Connecticut western news., 1902-08-07
TALMAGE, SERMON
By Rev. FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,. Pastor of Jefferson Park Presby- terian Church, Chicago


 ed In this discourse by Rev. Frank De Witt Talmage on the text Psalm xcii, II, "They shall still bring forth fruit In old age"
 Old age Is a haunting specter. It has terrorized the generations past more than even the fear of death. The most hated and feared of all the Grecian philosophers was he who used to stand upon the street corners of Athens frightening the passersby with these solemn words: You will be an old man. You will be an old woman" He frightened the passersby because most people do not want to become old. They are afraid of coming to the time when they will be burden to their children and their friends. They are afraid of the time when their earning capacity shall cease, for then, in the race of life, they will be jostled and left far behind by the speed and the strength of the younger generation. They are afraid of the years when they will have to walk with cane or crutch or sit in an Invalid chair wait ing for the time when the coffin maker
 
 taker will order their grave to be dug. To show how depressed some people are over the fact of growing old would read letter which I received some time ago from one of my people:
 Dear Mr. Talmage-Last night in your sermon you stated that this is the age for young men. You did not have time to speak one word in favor of the useful ness of the old people. was sorry. l knew of some sitting near to me who would be heavy hearted on account of their old age. This morning an aged member of your church called upon me. He said he was so depressed over your remarks last night that he could not sleep With tears in his eyes. he said, 'I wonder if old people will be wanted in heaven" Now, my dear pastor, would like you. if possible. to preach sermon upon the blessings of old age. l would like you to preach a sermon to cheer up those who have passed the zenith of their earthly life and are sliding down the oth- CT side and nearing the landing place of eternity. You will will you not?
 It Is in answer to the request in this letter that I am going to speak this morning to the old folks. I will gladly try to refute the popular fallacy that old age for the Christian is merely a time for tears, for physical and men tai pains, and for depressing helpless ness. It was true thing that an aged minister said to Jacob A. Riis, the New York reformer, My son, I am on the sunshiny side of sixty, because am near to the glories of heaven" The words of my text do not state that an aged Christians twilight of life upon earth is a gloomy and sullen sunset. They do emphatically imply that the last days of an aged Chris tian's earthly life should be among his happiest and most useful days. Those days should be compared to the time when the orchards branches are bend ing under the heavy load of the rip ened autumnal fruit.
 ola ~Axe's Testimony.
 The aged Christian is able from his own experience to testify of the pro tecting care of q Divine Fathers love. EAediNeFence between the testimony of m old man and . very young man Is the diRerence between Knowledge and sup position, between fact and surmise. 1t h the difference between the words of q veteran who carries the scars, the sword cuts and the bullet wounds of many battlefelds and the words of the ruddy faced youth who has not yet won his shoulder straps or seen any thing but the recruiting officers pa pers. It is the difference between the experience of an old pilot of the Hugii river, the most dangerous navigable river in the world, who has for many years guided the boats up to the wharfs of Calcutta, and the experience of the cabin boy who has not yet learned how to handle wheel. It Is the difference between the diagnosis of the old, gray haired physician who has prescribed for hundreds of fever patients and the diagnosis of the young medical graduate who has just re ceived his diploma. It Is the difference between the words of the young states man just elected to congress and the words of the first president of the United States when he was about to leave the presidential chair for the last time. When George Washington delivered his farewell address at the inauguration of John Adams, the American people did not reverence his words because he wielded a more trenchant pen than Thomas Jefferson or because he was a more impassioned orator than Patrick Henry. They rev. erenced his words because he spoke as one having authority. He spoke as one who had led the American armies during the darkest days of the Revo lutionary war. He spoke as one who had stood at the helm when the ship eA.A, TT as one who had been willing to offer his life as a sacrifice for his country's S good. The American people listened to him in the same spirit with which the French audience heard the aged patriot Lafayette when the chairman introduced him with these beautiful words: Fellow citizens, would have you listen reverentially to the speaker of the day because sixty years of a noble life are about to address you
 Gods Promise True.
 My aged Christian friend, there may be other brains just as keen as yours There may be other hearts just as willing to make sacrifice for their Lord and Master as yours, but no Christian can as powerfully testify of the pro tecting care of Heavenly Father as you can testify unless he can truly speak out of his own experience. The saint who Is nearing the end of life has the clearer view of heaven. You can speak about the goodness of God from personal experience, as my fa- ther spoke to me few years before his death by telling me this remark able incident: When he was a young minister. he used to keep diary, In which he made q record of all the re- quests he made to God concerning matters which were then weighing up on his heart. By some mishap he lost that diary, and he forgot about those prayers he had offered Some twenty or thirty years later he found that diary. When he opened it and read hn lo