Growing Old and Keeping Young

Since the time when Cicero wrote his immortal treatise on Old Age, innumerable screeds have been written on this venerable topic; but as it is an experimental matter, there is always room for another one’s experience.

Some people regard old age as a disgrace and practice cunning devices to conceal it. Their wigs and other pretences wear out and expose their folly; for Solomon declares that a hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.

That old age is an incurable malady is only partially true, for some vigorous persons pass fourscore years without ever having caught it; or they have it so lightly that S3 nobody suspects them. “Old” is a relative term after all. I have known people who were rather pitiably old at fifty; and when I met that swift-footed Christian, William E. Dodge (senior), at the age of seventy-five, with the brisk gait of a boy, and with scarcely a gray hair on his head, I said to him, “You are one of the youngest men in New York.”

How to keep young — that is the problem; and it is a vitally important problem, for it really means, how to make the most of life, and to bring the largest revenue of service for the Master.

Healthy heredity counts for a great deal. Longevity runs in certain clean-lived families. For example that stalwart philanthropist, Neal Dow, alert at ninety-two, told me that his Quaker father reached ninety-four, his grandfather eigthy-five, and his great-grandfather ninety. Such inherited vigor is a capital to start with, and not to be wasted. On the other hand, one of the most atrocious crimes is that committed by some parents, who not only shorten their 54 own days, but make long life an impossibility to their offsprings.

Supposing that a man has a fairly good and unmortgaged constitution to start with, there are several practices and methods to ward off the infirmities of a premature old age.

The first and most important is — to keep the commandmeyits. Our Creator has written certain laws on our mortal bodies — laws as irrepealable as those written on the stone tables of Sinai; laws for the breach of which Jesus Christ has made no atonement. To squander vital resources by violating these laws, or even by neglecting them, is an unpardonable sin.

There are suicides in Christian churches — yes, in some Christian pulpits! Rigid care as to a digestible diet does not mean fussiness. It means a clear head, clean blood, and a chance of longevity. Stimulants are dangerous just in proportion as they become indispensable. Hard brain-work, hearty eating, and no physical exercise are the short road to a minister’s grave, 55

That famous patriarch of the New England pulpit, Dr. Nathaniel Emmons, who was vigorous at ninety-five, used to say, ‘T always get up from the table a little hungry.” the all-comprehensive rule of diet is very simple — whatever harms more than it helps, let alone. Wilful dyspepsia is an abomination to the Lord.

A second essential to a healthy longevity is the repair of our resources by sound and sufficient sleep. Insomnia is worse than any of the plagues of Egypt; it kills a man or woman by inches. How much sleep is absolutely necessary to bodily vigor must be left to Nature! she will tell you if you don’t fool with her. ‘’Burning the midnight oil” commonly means burning up life before your time. Morning is the time for work; one hour before noon is worth five after sunset.

When a man has as much strain on his brain and on his nervous sensibilities as most ministers have goes to his bedroom, he should school himself to the habit of dismissing all thought about outside matters. 56

If he has difficulty in doing this, he should pray for divine help to do it. This suggestion is as applicable to hard-worked business men and to care-laden wives and housekeepers as it is to ministers or brain-workers in any profession.

That wonderful physical and mental phenomenon of this century, Mr. Gladstone, once told me that he had made it a rule to lock every affair of State and every other care outside of his bedroom door. To this excellent habit he attributed his sound sleep, and to his refreshing sleep he largely attributed his vigorous longevity. Paddy’s rule is a good one — ‘’When you slay, pay attintion to it.” Personally, I may remark that it is to a full quota of slumber at night and a brief nap after a noon meal that I owe fifty-six years of steady work without a single Sunday on a sick-bed.

To keep young, every man or woman should endeavor to graduate their labors according to their age. After threescore and ten lighten up the loads. It is overwork that wears out life; just as it is the 57 driving of a horse after he is tired that hurts him and shortens his days. But while excess of labor is injurious to the old, an entire cessation from all labor is still worse. A workless life is commonly a worthless life. If a minister lays off the burdens of the pastorate, let him keep the tools sharp by a ministry-at-large with pen and tongue. When a merchant or tradesman retires from business for himself, let him serve the public, or aid Christ’s cause by enlisting in enterprises of philanthropy.

Rust has been the ruin of many a bright intellect. The celebrated Dr. Archibald Alexander, of the Princeton Theological Seminary, kept young by doing a certain amount of intellectual work every day so that he should not lose his touch. He was as full of sap on the day before his death as he was when a missionary in Virginia at the age of two-and- twenty. He prepared and often used a prayer that was so beautiful that I quote a portion of it for my fellow disciples whose life-clock has struck threescore and ten:

58 “O most merciful God, cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not if my strength faileth. May my hoary head be found in righteousness. Preserve my mind from dotage and imbecility, and my body from protracted disease and excruciating pain. Deliver me from despondency in my declining years, and enable me to bear with patience whatever may be Thy holy will. I humbly ask that my reason may be continued to the last; and that I may be so comforted and supported that I may leave my testimony in favor of the reality of religion and of Thy faithfulness in fulfilling Thy gracious promises. And when my spirit leaves this clay tenement, Lord Jesus, receive it! Send some of the blessed angels to convoy my inexperienced soul to the mansions which Thy love has prepared; and O, may I have an abundant entrance ministered unto me into the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

This beautiful petition flooded his closing years with sweet peace and a strength unbroken to the last.

A sore temptation to the aged is a tendency to queruloitsness and pessimism. Losses are unduly lamented, and gains are not duly recognized. While we cherish and cling to many of the things that are old, and are all the better for having been tested, let us not seek to put our eyes in the back of our heads and live only in the past. Keep step with the times; keep sympathy with young hearts; keep in touch with every new-born enterprise of charity, and in line with the marchings of God’s providence. A ten minutes of chat or play with a grandchild may freshen you more than an hour spent with an old companion or over an old book.

Above all, keep your hearts in the love of God, and walk in the warm sunshine of Christ’s countenance. Our “Indian Summer” ought to be about the most golden period of a life consecrated to Him who bought us with His precious blood.

Eye hath not seen, tongue hath not told,

And ear hath not heard it sung,
How buoyant and fresh — though it seems to grow
old-Is a heart for ever young.
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