The Medical Aspect of Religion
“Who is the health of my countenance.” — Psalm xliii. 5.
Why the health ot the coimtenance’y Why does he not say “the health of my spirit “? Because to the psalmist the redemption of the soul always ends in the resurrection of the body. And is not the psalmist right! Don’t we also find it true, you and I! They tell us that bad health affects the spirits, and doubtless it is so. But is it not equally true that to be in low spirits affects the health! Do we not find that physical trouble is more easily shaken off when there is peace within! I have often heard it said that children stand trouble better than adults. I believe it to be the fact, but I think the reason is a deeper one than is commonly supposed. It is not because the child is fresher than the man, it is because the child has less care than the man. The mind is a factor in the recovery of the body. I am not sure that I would even except cases of unconsciousness. Our sleep is coloured by our waking, and in the state which men call unconscious I know not what dreams may lie. Job said, “In my flesh I shall see God;” he might have equally said, “In God I shall see my flesh,” Get the soul and you will get the body too. Get peace and you will lessen pain. Get faith and you will diminish fever. Get wisdom and you will strengthen weakness. Get love and you will dispel lassitude. The hope in God is the health of the countenance.
O Thou, who didst put a little child in the midst of the disciples, I understand what that means to-day. I understand how modern was the act, how suited to the world in which I dwell. I have heard men say it was to disparage outward strength. Nay, my Lord, it was to make me outwardly more strong. It is because a child’s heart gives a man’s health that Thou hast bidden me become a child. It is because there is no armour against disease like the self-forgetting soul, that Thou hast sent me back to the days of lightest care. It is not because I loathe worldly comfort, but because I love it, that I come to Thee. I want to be free from low spirits; they hurt me; they open the pores to all diseases; they make me liable to draughts and colds. I blamed exposure yesterday for a chill. It was the want of it; I was too closely shut in, too much confined within my own cares. Unbar the doors, O Lord! Open my heart to Thy breath, and my body shall be closed to the pestilence. Let in Thy atmosphere of joy, and all contagious vapours shall be kept out. Make me sound within, and the outer man shall be renewed day by day. Make me to hear the voice of gladness, and the very bones which have been broken shall rejoice. If my heart be glad, my flesh also shall rest in hope. If I take up my cross, I shall take up my bed as well. Let Thy way be known on earth, and Thy saving health shall be found in all nations.