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AN ABIDING CHRIST THE SOLACE OF AGE.

-A. SEPLlvIOrsT
Preached in the Presbyterian Church, Palmyra, N. 71, March 30(A, 1879,
By HORACE EATON  • <7U^O(y /o0O,

Luke 24 : 29.— Abide with us for it is toward evening and the day is far spent.

The sun makes the day, — the morning,
the noon-tide and the evening. Tbe sun
makes the year. His germinating rays
start the buds of spring. His meridian
course leads on the summer months and his
less fervid heat paints tbe rich and russet
hues of harvest and the Indian summer
days. Now, what the natural sun is to
the day and tbe seasons, tbe Sun of Right
eousness is to the different periods of hu
man life. Tbe Gospel quickens and purifies
the sympathies of youth, imparts purpose
and vigor to manhood, and, in the decay
of nature, crowns age with serenity and
peace. It cherishes and develops life in
its true marcb and order from its morn
ing to its evening, from its spring-time to
its winter.
Tbe journey to Emmaus is both verita
ble and typical and suggests the value of
the Savior's presence in tbe afternoon and
sunset of our earthly pilgrimage. " Abide
with us, for it is toward evening and tbe
day is far spent." In tbe early morning
the Savior arose from tbe tomb. On tbe
same day, as the sun declined from its
zenith, He joined two of His disciples
going out of the city. They greet one an
other as strangers. Sadness cleaves to the

looks and drops from the lips of the dis
ciples. The risen One seeks the reason of
tbeir sorrow. They tell him the story of
the cross and of the resurrection. In win
ning tones tbe veiled Master unfolds to
them what the prophets had taught con
cerning Himself. (For this, how would
we exchange all our commentaries on the
prophets.) Their natural eyes were holden
but tbeir understandings were opened, and
the light of the Word was so clear and rav
ishing, that "tbeir hearts burned within
them,"/ as for seven miles He talked with
them by the way and opened to them the
Scriptures. As they drew nigh the village
whither tbey went, those, at first so slow
of heart, were now aflame. As the sun
goes down in the west, light and love are
dawning upon their faith. They yearn for
the continued teaching and society of their
strange companion. As Abraham and Lot
pressed strangers into their tent and found
them angels, so these two disciples could
not allow a presence so enlivening to " go
further." Less from inconvenience to
Him, more for their own edification and
comfort, they constrain Him, saying,
" Abide with us, for it is toward evening
and the day is far spent. "

AN ABIDING CHRIST THE SOLACE OF OLD AGE.

By way of accommodation, I am moved
to put these words into the mouth of the
elderly portion of my audience. Many of
us bear the insignia of years. Shall we not
say to the condescending Savior, "Abide
with us, for it is toward evening and the
day is far spent?" Sball we not have the
clear shining of the sun to gild the silver
of age, and thus render the evening of
life aglow with a good hope of the morn
to come?
In following up my subject, An abiding
Christ the solace of age, my first remark,
though perhaps an episode or eddy on the
margin, will, I think, contribute to the
main current of thought. It is this. — the
spirit of the Gospel cherishes those prin
ciples and habits of life, which are likely
to save old age from the pinch of penury
and want. Sin is expensive. " Godli
ness is profitable unto all things, having
the promise of the life that now is and of
that which is to come." As I have hinted,
the sun brings to us the blessings of every
season. So is the sun adapted to every
section of the variegated landscape, — to
the garden, the meadow, tbe wheat field,
the orchard, the deep-tangled woodland.
In like manner, tbe Gospel is not only a
blessing to every period in life but to every
avocation in life. It is designed to be the
great regulator in the business world. In
economics it furnishes the true motives,
limits, restraints. The spirit of Christ
would dispose every man to incorruptible
honesty, diligent, skillful, productive la
bor. It would graduate expenses to in
come, subordinate display to convenience,
it would make every bargain of mutual
advantage to both parties. It would re
strain vanity in dress and equipage and
send the needless expenditure to relieve
the destitute, enlighten the ignorant, ele
vate the down- trodden, save the lost. Let
Christ be invited to abide in the market,
in Wall street, and defaulters will become
beautifully less. Men will no longer put
their money into bags with holes. It is a
mistake that the Gospel is fitted only to

bridge the river of Death, throw « plank
to tbe drowning, and whisper soft words
to the poor, the weak, the suffering. The
Gospel has the authority and tbe power to
grasp tbe strong rods of society and hold
them in tbeir place. It will make the
conscientious official, the brave citizen,
the incorruptible patriot, tbe safe financier.
Let the integrity, industry, economy, gen
erosity the Gospel inculcates prevail, and
chill penury, gaunt buDger will retire, —
age and want, those eye teeth of the wolf,
will cease their gnashing.
But if by enforcing industry, frugality,
justice, generosity, the Gospel will in tbe
main secure competence to the aged, by
enforcing the laws of health, it will promote
long life. Religion comes to us with
" length of days," tbe ripe ear, the round
ed close " in her right hand." Abraham
and Job died, " being old and full of
days." As the infraction of physical law
is the cause of disease and death, so it is
the purpose of the Gospel to bring trans
gressors back to the law, to reinstate body
and soul in that health and harmony from
which we broke by sin. Christ invited
and abiding with us will not only add life
to our days but days to our life.
And here we can see what the Gospel
has yet to do in restoring the health and
prolonging the age of man. Could it
have been the original design that half the
human family should fall like blighted
fruit iu infancy, —that not a quarter should
come up to forty five years? Even after
the age of man was cut down from the
patriarchal standard, was he not promised
a life of three score years and ten? How
is it then that less than a fourth of the
race come to that limit? Sin, the viola
tion of law has made the havoc. In dire
ful proportions, the cruelty, licentiousness
and intemperance of parents bequeath the
wretched legacy of weakness and disease
to their own offspring. Abating intention,
here is infanticide with a witness! Then
millions, who attain to youth and man-

AN ABIDING CHRIST THE SOLACE OF AGE.

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hood do not live out half their days.
Murder, war. dissipation cut them down
in the midst of the race. Greed converts
tenements into tombs Plagues, induced
by filth and bad sewerage, or sent of
Heaven as scourges for outbreaking sin,
are sluice-ways to premature death.
Now Christ has come to redeem from
physical as well as moral evil. If the daily
prayer of the universal church, "Thy
kingdom come, thy will be done in earth
as it is in Heaven," shall ever be answer
ed, as it surely will be, then men and
women will become virtuous, the terrible
incubus of hereditary disease will be
thrown overboard, the current of human
life will be purer and stronger at birth.
Alcoholic drinks, narcotics, impurity, con
suming passions will cease their ravages,
and the promise to man will be fulfilled,
"Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full
age like as a shock of corn cometh in its
season. " As the days of a tree are the
days of my people."
An abiding Christ will males old age beau
tiful. If the Gospel adds days to our life,
it adds life to our days. It imparts a mel
lowed effulgence to the setting sun. Many
of us, my brethren, have passed our three
score mile-stone. " The day goeth away . '
" The shadows are lengthened out." Our
sun hastens to his going down. It is at
least " toward evening." But let us not
fear as we enter into the cloud. A trans
figured Savior, who has been walking
with us all the way, will yield to our cry,
" Abide with us, for it is toward evening
and the day is far spent. " His presence
will make the cloud so radiant, that we
may talk of tabernacles even here.
An abiding, indwelling Christ is a
defence against the infirmities that are
wont to sere the aged heart, — against
spleen, gloomy forebodings, morbid irrit
ability, fault-finding with the present, one
sided praise of the past, which sometimes
comes out in the whine, "The former
days were better than these " The soul
endued with the spirit of Christ will never

grow old. Its wonted fires will flash up
out of its ashes. Goodness like Christ is
ever young. It will make age the com
plement and culminating. glory of life.
The kec pers of this house of clay may trem
ble, the strong men bow themselves, and
those that look out of the windows be
darkened, butif within there betheChrist-
like spirit, that soul is cheerful, hopeful, —
up with the times, never too wise to learn,
alert to catch the morning ray of improve
ment, invention, progress. Such a mind
retains a love of Nature. In the very winter
of years it finds the rose opening with as
sweet a blush, the trees waving as grace
fully and the rainbow spanning the cloud
with the same promise as in the early spring
time of life. It also cherishes a keen sym
pathy with tbe young in all their joys, is
free from the envious, jaundiced eye. If
frost gathers upon the brow, there is no
chill at the heart.
Sanctified age is often the centre of at
traction in the home circle. Nature is as
beautiful in her October hues as in her
May blossoms, and the last lay of the robin
is as sweet as her spring warble. If Christ
is constrained to abide with us, the soul
will retain the bloom which will emerge
into immortal youth. Angels are repre
sented as young. There is no old age in
Heaven. The abiding presence of Christ will make
old age not only beautiful but useful. "The
trees of the Lord are full of sap." They
should be full of fruit. For this purpose
they were planted in the vineyard. "They
shall still bring forth fruit in old age," —
fruit all the more mellow for the many
suns and the late gathering. The palm
lifts its feathery coronal and its hanging
clusters in the sandy desert, and this, be
cause it sends its roots down to the nether
springs. The aged believer can say, "All
my springs are in thee." Hence, amid
increasing infirmities, by prayeT, patience,
wise, loving words, holy deeds, — he brings
forth the fruits of the Spirit. The aged
believer recommends religion to the young

AN ABIDING CHRIST THE SOLACE OF AGE.

and transmits it to another generation . If
we are to have greenness in any period,
when better than in a green old age, ever
green in winter? ¦
But if the faculties retain their fresh
ness, they must be kept active. And if
kept active, the aged man must feel the
presence of responsibility up to his strength. '
To retire from responsibility is to slip the
band of motive and the wheels of tbe soul
will stand still. How many a merchant
has given up business and retired to some
country-seat on the Hudson only to drop
out of sight as a dyspeptic, cynic, misan
thrope. The burden should indeed be
fitted to the back. Some can carry more
than others. Some begin life with more
constitution and vigor, have more powder
behind the ball to sustain its flight and
bring it to a more distant mark.
But to make the most of the vigor we
have, we must use it. To use it, we must
have an object to call it forth. " Otium
cum dignifyte," rest and dignity in old age,
is a heathen adage. An abiding Christ
would teach the aged man, by cleanliness,
temperance, by sufficient sleep, good air,
warm clothing to dispute inch by inch
every infirmity of body and mind and fill
up life to the last hour with wholesome
precept, good example. An aged disciple
should not be an indolent disciple, a gar
rulous disciple, a croaking disciple, a smok
ing disciple. The Bible worthies, Abra
ham, Moses, Paul brought forth tbeir rich
est, ripest fruit in old age. Uselulness
should be the end of every period of life.
The abiding presence of Christ will fill
up the nights and days of the aged man
with comfort, and make his last days bis
best. His presence will pour light upon the
Bible, upon Providence, upon promises,
upon prophecies of the future glory of the
church, till, if God so favor, he may go
up like Elijah in a chariot of light and
glory. To none of this congregation do I look
with more solicitude and trembling interest

than to my elderly parishoners, who have
come along with me tbe last thirty years and
have never yet constrained the risen Sav
ior, saying, "Abide with us. for it is to
ward evening and the day is far spent."
You feel to-day the force of habit which
long years of worldliness have left upon
you. Too long have you said to the calls
of the Spirit, " Go thy way for this time,
when I have a more convenient season I
will call for thee." Too long have you
grieved the Savior, who, although unseen,
has attended you all your way. You feel
that the world is empty, that its attrac
tions are •' paling to an ash colored spark. "
Like a bird in a vacuum, you pant for
something better to satisfy your soul.
T pray you, dear friends, despair not.
The word comes to you, " To-day, if you
will hear His voice, harden not your
hearts." "Let the wicked forsake his
way and the unrighteous man his thought
and let him turn unto the Lord, who will
have mercy upon him and to our God,
who will abundantly pardon." Let the
providences, the preservations, the bless
ings of your past life kindle in you the
cheerful flame of gratitude. Consider how
short your time is. Now constrain the
willing One, who has so long knocked at
the door of your heart, with the words,
"Abide with me, for it is toward even
ing and the day is far spent."
" Hast thou wasted all the powers
God for noble u ses gave,
Squandered life's most golden hours?
Turn thee Brother, Gof can save.

Is a mighty famine now,—
In thy heart and in thy sonl?
Discontent upon thy brow,
TllfH (l.A.AI i'i...l —.111  1  IL

In thy heart and in thy sonl?—
Discontent upon thy brow,
Turn thee, God will make thee whole.
Fall before Him on the ground,
Pour thy sorrow in His ear. —
Seek Him, while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He's near."
I see before me a large number in tbe
morning of life. There is but one thing,
my dear young friends, that will heep you
from the dimmed eye, the trembling hand
the feeble step That one tiling is Death
You prefer old age. Virtue, self-control,
an abiding Christ alone will make your
old age beautiful, useful, happy.

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