The hoary head is a crown of glory,.... Gray hairs, white locks through age are very ornamental; look very beautiful, bespeak gravity, wisdom, and prudence, and command reverence and respect; with the ancient Romans (s), greater honour was paid to age than to family or wealth; and the elder were revered by the younger next to God, and in the stead of parents; See Gill on Lev 19:32;
if it be found in the way of righteousness; that is, if such who are old and stricken in years are like Zacharias and Elisabeth, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless; when they are found in Christ, having on his righteousness; and when they live soberly, righteously, and godly; when they walk in the ways of God and true religion; keep up family worship, and private devotion; as well as constantly attend the ministry of the word and ordinances; then are they very venerable and respectable; their old age is a good old age; and in a short time they shall have the crown of glory which fadeth not away: but otherwise a sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed; an old man in the open ways of sin and vice, laden with iniquity, is a very contemptible and shocking sight.
(s) Vid. A. Gell. Noct. Attic. l. 2. c. 15.
{"api_compact_wrapper_recipe":"native-api-generated-wrapper-v1","api_source_document_ref":"e39b1ef157e1835814c6be74b5824ce8c8e73df06fae2f651d1ffbcaf6d1be61","id":"sermonindex-native-api:api/c/john-gill/PRO/16.json#$/chapter/content/28","native_JSON_pointer":"$/chapter/content/28","native_content_joiner":"\n\n","native_content_part_lengths":[1242],"native_reference":{"book":{"context_sha256":"630de8a514c7ffa09268dbdfd85973b21aefacc9a3ad3fbb2d874d237eefe8aa","native_id":"PRO"},"chapter":16,"unit_number":30,"unit_type":"verse"},"native_unit_metadata":{"number":30,"type":"verse"},"native_unit_payload_sha256":"05fe77f461eae35cf837a9f55a3c9abea533ede875655699e1829cfccd94d4e7","original_identifier_basis":"existing native API member + JSON pointer","public_import_allowed":false,"reading_text_policy":"Native full content strings preserved, with explicit double-newline joins and exact part lengths; no stripping, snippet recursion, canonical verse inference or translation.","record_type":"native-commentary-unit-unreviewed","references":[],"review_status":"structural-native-unit-unreviewed","semantic_kind_reviewed":false}