Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-11-22
Rev. Theodore Paeker,a Sermon on Health

nsy. Thsoaots parker. ssrnen On Heath
THE IDEAL NAN OF the cnuRcH TuE CAUSES
OF SICKNESS AND DEATH ENUMERATED m TnR
PULPIT.
From the Boston Transcript, Nov. 49,
Rev. Theodore Parker discoursed YESTERDAY
forenoon, from the text, sDo thyself no harm.n
The discourse animadverted severely upon those
systems orthodoxy which consider the condi.
ton OF the body as matter of little littleimo-
lment, and inculcated the duty as a moral obli-
CATION, of maintaining the physical functions of
1.-The human frame in sound and healthy state.
"a correspondent furnishes the following ex-
cellent abstract of the discourse:
The Rev. Theodore Parker seems to have
drawn useful lesson from his recent Illness
His sermon yesterday was based upon Paul's
exhortaton to the jailor, .sDo myself no harm. !"
| Though it would have been thought u strange
production if delivered from most of the pulpits
| of the city, on Sunday, yet:it was we'll calcu-
lated to call the attention of his numerous au.
Idience to very important subject: tIhe cause
Iof sickness and early DEATH" These were
everywhere subjects of universal Complaint
Most of the sickness and pain of the human
race were useless. Old age is the only legiti-
mate cause of death. The farmer would be
astonished to find his orchard grounds covered
with green, halEgrown apples in June or July,
but welcomes the handsome sight, Of the ripe,
mellow fruit in October and November.
The principal, abstract cause of this sickness
and premature death, the speaker believed to
bein the saying of the Great Apostle, "For 4
know that in me Chat is in my aeshl .dwelleth.
.Ino good thing" For this confession, he Sc
verely criticised the great brave though "nais-
taken" Paul, saying that he was anunsafe guide,
and stoutly asserting that, from the apex Of the
head to the last halanx Of the foot, the sGood
i God" had made every bone muscle, and nerve,
good. 5000
The IDEAL man of the church, instead of q.
lgreat, strong, burly, six-foot fll-chested, red.
faced, handsome man, with beard upon his
Chin and an appetite for his dinner, was sleek,
lean, weak creature living upon water crosses,
and eating only because he must, not because
u he qDishes.
lntemperance, gluttony and zicenti0usness
1 were enumerated as among the concrete causes
OF sickness and early death. These are male.
vices, though often involving innocent wives and
children in the fire that consumes the licentious.
and guilty husband and father
Idteness, another of the concrete causes of
these evils, was characterised asa female vice.
4 Woman is naturally more Industrious than man
yet from the false construction of society, and
the force OF public opinion, she is made idle and
then is often sick because she has nothing else
to do" But the worse phase Of this evil is,
that 1t glorles IN its own shame. The idle wo-e
man often boasts that she is unable to lit her
4 baby, while, to the true woman, there is no
higher pride than to bear and to care for her off.
spring. 2
american SLAVERY is another prolific cause of
the evils inquestion. The negro racei is one of
the longest-lived among savage tribes; but in
Il Georgia and Alabama five slaves live no loneger
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.
Var is another cause of shortening For
lily thousand British subjects were consumed by,
the Crimean war, and one hundred thousand
+ more will doubtless be left uponithe plainsiof
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
themselves to the enemy's bullets, have lodged
behind the green haycocks2
Formerly, wild beasts, cold and hunger were
the great enemies of man. The higher races
have now nearly overcome these opposing for.
Ices; 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 than 1000 died before fifteen
days old-a slaughter of the innocents (which
even Herod would have stood aghast. Two
years after, the doctors ventilated the houses,
and the mortality was reduced to few hun
: dred.
!, Even in Boston in 1856, / in &c. died in ward
8, while in ward 6only one in SO died. The
: souLn cove lands, from their HatneSS, imperfect
DRAWINGS, 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 ayerted} The Sun is
the physician of the Great Father, and the air
{ his universal medicine. afaflisi 1874
3 The present style of female attire, supported
=;Eby the waist instead of from the shoulders. as
/, our mothers held up their garments come in
!. for q share of these great evils
j The food is another prolific causeof sickness
and shortness of life. The speakerexhorte his
g audience to look at the bread found in public
houses, and almost all private houses, handle it.,
; but not taste it, as it's unftifor{ any animal
above the swine. Divines had puzzled them,
selves to find out the meaning of .ssin against
: the holy Ghost" He had sometimes thought
) that, in manit consisted in making badtlio1
, from good grain: and in .womne. ON good meal
making bad bread.
In the universal complaint of sickness and
: pain, in the wailing of humanity for her early
Idead, hespeaker heard Nature 8 prophecy, that
in the future it shall not be so.
A FEW days since, a couple of young men at
Rock Island, ILL.,, were out sailingon the Mis-.
sissippi, and accidentally lost a brass 4key,Ito
!, which was attached a small iron ring. The
key opened vault, and the young men. werein