How Old Art Thou? Gen. 47:8

How old art thou? Gen. 47:8 This [was] is a question which Pharaoh put to Jacob, and which Jacob promptly although somewhat sadly answered. | He was 130 years old; but he did not say so in these few words: -- this was the way he put it: the days of the years of my pilgrimage are an 130 years -- few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. [He] Thus he seems not to have reckoned the time he had lived, by years, so much as by [the] days. [That composed those larger periods.] | [He] Of these he had lived about 47,000 [days] [and more]; so often had he seen the sun rise and set; so many steps had he taken in the [journey] pilgrimage which had been to him at once so tiresome and so eventful. [in the pilgrimage] Yet, although so many, they now seemed to be few -- and not only few, but evil, he adds, as if thus he would account for their fewness. | Had the evil -- i.e. 2 I.e. the sorrows -- been less, the days [would] might have been more. A lighter burden would have left him [his] vigor [greater] for a larger journey. | As it was, he was compelled to succumb to the inevitable doom of all, and go down to the grave younger than his father had been: -- for, although he lived 17 years longer, his history was already written. --What he had been brought into the world to do was now done, and its record made up -- the pilgrims staff was about broken. [Let me now place in connection with the question that Pharaoh asked another which an inspired apostle asks: What is your life? To which he himself replies: It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. Substantially, the two questions are the same, and so are the two answers. At any rate they have the same moral significancy. They measure the] How old art thou? [?] [?] -- 1878 [?] ( [?] [?] ) Richmond - Grace st. [P????] [?ch], Jan 3/97 Dr. Fairs 3 who entered upon its [golden pavements] splendors -- to Abel -- who had no similar companion for awhile with whom to walk its [golden] sheets or to bend at its [glory giving] throne: his peculiar song a solo for it rehearsed a story which he alone [had felt known or felt] could tell: [and his peculiar gratitude novelty, capable of no expression except that which his own heart had felt.] | But it was not long before [its] [those sheets] the city became peopled, and [that those become the] its mansions became occupied -- and the grateful song found its repeating chorus as the sympathy [became] grew large and warm, and saint had fellowship with saint. | Then it [was] must have seemed more like home. | [But now that xt. is there -- dressed in our own humanity -- and [surrounded by those] thus our elder brother: now, too, that they are these whom Xt. has [gathered] been gathering about Him, out of this worlds griefs to share with Him that worlds glories, it [has become even more] every day becomes more and more normlike to the eye of our aspiring faith.] 2 [ourselves, one day be. | I [should] could wish to have a view of the angels who gather about the great central throne -- but they do not interest my thoughts nearly so deeply as do the men and women who these have upon them the light of the God: for these are of my own sort -- of my own kindred: -- so that when I perceive them my soul receives the thrill of a direct personal interest. | And, it is from gazing upon those who, out of earths homes such as I am familiar, are there pouring forth the radiances of their glory and the raptures of their songs, that I am readier to search for Him who [is] lifted them [thit????]; to lay at His feet the tribute of my gratitude for that same power of love which, having saved them, is prepared to save me, likewise.] 5 What activity was that of Noah as he prepared to conquer, by his faith, the horrors of the flood! -- was that of Abraham, as, with [beg??t] loins, he sought, through toil and sacrifice, a heavenly country! -- was that of Moses, as he multiplied, through a most eventful life, evidences of his paramount esteem for the reproach of Christ in preference to the treasures of Egypt! -- was that of those indomitable Judges, of whom Gideon and Samuel were samples,as, at Gods command, they rules perverse Israel during long years of [fiery] flaming trial! -- was that of them all, who, through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, [?ut] of weakness were made strong, turned armies, to flight -- living so far superior to the men around them, as to justify the record that the world 6 was not worthy of them. | Surely it is matter for wonder -- the extraordinary results thus ascribed to the exploits of faith! | But what is expected from the operation of this same principle in our own times, and in the case of every believer, is hardly less surprising: is, indeed, substantially the same. | There are, in Scripture, 3 magnetic and restless agents to which we are pointed, as enemies to be fright with and to be conquered, mainly by its power. | The world is one of the 3. By this is meant those plaudits, those fashions, those excesses, those selfish maxims, those empty gayeties, which serve to mould the opinions and direct the practices of the generality of mankind; and which, taken together, express the spirit that rules the great mass of our race: the spirit that plunges it into the abysses of a dark ungodliness, where only the present, the tangible, the earthly, evermore 7 outweigh and eclipse the future, the [unseen] insensible, the heavenly. | Now, who can measure the intense, the subtle, activity of a prevailing worldliness. | It is always pressing. | No feet are swift enough to outstrip it. | No hiding is close enough to shut it out. No caution is circumspect enough to wade it. | It busies countless hands in connecting and spreading [its] nets of entanglement. | It employs elognance, [so???ce], literature, policy, business, pleasure- every agent which, although perhaps good in itself, [can] shall impress some evil upon the soul. | Influences seem to pervade the very air we breathe, that all the while are laying some touch of paralysis upon our persons, to detain us amid the things of time and prevent our rising to the things of eternity. | Who is it, accordingly, that has not felt this manifold agency of the worldly mind, 8 as, in one or more of its innumerable methods of operation, it has maid its grasp upon him, when he has least [exp??t?d] its presence. ? | And all the more powerful is it, because having, in each ones own heart, that sympathy which is always so ready to [give it a] go out upon it with a kindly look and a friendly welcome! || But it is this very principle, so adroit, so hindering, so crippling, so downbearing at times, which faith in [le??ist] -- as a still stronger counter-principle- is commissioned to meet, and silence and [to] subdue. For what does He tell us who is better acquainted with this formidable [foe] enemy than are we, and who has arranged for its overthrow: -- This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith. | So the world an active foe? Faith excels it in activity. | Does the swift spirit of [sin] temptation run to its work with nimble zeal-- the swifter spirit of faith overtakes and surpasses it. 8 ? Yes-- the tie that binds us to Jesus Christ is of better still than that which binds us to the world. Faith, by enabling its possessor to [?] up to heaven, secures him from the baits and snares which attend him on earth. Homer tells us that Ulysses cursed himself to be bound to the mast of the ship, and every one of his followers ears to be stopped with wax, that they might not hearken to the songs of the Sirens, and so be drowned in the treacherous sea. Faith fastens the soul to Xt., and so ravishes its ears with the glad tidings of pardon, and peace, and eternal life, as to deafen it to the music of the world. | In the midst of a tumultuous ocean, the points of the compass remain unmoveable, because they govern [Th????lus], not according to the changeable winds, but according to the influence of the heavens; and 9 the faith of the faithful remains firm amid the agitations [of the world] they must needs [??eremt??] here below because it governs itself not according to the instability of the affairs of this world, but according to the promises of God which are [f??] all eternity. plow of Gods saving mercy, upon whose shame -- [load??t] heads rests the cloud of their Lords disappointment -- to whom this gracious gospel was sent in vain -- and now to be transplanted into a world 9 Yes -- the tie that binds us to Jesus Christ, is even of better steel than that which binds us to the world: and being thus bound to Him, we partake of His omnipotence and wisdom, as [it flows out of] He pours forth His life into our own. [Again] But, then, there is the flesh, in addition to the world; a foe still closer to us. | By this is meant our natural man -- with which we were born, and which carries in its veins the inherited ungodliness [of] that has been derived from the fatal flaw; -- this confirmed and fortified by untold personal transgressions: a mighty, a controlling, an experienced, and, -- by any unaided efforts of our own. , -- an inextinguishable, principle of indwelling evil, which goes and comes with our very breath: a proneness to do wrong which is as steady as the pulsations of our blood, [bonding] and which binds us evermore towards the earth, despite the strongest will and the angriest conscience. 10 All this is felt, not alone by the man who has never tried after a better heart than nature gave him -- but by the sturdiest and most advanced Christian. The great apostle mourned over it, as one of its victims, which not even his native vigor and constancy of soul could master. | It is the seductive flesh which goes with [us] the man of God into all the scenes and through all the hours of life: cooling his love for the Saviour, drawing off his benevolence from his fellow -- men, and embarrassing every movement of his regenerated nature: often, indeed, bringing him into the captivity of hateful and distressing sin. | It is that [???alt] in the house of the soul, who is forever laying treacherous snares for it -- who is at every door and window inviting and soliciting the entrance of each passing evil -- who is always striving to 11 lift to the very throne of the heart some enemy which may usurp the royalty of its rightful King, [?] wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death! | Yonder is the only person who can do it! = I thank God through Jesus Xt. our Lord. | Faith -- the faith that summons Him within the soul -- that clings to His righteousness -- that substitutes Him for self -- that gives into His hands the government of the will -- the stretches itself over His atoning cross -- that strengthens itself upon His promised gift of the Holy Ghost -- such a faith, kindling the yes with the light of heaven which He has [brought] sent -- being that blessed [L??] in whose beams no darkness can exist -- before whose [cha?ing] power no obstacles can stand = the faith, I say, that makes Him its refuge and its all, 12 -- will have found a Helper against whom even the flesh cannot long hold out. | It is a faith that [wa??s] the soul to serve the law of God; that gradually impresses a divine signature upon all the faculties; that, one by one, erases the now inferior law of sin -- in a word that purifies the heart by chopping upon it the blood which clarifies wherever it touches. But, added to the world and the flesh, is the Devil. | Yet, what of him? | Does he go about -- an adversary -- a lion -- suking whom he may devour? | Well --he does devour many a wretched soul. | What, however, is the counsil of Scripture to such as believe in the Law of God? Whom resist, steadfast in the faith! -- and, being thus resisted, the promise is, he will fly from you. 13 He can boldly face every opponent except this one. The shield which bears upon its ample space the word of God, has a gleam which darts dismay even into the heart of Satan. | I have read of battles wherein the stronger and more courageous warriors, having lost every other means of defence, have [lifted] snatched from the ground their dying comrades, and, holding these in their arms, have sheltered their own lives from the onset of the baffled foe. | So, let the believer take to himself, by the hand of his faith, his dying Lord, and interposing Him for a protection, -- the archenemy of his soul may now wound him indeed but cannot kill -- and, by and by, frustrated by a panoply so complete, will retire from the unequal combat. [Faith] 14 Who, then, will measure the activity and rigor of Christian faith? | Does not our Lord say: -- All things are possible to him that believes. It drives to [meet] attempt, with cheerful confidence, [every possibility] all that God has given it to do. | It is that which, least of all, enables the soul, by the force of a superhuman vitality, to leap across the chasm that separates wrath from atonement, sin from holiness, hell from heaven, self from Christ: -- and, even with one of its smiles, [it] transforms black death into bright life. | Do I then, say, that faith works -- it is one stupendous work, which includes [all] every other: for when certain persons asked the Saviour what shall we do that we might work the works of God? His reply was: this is the work of God, that [??] believe on 15 Him whom He hath sent -- as if faith were the only principle that knows how to work in a manner worthy of God who implanted it. | So that, he that believeth in me, [teaches] says Xt., hath everlasting life -- not proceeds to gain it -- already possesses it, because nothing is denied to the energy of faith: even God yields to it and opens up all His heavens to its all-taking hand. But, let us understand that not alone in the sphere of religion is faith the master- actor: -- but equally so in all the affairs and enterprises of men. Faith in something has always characterized the history of the mind: and whenever the mind has moved on with rapidity, [and] with its forces [?] -- hated, towards [its] a chosen object, it has done so propelled by the impulses of a strong faith. | Mere knowledge 16 knowledge -- however extensive and quickening -- cannot excite to conquering execution. | In mere acquaintance with facts, and opinions, and [principles] speculative truths, there is no vitality, That I know the whole history of England -- or the entire plan according to which the motions of the stars are directed -- or the complete records of some extensive and revolutionizing war -- this leaves me inactive, because allowing me no work to do outside the silent operations of my own mind. | But, to call out from English history some great principle in the experiment of government -- to draw down from the skies some great law of the material universe -- to discover in the [pros?o?tion] of a war some leading policy that ought to control a nations intercourse with other nations -- and to believe in these -- as a principle, a law, a policy -- calculated, statesmanly 17 used, to benefit mankind: -- it is this belief which will set me to work in behalf of my race. | Faith is that which realizes truth -- which draws truth to the heart and makes it that hearts own -- which incorporates it as an inseparable portion of the very being -- which makes it ever-present -- [like] a big and a tangible thing -- and ever-attractive, and ever-important. | Galileo, who believed that the [world] earth revolved about the sun, was willing, in the strength of his faith, to die for its vindication -- for he was identified with it. | Columbus had faith in his idea that a western continent existed to balance the eastern -- and he was willing to impoverish himself, to brave unknown dangers, to risk all things, to give this idea or like place in the mind of the world. | Faith is infinitely 18 more than credulity -- and get how active even credulity is let the whole history of superstition attest. Credulity is the idiotic offspring of a weak and disordered soul, which is incapable of strong effort; but faith is the intelligent conviction of a large and well-balanced nature which is capable of giving itself up to the sway of some great practical purpose. | Faith is more than mere reason. It is the entire soul in the act of grasping what is conceived to be a real good: the soul, engaged not in simply receiving truths, but in seizing them; embracing them, and then submitting to their imperial command. | It is this kind of faith that makes men: certainly men of action. They believe in themselves -- believe in others -- or, they believe in calculations, and testimonies, and [measures of success] means: -- and so keep the whole world 19 in motion. Deprive mankind of faith, and you decree the dissolution of society. Now, God has adopted this essential principle of our nature and made it an essential part of Xty. -- without the presence of which in the heart men will no more be moved towards heaven than stones could climb to the stars: -- but which, being present, -- then -- swifter than an eagle cuts the air, does it swing the soul to God. | Christian faith is, [?], just another form of natural faith: only with a different object in view. | Christian faith takes Christ home to the affections, and lodges Him there as the great One for whom to labor and to live: leading its possessor to act in view of what this pre-eminent Lord has done and promised [in for] as to the future good of His follower, with at least 20 as much promptitude and energy and consistency, as a worldly man acts and promises himself in relation to the present of his existence. | Hence those sacrifices for the Savior, -- those exertions -- those expeditions -- those deaths -- that counting all things but loss for the excellency of His glory -- which have always characterized His true people. | Hence, too, the immense [display] amount of moral power which Xty., as exemplified in its worthy believers, [constantly operates] constantly puts forth for the welfare of mankind: because [it] faith in its doctrines, its hopes, its Arthur, works by love: a love [that] which, so far from exhausting itself upon its object in heaven, does only derive the greater strength from its adherence to Him, for spreading itself [??s] -- [???sal] benevolence towards all the world, as He has directed it to do. | The faith of the xn., 21 can, accordingly, exist without works -- in obedience to its very nature -- no more than the faith of a man of business or of pleasure can exist without works -- in obedience to a similar nature. Now, have you this faith -- you the members of this Church: | Well -- yes -- your profession says to all who know you, that you have it. | Then, give it out in appropriate works -- exhibit it in its daily victories. | In its essence, faith is invisible, like the soul in which it is imbedded, and which it animates. | No eye can see it by any act of direct vision. | No hand can touch it by any [effort] experiment of contact. | The person who possesses it cannot always himself detect it, by any movement of his own consciousness. He may even doubt its existence within him, as he tries to trace it by some effort of meditative thought. 22 A laugh, unlighted, if it could reason, might well question its capacity for shedding light around it the radiance for producing which it was filled with it: but let the flame be applied to its ready wick, and in the luminous circle which instantly cuts its place into the Darkness, it discovers the power with which it has been endowed. | So faith, unexercised, eludes the search of him to whom this wealth of energy has been entrusted. | To be seen, to be known for what it is, to [put all] answer the question of its existence and to comprehend its energy, let it come [forth] out to view in that field of labor and of conquest for which it has been appointed. | God is invisible: and even He must be known in His works. | When these works are such as only He could perform -- then we discover Him in the demonstration which these impress upon the soul. 23 Many believes there are who, through almost the whole of their lives, are endeavoring to learn whether a saving faith is theirs: but where, in what, are they expecting to find the satisfying assurance? | Why, in their own hearts! | And because they are unable to discern the features of this heaven-born, there, -- among the shadows of those ever-flitting emotions which will not stay long enough to be fairly looked at or have their nature examined -- they bow their heads, hang their arms, and sigh out their sorrow. | It is in what we do for Christ that we discover our faith in Him. | It is whom faith puts on its work-day clothes -- and actually goes forth to encounter the burden and heat of direct and positive labor -- it is then, when she proceeds to expand the lungs in the open air of exertion, and bids you look upon her face bathed 24 in manly sweat, upon her hands horny with holding the plough amid the furrows of her masters fields, upon her whole person [n???d] to the enterprise of achieving salvation for a lost world -- it is then that you recognize both her beauty and her strength, and can [rep?ice] in the fact that she is yours. | The inactive xn. is the doubting xn. | The listless believer is the depressed and gloomy believer. | It is when faith is hidden away in the heart, and has no space in which to breathe and to act, that faith [rep?ses] to attest its presence, or sing you any song of hope, or expand to your view its wings of heavenly hues. | Cage this eagle, and you so quench this fire of his eyes, you so [discourage] sink [his spirit] his pinions, you so discourage his spirit, as to make you suppose, by-and-by, that he is nothing more than some ordinary bird instead of being the king and the glory of all flying creatures. | He 25 [wants] needs freedom. | He [wants] needs to approach and gaze upon the sun. | He [wants] needs to awaken the echoes of the mountain-top. | He needs to spread himself over the joyous sky. O give your faith something to do -- and you will no longer dispute the certainty of its power. | It will be seen in its [influence] effects upon yourselves, in its influence over others. | Let it not lay, inarticulate and cold, within your breast. | Let it speak for xt. Let it warm its blood in the activities of His service. | Let it go forth for sheaves. O that we all had this faith as we ought to have it! What a church would we be! How the world around would gaze, and wonder, and admire, and, by Gods blessing, imitate!