The fear of the Lord will do more for the
patrons of the sanitarium than any other means that can be employed
for the restoration of health. Religion should in no case be
kept in the background, as though detrimental to those who come
to be treated. On the contrary, the fact should ever be made
prominent that the laws of God, both in nature and revelation,
are "life unto those that find them, and health to all their
flesh."
Pride and fashion hold men and women in
the veriest slavery to customs which are fatal to health and
even to life itself. The appetites and passions, clamoring for
indulgence, trample reason and conscience underfoot. This is
the cruel work of Satan, and he is constantly putting forth the
most determined efforts to strengthen the chains by which he
has bound his victims. Those who have been all their lives indulging
wrong habits do not always realize the necessity of a change.
And many will persist in gratifying their desire for sinful pleasure
at any cost. Let the conscience be aroused and much is
gained. Nothing but the grace of God can convict
and convert the heart; here alone can the slaves of custom obtain
power to break the shackles which bind them. The self-indulgent
must be led to see and feel that a great moral renovation is
necessary if they would meet the claims of the divine law; the
soul-temple has been defiled, and God calls upon them to arouse
and strive with all their might to win back the God-given manhood
which has been sacrificed through sinful indulgence.
Divine truth can make little impression
upon the intellect while the customs and habits are opposed to
its principles. Those who are willing to inform themselves concerning
the effect of sinful indulgence upon the health, and who commence
the work of reform, even if it be from selfish motives, in so
doing place themselves where the truth of God may find access
to their hearts. And, on the other hand, those who are reached
by the presentation of Scripture truth are then in a position
where their consciences will be aroused upon the subject of health.
They see and feel the necessity of breaking away from the tyrannizing
habits and appetites which have ruled them so long. There are
many who would receive the truths of God's word, their judgment
having been convinced by the clearest evidence; but the carnal
desires, clamoring for gratification, control the intellect,
and they reject truth as falsehood, because it comes in collision
with their lustful affections.
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom." When men of wrong habits and sinful practices
yield to the power of divine truth, the entrance of God's word
gives light and understanding to the simple. There is an application
of truth to the heart; and moral power, which seemed to have
been paralyzed, revives. The receiver is possessed of stronger,
clearer understanding than before. He has riveted his soul to
the eternal Rock. Health improves in the very sense of his security
in Christ. Thus religion and the laws of health go hand in hand.