Joseph Lathrop (1731-1820) Biography:

Lathrop was born in Norwich, Connecticut. After graduating from Yale, he took a teaching position at a grammar school in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he also began studying theology. Two years after leaving Yale, he was ordained as the pastor of the Congregational Church in West Springfield, Massachusetts. He remained there until his death in 1820, in the 65^th year of his ministry. During his career, he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity from both Yale and Harvard. He was even offered the Professorship of Divinity at Yale, but he declined the offer. Many of his sermons were published in a seven-volume set over the course of twenty-five years.

In this 1805 sermon, preached when he was 74 years old, Rev. Lathrop encourages his listeners to adopt a Biblical perspective on aging: to recognize that its effects are inevitable; to lean more heavily on God for grace to deal with the weakening of the body; and to maintain a positive testimony of faith before others. (Rev. Lathrop would preach another sermon on aging, Old Age Improved, in 1811, when he had reached his 80th year. Read it here.)

The Infirmities and Comforts of Old Age

A Sermon To Aged People

By Joseph Lathrop, D. D. Pastor of the first Church in West-Spring field

My aged Brethren and Friends, You will permit an aged man, like yourselves,
to speak, this afternoon, a few words to you…Or, if you please, he will speak
to himself in your hearing…Pertinent to our case, and worthy of our adoption,
is the Petition of the Psalmist in:

Psalm 71:9
Cast me not off in the time of old age…Forsake me not when my strength faileth.

There is little doubt, that David was the author of this Psalm. And from several
expressions in it we learn, that he wrote it in his old age. He prays in our
text, “cast me not off in the time of old age.” And, in verse 18, “Now, when
I am old and gray headed, forsake me not.” But David, when he died, was but
about seventy years old, and he probably wrote the Psalm some years before his
death; perhaps in the time of Absalom’s rebellion; for he speaks of “enemies,
who then took counsel together, and laid wait for this life.” And we find not,
that he was ever in this perilous and critical situation after that rebellion.
David, then, realized old age earlier than some seem to do. He noticed its first
appearance; he brought it near, in his meditations, before it had actually invaded
him; or, at least, when he began to perceive its approach in the decline of
his strength, and the increase of his gray hairs. But many choose to view it
as distant. “Grey hairs are here and there upon them, and they perceive it not.”
They enjoy, in a comfortable degree, the pleasures of life; and that evil day,
in which there is no pleasure, they put far from them.

It would be wise for us to imitate David’s example; to think of, and prepare
for the evil day before it comes; to secure God’s gracious presence now; and
in our daily prayers to ask, that “he would not cast us off in the time of old
age, nor forsake us when our strength faileth.”

The Psalmist here reminds us, that old age is a time when strength faileth:
And that at such a time God’s presence is of peculiar importance.

I. Old age is a time when strength faileth.
There is then a sensible decay of bodily strength.

As we come into the world, so we depart, impotent, feeble and helpless. From
our infancy we gradually acquire strength, until we arrive to our full maturity.
We then for a few years continue stationary, without sensible change. After
a little while we begin to feel, and are constrained to confess an alteration
in our state. Our limbs lose their former activity; our customary labor becomes
wearisome; pains invade our frame; our sleep, often interrupted, refreshes us
less than heretofore; our food is less gustful; our sight is bedimmed, and our
ears are dull of hearing; “they that look out at the windows are darkened, and
the daughters of music are low;” the pleasures of reading and conversation abate;
our ancient companions have generally withdrawn to another world, and the few
who are left are, like us, shut up, that they cannot go forth…Hence social visits
are more unfrequent and less entertaining; and our condition grows more and
more solitary and disconsolate.

With our bodily, our mental strength usually declines. The faculty which first
appears to fail is the memory. And its failure we first observe in the difficulty
of recollecting little things, such as names and numbers. We then perceive it
in our inability to retain things which are recent…What we early heard or read,
abides with us; but later information is soon forgotten. Hence, in conversation,
aged people often repeat the same questions, and relate the same stories; for
they soon lose the recollection of what has passed And hence perhaps, in part,
is the impertinent garrulity, of which old age is accused… You see, then my
young friends, the importance of laying up a good store of useful knowledge
in early life. What you acquire now, you may retain: Later acquisitions will
be small and uncertain. Like riches, they will make them wings and fly away.
In the decline of life you must chiefly depend on the old stock; and happy,
if you shall have then a rich store to feed upon.

When memory fails, other faculties soon follow. The attention is with more
difficulty fixed, and more easily diverted: the intellect is less acute in its
discernment, and the judgment more fallible in its decisions.

The judgment is the last faculty which the pride of age is willing to give
up…Our forgetfulness we cannot but feel, and others cannot but observe. But
we choose to think our judgment remains solid and clear. We are never apt to
distrust our own opinions; for it is the nature of opinion to be satisfied with
itself. It is certain, however, that judgment must fail in some proportion to
the failure of attention and recollection. We form a just judgment by viewing
and comparing the evidences and circumstances, which relate to the case in question.
If then any material evidence, or circumstance escapes our notice, or slips
from our memory, the judgment formed is uncertain, because we have but a partial
view of the case. In all matters, where a right judgment depends on comparing
several things, the failure of memory endangers the rectitude of the decision.

When we perceive a decline of bodily and mental strength, fear and anxiety
usually increase. Difficulties once trifling now swell to a terrifying magnitude,
because we have not power to encounter them. Want stares upon us with frightful
aspect, because we have not capacity to provide against it…The kind and patient
attention of our friends we distrust, because we know not how long we may be
a burden to them, and we have nothing in our hands to remunerate them, except
that property, which they already anticipate as their own. “The grasshopper
now becomes a burden’ we rise up at the voice of the bird; we are afraid of
that which is high, and fear is in the way.”

This state of infirmity and anxiety, painful in itself, is rendered more so
by the recollection of what we once were, and by the anticipation of what we
soon shall be.

We contrast our present with our former condition…Once we were men; now we
feel ourselves to be but babes. Once we possessed active powers; now we are
become impotent. Once we sustained our children and ministered to them with
pleasure; now we are sustained by them; and we are sure, our once experienced
pleasure is not reciprocated. Once we were of some importance in society; now
we are sunk into insignificance. Once our advice was sought and regarded; now
we are passed by with neglect, and younger men take our place: even the management
of our own substance has fallen into the hands of others, and they perhaps scarcely
think us worthy of being consulted. And if we are, now and then, consulted,
perhaps our jealousy whispers, that it is done merely to flatter our aged vanity
and keep us in good humor.

Such a contrast Job experienced, and he found it no small aggravation of his
adversity. Looking back to former days, he says, “When I went out of the gates
through the city, the young men saw me, and hid themselves; the aged arose and
stood up. When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me,
it gave witness to me, because I delivered the poor and fatherless, and the
blessing of those, who were ready to perish, came upon me. -But now they who
are younger than I have me in derision. They abhor me and flee from me. They
mar my path, and set forward my calamity.”

And not only the remembrance of what is past, but the forethought of what is
to come, aggravates the calamity of the aged man.

In earlier life hope stood by him to comfort him in all his troubles. If he
was disappointed in his business, he hoped to succeed better in a future essay.
If he met with misfortune, he hoped by and by to retrieve it. If he lost his
health, he hoped by time and medicine to regain it. If he suffered pain, he
hoped it would be short. Whatever calamity he felt, he looked forward to better
days…But now hope has quitted its station and retired from his company. “His
days are spent without hope.” The joys of life are fled, never to return. He
anticipates the increase of infirmities and pains from month to month, and the
probable even of total decrepitude and confinement, and the entire loss of his
feeble remains of sensibility and intellect.

Well might Solomon call this an evil day.

In the probable expectation of such a day, there is no solid comfort, but in
the hope of enjoying the presence of God. Therefore, as we observed,

II. We ought to adopt the prayer of David, “Cast me not off in the time of
old age: Forsake me not when my strength faileth.”

In the first place, the Psalmist may here be supposed to request, that God
would not cast him off from the care of his providence.

When we have reached old age, or find ourselves near it, we may reasonably
and properly pray, that God would excuse us from those pains of body and infirmities
of mind, with which some have been afflicted; that he would place us in easy
and unembarrassed circumstances, and allow us liberty for those devout exercises,
which are suited to prepare us for our momentous change. David had seen the
gross misbehavior of some of his children, and was now probably suffering under
the cruel persecution of an ungracious son, who wished the father’s death, that
he might possess the father’s throne. In this situation the old man prays, “Deliver
me out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel
man. O God, be not far from me; make haste to my help.” Under this severe affliction
he doubtless requested, that God would incline the hearts of his children to
treat him with filial duty and affection, and to study the peace and comfort
of his declining age.

The happiness of the parent, in the latter stages of his life, depends much
on the good behavior of his children; and particularly on their kind attention
to him…I pity the aged man, who, when his strength fails, looks anxiously around,
and sees not a son on whom he can lean: No; not a child, who will reach out
a hand to sustain his sinking frame, and guide his tottering steps… But I congratulate
the happy old man, who sees his children about him, all attentive to his wants,
listening to his complaints, compassionate to his pains, and emulous each to
excel the other in acts of filial duty…I honor the children, when instead of
seeing the old father tossed from place to place, unwelcome wherever he is sent,
they adopt the language of Joseph, “come to me, my father; thou shalt be near
to me, and I will nourish thee.” Such filial kindness soothes the pains, and
cheers the spirits of the parent. It makes him forget his affliction, or remember
it as waters which pass away.

But, secondly, what David principally requested was, that God would grant him
the presence of his grace. Thus he prays, in another Psalm, “Cast me not away
out of thy presence; take not thy holy spirit from me; restore to me the joy
of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit.”

His outward man was decaying; but he solicited such supplies of grace, as should
renew the inward man day by day. In his increasing infirmities he could take
pleasure, when the power of God rested upon him; for however weak in himself,
he was strong in the Lord.

1. In this prayer he asks grace, that he may maintain a temper and behavior
suited to his age and condition.

It becomes the aged to be grave and sober, for they stand on the brink of the
eternal world. And who would not be sober there? If we should ever happen to
see such men light and vain, addicted to frothy discourse, fond of dissolute
company, and seeking guilty amusements, we should be shocked at the spectacle.
We should naturally conclude, that their hearts were totally alienated from
God and religion, and completely stupefied by the habits of sin.

It becomes them to be temperate and vigilant, and to avoid every indulgence,
which might tend to increase the peevishness and irritability naturally incident
to a period of pain and infirmity.

It becomes them to be patient and resigned. As they are subject to peculiar
trials, and the strength of nature fails, they should implore the presence of
that good spirit, whose fruits are gentleness, meekness and long-suffering.
They should call to mind former mercies, and meditate on God’s works of old.
They should consider that their time is short, and their trials will soon be
over. “Now for a season, if need be, they are in heaviness through manifold
temptations; but if patience has its perfect work, the trial of their faith,
which is more precious, than that of gold which perishes, will be found to praise
and honor at the coming of Christ. And these light afflictions, which are but
for a moment, will work for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory.”

2. They should pray for grace, that by a pattern of piety and heavenly mindedness,
they may recommend religion to others. They are required to be sound in charity,
as well as patience-not only to bear their troubles with fortitude and dignity,
but to exhibit in all things a behavior, which becometh holiness, that they
may teach the young to be sober minded. This is the best exercise of their charity.

David, in his old age, felt a benevolent concern for rising posterity. Hence
he prays, “O God, forsake me not, when I am old, until I have showed thy strength
to this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.”

The aged man, taken off by his infirmities from the active business of life,
can in no way do more service for God and for mankind, than by exhibiting a
visible example of contentment and humility, piety and spirituality, faith and
hope, in the near views of another world. He thus demonstrates the excellence
and power of religion, and calls on all around him to embrace and cherish it,
that, like him, they may pear affliction with serenity, and meet death with
fortitude.

3. David here solicits communion with God. “Cast me not off.” Deny me not free
access to thee. “Turn not away my prayer, nor thy mercy from me.”

The good man, in all circumstances, would maintain a heavenly intercourse.
But he desires and values this privilege most in a time of affliction, and in
the near expectation of death. Our Savior, who was, at all times, filled with
a devout spirit, exercised this spirit most fervently and frequently toward
the close of his life. And so ought the aged saint. As he is discharged from
the labors and occupation of the world, let him dismiss his worldly affections
and thoughts, and give himself, more than formerly, to self examination, meditation
and prayer, viewing the time as at had, when, taking leave of all earthly things,
he must enter into a new world, mingle in new connexions, and appear in the
presence of God, let him employ himself in the contemplation of heaven and in
the exercises of devotion more constantly than he could ordinarily do in former
years, when the world had greater demands upon him. Looking forward to the last
stage of life, and realizing the condition in which he may then be placed, let
him often ask beforehand, that God would give him at that time, the spirit of
prayer in a superior degree, would grant him, under nature’s weakness, ability
to collect and arrange his thoughts, and a fervor of pious affection in making
known his requests. This, in a similar case, was the employment and the comfort
of the Psalmist. “My soul,” says he, “is full of troubles, and my life draweth
near to the grave; mine acquaintance are put far from me; and I am shut up,
that I cannot go forth.” And what could he do in this condition? One thing he
could do; and this he did. He applied himself to prayer, which is the best relief
of an afflicted soul. “I have called daily upon thee, and to thee have I stretched
out my hands Unto thee have I cried, O Lord, and in the morning shall my prayer
prevent thee. Let my prayer come before thee; incline thine ear to my cry.”

4. David, in this petition, “Cast me not off in the time of old age,” requests
that, by the power of Divine Grace working in him, his faith and hope might
hold out to the last; and that, by the sensible displays of Divine Light, and
by increasing evidence of his title to salvation, he might be freed from the
distressing apprehension of being finally cast off and forsaken of his God.
Thus he prays, on another occasion, “Cast me not away out of thy presence. Restore
unto me the joy of they salvation.”

In all seasons and conditions of life, the hope of glory is much to be desired,
and earnestly to be sought. This will lighten our afflictions and sweeten our
mercies; defend us against temptations and smooth the path of duty; dispel the
gloom which hovers round the grave, and brighten the prospect of eternity… But
this hope is never more important, or more delightful than in old age. Now the
joys of life have fled, and earthly prospects are cut off; now the day of probation
is expiring, and the solemn hour of retribution is at hand…How unhappy the case
of those, who are going down to the grave without hope, and going to judgment
with a consciousness of unpardoned guilt; who, in the review of life, see nothing
but vain amusements, sensual pleasures, earthly affections, and avaricious or
ambitious pursuits; and in the contemplation of futurity see nothing before
them, but death, judgment and fiery indignation… But how happy the aged Christian,
who can look back on a life employed in works of piety to God, and beneficence
to men, and who now feels the spirit of devotion and charity warmed within him
and acting with fresh vigor to confirm his hopes of heaven, dispel the fears
of death, and light up fresh joys in his soul? He can take pleasure in his infirmities,
regarding them as kind intimations, that “now is hi salvation nearer, than when
he believed.”

Such was Paul’s felicity, when he was ready to be offered, and the time of
his departure was at hand. “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me in that day.” How did Paul
obtain this felicity?-“He counted not his own life dear to himself, that he
might finish his work with faithfulness, and his course with joy.” “He kept
under his body to bring it into subjection, lest by any means, when he had preached
to others, he himself should be a castaway.” That we may obtain the full assurance
of hope, we must be followers of them, who by faith and patience inherit the
promises; and in this course we must give diligence to the end.

Our subject powerfully applies itself to us, who are advanced in age. We begin
to feel the decays of strength, and to perceive the indications of our approaching
dissolution. In a few a days, we must go the way, whence we shall not return.
Soon we shall see man no more with the inhabitants of the earth; but shall be
placed in new relations and in a new condition. While we tarry here, our infirmities
will probably increase; our days and nights will become more wearisome; the
pleasure of senses will lose their relish; the burden of worldly business will
be too heavy for our bending shoulders; the implements of our labor will drop
out of our palsied hands, and we shall have no more a portion in any thing that
is done under the sun. And it is not improbable, that some of our last months
may be spent in helpless confinement of body; ah, and perhaps too in derangement
or stupor of mind.

Looking forward to such a season, let us daily pray, “O God, cast us not off
in the time of old age; forsake us not when our strength faileth. Give us kind
and patient friends, who will cheerfully minister to our necessities and bear
our infirmities. Vouchsafe to us rich supplies of thy Grace, that we may sustain
our own infirmities; may enjoy communion with thee; may maintain our heavenly
hope, and by a pattern of Christian piety, charity and spirituality, may commend
to those who stand around us that Divine Religion, which is our support, our
comfort, and our joy…And if, in thy sovereign Wisdom, thou shouldst see fit
to deny us the privilege of reason, let the prayers which we now offer be graciously
remembered; and grant us pious and prayerful friends, who will send up petitions
to thee in our behalf…And whether we shall then be capable of making a petition
to thee, or not, we now humbly ask, That thou wouldst not cast us out of thy
presence, nor take they holy spirit from us, but by thine own wonderful and
secret operation make us more and more meet for heaven; and when our flesh and
our heart shall fail us, be thou the strength of our heart, and our portion
forever.”

My brethren, if we wish to enjoy the comforts of religion at last, we must
cultivate the temper, and keep up the exercise of religion now. It will be no
easy matter to take up the business then, unless we have been accustomed to
it before.

You, my friends, who are in the midst of life, and you who are young, are not
uninterested in this subject. You all think, that we, who are aged, need the
comforts of religion. God grant, that we may have them. Do you not sometimes
think of us in your prayers? We hope you do. But know, if you live to be aged,
(and you all desire many days) these comforts will then be as necessary for
you, as they are now for us. But how can you be sure of them then, unless you
obtain an interest in them now? To have the comforts of religion, you must have
religion itself. Embrace it, therefore, in your hearts; cultivate the holy tempers
which it requires; maintain the good works which it enjoins, and ascertain your
title to the eternal blessings which it proposes…Thus lay up for yourselves
a good foundation against the time, which is to come, that you may lay hold
on eternal life.