The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-06-22


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 Missolonghi at thirty
six years of age, himself his own Mazep-
pa, his unbridled passions the horse that
dashed with him into the desert. Edgar
A. Poe died at Baltimore at thirty eight
years Of age. The black raven that
alighted on the bust above his chamber
door was delirium tremens-
Only this and nothing more.
Napoleon Bonaparte lived only just be-
yond mid-life, and died at st. Helena, and
one of his doctors said that his disease
was induced by excessive snufing. The
hero of Austerlitz, the man who, by one
step of his foot in the center 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 indulgences!
Now practical religion is 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
misappropriated trust funds, professors
religion have absconded." Yes, but they
threw away their religion before they did
their morality. If a man on a White Star
Line steamer bound for Liverpool in mid
is that any thing against the White Star
Lines capacity to take the man across the
ocean? And if a man jumps over the gun
vale of his religion and goes down never
to rise, is that any reason for your believ-
ing that religion has no capacity 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 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 defenses and equiPoise of religion.
| You have no more natural resistance than
| hundreds Of people who lie in the ceme
teries to-day, 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 blue flies 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 IN
happy one until you came to the golden
/ pillar of a Christian life. You went to
| the right; he went to the left. That is all
| the difference between you. Oh, if this
religion is a protest against all forms of
! dissipation, then it is an illustriOus friend
of longevity. ''With long life will sat-
/ isfy him"
Again, religion is a friend of longevity
| in the fact that it takes the worry out of
| our temperatures. It is not work that
! kills men; it is worry. When a man be-
| comes a genuine Christian he makes over
| to God not only his affections, but his
| family, his business, his reputation, his
! body, his mind, his sOul-every thing.
Industrious he will be, but never worry
ing, 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 when to sell; and if he
gain that is best, and if he lose that is
| best?
Suppose you had a supernatural neigh
Dor who came in and said:
''Sir, 1 want you to call on me in every
| exigency; am your fast friend; could
fall back on $40. 100000; I can fOresee a
panic ten years; 1 hold the controlling
stock in thirty of the best monetary insti-
tutions Of New York; whenever you are in
trouble call on me and 1 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 bust
nessT Why, you would say:
sI'Il do the best I can, and then I'll
depend on my friends generosity for the
rest"
Now, more than that is promised to
to him:
81 own New York, and London, and st.
Petersburg, and Pekin, and Australia and
California are mine; l can foresee a
panic a million years; 1 have all the re-
| sources of the universe, and l am your
fast friend; when you get in business
trouble, or any other trouble, call on me
and I viii help; here is my hand in pledge
of omnip0tent deliverance."
How much should that man worry? Not
much. What lion will dare to put his
paw on that Daniel? = there not rest in
thisP Is there not an eternal vacation in
this?
ooh" you say, ''here is a man who
asked God for blessing in a certain en-
terprise, and he lost f1v thousand dollars
in it. Explain that" 1 will. YOnder is
a factory, and one wheel is going north
, and the other wheel is going south, and
one wheel plays vertically. 1 go to the
manufacturer and l say: ''Oh, manufact.
urer, your machinery is a contradiction.
Why do you GOt make all the wheels &C
; one way?"
''Well," he said, ST made them go il
opposite directions Oh purpose, and they
produce the right result You go down
stairs and examine the carpets we are
{ turning out in this establishment and you
! will see." go down on the other hOo1
! and see the carpets, and am obliged t.
confess that though the wheels in tina
factory go in opposite directions, they
turn out beautiful result; and while
+ am standing there looking at the exquis-
/, tie fabric an old Scripture passag'
: comes into my mind: GAN things work
| together for good to them who love God
z | Is there not rest in that? Is there n 0
, tonic in that? Is there not longevity il
, | that?
, Suppose a man is all the time worries
4 | about his reputation One man says b
T lies, another says he is stupid, anOthe
} says he is dishonest and half doze1
, | printing establishments attack him, anC
! | he is in a great state of excitement an
| | worry and fume, and can not sleep, bu
. | religion comes to him and says: "Man
I | God is OF your side; He will take care 0
your reputation; if God be for you, VIII
i, can be against your" How much shout
. | that man worry about his reputation
! Not much. If that broker who some year
. ! ago in Wall street, after he had los
: ! money, sat down and wrote a farewell
letter to his wife before he blew his brain
:, outfit instead of taking out Of his poke
, | a pistol he had taken out a well-read Me-
! | Testament there would have been one les
! | suicide. o, nervous and feyerish peopl
of the world. try this almighty sedative
| You will live twenty-five years longe
. under its soothing power. It is not ChlOre
: that you want, or morphine that you want
: | it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 'EWit
l long life will 1 satisfy him.
Again, practical religion is friend G
longevity in the fact that it removes a.
= corroding care about future existence
. Every man wants to know what is to be
come of him. If you get on board mai
train you want to know at what depot it
: going to stop; if you get on board a shi
= | YOU want to know into what harbor it ]
= going to run, and if you should tell m
you have no interest in what is to be you