Old Age by J. Clarke

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 31, 1865

Old Age.

By J. Clarke

"The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the ways of righteousness." Prov. xvi, 31. Some talk of the pleasure and quiet satisfaction of those who tread the down-hill of life, as if it were a privilege to realize the decay of one's earthly tabernacle, to witness the change from year to year, and feel it in your system. Your fine auburn hair becomes gray, or drops quietly and silently from your head, your superb set of teeth decay, and fall, until they stand apart so far as to be hardly neighbors; and these just ready to fall; rheumatisms and hard work have crippled you, so that you must be waited on by your grandchild, perhaps, who if duteous is a great comfort. But do you suppose that grandfather would not like to wait upon himself? Is it a comfort to grow old, to feel your body become almost bloodless and cold, your voice sharp and unmusical, your frame crooked and bent, your face wrinkled and brown? I often think of Mrs. ——, who wept passionately when she first found a gray hair among her dark tresses; this was nature, true, unsophisticated, no deceit about it.

But does not the Scripture honor age? Certainly, if it be found in the ways of righteousness; but is it of itself a glorious thing to become old and decrepit? For what is the tree of life planted in the paradise of God? Will not that make the old man young again? Will he regret that? If there was some fountain away in Idaho, which would restore the freshness and vigor of youth to the old, what a general emigration would there be to that locality, where toothless gums would be re-filled with shining pearls, and the bald head be covered with a beautiful covering of hair, and where wrinkles would disappear.

No! a person may pleasantly submit to the decrepitude of age; he cannot rejoice in such decrepitude, for its own sake. He may kiss the rod, but it is for the love he bears to the hand that holds it; not that the infliction of stripes is a pleasant pastime.

All credit and much honor is due to the aged, for the patience and good sense they manifest in taking calmly the gnawings of the tooth of time; for it is heroic to smile rather than groan when racked with pain.

J. CLARKE.