Chap. 3o. An Expofition upon the Book of J d a. Vert, 2. 3 Hence note; It ù the fhame ofold men to be without thewi/dome of old men, or without thofe acccmplifhmsnrs which ufually accompany . old age. Salmon faith (Trov. x6. 31. ) The hoary bead ie a Crown 'of gl-ry, if it befound in the way of righteoufneffe. Old age bath no glory, without wifdome to doe righteous things ; and when an old man is without righteoufneffe , his oldage is not his Crowne,bur his reproach.Hemay be afbsmedof his gray haires, ofhis hoary head, he may be afharned to fhew bis head, while he bath fo little wit in it to doe good. Of loch we may fay, The more yeares r they have, the leffe honour they deferre to have. And therefore Sol non concludes (Ecc!. 9. 1 3. ) Better is a peore anda wo7o child, then an old andfoolifh .King, who will no were be adm-,ni/hed. TI .e precedency of age is great before child- hood ;Andgreater to the predeminenceof a King above a Poore. man ; yet (faith Soloman) better is a pore andwife childe,that is, a childew ich is ready to helm and follow good counfel and in- ftruetion (that's the proper wifdome ofa childe) then anoldfw- lifb King. To be a King is an addition ofhigheft honour to old. age. Tobe old is an addition of honour to a Ki+rg : But to be a foolifh oldKing, is not only adiminution but a deprivationof all honour, both from the Kingand the Ord man. To beold is a bleffi :igofnature, to be a King is a prerogative ofState ; To he foolifb is to be unworthy of both ; Elp cially to be fo foolifh, as not to endure admonition, fo foolifh, as neither to be able to counfel himfelfe, nor fo tradable as to receive counfel from o- thers: At once, to growold inyeareo, and fo old inwilfulneff and felfeconceitedneffe, as to out-grow all admonition, is the worft of childithneffe in old men, and makes a Poore wife childe better then the oldeft of fuch foolifh Kings, Thus as Ionic through their natural! weaknes, or the deca.es of na cre, are. twice children ; fo others through their mo all and fpiri ual weakneffe, are alwayes worfe thenchildren. And though they once had the corporali ftrength of sour.g mmyet they have not nor had the intelle&ualtttrength or wifdome ofmang children. There fall ¡Oilyunder robs reproofe, Their old age it peria?oed. fit:
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