The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-07-24
GODDESS OLD AGE

urcs In Heaven or Upon the Earth?
All men naturally desire length of
days, rather than to be cut off in child
hood and youth, or called away in
middle life; and yet length Of days, If
sufficiently extended, MEANS by an in
evitable law, that condition of the body
which we designate as old age. 1t
means loss Of physical power, con-
seriousness Of weakness, inaptitude and
incapscity for effort, retirement from
prior forms of activity, decrease OF
personal and social significance by
reason OF what one can do. numerous
pains and aches that grow out OF in
trinity, disrelish for many things that
were once the sources Of pleasure, and,
in general, collapse, greater or less.
of all the forces of life. The first sight
of an old man reveals these facts. even
to casual observer; and the more fire.
euently he is seen the more apparent
the facts will be. No one will mistake
him for young man. The blossoms
of the almond tree on his head, his
withered and faded countenance, his
bent form, and slow and cautious step,
all alike tell the tale of lost vigor. He
feels the loss in every bone, muscle and
nerve Of his frame. No medicine and
no change of climate can repair the
damage which has gradually crept into
his whole physical being, and there
become fixture
This is not the whole picture. Old
age can not. by any possibility. de-
ceive itself with the idea OF many
years yet to come. One who is sew
enty-ive or eighty years of age can
not reason on this subject as one does
who is at the age of twenty-five He
knows that his life on earth is almost
spent, and that in very few years at
the longest the whole of it will be
spent, and that he must then bid fare.
well to the scenes OF this world and
encounter whatever awaits him in
another life. He knows that he is
near to the end Of his earthly pilgrim
age; and he so knows 1t that he can
not withdraw his attention from the
fact The condition OF his body is
constantly reminding hi m of the fact
and sounding it in his ears. That
sound he must hear whether he wishes
the information or not He does not
and he can not talk about life, or
think about it, as he did when he was
forty years of age. Mortality, as an
impending fact near at hand. salutes
him as 1t did not then. 1t speaks to
him of an approaching exit and of .
final departure from all earthly scenes.
The utterance is long and loud and
constant and excludes the possibility
of absolute inattention. No matter
whether he is a King on his throne or
peasant III his cottage, he must in
either case hear this monitory voice.
Let us by supposition--too often
real-add another feature to this pict-
ure. This man of years and infirmi-
ties and whose days are almost spent,
and who is compelled to see himself in
this condition, is an absolutely goddess
man in the sense that he has made no
spiritual preparation for death and
laid up no treasure for Heaven. He
may or may not be an open and avowed
intidel; but whether he is or not he Is
not Christian, and is not a religionist
OF any type that affords any comfort
in view OF death, or inspires him with
any hope with respect to the future.
He has lived just as he would have
lived if there were no God and no life
after death, and, indeed, just as he
would have lived if he had expected
to live on earth forever. His life here
has had no practical reference to God
or the life to come. All his thoughts
and all his efforts have been those Of a
pure wording. All his treasures and
all his hopes lie within this circle, and
outside of it he has no treasures and
no hopes whatever. Thus his youth
was spent; thus his middle age was
spent; and old age finds him in this
condition.
What then shall be said of man
who has lived seventy-five or eighty
years in this world, and in a Christian
land, where the Bible sheds its genial
light, and where God has established
His Church, and yet who comes to the
period of old age graceless and god
less. unblessed with joys aud hopes o.
Christian experience, and finall!
breathing his last in this condition.
The world, even if he has accumulated
millions, or made himself conspicu
Gus figure in its affairs, has lost all it
practical value to him. He will SCOT
be out of it and soon forgotten by it
In few years, with here and there q
rare exception. not even his name will
be mentioned. The future cheers hin
with no animating and inspiring hope
The Bible addresses to him no prom
Use. He is not sufficiently fa,nilia
with lit to be comforted by it. Tn
great salvation wrought out b.
Jesus Christ has by hin
been wholly neglected, if no
treated with scorn and contempt An,
thcre he is at last in his feebleness ant
tecay, near the end Of wasted AM
mis-spent life on earth-a sore affl io
ton to himself, if he thinks at all, an,
a solemn warning to others Who will
envy that old man his lot9 Who cal
afford to initiate his example?