Addresses to Old Men Young Men and Little Children, Dedication 1
ADDRESSES To OLD MEN, and YOƲNG MEN, and LITTLE CHILDREN.
In Three DISCOURSES
I. The OLD MANS Honour; or, The Hoary Head found in the way of Righteousness.
A Discourse Recommending unto OLD MEN, A Saving Acquaintance with the Lord JESUS CHRIST.
II. The YOƲNG MAN'S Glory; or, A Wreath of Graces for the Head of Youth.
A Discourse Recommending unto YOƲNG MEN, A blessed Victory over the Devil.
III. The LITTLE CHILDS Lesson; Or, A Child wise unto Salvation.
A Discourse instructing and inviting LITTLE CHILDREN to the Exercises of Early Piety.
To which may be added, A short Scriptural Catechism, accommodated unto their Capacities.
By COTTON MATHER.
Boston: Printed by R. Pierce, for Nicholas Buttolph, at the Corner Shop, next to Gutteridge's Coffee-House. 1690.
SEnum est Prophetare. Etiamsi videas aliquando Juvenem Prophet antem, non dubites de eo dicere, si secundum Interiorem Hominem Senuit, Propterea est Propheta. Orig. Hom. in Ps. 36.
De Verbo Divino,
Lac Capit hic Infans, Panem Robustior Aetas,
Nec caret Optato curva Senecta cibo.
The Dedication of The Old Mans Honour. To my Honoured, and Worthy Friend, Major JOHN RICHARDS.
Sir,
VVEre there nothing else to command my Regards for you, besides the Old Age, which your Out-living of Threescore Winters has brought you to the Borders of, That were enough to give you a room in my Esteem and Reverence, and Veneration. I cannot but approve the care of the Greek Language, to make no more than one Letters Difference between the words for Old age, and Honour; and I cannot but applaud that condition of the World, whereto refers that famous Distich. Magna fuit quondam Capitis Reverentia Cani, In{que} suo pretio Ruga Senilis erat.
The Marks of Respect put upon Old age among the Antient Lacedemonians have been the matter of many pleasant and famous Histories; and the modern Venetians owe not a little of their Prosperity as well as Reputation unto the Figure which is allowed unto Old age among them. That people is not like to be long-liv'd, among whom, Fathers and Mothers, and those that have lived long, are not acknowledged; and that plant whose Younger Branches put a sleight upon the Elder, is for that cause by the Ingenious Botanist, called, Herba Impia, or a Wicked Cudweed When Old such an one, is used as a Term of Disgrace, & when Juvenis vetulo non assurrexerit, I sti…l think that I see none of the small…st among the Verbal and Real Solaecisms of the World. But somethi…g beside and beyond your meer Approaches to that Age, which will place a Silver Crown of Gray-hairs upon your Head, it is that causes me now to Dedicate unto you, the little Treatise of, The Old Mans Honour, now laid before you. 'Tis because you have, The Old Mans Honour, adorning of you; not only by having Served your People, both as a Ruler to them at home, and as an Agent for them abroad, when God gave you Opportunity; and we know the Name of that people with whom it was a Law, that none but Good Old Men should have the Honour, either Magistratum Gerere, or Legationem Obire; but chiefly by your Acquaintance with Him that is from the Beginning. Many years are now rolled away since you began that blessed Acquaintance; and I am well satisfy'd, that like the most fruitful old Polycarp, you will profess your self not yet weary of your Glorious Master. As 'tis my Duty to Desire, so I have Reason to Expect, that the nearer you come to be an Old Man, the more you will put off the Old Man, which is Corrupt according to Deceitful Lusts; that white you are an Old Man you will be found in the Old Way, wherein you will find Rest for your Soul; and that you will be One of those in my Dear Flock, whom if after I have Preached unto others, I do not my self prove a Cast away [which let Free Grace prevent!] I shall meet at the Right-hand of the Lord Jesus Christ with unspeakable joy, and whom I shall spend an Happy Eternity in the praises of a merciful Creator and Redeemer with; All which is humbly pray'd for, by
Sir, Your most Affectionate Friend and Servant, C. Mather.
THE OLD MANS HONOUR. OR, The HOARY HEAD found in the way of RIGHTEOUSNESS.
1 John II.XIII.
I Write unto you FATHERS, because ye have known Him that is from the Beginning.
HISTORY tells us that the Ancient Lacedaemonians in their Publick and Solemn Festivals, did use to have Three Shows made among them; the first, of Old Men, who made a Song to the Spectators, of this Import:
We have been Young and Strong all heretofore,
Till Age forbad our doing any more;
The Second, of Young Men, who had this for their Song,
We still are Young and Strong, and will maintain
Our Cause against all that on Earth remain.
The Third, of Children, who sang,
And We that on the Stage look now so small,
As we succeed, hope to surpass you all.
It were a Spectacle very much more Desirable and Considerable, if Christians of all Ages might this Day stand forth among us; and in the Capacity not only of Men, but also of Saints, give such a good account of themselves. Behold, in this Text represented unto us, What should be the Experience, and what the Resolution of all Ages, if they would march off with the praise of God as well as of Men! If Old Men would Expire joyfully, they should be able to say, We have been well Acquainted with our Saviour. If Young M…n would Advance Happily, they should be able to say, We have been truly Victorious over our Destroyer. If Children would Grow up Hopefully, they should be able to say, We have already acknowledged God for our Father. For me to recommend these Attainments unto the several Ages here, will be a part of my Endeavour to give the Food in due Season unto that Houshold of the Lord Jesus, which I am an unworthy Servant in; and, Ʋnto thee, O most Glorious Lord, I now bow my knee, that in this Ʋndertaking, thy Grace may be sufficient for me.
We have before us, an Inspired Epistle, which not only as Austin observes, has been Ʋnquestionably and Ʋniversally received as Caenonical; but also Jerom testifies, has as Ʋnqu…stionably and Ʋniversally been ascribed unto the Holy Apostle John. There is indeed running thro' the whole Epistle, the plain Character of the Spirit brea…hing in that Apostle, of whom one of the Antients does report, That when thro' extream Age, he was unable to Walk or Speak to the Church, he would be carried by the Disciples thither, and with his Aged, Feeble, Broken Voice, only say unto them, My Dear Children, Love one another.
Our Apostle in our Context, is pressing the General Duty of Conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ, and under that Head, the particul…r Duty of Charity towards all our Brethren; and hereupon he addresses all Christians of several Ages, therewithal very pertinently and elegantly declaring to them the Reasons of his thus Addressing them.
All Christians are first addressed under the name of New-born Babes; for indeed we all should be like Babes for our Humility, for our Innocency, for our Placability; or else, our Lord has told us, Ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. But these Babes are then ranked under three Denominations, Fathers, Young Men, Little Children; to each of these does the Apostle say, I write unto you; for truly, our God hath His Children in all Ages, and all Ages ought very much to be conversant with the written Word of God.
Let us begin at the first, and of them: note,
First, The Persons apply d unto. Fathers. By these are meant, not meerly Fathers in Grace, but likewise, Fathers in Age; the Expression intimates Old Men, that are in the School of the Lord Jesus Christ, And mark, the old Apostle calls them, Fathers; which was not from any Relation of theirs to him, but from his Reverence to them. 'Tis to teach us, That Old Men should have much Respect and Honour from us; we ought still to treat them as our Fathers, & use no Terms unto them, which discover not our sense of something Venerable in them, but remember that Charge of God, in Lev. 22.19. Thou shalt Honour the Face of the Old Man, and Fear thy God; there is no Fear of the Great God where the Face of an Old Man is not beheld with Regards of Honour.
Secondly, The Character and Priviledge of these persons. 'Tis, Ye have known Him that is from the Beginning. By that is meant, our Lord Jesus Christ; of whom this very Apostle elsewhere speaks, in John 1.1, 2. In the Beginning was the Word, which Name he (and none but he) in every one of his Books, put upon the Lord Jesus Christ; and he adds, The same was in the Beginning with God. But if you ask, why the Lord Jesus Christ is here called, He that is from the Beginning? I answer,
'Tis first, to assert the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, against those Carpocratians, and Gerinthians and Ebionites, who were the Antichrists appearing in the Days of John. Those Hereticks affirmed our Blessed Lord Jesus to be a Meer man; but in opposition to them, 'tis here said, That our Lord had a Being from, and at, and indeed infinitely before the beginning of the World.
'Tis also to commend the Lord Jesus Christ upon the score of His Antiquity; old men love to pretend unto the Knowledge of old Things; and it is here intimated, That as they knew Him, so there was nothing older than He for them to be conversant withal.
Let this then be the Doctrine which our Thoughts may at this Time a little dwell upon.