Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-08
Sunday Morning Talk.
Body and Soul-Their Mutual Serv-
ice.

ice.
Wonderful. indeed. transcending the ca
pacity of philosopher or poet to express
in language is the subtle. indissoluble re-
lation between the body and the soul.
That man is combination of both Is the
belief that has persisted through the
ages, despite the assertions of material
ism that there Is no such thing as the
soul. Humanity. speaking broadly, has
refused to believe that faith and hope
and love and the aspiration after holiness
and the craving after God and all the
higher and finer human emotions were
nothing but molecular vibrations or that
they are secreted by some physical organ
just as the liver secretes bile and the
eyes tears.
If they are only that. why does not
some powerful magnifying glass. some
x-ray, some sharp scalpel disclose them
to view? But you may dissect and probe
till doomsday and you will not uncover
the attributes of the human spirit And
yet that they exist Is our profoundest con-
viction and we believe also that they are
the characteristics that distinguish us
from the lower orders of creation. When
we see a splendidly developed physical
organism and find, after contact with IT.,
that it incloses shriveled mind or a
starved and stunted soul we feel that the
person on whom we are looking is hardly
a complete man.
Yet this inner, insubstantial entity is by
no means Independent of its outer casing.
Here in the body pent" we must pay
due regard to the Just claims of corpo-
reity Our souls will not thrive II we fall
to give the body what it needs In the way
of exercise food and sleep. If you really
think your soul absolutely controls the
situation just go without your resular
meals tomorrow and see how cross you
will be before nightfall. How indeed can
the soul get it's behests performer, now
can it find expression for Its esthetlc' us
altruistic, its religious instincts apar.
from hands and feet and eyes and voice!
So when we use the homely old phrase
about keeping soul and body together
we really mean more than we are usuaiiy
aware Of when we sometimes employ the
expression. Keeping soul and pooy To-
gether does not mean simply the nHulns "
sustenance whereby this curious blend OF
the material and spiritual in us can go on
from day to day. but the phrase ought to
mean the closest sort OF aliiance DetWeen
body and soul whereby each Will nave Its
proper nourishment and opportunity ana
both develop tremendously and symmetri-
cally. ...
There are signs that this materialistic
age of ours, which has put so much EN-
phasis on physical development, is aWak.
ing to the fact that there are remedial
forces within the soul itself which make
for health The soul can no longer be
disregarded when we are searching far
and wide for every instrumentality that
NAV build I'D the body. Doctors. when
they cali upon their patients today. are
asking not simply about the temperature
of the room and the state of the digestive
organs. they are doing something be-
sides feeling the pulse and looking at the
tongue. They are informing themselves
concerning the sick mans general outlook
upon life, the state of his mind and his
emotions Along with their pills and
powders they are dispensing gospel of
good cheer and trying to rally the pa
tents inward forces to do their proper
work. It is but another recognition Of
the great truth that man does not live
by bread alone. What some of these in-
ward remedial forces are we shall consid-
err next week. THE PARSON.