The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-09-29
A PHYSICIANS VIEW OF SIN.
The Relation of Pure, wholesome
Food to the Drink
Problem.

An article by Rev. David Beaton re-
Gently appeared in a religious journal,
in which the writer expresses convic-
lions that are fast gaining ground
among those who see natural rela-
ton between the physical and moral
constitution of man. The author says:
8 Sin is any want of conformity
unto or transgression of the law of
God This definition is all but per-
feet from the point of view of the the
Ologian, and carries even to the lay
mind fine sweep of ethical dignity in
its resistless inference that the moral
law is the will of God. But have we not
almost universally thought of this law
as relating to theft, murder, unclean
desires and all those moral errors that
arise out of the unregenerate heart?
How seldom, even among Christians of
intelligence and pety, do we think of
our eating habits as being gross
breach of some of the plainest laws of
God.
81 heard physician of interna-
tiOnal fame speak on this subject in a
way that cast a searching light on
some of the moral problems of our
time. 'IntoXication,' he said, we all
allow to be a sin; but intoxication lies
rot alone in drinking alcohol or chew
ing bang or smoking opium and to-
bacco. but in the eXcitation of any
sensuous felicity for the mere pleas.
Ire of such excitement. Such unlaw-
fII1 eypitemeDt iS mora franuan t1y pro-
cured by our pampered and gross hab-
its of eating than by the use of alco-
hol and narcotics. The ordinary eat
ing habits of the Christian world he
went on to say, are poisonous, and
therefore sinful. Mothers teach chill
dren by the use of sweet cake, candies.
condiments, pickles and other noxious
things that our object in eating is
sensuous felicity. The young mind is
thus perverted in tie very nest as to
the physiological and moral purpose
Of eating. This sin is on the ground
floor of physical life, and one sin leads
to another. The poisoning and bis
tering of the stomach by the use of
vicious foods leads to the craving for
strong drink
"A young lady who was being
treated for neurasthenia came under
this physicians care. She confessed
TO him that she was confirmed drink
er Of spirits. Her appetite had been
awakened at first by highlyspiced
foods then she had tasted beer and
wine, and now she was drinking bran
dy aud -bi ulyv ot bn 70 Of NJ
a day. Her two brothers were con-
irmed dipsomaniacs, and she was
overwhelmed in the same horror.
The mother of those children said
the physician, in tones of serious moral
earnestness, was herself the cause of
their sin As | listened to this ar
raignment of our common dietary hab-
It's could but feel that sin and law
and God are realities brought nearer
the physical life of man, and for which
there is an immediate responsibility.
THE position here is not that intoX-
ication and gormandizing are sins
that goes without saying. But it is
that the eating of such things as
science proves to breed disease. to pro-
duce a craving for strong drink and
p desire for sensuous excitement. is
sin; that there is a physiological basis
for sin, and that many a depraved
taste began with a diseased body; that
there is an intimate relation between
What a man eats and what a man is,
morally and spirituality; that the per-
son who eats for mere sensuous pleas
i.ce. who eats grossly, who eXcites the
palate with spices, pickles, condiments
and other poisonous and irritating ar