THE SOURCE OF HEALTH by W. S. Sadler, M. D.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Oct 3, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 38.

THE SOURCE OF HEALTH

By W. S. Sadler, M. D.

By W. S. SADLER, M. D.

III. HEALTH A CONTINUOUS MINISTRY OF HEALING.

"I taught Ephraim also; . . . but they knew not that I healed them." Hosea 11:3.

THE wonderful and mysterious arrangement whereby bodily health and mental vigor are momentarily sustained, and the physical powers constantly renewed, is nothing less than a continuous ministry of the healing power of God. When we consider that the body is, as an eminent scientist has said, "a laboratory for the manufacture of poisons," it becomes apparent that extraordinary protective forces must be constantly at work, or else life would speedily be extinguished.

Infinite wisdom and creative skill alone were able to devise a plan whereby man might be able to maintain his physical equilibrium in the face of the ever-changing conditions which constantly threaten his existence. Continued good health and mental vigor are in themselves, a tangible evidence of God’s faithfulness in the ministration of life.

The remarkable fact that the physical mechanism of man possesses the faculty of continuous self-repair, demonstrates that the healing power of God is all the time at work within the human body. The fact that man, under normal and natural conditions, does not have to cease his activities for long periods in order to recuperate his physical powers, is due to the unremitting care of the One all-wise and all-powerful who "knoweth our frame" and "remembereth that we are dust." In love and wisdom God provides for the renewing of our wasted energies and the momentary repair of the wear and tear incident to our daily life and action.

The inexplicable process by which our food is converted into blood, bone, and muscle, each to act its part in the maintenance of the physical economy, is likewise a mystery. The plant world utilizes the elements of the mineral kingdom, out of which it builds up the various food elements, and these in turn are utilized by man in the sustenance of physical life, being ultimately resolved into heat, force, and thought.

"I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord that healeth thee." Ex. 15:26.

God has pledged that He will maintain health free from disease for the people who will perfectly obey His laws—all of them. It is indeed remarkable that men of to-day, even after centuries of physical decadence, are able to maintain their physical health in the face of such overwhelmingly unfavorable circumstances. When we pause to consider that the average individual, under ordinary conditions of life, is surrounded by untold millions of disease germs, it is truly wonderful, not that a few succumb, but that any are able to maintain a state of health and physical well-being.

If the instantaneous and miraculous restoration of lost health may be regarded as a manifestation of divine power, certainly it requires no less a power to constantly maintain the physical health under the varying conditions and struggles incident to our daily life. The state of health in which the mental, moral, and physical powers are performing their normal work under favorable conditions, is of itself no less a mystery than when this normal arrangement has been interfered with, and the Lord sees fit to heal disease and restore health by the instant touch of His miraculous power.

The precision and faithfulness with which even the smallest cells of the body carry on their allotted work, the ability of the physical organism to adapt itself to unfavorable environment, and to intelligently combat the many foes of life and health, are all evidences of the sustaining and healing power at work within the man. While it is indeed a wonder that those who are stricken by disease ever recover, it is an equal mystery that so few succumb to the death-dealing influences that abound in contaminated air, polluted water, and unwholesome food.

VEGETARIANISM.

DR. RAMARAT, of Madras, India, speaking before the British Medical Association, held at Toronto, August 21-25, as reported in the Medical Record, said he represented hundreds of thousands of his fellow countrymen who had never touched meat or eggs or fish in any form. Even on his trip of ten thousand miles, he had given vegetarianism of this absolute kind a fair trial. He had not found it wanting. He had carried on a very active professional life for twenty-four years, and was sure that all the ordinary activities could be exercised without meat or the abundance of proteids consumed in the West. On the voyage he had seen many pitying glances cast at him because of his abstemiousness. He thought that the pity should be bestowed rather on those who bothered themselves with eating so much. The experiment of limited proteid diet had been carried on in India for many thousands of years by a people noted for its intelligence and for all life’s activities.

Speaking on the subject of nutrition at the same meeting, a statement was several times repeated that more people die from overfeeding than from the consumption of alcohol, and that more people suffer from overfeeding than from underfeeding. In fact, experiments conducted through a series of years by Prof. Russell H. Chittenden, of New Haven, Conn., shows that far too much of fats and proteids are consumed. Discussing the subject, Professor Halliburton, of London, remarked that excess in meat-eating is more harmful than excess in almost any other line.