The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-06-20

1hat we are to offer to God our very best
physical condition, and a man who
through irregular or gluttOnOus eating
Suins his health is not offering to God
auch a sacrifice. Why did Paul write for
sis cloak at Troas? Why should such
great man as Paul be anxious about a
Ching so insignificant as an overcoat? 1t
%as because he knew with pneumonia
and rheumatism he would not be worth
half as much to God and the church as
with respiration easy and foot free. An
Intelligent Christian man would consider
Il an absurdity to kneel down at night and
pray and ask Gods protection, while at
the same time he kept the windows of his
bedroom tight shut against fresh air. He
you'd Just as soon think of going out on
She bridge between New York and Brook
jyn, leaping off and then praying to God
90 keep him from getting hurt. Just as
long as you refer this whole subject of
physical health to the realm OF whimsical
!ty, or TO the pastry cook or to the butcher,
Or TO the baker, or to the apothecary, or to
the clothier, you are not acting like a
christian. Take care of all your physical
torces-nervous, muscular, bone BRAIN
cellular tissues-for all you must be
brought to judgment Smoking your
pervous system into fidgets, burning out
the coating of your stomach with wine,
jogwOod and strychnine, walking with
Thin shoes to make your feet look delicate,
pinched at the waist until YOU are nearly
cut in two and neither part worth any
Thing, grooming about sick headache and
palpitation of the heart, which you think
came from God when they came from
your own folly. so wonderful are these
bodies that God names his own attributes
after different parts of them. His omnis-
cience-it Is Gods eye. His omnipres-
ence-it is Gods arm. The upholstery of
che midnight heavens-it is the work of
Sod's fingers. His life giving pOwer-it
is the breath OF the Almighty. His do
pninion-''the government shall be upon
dis shoulders" A body so divinely hon
pred and so divinely constructed, let us be
eareful not TO abuse it. When it be-
comes a Christian duty to take care of
our health, is not the whole tendency
coward longevity? If / toss my
watch about recklessly and drop it on the
pavement and wind it up any time of day
pr night ] happen to think of it, and often
iet it run down, while YOU are careful
NTH your watch and never abuse it, and
wind it up Just at the same hour every
night, and put it in place where il will
not suffer from the violent changes of at
pOsphere, which watch will last the long
sr? Common sense answers. Now. the
human body is Gods watch You see the
Aan1s Of the watch, you see the face of
Che watch, but the beating of the heart is
the ticking of the watch. oh, be careful
and do not let it run down. Again, re-
mark that practical religion is friend of
longevity in the fact that it is a protest
against designations which injure and de-
stroy the health. Bad men and women
Ghn II Thair cfn l.
them. / know hundreds of good old men
but do not know dozen bad old men.
Why? They do not get old. Lord Byron
died at MissOlOnghi at thirty-six years of
age, himself his own Mdzeppd, his I'M
bridled 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 de-
lirium tremens.
Only this and nothing more.
Napoleon Bonaparte lived only just be-
yond mid life, then died at st. Helena,
and one of his doctors said that his dis
ease was induced by excessive snuffing.
The hero of Austerlitz, the man who by
one step OF his foot in the center OF Eu-
rope 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 dissipation and in
diligence, Now, practical religion is a
protest against all dissipation Of any kind.
.'But,p you say, professors OF religion
have fallen, professors of religion have
got drunk, professors Of religion have
misappropriated trust funds, professors OF
religion have absconded." Yes; but they
threw away their religion before they did
their morality. II a man on White Star
line steamer bound for Liverpool in mid
Atlantic jumps over board and is drowned,
Is that anything against the White