Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-03-11


command year Of jubilee. The peo-
pie did not work that year. If property
had by misfortune gone out Of ones
possession, on the fiftieth year 1t came
back to him. If he had fooled 1t away, it
was returned without farthing to pay.
If man had been enslaved, he was in
that year emancipated. A trumpet was
sounded loud and clear and long, and 1t
was the trumpet Of jubilee. They shook
hands, they laughed, they congratulated.
What time 1t was, that fiftieth year!
And If under the old dispensation it was
such glad IT, 10, under our new and more
glorious dispensation let all who have
come to the ffties hear the trumpet of
jubilee that l now blow. That was the
a1lusion made by Mr.. Toplady, the great
hymnologist, when he wrote:
Blow ye the trumpet, blow
Tho gladly solemn sound;
Let all the nations know,
To earth's rcmotest bound,
The year Of jubilee Is come.
Return ye ransomed sinners home.
Ye who have sold for naught
Your heritage above
Shall have 1t back unbought-
Tho gift of Jesus love.
The year of jubilee has come.
Return ye ransomed sinners home
My sermon next accosts the sixties.
The beginning of that decade is more
startling than any other. In his chron-
illogical journey the man rides rather
smoothly over the figures ''2" and $50"
and "4" and 49," but the figure "6" gives
him a big jolt. He says: ut cannot be
that 1 am 90. Let me examine the old
family record. l guess they made mis-
take. They got my name down wrong
| in the roll of births" But, no; the older
brothers or sisters remember the time of
his advent, and there is some relative
year older, and another relative year
younger, and, sure enough, the fact is
established beyond all disputation.
Sixty Now your great danger is the
temptation to fold up your faculties and
quit. You will feel tendency to remi-
nisce. If you do not look out, you will
begin almost everything with the words.
"When was boy" But you ought to
make the sixties more memorable for
God and the truth than the fifties, or the
forties, or the thirties. You ought to do
more during the next 10 years than you
did in any 80 years of your life because
of all the experience you have had. You
have committed enough mistakes in Life
to make you wise above your juniors.
| Now, under the accumulated light OF
your past experimenting. go to work for
God as never before.
When q man in the sixties folds up
his energy and feels he has done enough,
| it is the devil of Incidence to which he is
/ surrendering, and God generally takes
the man at his word and lets him die
right away. His brain, that under the
| tension of hard work was active, now
suddenly shrivels. Men, whether they
! retire from secular OF religious work,
generally retire to the grave. Nc well
AK,
was made for work. There remaineth a
rest for the people of God, but it is in
sphere beyond the reach of telescopes.
The military charge that decided one OF
the greatest battles of the ages-the bat
tie of Waterloo-was not made until 8
o'clock in the evening, but some Of you
propose to go into camp at o'clock IN
the afternoon.
WAITING FOR TIE END.
NV subject next accosts those in the
seventies and beyond. My word to them
is congratulation. You have got nearly
if not quite through. You have safely
crossed the sea of life and are about to
enter the harbor. You have fought at
Gettysburg, and the war is over. Here
and there skirmish with the remaining
sin of your own heart and the sin OF the
world. but guess you are about done.
There may be some work for you yet
on small or large scale. Bismarck of
Germany vigorous in the eighties. The
prime minister of England strong at 81.
Haydn composing his oratorio, 1.-THE Gre
alton" at 10 years ofage. lsocrates doing
some of his best work at n. Plato busy
thinking for all succeeding centuries at
"a. William Blake at OF learning 1tal-
ian 80 as to read Dante in the original
Lord Cockburn at 81 writing his best
treatise. John Wesley stirring great
audiences at IS. William c. Bryant,
without spectacles, reading in my house
.'Thanatopsis" ct So years of age.
Christian men and women in all de-
partments serving God after becoming
septuagenarians and octogenarians and
nonagenarians prove that there are pos
abilities of work for the aged. but l
think you who are passed the seventies
are near being through. How do you
feel about it9 You ought to be jubilant,
because life is a tremendous struggle, and
if YOU have got through respectfully and
usefully you ought to feel like people to-
ward the close of q summer day seated
on the rocks watching the sunset at Bar
Harbor or Cape May or Lookout noun
tain.
lam glad to say that most old Chris
tians are cheerful. Daniel Webster VS.
| tied John Adams short time before his
| death and found him in very infrm
health. He said to Mr.. Adams: II am
glad to see you. hope you are getting
along pretty well2" The reply was: "Ah,
sir, quite the contrary. l find I am a
poor tenant occupying house much
shattered by time. 1t sways and trem-
bles with every wind, and, what is worse,
sir, the landlord, as near as can make
out, does not intend to make any re-
pairs"
Dr.. Beman, after passing into the
seventies, was asked by my friend, Rev.
DR.. Spear, "Dr. Beman. how is your
health now% and he replied, II have on
me an incurable disease" "What is
thatY' asked my friend, and the septu.
agenarian replied, "Old age" Both OF
the old men have mentioned intended
their remarks for facetiousness, and old
people have right to be facetious. An