Imperceptible Change
Grey hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. — HosEA vii. 9.
You know what it is to find the first grey hair in your head? It quite startles you: in fact it amuses you so much that you hand it around the family circle, that each member may laugh at the comical circumstance that a grey hair has been found where a grey Tiair was not so much as suspected! Young people look at you with a new feeling, hardly knowing, indeed, whether to address you as a stripling or a patriarch. You have put one foot into that sombre but not unbeautiful borderland which lies between summer and autumn, and there is no going back again! All the gates are locked, and God has taken the keys away A grey hair? It is the signature of time! A grey hair? It is the beginning of the end!
It is a hint that you have lost something, — it is a flake which tells of the hastening snow!
It was a very funny thing in the family when your little girl who was playing joyfully with you exclaimed, ‘’ Why, father, what do you think I see? “—” Well, what do you see, my dear? ‘Wait a moment, — now dont stir, and I shant hurt you,^^ — twitch! there it is, — a grey hair! Never! Yes, it is though. Ma, is it not? Johnny, look here, and tell us the colour of this hair! It is held up to the light, then laid upon a black sleeve, then there is no doubt at all about it, — father had a grey hair in his head, and did not know of it! Even so. Take care of it. It is a lesson-keeper put into the book of your life. It is a ticket which entitles you to a seat amongst the elders!
Yet you did not know of it! That is the point to be kept in view. We are all undergoing imperceptible change. The alteration is not violent: it is silent, gradual, sure! Our strength wastes, but we see not the process of decay. Our blood cools and we know it not, moment by moment. We get round from east to west, and are yet hardly conscious of a movement, — the shadow makes no noise as it announces the approach of eventide.
What is true of grey hairs is true of many other changes in human life. Before you can see the hymn some Sunday you draw your hand over your eyes, and put the book a little nearer or a little further ofif, as the case may be. What is the matter? Nothing! Oh no. Nothing! Pass your hand over your eyes once more and all will be right. No! So you change your hymn-book. You can no longer read nonpareil type but you think you can manage with brevier leaded. In a year you will want bourgeois; then yon will ask for small pica middle leaded; and then you will want brevier Egyptian. At first you will buy yourself a smart eyeglass for whose use you will half apologise to your friends and by-and-by you will settle down to the use of any kind of spectacles you can lay hands upon! So we ripe and ripe and so we rot and rot! We slip down the easy incline and know not how far we have slipped until we are told to take care lest we slip off.
Our inquiry is, To what practical uses can we turn the fact of man’s imferceptihle decay? I do not ask you to moralise upon change or death, but exclusively upon such thoughts as arise out of the imjpercejptibleness of human transformations.
I. Do NOT SUCH CHANGES REMIND US IN THE GENTLEST POSSIBLE MANNEE THAT THIS IS NOT OUE REST? The
night does not close in suddenly. The common end is not with violence and terribleness. We go graduaihj down the steep, and as a general rule time is given for reflection. Your first grey hair says, Think! You have come to a turn in your life, Think! This grey hair is a notice to quit, Think! It is not a keen weapon which cruelly cuts us down, tis but a grey hair, and it says mournfully, Thinh! I hardly ever go out to walk in park or field but some one asks to be told the time of day. Little ones come smilingly to ask, and labourers call from their work. The grey hair tells us that the hours are getting on, and that presently the night cometh! Yes, presently! One grey hair seems soon to become two; the two four the four a sprinkling; and the sprinkling a thick snow! I charge men with having had gradual and most gentle warnings from the hand of time! There was your first grey hair; there was your first day’s sickness; there was your first consciousness that your power of endurance was failing! What, indeed, is all life, from the sunny laughter of childhood to the mellow solemnity of old age, but a succession of reminders that our days are few and our strength a bruised reed!
II. Ought not the impeeceptible changes of life
TO MODIFY THE ESTIMATE WHICH WE FORM OF OUR OWN
POWERS? Other people could see the grey hairs upon Ephraim, but Ephraim himself could not see them.
Ephraim would have told you that lie was as young and strong as ever, — so little did he know himself and the reality of the case! 0 wad some power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as others see us! ^■’ The application of this inquiry is obvious: —
First: To ^ninisters who are unconscious of the decline of their poiuers. They will fervently assure you that they preach now better than ever they did! But do they know that grey hairs are here and there upon them? Not they!
Second: To men who are officially called upon to adopt old agencies to neiu circumstances. To trustees of public property, to directors of educational institutions, to office-bearers in christian Churches. The influence of the unknown grey hair lays hold upon them; keeps them back from enterprise; tells them that what has done for the fathers may well do for the children -, and so the cause of progress is arrested.
Sometimes, then, it may be well for us to consult other people as to our position and ability. They may see grey hairs which are hidden from our view. May they mention the fact gently, and not as though they rejoiced in our declining power! It takes considerable moral genius to name the presence of a grey hair dehcately. Do not pull it out, and make an exhibition of it. Do not get behind a man, and point out his grey hair to other people. Consider thyself.
for with what measure thou metest it shall be measured to thee again!
III. Ought not such changes to suggest serious
INQUIRY AS to the POSSIBLE DECLINE OF SPIRITUAL POWER?
It does not follow that physical decline necessitates spiritual decline. The apostle teaches us the right doctrine when he says, “Though the outward man perishj the inward man is renewed day by day.^^ Though there is outward winter, there is sammer in the soul. The snow is all over the stooping head, but the voice of the turtle is sounding in the glad and hopeful heart. Yet some men wither first in the soul! Outwardly, they flourish exceedingly: their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart can wish: but their souls have no thought, no hope, no heaven in foretaste. A grey head does not mean a withered heart. A man may be old in body, yet young in soul. True life is never old. No man’s age is to be told by his mere birthdays; they tell the age of his flesh, but not of his spirit. The good, the pure, the wise,” flourish in immortal youth.’’’ In connection with this part of the subject we must remember two things: —
First: The spirit must resist the decay to which it is drawn by the flesh. The spirit is called to a daily struggle. The flesh says. You have done enough; it is now time to sleep: leave work to others and enjoy repose. The spirit must resist the plausible reasoning of the flesh: to the last it must vindicate its supremacy, — on its day of translation it must be more vigorous than on the day of its birth.
Second: A beneficial moral influence is exerted by such resistance. Men have a right to look to grey-haired Christians for illustrations of the tendency of Christianity. Are you sullen, crabbed, impracticable? Are you self-involved, peevish, ungrateful? Or are you sunny, thankful, kind? These inquiries show how possible it is to hinder or help the Christian cause by the spirit in which we receive the intimations of our declining time upon the earth. The grey-haired Christian should be a tower of strength to the Christian cause. No beauty should exceed the beauty of his charitablenesss and hopefulness. See your calling, ye veteran saints, and be young in heart evermore!
There is, then, in our members a law of decay. The outward man perisheth. Do what we may. Time will conquer! None can stand before that silent Victor. He corrodes the storied brass: he moulders away the consecrated marble: he drinks the juice of the great tree: he digs graves for giants, and causes the haughty to show their weakness to hirelings. We dye our hair, and paint our flesh; we pay Art with a lavish hand to repair the waste of Nature; we practise deceit in dress, and mimic well the airs of vanished youthfulness j yet Time goes on conquering to conquer, until we confess in death what we were loth to own in life. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might! The opportunity will soon be gone! The right hand will forget its cunning! The evening bell will call thee home.” The night cometh, when no man can work.^^
“Time is earnest, passing by,
Death is earnest, drawing nigh.”
You will never be so young on earth as you are this day! Now is the accepted time. Give God your best strength, the bloom of your power, the pride of your life, and when you are old and grey-headed He will forsake you not. Blessed are they who have lived in the way of godliness even unto old age. The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.^’