Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Old Age and Its Lessons: A Sermon Preached in the Church of the First Parish in Brookline, on the Sunday Succeeding the Death of Mr. Benjamin Goddard, November 3, 1861
And because they were supposed to be favored of God, the aged were greatly honored by men. Pecul iar homage was paid to them by ancient nations. The laws of Moses made this homage an article of religion. Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the old. The Greeks and Latins signified their respect for age, and their appre ciation of its wisdom, by the composition of their national councils, of which seniority was one of the first qualifications. The word senate, which meant originally a congress of elders, testifies to this day of the homage paid to length of years by the Roman people. The word priest, (presbyter, elder, ) attests the prevalence of the same sentiment in the early ages of the Christian Church. There was nothing forced or arbitrary in this; the sentiment is natural to man, and one which society exhibits in every healthy state. The instinct of humanity teaches this respect, and. Humanity is at fault where that instinct is not active. Seasons of revolution and moral dis turbance or corruption are apt to exhibit the opposite trait - disrespect for age, contempt for its counsels. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
