The woe of aged sinners.
There are three special periods of life in which men are peculiarly exposed to the power of temptation and sin. Most men that fall, fall either into young men's perils, full-grown, men's indulgences, or old men's sins. A pure, humble, godly old man is one of the noblest sights to be seen under heaven. And by so much as that is beautiful, a godless, characterless, debased old man is a shame and contempt. "A hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness." Yet old age has its special evils. Temptations to those sins which the Bible gathers up into the word "uncleanness." Often uncleanness of word and conversation; often, alas! of life and conduct also. It would appear that bodily lust and passion gathers itself in old age for one last struggle to gain the mastery. The flame flares up in the socket, and old men need to keep very near to God, very much in the power of the sanctifying Spirit, if, having withstood all the perils of youth and manhood, they do not fall under the temptations of old age. What an awful sight is the foul-mouthed, leering-eyed, depraved old man, tottering on the very edge of the eternal, where "he that is filthy shall be filthy still"! The prophet tells of the time when there shall be no confusions about the state of aged sinners, because they are in great state, or are spared long. "The sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed."
I. THE WOE OF AGED SINNERS COMES IN BITTERNESS OF SUFFERING. The self-indulgent life ensures an unusually suffering old age. There are natural and necessary penalties, which are first smitings of Divine judgment.
II. THE WOE OF AGED SINNERS COMES IN THE ESTIMATE OF THOSE WHO TEND THEM. The aged sinner outlives his so-called friends, who shared his self-willed doings, and might have sympathized with him. He is put, for tending, into the hands of a new generation, who only see the wreck and ruin of body and character which the life has led to. He feels despised; he feels the misery of being despised. He knows well enough that they wish him gone.
III. THE WOE OF AGED SINNERS COMES IN FEARS OF THE FUTURE. It comes on a man sooner or later that he will have to "give an account of his stewardship." His body was not his own; his time was not his own; his talents were not his own; his possessions were not his own; his relations were not his own. Presently he asks himself—What have I done with God's property, which was entrusted for a while to my care? Conscious of having diverted God's property to his own uses, he may well fear to meet his offended God.—R.T.