Weekly Delaware State journal and statesman., 1861-01-11
SERMON.
The Unconscious Advance of Life.


A Sermon preached on The last Sabbath of the year
By Rev. George y. Wisivell, Of the Central
Presbyterian Church.
Gray hairs here there upon him. yet he knoweth
II n0t:-HosEA vn o.
shall this text descriptive of the unconscious
effects Of time upon the body and the gradual but
extnguishment Of life by the lapse Of years. Primarily
it is usrd to illustrate the condition Of nation whose
powers wasting and whose glory h unconscousy de-
parting Time whose feet like those Of the Avengng God
are shod with WOOL noselessy and lays hand
so gently upon u.s. that altogether uneonscouAy We pass
through the periods OF infancy childhood, YOUTH man
hood old age and a last he lays away in the sepulchre
Horace, the Latin poet represents ia process thus;
Years following years. steal something every day,
At last they steal us from ourselves away"
AS to any real experience Of old age, few Of
anything The decreptude and eobleness extreme life
have not yet fallen upon many Of this congregation and
II may seem tned for me to speak 10 you OF old age
but ask you to remember that while not all old
all groirng OIL. This time have chosen Is also
Instructive the hla sabbath of year, with all its solemn
Hnd admontory voices, Is most fitting occasion to dis
course Of the waning and unconscious wasting ii life
The theme is Indeed haekneyeu, but qaite unlAe its sub
ec il is that will grow old. Preachers poets,
painters, philosophers and sages have discoursed Of old
age, aud still it Is unexhAusted People are az and al
Bays growing oldthe world is growing old-the ssy
growing wrnkled aud will soon be rolled tosether-ihe
hills and mountains, " Isckrbbed and ancient the
sum-" growing old-the whole system Of nature is
growing old and last going to decay and this whole pro-
goes forward gradually that We unconscious Of
It, We all older than the final Sabbat OF 1859;
yet who realizes III Who through any given pfi Of
the year has had brought vivdiy to his consciousness
the fact that he was growing old and approaching by
successive yet steps, the place Of his death and Lis
burial Il is one OF the kindly arrangements Of proy
dence that but for Hckneases aud frequent physical
ailments, the man of o. feels youthful when hs
gambolod boy Of 10 Aud the wide Interval Of
years between youth and early sneseenoe has all been
kept in great from his conscousness he has at
no time felt that he growing away from his boyhod
Ut time realized the advance Of years any than the
apple peach that blushes red and rpens pendent its
native stem. Il Ia very beautiful that this is That
made to feel kesny, the swing and shock Of
the steady hours and days, and years Of measur
diminished life Wereit otherwise, so that ea revolving
day and each dying ye communicated TO our physical
by some out~ard sign OF lmpus the tale OF our
perishing mortality should scarcely endure the stan
pressure upon hearts II is also beautiful aud
bsngnan arrangement II Providence that cannot
just when We cease 70 be young aud begia TO be old
Those who past fifty cannot say when they began to
think that young manhood had ended when they no
longer excused themselves from duty on the ground Of
being "tOo young We slid IRON stage 70 another
without observing any dividing lines.
Youth is the season Of romance and wild advsnture
but no was conscious Of the passing rom that stage
INTO a less rOmsntic period As reacn mi die aud
pa TO advanced years. we look back upon child
no with clear idea Of the change that has asen paes
In tho kindling glow Of imagination everything
greatly magnhed scale and surrounded by corona
Of gorgeous hues. We Eha again su,h stately
those that threw their grateful shade the
house where born never again shall We know
such large fields and forests AS those where pick
herres and chased the butterfly aud roaned stsuiug
repeated echoes childish voices among the grand old
t,s W. shsll navar travei sneh nv ~ t,.o nv
which we found the school house, ths be-
hold high seeple that whcn shot orete up INTO
The clouds from the church In which hst We heard the
The man years look at his picture hanging familiar
the wal II was painted when he was young OF
twenty-five. The friend who loJks up It's ruddy nea-
ments says he does net much likeness there He
Is unabl to recognise his present self Bg al lime
through the silent lapse Of these long evenul years
and beautiful is this order Of Gods proydepiia ec0nony
There are 1t is true, tain physical signs and
Of advancing age that cannot be concealed from the OBJ
ssrveF The step Is little hrm and the carriage
little more formal, dgnihed and stately There is more