wherein they who are truly wise, will be gathering both Temporal and Spiritual Provision for the Winter of Old-agegIf Youth knew what Age would crave, It would be sure to get and save.. Now this Rational Flower is in its prime. As the Flower of the Field, so he flourisheth, Psal. 103. 15. Many indeed are cropt and gathered in their Youth, and others are cut off in the midst of their days: for when the Wind passeth over this Flower, it is gone. And it is observable, that Enoch in the first World, and Elijah in the second, and our Dear Saviour in the last, were called away in the midst of their days; to warn us, that this is not our Country, but that even in the time of Youth and Strength, it behoves us to prepare for another World. But if the Lord do still by his Power and Patience, hold our Soul in life, and that His visitation do preserve our Spirit, this brings us to Old-age; and this Ripe Age commonly lasts as long as our Growing Age, and so we may assign unto it, Twenty five years more.
SECT. II.
AND so we are comen to the Third § II. The Nature thereof.and Last Stage of Life, the Decaying Age or Old-age; which is the Subject of the following Discourse; which may be thus describ'd, namely, That Part of Mans life, wherein through the Multitude of Years his Strength is decay'd hVel, corporis temperamentum frigidum & siccum quod sequitur quantitatem certorum annorum vitae praeteritae. Rivet.. For, 1. It is not meerly such a number of Years without some Decay of Nature, that can properly denominate Old-age; sith in former times before the Flood, when men usually lived eight or nine hundred years, he that was an hundred years old, was a very Young man; and still we find that many are stronger at sixty, than others are at fifty years of Age. Thus Athanasius testifies of Antony the Monk in Egypt, that he had all his Teeth, and his Eyesight sound, when he was an hundred and five years old. Neither, 2ly. Doth the Decay of Strength alone, determine a man Old; sith Diseases and other Casualties may weaken and wither him, who in respect of his Age, hath not attain'd the Meridian of his Life. Thus our Blessed Saviour was guess'd to be near fifty years old, Ioh. 8. 57. when he was but little past Thirty, being a man of Sorrows, and acquainted with Grief. But when our Strength is decayediSenecta lass… non fractae aetatis nomen est. Sen. Ep. 26. through the multitude of Years, then Old-age commenceth.
From whence it followeth, that neither Gray-hairs, nor Wrinkles, nor any such separable Adjunct can be a Demonstration of Old-age; seeing Sickness, or Cares, or Fears, or Grief may produce these Effects, without any considerable Decay of strength, or Number of years, Prov. 12. 25. Heaviness in the Heart of man maketh it stoop. Here the Heart stoops like an old man, and that through heaviness. And Psal. 6. 7. Mine Eye is consumed, because of Grief, it waxeth Old, because of all mine Enemies; here Grief brings Old-age into the Eye. And Psal. 32. 3. When I kept silence, my Bones waxed Old: here Old age is ante-dated in the Bones by trouble of Mind. Thus Authors tell us of those, whose Hairs have become hoary by Sickness, and have grown black again at the return of Health kAristot. Hist anim. l. 3. c. 11. And Cassiodorus faith, that Seneca was so call'd, because he was born Gray. H…ff. L…x.. And the Story of the Dutch Captain is famous, who being put into a Fright, had his Hair turned Gray in the space of one Night. But all these being preternatural and accidental, do not constitute Old age at all.
Neither doth any occasional Eclypse upon the internal Faculties, the Mind, Memory or Phancy, certainly declare Old-age; for many Accidents may produce these Effects in the youngest persons: whereas Old-age is not incident to the Soul. Its Organs may be weakned ormaimed either by natural Decays, or by violent Accidents, so that they cannot exert themselves; but the Soul can never properly be said to grow old, because the nature of it is unperishable; and that which never perishes, can never be said to decay. But when natural Heat begins to abate, when no food can sufficiently supply that Radical Moisture in the Body, and when the digestive faculty is weakened; so that both the Senses and Members begin to feel a Decay, then Old-age hath taken you by the hand, to lead you to your long home lSenium est naturalis caloris tabes, mors extinctio, Galen..
SECT. III.
NOW touching the precise Year §. 3. The Beginning of Old-age.wherein Old-age may be said to begin, it is not so material to be known, as it is doubtful to be fixed. But if we allow five and twenty years to the Growing part of mans life, and reckon five and twenty years more to the Ripe or staid part thereof, then doth Old-age ordinarily commence at Fifty years of age. And there or thereabout many Learned men mSeniores ab ano. 46 dicebantur, Gell. ab ano. 50 ad finem vitae, Keck. Phys.have fixt it, and then five and twenty years more will reach the End of most mens lives, or bring them to seventy five, an age wherein commonly men grow every way impotent, and have one foot in the Grave. It's true, an universal fixed period cannot be set herein; the diversity of mens natural Constitutions, Imployments, Diet, Exercises, &c. causeth Old-age to come sooner to some, and slower to others. Some persons through the happiness of their Descent, have a better stock of natural Heat, and radical moisture at their setting out than others, and consequently Old-age being nothing else but the cold and dry temper of the Body, seizeth upon the person more slowly. Some peoples imployments do not spend or impair their Vitals so much as others. Some persons are nourished by more sound and vigorous Food, than others are. In short, a Chearful Heart, a Sober Diet, and moderate Exercise, may defer Old-age for a time; but come it will at length, even an House of Stone will at last decay, and grow out of repair, Iob 14. 19, 20. The Waters wear the Stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the Dust of the Earth, and thou destroyest the hope of Man. Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth, thou changest his Countenance and sendest him away.
As for the Progress of Old-age, there be some that make a First, Second and Third part thereof nThe Rabbins indeed begin the first at 60. the second at 70▪ and the third at 80. Galen. de Sanit: tuend. c. 12. foreign, but they undertake not, or else agree not to determine precisely their respective periods. But this is plain, that there is a Vigorous, and a Decrepit Old-age. During the Former, natural Abilities are not so decayed, as to render a Man uneasie, or unserviceable. Abraham was an elderly man, Gen. 18. 11. He was Old and well stricken in years, Gen. 24. 1. being then about one hundred and forty years of Age: but Gen. 25. 8. He was Old and full of years, being one hundred seventy and five, then he was very Old. Thus Iacob was an Old man at one hundred and seven years, for Benjamin is called a Child of his Old-age, Gen. 44. 20. But he lived Forty years after that, Gen. 47. 28. But then he was a very Old-man; his Eyes were dim for Age, and he was confin'd to his Bed. In the former part of Old-age, many injoy a good Consistency of Mind and habitude of Body; whereby they are very comfortable in themselves, and very capable of Counselling and Governing others: Yea, upon some accounts it may be esteemed the best parcel of our Life; wherein our impetuous Passions being already spent, we are furnished by great experience to be very useful in our Generation. But when a Man is arrived at the latter part of Old-age, to be impotent and decrepit, then he grows uneasy to himself, and unserviceable to others. These days may be called Evil days, and of these years it may be said, I have no pleasure in them, Eccles. 12. 1.
SECT. IV.
THE last Period of Old-age is§ 4. The long lives of divers. Death: Some indeed have been longer 'ere they tasted of Death, and some sooner; there is no certain definite year, wherein that last friendly Enemy comes.
oOmnium aetatum certus est terminus, senectutis autem nullus certus est. Cicer. de sen.The Antediluvians lived eight or nine hundred years. Those which were born after the Flood, did scarce live half so long; for Arphaxad, who was born after it, lived but 440 years, Gen 11. 13. And in the time of Peleg his Grand-child, the Age of man was shrunk half in half shorter; he lived only 239 years, Gen. 11. 21. And in the Age of Nahor, great Grand-child to Peleg, it fell to 150. Gen. 11. 25. And so the ordinary term of mans life was by degrees curtail'd, that in Moses time, the dayes of his years were reckon'd at threescore years and ten; and the strongest constitutions did reach but to fourscore years, Psal. 90. 10. Howbeit, there have been in all ages of the world, some Instances of such as have exceeded the ordinary standard; the causes and ends whereof are known only to God, in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind, Job 12. 10. Thus we read of many in the Primitive times of Christianity that lived on mean Food, and yet overpassed an hundred years; and Rivet in the end of his Epistle to his Brother concerning Old-age, makes a Relation of the pious life and remarkable Death of Iacobus Faber Stapulensis, who An. 1538. died above an hundred years of Age. Yea Eusebius pEuseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. 6. c. 10▪assures us, that Narcissus Bishop of Ierusalem attained to an hundred sixty and six years. Our late Geographers qSanson, p. 485.also tell us of the Brazilians, that they live commonly to 150. years, and that free from diseases. Fran. Alvarez affirmeth, that himself saw an Ethiopian Bishop who was an hundred and fifty years of age. And I have read that in one region of Italy there were found upon a survey, Fifty four persons of 100. years of age. Fifty seven of 110. Two of 125. Four of 130. and Three of 140. rSee Tho. of Ravenna who Ao. 1553. wrote a book wherein he relates in one Chapter of such as had lived in that age above 120▪ years.Yea Fern. Lopez the Portugal Kings Historiographer, gives a relation of an Indian, who upon clear evidence was found to have lived Three hundred and forty years: and of another Indian Prince, who was seen by M. D' Ottigni, and had lived Two hundred and fifty years sDr. Hakewells Apal. l. 3. c. 5..
Thus Anacreon in Pliny tPlin. hist. lib. 7. c. 48.relates of one Arganthonius King of the Tartessians, and the like of Tullius Fullonius of Bononia, that lived an hundred and fifty years; of Cinyras who lived an hundred and sixty; of Aegymius that lived two hundred. And Hellanicus in the same Author affirmeth, that divers in Aetolia lived two, and some three hundred years. In Greece, Nestors age became a kind of Proverb, attaining to three hundred years. And Sabellicus tells of divers in Arabia, who lived four hundred years. Famous is the Instance of Iohannes de Temporibus, who bore arms under Charles the Great. An. 800. and was alive in the reign of Conrade 3. Ao. 1124. having lived three hundred sixty and one years. And in latter times Masseus tells us, in his Indian Histories of One in the last age but one, that lived three hundred thirty and five years, whose teeth had several times faln out, and new ones came in their stead, his hoary hairs returning by degrees to black again.
There have been also in our Age and Countrey many Instances of such as have attained to an extraordinary Age. In Northumberland an Old Minister of Gods Word, called Mr. Michael Vivon, who in the year of our Lord, 1657. being then one hundred and ten years of age, had within two years time before, three young teeth sprung up; and though for the space of forty years before, he could not read the largest Print without Spectacles; yet afterwards he could read the smallest without them, having also new hair come… upon his head, and had five children after that he was fourscore years old. And it is but Ao. 1635. that Thomas Parr died in London, who had lived in the Countrey above one hundred and fifty years; In all. 152. years and nine months. Yea there were two Brothers and a Sister, Richard Green, Philip Green, and Alice, who lived but a while ago not far from Marlborough, that were alive together, and each of them above an hundred years old; the last of them, which was Richard, dying about Ao. 1685. at an hundred and fifteen years of age. And a modern Historian uDr. Plot. Nat. hist. of Staffordsh. c. 8.of our own tells us, that Ao. 1588. one Iames Sands of Harbourn in Staffordshire died, aged one hundred and forty, his wife also being 120. And produces several others, that lived to see their Grandchildrens Grand-children.
Yea, even Women, though the weaker Sex, yet have sometimes survived unto a great Age. The Scripture relates, that Sarah Abrahams wife lived 127. years, Genes. 23. 1. the onelyonly woman whose Age is recorded in the Book of God. Pliny's Note of Terentia Cicero's wife that lived an hundred and three years, or of Clodia that lived an hundred and fifteen, is rendred inconsiderable by examples of our own. For it is recorded of Dame Hester Temple of Stow in Bucking hamshire, who having four Sons and nine Daughters, lived to see. seven hundred extracted from her own body. And the instance of holy Mistris Honywood of Kent is well known, who lived to see Three hundred of her offspring alive together: and both these must needs be full of dayes. Yea, it was but about Ao. 1670. that one Mrs. Pyfield died in Ireland, who had lived one hundred thirty and six years. But the R. H. the late Countess of Desmond exceeds all late examples in these Countries; who, when she was an hundred and forty years old, had a set of young teeth, and was able to walk many miles, who died within our memories, being, as it is credibly affirmed, an 184. years old.
In all which Instances, as the strength of Nature was great, so the Power and Goodness of the God of Nature was greater; to the honour whereof I have Collected and mention'd them: not that any of us should deferr our Repentance or any Good Work, upon an expectation of arriving at the like term of Life; sith an hundred thousand are dead and rotten, for one that reach such Longevity.