Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-05-21
OUR ABUSED LIVERS.
REV. DR.. TALMAGe ON THE HEALTH
OF THE BODY.

Life, Yet Spiritual and Physical Condi-
tions Are Largely Dependent Upon Each
Other.
WASHINGTON, May 16. - DR.. Tai
mage's sermon Of today has more to do
with this life than the life to come and
will be a warning against all forms Of
dissipation. Text, Proverbs vii, %,
Till dart strike through his liver. "
Solomon's anatomical and physiolOg-
ical discoveries were so very great that
he was nearly 5000 years ahead Of the
scientists of his day. He, more than
1900 years before Christ, seemed to
know about the circulation of the blood,
which Harvey discovered l,G19 years
after Christ, for when Solomon in Ec-
clesiastes, describing the human body,
speaks Of the pitcher at the fountain be
evidently means the three canals lead
ing from the heart that receive the
blood like pitchers When he speaks in
Ecclesiastes Of the silver cord of life, he
evidently means the spinal marrow,
about which in our day Drs Mayo and
Carpenter and Dalton and Flint and
Brown -Sequard have experimental.
And Solomon recorded in the Bible,
thousands Of years before scientists dis
covered it, that in his time the spinal
cord relaxed in old age, producing the
tremors Of hand and head, 'or the sill
yer cord be loosed "
In the text be reveals thofact that he
had studied that largest gland Of the
human system, the liver, not by the
electric light of the modern dissecting
room, but by the dim light Of COM
paratiycly dark age, and yet bad seen it'
important functions in the God built
castle Of the human body, its selecting
and secreting power, its curious cells,
its elongated branching tubes, divine
workmanship in central and right and
left lobe and the hepatic artery through
which flow the crimson tides. Oh, this
vital organ is like the eye Of God II
that it never sleepsl
Solomon know Of it and had noticed
either in vivisection or post morton
what awful attacks sin and dissipation
make upon it, until the fiat of Almighty
God bids the body and soul separate,
and the one it commends to the grave
and the other it sends to Judgment. y
iavelin Of rc;ribution, not glaDcing of
or making slight wound, but piercing
it from side to side till a dart strike
through his liver. "
Galen and Hippocrates ascribe to th'
liver the most Of the worlds moral de
preston, and the word melancholy
means black bile.
l preach to you the gospel Of health.
In taking a diagnosis Of diseases Of th'
soul you must also take a diagnosis oi
diseases of tho body. As if to recognize
this. one whole book Of the New Testa
ment was written by a physician Luke
WAS med'ail doctor, and he Discourse
much Of the physical conditions, ant
he tells Of the good Samaritan med
ication Of the wounds by pouring IN o.
and wine, and recognizes hunger as
bindrance to hearing the gospel, so tha
the 1000 were fed He also records the
sparse diet Of the prodigal away from
home and the extinguished eyesight o
the beggar by the wayside, and lets u
know of the hemorrhage Of the wound
of the diving Christ and the miraculou
most mortem resuscitation. Any estl
mate of the spiritual condition that doe
not include also the physical condition
is incomplete.
Heart and Liver.
When tho door keeper Of congress fel
dead from excessive JOY because Bur
rovne had surrendered at Saratoga, AM
Philip V of Spain dropped dead at tn
news of his countrys defeat in battle
and Cardinal Wolsey faded away as tn
result Of Henry Wis anathema, 1t wa
demonstrated that the body and sou
are Siamese twins, and when you thru
the one with joy or sorrow you thru
the other. We may as well recognize tn
tremendous fact that there are tw
mighty fortresses in the human body, Tn
heart and the liver, the heart the fol
tress of the graces, the liver the fortres
Of the furies. You may have the hea
filled with all intellectualities, and IN
: ear with all musical appreciation, an
the ear with all musical appreciation
and the mouth with all eloquence, an
the hand with all industries, and tn
heart with all generosities, and yet -
o dart strike through the liver.
First, let Christian people avoid IN
mistake that they are all wrong wit
e God because they suffer from depre'
sion Of spirits. Many a consecrated ma
has found his spiritual sky betoege
and his hope of heaven blotted out an
himself plunged chin deep in the sloug
of desmond and has said; "My heart
r, not right with God, and think mu
p have made mistake and instead OF b.
ing a child Of light l am child
u darkness. No one can feel as gloomy
I feel and be a Christian. " And he n'
= gone TO his minister for consolation, al
he has collected Flavel's books and U
u cils books and Baxter's books and rea
!. and read and read and prayed ana pra'
ed and prayed and wept aud wopt an
}, wept and groaned and groaned al
groaned. My brother, your trouble
not with the heart; it is gastric DISC
| der or a rebellion of the liver. f'
| need a physician more than you do
clergyman. 1t is not sin that blots O
your hope Of heaven, but bile. 1t n
| only yellows your eyeballs, and fu
your tongue, and makes your head ach
but swoops upon your soul in dejectio
and forebodings The devil is after 20
He has failed TO despoil Your charactt
ir and he does the next best thing for hl
= he ruflles your peace of mind. Wh
. he says that You are not a forgiven sot
- when he says you are not right WI
20 God. when he says that you Will new
get to heaven, he lies. If you are
Christ you are just as sure of heaven
though YOU were there already. But
A tan. finding that he cannot keep y
ont of the promised land OF Canaa
A. has determined that the spies shall Il
q, bring YOU any Of the Eschol grapes
forehand, and that you shall have mol
ing but prickly pear and crabapp
You are just as much a Christian III
ansN q