The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1902-01-30

time Of the struggle. sdjure you, in
Gods name and by Gods grace, make IL
the greatest achievement. My prayer is
for all those in the tremendous crisis of
the thirties. The fact is that by the way
you decide the present decade Of your his
tory you decide all the folio wing decades.
Next ] accost the forties. Yours is the
decade Of discovery. I do not mean the
discovery of the outside, but the discovery
: of yourself. No man knows himself until
be is forty. He ovcrestimates or underes-
Inmates himself. BY that time he has
learned what he can do or what he cannot
do. He thought he had commercial genius
enough to become millionaire, but now he
10 satisfied to make q comfortable living.
He thought he had rhetorical power that
would bring him into the United States
Senate; now he is content II he can sue
cessfnlly argue common case before
petit jury. He thought he had medical
skill that would make him a Mott or
Crosse or Willard Parker or a Sims;
now he finds his sphere is that of fam.
/ lily physician, prescribing for the ordinary
ailments that afflict our race. He was sail
ing on in fog and could not take o reck-
oning, but now it clears up enough to allow
him to find out his real latitude and long
litude. He has been climbing, but now he
has got to the top Of the hill, and he takes
a long breath. He is half way through
the journey at least, and he is in n posi-
tion to look backward or forward. He has
more good sense than he ever had. He
knows human nature, for he has been
cheated often enough to see the bad side
OF it, and he has met so many gracious
and kindly and splendid souls he also
knows the good side of it. Now, calm
yourself. Thank God for the past and de-
iberately set your compass for another
voyage.
! You have chased enough thistledown:
you have blown enough soap bubbles; you
have seen the unsatisfying nature Of all
earthly things. Open new chapter with
God and the world. This decade OF the
forties ought TO eclipse all its predecessors
in worship, in usefulness and in happiness
The world was made to work. There re.
maineth rest for the people of God, but
it is in a sphere beyond the reach of tele-
scopes. The military charge that decided
one of the greatest battles of the ages-the
battle 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.
My subject next accosts those in the sew
enties 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 a skir-
mish with the remaining sin of your own
heart and the sin of the world, but l guess
you are about done. There may be some
work for you yet on a small or large scale.
Bismarck of Germany vigorous in the
eighties. The Prime Minister of England
strong at seventy-two. Haydn composing
his oratorio, "The Creation" at seventy
years of age. Isoerates doing some of his
best work at seventy-four. Plato busy
thinking for all succeeding centuries at
eighty-one. Noah Webster, after making
his world renowned dictionary, hard at
work until eighty-fve years old. Rev.
Daniel Waldo PRAYING in my pulpit at 100
years of age. Humboldt producing the
immortal Cosmos at seventy-six years.
William Blake at sixty-seven learning Ital-
Ian so as to read Dante in the original.
Lord Cockburn at eighty-seven writing his
best treatise. John Wesley stirring great
audiences at eighty-five William c. Bryant,
without spectacles, reading in my house
"Thantaposis" at eighty-three years of age.
Christian men and women in all depart
ments serving God after becoming septua-
genarians and nonagenarians prove that
there are possibilities of work for the
aged, but l think you who are passed the
seventies are near being through.
How do you feel about it? You ought to
be jubilant, because lie is tremendous
struggle, and if you have got through re-
specially and usefully you ought to feel
like people toward the close OF summer
day seated on the rocks watching the sun
set at Bar Harbor OF Cape May or Look
out Mountain. | am glad to say that most
old Christians are cheerful. Daniel Webs
ter visited John Adams short time before
his death and found him in very infrm
health. He said to Mr.. Adams: II am
glad to see you. | hope you are getting
along pretty WE'LL" The reply was: "Ah,
sir, quite the contrary. l find am poor
tenant, occupying a house much shattered
by time. 1t sways and trembles with every
wind, and what is worse, sir, the landlord,
as near as l can make out, does not intend
to make any repairs"
An aged woman sent to her physician
and told him of her ailments, and the doc
tor said "What would you have me do,
madam? / cannot make you young again"
She replied: II know that, doctor. What
want you to do is to help me to grow old
a little longer" The young men have
their troubles before them; the old have
their troubles behind them. You have got
about all out of this earth that there is in
1t. 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. ye in the seven
ties and eighties and the nineties, your
best days are yet to come, your grandest
associations are yet to be formed, your
best eyesight is yet to be lindled your
ocSb hcdlinB 10 yGb W Dc uNuASntu, Houi
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 watch
ing the golden shore to see you land; they
are watching the shining gate to see you
come through; they Gre standing by the
throne to see You mount.
What a glad hour when yoi drop tho
staff and take the sccpter, when you quit
the stiffened joints and become an inmor
tai athlete! But hear, hear; remark per
tinent to all people, whether in the TWEEN
ties, the thirties, the fortics, the ffties
the sixties, the seventies or beyond.
But the most of you will rsyer reach
the eighties or the seventies or the sixties
or the ffties or the forties. He who passes
into the forties has gone far beyond the
average of human life. Amid the uncer
tainties take God through Jesus Christ as
your present and eternal safety. The long
est life is only small fragment of the
great eternity We will all of us soon be
there.
Eternity, how near il rollsl
Count the vast value of your souls.
Beware and count the awful cost
What they have gained whose souls are
lost.
copyright, 1905. L. Klopschl
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