The Nicodemus cyclone. [volume] (Nicodemus, Graham County, Kan.) 1887-1888, 1888-06-22

not let 1t run down!
Again: | remark that practical religion is
friend of longevity in the fact that it is a
protest against designations which Diure and
destroy the health. Bad men and women
live very short life. Their sins kill them.
/ know hundreds of good old men, but | do
not know half dozen bad old men. Why:
They do not get old. Lord Byron died at
MissoOnghi at thirtysix years of age, him
self his own Mazeppa, his Unbrdled passions
the horse that dashed with him into the
desert. Edgar A. Poe died at Balti-
more at thirty-eight years of age.
The black raven that alighted on The
bust above his chamber door was dGlirium
tremenS-
"Ony this and nothing more
Napoleon Bonaparte live d only just beyond
midlife, then died at St. H elana, and one OF
his doctors said his disease was induced by
excessive shutting. The hero of Austerltz,
the man who by one step of his foot in the
centre of Europe shook the earth, killed by a
snuff-box! Oh, how many people we have
! known who have not lived out half their days
because of their designations and in1ulgences
Now practical religion is a protest against
all dissipation Of any kind.
But" you say professors of religion
have fallen, professors of religion have got
drunk professors OF religion have misapPro-
| priated trust funds, professors of religion have
| abscOnded." Yes: but they threw away
their religion before they did their morality.
If man on White Star line steamer bound
for Liverpool in mid Atlantic jumps over
| board and is drowned, is that anything
against the White Star lines capacity to take
the man across the ocean: And if a man
| jumps over the gunWale Of his religion and
goes down never TO rise, Is that any reason
for your believing that religion has no capac-
ity to take the man clear through: In the
one case if he had kept to the steamer his
body would have been saved; in the other
case If he had Ike vt 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 de-
lenses and the equipOise OF religion. You
| have no more natural resistance than hui
| dreds of people who lie in the cemeteries to-
! day slain by their own vices. The doctors made
| their case as kind and pleasant AS they could,
| and it called congestion of the brain,
or something else, but the snakes and the
| blue flies that seemed to crawl over the pillow
in the sight of the deliriOus patient showed
what was the matter with him. You, an
aged Christian man. walked along by that
unhappy one until you came to the golden
pillar of CHRISTIAN life You went to the
right; he went TO the left. That is all the
difference between you. Oh, If this religion
is protest against all forms of dissipation,
then 1t is an ilustrIOus friend of longevity
"With long life will | satisfy him.
Again: religion is friend to longevity In
the fact that it takes the worry out of our
tempOralities. 1t is not work that kills men,
it is worry. When q man becomes a genuine
Christian he makes over to God not only his
affect ions but his family, his business, his
reputation, his body, his mind. his soul
everything. Industrious he will be, but
never worrying, because God is managing his
affairs. How can he worry about business
when in answer to his prayers God tells him
when to buy and and when to sell; and if
he gain that is best, and if he lose that is
best!
Suppose you had a supernatural neighbor
who came in ana said: 'Sr, want you to
call on ME In every exigency: l am your fast
friend; could fall back on S2O, OOO, 900;
can foresec panic ten years; | hold the con-
trolling stock in thirty of the best monetary
institutions of New York; whenever YOU are
in trouble call on me and | Will help you;
you can have my money and YOU eau have
my influence; here is Ivy hand in pledge for
it." How much would you worry about bust
nessl Why, you would say: "pll do the
best | can an then Pll depend on my friends
generosity for the rest"
81 Now 9 more than that is promis-
God says to him: II own New
York and London and st. Petersburg and
Pekin, and Australia and California arc
mine; can fOrcsce panic million years;
] have all the resources Of the universe, and j
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 ON
nipotent deliverance." How much should
that man worry! Not much. What lion
will da+e to put his paw on that Daniel? Is
there not rest in this! Is there not m eternal
vacation in this.
"Oh" you say, here &c mar who asked
God for a blessing in a certain enterprise
and he lost five thousand dollars in it. Elk =.
plain that" | will. Yonder is a faCtory,an
one wheel is going north. and the other
wheel is going SOUTH and one wheel PLAYS
laterally and the other plays vertically / GO
to the manufacture and say; so manufac
turer, your machinery is a contraditOn. WHY
do YOU not make all the wheels go One wayt'
''Well, >" he says, 81 made them 90 in OppO
site directions on purpose, and they produce
the right result You 60 downstairs and ex-
anime the carpets we are turning out In this
establishment and YOU will see" | 90 down
on the other floor and | see the carpets, and
| am obliged to confess that though the
wheels in that factory go in opposite drec
tions, they turn out beautiful result; and
while am standing there looking at the
exquisite fabric an old Scripture passage
comes into my mind "Al things work to-
gether for good to them who love God" Is
there not rest in thatl is there not tonic in
that! Is there not longevity in that!
Suppose a man is all the time wor-
ried about his reputation: One man
saws lie lies, another saws he is stu
pid another says he is dishonest,
aud half dozen printing establishments at
tack him, and he is in a great state of excite
ment and worry ana fumc, 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 he 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 letter TO his wife before he
blew his brains uut-if instead of taking out
of his rocket a p stOl lie had taken out we'll
read New Testament there would have been
one less suicide. q nervous and fcyeriSh peO.
pie of the WoRl1, try this almighty Scdatiye.
You will live twenty-five years longer under
its soothing power. II is not chlOra that YOU
want, or morphine that YOU want; it is the
Gospel of Jesus Christ with long life will
| satisfy him"
Again: practical religion is a friend of
long cvity in the fact that it removes ali cor
roding care about future existence. Every
man wants 10 know what is TO become of him
If you Get on board a rail train YOU want 10
know at what depot il 5 going II stop: If YOU
get on board A ship YOU want 10 know into
what harhor 1t Is going TO run, and II YOU
should tell me YOU have no interest in what
is 10 be your future DESTINY | would in as
polite a way aS | know how, tell Won did not
believe you. Before | had this matter settled
with reference TO my future existence, the