Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-06-22

bodies that God names His own attri-
butcs after different parts of them. HIS
omniscience-it is Gods eye. His omnl-
presence-it is Gods ear. His omn1p
otence-it is Gods arm. The uphol-
sterv of the midnight heavens-it is the
work of Gods fingers. His life-givlng
power-it is the breath of the Almighty:
His dominion-"the government shall
be upon His shoulder" A body so d.
yinely honored and so divinely con-
structed, let us be careful not to abuse
it.
When it becomes Christian duty to
take care of our health. is not the
whole tendency toward longevity? IT
toss my watch about recklessly and drop
it OH the pavement and wind it up any
of it, and often let it run down, while
you are careful with your watch and
never abuse it and wind it up just at the
same hour every night and put it in a
place where it will not suffer from the
violent changes of atmosphere, which
watch will last the longer? Common
sense answers. Now the human body is
Gods watch. You see the hands of the
watch, you see the face of the watch;
but the beating of the heart is the tick
ing of the watch. Oh. be careful and
do not let it run down!
Again, I remark that practical religion
is a friend of longevity in the fact that
it is a protest against designations which
injure and destroy the health. Bad men
and women live very short life. Their
sins kill them: I know hundreds Of
good, old men, but do not know half
not get old. Lord Byron died at Mis-
solonghi at 36 years Of age, himself his
own Mazeppa, his unbridled passions
the horse that dashed with him into the
desert. Edgar A. Poe died at Baltimore
at 80 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
beyond midlife, then died at st. Helena,
and one of his doctors said that his dis
ease 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 knawn who have not lived out half
their days because of their designations
and indulgences Now, practical re-
ligion 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
of 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 Atlantic jumps over
board and is drowned. is that anything
nv,
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 you believing 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, it he
had kept to his religion his morals would
have been saved.
There are aged people who would have
been dead twenty five years age but for
the defenses and the equipoise of re-
ligion. You have no more natural re-
sistance than hundreds 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 was called congestion of the
brain, or something else, but the snakes
and the blueflies that seemed to crawl
over the pillow i'll the sight of the de-
matter with him. You, the 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 diff
ference between you. Oh, if this re-
ligion is protest against all forms of
dissipation, then it is an illustrions
friend of longevity With long life
will satisfy him.
Again, religion is a friend of longev-
ity in the fact 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 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 supernatural neigh
Dor who came in and said: "Sir, I want
you to call on me in every exigency;
am your fast friend; could fall back on
$2O,0O0,000; can foresee panic ten
years; I hold the controlling 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 can
have my influence; here is my hand in
pledge for it." How much would you
worry about business? Why you would
say: I'll do the best 1 can, and then
III 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; l
can foresee panic million years;
have all the resources of the universe,
and am your fast friend; when you get
in business trouble or any other trouble.
call on me and I 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 i'll this? Is there not an eter-
nal vacation in this?
oh, You say, here is man who
asked God for blessing in certain en-