Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-02-23
1ALCHARIOT.
SAYS RELIGION IS NOT
a HEARSE.
Human Life Is Prolonged by Prncti-
cal ReIiEion-CaSc OF the Health a
Positive Christinn Duty-A Gospel
Of Life.
ICopyright. Louis Kiopsch. 100. I

of Life.
Copyright, Louis Klopsch. 1901
WASHINGTON. heb. iS-This sermon
of DIR. Talmage presents a GOSPEL for
this life as wen as the next and SHOWS
what religion does for the prolonga-
ton OF earthly existence; text, Psalm
Sci, 10. with long life will satisfy
him."
Through the mistake OF its friends
religion has been chiefly associated
with slckbeds and graveyards. The
whole subject TO many people is odor;
Gus with chlorine ana carbolic acid
There are people who cannot pro-
nounce the word religion without hear.
Ing IN IL the clipping ehisel-, of the
tombstone cutter. IL is high time that
this thing were changed and that re
ligicn. Instead Of being represented as
hearSe to carry out the dead. should
be represented rs n chariot i'm which
the living are TO triumph.
Religion. so far from subtracting
. from ones vitality. is a glorious addi-
tion. IL Is sanatlve. curative, hygienic.
1t is good for the eyes. good for the
cars. good for the spleen, good for the
0'S~SoNhf -VOa AOh 1hC htANtSr SOOu
for the muscles. When David, in an
other part of the Psalms, prays that
religion may be dominant, he does not
speak OF II as mild sickness or an
emaciation or an attack of moral and
spiritual cramp. He speaks of it as
''the saving health of all nations"
while God in the text promises Ion
gevity to the pious, saying, with long
life will / satisfy him"
The fact is that men and women die
too soon. 1t Is high time that religion
N5oined the hand OF medical science In
attempting TO improve human longev-
ity. Adam lived $50 years; Methuse-
Lab lived o6O years. AS late in the his
tory OF the world as Vespasian there
were at one time In his empire 10 peo-
pie 135 years old. So far down as the
sixteenth century Peter Tartan died at
1S5 years OF age. do not say that re-
iigion VIII ever take the race back to
antediluvian longevity, but | do say
that the length of human life will be
greatly improved.
1t is said in Isaiah XIV, 20. 'The child
shall die 100 years old" Now. IL. &C
cording to Scripture. the child is to be
100 years. ld may not the men and wo-
men reach TO 800 and 400 and 500? 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 I'M
der bondage for centuries. Give them
chance, and they develop n Tous-
saint IOuverture. And II the white
race shall be brought out 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 be the strength
OF man and the beauty OF woman and
the longevity of all?
Friend of Longevity.
sly design Is to show shat practical
religion Is the friend OF longevity.
prove IL, first. from the fact that IL
makes the care OF our health n positiye
Christian duty. Whether we shall keen
early or late hours. whether we shall
take food digestible or indlgestible.
whether there shall be thorough or in
complete mastication, are questions
very often referred TO the realm of
whimsicality, but the Christian man
hfts this whole problem OF health into
the accountable and the divine. He
gays, God has given me this body.
and he has called II the temple OF the
Holy Ghost. and to deface its affairs or
mar Its walls or crumble Its pillars is
God defying sacrilcge" He sees
Gods caligraphy i'm every page-ana-
tomicai and physiological. He saws.
God has given me n wonderful body
Tor noble purposes" That arm with
- curious bones welded by 40 curious
muscles. and all under the brains teleg-
raphy-350 pounds OF blood rushing
through the heart every hour, the heart
in "a hours beating 100000 times dur-
ing the same time the lungs taking I'm
% hQSsheads OF air, and all this mech
hnism not more mighty than delicate
nnu easily disturbed and demolished.
Inc Christian man says 10 himself.
III hurt my nerves, IL | hurt my
Drain, IL i hurt any OF my physical fac
ulties. l Insult God and call for dire
retribution." Why did God tell the
Levites not 10 offer TO him In sacrifice
animals imperfect and diseased? He
meant TO tell us In all the ages that we
are 10 otler TO God our very best phys
icai condition. and n man who through
Irregular or gluttonous eating ruins
MS health Is not offering TO God such
sacrifice. Why did Paul write for his
cloak at Troas? Why should such n
great man as Paul be ansSous about a
thing so insignificant as an overcoat;
IL was because he knew that with
pneumonia and rheumatism he word |
not be worth half as much TO God and
the church as with respiration easy
md foot free.
An intelligent Christian man would |
consider IL an absurCllty to kneel down |
Mt 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 or going 10 the top or his
house and leaping of and then pray.
ing to God TO keep him from getting
hurt. Just as long as you refer this
whoie subject OF physical health to the
realm or whimsicality or 10 the pastry
COOK or TO the 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. cellu.
lar tissue-for all you must be brought
TO Judgment
smoking your nervous system into
nogets. burning out the coating of your
stomach with wine, logwooded and
strychnined, walking with thin shoes
10 make your feet look delicate, pinch.
go at the waist until you are nigh cut
In two and neither mart worth anx,
'hihS' greaning about sick headache
ana palpitation of the heart, which
you think came from God, when they
came from your own folly.
What right has any man or woman
70 deface the temple OF the HOLY
Ghost? What is the ear? Why, it is
the whispering gallery OF the human
SOUL What is the eve? II Is tho oh