Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-01-16

| industry, which is the foundation of goo
| health. There is no law of hygiene tha
will keep lazy man well. Pleurisy vii
stab him, erysipelas will burn him, jauu
/ dice will discolor him, gout will crippl
him, and the intelligent physician will no
prescribe antiseptic, or febrifuge, or ano
dyne, but saws and hammers and yardstick
and crowbars and pickaxes. There is n,
such thing as good physical condition with
out positive work of some kind, although
you should sleep on down of swan or rid
in carriage of softest upholstery, or have Oh
your table all the luxuries that were pour
ed from the wine watts of Ispahsn ant
Shiraz. Our religion says: "Away to thu
bank! away to the field! away to the shop
away to the factory! do something that vii
e,;i:se. e,;,;se. ;sis tha energies 0f your body. mind
and soul." "piligsnf ir business, ferven'
in spirit, serving the Lo15.n sbile upon tht
bare back of the ldler 81 sse drone comes
down che sharp lash Of aa apostle rs ht
ssys: s'ff say man viii not work, neither
shall he eat.
ooh, how important u this day, when 81
much is said about anatomy and physiologJ
and therapeutics aud some new style oi
medicine is ever and anon spr:nging upon
the world that you should understand thai
the highest school of medicine is the school
Of Christ, which declares that 'Godlines,
is profitable unto all things, having the
promise of the life that now is as well as ol
two men In the world with equal physical
health, and then one Of them shall get the
religion of the Lord Jesus Christ in his
heart, and the other shall not get it, the
one who becomes son of the Lord AL
mighty will live the longer. with long
life will satisfy thee, and show thee my
salvation"
Again l remark that Godliness is good
for the intsllect. know some have sup.
posed that just as soon az q man enters in.
to the Christian life his intellect goes into a
bedwarfing process. So far from that, rsli-
gion will give new brilliancy to the intellect,
new strength to the imagination, new force
to the will. and wider swing to all the in
telectual faculties. Christianity is the great
central fire at which Philosophy has light
ed its brightest torch. The religion of the
Lord Christ is the fountain out of which
learning has dipped its olearest draught.-
The HeliCon poured forth no such inspiring
waters ~ those which flow from under the
throne Of God clear rs crystal. Religion
has given nav energy to Poesy, weeping In
DR.. Young's "Night Thoughts" teaching
in Cowper's ssTask," flaming in Charles
Wesley's hymns, and rushing with arch.
angelic splendor through Milton's para
disc Lost" The religion Of Jesus Christ
has hung in studio and in gallery of art and
i'll Vatican the best pictures-Titian's CAS-
SUMPTION" Raphael's "Transfiguration, :"
Rubens's "Desceng from the Cross, :"
Ciaude's Burning Bush," and Angelo's
Last Judgment" Religion has made the
best music of the world-Haydn's "Crea-
t:ou," Handel's Messiah Mozars's ''Re-
quiem." Is it possible that religion
which builds such indsstructibie monu-
ments, and which lifts its ensign on the
highest promontories of worldly power, can
have any effect upon a man's intellect but
elevation and enlargement? Now, / COM
mend Godliness as the best mental dis
cipline-better than belles-lettres to purify
the taste, better than mathematics to har-
ness the mind to all intricacy aod elabora
tifJu, better than logic to marshal Jhe intel
lectual forces for oDses and victory. 1t Will
go with Hugh Miller and show him the
footprints of the Creator in the red sand
stone. 1t will go with the botanist and
show him celestial glories eneamped under
the curtain of q water lily, it will go with
the astronomer on the great heights where
God shepherds the great fuck Of worlds,
that wander on the hills of heaven answer
ing His voice as He calls them ali by their
names.
Again remark, that Goodness is profit
abe for ones disposition. Lord Ashley,
before he went into great battle, was
heard to offer this prayer: SO Lord, shall
be very busy to-day; if forget Thee, forget
me not" With such Christian disposition
as that, man ia independent of all c,rcum
stances. Our piety will have tinge of cur
natural temperament. II a man be cross
and sour and fretfui naturally, after he be-
comes Christian he will always have to
be armed against the rebellion of those evil
inclinations; but religion has tanned the
widest nature; it has turned fretfulness in
to gratitude, despondency into good cheer,
and those who were hard aud ungogern
able and uncompromisirg have been mads
pliable and copciliatory. Good resolution,
effort, will not effect the
change. 1t takes a mightier arm and a
mightier hand to bend evil habits than the
hand that bent the bow of Ulysses, and it
takes stronger lasso than ever held the
buffalo ON the prairie. A man cannot 70
forth with any human weapons aud contend
successfully against these Titans armed
with uptorn mountain. But you have
known men into whose spirit the influence
of the Gospel of Christ came, until their
disposition was entirely changed. So il
was with two merchants In New York.
They were very antagonistio. They had
done all they could to injure each other.
They were in the same line of business.
Que of the merchants was converted to God.
Having been converted, be asked the Lord
to teach him how to belr himself toward
that business antagonist, and he was i'm
pressed with the fact that it was his duty
when customer asked for certain kinds of
goods which he had not, but which he knew
his opponent had, to recommend him to 60
to that store. suppose that is about the
hardest thing a man could do; but being
thoroughly converted to God, he resolved to
do that very thing, and being asked for a
certain kind Of goods which he had not he
said: ''You 60 to such and such store.
and you will get it." After awhile, mer
chant number two found these customers
coming 80 sent, aud he found also that mer-
chant number one had been brought to
God, and he sought the same religion. Now
they are good friends and good neighbors,
the grace of God entirely changing their
disposition.
sOh," says soma one, 81 have rough,
Jagged, impstuous nature. and religion can t
do anything for me-" Do you know that
Martin Luther and Robert Newton and
Richard Baxter were impetuous, ali-con-
suming natures, yet the grace of God turn
ed them Into the mightisst usefulness2 A
manufacturer cares but very little for d
stream that slowly runs through the mea-
dow, but strong torrent that leaps frcm
rock to rock, and rushes with mad energy
through the valley and out toward the sea.
Along that river you will find fluttering
shuttes and grinding mill and flashing
water wheel. And nature, the swifiest,
the most rugged and the most tremendous,
that is the nature God turns into greatest
usefulness. Oh, how many who have been
pugnacious. and hard to please, and irasoi-
bic, and more bothered about the mote in
their neighbor's eye than about the beam
like ship timber in their own eye, who have
been entirely changed by the grace of God,
and have found out that Goodness is prof
liable for the life that now ia as we'll as for
the life which ia to come"
Again remark, that religion 10 good for
a mans worldly business, I know the gen
eral theory is, the more business the less