The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-04-20
Health q Religious Duty.

Subjoined is an abstract OF an ad-
dress on "The Care OF Health Reli-
gious Duty" given by Rev. j. Edward
Wright before the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union of Montpelier,
April 10, 1898.
Mr.. Wright referred to the deplorable
neglect of the laws of health by many re-
ligious people, who acted at times as il, in
cases of sickness and death God required
nothing OF them beyond humble submission
and trust. In illustration, he referred to
the experience of Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, a
celebrated Scotch divine, whose wife a
sanity woman in many respects, fell into a
pitiful state OF melancholy; while four of
his children died early And Mr.. Erskine
apparently saw no connection between
these sorrows and the facts that the chill
carious state Of health, and the parsonage
was in an unwholesome situation. The
speaker urged that laws written in the ply
steal constitution Of man were as fully
Gods laws as II traced by his hand on ia
bles OF stone and that religion, whether
defined as soul-culture, or as intended to
teach us to glorify God, or as having for its
aim our advancement in holiness, in each
and every case required the conscientious
care Of the body. AS to soul-culture, who
can enjoy prayer when suffering from
raging headache? Who can enjoy sweet
communion with God, amid the pangs of
Indigestion? AS to clarifying God that is
accomplished not merely by songs of praise,
but by acts OF devotion and service. Here
in is my Father glorifed, that ye bear much
fruit" said Jesus. And the loss OF health
involves the loss Of usefulness AS to the
attainment of ness,-holiness, as the
derivation of the word suggests, is compre-
hensive, and should be broadly interpreted
as wholeness involving the complete devel-
opment OF the whole man in all his complex
nature, his body, as we'll as his soul and spirit.
Mr.. Wright then emphasized the special
duty of young people to preserve health
and vigor, not merely for their own sakes,
but also for the sake OF those who would
inherit their strength or their weakness;
and he concluded as follows: "By and by a
young man will lean over the bedside of
one more precious in his sight than his own
life, and will cry in agony, 'Ohl could 1
only turn deaths hand from my child.
would give everything possessp He will
spare no money, no pains, no self-denial.
He will watch at that bedside night after
night, and pay no heed to his own exhaus-
ton, though his watching and yearning be
evidently all in vain. But to-day, 1t may
be, although he knows that prudence and
self-denial cannot possibly be useless, he Is
constantly refusing to give up an acknowl-
edged vicious habit, which, by undermin-
ing his own constitution, is laying the
foundation of weakness and disease for his
children. Oh, friends! it is blind folly to
be so agonized over an event when we can
not help it, and to be perfectly indifferent
to 1t when we can help it. We want sense,
as we'll as sensibility. 1t Is worse than
folly; 1t is sin. Health is a duty Health is
a duty And those of us who mean to do
our duty should enlarge our ideas Of its
scope. We would not say what is FALSE
by no meansl We would not take what is
not our own, by no meansl We would not
be guilty of profanity, nor would we in
dulge in back-biting, -neverl We would
not maltreat an animal, God Forbid And
vet it is more than possible that day by day
we are maltreating the noblest form of ami
NAL creation,-our own marvelously con-
trived bodies.
This phase of duty deserves more and
more study from us, and especially from the
Young; for this il surely true: When the
laws OF physical well-being have been faith
fully and universally observed for a few
generations, then there will be found upon
this stage OF action a race of men and
women beautiful with a well-rounded, SYM
metrical, attractive powerful, lovely Chris
tianity. Their "holness" will be, as it
should be, "wholeness." That Christian
ity will not be darkened by the gloom and
chill of morbid introspection IL will not be
defaced by the repulsive frown and grabbed
speech of the dyspeptici it will not be weak
ened by the languor and inefiicency of a
flabby physique; but it will be Christian
ity with clear mind TO plan, a strong will
to execute, bright smile to cheer, long
life for usefulness, and death-if IL can be
called death-as gentle as an infants quiet
waking out OF sleep to meet its mothers
loving kiss"