OLD AGE. "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them."-ECCLESIASTES, xii., 1. THIS passage, which stands in the midst of a remarkable and eminently practical description of youth and old age, has usually been construed as a dissuasive from pleasure, as a dissuasive from many of the innocent enjoyments of youth; and as teaching that we are to bear in mind the coming of old age, and that we are not, since we are the creatures of an hour, to unduly estimate the transient joys and pleasures of life. If we take into consideration the closing verses of this chapter, I think we shall give another construction to the text: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:" "Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. . . . . Fear God, and keep his commandments:" that is the way to remember him-" while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." That is, remembering that there is such a thing as a miserable old age, so conduct yourself in youth by remembering God and obeying his commandments that the misery of old age shall be escaped, and a brighter day be awarded you. In other words, this passage seems to me to be a cautionary suggestion as to the method of so living as to make old age desirable, beautiful, and happy. Old age is a distant port for which the whole human race More than half perish at the start, toward which they steer. commencement of the voyage. go down before reaching the light-ship off the harbor of New York, it would represent the human race, one half of which dies in infancy. Of the remainder, at least one half perishes before reaching the age of forty-five. If we say that one beyond the age of sixty may be called an old man, probably not a quarter of the human race ever reaches old age. The fact that the average of adult life is placed at thirty-three years is itself a testimony on this subject most remarkable. Men do not, on an average, live out half their days. Eighty years is but a fair term of life, under good conditions and with proper care. The race of man, comprehensively regarded, do not live forty years. One half of life is thrown away, then, in every generation. The economic waste, the enormous depredation upon wealth, upon power, upon happiness, to say nothing of virtue and morality, are worthy the consideration of political economists. Men have a right to old age. It is a part of the allotment of life, and it belongs to every one. Men are defrauded if they do not possess it. They get so much less than belongs to the patrimony which God has provided for them. Sometimes men are defrauded of it by the sins of their parents or of their ancestors. This transmissive law, by which children are punished for the sins of their parents, is silent, yet more august and terrible than was Sinai when all enflamed. Many children come into life, and the experienced eye pronounces it impossible for them to live many years. Parents weep at the strange Providence, and the mysterious dealings of God, when there is neither strangeness nor mystery in it. Thousands and thousands are born who should have had a right in life, but whose hold is so brittle that the first wind shakes them, and they fall like untimely fruit. Some fall by accident, some in the discharge of duties which call them to offer up their lives as a sacrifice for the common weal. The greatest number, however, are deprived of a good old age by their own ignorance or by their own misconduct; and those that reach old age too often find that it is a land of sorrow. Such is the spectacle that we witness in many instances, that it is not strange that one should desire not to grow old. One dreads to see gray hairs in poverty, in beggary-dependent upon a charity which is as inconstant as the tides. One shrinks from old age when it is full of pains, when it is crippled, shrunken, helpless, hopeless, and hapless, still more when the reason wanes and the . second childhood (a kindly name for imbecility) dawns. Now old age was not designed to be mournful, but beautiful. Old age is a part of the scheme of life, which was designed to be beautiful from beginning to end. It is the close of a symphony, beautiful in its inception, rolling on grandly, and terminating in a climax of sublimity. It is harmonious and admirable, according to the scheme of nature. The charms of infancy, the hopes of the spring of youth, the vigor of manhood, and the serenity and tranquillity, the wisdom and peace of old age-all these together constitute the true human life, with its beginning, middle, and end—a glorious epoch. The end of summer is often more glorious than the summer itself. October is beyond all comparison the crown of the year; and the word of inspiration saith, "The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness." While a sordid old man, who has corrupted his heart and filled his life with vices, is a hideous spectacle, a pure heart, a sweet nature, a generous and cheerful soul, walking among the young, and mildly manifesting in his own life. what are the fruits of true piety, is at once a blessing and encouragement. There is nothing more beautiful than a serene, virtuous, and happy old age; and such an old age belongs to every individual's life, if he only knows how to build it. Every one of us, but especially those who are beginning in life, is aiming at a serene and happy old age, and I propose to put before you some considerations which shall direct your attention to the methods of attaining it. I beseech you not |