S11M0N

0lBG„f<M0Jt8»,. BT . IK«

SIR WADS WORTH BUS%
WHO DEPARTED THIS. LIFE IN THE EIGHTY-SECOND
YEAB OF HIS AGE.

PREACHED AT 'ENFIELD, *$* DEQEMBER, 1811,

BT

'T. *fttYlER.

3UttB<m t
JRINTED BY LAW AND OILBBRT, STi JOHnV
SfJUATli, CLEHKKNWE1.L.
' 1812.

SERMON, &c.

PROVERBS xvi. 31.
The hoary Head is a Crown of Glory, if it be
found in the JFay of Righteousness.
1 HERE are few young persons, I believe»
whose constitution is firm and vigorous, who
do not expect to live to old age, and many
wish earnestly that they may. Nothing,
however, is more uncertain than the conti
nuance of life to so advanced a period ; and
nothing is more difficult than to preserve a
cheerful, contented, and submissive temper,
under the infirmities with which the decline
of a long life is usually attended. Of the
multitude that hope for old age, but few
a 2 attain

4
nttain it ; and the greatest part of those who
do, find it a scene of continued labour and
suffering. In saying this, I do not mean to
depress the spirits of the young and healthy ;
I only wish to guard them against the dan
ger and folly of depending upon the long
continuance of what is most precarious, and
under such false and flattering expectations,
neglecting to prepare for meeting, with
safety and comfort, the solemnities of a
dying hour, which they know is certain, and
fast approaching. Whatever the world may
be thought capable of doing for men, in the
full vigour of their days, it cannot be denied
that Religion furnishes the only remedy to
which we can apply for relief, with any hope
of success, under the decay and dissolution
of our nature. The infirmities of age render
religious support peculiarly necessary. Other
sources of consolation will then be dried up,
and without the possibility of replenishing
them again. But the reflections and hopes
which religion inspires, furnish an inex
haustible source of consolation ; and never
so much as at this interesting period when it
is most needed. Old age, preceded by an
ill-spent life, can be desirable to none, unless it

it be as a short reprieve from far greater evil*
which will follow. It is void of every thing
that can give it dignity and value ; and it
seldom fails to incur, beyond every other age
of life, universal displeasure .and contempt.
But " the hoary head (says the wise Man) is
a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of
righteousness/' I shall endeavour in the pre
sent discourse to illustrate and establish this
excellent proverb. And with this view, it
may be remarked,
First, That old age, amidst all the decays
and infirmities with which it is attended,
when it closes a life of distinguished piety
and usefulness, deserves and receives high
respect and veneration from men.
In its lowest state of feebleness and humi
liation, we view it, as we do the ruins of some
celebrated and well proportioned edifice,
with a mournful, indeed, but still with a re
spectful remembrance of its former glory.
The bodies of the saints are called by an
Apostle, "the temples of God," and their
very dust is precious in our sight. We fol
low them to the grave, and we revisit their
tombs

tombs with sentiments of esteem and venera
tion, which we cannot feel for other men ;
nor, whilst any vestige of their former strength
and vigour remains, can we view them with
indifference. None, I am sure, but the
most ignorant and brutish, can be so ungrate
ful, or unjust, as to treat them with neglect.
Even the infirmities of a good old age claim
and engage a respectful attention, which the
worjd does not always pay to the active graces
of early life ; and many a friendly hand has
been cheerfully stretched out to support the
tottering steps of a grey-headed Christian,,
which was once raised up in undeserved en
mity against him. Indeed, who ever sees a
good man sinking under the burden of years,
that used to take delight in relieving the
sorrows of all around him, and does not wish
to lend him a helping hand ? Who can view
him moving feebly along, through the weight
of manifold infirmities, in paths of duty where
he was once distinguished for activity and
zeal ; who, I say, that has any feeling of
piety and humanity remaining, does not think
it an honour to shew him respect* and a high
gratification to administer to his happiness ?
His last though feeblest efforts to serve the
cause,

cause; which it had been the business of his
life to promote, usually engages an attention*
and. carries a weight and dignity, to which
the better services of his more active days
were scarcely equal. And there are many
circumstances attending the old age of such
exemplary persons, which contribute to ex
cite a degree of esteem and confidence that
did not enter into their early years. The
world will now give them full credit for the
integrity of their character, and the uprights
ness of their intentions, confirmed, as they
are, by a long life of consistent and distinr
guished goodness ; especially when they see
it continued on toa period when every tempr
tation to prevaricate must of i course lose its
influence. All reasonable ground for coftir
petition, that hateful, but fruitful, source of
calumny and contest, is now weakened, or
femoved. The most envious and ambitious
can find -no pretence now for jealousy and
discontent in the superior distinctions which
are enjoyed, or in the higher respect "which
is received by a \* orn-down traveller, who is
just upon the point of leaving the honourable
stations he held in the world to those who
think it worth while to contend about them, and

8
and will soon be out of the way of every
competitor. I will further add, - the pious
and benevolent offices of the aged, with what
ever unavoidable imperfections they may be
accompanied, will do them peculiar honour,
and acquire a double value in the estimation
of the world, not only as they carry un
doubted evidence of the deep-rooted princi
ples from which they spring, but principally
from this consideration, that the time is very
near when they can be repeated no more ;
and the world and the church must then la
ment the loss of those blessings which their
zeal and examples once administered. It is
often said, (and the remark is not more com
mon than just) that we are never so sensible
of the value of our mercies, as when we fear,
and especially when we have suffered, the
loss of them. This remark applies with great
propriety to our friends, and our aged friends
particularly, whose virtues we venerate, and
to whose benevolent services we stand highly
indebted. So strong is the attachment we
feel, when the union between us is in danger
of being dissolved, that we would fain pro
tract the hour of their removal, even beyond
the date of their services and enjoyment, and
when

when we ourselves are no longer capableiof
receiving any personal advantage from them.
Under all their growing infirmities, we wish
to detain them still, and are unwilling to
part, though the only pleasure we can hope
to enjoy from their longer continuance, is
the pleasure of contributing to their relief
under the burden they suffer. The hoary
head, thus endeared to the world at large,
and especially to surrounding relatives and
friends, may be justly said to be encircled
with a crown of glory.
Secondly, Old age is further honourable
to good men, as it furnishes them with the
power and opportunity of administering
counsel and encouragement to their younger
and less experienced friends. A- man that
has been long conversant with the world,
must, of course, have enjoyed opportunities,
both from observation and experience, of en-
. riching his mind with maxims of prudence
and right conduct, which do not fall within
the reach of persons who are but just enter
ing upon, it. And a wise and good man,
who knows bow much they are needed, can
not be supposed to have suffered the oppor
tunities

10
tunities for acquiring them to pass by neg*
lected. He has viewed the world, and the
men of the world, in all their different forms
and appearances; and knows well where
many a concealed danger lies, which the
young and thoughtless have never detected*
These latter are apt to trust to theory, and
the outward aspect of things, which afiford a
precarious, and too often a deceitful rule of
judging. The former, on the contrary, can
appeal to facts and experience, which never
deceive us. And here lies the distinguished
honour of the aged. They do not enjoy the
same vigour for attempting great and diffi
cult undertakings; but then they may be
expected to have more wisdom and caution
in the management of those into which they
enter. " The glory of young men is their
strength, but the beauty, or excellency, of old
men is the grey head," or wisdom, which
long experience teaches, and of which the
hoary head is considered as the proper sym
bol. Hence " days should speak, (says
Elihu) and the multitude of years should
teach knowledge.' * And when old age
comes thus recommended, by stores of prac
tical wisdom, founded in experience, and
jus-

li
justified by facts, how venerable and useful
does it appear in every station of life, and
more especially in those of real importance !
And how happy are they who attend to its
friendly cautions, and, under the tuition of
their wise and more experienced friends,
learn to shun the dangerous rocks by which
so many are shipwrecked and lost, and upon
which they are in danger of striking !
Thirdly, Old age is particularly honour
able to the righteous, because it enables
them to do distinguished credit to religion in
the world, and especially among those with
whom they are intimately acquainted. No
thing can be more animating to young per
sons, when they are deliberating what course
to pursue in future life, whether the interest
of this world, or the next, shall be their go
verning object ; and whose favour they shall
seek as their chief good, the applause of
men, or that praise which cometh from God
only: nothing, I say, can be more ani
mating, than to be an eye-witness, in the
person of a beloved parent or friend, of the
happy consequences which follow an early
and continued course of religion, the solid
foundation

12
foundation which it lays for a comfortable
review ; and the reviving hopes which it in
spires, when the evil days come in which
there are no earthly pleasures. To see an
aged parent, or friend, sinking under the
burden of manifold infirmities, yet bowing
with humble submission to the divine ap
pointment, — incapable of relishing comforts,
in which he once found a high gratification,
yet still possessed of better consolations than
the world is capable of affording, —retiring
gradually from all he once held dear and va
luable in this life, but animated with the
hope Of being admitted to the society of
more improved friends, and to the enjoyment
of far more durable and satisfying blessings
than any he resigns,— this furnishes, I do
not say an evidence, but a demonstration of
the power and worth of religion, and must
leave an impression in its favour upon the
mind of every surviving relative and friend,
Which all the sophistry and art in the world
* is not able to efface. I am now speaking to
: some who have felt the salutary influence of
such an animating sight, and who will, I
trust, through eternity, have reason to bless
i God for the happy effects which it produces. In

13
In this way our aged friends become emi
nently useful to us, when they themselves
are lying silent in their graves, and will be
remembered with heart-felt sentiments of
respect and gratitude. We think how they
would have acted, and wished U3 to behave,
in this or that particular situation, and how
they did acquit themselves in circumstances
similar to our own ; and we feel our zeal ex
cited, and our fortitude confirmed, to maintain
our integrity. The salutary influence of
their shining examples is one gem in the
crown that adorns them ; nor is the influence
it conveys confined within a narrow and pri
vate circle. The continued perseverance of
aged and exemplary Christians, in a religious
course, through a long succession of years,
and the honourable testimony which they
have born to its worth, upon full trial of the
difficulties that attend it, contain a public
evidence in its favour to the world at large.
The man who grows grey-headed in a service
which he is always at liberty, and sometimes
tempted and importuned to leave, does ho
nour both to himself and his master. The
firmness and constancy he discovers, prove
not only his fidelity, but that he serves a
good

14
good master. Such is the honourable testi
mony which every man, who makes the ser
vice of God the business of his life, and per
sists in it to an advanced age, bears to the
wisdom and excellency of his choice. It is
plain there is nothing in the restraints and
difficulties which attend a life of religion,
(how loudly soever some men have, on this
account, objected against it) but what may
be patiently and cheerfully endured. It is
plain, also, there are pleasures to be found
in prosecuting it, which strangers inter
meddle not with ; for those who have made
the longest trial of it's nature and obliga*
tions, are its firmest and warmest advocates ;
they not only by their living examples, but
by their dying admonitions and intreaties,
most affectionately recommend it to the love
and practice of all around them, especially to
those for whom they feel the tenderest affec
tion. This argument can never be urged in
favour of a sinful course. Too many, indeed-,
have persisted in it to an advanced old age,
and left the world under the weight of guilt
which they had been accumulating all their
days. But was this a conduct which they
deliberately approved in their dying mo
ments,

15
ments, or which they could seriously recom
mend to those whom they loved most, at that
interesting period ? Who ever knew a dying
sinner thus address his surviving friends ? — ¦
' I have lived regardless of God and religion,
sought my chief good in the pleasures and
profits of this life, and given myself no con
cern about what is to befal me after death,
and now I find the wisdom of my conduct ;
do you copy my example, and depend upon
it your end will be peace/ Is this the lan
guage of dying sinners ? or does the self-
possessing and tranquil temper they discover,
evince the wisdom of such advice, and invite
us to follow it ? But why do I ask such
questions as these ? If there be a sight in
the world more horrid than another, it is
that of a grey-headed transgressor in the
near prospect of his great change, who, if
insensible of his wretched condition, must
be viewed as a frightful specimen of human
ignorance and obduracy; or, if truly sensible
of it, as an awful spectacle of human wretch
edness. Whether he looks upward to God,
or inward to himself, backward into his
past life, or forward to the interesting scenes
that lie before him, not one object of con
templation

16
templation can he find but what excites a
more pungent sorrow than any diseases, how
ever painful, that oppress his body. To be
reduced to a state like this is the height of
human misery, and a melancholy reverse of
that which our text leads us to contemplate,
and to which I would particularly direct
your attention.
Fourthly, The old age of a righteous man
is crowned with glory, for 'tis the closing
scene of a long life of useful service, and it is
usually adorned with firmer and more ma
tured graces than are usually exhibited in
younger years. If his hope of obtaining that
unfading crown, which the great Captain of
our Salvation holds up to our view, be strong
and lively, he may sometimes be tempted to
complain, under the many exercises of pa
tience and fortitude to which the combat of
life exposes him, that it is so long continued ;
but this very circumstance will serve in the
issue to increase his glory, and multiply his
joys ; for hereby he has a better opportunity
of doing honour to his divine Leader,
strengthening the hands of his fellow-com
batants, and evincing his own fidelity. To
drop

17
drop the metaphor, the longer time we spend
in the world, if it be well improved, the
more frequent opportunities shall we enjoy
for glorifying God, doing good to men, and
cultivating and exhibiting to the world the
graces of our own characters. Hence long
life, under the Mosaic dispensation, was
made the subject of a promise, and consi
dered as a distinguished blessing. And in
this light it no doubt ought to be repre
sented still, if it be devoted faithfully to the
great purposes for which life is given us. A
short day, interrupted, as it unavoidably is,
by the wants of frail and dying bodies,
allows but little time and opportunity for
making any great progress in those excellent
endowments which belong to the noblest
part of our nature, or for doing any distin
guished service to the world ; but he that
begins early, and pursues steadily, through
a long day of life, a course of piety and
goodness, will find himself advanced high in
glory, when the shades of the evening gather
around him. Plans of usefulness, which
others did but live to project, he Mill have
the pleasure to see happily accomplished.
And graces and virtues, which were nipped^
£ in

18
in the bud, or did but just begin to open, in
the character of younger persons, and which
the chilling power of death suddenly blasted,
will be found in him to have acquired a de-.
gree of strength and maturity, which sets
them above the danger of being withered
and lost, and to have produced the richest
fruits of righteousness. His apprehensions
and feelings, in the advanced stage of life,
may not be so quick and vigorous, but his
good purposes are more fixed and determined
than at any former period. He may not be
conscious to the same pleasing emotions in
the worship of God, nor capable of the same
exertions in his attempts to do kind offices
to men ; but there never was a time when
he was so incapable of deliberately violating
his duty to either, or of being induced, by
the power of any temptation, to make ship
wreck of faith and a good conscience. Re
ligion, in early life, resembles a beautiful and
tender plant, which, though it delights the
eye of every wise observer, may be easily
shaken and blighted, and too often is so,
without bringing fruit to perfection. But
when we contemplate religion, as it is exhi
bited in the life and conduct of an aged
Christian,

X9
Christian, who began early, and continued
steadily to improve his acquaintance with it
all his days, we then view it as a full grown
and fruitful tree, that has struck its roots
deep and wide, and is not easily to be moved
or injured by any unkindly blasts and un
healthy seasons that assault it. " The
righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree ;
he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Those who are planted in the house of the
Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall bring forth fruit in old age ; they
shall be fat and flourishing."
Fifthly, I add once more, the old age of
the righteous may be justly said to be
crowned with glory, because it opens a wide
field for pleasing and thankful reflections,
and lays a solid foundation for the most ani
mating hopes. , . . :
i
Many defects, indeed, the best of men,
upon a careful retrospect of past life, will see
reason to acknowledge, the remembrance of
which cannot fail to excite their humility
and sorrow, and which, were they to spend.
B 2 their

20
their lives over again, they would endeavour
to avoid. Conscious, however, that though
with much weakness, and many sad devia
tions from their duty, which exclude all
pretence for boasting, yet still, " with simpli
city and godly sincerity, not with fleshly
wisdom, but by the grace of God they have
had their conversation in the world," the co
venant of divine mercy established by the
sacrifice and mediation of Christ Jesus, will
furnish them with a never-failing source of
consolation and hope. Animated by its
gracious assurances, they look back upon a
long life of active service with thankfulness to
God, who has carried them through it, and
forward with a cheerful hope, that their la
bour shall not finally lose its reward. They
look down into the grave, upon the border
of which they are standing, and triumph to
think that all the infirmities of a frail and
dying body, under which they now groan,
being burdened, will soon be buried there, to
rise no more. Extending their views be
yond death, they see, by faith, a new heaven
and a new earth prepared for their reception,
the inhabitants of which shall never say they
4 are

21
are sick, and where sorrow and sighing shall
flee away. " They shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun
light upon them, nor any heat ; but the
Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
shall lead them, and feed them, and God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes/'
Happy, beyond description, are those aged
Christians, who, having well improved their
day of life upon earth, see the shades of the
evening gathering around them, and can
look forward to the approaching darkness
with a well-founded hope, that when they
close their eyes in death, they shall awake in
a world, and amidst the splendour of a day
so bright and glorious. A long and exem
plary life, closed with such pleasing reflec
tions, and such animating hopes, is infinitely
more desirable than the brightest diadem
which ever adorned a mortal brow ; or than
the most prosperous state which any mortal
was ever capable of attaining. The hoary
head, when it is encircled with such honours,
may well be stiled a crown of glory ; a crown*
not fading and perishable, like earthly ones,
which are lo3t in the grave. Death, when
preceded

22
preceded by a long life of piety and useful
ness, instead of being clothed with terrors,
carries the aspect of triumph and victory.
It is like a racer reaching the goal, and win
ning the prize, with a cloud of witnesses
around him to congratulate his victory ; or,
like the triumph and glory of a soldier at the
close of a long and hazardous, but successful
combat, in which he has displayed distin
guished wisdom, patience, and fortitude.
Such, I say, but far more enviable, is the
crown that adorns the head of a good soldier
of Jesus Christ, when he is declared a con
queror, and more than conqueror, through
him that loved us. And one excellency it
possesses, which belongs to no other, it shall
never be tarnished or lost, and the longer it
is worn the brighter it will shine.
The subject we have now been contem
plating might truly be illustrated, under the
several particulars I have mentioned, byre-
presenting the exemplary life and peaceful
death of that truly venerable friend, and aged
Christian, whose removal from our world to
a better, has occasioned my present appear ance

23
ance in this place. It is not my intention",
nor will the time allow me to pass a long and
laboured encomium upon his character ; that
does not need our praise. His record is on
high, and shall another day be publicly an
nounced, by an unerring Judge, I doubt not,
to his unutterable gratitude andjoy. My busi
ness upon the present occasion is not to praise
the dead, who can derive no profit from it,
but to console and to improve the living.
And it will answer both these purposes, to
retrace, in our serious reflections, the excelr
lent graces which adorned the character, and
the beneficial and widely-extended fruits that
were produced in the life, of our deceased
friend, whilst his capacity for active service
was continued. His surviving relatives and
friends will here find an example to imitate,
and motives to excite their emulation. Few
persons have passed through life more highly
respected by the , world at large, or more
sincerely esteemed by all that enjoyed the
honour of his acquaintance; and few have
discharged the duties of public and import
ant! stations more conscientiously, or with
greater ability and success. His name will be

24
be long remembered with gratitude in the
Isle of Man, where he discharged the office
of Attorney-General, to the great benefit of
the inhabitants. And few have been adorned
in private life with more endearing graces.
Having a mind richly stored with human
and divine knowledge, and a heart full of
humility, condescension, benevolence, and
devotion, he could not fail of being a faith
ful and tender parent, a kind master, and a
pleasing and improving friend. And that
which gave a strength and stability to the
social virtues of his character, was the un?
shaken faith which he reposed in Christ
Jesus, as the appointed Saviour of sinful
men, — the profound veneration which he
entertained for his heavenly doctrine, and
the ardent ambition which he felt to advance
his glory, and the triumphs of his cause in
the world. How highly he valued, and how
powerfully he felt the influence of Christian
principles and hopes, is well known by those
who were the intimate observers of his daily
conduct; to these principles and hopes he
looked for comfort, and here he found* it,
under all the growing infirmities of his de
clining

25
dining years. Much as his faith and pa-
tience£ were sometimes exercised by them,
his habitual language still was, " Father,
not my will but thine be done/' till he fell
asleep in Jesus, and exchanged the trials of
time, I doubt not, for the joys of a blessed
immortality. It is highly consolatory to
his surviving relatives and friends, and the
proper subject of their devout thanksgiving,
that it pleased God to prolong his life, and
under all his bodily infirmities, to continue
the possession of his mental powers, to so ad
vanced a period. It is also a mitigation of
their sorrow to think, that a life thus merci
fully preserved, terminated in a death stripped
of all its usual agonizing pains, and that
lookedmore like a weary traveller's resigning
himself to wished-for sleep, than submitting
to the stroke of the king of terrours. His
exemplary life and peaceful death will leave,
I trust, upon all our minds this impressive ad
monition, which ought never to be forgotten,
that amidst all the multiplied cares to which,
in this frail state of flesh and blood, we are
unavoidably subject, Religion is still the one
thing needful ; and that an early and con-
c ¦«';<> tinued

26
tinued application to it is the truest wisdom;
and the only wisdom that will be found of
any avail under the infirmities of old age,
and especially in our dying moments.

FINIS.

law and Gilbert, Printer,, St. John's-Square, Londou.

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