The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1900-02-23
LIVING IN CHRIST.
Dr.. Talmage Speaks of the Benefits
CT a Religious Existence.
dow 1t Makes It's Devotees Happier
-PracticuI Religion the Friend
of Longevity Gospel of
Everyday Life.
Copyright. 1850, by Louis k!opslh)
WASHINGTON.

Washington.
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 xci.. 10: with long
life will l 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-
Il 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 a hearse to carry out the dead
should be represented as a chariot in
which the living are TO triumph.
Religion. SO far from subtracting
from ones vitality, is a glorious addi-
ton. 1t is sanitiyc, 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 part Of the Psalms, prays
that religion may be dominant, he
does not speak of it as a 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: "With long life will | satisfy
him"
The fact is that men and women
die too soon. 1t is high time that re-
ligion joined the hand Of medical sci
ice in attempting to improve human
longevity. Adam lived $50 years.
MethuseIah lived 900 years. rs late
in the history of the world as Nespa-
sian there were at one time in his en-
pire 45 people 1875 years old. So far
down as the sixteenth century Peter
Tartan died at 1S5 years of age. | do
not say that religion will ever take
the race back to antcdiluyian longey-
ity, but | do say that the length Of hui
man life will be greatly improved.
1t is said in Isaiah Ky, 20: 9Th"
child shall die Il hundred years old
Now. if, according to Scripture. the
child is 10 be a hundred years old,
may not the len and women reach
to 800 and 400 and 500? The fact is
that we are mere dwarfs and skele-
tons compared with some of the gen
crations that are to come. Take the
African race. They have been under
bondage for centuries. Give them a
chance and they develop a Toussaint
lOuverture. And if the white race
shall be brought out from the serf-
dom Of sin what shall be the body?
What shall be the soul? Religion has
only just touched our world. Give it
full power for a few centuries, and
who can tell what will be the strength
OF man and the beauty OF woman and
the longevity OF oil?
Ny design is to show that practical
religion is the friend Of longevity; |
rtp,e IaT,n aa.;
,"'NIS 'Unr r Hau
G"'H' ""''nJ'
shall take food digeStible or indigestt-
bic. whether there shall be thorough
nr ;ron,nn1o+o m,s+ioo,ion y o,,es.
,;aa. ,an, ar4on uata,noL ~ ,Lo ra,lr,
Of whimsicality, but the Christian man
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The ages mat we are TO ofler 10 "oa
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