Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1858-12-09
From the Boston Transcripts Nov. Is.
Rev. Theodore Parker's Sermon
ON Health.
"1ze Ideal Of Man of the Chareh-Ihe
causes of Sickness and Death Enumera-
ted iatse Pulpit.

teo W"e ".P"'
Rev. Theodore Parker discoursed yester-
day forenoon, from the text, "Do thyself
mo barm." The discourse animadverted
severely upon those systems of theology
which consider the condition of the body as
. matter of little moment and inculeated
the duty as a moral obligation, of maintain
ing the physical functions of the human
frame in sound and healthy state.
.. "A correspondent furnishes the following
excellent abstract of the discourse:
q The Rev. Theodore Parker seems to
have drawn useful lesson from his recent
illness. His sermon yesterday was based
upon Paul exhortation to the tailor, ado
thyself no HARM" Though it would have
been thought strange production if deliy-
cred from most of the pulpits of the city,
on Sunday, yet it was well calculated to
call the attention of his numerous audience
to very important subject, "The causes
of sickness and early DEATH" These were
everywhere subjects of universal complaint.
Most Of the sickness and pain of the hui
man race we're useless. Old age is the on
ly legitimate cause of death. The farmer
would be astonshed to find his orchard
grounds covered with green, halfgrown ap-
pies in June or July, but welcome the "hand-
some sight of the ripe, mellow fruit in Oc-
tober and November.
The principle abstract cause of this sick
ness and premature death, the speaker be-
lieved to be in the saying of the Great
Apostle, "For l know that in me (that is
in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing
For this confession, he severely criticised
the great, brave, though @naistdken" Paul,
saying That be was an unsafe guide, and
stoutly asserting that from the apex of the
4, head to the last phalaux of the foot, the
tsGood God" had made every bone, muscle
and nerve good
The ideal man of tho church, instead of
great strong, burly, six-foot, full-chested,
red faced, handsome man, with beard up
on his chin, and an appetite for his dinner,
was sleek, lean, weak creature, living up
on water crosses, and eating only because
he must, not because he wishes.
~ Intemperance, gluttony and heentious-
ness were enumerated as among the con-
crete causes of sickness and early DEATH
These are male vices, though often inyolv-
ing innocent wives and children in the fire
that consumes the licentious and guilty
husband and father.
Z Ldleness, another of the concrete causes
Of these evils, was characterized as female
vice. Woman is naturally more industri-
Gus than man, yet from the false construc-
tion of society, and the force of public opin-
ion, she is made idle, and then IS often
A.siek because she has nothing else to do"
But the worse phrase of this evil is, that it
glories in its own shame. The ideal wo-
man often boasts that she is unable to
Lift her baby, while to the true woman,
there is no higher pride than to bear and
care for her offspring.
american Slavery is another prolific
cause OF the evils in question. The negro
race is one of the longest-lived among the
savage tribes; but in Georgia and Alabama
fye slaves live no longer than three white
men, though the constitution of the black
man is better adapted to the climate of
these States than that of the white man.
Thus slavery is chargeable for large share
of these evils.
War is another cause of shortening life.
Forty thousand British subjects were con-
sumed by the Crimean war, and one hun
dred thousand more will doubtless be. left
upon the plains of India before peace will
be conquered with that country. But in
the present state of society this can hardly
be avoided. Should our fathers at Bunker
Hill, though they knew they exposed them
selves to the enemy's bullets, have lodged
behind the green haycocks?
Formerly, wild beasts cold and hunger
were the great enemies of man. The high
or races have now nearly overcome these
opposing forces; still the food, clothing and
shelter Of the most enlightened nations are
far from perfect.
OF upward of 5000 children born yearly
in Edinburgh, more thau 1000 died before
fifteen days old-a slaughter Of the inno-
cent at which even Herod would have
stood aghast. Two years after the doctors
ventilated the houses, and the mortality
was reduced to few hundred.
Even in Boston, in 1855, ]. in SO, died in
ward 8, while in ward 6 only in SO died.
The south Cove lands, from their flatness,
imperfect drainage; narrow streets, and the
want of light and air, must for centuries,
remain unhealthy, while by little care
and cost thirty years ago, this evil could
have been averted. The sun is the physi-
clan of the Great Father and the air his
universal medicine.
The present style of female attire, sup
ported by the waist instead of from the
shoulders, as our mothers held up their
garments, came in for a share of these
great evils.
4 The food is another prolific cause of sick
ness and shortness of life. The speaker
exhorted his audience to look at the bread
found in public houses and almost all pub
lie houses, handle it but not taste it, as it
is unfit for any animal above the swine
Diyines had puzzled themselves to find out
the meaning of "sin against the Holy
Ghost" He had sometimes thought that,
in man it consisted in making bad liquor
from good grain; and in women from good
meal, making bad bread.
In the universal complaint of sickness
: and pain, in the wailing Of humanity for her
early dead, the speaker heard Natures
prophecy, that in the future it shall not be
so. ,e.res s
The Cleveland Plaindealer contains the
following: 1t is probable that the hint is