The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1900-02-23
DR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE sr The NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject; What Religion Does For the
Proiongstion OF Human Life-Reiigio ton
is Not . Hesrse-Care OF the Health q
Positive Christian Duty.
IcorrrigstIsn


Tainage presents a gospel for this lie a,
welt as the next aud shows what religion
does for the proloDg atiOuof earthly exist
erce; text, Psalm xcl., le, with long lie
VIII 1 satisfy him"
Through the mistake OF lis friends rellg.
ic q has been chiefly associated with sick
beds and grayeyards. The whole subjec
tc many people is odorous with chlorine
ard carbollc acid. There are people who
cannot pronounce tae word religion with
cat hearing in IL the clipping chisel % the
tombstone cutter L, is high time that this
tting were changed and that religion, in.
stead OF being represented "a a hearse q
carry out tue dead, should be represented
n, q chariot in which the living are 10 trl.
Unph.
Religion. so far from subtracting from
cues vitality, Is a glorious addition. IL is
sensitive, curative, hyglenic. II Is good
fer the eyes, good for the ears, good for
the spleen, good for the digestion, good
Tor the nerves, good for the muscles When
David, in another part OF the Psalms prays
that religion may be dominant, he does
not speak OF it az mild sickness or an
omaciation or an attack Of moral aud
spiritual cramp. He speaks Of X rs "the
saving health OF all nations, while God in
tue text promises longevity 10 the picus
saYing, with long life will / satisfy htm "
The fact is that men and women die too
soon. 1t Is nigh time that religion Joined
the hand OF medical science in attempting
tC Improve human longevity. Adam lived
$50 years; Methuselah lived 969 years. A
late In the history OF the world a. Vespa-
sian there were al one time in his empire
forty-ilve people l35 years old. SO Far down
"a tue sixteenth century Peter Tartan died
at l5j years OF age. DO not say that relig-
ioG will ever take the race back TO ante
dilgyian longevity. but do say that the
leugth OF human lie will bs greatly i'm
proved.
Il ia said tn Isaiah lxy., 90 The child
shall die 100 years old" Now. If, accord
Ing TO Scripture the child l. 70 be 100
years old may not the men and women
reach to 900 aud 400 and 500. The fact is
that we are mere dwarfs and skeletons
compared with some OF tue generations
that are to come. Take the African race.
They have been under bondage FOR CEN
tur!es. Give them chance. aud they de-
veop Toussaint pOuyerture. And Il the
waite race shall be brought out from under
tue serfdon OF sin what shall be the body,
what shall be the soul? Religion has only
just touched our world Give Ii full power
for a few centuries. and who can tell what
will BIO the strength OF man and the beauty
OF woman and the longevity Of all?
Ny design Is to show that practical re-
lIeion ia the friend Of longevity. prove
il, nrst, fiom the fact that 1t makes the
care OF our health a positive Christian
duty. Whether we shall keep early or late
hours, whether we shall take food digest
apie or indigestable. whether there shall be
thorough or incomplete mastication are
questions very often referred TO the realm
OF whimsicality, bat the Christian mau
HITS this whole problem OF health into the
accountable and the Divine. He says, God
has given me this body, and He has called
il tho temple Of the Holy Ghost, and to de-
face its altars or mar its walls or cru mble
its pillars Is "a God Gefyiug sacrilege." He
n nm
tomical and physiological. He says, God
has given me a wonderful body for noble
purposes" That arm with thirty-two cur
icus bones Welded by forty-six curious
muscles, and all under the brains teleg-
raphy $50 pounds OF blood rushing
through the heart every hour, the heart In
twenty-four hours beating 1000 900 times,
during the same time the lungs taking in
ftty-seven hogsheads OF mir, and all this
mechanism not more mighty than delicate
~and eHsily disturbed and demolished.
The Christian man says TO himself. 'If
hurt my nerves, IL 1 hurt my brain, IL /
hurt any OF my physical faculties. insult
God and call for dire retribution." Way
did God tell the Levitrs not to offer TO Him
in sacrifice animals i'm perfect and diseased?
He meant TO tell US In all the ages that we
Are 20 offer TO God our very best physical
condition and a man who through irregular
orgluttonous eating ruins his health T. not
Offering to God such a sacrifice. Why did
Paul write for his cloak at Troas? Why
should such great man as Paul be anx-
ious about n thing so Insignificant a. an
overcoat? IL was because he knew that
with pneumonia and rhematism he would
not be worth half ns much to God and the
church az with respiration easy aal foot
free.
An intelligent Christian man would con-
slider it an absUrdity 10 kneel down at night
and pray and ask Gods protection while
at the same time he kept the windows Of
hls BEDROOM tigh. shut against fresh air
He would just as soon think OF going 10
the top Of his house and leaping OF and
then praying to God 10 keep hin from get
ting hurt. Just a. long rs you refer this
whole subject of physical health TO the
realm Of whimsicality or 10 the pastry cook
or TO tue butcher or to the baker or to
the apOthecary or 10 the clother, you are
not acting like n Christian. Take care OF
all your physical forces-nervous, muscu-
lar, bone, brain, cellular tissue-for all you
must be brought TO judgment.
Smoking your nervous system into fd-
gets, burning out the coating OF your
stomach with wine, logwooded and
strychnlned, 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, groaning
about sick headache and palpitation ot :he
heart which you think came from God.
when they came from your own folly.
What right has any man or woman TO de-
face the temple oi the Holy Ghost, What
H. the ear? Why. it Ia the whispering gal
lery OF the human soul. What Is the eyeg
1. is the observatory God constructed its
telescope sweeping the heavens. so won
derful are these bodies that God names
His own attributes after different parts o
them. His Omniscience-it IL Gods eve
His omuipresence-it il Gods ear. His
omnipotence--it Is Gods arm.
When II becomes Christian duty 10 take
care ot our health, IL not the whole ton.
dency toward longevity II I toss my
watch about reckicssly aHd drop il on the
pavement and wind it up at any time Of
day or night | happen TO think OF it, and
often lei ii run down. while you are careful
with your watch and never abuse il and
wind Il up just at the same hour every
night aud put 1t 10 a place where Il will
not suffer from tho violent changes OF at
mosphere, which watch will last the
longer Common sense answers. Now.
the human bodyis Gods watch. You see
the hands Of the watch. You see the fare
OF the watch. but the beating ofthe heart Il
the ticking OF the watch. Oh, be careful
and 10 not let IL run down
Again, / remark that practical religion
Il friend Of longevity in the fact that IL
IL a protest against disslpations which 10
iUre and destroy the health. Bad men
aud women live a very short life. Their |
slns Kill them. know hundreds OF good
old men. but DO not know half dozen |
bad Old meu. Why They do not get old. !
Lord Byron died at Missolonghi at thirty |
ak years OF uge, himself his own Mazeppa. |
his unbridied passions the horse that |
dashed with him into the desert Edgar |
A Poe died at Baltimore NJ thirty-eigbt |
years % age. Tue black raven that |
alighted on his bust above lis chamber |
door was delirum trcmens.
Only this and nothing more.