Middletown transcript., 1886-02-12
THE HIGHER LAW OF HEALTH
Read at q Meeting of the Baltimore
w, @. r. u.

he4u u N1CCOhnk VA Viz
w. G. T. U.
Some years ago, before I knew any
thing of the Woman's Christian Tenn
perance Union excepting its mere ex-
istence, friend invited me TO attend
meeting that was to be addressed BY
one whom many of you know and love-
our dear Hannah Whitall Smith.
She began her address with saying,
that behind every face before her;
even the youngest, she knew there
was care, care of one kind or another,
and that she also knew how each one
could be rid Of that care and longed
to be able to make the way plain to
them.
That was a red-letter day in my
life. Ny eyes were opened as never
before and God has continued the les
sons then begun, in one way and an
other, until to-day I believe that l
know how many of those before me
can be rid Of a care, somewhat differ
ent from the ones spoken Of by Mrs.
Smith, but one that keeps many in
the direst bondage, and long to be
able to make the way plain in this.
At a recent meeting Of the officers
of this union, it was saddening indeed
in the reading aloud Of a partial list Of
the members, to hear of one after an
other unable by reason of sickness to
attend to the duties she had taken
upon heself in this glorious work
the dear Lords work. One was in
bondage to cold, heavy cold; another
to severe rheumatism, another to ma.
larial fever and so on. This, l know,
is also the case with many here to-day,
one is in bondage to sick headaches,
another to nervous headaches, another
to terrible backaches, and SO through
the long list of miserable ailments
with which humanity expects to be
afflicted.
Now is it not saddening? Gods
children, joint heirs with Christ, each
with a work to do for Him none other
in His universe can possibly do-yet
using Gods time and their own abili.
ties in nursing and caring for them
selves, and making Of God a hard,
cruel Father, in thus affecting them!
Oliver Wendell Holmes said years
ago, 1t is a sin to be sick" More re-
Gently Herbert Spencer wrote" All
breaches Of the laws Of health are
physical SINS" while Emerson writes,
"Sickness is mean-spirited. 1t cannot
help others. 1t must be waited upon.
These statements may startle some Of
you who are wont to believe God
sends our bodily ills, but there are
many Of G DDS people to-day, who be-
lieve they dishonor God in thinking
thus, who believe that it is in mea-
sure sin to be sick, that God does
not send these ailments to affiict them
any more than He sends their sins to
torment them.
Frederick Robertson, the eminent
clergyman of the church Of England
whose teachings have been SO helpful
to struggling humanity; said in a SER
mon on End Corinthians in which oc-
ours the passage My grace is suf:
ficient for thee, for My strength is
made perfect in weakness" eve
must not allow our understandings to
be so perverted as to think that be-
cause pain can be blessed to us it is in
itself a blessed thing and ought to be
liked by a Christian. Very unreal
habits habits e eef thought are thus fostered In
the dark ages, squallor and
filth and wretchedness were sometimes
considered as the highest saintliness,
and men coveted the pain rather than
tried to be rid of it. Now the Bible
is never unnatural. 1t calls these
things evils, recognizing them as mes
sengers from Satan, though often
blessed by God, and to be got rid ioi
if possible. = = = y
= * Thus taught Robertson,
who died more than thirty years ago,
and but yesterday I read this 10 re-
cent sermon by clergyman of an en-
tirely different church: "The words,
am the Lord that healeth thee, and