Life's Sunset

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Feb 2, 1905

OLD age creeps on unawares. It comes as come the autumn days. We find they are upon us because the boughs of the trees are growing thin.

The Christian grows old peacefully, calmly. In growing old, he becomes more noble, more tender. Because of his comforting hope in God, his life is still sweet and sunny, full of song-birds and joy. Growing old with him is growing ripe. Fruits in autumn ripen beautifully. They grow ruddy with sunshine and dew, and then drop into the basket of the fruit-gatherer. As fruits in autumn ripen, so does the Christian grow old. As his eyes grow dim to earthly sights, he sees in clearer vision the things that are to come.

How inspiring are God's promises to old age! "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; to show that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him." "Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you." "And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning." "Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season."

What pictures of old age do we have in the Bible! They show how the eventide of life may overflow with light. There is aged Jacob. He breathes the serenity of God. He is filled with the joy of God. There is a dignity about the old patriarch like that of the mountain pine, that, standing upon its watch-tower, o'erlooks the years as they come and go. Heaven seems to him nearer and dearer as this life fades into a dream; for he realizes now that this life is as a dream, and that the immortal life is the sublime reality. There is Simeon. So many are his years, that he totters as he walks into the temple. There is about his old age a richness as of the autumn forests. Clothed he is, with a sanctity like that of some hoary cathedral. In the triumphs of his splendid faith, he says: "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, . . . for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." There, in his mellow and sweet-tempered age, is John, the beloved disciple. Beautiful as the sunset is his old age. As he receives the Apocalypse, he looks right into the glories of the New Jerusalem. He takes the splendors of the heavenly world as they flash before the dazzled vision of his seership, and writes them down in a book that will ever move and thrill and comfort the Christian world. With John, growing old is victory, exultation, a song of triumph, a harvest-home.

Old age should be sweet and fair and serene—as quiet a process as the sunset. The ideal death is that which comes to old age.—Northwestern Christian Advocate.