Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-02-19


Positive Christian Duty-A Gospel
of Life.
Copyright. Louis Klopsch, 1907
WASHINGTON, heb. 1S.-ThiS sermon
of DR.. Talmage presents gospel fol-
this life as well as the next and shows
what religion does for the prOlonga-
ton of earthly existence; text. Psalm
xci, is, with long life will | satisfy
him.
Through the mistake of its friends
religion has been chiefly associated
with sickbeds and grayeyards. The
whole subject to many people is odor-
Gus with chlorine and carbOlic acid.
There are people who cannot pro-
Beunce the word religion without hear
ing in it the clipping chisel of the
tombstone cutter. 1t is high time that
this thing were changed and that re-
ligien, instead of being represented as
a hearse to carry out the dead, should
be represented as a chariot in which
the hS-ing are to triumph.
Religion. so far from subtracting
from ones vitality, is a glorious addi-
ton. Il is sanative, curative, hygienic.
1t is good for the eyes, good for the
ears. goa1 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 II rs mild sickness or an
emaciati0n or an attack of moral and
spiritual cramp. He speaks of 1T as
''the saving health of all nations"
while God in tue text promises Ion
gevity to the pious. saying. with long
life will l 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-
lab lived 969 years. AS late in the his
tory of the world as Vespasian there
were at one time in his empire 45 peO-
pie 135 years old. So far down as the
sixteenth century Peter Tartan died at
1S5 years of age. do not say that ra,
iigion wifi ever take the race back to
antediluvian longevity, but l do say
that the length Of human life will be
greatly improved
1t is said in Isaiah XIV, 20, 1.-THE child
shall die 100 years old" Now, if, ac-
cOrding to Scripture, the child is to be
100 years old 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
generation that are to come. Take
the African race. They have been I'M
der bondage for centuries. Give them
a chance. and they develop a Tous
saint rOuverture. And if 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
1t full power for Il few centuries. and
who can tell what will be the strength
Of man and the beauty of woman and
the longevity of aue
Friend OF Longevity
My design is to show that practical
religion is the friend of longevity. l
prove it, first, from the fact that it
makes the care Of our health positive
Christian duty Whether we shall keep
early or late hours, whether we shall
take food digestible or indigestible,
whether there shall be thorough or in
complete mastication, are questions
whimsicality> but the Christian man
lifts this whole problem of health into
the accountable and the divine He
says, God has given me this body,
and he has called it the temple of the
Holy Ghost. and to deface it's affairs or
mar it's walls OF crumble it's pillars is
God defying Sacrilege." He sees
Gods caligraphy in every page-ana-
tomical and physiological. He says,
God has given me a wonderful body
for noble purposes" That arm with
30 curious bones welded by 46 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 1O0, 900 times. dur
ing the same time the lungs taking in
81 hogSneadS of air, and all this mech
anism not more mighty than delicate
and easily disturbed and demolished.
The Christian man says to himself.
eff | hurt my nerves, if l hurt my
brain. if I hurt any of my physical fac
ulties. l insult God and call for dire
retribution." Why did God tell the
Levites not to offer to him in sacrifice
animals imperfect and diseased? He
meant to tell us in all the ages that we
are TO offer to God our very best phys
ical condition. and man who through
irregular or gluttonous eating ruins
his health is not offering to God such a
sacrifice Why did Paul write for his
cloak at Troas? Why should such q
great man as Paul be anxious about a
thing so Insignificant as an overcOat?
1t was because he knew that with
pneumonia and rheumatism he would
not be worth half as much to God and
the church as with respiration easy
and foot free