The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1899-09-30
TO ENJOY LONG LIFE.
A Prescription Prepared by Rev.
DR.. TalmageL
Religion VIII OFFSET the Dis.Ipa sIon.
and Destroyers Of LIfe-The
Gospel n Chariet for
- the Living.

pTeSCTlptlOHs ioT thc ptoioo6~D" ~
life and breaches the gospel of physical
health. The text is Psalms 9i. I6. with
long life will satisfy him."
Through the mistake of its friends re-
ligion has been chiefly associated with
sick beds and graveyards. The whole
subject to many people is odorous with
chlorine and carbolic acid. There are
people who cannot pronounce the word
"religion" without hearing in il the clip
ping chisel of the tombstone cutter. II
is high time that this thing were
changed and that religion, instead OF
being represented rs n hearse to carry
out the dead, should be represented rs
a chariot in which the living are TO tri-
umph.
Religion, so far from subtTactipg
from ones vitality, is n glorious adth-
ton. tits sanative, curative, hygienic.
1t is good for the eyes, good for the
ears. good for the spleen, good for The
digestion, good for the nerves, good for
the muscles. When David in another
part of the psalm prays that religion
may he dominant, he does not speak of
ii as mild sickness or an emaciation or
an attack of moral and spiritual cramp.
lie speaks of il as "the saving health Of
all nations" while God in the text prom
Uses longevity to the pious, saying:
"With long life will l satisfy him." The
fact is that men and women die too
soon. 1t is high time that religion
Joined the hand of medical science in at
tempting TO improve human longevity.
Adam lived $50 years; Methusciah lived
9G9 years. AS late in the history of the
world as Ncspasian there were at one
time in his empire As people I35 years
old. So far down as the sixteenth cen
fury Peter Tartan died at ls5 years Of
age. do not say that religion will ever
take the race back to antedlluvian lon
gcvity, but | do say the length of life
will be increased.
1t is said in Isaiah: THE child shall
die hundred years old" Now, If, ac-
cordng to Scripture, the child is TO be
q hundred years old, may not the men
and women reach to 300 and 400? The
fact is that we are mere dwarfs and
skeletons compared with some of the
generations that are to come. Take
the African race. They have been UNI
der bondage for centuries Give them
a chance, and they develop Frederic
Douglass or a Toussaint L'Ouversure.
And, if the white race shall be brought
from under the serfdom of sin, what
shall be the body, what shall be the
soul? Religion has only just touched
our world. Give it full power for few
centuries, and who can tell what will he
the strength of man and the beauty OF
women and the longevity OF all?
My design is to show that practical re-
ligion is the friend of long life. Iprove
il first from the fact that il makes The
care of our health n positive Christian
duty. Whether we shall keep early o,
late hours, whether we shall take foot
digestble or indigestible, whether thcr,
shall be thorough or incomplete masii
cation, are questions very often de
fcrrcdtothe realm of whimsicality- Blu
the Christian man lifts this whole prob
lem Of health into the accountable ant
the Divine. lie says: God has givci
me this body, and lie has called il th'
temple Of the Holy Ghost, and 10 de
face its affairs or mar its walls or crum
bic its pillars is n God defying sacri
lege." He secs Gods caligraphy il
every page, anatomical and pbysioiog
zeal. lie says: God has given me won
derful body for noble purposes"--tha
arm with 80 curious bones wiclded b,
4O curious muscles and all under III
brains telegraphy, $50 pounds Of bloo'
rushing through the heart every hour
the heart in "a hours beating 1000
times, during the "a hours the lung
taking in 81 hogsheads of mir, and a
this mechanism not more mighty tina
delicate and easily disturbed and de
molished. The Christian man says I
himself: "If hurt my nerves, IL hun
my brain, il I hurt any Of my physics
retribution.' Why did God tell the l.,
vites not to offer to Him in sacrifice an
mails imperfect and diseased? lie mean
to tell us in all the nges that we are I
offer TO God our very best physical COZ
dition, and n man who through irrcl
ular or gluttonous eating ruins hi
health is not offering to God such sa,
rifice. Why did Paul write for his cIoa
ut Troas? Why should such n grea
man as Paul be anxious about thin
30 insignificant as an overcoat? II W.
because he knew that with pneumoni
and rheumatism he would not be wort
half MS much to God and the church {
with respiration easy and foot free.
An intelligent Christian man woul
. consider il an absurdity to kneei dow
at night and pray and ask Gods prote
tion Will. at the same time he kept u
window OF his bedroom tight sh'
against fresh air. He would Just rs SOC
, think "a going out on the bridge b
tween New York and Brooklyn. len,
ing of and then praying TO God to kee
him from getting hurt. Just NJ hong ;
you refer this whole subject Of ply sici
health TO the realm Of whimsical,
ortothe pastry cook or to the butcher {
to the baker or to the apofhecary or I
the clothier you are not acting like
Christian. Take care OF all your phys
cal forces-pervous, muscular, bon
brain, cellular tissue-for ali you mu:
be brought TO judgment. Smoking 20,