The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-07-12

10 Jou uOW drc, you OHCc WcuJ JCOdSbiilB
down the hillside, or threw off your
hat for the race, or sent the ball flying
sky-high. But youth will not always
last. 1t stays only long enough to give
us exuberant spirits, and broad shoul-
ders for burden-carrying, and an arm
with which to battle our way through
difficulties. LIES path, If you fol-
low it long enough, will come under
frowning crag and across trembling
causeway. Blessed old age, if you let
it come naturally. You cannot hide it
You may try to cover the wrinkles. If
the time has come for you to be old, be
not ashamed to be old. The grandest
things in all the universe are old. Old
mountains; old rivers; old seas; old
stars, and an old eternity. Then do
not be ashamed to be old, unless you
are older than the mountains, and older
than the stars.
How men and women will lie! They
say they are forty, but they are sixty.
They say they are twenty, but they
are thirty. They say they are sixty,
but they are eighty. How some people
will lie! Glorious old age, if found in
the way of righteousness How beau
tiful the old age of Jacob, leaning on
the top of his staff; of John Quincy
Adams, falling with the harness on; of
Washington Irving, sitting, pen in
hand, amid the scenes himself had
made classical; of John Angel James
to the last proclaiming the Gospel to
the masses of Birmingham; of Thodore
Frelinghuysen, down to fecbleness and
emaciation devoting his illustrious
faculties to the kingdom Of God! At
eventide it was light!
See that you do honor to the aged. A
philosopher stood at the corner of the
street day after day, saying to the pas
sers-by: "You will be an old man; you
will be an old man" "You will be an
old woman; you will be an old woman" !"
People thought he was crazy. do not
think that he was. Smooth the way
for that mothers feet; they have not
many more steps TO take. Steady those
tottering limbs; they will soon be at
rest Plow not up that face with any
more wrinkles; trouble and care have
marked it full enough. Thrust no thorn
into that old heart; it will soon cease
TO beat. ''The eye that mocketh its
father, and refuseth to obey its mother,
the ravens of the valley shall pick it
out, and the young eagles shall eat 1t. :"
The bright morning and hot monday
of life have passed with many. 1t is
four o'clock! five o'clock! six o'clock!
The shadows fall longer and thicker
and faster. Seven o'clock! eight o clock
The sun has dipped below the horizon;
the warmth has gone out of the air.
Nine o'clock! ten o'clock! The heavy
dews are falling: the activities of life's
day are all hushed; it is time to go To
bed. Eleven o'clock! twelve o'clocSl
The patriarch sleeps the blessed sleep,
the cool sleep, the long sleep. Heavens
messengers of light have kindled bon
fires of victory all over the heavens.
At eventime it is light! light!
My text shall also find fulfillment in
the latter days of the church. Only q
few missionaries, a few churches, few
good men, compared with the institu
tions leprous and purified.
1t is early yet in the history of every.
thing good. Civilization and Chris.
tianity are just getting out of the era.
die. The light of martyr stakes, flash.
ing all up and down the sky, is but the
flaming Of the morning; but when the
evening of the world shall come, glory
TO Gods conquering truth, 1t shall be
light. Wars sword changing back in
the scabbard; intemperance buried
under ten thousand broken decanters
the worlds impurity turning its brow
heavenward for the benediction,
blessed are the pure in heart" the
last vestige of selfishness submerged
in notwithstanding charities; all
China worshiping DR.. Abeel's Saviour
all India believing in Henry Martyrs
Bible; aboriginal superstition aclnowl.
edging David Brainerds piety; human
bondage delivered through Thomas
Clarksons Christianity; vagrancy com.
ing back from its pollution at the call
Of Elizabeth Fry's Redeemer; the
mountains coming down, the valleys
going up, "holiness inscribed on
horses bell, and silltworm's thread,
and brown-thrasher's wing, and shells
tinge, and manufacturers shuttle.
and chemists laboratory, and kings
scepter, and nations Magma Charta.
Not hospital, for there are no wounds,
not an asylum, for there are no orphans;
not prison, for there no criminals
not an almhouse, for there are no pau.
pers; not fear, for there are no sor.
rows, The long dirge Of earth's lamen-
tation has ended in the triumphal
march of redeemed empires, the for.
ests harping it on vinestrung branches,
the water chanting it among the gorges,
the thunders drumming it among the
hills, the ocean giving it forth with its
organs, trade-winds touching the keys,
and Euroclydon's foot on the pedal. !
want to see John Howard when the last
prisoner is reformed; l want to see
Florence Nightingale when the last sa.
Der wound has stopped hurting; l want
TO see William Penn when the last In.
dian has been civilized l want to see
John Huss when the last flame of per-
secution has been extinguished want
to see John Bunyan after the last pill.
grim has come to the gate Of the celes-
tial city; above all, want TO see Jesus
after the last saint has his throne, and
begun to sing hallelujahl
You have watched the calmness and
the glory Of the evening hour. The
laborers have come from the field. The