Milford chronicle., 1893-03-10


struggle. Read the worlds history AM
know what are the thirties for good or bad
Alexander the Great closed his career at 81
Frederick the Great made Europe trembl
with his armies at 35 Cortez conquere,
Mexico at 30. Grant fought Shiloh anS
/ Donelson when IS. Raphael died at 81
Luther was the hero Of the reformation a
s5. Sir Philip Sydney got through by 80
The greatest deeds for God and agains
him were done within the thirties, anC
your greatest battles are now and between
the time when you cease expressing you
age by putting first q figure -" and thG
time when you will cease expressing it by
putting first a figure ''3. d" As it is the
greatest time Of the struggle, / adiure you
in Gods name and by Gods grace, make il
the greatest achievement. Ny prayer is fOi
all those in the tremendous crisis Of the
thirties. The fact is that by the way you
decide the present decade Of your history
you decide all the following decades.
When was in Russia, was disappointed
in not seeing the battlefield Of BorOdino.
Why was there fought such a battle at
that small village? It was 20 miles from
Moscow. Why that desperate struggle in
which i25,0O0 Frenchmen grappled with
l6O, coo Russians, and 50, 600 dead Frenchmen
and $1,000 dead Russians were left on the
fieldi 1t was because the fate Of Moscow,
the sacred city of Russia, was decided there
decided 20 miles away. And let me tell
you, people Of the thirties, you are now ut
the Borodino, whence will resound its sue
cesses or its moral disasters clear on into the
seventies if you live to the threescore and
ten Of the text.
WHEN MAN KNOWS HIMSELF.
Next accost the fortieS. Yours is the
decade of discovery. do not mean the dis
eovery of the outside, but the discovery of
yourself. No man knows himself until he
is 40. He overestimates or underestimate
himself. By that time he has learned what
be can do or what he cannot do. He
thought he had commercial genius enough
to become a millionaire, but now he Is sat
isfied to make comfortable living. He
thought he had rhetorical power that
would bring him into the United States
senate. Now he is content II he can sue
argue common case before a
petit jury. He thought he had medical
skill that would make him a Mott or a
or a Willard Parker or a Sims. Now
he finds his sphere is that Of Il family ply
sician, prescribing for the ordinary ailments
that afflict our race. He was sailing on in
4 fog and couid not take reckoning, but
now 1t clears up enough to allow him to
ind out his real latitude and longitude. He
ias been climbing, but now he has got to
,he top of the hill, and he takes long
breath. He is half way through the jour
ley at least, and he is in position to look
backward or forward. He has more good
Iense than he ever had. He knows human
nature, for he has been cheated often
enough TO see the bad side of it, and he has
net SO many gracious and kindly and
pleudid souls lie also knows the good side
II it. Now calm yourself. Thank God for
he past and deliberately set your compass
or another voyage. You have chased
nough thistledOwn. You have blown
nouGh soap bubbles You have seen the
nature of all earthly things
)pen a new chapter with God and the
world This decade of the fOrties ought to
cipse all its predecessors in worship, in
and in happiness. Forty is a
reat word i'm the Bible. Gods ancient
eople were 40 years in the wilderness. Eli
judged Israel 80 years. David and Solomon
nd Jehoash Teigned 20 years. When Joseph
isited bis brethren, he was 40 years old.
,h, this mountain top Of the fortiesl You
ave now the character you will probably
ave for all time and all eternity. God by
is grace sometimes changes man ditss 4,
he forties, but after that man never |
langes himself Tell me, o men and |
-omen who are in the forties, your habits |
f thought end life, and win tell you |
hat you will forever be- ! might make /
listake once in a thousand times, but not /
lore than in that proportion.
PREMONITOEY SYMPTOMS OF OLD AGE.
My sermon next accosts the iifties How 1
ueer it looks when in writing your age you /
rake the first Of the two figures a 70"
lis Is the decade which shows what the
-her decades have been. II Il young man
as sOwn wild oats and he has lived to this
me, he reaps the harvest of it in the fl
es, or if by necessity lac was compelled to
-ertoil in honest directions he is called to
title mp with cXactiGg nature some time
lring the fifties. Many have it so hard in
lrly life that they are OctOgenarians at 20.
,iaticas and rheuinutisns and neuralgias
I'd vertigOs and insomnias have their play
'ound in the itfties. A mans hair begins
whiten, and, although hefslay have worn
ectacles befoTe, now he asks the optician
r No. Is or No II or No 10. When lie
It's cough ard is almost cured, he hacks
ID clears his throat a good while after
ard Oh, ye who are in the fifties, think
It'll A half century of blessing to be
ankful for, and half century substracted
ON an existence which, in the most
arked cases of longevity, hardly ever
aches a whole century By this time you
ght to be eminent for piety. You have / I
EN- in SO many battles you ought to be Il
ave soldier You have made so many voy- I
es you ought to be a good sailor. So
lg protected and blessed, you ought to /
We a soul full of doxolOgy. In Bible ,
mes in Canaan every so years was by ,
IDS command year Of jubilee. The peO- .
2 did not work that year. If property [
d by misfortune gone out of ones pos [
ssiOn on the fiftieth year it came back to q
NJ. If he had fooled it away, it was re- 1
rned without farthing to pay. If man :
d been enslaved, he was in that year I
A trumpet was sounded loud
Il clear and long, and it was the trumpet /
jubilee They shook bands, they laughed, !
~ congratulated. What a time it was
1t Gftieth yearl And if under the old dis
nsatiOn it was such a glad time, under \
r new and mere glorious dispensation let !
who have come to the ffties hear the
mpet of jubilee that l now blow. That :
IS the allusion made by Mr.. Toplady, the =
at hymnologist, when he wrote: :,
Blow ye the trumpet, blow
The gladly solemn sound;
Let all the nations know,
To earth's remOtest bound, .
The year Of jubilee is come. q
Return ye ransomed sinners home. fl
Ye who have sold for naught n
Your heritage above
Shall have it back unbought-
The gift of Jesus love.
The year of jubilee has come. y
RetCrsl ye ransomed sinners home.
WEAR OUT, But DO NOT RUST OUT. 4
Iy sermon next accosts the sixties. The q
,inning Of that decade is more startling $
n any other, In his chronological jour y
the man rides rather smoothly over TIE .
Tres ''2'' and ''3'' and ''4'' and 70" but Il
figure 'G'' gives him big jolt He v
s: ut cannot be that am 60. Let me q
mine Tie old family record. guess u
y made mistake They get my name
yn wrong in the roll of births" But no; q
older brothers or sisters remember the u