The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-01-20
DIR. HALMAGE'S SERMON.
LONG LIFE.

llllDICSScu Will Iue lICI llldI we aiC op1illiiS
new volume in the history of time, and
every sensible man and woman discussing the
| length or the shortneSs Of human life Fldel-
| ity to duty in my text is represented as hav-
ing much to do with the length of our stay on
earth. By the mistake of some Of its friends re-
| lgion has been associated in the minds of many
| with sick beds and graveyards. The whole
subject to them is malodorous with chlorine
and carbolic acid They cannot pronounce
the word religion without hearing in it tho
! clipping of the chisel of the tombstone cutter.
Now, all this has got to be changed. People
are to understand that instead of religion
being hcarse to carry out the dead it is a
chariot in which the living are to triumph;
that religion instead of being subtraction
from ones life is an addition; that it Is sana-
tive, curative, hygienic; that it is good for
the eyes, good for the ears, good ior me
spleen, good for the digestion, good for the
nerves, good for the muscles, good for our
entire organism. Certainly we ought to come
to some such realization as that. The time
has come when we cease TO associate
religion with the day Of our demise
! and talk of it as though it were something
mortuary. How is it with the psalmist where
he comes to speak of the religion Of Jesus
Christ as dominant in the earth! Does he
ton, as an attack Of moral and spiritual
cramp? No He speaks of it as the saving
health the saving health Of all nations, and
God in another place promises long continu-
ance in this world for the pious when He
says: "With long life will I satisfy him."
The fact is that men and women die too soon,
and it is high time that religion strike hands
with medical science in the improvement OF
the worlds longevity. Adam lived $50 years.
history of the world as the reign Of Vespasian
there were forty-fve people in his empire I'D
gears old. Coming on down to the sixteenth
century Peter Vartan died at 1S5 years. lido
not say that the conquest of religion in the
world will take the race back to antediluvian
longevity, but I do say that it will greatly
improve the length of life. In Isaiah we are
told that child shall die 100 years old. Well,
if child is to die 100 years DID, will you be
women may live 400, 500, 600 yearsl Ipro-
pose to show you this morning, as God may
help ME, that the religion Of Jesus Christ
is the friend Of long life, and prove it in
the first place by the fact that the Christian
religion makes the care of our physical health
a Christian duty. Whether we shall have
early or late hours, whether we shall eat food
digestible or indgestible, whether there shall
be complete Or incomplete mashcation,
legate to the realm of whimsicality, but
the Christian man takes the whole subject of
physical health into the accountable and the
divine The Christian man says: "Here Is
nv body. God has called it the temple OF
the Holy Ghost and if I deface its
altars or mar its walls, or crumble its
pillars, l am guilty of God-defyiug sacrilege."
The Christian man reads Gods caligraphy in
every page anatomial and physiological. He
SAYS to himself God gave me this body for
right and for noble and for great uses" My
arms has 81 curious bones welded by 4G curl
Gus muscles. My heart-350 pounds of blood
rushing through it every hour. My heart,
beating 100, 900 times every day. During those
"A hours my heart overcoming resistances
amounting to 2A, 900 pounds weight
overcoming those resistanceS. My lungs,
your lungs, taking in every "a hours 81 hogs
heads of air. And all this mighty machinery
tain man says to himself: 'Why, if hurt my
nerves, if hurt my muscles, if I hurt my
brain, if hurt any part Of my physical or
ganism insult my God and invoke dire
retribution; cannot afford to do it." Why
was it that the Levites were told not to offer
in sacrifice imperfect or diseased animals? 1t
was to impress all the ages of the fact that
physical condition. Why did Paul send for
lis cloak to Troas? Why should SO great and
good man as Paul be bothered about
Cloak? Oh, he knew that with pneumonia
and rheumatism he would not be worth as
much to God and the church as he would
with respiration easy and foot free.
No sensible Christian man would kneel
down at night and ask for Gods protection
and then keep the windows Of his bedroom
tight shut against the fresh air any more than
he would go out on the East river and jump
off and ask God to keep him from getting
hurt The whole question of physical health,
the intelligent Christian lifts into the region
of the accountable and the divine. He says;
eAll this physical organism, all the nerves,
the muscular, the bone, the BRAIN the cellular
tissue, my entire organism, l must give to
God and answer in judgment as to what do
with it u.s. Smoking s+t the nsFvo4i o t5o system stem
of the stomach with wine, logwood and
strychnine. Wearing thin shoes on q cold
day 50 as to have the foot look delicate.
Grooming about palpitations OF the heart and
sick-headaches, which in some cases may come
from God, but in nine cases out of ten come
from our own folly or the devil. How dare a
man, how dare q woman deface this temple
of the Holy Ghost? What is the ear! 1t is
the whispering gallery of the soul. What is
structed, with its telescope sweeping the
heavens What is the hand? An instru-
ment so wonderful that when the Earl of
Bridgewater in his last will and testament
bequeathed $40, 200 for essays to be written on
the wisdom, power and goodness OF GOD,
found in the human hand his chief illustra-
tion-indeed devoted the whole book to that
one organ. The human body so wonderful
that God has actually named His attributes
Gods eye. His omnipresence- Gods ear.
His omnip ipotence-Gods arm. The upholstery
of the midnight heavens-the work of His
fingers. His life-giving power-the breath OF
the Almighty. His dominion-the govern
ment upon His shoulder. How dare you and
I rualtreat such divine workmanship? IT l
abuse my watch. and drop it Oh
the pavement, and wind it up at all sorts OF
hours of the day and night and ever and
of your watch, and you keep it away from
violent atmosphe changes, and you wind it
up at the regular hour which watch will last
the longer and do the best work? Your COM
mon sense answers. Now, the human body
is Gods watch. You see the face of the
watch, and you see the hands of the watch,
but the beating of the heart is the ticking of
the watch, and you had better be careful how
you let it run down.
Again: religion, the Christian religion, is
the friend Of long life in the fact that it's
protest against indulgences and dissipations,
which shorten and destroy the health. Bad
men and women have short lives. That is
general rule know hundreds of good old
men. do not know a dozen bad old men,
Why! They do not get old. That is gen.
eral rule. Lord Byron died at Mssolonghi, at
thirty-si4 years Of age, himself his own Ma
zeppa, his unbridlcd passions the horse on
which he dashed out into ,e desert. Edgar
A. Poe died at thirty eight years Of age in
Baltimore aud the raven that alighted on the
bust above his chamber door was delirium
tremens. ''Only this and nothing
more" Napoleon died little after