Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-08-07

employers, thr1l it is very easy for him
rs n middle aged man to learn to re-
'pcct the aged Christian servants who
FOR years have been living at the hi
vine Masters feet If the middle aged
man respect Gods aged Christian serv-
ants, then it is very easy for him to
learn to respect the God whom those
Christians serve and to communicate
that respect to others.
Thus God uses your physical weak
nesses and your mental helplessness
for purpose. When he sees you, an
aged Christian parent, being tenderly
cared for IN your old age by n loving
son; when he secs that son giving to
you the best room In the house and
the easiest armchair and the softest
bed; when he secs that son trying to
make your last days upon earth happy
and peaceful. then we can imagine
him saying: That young man who is
caring so tendcrly for his aged Chris
tan parent is capable of great love
for me and my children. The young
man who is true TO his old mother, by
my grace, will always be true to me.
l will honor him because he has hon
ored one of my aged servants" Did
not God say in his Ten Command
ments, "Honor thy father and thy
mother, that thy days may be long in
the land which the Lord thy God glveth
theew
Honor Old Age.
A beautiful German story relates
how one day a little girl named Jean
nettc witnessed a great army review.
Thousands upon thousands of spccta-
tors crowded around the stand, before
which the emperor was to watch the
passing regiments. While Jeanette
was seated in tho stand she saw an
old feeble woman trying very hard to
get whore she could see. The little
German girl said to herself: ut is not
right for me to sit here, when l am
strong and we'll and can stand, while
that poor, feeble old woman can see
nothing. | ought to honor old age as
| want some one to honor me when
am old" Then she gave up her scat
to the old woman and went and stood
81 ''iN 'iNN IL illIl W ili' J'llihtllt W dc
standing upon her tiptocs trying in
vain to see courtier of the emperor,
covered with gold lace, clbowed his
way to her side as he said, Little
girl her majesty would be pleased to
see you In the royal box" When the
abashcd child stood before the en-
press. she grGciously said: Come here,
II a 1T
You give up your scat to that old WON
an and now you must remain by my
side SO God honors those who honor
his servants. God especially honors
those who honor The aged and seem
ingly helpless disciples whose earthly
pilgrlmaGcs are nearly ended.
The aged Christian is a living evil
dencc that for most Of us earthly life
is to be very short. Therefore what
we are to do for Christ we must do
soon or We shall never be able to do 1t
1t all. Sixty or seventy or eighty years
are n very long time to live, but most
If us will never live so long. Aye, most
of US will never reach even middle life.
| { You speak to an aged Christian, you
win find that he is like n November
leaf, hanging almost solitary and alone
after the thousands and the tens Of
thousands Of autumnal leaves have
been torn from their branches by the
cquInoCtial winds. You will find that
most Of his contemporaries died when
he was comparatively young, that
nearly all the rest died when he was
in middle life and that only very
few companions of his youth are alive
to walk by his side. The statisticians
declare that third of the human race
die In infancy. At least one-third of
the remainder die before twenty-one
years of age have been reached, and
only or I per cent of the human fam
lily live to be sixty years of age or
over. So the mere presence In this
world of an aged Christian. with 90
or "a per cent of his contemporaries
gone, is perpetual warning that we
must be about our Fathers business
we shall find that we have accomplish
I'd nothing.
The Present Il the Tune.
The aged Christians ought to appeal
TO us in the same way that the final
review of the Potomac army appealed
to the spectators in Washington in
1865. In that passing army the places
of he dead were kept vacant. AS reg
lment after regiment and brigade after
brigade marched past the president Of
the United States there were In some
lines only ten or fifteen men. The va
cant places showed that hundreds
upon hundreds and thousands upon
thousands of soldiers who went forth
to battle never came back. Those
nod H.: IL these torn battlehags