Personal Experience of a Physician

by John Ellis

MUCH-NEEDED INSTRUCTION.

Inquiry should be made into the natural causes of disease, into which spiritual causes flow and cause the suffering, wretchedness, and premature deaths which prevail, and men and women should be led by precept and example to see them as evils and to shun them as sins against God. Swedenborg says:—

"Thus, by washing the feet, is meant to purify the natural principle of man; for unless this principle appertaining to man, when he lives in the world, is purified and cleansed, it cannot afterwards be purified to eternity; for such as the natural principle of man is when he dies such it remains; for it is not afterwards amended, inasmuch as it is that plane into which interior things, which are spiritual, flow in—it being their receptacle; wherefore when it is perverted, interior things, when they flow in, are perverted like it." (A. C. 10,243.)

There are two great hindrances to the reformation of the world at this day; the first is false teaching in regard to evils, by which unlawful indulgences are justified, and in moderation held to be good; for by this the individual is strongly confirmed in their favor and prevented from seeing the truth. The second is the love of the evil which the truth condemns, which closes the mind against the truth, and, as it were, binds and imprisons the individual (see A. C. 5096). It must be self-evident to every intelligent Christian that if it is wrong to deliberately appropriate falses and evils "temperately" or moderately to the building up of our spiritual organizations, it is equally wrong to appropriate temperately those natural substances which correspond to falses and evils in a vain attempt to build up healthy natural bodies. Total abstinence in both cases is the only law of life. The lover of intoxicating drinks can never be radically reformed or regenerated until he resolves, with the help of the Lord, to stop drinking intoxicating drinks and sets himself honestly about it; so the thief must stop stealing, the vain woman must stop her tight dressing and habits of idleness; and so of all other evils affecting physical and spiritual health and life.

But to-day the great difficulty is, that multitudes of the young and of all ages become "bond-servants" to evil habits, which impair health and reason and shorten life, through ignorance, hereditary inclination, and the bad example of others. And how are they to regain their freedom, and the innocent to be protected from contamination and from a like slavery? The truth can alone make them free; and even when received by the willing and obedient, line upon line and precept upon precept may be required. And they will often have to endure many a hard struggle; and those who are free should have sympathy and charity, and judge them not. Men, women, and children must be taught that they have no right to follow habits which will endanger health and reason, and which observation and carefully collected statistics show will shorten the average duration of life; for to thus act is to violate the command, "Thou shall not kill." The causes of ill health, deformity, and the prevailing insanity and premature deaths must be sought out and exposed, and a call to repentance must be made.

In the good providence of the Lord, we have men who, by education, diligent investigation, and careful observation, are most admirably adapted to give the needed instruction—physicians. Let physicians arm themselves with true doctrines, with the spiritual sense of the Word, with the Science of Correspondences and a knowledge of natural sciences, and they will be able to combat the prevailing evils as no other men can; and they should lead in all the great necessary reforms of this age that have regard to physical health, life, and morals. In almost every society of our Churches of any size will be found one or more medical men who have devoted their lives to the study of anatomy, physiology, the causes of disease, diseases and their cure, and the effects of poisons and the bad habits of dress, and other habits injurious to health; and they are able to speak with authority in regard to the prevailing evils of life, which are so destructive to our race. These men, thus providentially prepared, should be called into the field as lecturers. There is not a religious society which does not actually need the services of such teachers; and we can send no other missionaries to those outside of our church organizations who will, to the same extent, command their attention and respect. In order that the body with its environment may be a fit dwelling place for the Spirit, there are provided—

"Uses for sustaining the body, comprising its nourishment, clothing, habitation, recreation and enjoyment, protection and conservation of state. The uses created for the nourishment of the body comprise all things of the vegetable kingdom which are good for food and drink; fruits, berries, seeds, pulse, and herbs; all things of the animal kingdom which serve for meat, oxen, cows, calves, deer, sheep, kids, goats, lambs; not to mention milk; also fowls and fish of many kinds." (D. L. W. 331.)

"Good uses," says Swedenborg, "are from the Lord, and evil uses are from hell. Evil uses were not created by the Lord, but they originated together with hell." (D. L. W. 336.) Among the evil uses he enumerates all kinds of poisons—in a word, "all things that do hurt and kill men." (Ibid. 339.) Here, then, is a criterion by which we must judge of the suitability of any article for nourishing and supplying the wants of our natural bodies. It should be evident to every one that substances which have their origin from hell, which, when used as we use legitimate articles of food and drink, seriously endanger, hurt, and kill men, should never be used for such purpose.

Who are better qualified to judge as to what are evil uses than the physician, who has made them the study of his life? The men and women who are violating the laws of life cannot see that such violations injure them; for such violations palliate the sufferings which they cause, and make the transgressors feel better every time they indulge. The true physician, by precept and example, is qualified to lead all who are willing to be led to a higher life and to protect the innocent and the young.

That such teachers are most important at this day is manifest "from the signification of physicians as denoting preservation from evils—the evils which obstruct conjunction. In the Word, physicians, the art of physic and medicine, signify preservation from evils and falses…. That in the Word, physicians, the art of physic and medicine, signify preservation from evils and falses, is manifest from the passages where they are named…. Hence it is evident what medicine signifies, viz., that which preserves from falses and evils; for when the truth of faith leads to the good of love, it preserves, because it withdraws from evils." (A. C. 6502.)

Here, then, we have the men suitable for this use. Shall we call them into the fields which are ripe and ready for the harvest?

A clergyman who has a knowledge of the medical profession and of medicine, in speaking of the importance of such teachers, says: "Moreover, from their relation to the sick and suffering, from their habit of analyzing the mental and moral states of their patients, and from the deep, tender sympathy which sincere, God-fearing physicians have for suffering human beings, they are placed in a much closer relation to the people than any other vocation could give them. How many persons have been comforted, strengthened, instructed, and turned to uprightness of life through the kindly ministrations of their physicians!"

And church organizations are languishing for the want of such teachers, and can never thrive in true doctrine and good lives, as they should, without them.

Surely every one can but see of what immense benefit such lecturers would be, especially to the young in our churches. One physician might be employed by and serve several societies, giving to the different societies once or twice a week a lecture in each society, fully illustrated by drawings, plates, stereoscopic and microscopic views, which would attract young and old, and fill our churches to overflowing with those who now attend no church; and the latter, when they found a physician, with the consent of the church, thus clearly pointing out the great evils of life which cause so much suffering, wretchedness, sorrow, and so many premature deaths, and calling young and old, from a religious standpoint, to shun them as sins against God, could but feel that our churches are striving to elevate humanity, and are a great blessing, and that it would be desirable to belong to them, and especially to have their children brought up under the influence of the Church.

Nearly the same could be said in regard to the important services which a second class of teachers of which I am about to speak could render. By the lectures of the two new life would be infused into our churches, and they would stand upon a sure foundation by manifesting love to God and man in our external natural lives, by teaching and leading men to act from spiritual motives, and to be willing to see their evils, and to commence by shunning well-known evils as sins against God. What a glorious day would this open up to our churches and for the elevation of our race through them!