The Christian doctrine of health : a handbook on the relation of bodily to spiritual and moral health / by the author of "Pro Christo et ecclesia."

  • Dougall, L. (Lily), 1858-1923.
Date:
1916
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Christian doctrine of health : a handbook on the relation of bodily to spiritual and moral health / by the author of "Pro Christo et ecclesia.". Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    TRADITIONAL TEACHING AS TO DISEASE A XA LYSIS A. The traditional Christian teaching with regard to disease, from the Apostolic age till the present, has been that disease, like other misfortunes, is in a special sense the will of God. 1. It is used by God as a scourge to punish the wicked and to purge the good. This teaching pervades the Old Testament, and is traceable in : a. The Book of Conn non Prayer. h. Our legal phraseology, where the term ‘ Act of God ’ always signifies some inevitable disaster. c. Many popular hymns, e.cj. ‘ Thy will lie done,’ in which there is no suggestion that God’s will can be other than our misery. 2. It in some sense expiates the sin of the world. In which connection consider: a. St. Paul’s expression, “ I fill up that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church ” (Col. i. 24). h. The biographies of the saints, which exhibit great bodily sufferings as necessary to special sanctity. c. The common notion that self-sacrifice- an essential of life and progress is necessarily something distressing and painful. d. The phraseology which refers to sickness and other common misfortunes as ‘ the Christian’s Cross.’ B. As opposed to this tradition it is well to consider: 1. That we have already discarded some long-cherished religious traditions : e.cj.