The Standard of Age
Bp. Wm. Alexander. Philemon 1:9 Yet for love's sake I rather beseech you, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. He was, perhaps, sixty, perhaps a few years more. Labour, sorrow, the storms of ocean and the fires of thought, possible sickliness — the sad and solemn maturity which is the portion upon earth of men who believe intensely — had done their work. Roger Bacon wrote "me senem at fifty-two or fifty-three, and Sir Walter Scott at fifty-five calls himself sadly an old grey man and aged." In truth, the standard by which old age is measured is pretty much subjective. At an age about fifteen years earlier than that of St. Paul at this time, Chateaubriand writes, "Deja je n'appartenais plus a ces matins qui se consolent eux-memes — je touchais a ces heures du soir qui ont besoin d'etre consolees." A different periods of life we adopt a different standard. It was said by Victor Hugo that forty is the old age of youth, and fifty the youth of old age. (Bp. Wm. Alexander.) Parallel Verses KJV: Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. WEB: yet for love's sake I rather beg, being such a one as Paul, the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.