The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-03-02

Vlneiy c0nStructeC-ie US De cdre1ul
not to abuse IL.
When It becomes a Christian duty to
take care of our health, is not the
whole tendency oward longevity? II
I toss my watch about recklessly and
drop il on the pavement and wind II
up any time of day 1 happen to think
of 1t and often let 1t run down while
you are careful with your watch and
never abuse 1t and wind 1t up just at
the same hour every night and put it
in a place where 1t will not III from
the violent changes Of atmosphere,
which watch will last the longer? Com
mon sense Now, the human
body is Gods 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. Oh,
be careful and do not let il run down.
PROTEST AGAINST DISSIPATION.
Again, 1 remark that practical re-
ligion is a friend Of longevity in the
fact that it is a protest against dissi-
pations which injure and destroy the
health. Bad men and women live a
very short life. Their sins kill them.
/ know hundreds of good old men, but
/ do not know half a dozen bad old
men. Why? They do not get Did. Lord
Byron died at Missolonghi at So years
Of age, himself his own MaZeppa, his
unbridled passions the horse that
dashed with him into the desert. Ed
gar A. Poe died at Baltimore at 50
years OF age. The black raven that
alighted on the bust above his cham
Der door was delirium tremens.
Only this and nothing more.
Napoleon Bonaparte live only just
beyond midlife, then died at st. Hele-
ma, and n Of his doctors said that
his disease was induced by excessive
snuffing. The hero of Austerlitz, the
man who by one step of his foot in the
center OF Europe shook the earth. kill
ed by a snuffboxi Oh, how many people
we have known who ave not lived out
half their days because of their dissi-
p~ations and ~indulgencies. Now, prac-
teal religion is a protest against all
dissipation of any kind.
But" you say, professors of relig-
ion have fallen, professors of religion
have m~isappropriated trust funds,
professors of religion a W absconded."
Yes, they threw away their religion be-
fore they did their morality. If a man
on a White Star Line steamer bound
for Liverpool, in mid-Atlantic jumps
overheard and Is drowned, is that
anything against the White Star
Lines capacity to take the man across
the ocean? And If a man jumps over
the gunwale of his religion and goes
down never to rise, is that any reason
for your believing that religion has no
capacity to taxi man clear through?
In the one case if he had kept to the
steamer his body woul have been
saved; in the other case if he had kept
to his religion his morals would have
been saved.
There are aged people who would
have been dead 25 years ago but for
the d%efenses and the equipoise of re-
ligion. You have no more natural re-
sistance than hundreds of people who
lie in the cemeteries today, slain by
their own vices. The doctors made their
case as kind and pleasant as they
could, and it was called congestion of
the brain or something else, but the
makes and the bluef1ies hat seemed
to crawl over the pillow in the sight of
the delirious patient showed what was
the matter with him.. You, the aged
Christian man, walked along by that
unhapny one until you came to the
golden pillar of the Christian life. You
went to the right: he went to the left.
That is all the difference between you.
Oh, if this religion is a protest against
all forms of dissipation, then it is an
illustrious friend of longevity. With
long life will I satisfy him"
TAKES AWAY WORRY.
Again religion is a friend of longevity
in the fact that it takes the worry out
VI Jul NCIipOi dlllitS. II IL HOl " lid
kills men; it is worry. When a man
becomes a genuine Christian, he makes
over to God not only his affections, but
his family, his business, his reputa-
ton. his body, his mind, his soul
everything. Industrious he will be, but
never worrying, because God is man
aging 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 gains that is
best and if he lose that is best?
Suppose you had a supernatural
neighbor who came in and said: Sir,
l want you to call on me in every ex-
igency- 1 am your fast friend; I could
fall back on $50, 0O0, 900; | can foresee a
panic ten years; I hold the controlling
stock in so of the best monetary in
situations of this country; whenever
you are in any trouble call on me and
l will help you; you can have my
money and you can have my influence;
here is my hand in pledge of it." How
much would you worry about business?
Why, you would say, I'll do the best
l can, and then I'll depend on my
friends generosity for the rest"
Now more than that is promised to
every Christian business man. God
says to him, i own New York and Lon
don and ST. Petersburg and Picking
and Australia and California are mine
Il IAN CSCC q pdhiS q lLOuSdllo cal
1 have all the of the uni
verse; and 1 am your fast friend:
when you get in business trouble or
any other trouble, call on me and l
will help; here is my hand in pledge of
o%mnipotent 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?
Is there not an eternal vacation in
this?
oh" you say, here is'a man who
asked God for a blessing in a certain
enterprise. and he lost IS, 900 in it. Ex-
plain that" I will. Yonder is a factory
and one wheel is going north. and the
other wheel is going south, and one
wheel plays literally, and the other
plays vertically. I go to the manufac-
turer, and L say: go manufacturer,
your machinery is a contradiction.
Why do you not make all the wheels
go one way" WELL" he says, Il
made them to go in opposite directions
on purpose. and they produce the right
result. You go down stairs and exam
inc the carpets we are turning out in
this eSta hliShnonf and will q ,,