RIGHT down the long years I have held old people in profound and ever-growing reverence; and, now that I myself am stepping westward, reverence has deepened into love. They have crossed the storm-swept sea of life, and, in doing so, have encountered rough winds and swelling tides; they have endured heavy trials and borne many sorrows; but when, in spite of these things, they retain childlike trust in God, and continue wholeheartedly to believe that " all things work together for good to them that love Him ", they become outstanding witnesses of the grace of their Lord. If the young men speak of Grandad as “a fine old fellow ", and if the girls refer to Grandma as “a perfect darling ", you may be pretty certain that these splendid worthies are amongst the fairest flowers in the garden of God.
The Jewish people regarded old age as being in three sections or stages. The first, extending from the both to the loth year, was spoken of as “the commencement of old age ". The second, extending from the 70th to the 80th year, was called “hoary headed age ". The third, from the 80th year to the end of life, was called " advanced age "—those reaching it being described as " well-stricken in years ".
Now, the problem that confronts those of us who have reached any one of these stages is how to keep the spirit young while the body grows old; how the inward man may be renewed day by day, while the outward man perishes; and a delightful little incident gives us a hint as to how this may be done. An aged gardener was asked how old he was. “I am an octogeranium," he replied, making a charming blunder which was really an improvement on the meaning of the word he meant to use. “The octogenarian who is also an octogeranium—that is to say, the old man with a young soul, the veteran with an open mind, the ancient pilgrim who maintains the forward look—that person is one of the most attractive of human types." With that story came another equally beautiful one from America, about a fine old warrior well on in his eighties. He was told that a friend of his, aged 75, had said that a man is at his best in his seventies; but the octogenarian would have none of it. “He will know better when he grows up," was his comment! These fine old boys remind me of what, in a moment of enthusiastic admiration, Sam Weller said of Mr. Pickwick: " Blest if I don't think his heart was born twenty-five years after his body "; and if this book should fall into the hands of the man who is to compile the next English dictionary, I would ask him to place the following definition in his volume, namely: " Octogeranium—a person over eighty years of age who retains the freshness of youth." The illustration of it would be Caleb: Josh. 14:6-126Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadesh-barnea. 7Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. 8Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the Lord my God. 9And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God. 10And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. 11As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. 12Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. (Joshua 14:6‑12).
Come, then, my fellow-pilgrims, let us travel the road in each other's company for a bit; and as we do so, allow me to tell you some of the things that are in my heart.
Confucius, the Chinese philosopher, has a line in which he says: " By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection which is the noblest; second, by imitation which is the easiest; third, by experience which is the bitterest." One of the African proverbs has a similar message: " Isala kutshelwa sabona ngomopo "—" the man who refuses to listen, will see by the blood stains." These words, from widely different sources, indicate the two great universities in which most of us have learned life's greatest lessons; the hard school of experience, and the harder school of failure: and I desire to speak to you, my beloved sisters and brothers, of some of the things which I, personally, have learned in them. I do this, however, with one aim in view—and that is to brighten that part of the journey which lies immediately ahead of us, and to tell you of One Who, if we but trust Him, will presently conduct us to scenes brighter far.