HEALTH.
Health means soundness of body and of mind; the keeping of our physical
system in such a condition that it is able to do its work easily,
without disturbance, and without pain; the exercise of the mind so as
not to harm the body. There are certain preliminary considerations
that we should bear in mind in connection with this subject.
I. The close connection between body and mind.--They are both related
to each other in some mysterious way. So close is the connection that
the one cannot be affected without the other. The well-being of the
one depends on the well-being of the other. The power which the mind
has over the body and the body over the mind has been well and tersely
described by a writer of our time. "Man," he says, "is one, however
compound. Fire his conscience, and he blushes; check his circulation,
and he thinks tardily or not at all; impair his secretions, and the
moral sense is dulled, discolored, or depraved, his aspirations flag,
his hope and love both reel; impair them still more, and he becomes a
brute. A cup of wine degrades his moral nature below that of the
swine. Again, a violent emotion of pity or horror makes him vomit; a
lancet will restore him from delirium to clear thought; excessive
thought will waste his energy; excess of muscular exercise will deaden
thought; an emotion will double the strength of his muscles; and at
last, a prick of a needle or a grain of mineral will in an instant lay
to rest forever his body and its unity." [1] When we consider the
close connection between mind and body, and how the state of the one
affects the other, we see how important it is that both should work
together in that harmonious action which is health, and how carefully
we should guard against anything by which that harmonious action may be
interrupted.
II. Bodily health is almost essential to success in life.--It is not
_absolutely_ essential, but it is _almost_ essential. (_a_) Physical
health is not everything. "Give a man," it has been said, "a good deep
chest and a stomach of which he never knew the existence, and he must
succeed in any practical career." This has been said by a great
authority, Professor Huxley, but it is only partially true, for many
worthless people fulfil these conditions. They are, as Carlyle calls
them, only "animated patent digesters." (_b_) Great things also have
been done in the world by men whose health has been feeble. Calvin was
a man of sickly body; Pascal was an invalid at eighteen; Pope was weak
and deformed; William of Orange, a martyr to asthma; Hall, the famous
preacher, suffered great paroxysms of pain; Milton was blind; Nelson,
little and lame; St. Paul in bodily presence was weak. On the other
hand, some of these men might have done more if their health had been
better. Health is a splendid possession in the battle of life. The
men of great physical vitality, as a rule, achieve most; other things
being equal, their success in life is sure. Everything shows that the
greatness of great men is almost as much a bodily affair as a mental
one. It has been computed that the average length of life of the most
eminent philosophers, naturalists, artists, jurists, physicians,
musical composers, scholars and authors, including poets, is sixty-five
years. This shows that the most successful men on the whole have had
good bodies and been blessed with great vitality.
III. The care of the body is a religious duty.--(_a_) It is so because
our spiritual feelings are largely dependent upon the state of our
health. "Certain conditions of body undeniably occasion, irritate and
inflame those appetites and inclinations which it is one great end of
Christianity to repress and regulate." The spirit has sometimes to
maintain a terrible struggle against the flesh. Intemperance is
largely the result of bad feeding. "It is easier for a camel to pass
through the eye of a needle," than for a dyspeptic person to be gentle,
meek, long-suffering. Dark views of God often come from the state of
the body. It would largely lift up the moral and spiritual condition
of men if their surroundings were such as tended to keep them in
health. To improve men's dwellings, to give them healthy homes, pure
air to breathe, and pure water to drink, would tend to help them
morally and spiritually, (_b_) God requires of us a certain amount of
service by and through our bodies. We cannot perform the work if we
destroy the machines by which the work is to be done. (_c_) Scripture
especially calls us to make the body the object of our reverent care.
"Your bodies are members of Christ." The body "is for the Lord, and
the Lord for the body." "Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost,
which is in you, which ye have of God." "If any man defile the temple
of God, him will God destroy." Yield "your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God." Sin is not to "reign in your mortal body."
"Glorify God in your body." We are to "present our bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service."
(_d_) The body is a part of that humanity which Christ by His
_incarnation_ took, redeemed, sanctified and glorified. (_e_) Our
Lord's miracles were nearly all performed on the human body, for its
relief, cure, and restoration to life.
IV. To a certain extent our health is in our own hands.--Not
altogether, for some are constitutionally defective, and subject to
infirmities with which they are born, and which they have perhaps
inherited. But a vast amount of disease is preventable, and comes from
causes over which we have direct control. "It is reckoned that a
hundred thousand persons die annually in England of preventable
diseases"--from disobedience to the laws of health, which are God's
laws, and the transgression of which, wilfully, is sin. Beyond all
doubt a vast amount of sickness comes from bad living, from
intemperance in eating and drinking, from breathing bad air, from
inhabiting ill-constructed houses. It is possible to live in
accordance with the laws of health so that life may be comparatively
free from disease and from pain. If Providence denies health, the want
of it must be patiently endured. If we have inherited weakness, we
must make the most of the strength we have. But if we lack health
through our own fault we are guilty of shameful sin.
To discuss fully the subject and laws of health would require a whole
treatise, and would be beyond the scope of this text-book. There are,
however, some outstanding conditions for the preservation of health
which are plain to everyone, and which may be summed up in the three
words Temperance, Exercise, and Rest. These have been well termed the
three great physicians, whose prescriptions are painless and cost
nothing.
1. _Temperance_.--Man needs a certain amount of food to sustain him,
but if that amount be increased beyond the proper quantity it is
dangerous to health. It overtasks the power of digestion and is
injurious. We need therefore to be constantly on our guard as to what
we eat and drink lest we run into excess. Every one must study his own
constitution, find out its need, and suit the supply of food to its
wants. According to the old proverb, "We should eat to live, not live
to eat." It is a great matter for health when we are able to strike
the proper medium and neither eat nor drink too much nor too little.
To lay down rules on this subject for the individual is impossible.
"One man's food is another man's poison." A man must determine from
his own experience what he ought to take, and how much, as well as what
he ought to avoid. The word intemperance is generally employed as
applying to the abuse of strong drinks. On this subject much has been
written, some advocating total abstinence and others judicious and
moderate use. Into this region of controversy we cannot enter. The
evils of drinking habits, as they are called, are plain to all. They
are a terrible curse to society, and a terrible danger to the
individual. They have ruined many a promising career. For many,
perhaps we may say for most, entire abstinence is their only safety.
He who finds that he can do his work well by drinking only water will
be wise if he drinks nothing else. That will never harm him, though
other liquids may. We must judge for ourselves, but "Temperance in all
things" is a rule binding on every Christian man. We cannot have
health unless we strictly and constantly practise temperance.
2. _Exercise_.--This is as necessary to health as food. "Only by
exercise--physical exercise--can we maintain our muscles, organs and
nervous system in proper vigor; only by exercise can we equalise the
circulation and distribute the blood evenly over every part of the
body; only by exercise can we take a cheerful and wholesome view of
life, for exercise assists the digestion, and a good digestion is a
sovereign antidote to low spirits; only by exercise can the brain be
strengthened to perform the labor demanded of it." [2] No sensible man
will try to do without it. If any man does so he will pay the penalty.
As to the amount of exercise and the kind of exercise every man must
judge for himself. Some, from their occupation, need less than others;
the outdoor laborer, for instance, than the clerk who is most of the
day at the desk. One man may take exercise best by walking, another by
riding, another by following outdoor sports. Athletics, such as
football, and cricket, are a favorite form of exercise with the young,
and if not followed to excess are most advantageous. The walk in the
open air is life to many. But boy or man can never be what they ought
to be unless they take exercise regularly and judiciously, take it not
to exhaust but to refresh and stimulate. It strengthens the nerve and
clears the brain and fits for work.
3. _Rest_.--Man needs a certain amount of repose to sustain his frame
in full vigor. Some need more, some need less. We must find out for
ourselves what we need and take it. Lack of sleep is especially a
great waste of vitality. Here also we must exercise our judgment as to
the amount of sleep we require. One needs a great deal; another can do
with very little. Early rising, which has been much recommended, is
only good for those who go early to bed. If one is compelled to sit up
late he should sleep late in the morning. It is no virtue on the part
of anyone to get up early unless he has slept enough. _That_ he must
do if he is to have health. A man who would be a good worker must see
to it that he is a good sleeper; and whoever, from any cause, is
regularly diminishing his sleep is destroying his life. Shakespeare
has well described the blessing of sleep when he says:
Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labor's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great Nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast.
These are but _hints_ in connection with a great subject. A few brief
rules may be given of a general character:
1. Take exercise every day in the open air if possible, and make it a
recreation and not merely a duty.
2. Eat wholesome food, drink pure water.
3. Let your house and room be well ventilated.
4. Take time enough for sleep. Do not worry.
5. Watch yourself, but not too closely, to find out what exercise,
air, diet, etc., agrees with you. No man can be a rule for another.
6. If you consult a physician, it is better to do it before you are
unwell than later.[3]
We close this chapter with the powerful words of Thomas Carlyle,
addressed to the students of the University of Edinburgh: "Finally, I
have one advice to give you which is practically of very great
importance. You are to consider throughout much more than is done at
present, and what would have been a very great thing for me if I had
been able to consider, that health is a thing to be attended to
continually; that you are to regard it as the very highest of all
temporal things. There is no kind of achievement you could make in the
world that is equal to perfect health. What to it are nuggets or
millions?"
[1] Frederic Harrison, _Popular Science Monthly Supplement_.
[2] _Plain Living and High Thinking_.
[3] These rules are given by J. Freeman Clarke in his work on
Self-Culture.