The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1902-04-17
CHRISTIAN RELIGION
It Is as Good in This World as the
Next, Says DR.. Talmage.
GOdIiNess Profitable Unto All
Thinxs''--Influence of the Cos
pel of Christ-ReIiGiOn and
the Intellect.


copyright, 1902 by Louis Klopsch, N. VI
Washington.
In this discourse DIR. Talmage advo-
Gates the idea that the Christian re-
ligion is as good for this world as the
next and will help us to do anything
that ought to be done at all; l Tim
othy iv. s, Goodness is profitable unto
all things, having promise of the life
that now is and of that which is to
come"
There is a gloomy and passive way
of waiting for events to come upon us,
and there is heroic way of going out
to meet them, strong in God and fear
ing nothing. When the body of Cati-
line was found on the battlefield, it
was found far in advance of all his
troops and among the enemy, and the
best way is not for us to lie down and
let the events of life trample over us,
but to go forth in Christian spirit
determined to conquer. You are ex-
pecting prosperity, and l am deter
mined, so far as have anything to do
with it, that you shall not be disap-
pointed, and, therefore, propose, as
God may help me, to project upon your
attention a new element of success.
You have in the business firm frugali-
ty, patience, industry, perseverance,
economy-a very strong business firm
but there needs to be one member add
ed, mightier than them all, and not
silent partner either, the one intro
duced by my text, Goodness, which is
profitable unto all things, having the
promise of the life that now is as we'll
as of that which is to come"
Isuppose you are all willing to admit
that godliness is important in it's eter-
nal relations, but perhaps some of you
| say: "All l want is an opportunity to
say prayer before 1 die, and all will
be WELL" There are great many peo-
pie who suppose that if they can finally
get safely out of this world into bet
ter world they will have exhausted the
entire advantage of our holy religion.
They talk as though religion were
mere nod of recognition which we are
to give to the Lord Jesus on our way
up to heavenly mansion; as though
it were an admission ticket, of no use
except to give in at the door of Heaven.
And there are thousands of people who
have great admiration for a religion
of the shroud and a religion of the
coffin and religion of the hearse and
religion of the cemetery who have
no appreciation of a religion for the
bank, for the farm, for the factory,
for the warehouse, for the jewelers.
shop, for the office. Now, while l
would not throw any slur on a post
mortem religion, want to-day to eulo-
gize an antemortem religion. A re-
ligion that is of no use to you while
you live will be of no use to you when
you die. Goodness is profitable unto
all things, having promise of the life
that now is as well as of that which
is to come" And 1 have always no.
ticed that when grace is very low in
mans heart he talks great deal in
prayer meetings about deaths and
about collins and about graves and
about churchyards. I have noticed
that the healthy Christian, the man
who is living near to God and is on
the straight road to Heaven, is full
of jubilant satisfaction and talks
| about the duties of this life, under
standing well that if God helps him to
live right He will help him to die right.
Now, in the first place, l remark
that godliness is good for mans phys
ical health. l do not mean to say that
it will restore a broken down consti-
tuition or drive rheumatism from the
limbs or neuralgia from the temples or
pleurisy from the side, but do mean
to say that it gives one such habits and
puts one in such condition as are most
favorable for physical health. That /
believe, and that l avow. Everybody
knows that buoyancy of spirit is good
| physical advantage. Gloom, unrest,
| detection, are at war with every pull
sation of the heart and with every res
| piration of the lungs. They lower the
vitality and slacken the circulation.
while exhilaration of spirit pours the
very balm of heaven through all the
currents of life. The sense of insecur-
| ity which sometimes hovers over an
unregenerate man or pounces upon
| him with the blast of 10000 trumpets
| of terror is most depicting and most
| exhausting, while the feeling that all
things are working together for our
| good now and for our erlasting well
| fare is conducive to physical health.
You will observe that godliness in
duces industry, which is the founda-
tion of good health. There is no law
of hygiene that will keep lazy man
well. Pleurisy will stab him, erysipe-
las will burn him, jaundice will dis
color him, gout will cripple him, and
the intelligent physician will not pre-.
scribe antiseptic or febrifuge or ano.
| dyne, but saws and hammers and yard.
| sticks and crowbars and pickaxes
There is no such thing as good phys
ical condition without positive worl
of some kind, although you shoule
sleep on down of swan or ride in car
riage of seftest upholstery or have OF
| your table all the luxuries that were
poured from the wine watts of IspahaI