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.