Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1899-09-30
Erienh of Longevity.


Friend of Longevity.
My design is to show that practical
religion is the friend of long life. |
prove it, first, from the fact that it
makes the care Of our health positive
Christian duty. Whether we shall keep
early or late hours. whether we shal
take food digestible or indigestibl
whether there shall be thorough or In
complete mastication, are questions
very often deferred to the realm Of
whlmsicallty But the Christian man
lifts this whole problem Of health into
the accountable and the divine. He
says, God has given me this body,
and he has called it the temple Of the
Holy Ghost, and to deface Its affairs,
or mar its walls. or crumble It's pillars,
is God defying sacrilege." He sees
Gods caligraphy In every page. ana
tomical and physiological. He says.
God has given me wonderful body
for noble purposes"-that arm with 81
curious bones welded by AZ curious
muscles and aH under the brains teleg-
raphy. $50 pounds Of blood rushing
through the heart every hour, the heart
in 81 hours beating 100000 times. dur
Ing the "a hours the lungs taking in
81 hogshead Of air. and all this mech
anism not more mighty than delicate
and easily disturbed and demolished.
The Christian man says to himself,
"If hurt my nerves. If hurt my
brain. If hurt any Of my physical
faculties | insult Gcd and call for
dire retribntion." Why did God tell
the Levites not to offer to him in sac
rifice animals Imperfect and diseased?
He meant totell us in all the ages that we
are to offer to God our very best phys
ical condition. and man who through
irregular or gluttonOus eating ruins bis
health Is not Offering TO God such a
sacrifice Why did Paul write for his
cloak at Troas? Why Should such q
great man as Paul he anxious about a
thing so insignificant as On overcoat?
1t was because he knew that with
pneumonia and rheumatism he would
not be worth half as much to God and
the church as with respiration easy
and foot free.
Care of the Body.
An intelligent Christian man would
consider it an absurdity to kneel down
ut night and pray and ask Gods pro-
lection while at the same time he kept
the windows Of his bedroom tight shut
against fresh air. He would just as
soon think Of going out on the bridge
between New York and Brooklyn. leap
ing off and then praying to God to
keep him from getting hurt. Just as
long as You refer this whole subject of
physical health To the realm of wliln-
Sicality or to the pastry cook or TO the
butcher or TO the baker or TO the
apothpcary or 10 the cluthier you are
not acting like Il Christian. Take care
of all your physical forccs--uervous.
muscular. bone. brain. cellular tissue
for all you must be brought to judg-
ment Smoking your nervous system
into fdgets. burning out the coating
Of your stomach With wine iogwooded
AMI strychnined, walking with thin
shoes to make your feet look delicate
pinched at the waist until you are
nigh cut in two and neither part worth
anything, grooming about sick head
ache and palpitation Of the heart
which you think came from God, wheI
they came from your own folly!
What right has any man or woman
to deface the temple Of the Holy
Ghost? What is the ear? 1t is. the
whispering gallery Of the soul. VIVA
is the eye? 1t IS the observatory Coo
constructed. its telescope sweeping th'