The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-05-21

and like Cowper. and like Alexander
Cruden. and like 10000 other invalids,
be playing dead march on the same
organ with which now you play a STAG
cato.
My object at this point is not only to
emolliate the criticisms of those in
good health against those in poor
health but to show Christian people
who are atrabilious what is the matter
with them. Do not charge against the
heart the crimes of another portion of
your organism. Do not conclude that
because the path to Heaven is not ar
bored with as fine a foliage, or the
banks beautifully showed with ex-
quisite chrysanthemums as once, that,
therefore, you are on the wrong road.
The road will bring you out at the same
gate whether you walk with the stride
of an athlete or come mp on crutches.
Thousands of Christians. morbid about
their experiences, and morbid about
the present, and morbid about the fu-
ture, need the sermon am now preach
ing.
Another practical use of this subject
is for the young. The theory is abroad
that they must first SOW their wild
oats, and afterward Michigan wheat.
Let me break the delusion. Wild oats
are generally sown in the liver, and
they can never be pulled up. They so
preoccupy that organ that there is no
room for the implantation of a right
eOus crop. You see aged men about
- On e,,l,-I,I ~
old men. How much wild oats did
they sow between IS years and 80?
None, absolutely none. God does not
very often honor with old age those
who have in early life sacrificed swine
on the altar of the bodily temple. Re-
member, o young man, that while in
after life, and after years of
dissipation, you may perhaps have
your heart changed, religion does
not change the liver. Trem-
bling and staggering along these
streets to-day are men, all bent and
decayed, and prematurely old for the
reason that they are paying for liens
they put upon their physical estate be-
fore they were 30. By early dissipa-
ton they put on their body a first
mortgage, and a second mortgage, and
a third mortgage to the devil; and
these mortgages are now being fore
closed, and all that remains of their
earthly estate the undertaken will soon
put out of sight. Many years ago, in
fulfillment of my text, a dart struck
through their liver, and it is there yet.
God forgives, but outraged physical law
no hoe Csnas
but no Calvary. Solomon, in my text,
knew what ne was talking about, and
| he rises up on his throne of worldly
splendor to shrek out a warning to all
the centuries.
Stephen A. Douglas gave the name
| of ''squatter sovereignty" to those who
went out west and took possession of
lands and held them by right of occu-
| patton. Let flock of sins settle on
your liver before you get to be 25 years
| of age, and they will in all probability
keep possession of it by an internal
squatter sovereignty. Il promise to
pay at the bank $500 six months from
date" says the promissOry note. Il
promise to pay my life 80 years from
| date at the bank of the grave" says
every infraction of the laws of your
physical being.
What9 VIII mans body never
completely recover from early dissipa-
ton in this world? Never. How about
the world to come? Perhaps God will
fix it up in the resurrection body SO
that it will not have to go limping
through all eternity; but get the liver
thoroughly damaged and it viii stay
damaged as long as you are here. Ply
Sicians call il cirrhosis of the liver, or
Inflammation of the liver, or fatty de-
generation of the liver, but Solomon
puts all these pangs into one figure and
says, Till a dart strike through his
liver"
NV nearer, this is the first sermon
you have heard ON the gospel of health,
and it may be the last you will ever
hear on that subject, and l charge you,
in the name of God. and Christ, and
usefulness, and eternal destiny, take
better care of your health. When
some of you die, if your friends
put on your tombstone a truth.
full epitaph, it will read: "Here iea
a victim of late suppers"; or it will
be, behold what lobster salad at
midnight will do for man.; or il
will be, ''Ten cigars day closed my
earthly existence" or it will be,
Thought l could do at 20 what did
at 20, and | am here's" or it will be.
Here is the consequence of sitting a
half day with wet feet" or it will be,
This is where l have stacked my har-
vest of wild OATS or instead of words,
the stone-cutter will chisel for an
epitaph on the tombstone, two figures
namely, a dart and a liver.
If we must get sick and worn out,
let it be in Gods service, and in the
effort to make the world good. Not in
the service of sin. No! No! One of
the most pathetic scenes that L ever
witness, and often see it, is that of men
or women converted in the sos or Cos
or 7Os wanting to be useful, but they
so served the world and Satan IL the
earlier part of their life that they have
no physical energy left for the serv-
ice of God. They sacrificed nerves.
muscles, lungs, heart, and liver