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


his morals would have been saved. There
are aged people who would have been
dead twenty-five years ago but for the de-
fences and the equipose of religion. You
have no more natural resistance than hun
dreds of people who lie in the cemeteries
to-day, slain by their own vices The doc
tors 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 blue flies that seemed to crawl
over the pillow in the sight of the deliri-
Gus patient showed what was the matter
with him. You, the aged Christian man,
walked along by that unhappy one until
YOU came to the golden pillar of a Christian
life. You went to he right; he went to
the left. That is all the Offence between
YOU
Again: Religion is friend of longevity
in the fact that it takes the worry out OF
our temporalities. 1t is not W ork that kills
men, it is worry. When a man becomes a
genuine Christian he makes over to God
not only his affections but his family, his
business, his reputation, his body, his
sOul-everything. Industrious he will be,
but never worrying, because God is man
aging 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 bestl Suppose YOU
had a supernatural neighbor who came
and said: ''Sir, | want you to cali on me
in every exigency; | am yonr fast FRIEND
could fall back on S20,000,0O0; L can
foresee a panic ten years; L hold the
controlling stock in thirty of the best mon
etary institutions of New York whenever
you are in trouble call on me and / will
L.
have my influence; here is my hand
in pledge OF it," How much would you
worry about business? Why, you would
say: ''Ill do the best l can and then I'll
depend on my friends generosity for the
rest" Now, more than that is promised
to every Christian business man. God
says to him: 81 own New York, and Lon
don and st. Petersburg and Pekin and
Australia and California are mine; / can
foresee panic a thousand years | have
all the resources of the universe, and am
your fast friend; when you get in bust
ness trouble call on me and [ will help;
here is my hand in pledge of omnipotent
deliverance" How much should that
man worry? Not much. What lion will
dare put his paw on that Daniel? Is there
not rest i'll this? Is there not an eternal
vacation in this? Suppose a man is all
the time worried about his reputation?
One man says he lies, another says he is
stupid, another says he is dis
honest, and half a dozen print
ing establishments attack him and he
is in great state of excitement and
worry and fume and cannot sleep, but re-
hgion comes to him and saws; "Alan, 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-st., after he had lost money, sat
down and wrote a farewell letter to his
wife before he blew his brains outfit, in
stead of taking out of his pocket pistol
he had taken out a we'll read new tesla
ment, there would have been one less SUI
eide. Oh, nervous and feverish 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 | satisfy him." Again, practical
religion is friend of longevity in
the fact that it removes all corroding
care about future existence. Every man
wants to know what is to become of him.
If you get on board a rail train you want
to know at what depot it is going to stop;
ii you get on board ship you want to
know into what harbor it is going to run,
and if you should tell me you have no
interest in what is to be your future des-
tiny, would, in as polite a way as 1 know
how, tell you l did not believe you. Be
fore l had this matter settled with refer
ence TO my future existence the question
almost worried me into ruined health
The anxiety men have upon this subject
put together wonld make a martyrdom.
This is a state of awful unhealthiness.
There are people who fret themselves to
death for fear of dying. | want to take
the strain off your nerves and the depres-
sion off your soul, and l 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. impossible" 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 will go into an intermedi-
ate state where you can get converted and
prepared for heaven. Impossible" YOU
say; "as the tree falleth so il must lie, and
/ cannot postpone to an intermediate state
reformation which ought TO have been
effected in this state" Experiment the
third-There is no future world when
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 some
thing that tells me that death is not the
appendix, but the preface; there is some
thing that tells me that on this side of the
grave / only get started and that
shall 60 on forever; my power to think
says forever, my affections say forever,
my capacity to enjoy or suffer, forever
Well, you defeat me in my three expert
ments. have only one more to make,
and if you defeat me in that | am ex-
hausted. A mighty One on a knoll
back OF Jerusalem one day, the skies filled
with forked lightnings and the earth filled
with volcanic disturbances, turned His
pale and agonized face toward the heav-
ems and said: 81 take the sins and sor-
rows of the ages into my own heart /
am the expiration. Witness, earth and
heaven and hell, am the expiration"
Accept that sacrifice and quit worrying.
Take the tonic, the inspiration, the longev-
ity of this truth. Religion is sunshine;
that is healthy. Religion is fresh air and
pure water; they are healthy. Religion is
warmth; that is healthy. Ask all the doc
tors and they will tell you that quiet
conscience and pleasant anticipations are
hygienic.
Summer Religion.
Philadelphia Times
BY common consent the activities of the