Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1900-02-24
TRIUMPHAL CHARIOT
Or. TALMAGE SAYS RELIGION Is NOT
A HEARSE.
Human Life Is Prolonged by Prncti-
cal ReIigion-Cnre of the Health IA
Positive Christian Duty-A Gospel
of Life.

cal ReIigiOn-Cnre OF the Health
Positive Christian Duty-A Gospe
of Life.
copyright. Louis Klopsch, 1901
WASHINGTON. Feb. 18-This sermon
OF DR.. Talmage presents a gospel 70
this life as well as the next and show
what religion does for the prolonga
ton of earthly existence; text, Psalm
xcl, 16, with long life will l satisf!
him."
Through the mistake OF Its friends
religion has been chiefly associated
with sickbeds and graveyards. Th,
whole subject to many people is odor
Gus with chlorine and carbolic acid
| There are people who cannot pro-
nounce the word religion without hear
ing in 1t the clipping chisel of the
tombstone cutter. 1t is high time that
this thing were changed and that re-
ligion. instead of being represented as
a hearse to carry out the dead, should
be represented as n chariot in which
the living are to triumph.
Religion, so far from subtracting
from ones vitality, is glorious addi-
tion. 1t is 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 an
other part OF the Psalms. prays that
religion may be dominant. he does not
speak of 1t 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
gevlty 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
Joined the hand Of medical science in
attempting to improve human longev-
ity. Adam lived $50 years: Methuse-
lah lived 900 years. As late In the his
tory of the world as VrSpaslan there
were at one time in his empire ~ peo-
pie 1876 years old. SO far down rs the
sixteenth century Peter Tartan died at
1876 years Of age do not say that re-
ligion will ever take the race back to
longevity. but do say
that the length Of human life will be
greatly improved.
1t is said in Isaiah lxv. 90. The child
shall die 100 years old" Now. If, ac-
rording to Scripture, the child is to be
100 years old may not the men and wo-
men reach to 300 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 |
he African race. They have been un- |
Ter bondage for centuries. Give them |
| chance, and they develop a Tous-
saint rOuverture. And If the white |
ace shall be brought out from under
he serfdom of sin what shall be the
,od1. what shall be the Soul Religion
las only Just touched our world. Give
t full power for a few centuries. and
Who can tell what will be the strength
f man and the beauty of woman and
he longevity of all?
Friend of Longevity.
My design is to show that practical
eligion is the friend Of longevity. l
rove it, first, from the fact that it
makes the care of our health a positive
christian duty. Whether we shall keep
arly or late hours, whether we shall
axe food digestlble or lndigestible,
7hether there shall be thorough or in
omplete mastication, are questions
cry often referred to the realm Of
but the Christian man
fits this whole problem of health into
he accountable and the divine. He
ays, God has given me this body,
nd he has called it the temple of the
Ioly Ghost. and to deface its affairs or
lar its walls or crumble its pillars Is
God defying sacrilege." He sees
od's caligraphy in every page-ana-
,mical and physiological. He says,
God has given me a wonderful body
,r noble purposes" That arm with
curious bones welded by 46 curious '
uscles. and all under the brains teleg-
lphy-350 pounds of blood rushing Il
trough the heart every hour, the heart 0
"a hours beating 100000 times, dur |
g the same time the lungs taking in l.
hogsheads of air, and all this mech
lism not more mighty than delicate i
I'd easily disturbed and demolished. o
The Christian man says to himself, I
4 | hurt my nerves. If | hurt my q
ain. if hurt any Of my physical fac u
ties. insult God and call for dire I
tributlon." Why did God tell the r
evites not to offer to him in sacrifice =
finals imperfect and diseased? He b
cant to tell us in all the ages that we D
e to offer to God our very best phys "
ii condition. and man who through q
regular or gluttonous eating ruins D
s health is not offering to God such a q
crifice. Why did Paul write for his
oak at Troas? Why should such a q
eat man as Paul be anxious about a |
ing so insignificant as an overcoat? Il
was because he knew that with II
eumonia and rheumatism he would q
t be worth half as much to God and II
e church as with respiration easy In
d foot free. y
An intelligent Christian man would
nsider It an absurdity to kneel down IN
night and pray and ask Gods pro- ii
,tion while at the same time he kept M
? windows Of his bedroom tight shut M
ainst fresh air. He would just as II
on think Of going to the top of his m
use and leapng off and then pray
, to God to keep him from getting e'
rt. Just as long as you refer this SO
lole subject Of physical health to the l.
lin of whlmsicality or to the pastry al
)k or to the butcher or to the baker l
to the apothecary or to the clothier, hi
u are not acting like a Christian. al
Ike care Of all your physical forces gt
-vous. muscular. bone. brain. cellu- tr
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