The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-06-12

ms doctors said that his disease was induced by
excessive shutting. 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
Dox! Oh, how many people we have known
who have not lived out half theirSdays because
Oh their dissipat;onss and indulgencesl Now
practical religion is protest against all dissi
patton of any kind.
but" you say professors of religion have
1alien, professors of religion have got drunk,
professors of religion have misappropriated
trust funds, professors of religion have ali
seconded" Yes; but they threw away their
religion before they did their morality. If
man on White Star line steamer bound for
Liverpool in mid-Atantic Jumps overheard
and is drowned, is that anything against the
Wmte Star lines capacity to take the man
across the ocean? And if man jumps over
the gunwale of his religion and goes down
never to rise, is that any reason for your be-
lieying that religion has no capacity to take
the man clear through? In the one case if he
mad Kept to the steamer his body would have
been saved in the other case if he had kept to
MS religion his morals would have been saved.
There are aged people who would have been
dead twenty-five years ago but for the defen-
ses and the equipoise of religion. You have
no more natural resistance than hundreds of
people who lie III the cemeteries today. slain
by their own vices. The doctors made their
case as kind and pleasant as they could, and
1t was called congestion of the brain, or some
thing else, but the snakes and blue flies that
seemed to crawl over the pillow in the sight
of the delrious 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 Christian
life. You went to the right; he went to the
left. That is all the difference between you.
Oh, If this religion is protest against all
forms of dissipation, then it is All illustrious
friend of longevity. with long life will
satisfy him."
Again: Religion is a friendiof longevity in
the fact that it takes the worry out of our tenn
poralities. 1t is not work that kills men, it is
worry, When man becomes genuine
Christian he makes to God not only his
affections but his family, his business, his rep
utation, his body. his mind, his soul--every-
thing Industrious he will be, but never wor-
rying, 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 u supernatural neighbor
who came in and said: "Sir, want you to
call on me in every exigency; 1 am your fast
friend; could fail back on $40, OOO, 600; I can
foresee panic ten years. l hold the controll-
ing stock in thirty of the best monetary insti-
buttons of New York; whenever you are in
trouble call on me and l will help you; you
fiuence; here is my hand in pledge for it."
How much would you worry about business
Why, you would say: 81 do the best 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:
II own New York and London and st. Peters
burg and Pekin, and Australia and California
are mine; l can foresee a panic a million
years. / have all the resources of the uni
verse, and am your fast friend. When you
get IN business trouble or any other trouble
call on Me and 1 will help. Here is My hand
in pledge of onnipotent deiverance." How
much should that man worry? Not much
lion n hal
Daniel? Is there not rest in this? Is there
not an eternal vacation in this?
ooh, yes" you say; "here is a man who
prise, and he lost five thousand dollars in it,
Explain that" I will. Yonder is a factory,
and one wheel is going north and the other
wheel is going south, and one wheel plays lat
orally and the other plays vertically. I go to
the manufacturer and l say: 40 manufac-
turer, your machines is a contradiction. Why
do you not make all the wheels 60 one way ?'
"Well," he says, II made them to go in oppo-
site directions on purpose. and they produce
the right result. You go downstairs and
anime the carpets we are turning out in this
establishment and you will see go down on
the other floor and see the carpets, and | am
obliged to confess that, though the wheels of
that factory go in opposite directions, they
turn out a beautiful result; and while l am
standing there looking at the exquisite fabric
an old scripture passage comes into my mind:
Cali things work together for good TO them
who love God" Is there not rest in that? Is
there not tonic in that? Is there not longev-
ity in that?
Suppose a man is all the time worried about
his reputation. One man says he lies, an
other says he is stupid, another says he is dis
honest, and half dozen printing establish
ments attack him, and he is in great state of
excitement and worry and fume and cannot
sleep, but religion comes to him and says:
"Man, God is on your side; He will take care
of your reputation. II God be for you, who
6,n oh
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 farewell letter to his wife before he
blew his brains outfit instead of taking out
of his pocket pistol he had taken out we'll
read New Testament, there would have been
one less suicide. Oh, nervous and feverish
people of tho world, try this almighty soda
tive. You will live twenty-five years longer
under It's soothing power. 1t is not chloral
that you want, or morphine that you want; it
is tho Gospel of Jesus Christ "With long
life will satisfy him."
Again: Practical religion is friend OF
longevity in the fact that itremoyes all corrod-
ing care about future existence. Every
man wants to know what is to become of him.
II you get ON board rail TRAN you want to
know at what depot it is going to stop; if you
get on board a ship you want to know into what
harbor it is going to rum and if you should tell
me you have no interest in what is to be your
future destiny, would in as polite a way as I
know how, tell you did not believe you. Be-
fore had this matter settled with reference to
my future existence, the question almost wor-
red me into ruined health. The anxieties
men have upon this subject put together would
make a martyrdom. This is state Of awful
unnealhiness. There arc people who fret
themselves to death for fear ofdying.
1 want to take the strain off 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. "Impossi-
bic" 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
60 into an intermediate state where you can
get converted and prepared for heaven. "Im-
possible" you say; ''as tho tree
falleth so it must lie, and
1 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 boing; you will
not do ANYTHING. "ImpOsgiblp.p Won saw.