St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-03-08

that fiftieth year! And if under the
old dispensation it was such glad
time, under our new and more glo.
rious 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 We the trumpet, blow
| The gladly solemn sound;
Let all the nations know,
| To earth's remotest bound,
The year of jubilee is come;
| Return, We ransomed sinners, home.
| "Ye who have sold for naught
Your heritage above
Shall have 1t back unbought,
The gift of Jesus love.
| The year of jubilee has come;
Return. We ransomed sinners. homo"
My sermon next accosts the sixties.
The beginning of that decade is more
startling than any other. In his
chronological journey the man rides
rather smoothly over the figures 2
and and 4 and 5, but the figure 8
gives him big jolt. He says: ct
cannot be that I am 60. Let me en-
| anime the old family record. I g11ess
they made a mistake. 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 dis
putation. Sixty! Now your great
danger is the temptation to fold up
your faculties and quit. You will feel
tendency to Renaissance. If you
do not look out, you will begin al
most everything with the words:
''When I was boy" But you ought
to make the sixties more memorable
or the forties or the thirties. You
ought to do more during the next ten
years than you did in any 80 years
of your life, because of all the expe-
rience you have mad. You have COM
mitted 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
a man in the sixties folds up his en-
ergy 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 is ac-
tive, now suddenly shrivels. Men,
whether they retire from secular or
religious work, generally retire to
the grave. No we'll man has right
to retire. The world was made to
work. There remaineth a rest for
the people of God, but it is in q
sphere beyond the reach of tele-
scopes.
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 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, Wig
orous in the eighties. The prime minis
ter of England strong at 72, Haydn
composing his oratorio, "The Crea-
tion,' at 20 years of age. Isocrates
doing some of his best work at "A. |
Plato busy thinking for all succeeding
centuries at 81. Noah Webster, after |
making his world renowned dictionary.
hard at work until IS years old. Rev.
Daniel Waldo praying in my pulpit at |
100 years of age. Humboldt producing
the immortal Cosmos" at 76 years.
William Blake at 81 learning Italian so
as to read Dante in the original. Lord |
Cockburn at 81 writing his best treat
Use. John Wesley stirring great audi
ences at IS. William C. Bryant, with
out spectacles. reading in my house
'Thanatopsis" at SO years of age.
Christian men and women in all de-
partments serving God after becoming
and octogenarians
and nonagenarians prove that there
are possibilities of work for the aged,
out think you who are passing the sew
enties are near being through.
How do you feel about it? You
ought to be jubilant, because life is
l tremendous struggle, and if you
have got through respectfully and
lsefully you ought to feel like people
toward the close of summer day
seated on the rocks watching the SUM-.
set at Bar Harbor or Cape May or
Lookout mountain. / am glad to say
hat most old Christians are cheerful.
Daniel Webster visited John Adams
! short time before his death and
'ound him in very infirm health. He
laid to Mr.. Adams: Il am glad to
zee you. I hope you are getting along
pretty WELL" The reply was: "Ah,
ir, quite the contrary. I find am
'oor tenant, occupying house much
battered by time. It sways and
rembles with every wind, and what
S worse, sir, the landlord, as near
IS l can make out, does not intend
o make any repairs
What we all need is to take the SUI
into our lives. Do not let
is depend on brain and muscle and
erve. We want mighty supply Of
he supernatural. We want with us
Divine force mightier than the wa
ers and the tempests, and when the
ord took two steps on bestormed
alilee, putting one foot on the winds
nd the other on the waves He
roved Himself mightier than hurri-
ane and billow. We want with us