Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1873-04-02
Miscellany
The Rejected Stone.

little that uine-ienlhs Of the sons of men
repeat tn. folly of Asa. To turn to the
Lord in sickness is sternly TO renOunce all
Tast sins against the body. and rigidly to
obey the ten commsn1m 1mcnts of health. To
turn to physicians is patiently TO swallow
much nauseousue's, as if by that penance
one could be made fit for the clean CON-
rnniOnship of the healthy. The common
system of healing does not insist on re-
generation as the condition aud proceed
ent of the better life. The patient may
still cherish most of bis beloved and
deadly sins against the stomach the lungs,
the skin, the brain. if he but duly take
and duly pay for his daily purgation. Il
is a seeking of bodily salvation through
the e'rcu onial law, a cliuging TO faith
withou, works, which is dead.
1t is true that the coucieDtious physi-
clau Ieiuscs 10 NO NucH HaIln, u ne HuuH
he cannot do much good. He commonly
transfers his patient to the skillfu hands
of Nature while pretending 10 exercise
disease by the waving Of his own. But
professional conscience is almost as rare
as professional skill. Moreover. it is
costly. And a thousand victims prescribe
for themselves some witches brew from
the Druggists aud a hundred crowd the
Office of some cheap and noisy quack,
where one seeks the expensive counsel of
honest ability.
Yet it never seems to occur to the NOR.
alist aud the reformer that thriving
pharmacy on every other street corner is
satire upon our Christianity and re.
proach upon our civilization. We forgot
how many hundred of thousands of church
members the land IS enriched wilhal, but
1t does not contain one perfectly healthy
person Yet one of the distinctive doc.
rrines of Christianity, as opposed to the
religions which superseded it is that of the
dignity of the body. 10 the Oriental.
holiness was a state Of ralt contemplation
of the Highest. To the Western mind it
is the active service Of Col in gcod works
The Oriental, therefore, finding his body
hindrsnce to his mystical ecstacies, de-
spised aud abused it. The Occidental
secs that the material is meant to be the
best ally of the spiritual, and that the
finest soul demands the finest body. But
though Paul declared the magnificent
truth that the whole man belongs to his
Maker. when he wrote to the sensual
Romans that they we're to offer their bodies
hoiag sacrifices, the race as not yet
comprehended it,
A pagan people insisted on ,he sound
body as the condition of the sound MUD
The heathcu code of Menu says that when
one of she Brobmlns' organs fails his
knowledge Of God passes away thereby,
as water flows through one hole in leath-
ern hottie But we Christians, on whom
alone has been enjoined the conservation
of the body, insult its purity and outrage
its friendship. We give it bad air to
preathe, had food to eat, late hours to jan
gle its exquisite and patient nerves, excl
ting pursuits to wear it out untimey, end
less work to exhaust it, and make it crave
false strength from stimulunts. And. f.
nally. in our ignorant and selfish fear 10
lose the obedient drudge of our ambitious
and our pleasures, we torture it to a slow
and painful death with patent medicines.
Then, if we die iu the odor of sanctity
there is much posthumous gabble of in
scrutable providcnces, and much mis-
calling of names. that deing pronounced a
stroke of Heaven which is really the sui
cidal folly of man.
The swift road to ftrtuue is thcgcencoc-
ton fsome popular pill or favorite syruY
Every blank wall in the city sets forth
E -
their lying claims to patronage. Their
superscriplion defiles rock ard tree by
every country roadside. The columns Of
the newspapers bristle with their brassy
professions. And, worse than all, they
are bought because generation perishes
for want of that help which they falsely
promise. a
Human people are seeking to reform
lails. houses of correction, alms.houses and
insane asylums. But no reform is vital
which does not thin the ranks ofthe class
es which Gil those sad seclusions. And
only sound physical health will lessen th'ir
number. Drunkenness Is a prolific cause
of crime and modness. But drunkenness
is itself a disease, and the result of dis
ease. Lust breeds offences. But the
lustful man is tormented with ovcr-much
blood at the hack of hishead. There are