Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-06-20

Il lzIE2 kTt
Smoking your nervous system into hdgets
burning out the coating Of your stomac
with wine logwooded and strychnined
walking with thin shoes to make your fee
look delicate, pinched at the waist until 20
are nigh cut in two, and neither part wort
anything, groaning about sick headache an
lpalpitation of the heart, which you thin
came from God, when they came from you
own folly.
What right has any man or woman t
deface the temple of the Holy Ghost ?
What is the ear? Why, it is the whisper
ing gallery of the human soul. What is tn
eye? 1t is the observatory God construct
ed, its telescope sweeping the heavens
What is the hand? An instrument so won
derful that when the Earl of Bridgewate
bequeathed in his will $4,000 for treatise
to be written on the wisdom, power ant
goodness of God, Sir Charles Bell, the Eng
lishsanatomist and surgeon, found his great
est illustration in the construction of tn,
human hand, devoting his whole book tt
that subject. So wonderful are these bodie.
that God names His own attributes aftel
differentparts of them. His omniscience-
it is Gods eye.l His omnipresence-it i.
Gods ear His omnipotence-it is God'l
arm. The upholstery of the midnigh,
heavens-it is the work of Gods prayers
His life-giving power-it is the breath o
the Almighty. His dominion-''tke gov
ernment shall be upon his shoulder" A
body so divinely honored and so divinely
constructed, 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? If I toss my watch
about recklessly and drop it on the pave.
ment and wind it up any time of day OF
night happen to think of it, and often let
it run down, while you are careful with youl
watch and never abuse itand wind it up Just
at the same hour every night and put 1t in
a place where it will not suffer from the
violent changes ofatmosphere, which watch
will last the longer? Common sense an.
swers. Now. the human body is Gods
watch. You see the hands of the watch,
you see the face of the watch; but the beat
ing in the heart is the ticking of the watch.
Oh, be careful and do not let it run down!
Again: remark that practical religion is
friend of longevity in the fact that it is q
protest against dissipations which ipjure
and destroy the health. Bad men and wo.
men live very short life. Their sins kill
them. I know hundreds Of good old men.
bnt I do not know half a dozen bad old
men. Why? They do not get old. Lord
Byron died at Missolonghi at thirty-six
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 thirty-eight years of
age The black raven that alighted on the
bust above his chamber door was delirium
trenlens-
"Only this and pothing.more."
Napoleon Bonaparte lived only just be-
yond midlife, then died at st. Helena, and
one of his doctors said that his disease was
induced by excessive snuff1ng. The hero OF
Austerlitz, the man who by one step of his
foot in the centre of Europe shook the earth,
killed by snuff box! Oh, how many peo.
pie we have known who have not lived out
half their days because Of their dissipations
and indulgences! Now practical religion 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 misap-
propriated trust funds, professors of religion
have absconded.' Yes; but they threw
away their religion before they did their
morality. If man on White Star line
steamer, bound for Liverpool, in mid Allan
tic jumps overheard and is drowned, is that
anything against the White Star lines capa-
city to take the man across the ocean? And
if a man jumps over the gunwale of his re-
ligion aud goes down never to rise, is that
any reason for your 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, if 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 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
tbs blue flies 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
golden pillar of a 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 dis
then it is an illustrious friend Of
longevity. "With long life will l satisfy
him."
Again: religion is friend of longevity,
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 a
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 business when in answer to his pray
ers God tells him when to buy aud when to
sell; and if he gain, that is best; and if he
lose, that is best?
Suppose you had a supernatural neighbor
who came in and said; ''Sir, want YOU to
call on me in every exigency; am your
fast friend; could fall back ON $40, 600, 600;
I can foresee a panic ten years; 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
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 wor.
~ about business? Why, you would say,
sPIl do the best l can, and then I'll de.
pend on my trends generosity for the
rest"
Now more than that is promised to every
Christian business man. God says to him
81 own New York and London and st. Pc
tersburg and Pekin, and Australia anC
California are mine: can forsee panic ;
million years; I have all the resources O
the universe, and l am your fast friend
when you get in business trouble or any
other trouble, call on me and l will help
here is my hand in pledge of omnipoten
deliverance." How much should that mai
worry? Not much. What lion will dar
| to put his paw on that Daniel? Is ther
not rest in this? Is there not an eterna
vacation in this?
"Oh," you say, ''here is man who aske'
God for blessing in certain enterprise
and he lost five thousand dollars in it. Elk
plain that" l will. Yonder is factory
and one wheel is going north, and the othe
wheel is going south, and one wheel play'
laterally, and the other plays vertically.
go to the manufacturer and say: "(
manufacturer, your machinery is contra
diction. Why do you not make all tn
wheels go one way?' SWELL" he says, g
made them to go in opposite directions OF
purpose, and they produce the right result
| You 90 downstairs and examine the carpet
we are turning out in this establishment
and you will see." go down on the othe
floor and see the carpets, and am oblig
| ad To confess that thOuph the wheels in tha