p. 6 | Growing Old by C. H. BLISS

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 4, 1916

Growing Old

By C. H. BLISS

C. H. BLISS

As I glanced over a list of obituaries recently, I noticed the announcement of the death of a man of seventy years, which said, “Died of old age.” Instantly I thought of Moses, of whom it is said that at the age of one hundred and twenty years, “his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” How different the conditions in the world today! Men in the prime of life, at forty or fifty, are wrinkled and gray. In the strength of manhood many are suddenly stricken with heart failure. Surely there must be a reason for this change.

No doubt this age of hurry, strain, and overwork has much to do with the breaking down of health in early life. Worry, no doubt, kills thousands; but the waste of life’s forces through intemperate indulgences kills tens of thousands. On the streets we meet pale-faced young men whose sunken eyes and unsteady gait tell a tale of nights spent in debauchery and sin. If the hidden were brought to light, there would be found among church members and Christian workers many whose hearts are full of wickedness. Paul says, “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection.” Again he tells us that one who strives for the mastery “is temperate in all things.” One controlled by fleshly lusts is under the law, a servant of sin, and the end thereof is death. Only he who masters self is a free man. Such have the promise of the life that now is, and of the one which is to come.

* Peoria, Ill.