The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1893-03-10

Inc year OF Jupiico - come.
Return ye ransomed sinners home
10 who have sold for naught
Your heritage above
Shall have II back unbought-
The GIFT OF jesus love.
Tho year OF jubilee has come,
Return ye ransomed sinners home.
My sermon next accosts the sixties.
The beginning of that decade Ia more
startling than any other. In his ohron-
illogical journey the man rides rather
smoothly over the figures "s" and 80"
and -" and "5." but the figure &c" gives
him big jolt. He says at cannot DO
that ! am 90, Let me examine tho old
family record. 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 q
year older, and another relative year
younger, and, sure enough, the fact is
established beyond all disputation.
Sixtyl Now your great danger Is the
temptation to fold up your faculties and
quit You will feel tendency to remi-
nisce. II you do not look out, you will
begin almost everything with the words,
When l 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 30 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,
1t 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 or religious work,
generally retire to the grave. No well
man has a right to retire. The world
was made for work. There remaineth
rest for the people Of God, but it is in a
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 s
o'clock In the evening, but some Of you
propose to go into camp at . o'clock in
the afternoon.
WAITING FOR THE END.
My 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 tho 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 a.
Haydn composing his oratorio, "The Gre
ation," at 70years ofage. Isocrates doing
rome Of his best work at IA. Plato busy
thinking for all succeeding centuries at
"A. William Blake at q learning Ital-
ian so as to read Dante in the original
Lord Cockburn at 81 writing his best
treatise. John Wesley stirring great
audiences at s.. William c. Bryant,
without spectacles, reading in my house
'Thanatopsis' at 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
sibilities of work for the aged. but
think you who are passed the seventies
are near being through. How do you
feel about it? You ought to be jubilant,
haeatise life is a Tremendous struggle. and
If you have got through Respectfully aliu
tisefully you ought to feel like people to-
ward the close of summer day seated
In the rocks watching the sunset at Bar
Harbof or Cape May or Lookout noun
tain.
l am glad to say that most old Chris
tians are cheerful. D De-. Webster Wis
tied John Adams a short time before his
death and found him in very infirm
health. He said to Mr.. Adams: Il am
glad to see you. / hope you are getting
along pretty well?" The reply was: "Ah,
sir, quite the contrary. | find l 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
sv,fa 10 lpo dT1<y 70
pairs"
DR.. Beman, after passing into the
ieventies, was asked by my friend, Rev.
DR.. Spear, "Dr. Beman. how is your
health nowy and he replied, 81 have on
me an incurable disease What is
thatY' asked my friend, and the septu-
agenarian replied, "Qld age Both of
the old men have mentioned intended
their remarks for facetiousliess, and old
people have right to be facetious. An
aged woman sent for her physician and
told him Of her ailments, and the doctor
said: "What would you have me do,
madam? / cannot make you young
again" She replied: II know that,
doctor. What l want you to do is to
help me grow old little longer"
The young have their troubles before
them. The old have their troubles be-
hind them. You have got about all out
of this earth that there is in it. Be glad
that you, an aged servant Of God, are
going to try another life and amid better
surroundings. Stop looking back and
look ahead. Oh, We in the seventies, and
the eighties, and the nineties, your best
days are yet to come; your grandest as
sociations are yet to be formed; your best
eyesight is yet to be hndled; your best
hearing Is yet to be awakened; your
greatest speed is yet to be travelled; your
gladdest song is yet to be sung.
The most Of your friends have gone
over the border. and you are going to
join them very soon. They are waiting
for you. They are watching the golden
shore to see you land. They are watch
ing the shining gate to see you come
through. They are standins by the throne
to see you mount. What glad houl
when you drop the staff and take the
scepter; when you quit the stiffened joints
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