Chap. r 2. An Expufitionupon the Boo&ofJon- Verf: t 2,. 231 nor char, we ire to :jd",re,.vhich is indeed to dote upon old age ; it is doting to think trrat eve, y thing m: ft be true which an of d mill lai:h, or which the Fathers have ate-red. But as it is the dotage of any rain w credit any tiring >vnicii"an old man (peaks,. o- co pin ourfaith upon the-opinion :4the A,iciencs, fo it ica fiu ( betides the incivility of it) to flight or undervalue what_ old age [peaks. Old men ha Yin', enjoyed the like means that young men have, and having made improvement (Ache means vtiaicà they have enjoyed, are to be looked upon with venerati- on, and their counlel is to he received with more refpeEt than that of young men. What deftroyed the Kingdom ofRehofbo- bam ? he followed the courfeì of theyoung ;nen,and woo d not follow theadvice of the old Connfellors, who had tieen with Iris F ather, and had long known the carriage of tee Kingdome, and the way ofgovernment. He rakes youn ;, men's cooufel, and fo'o- verthroweth all. The fame error and da rger lies in l;piritual, MaXÌ filv1 as well as in Temporal ff=r,s. A r aircient w;ize: defcrittinr; P¡}rivnrar. obi the happinefsofa City, fzith, then a !'ity is happy, when it ofeth e^nfitia lemon, the counfelof old men, and theJirength of young ;men ; when it bath uv2num mina the heads of ancient men, and toe hands ofyoung men; the one O ti9ert. r1ú4 . to givecounfcl and advice, theouter, to aft and execute ; then a Cityor Commonweaítn is 'sike to be Cif: and fi )urifh. Though we matt not tieup our fel. es to rte cnrtn'oël ofthe ancient, nor eifeern all truth bec"aufe the ane'ients fay (o, truth is older than the eldelt truth bath the g aytft hair, the hoaryeft head : And though iftrw h be fpoken by a yonchy, on muff reverence iP and rej íf error, though an old man be thepatron ; yet old'men mutt have ret'erençe in what they fay,and cleîerve preiieminence in con rel. Job ièemsto apply this tohi, friends. You are men of years, therefore you finely have artained much un.ierftanding. You may well know what I have taught, and that i am now teach-. ing,That God is rran(cendent in wi!dome, that his knowledge as well as his power i over all. You mull needs know that God work myfterioufly and fecretly, that he works fupreamly and authoritat ively, that he needs not give an account unto the chit- dren ofm. n.Tpth the ancient is this nifdome,and in length ofdayes g2is under iauding iTnis is the wiIUonle ry bích I fhall now demor.- íl;ace.. ïr'e, ft
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