THE HEALING OF SOUL AND BODY by David Paulson, M. D.; W. S. Sadler

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 12, 1901

THE HEALING OF SOUL AND BODY

By David Paulson, M. D.; W. S. Sadler

DAVID PAULSON, M. D., AND W. S. SADLER

It is not designed that these articles on the subject of Divine Healing shall be regarded as either exhaustive or argumentative. Their purpose is carefully to consider some of the fundamental principles underlying all true healing; and all true healing is divine healing. In this day and age of the world, when so many teachings, errors, and isms are going forth under the guise of divine healing, it is highly essential that every Bible student and lover of truth should become thoroughly acquainted with the foundation principles of health and disease, of sin and righteousness. We have to-day true science, and alongside of it “science” that is only “science falsely so-called.” And just so there is healing that is truly divine, but very often side by side with it may be discovered the teachings of a so-called healing that is false and deceptive, having its origin from beneath. That there is a true healing is evidenced not only by the many bogus healers and their counterfeit healing, but also by that hunger and thirst manifested by so many for truth and light on the subject of the healing of the soul and body.

The farmer faithfully and diligently tills his broad acres; otherwise he would not expect to receive a bountiful harvest at the reaping time. The energetic professional man cultivates his business during the major part of his waking hours; otherwise he would expect soon to go into bankruptcy. The artist spends long years in learning how to mix the different colors so as to bring out those wonderful effects which call forth the admiration of the multitudes. Likewise, those who engage in any calling or profession diligently sow for the harvest they expect to reap. But there are few who have the thought clearly and distinctly fixed in their minds that health must be sown for and cultivated with precisely the same diligence.

Health is not a matter of chance. Its acquirement is based upon laws of cause and effect, which are as eternal as God's own throne. Many a youth who has been reared in the city, if he should attempt to raise a crop of farm products, would not know the difference between pumpkin seeds and melon seeds; and so there are many who stumble along in life, even reaching the years of maturity, who actually give so little thought to the question of sowing for health that they are unable to recognize the “seeds of health,” which must be sown in order to reap its harvest. They expect somehow, somewhere, by accident or Providential interference, to stumble onto the proper things to do, and in the end they hope to be rewarded by gaining that inestimable treasure, good health, a harvest which, while greatly desired, they have never sown for. These same persons would not expect to be successful in business enterprises in which they manifested the same amount of presumption, carelessness, and indifference.

GOD WORKS THE MIRACLE OF HEALTH

God will bless every seed that is sown for health; but unfortunately the question of co-operation with God is treated by many, as by Naaman, with utter indifference, and a presumption that would seem startling if it were not that they are so sincere. They think, as did Naaman, that sooner or later God will, without any effort or response on their part, come to them, “and stand . . . and strike His hand over the place” of their disease, and thus they be able to stand forth in perfect health when a thousand fall on one side, and ten thousand on the other!

It is God who must work for us the miracle of health, whether it is accomplished in the twinkling of an eye, or whether it requires months or years; but the responsibility of having it performed always rests upon the human agent. “Having done all, to stand. Stand therefore.” Eph. 6:13, 14. But there is not a promise in all the Scripture that we shall stand either physically or spiritually unless we have done “all,” no matter how simple that “all” may be.

He who would reap a harvest of perfect health, should have a conscience void of offense toward God and man. He must appreciate the truth that every promise in the Bible is yea and amen to him. He must get a glimpse of how much of heaven he can obtain here below. He need not become one of the procession who appear like a band of crippled mourners journeying to the eternal city. The great miracle of physical and spiritual health is the gift of God, just as the crop of wheat or corn on the farmer’s soil. In every case the responsibility of having the miracle performed rests upon the human agent. We must plant the seed. Of course this would be an utterly useless task if it were not for the life-giving power that God places within the seed.

GOD THE CREATOR, MAN THE CO-OPERATOR

In order for God to impart to man the gift of both physical and spiritual health, hearty physical and spiritual co-operation on the part of the human agent is necessary. In a moral sense, many seek to do right simply because they fear they will be eternally lost if they do not. Likewise, some are willing to come into harmony, at least to a certain extent, with physical law because they have learned from sad experience that they must suffer if they do not. This is an entirely wrong motive for obedience. It is one so saturated with selfishness that God can not consistently reward it with the fullness of blessing. If a person with such a disposition were taken to heaven, he would sooner or later create dissatisfaction.

A mother may drag her child across the floor when it does not wish to go. It may pull back, and dig its heels into the carpet, and yet the mother may drag it along by main force; and so it is with those who give up wrong habits of living simply because of their unpleasant results. They yield obedience only when driven from the path of disobedience by the stern consequences of transgression. How much easier it would be for the mother to lead the child if it followed willingly. Likewise, how much more God can do for a man, both physically and spiritually, when he does right because it is right! In other words, “If there be first a willing mind” (2 Cor. 8:12); in which case God will restore the sufferer as rapidly as it is possible for his permanent good and for God’s glory.

SATAN’S DECEPTION

Satan is ever seeking to make it appear that man, when sowing for good, will never reap the harvest for which he is sowing; and on the other hand, when sowing for evil, somehow, at sometime, he may escape the disastrous harvest. To those who would gain the blessing of physical health and spiritual rest, the devil is constantly saying the very same thing, in effect, that he said to Christ on the mount of temptation: It is not necessary for you to go through this three and one-half years of patient, tedious, and often painful sowing in order to reap the harvest you seek—the reclamation of fallen man and the world on which he lives. It is not true that man reaps only what he sows. Bow down to my plan. Accept the shorter way,—the way that promises a reaping without a sowing,—and you may have this world now, right now.

Thus did Satan reason with our Saviour, and thus does he reason with man to-day. He will tell you that it is not necessary to go through the taxing process of sowing for spiritual and physical health. He will tell you of a miraculous power abroad in the world, which can give health right away, independently of your physical habits or moral condition. Yes, you can have it “right away,” if you will only ignore the great truths of cause and effect, of sowing and reaping, and condescend to accept his perversion of the laws of God, and the heaven-born principles that spring from the divine statutes. Consequently, every apparent miracle the devil works is intended, first and last, to lead the human mind away from obedience to the laws of God.

This attempt at the evasion of the law of sowing and reaping is nothing more nor less than seeking to evade obedience to divine law. Those who look for and desire these miraculous manifestations more than they appreciate and practice the living principles of eternal truth are sure to be carried away with these miracle-working deceptions and perversions. Inspiration has clearly sounded two great warnings for the inhabitants of earth in the remnant of time: First, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Gal. 6:7. Second, “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”

The elect of God must be in possession of that discernment which will see beneath the surface of all miracles, and detect the real spirit of these workings which wear the garb of truth, but, being void of the spirit and flavor of truth, seek to establish their authenticity and authority by miracle working, signs, and lying wonders.