Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-01-04
TALMAGE ON LONG LIFE.
RELIGION MUST AID MEDICINE
IN BEHALF OF LONGEVITY.

BROOKLYN, N. Y, Jan. Sat the
Brooklyn Tabernacle this morning the
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage D. D., gave no.
tiee that he would shortly begin a series
OF Sabbath morning discourses on the
Marriage Ring, treating from religious
standpoint the following topics: The
Choice of Husband and Wife, Clandes-
tine Marriages and Escapades, Duties of
Husbands to Wives, Duties of Wives TO
Husbands, The Wrong Ways of Women,
Costume and Morals, Competent House.
wifery, Sensible Young WomanhoOd,
Women Who VIII Pass Lite Single, lnfu-
ence OF Sisters Over Brothers, The Mod
ern Novel and Woman, Boarding Houses
and Hotel Life, and the Treatment Of
Man Servant and Maid Servant.
DR.. Talmage's sermon to-day was on
"Long Life" and the text was taken from
Exodus XXX, u: "rhat thy days may be
long upon the land which the Lord thy
God giveth thee" Following is the SER
mon in full;
January third, 1851 The old almanacs
and the old mem0randums flung aside.
Everything to remind us of the fact that
another volume in the history of time has
begun, and every thoughtful man and wo-
man al such time discusses the length or
the shortness of human life. Faithful dis
charge OF duty is lnsmy text set forth as
having much TO do with the length of our
earthly stay. Through the mistake Of its
friends religion has been chiefly asso-
ciated with sick beds and graveyards.
This whole subject to many people is
odorous With chlorine and carbOlic acid.
There are people who cannot pronounce
the word ''reigioR" without hearing in
10 the clipping chlsel OF the tombstone
cutter. 1t is high time that this thing
were changed, aud that religion. instead
OF being represented as a hearse to carry
out the dead, should be represented as
chariot in which the living are to tri-
umph. Religion, so far from subtracting
from ones vitality, is a glorious addi-
tion. it is sanatiYe, curative. hygienic.
it is good for the eyes, good for the ears,
goOdfOr the spleen, good for the digestion,
good for the nerves, good for the muscles.
When David, in the Psalms, prays that
religion may be dominant, be does not
speak Of it as a mild sickness, or an ema-
citation. or an attack of moral and spirit
ual cramp. He speaks of it as ''tbe saw
ing health OF all nations" while God pro-
nOunces long life to the pious, saying:
''With long life will / satisfy thee"
The fact is that men and women die too
soon. IL is high time that religion Joined
the hand of medical scienctSn attempting
TO improve human longevity. Adam lived
$50 years. Methusaleh lived 969 years.
AS late in the history Of the world as Yes
pasian there were at one time in his en-
Dire 10 people l35 years old. SO far down
as the sixteenth century Peter Tartan
died at lS5 years ofage. ] do not say that
religion will ever take the race back to
antediluYiah longevity, but l do say the
length of human life will be greatly i'm
proved. II is said in Isaiah XIV, 20: 'sThe
child shall die 100 years Old.v Now, IL.
according TO the Scriptures, the child is
to be 100 years old, may net the men and
women reach to 300 and 400 and 500g The
fact is that we are mere dwarts and skel-
etOns compared with some of the genera
tiOns that are to come.
Take the African race. They have been
under bondage for centuries. Give them
chance and they develop a Frederick
Douglass or a TOussaint POuverture.
And il the white race shall be brought
out from under the serfdOm of sin, what
shall be the body? What shall be the
-oulr Religion has only just touched our
world. Give it full power for a few CEN
turies, and who can tell what Will be the
strength OF man and the beauty OF wO-
man, and the long life OF all?
Ny design ia to show you that practi-
cal religion is the friend of long life, and
/ prove it first from the fact that it makes
the care of our physical health a positive
christian duty. Whether we shall keep
early or late hours, whether we shall take
food digestib.e or iBdigesuble, whether
there shall be thorough or incomplete
masticatlOn, are questions very often de-
ferred to the realm OF whimsicalitv: but
the Christian man lifts this whole problem
Of health into the accountable and the di-
vine. He says: God has given me this
body and he has called it the temple Of
the holy Ghost, aud to deface its affairs.
or mar it's walls, or crumble its pillars, is
God-defying sacriege." He sees Gods
calligraphy in every page, anatomical
and physiological. He says: "God has
gwen me a wonderful body for noble pur-
pOses." That arm with thirty-tWo curl
Gus bones, welded by tOrty-six Gu
rious muscles, aud all under the
brain telegraphy; three hundred
and fifty pounds OF blood rushing through
the heart every hour, the heart in twenty
four hours beating one hundred thousand
times, during the twenty-iOur hours over
coming resistance amounting to 224 O0O,-
600 pounds weight; during the same time
the lungs taking In ilfty-seven hogsheads
OF air: and all this mechanism nos more
mighty than delicate, and easily disturbed
ana uemollbhed. Inc Christian man saws
to himself: "lf hurt my nerves, il hurt
my brain, II ! hurt any OF my physical
faculties, ! insult God and call for dire
retributiOn.D Why did God tell the
LeYites not 10 offer 10 him ia sacrifice
animals imperfect or diseasedg He meant
10 tell us. m all ages, that we are 10 offer TO
God our very best physical condition. and
a man vino through irregular or glntton-
Gus eating ruins his health is not offering
20 God such a sacrifice. WhV did Paul
write tor bis cloak at TrOasf why should
such a great man as Paul be anxious
about thing so insignificant as an over
coat? II was because be knew that with
pneumonia and rheumatism he would not
be worth half 10 much b. God and the
church as with respiration easy aud foot
free.
An intelligent Christian man would
consider u an absurditY 10 kneel down at
night and pray aud ask Gods protection,
while a. the same time ho kept tn win
dows OF his bedroom tight shut against
fresh AIR. He would just as soon
think OF going Out on the bridge between
New York and Brooklyn. leaping % and
then praying 10 God to keep him from get
ting hurt just a. long ns You defer this
whole subject OF physical noalth TO the
realm of Whimsicniity, or 10 the pastry
cook, or % the butcher. or 10 the baker,
or 90 the apothecary, or " the elothlor,
you are not acting Ike a Christian. The
care " ail your phyHlGhl loreqs--
nervous. mufcnlaF, bono, brain,