The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-06-28

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 msappro-
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 Star lines capacity to take
the man across the ocean' And IL 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 capa-
city to take the man clear through In the
one case il he had kept to the steamer his
body would have been saved; in the other
case, IL 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 the equipoise OF religion. You
have no more natural resistance than hun
dreds of reople 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 was called congestion of the
brain, or something else, but the snakes and
the blueflies 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
the difference between you. Oh, if this re-
ligion is protest against all forms of diss-
patton, then it is an illustrious friend OF
longevity. with long life will l 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,
it is worry. When man becomes genuine
Christian he makes over to God not only his
affections 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 husi-
ness wnen III answer to his prayers God tells
him when to buy and when to SO |; and ii he
gain that is best and if he lose that is bests
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 SO, 900, 900: can
foresee panic ten years; | hold the control
ling stock in thirty of the best monetary in
stitutions of New York: whenever you are
in trouble call on me and | will help you,
you can have my moley and you can have
my influence; here is my hand in pledge for
it." How much wouli you worry about
business! Why, you would say: "Ill do the
best | can, and then Pl depend on my
friends generosity for the rest.n
Now more than that is promised to every
Christian business man. God says to him:
81 own New York and London and st,
Petersburg and Pekin, and Australia and
California are mine; l can foresee a pane
million years; 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 Daniell Is there not rest in
Of on, otnr ol =.
this?
oh" you say, there is man who asked
God for blessing in a certain enterprise
and he lost five Thousand dollars in it. Ex-
plain that" | will. Yonder is factory,
and one wheel is going north and the other
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 to go in
opposite directions on purpose, and they pro-
and examine the carpets we are turning ont
in this establishment and you will sesn I
60 down on the other floor and l see
the carpets, and am obliged to confess that
though the wheels in that factory go in op-
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 thats Is there
not tonic in that! Is there not longevity in
thata
suppose 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 dozen printing estab-
lishments attack him, and he is in great
state of excitement and worry and fune, 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 your 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 his
brains out-if instead of taking out of his
pocket pistol he had taken out a well read
New Testament there would have been one
less suicide. Oh, nervous and feversh people
of the world, try this almighty sedative.
You will live twenty five years longer under
its soothing power. 1t is not choral that
you want, or morphine that you want; it is
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. with long life
will l satisfy him"
Again, practical religion is a friend Of
longevity in the fact that it removes all cor
roding care about a future existence. Every
man wants to know what is to become Of
him. If you get on board of a rail train you
WduO W hliOW db WndJ ucpOU ~ lS SOlllS W
stop; if you get on board 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 l did
not believe you Before / had this matter
settled with reference to my future existence
the question almost worried me into ruined
health. The anxietes men have upon this
subject put together would make a martyr
dom This is state of awful unhealthiness.
There are people who fret themselves to death
for fear of dying.
| want to take the strain of your nerves
and the depression off your soul. and make
two or three experiments. Experiment first:
When you go out of this world it does not
make any difference whether you have been
good or bad, or whether you believed truth
or error, you will go straight to glory. I'm
possible" you say; my common sense as
well as my religion teaches that the bad and
the good cannot live together forever. You
give me no comfort in that experiment"
Experiment the second: When you leave this
world you win go into an intermediate
state where you can get converted
and prepared for heaven impossible" you
say 'as the tree faleth so it must lie, and
cannot postpone to an intermediate state
reformation which ought to have been eff
fected in this state.n Experiment the third:
There is no future world; when a man dies
that is the last of him. Do not worry about
what you are to do in another state of being;
you will not do anything impossible"
you say; there is something that tells me
that death is not the appendix, but the pref
ace there is something that tells me that on
this side of the grave only get started, and
that / shall go on forever; my power to
think says forever my affections say for
ever my capacity to enjoy or suffer, for
| ever'n
| Well, you defeat me in my three expert
| ments. l have only one more to make, and
| If you defeat me in that l am exhausted. A
| mighty One on knoll back of Jerusalem one
| day-the skies filled with forked lightnings
and the earth filled with volcanic disturb
| ances-turned His pale and agouized face
| toward the heavens and said: II take the
sins and sorrows of the ages into my own
hearG / am the expiation, Witness earth
and heaven AMI hell, l am the expiation."
And the hammer struck him, and the spears
| punctured him, and heaven thundered: "The
wages of sin is deathl" The soul that sin
meth it shall dieln 81 will by no means
clear the guiltyF' Then there was ST.
| lence for half an hour. and the light