The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1900-03-16
Nl.u O.iRIST.
D.. Talmage So ak5 of the Benefits
of Religious Existence.
How II Makes ItS EeVOtees Happier
practical ReiiSion the Friend
of LOngcNitS - Gospel of
Everyday Life.
Copyright. 1860. by Louis K'opsch)
WashirgtOn. Feb Is.

This sermon of DR.. Talmage pre-
sents a gospel for this life as well as
the next and shows what religion does
for the prolongation of earthly exist
ence; text. Psalm Nci.. 16: with long
life will l satisfy him
Through the mistake Of its friends
religion has been chiefly associated
with sickbcds and graveyards. The
whole subject to many people is odor-
Gus with chlorine and carbolic acid.
There are people who cannot pro-
nounce the word religion without
hearing in it the clipping chisel OF
the tombstone cutter 1t is high time
that this thing were changed and that
religion instead of being represented
as hearse to carry out the dead
should be represented as chariot IN
which the living are 20 triumph.
Religion. so far from subtractng
from ones vitality. is a glorious addi-
ton. Ii is sanitive. 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 ~rt of the Psalms, praAs
that religion may be dominant he
/ does not speak of il as mild sick
ness or an emancipation or an at
tack of moral and spiritual cramp.
He speaks of it as "the saving health
of all nations" while God in the text
promises longevity to the pious. say
ing: "Witn long life will ! satisfy
him
The fact is that men and women
die TOO soon 1t is high time that re-
ligior joined the hand of medical sci
ence in attempting to improve human
longesitv. Adam lived $50 years.
Methuselah lived 900 years. rs late
in the history of the world as \espa-
sian there were at one time i'm lis en-
pire 45 people 135 years Old. So far
down as the sixteenth century Peter
Tartan died at lS5 years of age. do
not saw that religion will ever take
the race back to antediluyian longev-
itv. but do say that the length of hui
man life will be greatly improved.
II is said in Isaiah Ky. 20: "Ihe
child shall die a hundred years old
Now. it, according 10 Scripture the
child is 10 be a hundred years old.
NAV not the men and women reach
TO 800 and 400 and SOC? The fact IS
that we are mere dwarfs and skele-
tons compared with some Of the gem
erations that are 10 come. Take the
African race. They have been under
bondage for centuries Give them a
chance and they develop Toussaint
rOuverture. And if the white race
shall be brought out from the serl-
dom Of sin what shall be the body
What shall be the soul? Religion has
only lust touched our world. Give il
full mower for few centuries. and
who can tell what will be the strength
Of man and the beauty Of woman and
the longevity Of all?
Nv design is TO show that practical
religion is the friend Of Longevity;
nroye il. first. from the fact that II
makes the care of your health posi-
Z tive Christian duty. Whether we shall
keep early or late hours. whether we
shall take food digestible or indigest
bic. whether there shall be thorough
or incomplete mastication. are ques
tions very often referred TO the real
of whinsicality. but the Christian mar
lifts this whole problem of health into
D the accountable and the divine. H'
saws: God has given me this body
and he has called il the temple of th'
Holy Ghost. and TO deface its altar'
or mar its walls or crumble its pillar
is a God-defying sacrilege.' He see
Gods caligraphy in every pagan
, atomical and physiological. He says
n "God has given me a wonderful boo,
for noble purposes" That arm witt
32 curious bones welded by 40 cu
rious muscles. and all under th
brains telegraphy-350 pounds o
blood rushing through the heart ever.
bour-the heart in "a hours beatin'
100000 times. during the same tim
e, the lungs taking in 81 hogsheads o
d. air. and all this mechanism not NOR
l' mighty than delicate and easily DIS
- turbed and demolished.
The Christian man says TO himself
If | hurt my nerves. if l hurt H.
brain. if ] hurt any of my physica
faculties. | insult God and call 10
dire rctribution." Why did God te
the Levites not to offer TO Him
sacrifice animals imperfect and di'
y eased? He meant TO tell MS in a
the apes that we are TO offer to Go
our very best physical condition an
- q man who through irregular or gnu
tonous eating ruins his health. IS nc
Offering 10 God such a sacrifice. WI
did Paul write for his cloak at lroas
WHY should such a great man as fal
no anxious about a thing so insignli
- cant as an overcoat? 1t was becaus
"a he knew that with pneumonia an
rheumatism he would not be wort
- half as much TO God and the churc
~ as with respiration easy and foot ire
An intelligent Christian man wouI
consider it an absurdity TO kneel DOW
at night AID pray and ask Gods pr'
lection while at the same time he kei
Is the windows Of his bedroom tight sh'
apainst fresh air tie would Just
soon think Of going to the top OF d
Il house and leapng of and then pra.
ING to God to keep him from getiir