The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1902-03-27
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: The Good Religion Does Us in
This World-Christianity and the In
tellect-Iniuence of the Gospel IN Bust
ness-Can You Get Along without 1t?

| Ut. IdiuldSe ADVOCATES IHe lued LHdC IHe
Christian religion is as good for this world
as the next, and will help us to do any.
thing that ought to be done at all; [ Tim
othy ", 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 a heroic way of going out to meet
them, strong in God and fearing nothing
When the body of Catiline 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 trampe over u.s. but
to go forth in q Christian spirit deter
mined to conquer. You are expecting pros
perity, and | am determined, so far as
have anything to do with it, that you shall
not be disappointed, and, therefore, l pro
pose, as God may help me, to project upon
your attention a new element of success.
You have in the business firm frugahty,
patience, industry, perseverance, economy
"a very strong business frm-but there
needs to be one member added, mightier
than them all, and not silent partner
either, the one introduced 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. "
I suppose you are all willing to admit
IldL ROulIuSSS Is III pOI JdIlI III us SttIIldI
relations, but perhaps some of you say,
"All / want is an opportunity to say a
prayer before / die, and all will be well. "
| There are a great many people who sup
pose that if they can finally get safely out
of this world into better world they will
have exhausted the entire advantage of
our holy religion. They talk as though re-
ligion were a mere nod OF recognition
which we are to give to the Lord Jesus on
| ,1yov 10 lu thOu h
| it were an admission ticket, of no use ex-
cept 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 religion of the coffin and a
religion of the cemetery who have no APP
! probation of a religion for the bank, for
| the farm, for the factory, for the ware
| house, for the jewelers. shop, for the office.
| Now, while | would not throw any slur on
post-mortem religion, [ want to-day to
eulogize an ante-mortem religion. A relg-
ion 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 |
have always noticed that when grace is
very low in a mans heart he talks a great
| deal in prayer meetings about deaths and
about collins and about graves and about
| churchyards. l 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, [ remark that
godliness is good for a mans physical
health. l do not mean to say that it will
restore a broken down constitution or
drive rheumatism from the limbs or neural
gia from the temples or pleurisy from the
side, but do mean to say that it gives
one such habits and puts one in such con-
dition as are most favorable for physical
health. That believe, and that | avow
Everybody knows that buoyancy of
spirit is good physical advantage, Gloom,
unrest, detection, are at war with every
pulsation of the heart and with every res
piration of the lungs. They lower the, Vi
tally and slacken the circulation, while
exhilaration of spirit pours the very balm
of heaven through all the currents of life.
The sense OF insecurity which sometimes
hovers over an unregenerate man or
pounces upon him with the blast of ten
thousand trumpets of terror is most depict
ing and most eXhausting, while the feeling
that all things are working together for
our good now and for our everlasting wei
fare is conducive to physical health.
You will observe that goodness induces
industry, which is the foundation of good
health. There is no law of hygiene that
will keep a lazy man well. Pleurisy will
stab him, erysipelas will burn him, jaun-
dice will discolor him, govt will cripple
him, and the intelligent physician will
not prescribe antiseptic or febrifuge
or anodyne, but saws and hammers
and yardsticks and crowbar3 and pick,
axes. There is no such thing as good
physical condition without positive work
of some kind, although you should sleep
on down of swan or ride in carriage of
softest upholstery or have on your table
all the Injuries that were poured from the
wine watts of Ispahan and Shiraz. Our re-
ligion says: away to the bank, away to
the field, away to the shop, away to the
factory! Do something that will enlist all
the energies of your body, mind aud SOUL!
"Diligent in business. fervent in spirit,
serving the Lord" while upon the bare
back of the idler and the drone comes
down the sharp lash of the apostle as he
says, eff anv man will not work, neither
shall he eat"
Oh, how important is this day, when so
much is said about anatomy and physio-
logy and therapeutics and some new style
of medicine is ever and anon springlng
upon the world. that you should under
stand that the highest school of medicine
is the school of Christ, which declares that
"godliness is profitable unto all things,
having the promise of the life that now is
as well as of that which is to come" 50
if you start out two men in the world with
equal physical health, and then one of
them shall get the religion of Christ in his
heart and the other shall not get it, the
one who becomes a son of the Lord Al
mighty will live the longer. with long
life will | satisfy him and show him My
salvation"
Again / remark that godliness is good
for the intellect. know some have sup
posed that just as soon as a man enters
into the Christian life his intellect goes
into a bedwarfng process. So far from
that, religion will give new brilliancy to
the intellect, new strength to the magma
ton, new force to the will and wider
swing to all the intellectual faculties.
Christianity is the great central fire at
which philosophy has lighted its brightest
torch.
The religion of Christ is the fountain
out of which learning has dipped its clear
est draft The Hehcon poured forth no
such inspiring waters as those which flow
from under the throne of God clear as
crystal.
Religion has given new energy to poesy,