In the treatment of the sick, as well as in the maintenance of good health, a firsthand knowledge of health principles is essential. Add to this knowledge a generous portion of good sense, and you are well equipped.
Once upon a time a little boy visited his ailing grandmother's bedroom with a toy medicine kit. "How are you feeling, Grandma?" he asked.
"Oh, not so well," she replied mournfully. "I have a bad headache."
"I know what you need," replied the little fellow. "You need vitamin B, and brain pills."
If it were possible for those who care for the sick to learn the art of healing, and to protect themselves from faddist notions and extreme positions in teaching health reform by taking "brain pills," then we should all take "brain pills." If common sense is needed in educational and Sabbath reform, uncommon sense is needed in health reform. This is especially true because of the fanaticism that has been demonstrated again and again during our history as a church.
Theodore Roosevelt once said, when he was launching a great reform in American political life, that there is "the lunatic fringe in all reform movements." And we have had our health lunatics. So much so, in fact, that many of our good Seventh-day Adventists have come to regard sensible health principles as fanaticism, but this attitude is wrong. The change of our physical and mental habits of life are as much a part of character development as our change from Sunday observance to Saturday observance, or our change of fellowship from the Baptist Church to the Seventh-day Adventist.
If we are to be prepared for translation, the flesh must be cleansed from all filth and pollution, for nothing that defiles shall enter into the city of God. He that is filthy will be filthy still when probation closes, and the divine decree goes forth from the lips of Christ. Liquor, tea, coffee, tobacco, and other evils must cease to pollute the body temple. The contaminating hold of self-pollution, fornication, worry, and guilt upon the minds of the candidates for immortality must be broken. Health reform embraces all these negative propositions, but at the same time it is positive.
Something better is the watchword of life. The Lord calls the Christian to the more abundant health life'by the intelligent use of natural remedies—sunshine, proper diet, fresh air, exercise, rest, water, trust in God. In mental discipline, proper social life, and unselfish service for the Master, the Christian is to find health and peace.
In no other field of human experience has there been such woeful ignorance as in the field of the prevention and treatment of disease. It will be interesting to note briefly man's tragic attempts to combat ,disease through past centuries.
Dr. Logan Clendening, in his Source Book of Medical History, suggests the treatment employed among ancient tribespeople in the cure of epilepsy. The living victim was held to the ground while the village trephiner was summoned to bore a hole in his skull through which the demon held responsible for the ailment might escape.
Scrofula, according to popular tradition, was only to be cured by the king of the realm. Sufferers begged for the king to touch their necks with his fingers, confident that the affliction would disappear in response to the touch of the monarch. The disease was known as "King's Evil," and was treated in this spectacular way as late as the seventeenth century.
D. E. Robinson, in his good book The Story of Our Health Message, tells the tragic story of the fatal illness of George Washington. Bleeders removed fourteen ounces of blood from his veins when it was realized that he was in a serious condition. Later it was agreed to try another bleeding, at which time thirty-two ounces of blood were drawn, without the slightest change for the better.
"This debilitating treatment was supplemented by the application of blisters, the administration of calomel, repeated doses of tartar emetic, and frequent inhalations of 'vapors of vinegar and water.' It is not surprising to learn from a contemporary report that Washington's last request, understood with great difficulty because of his weakness, was that he might be permitted to die without further interruption."—Page 13.
In this same book is a most interesting account of Elder Loughborough's experience in his childhood home where "sarsaparilla, syrups, medical discoveries, and pain killers" were considered indispensable to health and the wellbeing of the family. "In the spring of the year," wrote Brother Loughborough, "we resorted to sharp pickles, horse-radish, mustard, pepper, and the like, to 'sharpen the appetite' and tone up the system."--.-Ibid., p. 22.
The health message was revealed to the early Adventists soon after the disappointment of 1844. Elder Andrews, Joseph Bates, and Elder and Mrs. White were largely instrumental in bringing to the attention of the church the reforms—many of which were beginning to be advocated by such prominent physicians as Dr. Jackson, Dr. Trail, and others. Mrs. E. G. White states on page 66 of The Story of Our Health Message, "It was at the house of Brother A. Hilliard, at Otsego, Michigan, June 6, 1863, that the great subject of Health Reform was opened before me in vision." And on page 67 of this book we have this quotation:
"'I saw that it was a sacred duty to attend to our health, and arouse others to their duty. . . We have a duty to speak, to come out against intemperance of every kind,—intemperance in working, in eating, in drinking, in drugging, and then point them to God's great medicine, water, pure soft water, for diseases, for health, for cleanliness, OT luxury. . . . I saw that we should not be silent upon the subject of health, but should wake up minds to the subject.'"
"'The more perfect our health, the more perfect will be our labor.' "—Ibid., p. 69.
It takes strength of character, will power, apd courage, to practice the principles of healthful living. On the other hand, he who obeys the laws of nature contributes to his own character development. He becomes purer in thought and action, more patient, with nerves that are calm, and a clear mind. It is impossible to estimate the importance of practicing what we preach on the subject of health reform.,
Many who now laugh at the sacred light from heaven on this vital subject will be surprised and horrified to find themselves shut out of heaven because they have neglected the sanctification of the body as well as the soul. Let us determine with God's help to bring courage and consecration into our study and practice and teaching of Christian health principles!
