The Penn's Grove record., 1897-05-21

skies to look after the imperishable soul.
Let all Christian physicians unite with
ministers OF the gospel In persuading good
people that It il not because God Is against
them that they sometimes feel depressed,
but because OF their diseased bodies, I
suppose David the psalmist was no more
pious when he called on everything human
and angelic, animate and lnanimate, even
from snowflake 10 hurricane, to praise
God than when he said, Out OF the
depths of hell have l cried unto thee,
oLord,' or hat Jeremiah was more
pious when he wrote his prophecy than
when he wrote his Lamentations,
or JOB when he said, ~ know that
my Redeemer Hveth," than when
covered over with the pustules Of ele.
phantiasis as he sat in the ashes scratch.
ing the scabs of with a broker piece OF pot
terry, or that Alexander Cruden, the con,
eordist, was a better man when he com.
piled the book that has helped 10000
students OF the Bible than when under the
power 81 physical disorder he was hand.
Green Insane asylum. "Oh," says some
Christian man, mo one ought to allow
physical disorders to depress his soul. He
ought to live 50 near God as to be always
In the sunshine" Yes, that is good advice,
but / warrant that you, the mar h gives
the advice, has q sound liver. Thank God
for d hcalthful hepatic condition. for as
certainly as you lose II YOU will sometimes,
like David, and like Jeremiah, and like
Gowper and like Alexander Cruden, and
like $1,000 other inyalids, be playing a dead
march on the same organ with which now
you play a staccato.
My object at this point is not only to
emolliate the criticisms OF those In good
health against those ID poor health, bit to
show Christian people who are atfabilious
what Is the matter with them, Do not
charge against the heart the Grimes OF
another portion Of your organism. Do not
conclude that because the path OF heaven
is not arbored with as fine a foliage, or the
banks beautifully showed with exquisite
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 up on crutches. Thousands OF Chris
tians, morbid about their experiences and
morbid about their business, and morbid
about the present and morbid about the
future, need the sermon 1 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 af-
terward 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 i~mplantation of q
righteous crop. You see aged men about
| uc. ~ Oi5hbJ -tlt0t1 o6iICr oRHChaANt llama
old men. How much wild oats did they
SOW between eighteen years and thirty
None, absolutely none. Coz does not very
often honor with old age those who have in
early life sacrificed swine o the altar Of
the bodily temple. Remember. o young
man, that, while In after life and after
years Of dissipation you may perhaps haye
your heart changed, religion does not
change the liver. Trembling and stagger-
ing along these streets to-day are men, all
bent and decayed and prematurely old for
the reason that they are paying for lines
they were thirty. BY early dissipation they
put on their body a first mortgage and a
second mortgage and a third mortgage to
the devil, and these mortgages are o be-
ing foreclosed, and all that remains oftheir
earthly estate the undertaken will soon put
out of sight. Many years ago In fulfill
ment OF my text, a dart struck through
their liver, and it is there yet. God for
gives, but outraged physical law never,
never, never. Solomon in my text knew
what he was talking about, and he rises up
on his throne of worldly splendor to shrek
out d warning 30 all the centuries.
oh, my young brother, do not make the
mistake that thousands arc making In
opening the battle against sin too late, for
this world too late, and for the world to
come toe lat5l What brings that express
train from st. Louis into Jersey City three
HUuIS laIef Inby lOSt HIteen 1uluutts curly
on the route, and that affected them all the
way, and they had to be switched of here
and switched of there INC detained here
and detained there, and the man who loses
time and strength In the earlier part OF the
journey OF life will suffer for 1t all the way
through, the first twenty years OF life dam
aging the following fifty years.
Some years ago a scientific lecturer went
through the country exhibiting on great
canvas different parts of the human body
when healthy and the same parts when
diseased. And what the world wants now
Is some eloquent scientist to go through
the country, showing to our young people
on blazing canvas the drunkard's liver, the
idler's liver, the libertine's liver, the
gamblers liver. Perhaps the spectacle
might stop some young man before he
comes to the catastrophe and the dart
strikes through his liver.
My hearer, this Is the first sermon o
have heard on the gospel health, and 1t
may be the last you will ever hear on that
subject, and / 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, II yopr. friends put
on your tombstone a truthful epitaph, 1t
will read, Here lies the victim of late sup
pers." or 1t will be, behold what lobster
salad at midnight will do for a man, " or it
will be, Ten cigars q day closed my earth
ly existence" or 1t will be, Thought l
could do at seventy what I did at twenty,
and 1 am here.'' or 1t will be, Here is the
consequence OF sitting a half day with wet
feet or it will be, "This is where 1 have
stacked my harvest of wild oats" or in
stead OF words the stone cutter will chisei
for an epitaph on the tombstone two fig
u~res-namely, a dart and a liver.
There is a kind of sickness that Is beautt-
ful whom 1t comes from overwork for God,
or ones country, or ones W family.
have seen wounds hat were glorious. l
have seen an empty sleeve that was more
beautiful than the most muscular forearm.
l have seen a green shade over the eye, shot
out in battle, that was more beautiful than
my two eyes that had passed without in
jury. / have seen an old missionary, worn
out with the malaria of African jungles,
who looked to me more radiant than a rubi-
sumo gymnast. l have seen a mother, after
six weeks watching over q family OF chill
dren down with scarlet fever, with a glory
around her pale and wan face that sur
passed the angelic. 1t all depends on how
you got our sickness and in what battle
your wounds.
II 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, mol One OF the most pathetic scenes
that I ever witness, and l often see 1t, Is
that of men or women converted in the
hfties or sixties or seventies wanting to be
useful, but they 80 served the world and
satan In the earlier part Of their life that
they have no physical energy left for the
service of God, They sacrificed nerves,
muscles, lungs, heart and liver on the
wrong altar. They fought On the wrong
side, and now. when their sword is all hack
ed up and their ammunition all gone, they
enlist for Emmanuel. When the high met.
tied cavalry horse, which that man spurred
into many a cavalry charge with champing
bit and flaming eye and neck clothed with
thunder, is worn out and spawned
ring boned and s~prIpghalt, he rides
up to the great Captain OF our sal
walton on the white horse and offers
his services. When such persons might
have been, through the good hab-
its Of a lifetime, crashing their battle-axe
through the helmeted iniquities, they are
spending their days and nights is discuss
ing the best way OF curing their indiges-
tion, and quieting their jangling nerves,
and rousing their laggard appetite, and
trying to extract the dart from their Sout-
ragged liver. Better converted late than
never. oh, yes, for they will get to heaven.
But they will go afoot when they might
hapa whealad nm the staen hills of the sky