True physicians are educators. They recognize their responsibility not only to the sick who are under their direct care but also to the communities in which they live. They stand as guardians of both physical and moral health. It is their endeavor not only to teach right methods for the treatment of the sick but to encourage right habits of living and to spread a knowledge of right principles.
Education in health principles was never more needed than now. Notwithstanding wonderful progress in many lines relating to the comforts and conveniences of life, even to sanitary matters and to the treatment of disease, the decline in physical vigor and power of endurance is alarming. It demands the attention of all who have at heart the well-being of the human family.
Our artificial civilization is encouraging evils that are destructive of sound principles. Custom and fashion are at war with nature. The practices they enjoin and the indulgences they foster are steadily lessening both physical and mental strength. They are bringing upon the race an intolerable burden. Intemperance and crime, disease and wretchedness are everywhere.
Avoid Poisonous Drugs
Many transgress the laws of health through ignorance, and they need instruction. But the greater number know better than they do. They need to be impressed with the importance of making their knowledge a guide of life. The physician has many opportunities both of imparting a knowledge of health principles and of showing the importance of putting them in practice. By right instruction he or she can do much to correct evils that are working untold harm.A practice that is laying the foundation of a vast amount of disease and of even more serious evils is the free use of poisonous drugs. When attacked by disease, many of the sick will not take the trouble to search out the cause of their illness. Their chief aim is to rid themselves of pain and inconvenience. So they resort to patent nostrums, of whose real properties they know little, or they apply to a physician for some remedy to counteract the result of their misdoing, but with no thought of making a change in their unhealthful habits. If immediate benefit is not realized, they try another medicine, and then another. Thus the evil continues.
People need to be taught that drugs do not cure disease. True, they sometimes afford present relief, and the patient appears to recover as the result of their use. This improvement is because nature has sufficient vital force to expel the poison and correct the conditions that caused the disease. Health is recovered in spite of the drug. But in most cases the drug only changes the form and location of the disease. Often the effect of the poison seems to be overcome for a time, but the results remain in the system and work great harm at some later period.
By the use of poisonous drugs many bring upon themselves lifelong illness, and many lives are lost that might be saved by the use of natural methods of healing. The poisons contained in many so-called remedies create habits and appetites that result in ruin to both soul and body. Many of the popular nostrums called patent medicines, and even some of the drugs prescribed by physicians, act a part in laying the foundation of the liquor habit, the opium habit, the morphine habit that are a terrible curse to society.
The only hope of improving things is to educate the people in right principles. Physicians should teach the people that restorative power is not in drugs but in nature. In case of sickness, the cause should be ascertained. Unhealthful conditions should be changed, wrong habits corrected. Then nature is to be assisted in her effort to expel impurities and to reestablish right conditions in the system.
Natural Remedies
Pure air, sunlight, abstemiousness, rest, exercise, proper diet, the use of water, trust in divine power—these are the true remedies. Every person should have a knowledge of nature’s remedial agencies and how to apply them. It is essential both to understand the principles involved in the treatment of the sick and to have a practical training that will enable one to apply this knowledge.The use of natural remedies requires an amount of care and effort that many are not willing to give. Nature’s process of healing and upbuilding is gradual, and to impatient people it seems slow. The surrender of hurtful indulgences requires sacrifice, but in the end it will be found that nature, unrestricted, does her work wisely and well. Those who persevere in obedience to her laws will be rewarded with health of body and health of mind.
Too little attention is generally given to preserving one’s health. It is far better to prevent disease than to know how to treat it when contracted. It is the duty of every person, for his or her own sake, and for the sake of humanity, to be informed in regard to the laws of life and to obey them conscientiously. All need to become acquainted with that most wonderful of all organisms, the human body. They should understand the functions of the various organs and the dependence of one upon another for the healthy action of all. They should study the influence of the mind on the body and of the body on the mind, and the laws by which they are governed.
Training for Life’s Conflict
We cannot be reminded too often that health does not depend on chance. It is a result of obedience to law. This is recognized by competitors in athletic games and contests requiring strength. These men and women make the most careful preparation. They submit to thorough training and strict discipline. Every physical habit is carefully regulated. They know that neglect, excess, or carelessness, which weakens or cripples any organ or function of the body, would guarantee defeat.How much more important is such carefulness to ensure success in the conflict of life. It is not make-believe battles in which we are engaged. We are waging a warfare upon which hang eternal results. We have unseen enemies to meet. Evil angels are trying to dominate every human being. Whatever injures one’s health not only lessens physical vigor but tends to weaken the mental and moral powers. Indulgence in any unhealthful practice makes it more difficult for a person to discriminate between right and wrong, and hence more difficult to resist evil. It increases the danger of failure and defeat.
“Those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize.” 1 Corinthians 9:24. In the warfare in which we are engaged, all may win who will discipline themselves by obedience to right principles. The practice of these principles in the details of life is often looked upon as unimportant—a matter too trivial to demand attention. But in view of the issues at stake, nothing with which we have to do is small. Every act casts its weight into the scale that determines life’s victory or defeat. The Scripture urges us, “Run in such a way that you may obtain.” Verse 24.
With our first parents, intemperate desire resulted in the loss of Eden. Temperance in all things has more to do with our restoration to Eden than people realize.
Pointing to the self-denial practiced by the contestants in the ancient Greek games, the apostle Paul writes: “Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” Verses 25-27.
The progress of reform depends on a clear recognition of fundamental truth. Danger lurks in a narrow philosophy and a hard, cold orthodoxy, but on the other hand, there is great danger in a careless liberalism. The foundation of all enduring reform is the law of God. We are to present in clear, distinct lines the need of obeying this law. Its principles must be kept before the people. They are as everlasting and inexorable as God Himself.
One of the most deplorable effects of the original apostasy was that human beings lost the power of self-control. Only as this power is regained can there be real progress.
The body is the only medium through which the mind and the soul are developed for the upbuilding of character. For this reason the adversary of souls directs his temptations to enfeebling and degrading the physical powers. His success here means the surrender to evil of the whole being. The tendencies of our physical nature, unless under the dominion of a higher power, are sure to work ruin and death.
The body is to be brought into subjection. The higher powers of the being are to rule. The passions are to be controlled by the will, which is itself to be under the control of God. The kingly power of reason, sanctified by divine grace, is to bear sway in our lives.
The requirements of God must be brought home to the conscience. Men and women must be awakened to the duty of self-mastery, the need of purity, freedom from every depraving appetite and defiling habit. They need to be impressed with the fact that all their powers of mind and body are gifts from God, and are to be preserved in the best possible condition for His service.
In ancient Israel’s sacrificial ritual, which was the gospel in symbol, no blemished offering could be brought to God’s altar. The sacrifice that was to represent Christ must be spotless. The Word of God points to this as an illustration of what His children are to be—“a living sacrifice,” “holy and without blemish,” “acceptable to God.” Romans 12:1; Ephesians 5:27.
Apart from divine power, no genuine reform can be effected. Human barriers against natural and cultivated tendencies are but as a sandbank against the torrent. Not until the life of Christ becomes a vitalizing power in our lives can we resist the temptations that assail us from within and from without.
Christ came to this world and lived the law of God that we might have perfect mastery over the natural inclinations that corrupt the soul. The Physician of soul and body, He gives victory over warring lusts. He has provided every facility, so that human beings may possess completeness of character.
When one surrenders to Christ, the mind is brought under the control of the law—the royal law—that proclaims liberty to every captive. By becoming one with Christ, we are made free. Subjection to the will of Christ means restoration to perfect manhood and womanhood.
Obedience to God is liberty from the slavery of sin, deliverance from human passion and impulse. Human beings may stand as conquerors, conquerors of their own inclinations, conquerors of principalities and powers, and of “the rulers of the darkness of this age,” and of “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12.
Nowhere is such instruction as this more needed than in the home, and nowhere will it be productive of greater good. Parents are involved with the very foundation of habit and character. The reformatory movement must begin in presenting to them the fact that the principles of the law of God bear upon both physical and moral health. Show that obedience to God’s Word is our only safeguard against the evils that are sweeping the world to destruction. Make plain the responsibility of parents not only for themselves but for their children. They are giving to their children an example either of obedience or of transgression. By their example and teaching, the destiny of their households is decided. The children will be what their parents make them.
If parents could trace the result of their actions and could see how, by their example and teaching, they perpetuate and increase the power of sin or the power of righteousness, they certainly would make a change. Many would turn away from tradition and custom, and accept the divine principles of life.
Power of Example
The physician who ministers in the homes of the people, watching at the bedside of the sick, relieving their distress, bringing them back from the borders of the grave, speaking hope to the dying, wins a place in their confidence and affection such as is granted to few others. Not even to the minister of the gospel are committed possibilities so great or an influence so far-reaching.The physician’s example, no less than his or her teaching, should be a positive power on the right side. The cause of reform calls for men and women whose life practice is an illustration of self-control. It is our practice of the principles we inculcate that gives them weight. The world needs a practical demonstration of what the grace of God can do in restoring to human beings their lost sovereignty, giving them mastery of themselves. There is nothing that the world needs so much as a knowledge of the gospel’s saving power revealed in Christlike lives.
Physicians are continually brought into contact with those who need the strength and encouragement of a right example. Many people are weak in moral power. They lack self-control and are easily overcome by temptation. Physicians can help these souls only as they reveal in their own lives a strength of principle that enables them to triumph over every injurious habit and defiling lust. Their lives must reveal the working of a power that is divine. If they fail here, however forcible or persuasive their words may be, their influence will tell for evil.
Multitudes seek medical advice and treatment who have become moral wrecks through their own wrong habits. They are bruised and weak and wounded, feeling their folly and their inability to overcome. Such ones should have nothing in their surroundings to encourage a continuance of the thoughts and feelings that have made them what they are. They need to breathe an atmosphere of purity, of high and noble thought. How terrible the responsibility when those who should give them a right example are themselves enthralled by hurtful habits, their influence giving added strength to temptation!
Physicians and the Temperance Work
Many come under physicians’ care who are ruining soul and body by the use of tobacco or intoxicating drink. Physicians who are true to their responsibility must point out to these patients the cause of their suffering. But if they themselves are users of tobacco or intoxicants, what weight will be given to their words? With the consciousness of their own indulgence in mind, will they not hesitate to point out the plague spot in the life of their patients? While using these things themselves, how can they convince the youth of their injurious effects?How can physicians stand in the community as examples of purity and self-control, how can they be effectual workers in the temperance cause, while they themselves are indulging a vile habit? How can they minister acceptably at the bedside of the sick and the dying when their very breath is offensive, smelling of liquor or tobacco?
With disordered nerves and a brain clouded by the use of narcotic poisons, how can one be true to the trust placed in him or her as a skillful physician? How impossible for such a one to comprehend quickly or act swiftly with precision!
If physicians do not observe the laws that govern their own being, if they choose selfish gratification above soundness of mind and body, do they not thereby declare themselves unfit to be entrusted with the responsibility of human lives?
However skilled and faithful physicians may be, there is in their experience much of apparent discouragement and defeat. Often their work fails of accomplishing that which they long to see accomplished. Though health is restored to their patients, it may be no real benefit to them or to the world. Many recover health, only to repeat the indulgences that invited disease. With the same eagerness as before, they plunge again into the round of self-indulgence and irrational conduct. The physician’s work for them seems like effort thrown away.
Christ had the same experience, yet He did not cease His efforts for even one suffering soul. Of the ten lepers who were cleansed, only one appreciated the gift, and he was a stranger and a Samaritan. For the sake of that one, Christ healed the ten. If physicians meet with no better success than that of the Savior, let them learn a lesson from the Chief Physician. Of Christ it is written, “He will not fail nor be discouraged.” “He shall see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied.” Isaiah 42:4; 53:11.
If but one soul would have accepted the gospel of His grace, Christ would, to save that one, have chosen His life of toil and humiliation and His death of shame. If through our efforts even one human being is uplifted and ennobled, fitted to shine in the courts of the Lord, should we not rejoice?
Physicians have duties that are arduous and trying. In order to perform them most successfully they need to have a strong constitution and vigorous health. A man or woman who is feeble or diseased cannot endure the exhausting work accompanying to the physician’s calling. One who lacks perfect self-control cannot become qualified to deal with all classes of disease.
Often deprived of sleep, neglecting even to eat, cut off in great degree from social enjoyment and religious privileges, the life of physicians seems to lie under a continual shadow. The affliction they see, the dependent mortals longing for help, their contact with the depraved, make the heart sick and well-nigh destroy confidence in humanity. In the battle with disease and death, every energy is taxed to the limit of endurance. The reaction from this terrible strain tests the character to the utmost. Then it is that temptation has greatest power. More than those in any other calling, physicians are in need of self-control, purity of spirit, and that faith which takes hold on heaven. For the sake of others and for their own sake, they cannot afford to disregard physical law. Recklessness in physical habits tends to recklessness in morals.
The physician’s only safety is, under all circumstances, to act from principle, strengthened and ennobled by a firmness of purpose found only in God. Both men and women are to stand in the moral excellence of His character. Day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment, they are to live as in the sight of the unseen world. As did Moses, they must endure “as seeing Him who is invisible.”
Righteousness has its root in godliness. No one can steadily maintain before others a pure, forceful life unless that life is hidden with Christ in God. The greater the interaction with humanity, the closer must be the communion of the heart with heaven. The more urgent the duties and the greater the responsibilities, the greater the physician’s need of divine power. Time must be redeemed from things temporal for meditation upon things eternal. He or she must resist an encroaching world, which would so press upon the soul as to separate one from the Source of strength. Above all other people, physicians should, by prayer and study of the Scriptures, place themselves under the protecting shield of God. They are to live in hourly contact and conscious communion with the principles of truth, righteousness, and mercy that reveal God’s attributes within the soul.
Just to the degree in which the Word of God is received and obeyed will it impress with its potency and touch with its life every spring of action, every phase of character. It will purify every thought, regulate every desire. Those who make God’s Word their trust will be courageous and strong. They will rise above all baser things into an atmosphere free from defilement.
When a person is in fellowship with God, the unswerving purpose that preserved Joseph and Daniel amidst the corruption of heathen courts will make the life one of unsullied purity. The robe of character will be spotless. In his or her life the light of Christ will be undimmed. Above such a person the bright and morning Star will appear shining steadfastly in changeless glory.
Such a life will be an element of strength in the community. It will be a barrier against evil, a safeguard to the tempted, a guiding light to those who, amidst difficulties and discouragements, are seeking the right way.