The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-10-06

= AAS I1 - Il - IL &AASo h1.o 10
81 nogsheads of air, and all this mech
anism not more mighty than delicate
| SERMON 2
and easily disturbed and demolished.
The Christian man says to himself
IF ! hurt my nerves, If | hurt my
faculties l insult God and call for
dire re~tribution." Why did God tell
the Levites not to offer to him in sac
riice animals imperfect and diseased?
He meant to tell us in all the ages that
we are to offer to God our very best
physical condition. and a man who
through irregular or gtuttonouS eating
ruins his health is not Offering to God
such a sacrifice. Why did Paul write
for his cloak at Troas? Why should
such a great man as Paul be anxious
about a thing SO Insignificant as an
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 knee down
at night and pray and ask Gods pro-
lection while at the same time he kept
the window 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 o refer this whole subject Of
physical health to the realm Of whim-
~sicality or to the pastry cook or to III
butcher or to the baker or to the
apothecary or to the clothier you are
not acting like a Christian. Take care
of all your physical forces-nervous,
muscular, bone, brain, cellular tissue
for all you must be brought to judg-
ment. Smoking your nervous system
into fidgets, burning out the coating
of your m with wine logwooded
and ~strychnined, walking with thin
shoes to max 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, when
they came from your own folly!
What right has any man or woman
to- deface the temple of h Holy
Ghost? What is the ear? It is the
whispering gallery of the soul. What
is the eye? 1t is the observatory God
constructed, it's telescope sweeping the
heavens. Via is the hand? An in
strument so wonderful that, when the
Earl of Bridgewater bequeathed in his
will $4,000 for treatises to be written
on the wisdom, power and goodness of
God, Sir Charles Bell, the great Eng
liSh anatOmiSt and surgeon, found his
greatest illustration in the construc-
ton of the human hand, devoting his
whole book to that subject. So won-
derful are these bodies that God names
his own attributes after different parts
of them. His OmniScience-it is Gods
ye; his OmnipreSence-it is Gods ear;
his omnipotence-it is Gods erm; the
upholstery of the midnight heavens
it is the work of Gods fingers; his life
giving .power-it is the breath of the
Almighty; his d~ominion-''the govern
ment shall be upon his shoulder"
A body so divinely ,honored and so
divinely constructed, let us be care
full not to abuse it. When it becomes
a Christian duty TO take care of u
health. is not the whole tendency to-
ward longevity? If 1 toss my watch
about recklessly and drop it on the
day or night 1 happen to think of it n
often let it u down, while you are
careful with your watch md never
abuse it, and wind it up just at the
same hour every night and put it in
a place where it will not suffer from
the violent changes of atmosphere,
which watch will last tie longer?
Common sense Now, the hu-
man body is God watch. You see the
hands of the watch, you see the face
of the watch; but the beating of the
heart is the ticking of the watch. Be
careful and do not let it run down.
WORRY SAPS vIGOR.
Again, religion is a friend of lovevi-
ty in the fact that it takes the worry
out of the temporalities. 1t is not
work that kills men; it is worry. When
a man becomes a genuine Christian, he
makes over to God not only his affec-
tons, but his family, his business, his
reputation his body, his mind, his soul,
everything. Industrious he will be,
but never worrying, because God is
managing his affairs. How can he
worry about business when in answer
to his prayers God tells him when to
buy and when to sell? And if he gain,
that is best, and if he lose, that is best.
Suppose you had q supernatural
neighbor who came in n said: Sir,
l want you to call on me every eX-
igency. I am your fast friend. I could
fall pack on 500, 900, 900. I car foresee
a panic ten years. I hold the controll-
ing stock in 80 of the best monetary in
situations of New York. Whenever you
are in trouble call on me, and I will
help you. You can have my money
and you can have my influence. Here
is my hand in pledge for it," How
much would you worry about business
Why, you would say, I'll do the best I
CdlI, tlld lICh l. uCpCho III iIy .
generosity for the rest"
Now, more han hat is promised to
every Christian business man. God
says to him: II own New York and
London and st. Petersburg and PekIng,
and Australia and California are mine.
l ca n foresee a panic a hundred years.
l have all the u of the universe,
and / am your fast friend. When you
get in business trouble, call on me, 3nd
l will help. Here is my hand in pledge
Of omnipotent deliverance." How much
should that man worry? Not much.
What lion will dare to put his paw on
that Daniel? Is there not rest in this I?
Is there not an eternal vacation in
this? "Oh," o say, here is a nan
who asked God for a blessing in a GER
tain enterprise, and that he lost S., 00G
in it! Explain that?
I will. Yonder is a factory, n one
wheel is going north, n the othe,
wheel is going south, n one wheel
plays literally and the other plays
vertically. I go to the manufacturer
and I say. 80 manufacturer, your ma
chinery is a contradiction! Why dc