Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1888-06-22


one case if he had kept TO the steamer his
body would have been saved; in the other
case, II he had kept to his religion his morals
would have been saved
There are aged people who would have
been dead twenty-five years ago but for the
lefenses and the equipoise OF religion. You
have no more natural resistance than hun
ireds of reople who lie in the cemeteries TO-
iay slain by their own vices The doctors
made their case as kind and pleasant as they
could, and it was called congestion of the
brain. or something else, but the snakes and
the bluehies that seemed to crawl over the
pillow in the sight of the delirious patient
showed what was the matter with him. You,
the aged Christian man, walked along by
that unhappy one until you came to the
golden pillar of Christian life. That is all
the difference between you. Oh, il this re-
ligion is a protest against all forms of dissi-
patton. then it is an illustrious friend of
longevity. "With long life will I satisfy
him.
Again religion is friend of longevity in
the tact that it takes the worry out of our
temporalities. 1t is not work that kills men,
il is worry. When a man becomes a genuine
Christian he makes over to God not only his
affections but his family, his business his
reputation, his body, his md, his soul
everything. Industrious he will he, but
never worrying, because God is managing
WIS HNflFN. IlON Niil It WITTY dipub 'liSi-
ness wnen IN answer 70 his prayers God tells
him when to buy and when to sell; and if he
gain that is best, and if he lose that is bestl
Suppose you had a supernatural neighbor
who came in and said: "Sir, want you to
call on me in every exigency; an your fast
friend; Icould fall back on $40 ,0O0, 900; can
foresee panic ten years; | hold the control
ling stock in thirty of the best monetary in
situations OF New York; whenever you are
in trouble call on me and will help you,
you can have my money and you can have
my influence; here is my hand in pledge for
it." How much would you worry about
business! Why, you would say: "pll do the
best | can, and then I'll depend ON my
friends generosity for the rest"
Now more than that is promised to every
Christian business man. God says to him:
IL own New York and London and st.
Petersburg and Pekin, and Australia and
California are mine; | can foresee panic
million years; l have all the resources of the
universe, and l am your fast friend; when
you get in business trouble or any other
trouble, call on me and will help; here is
my hand in pledge of omnipotent deliver
ance" How much should that man worry?
Not much. What lion will dare to put his
paw on that Daniel! Is there not rest in
thisi Is there not an eternal vacation in
this!
"Oh," you say, ''here is a man who asked
God for blessing in a certain enterprise,
and he lost five thousand dollars in it. Elk
plain that" l will. Wonder is a factory,
and one wheel is going north and the other
wheel is going south, and one wheel plays
laterally and the other plays vertically. l
go to the manufacturer and say: 80 manu-
facturer, your machinery is a contradiction.
Why do you not make all the wheels 90 one
way?" well" he says, 81 made them tc 90 in
opposite directions on purpose, and they pro-
duce the right result. You go downstairs
and examine the carpets we are turning out
in this establishment and you will seen |
go down on the other floor and | see
the carpets, and | am obliged to confess that
though the wheels in that factory go in OPP
posite directions they turn out beautiful re-
suit; and while am standing there looking
at the exquisite fabric an old Scripture
passage comes into my mind: "All things
work together for good to them who love
God" Is there not rest in thatl Is there
not tonic in that9 Is there not longevity in
that!
Suppose a man is all the time worried
about his reputation. One man says he lies,
another says he is stupid, another says he is
dishonest, and half a dozen printing estab-
lishments attack him, and he is in great
state of excitement and worry and fume, and
cannot sleep; but religion comes to him and
says: Man, God is on your side; he will
take care Of your reputation; if God be for
you, who can be against you" How much
should that man worry about his reputation?
Not much. If that broker who some years
ago in Wall street, after he had lost money,
sat down and wrote a farewell let
ter to his wife before he blew bis
brains outfit instead of taking out of his
pocket pistol he had taken out well read
New Testament there would have been one
less suicide. Oh, nervous and feverish people
of the world, try this almighty sedative.
You will live twenty five years longer under
its soothing power. 1t is not choral that
the Gospel of Jesus Christ "With long life
will satisfy him.
Again, practical religion is a friend OF
| longevity in the fact that it removes all cor
| roding care about future existence. Every
man wants to know what is to become of
him. If you get ON board of rail train you
want to know at what depot it is going to
stop; if you get on board a ship you want to
know into what harbor it is going to run, and
if you shall tell me you have no interest in
what is to be your future destiny, | would in
as polite way as knew how tell you did
not believe you. Before l had this matter
settled with reference to my future existence
the question almost worried me into ruined
| health The anxieties men have upon this
subject put together would make martyr
dom. This is a state of awful unhealthiness.
| There are people who fret themselves to death
for fear of dying.
want to take the strain off your nerves
and the depression off your soul. aud | make
two or three experiments Experiment first;
When you go out Of this world it does not
make any difference whether you have beer
good or bad OF whether you believed truth
or error you will go straight to glory. I'm
possible" you say; my common sense a.
we'll as my religion teaches that the bad anG
the good cannot live together forever. Yor
give me no comfort in that experiment.
Experiment the second When you leave this
world you will go into an intermediate
state where you can get converted
and prepared for heaven. impossible yoJ
say; "as the tree faleth so it must lie, anC
| cannot postpone to an intermediate stat,
reformation which ought to have been eff
fected in this state" Experiment the third
There is no future world; when man die
that is the last Of him. Do not worry abou
what you are to do in another state of being
you will not do anything. Impossible,
you say; there is something that tells m
that death is not the appendix, but the pref
ace; there is something that tells me that OF
this side of the grave only get started, anC
that / shall go on forever; my power II
think says forever, my affections say for
ever my capacity to enjoy or suffer, for
ever"
Well, you defeat me in my three expert
ments. have only one more to make, anC
if you defeat me in that am exhausted. 4
mighty One on knoll back of Jerusalem on
day-the skies filled with forl1ed lightning
and the earth filled with volcanic disturb
ances-turned His pale and agonized fac
toward the heavens and said: II take tn
sins and sorrows of the ages into my owl
heart. am the expiration, Witness earth
ana heaven and hell L am the expiaton
And the hammer struck him, and the smear
punctured him, and heaven Numbered: 9TH
wages of sin is deathln The soul that sin
meth it shall die" 81 will by no means
clear the guiltyW Then there was ST
lence for half an hour, and the light
nings were drawn back into the scab
bard OF the sky, and the earth ceaset
to culver, and all the coIors of tbe slr,