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SERMON DCXLVII.

BY REV. LEWIS H. REID,*

FAYETTEVILLE, N. Y.

PIETY IN THE AGED.

"And she was a widow of about four score and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day."-LUKE ii. 37.

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THIS is recorded of Anna the prophetess, who like the aged Simeon, was waiting for the consolation of Israel. Like him she was eminently devout, manifesting her piety in a faithful attendance upon the services of the temple, and in fastings and prayers continually. Three verses furnish all that we know of her his tory, and yet who would not prefer to have such a memoir of himself written than the volumes which set forth the exploits of a Napoleon or an Alexander? The pen of inspiration, it is a noticeable fact, is always very brief in portraying the lives and characters of those who have figured in sacred history. Of Enoch it was enough to say that, he walked with God, and was not, for God took him." What a volume is this in itself! Of some simply the name is mentioned. But to have one's name written on the leaf of God's holy word is a more enduring monument than if it were chiseled in adamantine rock or graven deep on brazen tablets. In the ruins of ancient Babylon a huge palace has been discovered built of bricks. Upon each of these bricks the same characters are impressed, which, it has been discovered, are the letters of the name "Nebuchadnezzar!" Thus did this proud monarch seek to glorify himself, and thus has he actually perpetuated his name in earthen structures through a period of two thousand five hundred years. But the implements of the antiquarian have at length exhumed those bricks, and now with the palace which they composed must they crumble to the dust! No such fate, however, befals the glorious monument which inspiration has reared. The name written once here, is more honorable and lasting than though it were repeated a thousand times on the proudest structures of man's rearing. Indeed the very decay of Assyrian and Egyptian palaces and temples, goes to show not only how truthful, but also how indestructible a monument is the Sacred Word.

The subject which the text naturally suggests is piety in the

* Preached on occasion of the death of a pious widow, aged nearly 85 years.

aged. In considering this subject, it is worthy of note, first,

that

I. Piety in the aged confirms and illustrates the promise which God has made of long life to those who fear his name. Every where throughout the Scriptures "length of days" is spoken of as an eminent blessing. Thus, in the fifth commandment, we read, "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." The Psalmist writes, "He asked life of thee and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever." To those who "set their love" upon God, and "call upon him," it is promised, "With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation." So, also, it is written, "My son forget not my laws; but let thy heart keep my commandments: for length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee." And again: "Behold that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children and peace upon Israel." The patriarchs are regarded as having been highly favored in this respect, and hence the exact age to which they attained is mentioned as of especial note. The last words written with regard to Job, are, "After this lived Job a hundred and forty years and saw his sons, and his son's sons, even four generations. So Job died being old and full of days." The last that is recorded with regard to Joseph is that he saw Ephraim's children of the third generation, and also those of Manasseh, and that he died being 110 years old. The prophet Isaiah, in describing the effects which the reign of the Messiah would have, writes, "There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die an hundred years old." "They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." The comparison is apt-for some trees, the oak, cypress, cedar and others, attain to a great age. Adamson, who lived in the last century, a botanist and student of natural history, mentions one tree in Senegal which he judged to be over 5000 years old. There is a tree in Mexico which some are of the opinion is still more aged.* A section of the cedar from California, which was judged to be 3000 years old, we have some of us seen.

But while length of days is spoken of in the Scriptures as a blessing, you will notice that it is always associated with piety and obedience. Thus it was said to Israel, when they were about to enter the promised land, "I command thee this day to

* Barnes' Notes on Isaiah lxv. 22.

love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply; and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thy heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it."

There are many passages, also, which set forth the same truth on the other hand, such for example as these: "The wicked shall be cut off from the earth and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it." "Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him." "He shall be driven from light into darkness and chased out of the world. He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings." "But thou O God shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction-bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days."

When, then, we see the lives of the pious spared and lengthened out, what an illustration and corroboration is this of the divine promise with regard to such. How does God seem to make his own word good! What a living exemplification do those have of the declaration, "Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed."

II. Again: Piety in the aged crowns those who possess it with especial honor. The hoary head is always represented in the Scriptures as a valuable and honorable possession. Thus we read, "The glory of young men is their strength, and the beauty of old men is the gray head." We find, also, the "ancient" numbered with the "honorable," and have especial injunctions with regard to the manner in which the aged should be treated. "Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old." "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man." God also links respect for age with his own fear, for he adds immediately to the words last quoted, "and fear thy God." The sin of despising aged persons is particularly noticed. Isaiah, in describing the calamities which were to come upon the Jews, mentions this among other things: "The child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient." Similar disrespect for the prophet Elisha on the part of the children who cried as he went up into Bethel, "Go up thou bald head," was terribly punished by the appearance of two she bears who tare forty and two of their number in pieces! Wisdom and experience are justly supposed to belong to the aged. "With the ancient is wisdom and in length of days un

derstanding." A respect for this wisdom might have saved to Rehoboam, who "forsook the old men's counsel and spake after the counsel of the young men," his life and his kingdom.

But age is never so honorable as when it is accompanied by piety. "The hoary head (it is written) is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness." This latter constitutes the jewel in the crown. It is this which gives to it especial value, and makes it truly honorable. The patriarch Jacob wore this crown with the jewel mentioned, and received the homage of Pharaoh, a heathen king. Samuel possessed the same, and when he died was followed to the grave with the lamentations of the entire Jewish nation. Elisha was in like manne." distinguished. When in his last sickness, he was visited by Joash, a wicked and idolatrous king, who wept over his face, and said, "O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen tinereof." Of Jehoida the priest it is written to the honor of his piety, "And they buried him in the city of David, among the kin gs, because he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house." These are but illustrations of the high regard which piety in the aged generates. The reasons for this high regard are to be found in the respect which piety itself com mands, in the fact that it is associated with age, experience, and wisdomin the fact, also, that it has had longer opportunity to g row-bas greater depth of root and strength of fibre-is more mat ure, intelligent, comprehensive. And does it not receive additio: nal honor from the fact that it is so near to its culmination? Do not the glistening hairs of pious age derive brightness and glory from their nearness to the unfading and everlasting crown? 1 'he bride who is hastening to the altar never looked so sweetly before-the student who has finished a long course of study and is abo ut to receive his honors, attracts to himself especial attention. Is it not so somewhat with the aged christian who is a candidate ; for, and is very near to, the glories and rewards of heaven? Se parate, however, heavenly virtues from the hoary head, and the ewel is j gone the crown is fallen. For where can you behold a more "lamentable spectacle than a graceless old man only gaini ng by his score of years a proportionate score of guilt?" The white hairs of the ungodly only bespeak ripeness for wrath-wrath trea sured up during all the long past against the issues of the final day. "The sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed."'

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III. Piety in the aged commends religion to others. The counsels of age and experience, men will heed if they will heed any thing. They are prone in emergencies to seek the advice of those who have lived longer, and have more knowledge than themselves. They attach weight to what is told themreceive it as from wise lips, and are very likely to act in accordance with it. In a similar manner great weight is given to the counsels of aged and devoted christians.

It is known that they speak intelligently, dispassionately, wisely. They have had experience. They know what they affirm. They feel its importance. Then, again, the fact that they are so near to eternity makes them serious and earnest in what they say, and at the same time awakens a more respectful hearing on the part of those to whom they speak. Their words have something of the same weight which the words of dying men have. They come from the heart, and are received very generally with solemnity and attention. Added to this is the savor of their example. They conform to the exhortation of the Apostle, and possess the characteristics therein described, "That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things." There is more to cause them to be consistent than is the case with the younger. Their passions are less strong; they mingle less in the engagements and turmoil of business; they have fewer perplexities and cares, are less beset by temptation, have been longer trained in the school of Christ; and be sides all this, are constantly admonished by the fact, that while others may, they must soon die. These and other things tend to make them more watchful of their example, and to exhibit a character for spotlessness and worth, which the younger may well emulate. Thus Paul wrote: "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." But not only by their words and example do the pious aged commend religion to others, but also by the particular testimony which their conduct affords, by their steadfastness and adherence to the faith-by the appreciation and felt necessity of religion, which they exhibit in their own case. To see aged Christians abounding in acts of devotion, assures one that they have not grown weary in well doing that they do not feel themselves above these exercises, or past them, but that they take more and more pleasure in them, and feel more and more the need of them as they come nearer to heaven. In this respect they speak in an impressive manner to the world. They seem to say, "We have learned by a long experience, that religion is just what we need; and now, instead of giving it up, we mean to cherish it the more. We want it, we find, in all the trials and conflicts of this life; we want it in our present infirmities, and we shall want it yet more in the dying hour. Part with it? Never! The longer we live, the more we prize it. The more new and unusual our experience, the more necessary and precious do we find it to be. Thus does every aged Christian, in the course which he himself pursues, preach a sermon, as it were, to those around him. He says for substance: "You see how I feel, and what I do; will it not be wise and prudent in you to feel and do likewise?"

The novice in matters pertaining to the sea, would naturally

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