Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1893-03-06

OuSnI TO D6 gOOu SaliOT % louS pfo-
tected and blessed you ought to have a
soul full of doxology In Bible times in
Canaan every 30 years was by Gods
command year Of jubilee. The peo-
pie did not work that year. If property
had by misfortune gone out Of ones
possession, on the fftieth year it came
back to him. If he had fooled 1t away, it
was returned without a farthing to pay
If man had been enslaved, he was in
that year emancipated. A trumpet was
sounded loud and clear and long, and it
was the trumpet of jubilee. They shook
hands, they laughed, they congratulated.
What time 1t was, that fftieth yearl
And If under the old dispensation it was
such glad time, under our new and more
glorious dispensation let all who have
come to the fifties hear the trumpet OF
jubilee that now blow. That was the
allusion made by Mr.. Toplady. the great
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.
Return ye ransomed sinners homo.
Ye who have sold for naughe
Your heritage above
Shall have 1t back unbought-
The gift Of Jesus love.
The year Of jubilee has come.
Return ye ransomed sinners homo.
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 '3"
and ~" and 49," but the figure IS" gives
him big jolt. He says: 1T cannot be
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 a
year older, and another relative year
younger, and, sure enough, the fact is
established beyond all disputation.
Sixtyi 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 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, 60 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 let's 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 right to retire. The world
was made for work. There remaineth
rest for the people Of God, but 1t 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 2 o'clock In
the afternoon.
WAITING FOR THE END.
MY subject next accosts those in the
seventies and beyond. My word to them
Ia 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 sl1irmish 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, "The Gre
ation," at 10 years Of age. Isocrates doing
some of his best work at IA. Plato busy
thinking for all succeeding centuries at
"a. William Blake at 67 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 85. William @. Bryant,
without spectacles, reading in my house
"Thanatopsis" at 8S 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 !
think You who are passed the seventies
are near being through How do you
feel about iti You ought TO be jubilant.
because life is a tremendous struggle, and
II 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 OF Cape May or Lookout noun
tain.
i am glad to say that most old Chris-
tisns ere cheerful. psniS Webeess ~
uAnuEsnnnn<n~gnne A>->~