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Z 1 AND 2 (HELD TOGETHER) TO BINDERY NUMERICALLY ARRANGED.  IN HEALTH 
BY 
A. J. INGERSOLL, M.D. 
" Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and 
be in health, even as thy soul prospereth."-3 John 2. 
FOURTH EDITION - REVISED 
BOSTON 
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 
io Milk Street 
1892 Copyright, 1877, TS93 
By A. J. Ingersoll 
PRESS OF 
anb 
BOSTON PREFACE 
The ideas contained in this book are the 
result of my own experience. I have been 
repeatedly urged by my friends to give 
them to the public; but, while my desire 
to do so has been great, I have been pre- 
vented by the consciousness of inability as 
a writer. This consideration has been 
finally overbalanced by the wish that 
others might be benefited by the truth 
which I have experienced. 
Through trust in God to keep my sexual 
nature from temptation I became a Chris- 
tian; this led me to believe that all Chris- 
tians should commit that nature to Christ; 
and it is this belief, or, in other words, my 
conviction of the influence Christ will ex- 
ert over sexual life, if it is committed to 4 
PREFACE 
Him, which has induced me to present 
this book to the public. 
Sexual life is universally believed to be 
the life of the sexual organs alone; with 
this idea, all thoughts and feelings in re- 
gard to it congest the organs, and result in 
lust, and the conclusion follows that sexual 
life is animal, and must perish with the 
body. 
In these pages I present an entirely diff- 
erent view of sexual life. I believe it to be 
not only the life which brought us into ex- 
istence, but the life of the whole body; and 
although it now holds a low and despised 
place, I know that Christ is able to redeem 
it, and beget in us Divine love and rever- 
ence for it. 
As proofs of the power of Christ to heal 
the body through the commitment of the 
sexual life to Him, a few cases have been 
selected from the thousands of patients 
who have been under my care during the 
past forty-five years. PREFACE 
5 
A book written by one who has the de- 
sire and ability to express the opinions of 
the majority will be read with avidity. 
To have ideas thus confirmed is more 
pleasing than profitable. It is only by pre- 
senting new thoughts to my readers that I 
can hope to be of use to them. 
"Very ready are we to say of a book, 
' How good this is - that's exactly what I 
think!' But the right feeling is, i How 
strange that is! I never thought of that 
before, and yet I see it is true; or if I do 
not now, I hope I shall some day.' But 
whether thus submissively or not, at least 
be sure that you go to the author to get at 
his meaning, not to find yours. Judge it 
afterwards, if you think yourself qualified 
to do so, but ascertain it first. And be 
sure also, if the author is worth anything, 
that you will not get at his meaning all at 
once;-nay, that at his whole meaning you 
will not for a long time arrive in any wise. 
Not that he does not say what he means, 6 
PREFACE 
and in strong words, too; but he cannot 
say it all. . . . 
" So far as he knows, no one has yet 
said it; so far as he knows no one else can 
say it. He is bound to say it, clearly and 
melodiously if he may; clearly, at all 
events. In the sum of his life he finds this 
to be the thing or group of things manifest 
to him; - this the piece of true knowledge, 
or sight, which his share of sunshine and 
earth has permitted him to seize. He would 
fain set it down forever; engrave it on rock, 
if he could, saying, 'This is the best of me, 
this, if anything of mine, is worth your 
memory.' That is his 'writing;' it is, in 
his small human way, and with whatever 
degree of true inspiration is in him, his in- 
scription, or scripture." 1 
I would ask the reader to excuse repeti- 
tions, as I could not avoid them and still 
convey my meaning. 
The truths contained in this book, theo- 
1 " Sesame and Lilies." - Ruskin. PREFACE 
7 
retically considered, will be of no value. 
Spiritual light becomes greater in service, 
not in speculation. I hope to serve man- 
kind by turning their thoughts to a neg- 
lected but all-important subject, but they 
can only know the truth of my statements 
by looking to " Him who giveth the in- 
crease." 
Corning, N.Y., September, 1892. CONTENTS 
CHAPTER PAGE 
I. The Second Birth . . .13 
II. Religion 43 
III. Woman 59 
IV. The Relation of the Sexes . 75 
V. Miracles not Miracles . . 117 
VI. Sexual Abuses, and their 
Remedy 131 
VII. Human Life . . . .163 
VIII. God is Love .... 169 
IX. Love 179 
X. Illustrations . . . .189 
XI. The Word "Heart" . . .217 
XII. Divine Government in Mar- 
riage 225 
Appendix 247 
Testimonials 253 CHAPTER I 
THE SECOND BIRTH 
" Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born 
again." - John iii. 7. I 
THE SECOND BIRTH 
" Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." 
John iii. 7. 
From my earliest recollection a desire 
to comprehend human life possessed me. 
At the age of twenty-four I resolved to be 
a Christian, and entered upon a course of 
study with the intention of preparing for 
the ministry. In "Paley's Theology" I 
found and believed the assertion that a de- 
sign must have a designer; as I could not 
comprehend who was the designer of God, 
my reason opposed God's revelation of 
Himself within me and gained control over 
my feelings, until the influences of the 
Holy Spirit were so weakened that I came 14 
IN HEALTH 
to disbelieve everything which my unre- 
generated rational nature could not under- 
stand, and my purpose of becoming a 
minister was abandoned. 
I then became desirous to be of service 
to the sick. When I thought I had suffi- 
cient knowledge for practical use, the fear 
of the temptation to which a physician is 
liable in treating the opposite sex led me 
to seek for something on which to rely to 
keep me from yielding to it. At this time 
I was called an infidel. I believed in uni- 
versal salvation, and attended church only 
to criticise. I did not believe in Christ, nor 
that the Bible was the word of God, but 
believed that there was a God, and some- 
things within seemed to assure me that He 
would protect me, if I would trust my sex- 
ual nature to His care. I did so, and His 
promise was fulfilled. 
In 1855 I left New York for Virginia, 
to treat the yellow fever. During my 
journey I felt the influence of the Holy THE SECOND BIRTH 
15 
Spirit urging me to prepare for death. I 
regarded it as a warning from my Creator, 
but, my reason not being under the control 
of Christ's love, did not yield to it. 
On my return I stopped in Philadelphia, 
and began to investigate modern spiritual- 
ism, in the hope of releasing people from 
its influence. With this purpose I attended 
spiritualistic meetings, and lectured on the 
means of obtaining health. Investigation 
convinced me that spiritualism is evil; and 
that magnetism and mesmerism, although 
of some use to the body, are very danger- 
ous to the soul. 
At the close of my second lecture two 
young men wished to know what was their 
disease. I told them they were spiritual 
mediums, tormented day and night. They 
said this was true; and one desired me to 
cure him. I assured him I could not. 
"Why not? You know what my trouble 
is," he said. I replied, " I am seeking the 
remedy, but have not found it." He then 16 
IN HEALTH 
asked what he should do. I told him he 
had forsaken God, and must seek through 
the second birth salvation of Christ, for He 
alone was able to save. I was thoroughly 
orthodox and sincere while conversing 
with the young men, and, although I had 
no hope that their minds were changed, felt 
satisfied that my duty was accomplished. 
After leaving them, I reflected on their 
condition, and on what I had said to them, 
and was surprised to find I had advised a 
method of cure, which my reason had not 
accepted. In the singleness of my desire 
to rescue them from a perilous condition, I 
had been led by the infallible spirit of 
Love. The voice within, bidding me 
follow the advice I had given, and yield to 
Christ as the only one able to save, could 
not ag-ain be silenced. 
The next day two ladies, mother and 
daughter, called. The daughter asked if I 
could tell what was her mother's disease? 
I said her mother was a medium; and I THE SECOND BIRTH 
17 
gave religious admonition similar to that 
given to the young men. I was constrained 
to give this counsel although contrary to 
my reason. 
The next morning my reason planted it- 
self firmly on the ground of universal salva- 
tion. But I was asked by the Holy Spirit, 
- although I had not yet recognized this 
influence, - " Are not the two young men 
and the woman, whom you have been 
advising to yield to Christ, already in a 
state of torment which will be endless, un- 
less they seek His power to save? " My 
reason decided affirmatively, but I did not 
yield until nearly night. Then I saw that 
there is One who " shutteth, and no man 
openeth.''1 I realized that my trust in God 
to keep me from yielding to temptation 
during the previous ten years had led me 
to Christ; and that as my sexual life alone 
had been committed to God during that 
time, so all in my spiritual experience 
1 Rev. iii. 7. See note at end of chapter. 18 
IN HEALTH 
which had drawn me to Him must have 
come through that life. I can but believe 
that my trust in God to keep my sexual 
life was the origin and order of the new 
birth which the Holy Spirit had begotten 
in me. 
Since then I have believed that our sex- 
ual nature, which is our life, must first 
yield to the influence of the Holy Spirit, in 
order that we may be born again, - born 
of the will of God. What God does for 
our redemption must be in the same order 
as that in which He brought us into being; 
but not of the " will of the flesh, nor of the 
will of man." 1 
I saw at once that the second birth of 
the sexual life is what all the sons 
and daughters of Adam need, and 
that this might be received by believ- 
ing that when Christ said, "Ye must be 
born again," He meant the redemption of 
the life in us that begat us, the life through 
'John i. 13. THE SECOND BIRTH 
19 
which we inherit the original sin. I saw 
that to be regenerated, we must be recon- 
ciled to the order of life in which the Lord 
created us, believing that in the same order 
He sustains us and reveals Himself to us; 
and that Christ would cast out all lust if 
we would trust Him, and we could return 
to Paradise. 
The reader should observe that I desired 
my Creator to keep my sexual nature from 
temptation, not in order to be happy here 
or hereafter, but that I might serve others. 
By this experience I have been led to be- 
lieve that happiness consists in eternal ser- 
vice. 
I think jwith all Christians that sexual 
lust is sinful, and unless we look to Christ 
to redeem it, we shall be lost. If lust is 
sinful, does it not need a Saviour? All 
desires except sexual desire are esteemed 
worthy of salvation, and of the control of 
Christ; this is thought to be necessarily 
low and animal, and, therefore, unworthy 20 
IN HEALTH 
and incapable of redemption, and to be 
controlled without Divine aid. This effort 
to control is equivalent to a prayer to God 
to destroy sexual life, and disease is the re- 
sult. Instead of trusting to the so-called 
higher faculties to control that which has 
been falsely esteemed the lower, the 
prayer should be for the redemption of 
sexual life, that it may be controlled by 
Christ. 
All our faculties are alike good; the 
sexual life is the sustaining life of the mind, 
as well as of every organ of the body; all 
thoughts and deeds proceed from the life 
in us that begat us, and Christ is the light 
of that life in all who are born of the Spirit. 
When man begins to reason about spiritual 
things without the light of love, he is lost 
in darkness, " for the wisdom of this 
world is foolishness with God." 1 
From my experience in ministering to 
the sick, I believe that disease originates 
1 i Cor. iii. 19. THE SECOND BIRTH 
21 
in unregenerated sexual life. We are so 
constituted that we cannot look with a 
condemnatory spirit upon any part of our 
organism, without creating disease in that 
part; showing clearly that " a house divided 
against itself cannot stand." We should 
not seek to suppress sexual life, but should 
desire Christ to redeem it. The mistake of 
suppressing it is made by many who seek 
to lead lives of Christian purity, because 
they fear the sexual life is unholy. Won- 
der has frequently been expressed to me, 
that a merciful God should give to man any- 
thing productive of so much misery; and it 
is the prayer of many persons that they may 
have no sexual life. 
A Presbyterian minister was introduced 
to me by a friend as being a man after my 
own heart; that is, a man of great faith. 
Afterward my friend asked what I thought 
of Mr. and of his faith. I replied 
that it seemed to me more like insanity than 
faith in Christ; that it resulted in condem- 22 
IN HEALTH 
nation of sexual life in himself, and I feared 
he would end his days in a lunatic asylum. 
Several years afterwards the clergyman 
consulted me in regard to his health. 
Nothing could be done for him; he was 
hopelessly insane. His condemnation of 
sexual desire had extended to his religious 
experience. He said his whole life had 
been sinful, that there was no religion in 
him, and he believed he had committed 
the unpardonable sin. His friends soon 
after took him to an insane asylum, where 
he remained but a few months before he 
died. 
A member of the same denomination 
inquired the cause of this clergyman's con- 
dition. My reply was, that his condemna- 
tion of sexual life had turned it into lust, 
and through the darkness of lust he could 
see no hope for himself; that I believed he 
had sometime in his life, under a bitter 
condemnation of sexual desire, manifested 
passion toward the opposite sex. His THE SECOND BIRTH 
23 
friend then told me that he had treated 
some ladies improperly at a protracted 
meeting; the circumstances had been sup- 
pressed by taking him to an insane asylum. 
All sensation of sexual feeling should be 
committed or yielded to Christ. To do 
this there should be thankfulness for it, 
and mercy and good-will toward it, at the 
moment there is consciousness of it; and 
not only in thought should there be a de- 
sire that Christ will keep it, but this desire 
must be accompanied by resignation of the 
will to Him, and a consequent relaxation 
of the nervous and muscular systems. 
To relax the nervous and muscular sys- 
tems is to drop the head toward the chest, 
to sit with every muscle relaxed, and to let 
go all will over the muscular system, just 
as you have seen some persons do when 
asleep in their chairs. Such a position in- 
duces a truly natural, involuntary breathing 
by which the inhalations, instead of being 
expelled entirely through the nostrils, half 24 
IN HEALTH 
utilized, are diffused through the body and 
perform the proper recuperative services. 
They carry out through the million pores 
the perspiration or morbific matter con- 
stantly renewing in the system, and which 
if retained causes death. This posture 
must be so easy that it may after some 
practice be continued for hours at a time. 
Some patients are obliged to practise a 
long time before the muscles are suffi- 
ciently relaxed to drop the head with ease. 
The mental condition is best expressed 
as follows: 
" In such high hour 
Of visitation from the Living God 
Thought was not." 
Wordsworth. 
The following interesting letter from a 
clergyman is a good illustration of this 
truth: 
To Dr. A. J. Ingersoll : 
My Dear Sir : Personally you are a stranger to 
me ; but through another I have become acquainted THE SECOND BIRTH 
25 
somewhat with your good works; and having been my- 
self blessed through the influence of your teachings, I 
desire for your encouragement and for the good of my 
afflicted brethren to give a brief account of my experi- 
ence as a sufferer, and the very simple means by which 
I am led to believe I have, through the grace of God, 
obtained a cure, after years of bodily and mental suf- 
fering. So nearly as I can understand myself, I have 
inherited strong sexual desires. My moral and religious 
convictions have been correspondingly strong; and 
supposing these two opposite natures in me to be nec- 
essarily opposed to each other, there has been a 
warfare going on within me the greater part of the 
time since my sexual life began to develop itself. To 
me the strange thing was in the conflict, - the more I 
tried to put down and keep under that nature which I 
counted base, and in itself sinful, the more determined 
it seemed not to be put down, and it kept me in almost 
constant fear of myself lest I should through it become 
guilty of some impropriety or immorality, for which I 
would forever condemn myself and be by others con- 
demned. After continuing the fight for some years 
alone, even until I had obtained,my education prepar- 
atory to entering upon the gospel ministry, I resolved 
that it was my duty, in humble dependence upon God 
for guidance, to seek a wife, that in lawful wedlock I 26 
IN HEALTH 
might find rest for my sexual desires. God kindly 
gave me for a helpmate one of the best women that 
ever lived; but by nature, and I now suppose because 
of her previous condemnation of that nature, she had 
but limited sexual desire, but she was so good and 
helpful to me in every other way, and often even kind 
and self-sacrificing in that, that I was compelled to 
love her as possibly few men love their wives. Because 
of this difference in our natures, I often looked upon 
her as a perfect saint; but I judged myself as one of 
the vilest sinners. I prayed often and earnestly that I 
might be delivered from the corruption and depravity 
of this sinful nature within me which would not be at rest 
even in wedded life. In my ignorance of these things I 
could see no way out of this trouble, but to condemn 
and fight this nature, and pray that God would make 
me as good as my wife. The latter part of the seventh 
chapter of Romans will tell the story of my life. As 
the years moved on I seemed to grow worse instead of 
better in this nature, and at times felt quite nervously 
unstrung. Twice in my life - the first time about ten 
years ago, when engaged in a protracted series of re- 
vival meetings, and fighting and condemning my sexual 
life all the time - I was attacked with congestion of 
the brain, and came as near dying as one ever did 
and not die. For several months thereafter I was un- THE SECOND BIRTH 
27 
fit for work ; had finally to change my field of labor, 
and go on a field where but little was required; but 
while there, and nearly two years after my first attack, 
while engaged in another scries of protracted meet- 
ings, I had another attack of congestion, from which 
my friends and attending physicians thought it im- 
possible for me to recover; but through the mercy 
of God I did, and afterward rapidly regained my 
health. For a little more than four years after this 
time my dear wife, though not enjoying as vigorous 
health as in previous years, seemed to be more willing 
to comply with my request than at any previous time, 
and hence gave a general rest to my nature that I had 
not experienced before. But she was finally attacked 
with cancer in the breast, and after prolonged and 
most fearful sufferings found release in death. It is 
some years since that sad event, during the greater 
part of which time I have been passing through a fear- 
ful trial, not only from the sorrow and desolation of 
my heart and home, but also from the fight within. 
Many has been the time that I would gladly have wel- 
comed death, if for no other reason than that there 
might be an end to this dreadful warfare. I have 
prayed ceaselessly to be delivered from impurity 
of thought and desire ; but seemingly I could not be. 
My moral and religious convictions were strong enough 28 
IN HEALTH 
to keep me from doing any outward wrong, but I could 
not attain unto that purity of heart that I knew I ought 
to have and that I earnestly desired. But as God 
would have it, while visiting at the home of a Christian 
lady at O last summer, she spoke to me about a 
certain faith-cure, and asked me if I had ever read 
anything about it. I told her that I had read of such 
a cure at Buffalo, but had little confidence in it; never- 
theless, I believed that whenever God gave the faith 
of healing He healed. But she said that she referred 
to another and different sort of faith-cure, and that she 
had a little book [ " In Health," published by A. J. 
Ingersoll, M. D., Corning, N.Y. ] which she would 
like me to read, which would tell me all about it. So 
when I was leaving she handed me the book, request- 
ing me to read it carefully and prayerfully, and tell her 
what I thought of it. I put it in my satchel and went 
on my way, had a few days' vacation, returned home, 
found much to do, and did not look at the book for 
several weeks. Finally I felt that I must, in fulfilment 
of my promise, write to that kind friend; and before I 
did that I must at least give a hurried reading to the 
little book. I had not read the first chapter through 
before I had very strange thoughts, and wondered 
whether my friend thought that I was a bad man, and 
sought in that way to tell me of it. If it had not been THE SECOND BIRTH 
29 
that I had every reason to believe that she was one of 
the purest and noblest minded Christian women that I 
had ever known, I would have judged that she intended 
it as a bait to entice me to evil. But I determined 
that I would read it through and see what it meant. I 
did so, and then I said, I must read it again; and 
some parts of it I read several times over. During 
these several readings, some little light broke in upon 
my hitherto darkened understanding on the subject. I 
knew from my own experience that there was much 
truth in some of these teachings; but I could not take 
it all in. I therefore wrote to my friend, expressing 
as nearly as I could my convictions about the teachings, 
asking her if she ever knew any one that was healed 
at that wonderful faith-cure ; and whether she had her- 
self had any experience in that kind of healing. She 
soon informed me that she had, and asked me to be 
free and ask her any question that I might desire in 
regard to these matters. I was thus led to put myself 
under her instructions, assisted by the little book and 
some of your tracts bearing on the same subject, which 
she sent me. I expressed to her through letter freely 
my trials and discouragements in this matter. She 
encouraged me to persevere in committing this nature 
to Christ, assuring me that she had strong faith to 
believe that I would surely obtain a peace of mind 30 
IN HEALTH 
I had never known. I could see from time to time 
that I was gaining a little, but I did not obtain any- 
thing like a victory until the night of the closing of the 
old year. Previous to this time and during long years 
of my Christian experience and life I thought that I 
had made a full surrender of myself unto God ; and I 
am wont to believe that those who knew me best were 
impressed with the truth and reality of my religious 
professions. The most truly and deeply experienced 
among professed Christians always seemed to derive 
instruction and comfort from my religious teachings, 
and especially from ray religious conversations on 
Christian experience. So far as I knew how to 
give myself unto God through faith in Jesus Christ, I 
had done it, and I was all the time praying for more 
light, that if there was any lack I might see it and 
know it, but as touching the condition of my sexual 
life, as I have before said, it constantly worried me, 
and in my ignorance and misguided notions concerning 
it, I felt that I must not only wage war against it, but 
must pray God to annihilate it. I am sorry to say that 
I did this, notwithstanding the fact that I knew from 
previous study of the science of physiology that my 
life was, in some mysterious way, intimately connected 
with my sexual nature; yet I suppose that for truly 
Christian men there must be some way to extinguish or THE SECOND BIRTH 
31 
annul the unwelcome desire in the one, and yet the 
other might live, and live the better, because there was 
no emotion or desire of that sort within the mind or 
the body. This passage of Scripture strengthened me 
in my convictions that I was right in thus seeking de- 
liverance. " And they that are Christ's have crucified 
the flesh with the affections and lusts." (Gal. v. 24.) 
I now feel that God has been merciful unto me, and 
has spared my life, even while I was anxious for its 
destruction, because I was ignorantly yet conscien- 
tiously seeking what I supposed it was my duty as a 
Christian to seek. Since the change to which I 
have referred as having taken place about the hours of 
the close of the old year and the beginning of the new, 
I reverence in myself that life and nature which I for- 
merly condemned and tried so hard to put down and 
keep under. Having committed it to Christ for His re- 
demption and keeping, I find great pleasure and comfort 
in the thought and feeling that this nature, which I so 
long despised and tried to crucify, is indeed and in truth 
the very best part of me. It gives me no trouble now ; but 
on the contrary, it gives me rest and strength and inspi- 
ration to do my Lord's bidding. I formerly thought 
that the only rest and pleasure that could be found in 
this nature must be found in its lawful indulgence in 
wedded life ; but I find now, being providentially denied 32 
IN HEALTH 
such relations, that I have more rest, pleasure, and 
happiness in its non-indulgence than I ever had in its 
indulgence. The pleasure and rest of the latter was 
only temporary, but the pleasure and rest of the former 
seems, thus far, to be full and abiding. I feel that I 
ought to say these things for the benefit of some who 
may feel that it is impossible to have a strong developed 
sexual nature, and yet have it through Christ's re- 
demption brought into perfect rest, outside of marriage 
relations. Should any one ask, " How long were you 
in seeking this blessing after you had learnt somewhat 
of the way that it might be obtained ? " I answer, 
about three months. Should any one ask, "If you 
really desired it, why did you not obtain it sooner ? " 
I answer, because of my unbelief and unwillingness to 
give up all of my previous education and notions 
about it. I often thought while reading your little 
book, " In Health," that Dr. Ingersoll was an old fogy, 
who had become a little " cranky " on that subject. 
The trouble was in myself; but I did not know it. 
Now I look upon you, though I never saw you, and 
the Christian lady who took the risk of loaning me the 
book, as my greatest benefactors. Under God you 
have probably saved me from an insane asylum, or 
from recklessness in forming a second marriage to find 
some little rest in that nature with which I knew not THE SECOND BIRTH 
33 
what to do without marriage; or if from neither of 
these, they certainly have saved me from a great deal 
of unhappiness, and have made that life which was be- 
coming unduly burdensome and intolerable, a life of 
joy and peace in the Holy Ghost. It seems as if I am 
just beginning to think, feel, and live as a Christian 
ought to think, feel, and live. I love God. I love all 
His works within me and without me. I have no fear : 
" Perfect love casteth out all fear." I have found in 
my latter-day experience, that hanging of the head and 
relaxing every muscle, giving up will and all unto God, 
in thanksgiving for my sexual life, and in silent prayer 
for its redemption, have been invaluable suggestions 
which have aided me in obtaining this new life, and 
have helped to keep me in its enjoyment. Praise be 
to the name of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 
Since I began the new year I have felt that I was in- 
deed a redeemed and saved man in soul and body, in 
a sense I never experienced before. I rejoice in Christ 
every day and every hour. The happy experience of 
that New Year's night and the following day have been 
abiding. Seemingly there has been a renewal of my 
whole being. My health never was better. Have 
scarcely felt the severe cold of the past winter. There 
seems to be life and light now in every part of my 
soul and body. I am led to believe that there is yet 34 
IN HEALTH 
more to follow. I am trying to teach others this new 
faith. Some few, I humbly trust, are learning with me 
to look to Jesus for the redemption of both body and 
soul. I trust that you will pardon this long letter, and 
while I do not send it for publication, I have no ob- 
jections to your using anything that I have written that 
you may think best for the encouragement and help of 
those you are trying to lead in the narrow way; grate- 
ful to God for the benefits which I have received 
through your writings, and the prayers and correspond- 
ence of my Christian friend. I am a Christian pastor 
in good standing among my brethren in the O. B. 
xXssociation, State of New York. 
Truly yours, 
Rev. Mr. L. 
From the preceding letter I am con- 
vinced that Rev. Mr. L. lifted up the 
Son of Man as Moses lifted up the serpent 
in the wilderness, for he received physical 
healing and spiritual redemption. 
" And as Moses lifted up the serpent in 
the wilderness even so must the Son of 
Man be lifted up." This symbolized to the 
children of Israel, love and reverence sex THE SECOND BIRTH 
35 
in yourselves and ye shall be healed. To 
Nicodemus it signified, love and reverence 
sex in yourself and ye shall know what it 
is to be born again. I believe that Nico- 
demus understood the meaning of that 
symbol as Christ revealed it to me, for we 
have abundant testimony from ancient 
writers on symbolism that this interpreta- 
tion was well understood at that time. I 
have believed for thirty-five years that 
Christ revealed to me the second birth 
through my sexual life by giving me love 
and reverence for it. 
During all this time I was teaching it as 
He revealed it to me, and many times 
Christians claiming to be born again 
quoted John iii. 8 to prove to me that 
we cannot know anything about the 
second birth. In reply I would quote 
verses 9 and 10: "Nicodemus answered 
and said unto him, How can these things 
be ? 
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Art 36 
IN HEALTH 
thou a master of Israel, and knowest not 
these things ? " 
Why did Christ ask this question if these 
thing's cannot be known? 
When I looked to Christ for help to 
keep the seventh commandment in thought 
" my citizenship began in heaven, and He 
commenced to fashion anew the body of 
my humiliation" (see Phil. iii. 20 and 21, 
Revised Version) by which I was " crucified 
with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, 
but Christ liveth in me: and the life which 
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of 
the Son of God, who loved me, and gave 
Himself for me." (Gal. ii. 20.) 
The second birth began in me in the life 
which begat me, then I realized that " the 
Spirit breatheth where it listeth, and I heard 
the voice thereof, but I did not know whence 
it came, nor whither it went; " 1 yet I did 
realize that the Spirit is omnipresent, and 
1 John iii. 8. Marginal rendering in Revised Version which 
received a two-thirds vote of the revisers of New Testament. THE SECOND BIRTH 
37 
I felt that I was lifted up into Christ, by 
the Holy Spirit coming to me in the life 
which gave me my being. I could not be 
deceived in this, for Christ gave me " the 
fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, 
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, faith, 
meekness, and temperance." (Gal. v. 22 
and 23.) 
For the last thirty-five years the recovery 
of my patients was due to their belief in 
this doctrine. Those who accepted these 
teachings fully were healed quickly, and 
the successful cases given in this book are 
among this number. 
Many patients spend much time with me 
uselessly, because they understand commit- 
ment to be in thought, without any resig- 
nation of the will. 
Commitment to Christ will give com- 
plete local quietness, and will keep all men 
and women from the sin of adultery even 
in thought,- the sin of which Christ 
speaks when He says, "Whosoever 38 
IN HEALTH 
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath 
committed adultery with her already in his 
heart." 1 
I endeavor to bring my patients into the 
belief that the second birth will create in 
them the spiritual condition of our first 
parents before the Fall, in whom the love 
of God was supreme. In that condition 
everything was pure; sexual life was holy. 
By transgression man broke away from the 
law of Love, and the life of sex became 
despised. 
When my patients believe for the sake 
of the body, they are restored like the nine 
lepers who did not return to give glory to 
God. If they believed for their souls' sal- 
vation, both soul and body would be healed. 
The majority of my patients are many 
weeks in attaining belief, but a few come 
rapidly into it. I told a young man who 
consulted me in regard to his disease, 
which physicians pronounced congestion 
1 Matt. v. 2. THE SECOND BIRTH 
39 
of the brain, that if he would return thanks 
to Christ for every sexual sensation, he 
could regain his health. He realized the 
truth of my assertion, followed my advice, 
and gained nine pounds in weight the first 
week he was under my care. In about 
three weeks he returned to college, from 
which he had been absent nine months; in 
three months he resumed his place in class. 
He continues well, and is now preaching. 
Notwithstanding my success in healing 
the sick, I am not satisfied, because I have 
not been able to lead many of them to seek 
the redemption of their souls by commit- 
ment of sexual life to Christ. This 
doctrine has always met with opposition, 
because Christians generally believe that 
" this infection of nature doth remain, yea, 
in them that are regenerated.''1 
I hope the time will come when I shall 
be better fitted to teach, and mankind more 
willing to receive, the truth. Only by the 
1 See Ninth Article of Religion. (Episcopal Church.) IN HEALTH 
40 
power of Christ have I been able to do 
what I have done in the past forty-five 
years; I have promised to serve Him 
during this life, and hope to be worthy to 
do so throughout eternity; I believe He is 
all in all, I am His unprofitable servant. 
NOTE. 
The Eye. - In Dean Alford's notes on the word 
"eye," Matt. vi. 22, 23, he says: "Stier expands it 
well: 1 As the body, of itself a dark mass, has its 
light from the eye, so we have here compared to it the 
sensuous, bestial life of men, their appetites, desires, and 
aversions, which belong to the lower creature. This 
dark region - human nature under the gross dominion 
of the flesh - shall become spiritualized, enlightened, 
sanctified, by the spiritual light: but if this light be 
darkness, how great must then the darkness of the 
sensuous life be ! ' " CHAPTER II 
RELIGION 
"Ifye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall 
ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." - John 
xv. 7. II 
RELIGION 
" If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall 
ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." - John 
xv. 7. 
Before my conversion I believed the 
object of religion was to gain eternal happi- 
ness and avoid eternal misery. I thought 
by becoming a minister, and thus serving 
humanity in this life, that I should obtain 
happiness in the next. I did not think for 
a moment that heaven consists in the ser- 
vice of the Lord. " And whosoever of you 
will be the chiefest, shall be servant of 
all." 1 
To be made a servant is all we should 
1 Mark x. 44. 44 
IN HEALTH 
ever ask, and that service which is accept- 
able to Christ will form our happiness. 
The joy of serving Him is the " kingdom 
of God within us." 
In my religious instructions I endeavor 
to teach that the desire to serve Christ in 
order that His will may be done in and by 
us is the whole duty of man; that we 
should desire to keep His spirit which He 
gives us, - which is His name,- hal- 
lowed, and give it to others as freely and 
purely as He gives it to us; that desire, or 
prayer, should never be for Him to in- 
crease His spiritual gifts, " for your Father 
knoweth what things ye have need of 
before ye ask Him."1 "Ye ask and re- 
ceive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye 
may consume it upon your lusts." 2 We 
have not been faithful over what He has 
given us; to ask for more is selfishness; 
and by so doing we place ourselves in 
the condition of the servant who, having 
1 Matt. vi. 8. 
2 James iv. 3. RELIGION 
45 
but one talent, " went and digged in the 
earth, and hid his lord's money." 1 When 
the prodigal son became penitent and 
returned to his father, he did not ask 
his father to give him more, but sought 
to be made as one of his " hired ser- 
vants." 
The command to "love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, and with all thy strength, and with 
all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thy- 
self," 2 forbids any plan or purpose of our 
own, in regard to what we would have 
Him do for us. When we seek the sal- 
vation of our intellects, and the annihi- 
lation of sexual life, we look to Him to do 
our wills, not to have His will done in 
us. This is making Him after our own 
hearts, - full of vengeance, hatred, and all 
manner of evil. 
Those with whom I have conversed upon 
this subject seem unconsciously to believe 
1 Matt. xxv. 18. 
2 Luke x. 27. 46 
IN HEALTH 
in the doctrine of Manes, who taught that 
the upper part of the body was formed 
by God, the lower by the devil. The 
reader will perceive that I am no believer 
in this doctrine, and unless I fail entirely in 
my purpose, he will realize that my object 
in giving this work to the public is to offer 
my humble testimony that Christ, through 
the redemption of the sexual life, will 
make the " 'whole body full of light, hav- 
ing no part dark." He will change the 
whole nature of man, and fill him with 
life. 
The power of this faith has been mani- 
fested by the restoration to health of all 
those who have accepted it. I believe "the 
curative power of the system," of which 
physiologists speak, is redeemed sexual 
life. 
God is all in all; therefore, through the 
commitment of this' life to Him, He be- 
comes the power in us to heal all diseases. 
The suppression of this life by the will de- RELIGION 
47 
stroys digestion, and weakens the power of 
all the vital organs. When I tell the sick 
they need to seek the restoration of sexual 
feeling for the healing of any organ of the 
body, they fear it will be sinful; and it 
would be so unless they also sought of 
Christ its redemption. The Giver of life 
has power to be its keeper. 
I was told by Miss A. that her physician 
had said that the suppression of her sexual 
feeling had destroyed her health; but he 
did not tell her where to look for its res- 
toration, nor what to do with it should it 
return. I told her to look to Christ for its 
restoration, and to commit it to Him when 
it was restored. She did so, and was soon 
well. 
Mrs. B., who consulted me for sterility, 
had been under the treatment of a very 
popular physician of New York. He used 
electricity for the restoration of her sexual 
life, but she received no benefit. I told her 
to seek it of Christ, and at the end of six 48 
IN HEALTH 
weeks she was well. Her hopes are now 
realized, as she is the happy mother of two 
children. 
Sexual life, God's sustaining life in man, 
is not simply the life of the organs to which 
He has assigned the important office of 
bringing into existence immortal souls. It 
is the power which digests and assimilates 
the food in the stomach and bowels ; causes 
respiration in the lungs; circulates the 
blood through the heart, arteries, and veins, 
and changes it into the solids; gives motion 
to the muscles and life to the nerves, and 
controls all the actions of humanity. If 
mankind had trust and reverence for this 
life, no man would look " on a woman to 
lust after her," ' and there would be no 
infidelity in marriage. Sexual redemption 
is the only remedy for the ruin that is 
coming upon society under the disguise 
of Free Love, - another name for Free 
Lust. 
If sexual life was under the control of RELIGION 
49 
God, intemperance is another evil that 
would pass away, for it has its origin in 
the restlessness of this life, which, dissatis- 
fied and under the control of passion, cre- 
ates an insatiable desire that seeks to satisfy 
its craving in stimulants. 
It is hoped the reader will not misunder- 
stand these ideas as referring to the re- 
demption of the body, which, being but the 
instrument of the soul, and having no will 
except that which the soul confers upon it, 
has no need of redemption. St. Paul says, 
" For our conversation is in heaven; from 
whence also we look for the Saviour, the 
Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our 
vile body, that it may be fashioned like 
unto Uis glorious body."1 As there was 
no Fall but that of the spirit, so there can 
be no purification except that which comes 
through the soul; for the body is moulded 
by the soul as clay by the hands of the 
potter. 
1 Phil. iii. 20, 2i, 50 
IN HEALTH 
" So every spirit, as it is most pure, 
And hath in it the more of heavenly light; 
So it the fairer bodie doth procure 
To habit in, and it more fairly dight, 
With cheerfull grace and amiable sight: 
For of the soule, the bodie form doth take; 
For soule is form, and doth the bodie make."1 
What can we do to make our whole 
body receptive of Divine love, that it may 
be full of life? Love our whole body as 
the temple of the Holy Ghost. St. Paul 
said, " What! know ye not that your 
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which 
is in you, which ye have of God, and ye 
are not your own ? "2 
God's word is a revelation only to that 
being in whom His spirit dwells. " But 
this poor miserable Me! Is this, then, all 
the book I have got to read about God in! 
Yes, truly so. No other book, nor frag- 
ment of book, than that, will you ever find; 
no velvet-bound missal, nor frankincensed 
1 Spenser's " Hymn in Honor of Beauty." 2 i Cor. vi. 19. RELIGION 
51 
manuscript; nothing hieroglyphic nor cunei- 
form; papyrus and pyramid are alike silent 
on this matter; - nothing in the clouds 
above, nor in the earth beneath. That flesh- 
bound volume is the only revelation that is, 
that was, or that can be. In that is the im- 
age of God painted; in that is the law of 
God written; in that is the promise of God 
revealed. Know thyself; for through thy- 
self only thou canst know God." 1 
The belief that the human form is the 
temple of the Holy Ghost will make us 
receptive of Christ's healing power. As 
my patients grow into a realization of this 
truth, which brings them into a love of 
their own forms, they increase in life. 
Wilkinson says truly, that " loss of faith 
and other inward graces is the tap-root of 
bodily sickness; and that fears, apathies, 
hatreds, and self-seekings are the sowers 
who go forth to sow poison through our 
frames. On the other hand the renewal of 
1 Ruskin's " Modern Painters," vol. v. p. 212. 52 
IN HEALTH 
faith, even when impressed from without, 
handles the organism as the will handles 
the muscles, and, if we may use the expres- 
sion, converts and Christianizes the body - 
that is to say, heals it."1 There is no mi- 
asma which comes up from the earth, so 
productive of disease as a bitter feeling 
in our hearts toward ourselves and others. 
I once met a young man at a water-cure, 
who informed me that he expected soon to 
graduate at College, and then pre- 
pare himself for the ministry. I told him 
that, in reality, he was preparing himself 
for an insane asylum, for if he did not 
cease condemning his sexual life, he would 
yet become a raving maniac. He was as- 
tonished at my assertion, and for some time 
denied that he condemned his sexual life; 
finally, however, he admitted that he was 
in great distress about its condition, and 
was seeking every means to destroy it; 
that often his desperation was so great, 
1 " The Human Body and its Connection with Man." RELIGION 
53 
that he could scarcely refrain from rushing 
through the streets, and swearing at every 
leap. 
For two weeks we frequently conversed 
on the subject, and I urged upon him the 
necessity of yielding his sexual nature to 
Christ, that he might be at peace with him- 
self; in his present condition his influence 
over others would cause restlessness and 
insanity, rather than peace and love. Fie 
admitted that during a recent revival at 
his college, a young man whom he had 
labored to convert was in a strange state 
of mind, for while manifesting great re- 
ligious interest, he undoubtedly showed 
very decided symptoms of insanity. 
Before we parted the young man saw his 
error. Two months afterward he wrote 
me that he had found peace and rest for 
his sexual life, and that he wondered he 
had not been stricken down like Ananias 
and Sapphira, for having kept back part of 
his nature. His whole letter indicated 54 
IN HEALTH 
that he had obtained the happiness which 
is surely received by those who come into 
harmony with their Creator, and that he 
was ruled by Christ's love instead of his 
former madness. 
Theological students condemn the sex- 
ual nature more bitterly than any other 
class of men, under the mistaken impres- 
sion that it is animal and impure, and that 
they cannot serve God unless it is anni- 
hilated. This assertion is founded upon 
their own admissions. 
An Orthodox minister wrote to me'that 
he had succeeded in casting the devil out 
of every part of his nature except sex. I 
replied that if he would commit that part 
to Christ, He would give him the victory 
over the devil in that also. 
I wish by this brief work to lead others 
to a reconciliation with sexual life as a 
gift from the Creator, and induce them to 
look to Him for its redemption ; thus be- 
coming subject to the will of their Lord RELIGION 
55 
and Saviour, their souls will be redeemed, 
and their bodies healed. 
In the majority of cases the minds of 
my patients have been brought into recon- 
ciliation with their sexual life, and through 
this reconciliation Christ has healed them. 
I have desired more than this, - that they 
might surrender their whole nature to 
Him, and thus realize what it is to be born 
again, "Not of the will of the flesh, nor of 
the will of man, but of God." They would 
then know that failure of bodily health is 
the result of disease in the soul, and 
through believing that the Physician of the 
soul is the Healer of the body, in sickness 
they would look to Christ to supply their 
need, and find Him their strength. 
The more we are in harmony with 
Christ's spirit and subject to His will, the 
greater power will the life of the body, 
which is sexual, have for its sustenance, 
and for the overcoming of disease. In 
order to be fully redeemed the whole 56 
IN HEALTH 
nature of man must be yielded to Christ ; 
then there will be no more strife in the 
soul, but perfect rest and peace in the 
sexual life ; and there being no schism in 
the body, all its functions will be perfectly 
performed. Then, and only then, will 
there be a realization that the body is the 
temple of the Holy Ghost, - that we are 
not our own. This realization will bring 
with it reverence and love, and the " peace 
that passeth all understanding." CHAPTER III 
WOMAN 
"And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in 
God." - Mark xi. 22. Ill 
WOMAN 
" And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in 
God." - Mark xi. 22. 
Dr. Clarke remarks, " Growth, health, 
and disease are cellular manifestations. 
With every act of life,- the movement of 
a finger, the pulsation of a heart, the utter- 
ing of a word, the coining of a thought, the 
thrill of an emotion, - there is the destruc- 
tion of a certain number of cells. Their 
destruction evolves or sets free the forces 
that we recognize as movement, speech, 
thought, and emotion. The number of 
cells destroyed depends upon the intensity 
and duration of the effort that correlates 
their destruction. When a blacksmith 60 
IN HEALTH 
wields a hammer for an hour, he uses up 
the number of cells necessary to yield that 
amount of muscular force. When a girl 
studies Latin for an hour, she uses up the 
number of brain-cells necessary to yield 
that amount of intellectual force. As fast as 
one cell is destroyed, another is generated. 
The death of one is followed instantly by 
the birth of its successor. This continual 
process of cellular death and birth, the in- 
come and outgo of cells, that follow each 
other like the waves of the sea, each differ- 
ent, yet each the same, is metamorphosis 
of tissue. This is life." 1 
It is to be hoped the reader will see that 
what Dr. Clarke calls life is but the effect 
of life. The sexual life which begat us is 
the life which begets the cells within us, 
and if we would have it healthful, we must 
commit it to Christ for redemption, that 
He, becoming its Saviour, may increase 
its power for the generation of these cells; 
*" Sex in Education," pp. 51-52. WOMAN 
61 
for all life is of Him, and He is the Light 
of it. Sexual life being the sustaining life 
of the body, all in the soul of man that is 
in obedience, or in opposition to God, has 
its effect upon that life, bestowing upon it 
peace or restlessness, health or disease. 
Dissatisfaction with the manner of our cre- 
ation or existence is warfare against the 
Creator, and necessarily weakens the life 
force, so that the cells die faster than they 
are created, and the health declines. 
Fear, disgust, and hatred are the causes 
of the worst cases of dysmenorrhoea. A 
lady suffering from this disease, who had 
been pronounced incurable by her physi- 
cians, as a last hope placed herself under 
my care. For many years she had suffered 
intensely during the menstrual period, hav- 
ing had violent spasms and frequently be- 
ing delirious. 
I never saw greater anger in any human 
face than hers, when first called to see her 
in one of these attacks. I told her the 62 
IN HEALTH 
spasmodic action was caused by her anger 
with God for creating her a woman, and 
thereby subjecting her to menstruation; 
that her anger must cease, for she was be- 
yond relief until she became reconciled to 
this function. She insisted that she could 
not control herself, and that she was not 
angry. Finally, however, my convictions 
of her state prevailed over her own, her 
will relaxed, and the spasmodic action and 
pain passed away. In about two hours she 
became angry again, and her sufferings re- 
turned. The same counsel was given, with 
the same effect. During the next two 
periods she needed the same advice, for at 
each return she was in mental desperation 
and physical agony. When she came into 
the full belief that her suffering was caused 
by anger with this function, she became 
reconciled to menstruation, and was re- 
stored to health. 
Miss C., who at the agre of nineteen was 
placed under my care, had not menstruated WOMAN 
63 
in eighteen months. She suffered no pain, 
but was unable to move, speak, or even 
whisper; her form was as undeveloped as a 
child's. I told her she had no disease, but 
that her condition was the effect of her anger 
at the catamenial function. When she re- 
covered so far as to speak, she admitted 
the truth of my assertion. She became rec- 
onciled to menstruation as the Divine will 
in her being, and was soon restored to 
health. The menses appeared at the end 
of three months, and her form became fully 
developed. 
I advise women to take all the exercise 
they can during menstruation, and good re- 
sults follow, - provided they are not dis- 
gusted, nor angry, with this function, nor 
controlled by fear. 
Drs. Clarke, Maudsley, and others are 
of the opinion that study during menstru- 
ation produces derangement of the female 
function, and they give satisfactory proof 
to all who accept their premises. While 64 
IN HEALTH 
the light of physiology is not to be rejected, 
it should not be accepted as the standard 
by which to judge of the effects of study 
upon females. In all cases where women 
have received my religious views of this 
function, they perform physical or mental 
labor during these periods without any in- 
convenience. 
Study is not the primary cause of the 
failure of health in the young of either 
sex, but the spirit of pride and ambition 
which rules them in its pursuit. The strife to 
win prizes, the desire to triumph over com- 
panions, and the attending excitement, are 
the results of vain ambition and selfish- 
ness, demoralizing1 to the soul, and conse- 
quently destructive to health. 
The case of Miss D. will illustrate the 
above. Such was her nervous condition 
that, upon her arrival at my house, she re- 
quested every one to leave the parlor, 
before she would pass through it to her 
room. I was soon afterward called, and WOMAN 
65 
found her in a fit of hysteria. I told her the 
attack was the result of her anger at being 
created a woman; that she had always re- 
gretted she was not a man. When she 
became quiet, she said that overwork at 
school was the cause of her illness. I told 
her it was not the study which had af- 
fected her health, but that the purpose 
with which she pursued it was not in har- 
mony with the purpose of her Creator, 
who designed woman to be wife and 
mother. The latter word startled her, and 
she said with emphasis, " she never would 
be willing to be a mother." When asked 
if she received that idea at school, she re- 
plied that she had it before going, but it 
was confirmed there, and added, " All the 
girls at school said they did not intend to 
have children." The stories she heard 
had led her to magnify the sufferings of 
childbirth, until she had become filled with 
terror, and had broken an engagement of 
marriage in consequence. 66 
IN HEALTH 
Whenever asked if she had given up the 
wish to be a man, she answered in the neg- 
ative. It was impossible to convince her 
of the wisdom and goodness of God in 
creating her a woman, consequently, she 
did not recover. 
The phrase " sphere of woman " had its 
origin and adoption in the feeling that wom- 
an's destiny, as appointed by God, is not 
ennobling, and it is continually used by 
persons who have not felt its sacredness. 
Many women consider their own God- 
given sphere ignoble, the duties entailed 
upon them degrading, and seek to elevate 
themselves by forsaking their appointed 
work. It is the tendency of the age to 
make- woman think that likeness to man 
should be her ideal. The desire of wom- 
an to be like man is, in her mind, equiva- 
lent to the idea that she should have been 
created a man, and is one of the many 
influences of society and school which are 
destructive to her nature. Equality exists WOMAN 
67 
only when man and woman fill their di- 
vinely appointed sphere, - each seeking to 
become obedient to the Divine law; for 
the law being Divine will harmonize with 
the life of the soul and body. He who 
gave us the law gave also our existence, 
and certainly knows to what purpose of 
life we are best adapted. 
Woman's sphere is not a selfish one, 
not for worldly purposes. Her education 
should fit her to be not only " the giver 
of bread," but the giver of spiritual food; 
for it was intended that the spiritual light 
of the world should exist in her. 
Dr. Clarke says, " The problem of 
woman's sphere, to use the modern phrase, 
is not to be solved by applying to it abstract 
principles of right and wrong. Its solution 
must be obtained from physiology, not 
from ethics or metaphysics. The question 
must be submitted to Agassiz and Huxley, 
not to Kant or Calvin, to Church or Pope."1 
1 " Sex in Education," p. 12. 68 
IN HEALTH 
The question of woman's sphere cannot be 
solved by Agassiz and Huxley, for God 
has settled it in creating her to be wife and 
mother. 
The ground for disapproval of a girl's 
pursuing the same course of study as a boy 
is not that she lacks the mental and physical 
capacity, but that for the fulfilment of her 
Creator's purpose in giving her life a dif- 
ferent training is required. At the present 
time a girl's education has the tendency to 
make her falsely intellectual and vainly 
accomplished, but not observing and prac- 
tical. Her ambition is fostered by parents 
and teachers; she has no rest in attaining 
her object; and the strife to acquire much 
in a short time keeps her in a state of 
excitement which consumes her life. 
A girl should be educated under quiet 
influences; should be taught to be contented 
and happy in herself; seeking the cultiva- 
tion of that which will increase her wisdom. 
The desire to serve humanity will follow; WOMAN 
69 
her aim will be to give happiness at home; 
and, in honoring wifehood and motherhood, 
she will exert an influence upon genera- 
tions yet unborn. 
The limits of this work will not allow 
the discussion as to what course of study 
would best fit woman for this noble posi- 
tion; the subject must be left with this re- 
mark: that all learning which harmonizes 
with the Divine purpose will be no injury 
to her; but any knowledge, however ob- 
tained, that has a contrary tendency, will 
be destructive to her physical and spiritual 
health. Her instructors should be guided 
by God's Word, and educate her to fill the 
sphere designed by His wisdom; and for 
this end she should not be removed from 
the influence of home. 
" You may see continually girls who have 
never been taught to do a single useful 
thing thoroughly; who cannot sew, who 
cannot cook, who cannot cast an account, 
nor prepare a medicine, whose whole life 70 
IN HEALTH 
has been passed either in play or in pride; 
you will find girls like these, when they are 
earnest-hearted, cast all their innate passion 
of religious spirit, which was meant by God 
to support them through the irksomeness 
of daily toil, into grievous and vain medita- 
tion over the meaning of the great Book 
of which no syllable was ever yet to be 
understood but through a deed; all the 
instinctive wisdom and mercy of their 
womanhood made vain, and the glory of 
their pure consciences warped into fruitless 
agony concerning questions which the laws 
of common serviceable life would have 
either solved for them in an instant, or 
kept out of their way. Give such a girl 
any true work that will make her active in 
the dawn, and weary at night, with the 
consciousness that her fellow-creatures 
have indeed been the better for her day, 
and the powerless sorrow of her enthusi- 
asm will transform itself into a majesty 
of radiant and beneficent peace."1 
11 ' The Mystery of Life and its Arts," by Ruskin. WOMAN 
71 
The following quotation, giving preemi- 
nence to the soul, expresses the condition 
under which all men and women might 
pursue their education to the full extent of 
their opportunities and desires: 
" And now observe, the first important 
consequence of our fully understanding this 
preeminence of the soul will be the due 
understanding of that subordination of 
knowledge respecting which so much has 
already been said. For it must be felt at 
once, that the increase of knowledge, 
merely as such, does not make the soul 
larger or smaller; that, in the sight of God, 
all the knowledge man can gain is as noth- 
ing; but that the soul, for which the great 
scheme of redemption was laid, be it igno- 
rant or be it wise, is all in all; and in the 
activity, strength, health, and well-being of 
the soul, lies the main difference, in His 
sight, between one man and another. And 
that which is all in all in God's estimate is 
also, be assured, all in all in man's labor; 72 
IN HEALTH 
and to have the heart open, and the eyes 
clear, and the emotions and thoughts warm 
and quick, and not the knowing of this or 
the other fact, is the state needed for all 
mighty doing in this world; and, there- 
fore, finally, for this, the weightiest of all 
reasons, let us take no pride in our knowl- 
edge. We may, in a certain sense, be 
proud of being immortal; we may be 
proud of being God's children; we may 
be proud of loving, thinking, seeing, and 
of all that we are by no human teaching; 
but not of what we have been taught by 
rote, not of the ballast and freight of the 
ship of the spirit, but only of its pilotage, 
without which all the freight will only 
sink it faster and strew the sea more richly 
with its ruin." 1 
1 " Stones of Venice," vol. iii. CHAPTER IV 
THE RELATION OF THE SEXES 
"They twain shall be one flesh." - Matt. xix. 5. IV 
THE RELATION OF THE SEXES 
"They twain shall be one flesh." - Matt. xix. 5. 
"And the Lord God said, It is not good 
that the man should be alone; I will make 
him an help meet for him.'' 1 
In this verse we find expressed the Di- 
vine purpose in the creation of woman. 
A wife to come into harmony with this 
purpose should desire to be helpful to her 
husband, and that in the highest sense,- 
a spiritual help to him. To become this, 
she must seek strength of the Lord God of 
Hosts, of Him who is ever helpful. 
" The Maker of all creatures and things, 
1 Gen. ii. 18. 76 
IN HEALTH 
' by whom all creatures live, and all things 
consist,' is essentially and forever the Help- 
ful One, or, in softer Saxon, the Holy One. 
The word has no other ultimate meaning. 
Helpful, harmless, undefiled, 'living,' or 
6 Lord of life.' The idea is clear and mighty 
in the cherubim's cry: 4 Helpful, helpful, 
helpful, Lord God of Hosts;' - i.e., of all 
the hosts, armies, and creatures of the 
earth."1 
This was the relation of our first parents 
to their Creator before the Fall, and this 
was their divine, holy, or helpful relation to 
each other. God's commands were given 
to make us helpful to one another; and this 
helpfulness, which is of the Lord, is eter- 
nal happiness, or the state of the redeemed. 
The marginal rendering of the phrase, 
44 meet for him," is 44 as before him." It 
signifies that to woman has been given a 
highly spiritual nature, by which Christ 
may lead her in the way of salvation, and 
1 " Modern Painters, " vol. v. RELATION OF THE SEXES 
77 
fit her to go before her husband spiritually, 
without any assumption of superiority, to 
guide him to Christ. 
" And thy desire shall be subject to thy 
husband, and he shall rule over thee." 1 
Obedience to this command was required 
to lead Adam and Eve back to Paradise; 
it was not intended as a punishment. 
There was no necessity for this command 
before the Fall, because he was under the 
control of klim who rules the universe. 
Woman was created to be queen over the 
affectional kingdom, and to obtain her 
crown of Divine love, she must lead in the 
obedience. Woman in the Fall fell lower 
than man, because woman was created to 
be the spiritual guide. A man drowning 
will grasp a hand extended to his aid, and 
cling to it through the strong battling 
waves until it brings him safely to shore. 
So a woman should give a man a spiritual 
hand, that when he goes forth into the 
1 Gen. iii. x6. - Marginal rendering. 78 
IN HEALTH 
hurry of life, he may feel its grasp warm 
and strong to help him rise above the bil- 
lows of vice and corruption which are 
everywhere ready to drag a man down to 
a moral death. 
The man who interprets this command 
as giving him authority to govern his wife 
for any other purpose than her happiness, 
does not understand Divine government, 
which has no other object or effect than 
the good of the governed. Any other aim 
than this fosters in a husband the spirit of 
a tyrant, which without repentance will 
effect his ruin. 
In advising women to obey their hus- 
bands I have been guided by this inter- 
pretation of the command, and in every 
instance where they have followed my 
advice they have been blessed. 
I was called to see Mrs. E., whose dis- 
ease was pronounced paralysis. She was 
apparently unable to turn in bed. When 
she was told that her condition was caused RELATION OF THE SEXES 
79 
bv her antipathy to having children, she be- 
came very angry. I informed her husband 
that it would be impossible for me to do any- 
thing, but that he could help her; that it was 
necessary to govern her in every way possi- 
ble, so that her will should become subject 
to his, and through a spirit of obedience 
Christ would heal her. His affection had 
always led him to indulge her selfishness, 
not knowing it was • injurious; he did not 
think he could do otherwise, until satisfied 
that it would be for her good. Her habit 
was to call some one every few moments 
to turn her in bed. I believe she would 
be able to turn herself if she became sub- 
ject to her husband in the Divine sense, so 
I advised him not to help her, nor allow 
any of the family to do so. He said he 
would follow my advice; and I succeeded 
in satisfying his daughters, also, that it was 
for the physical and spiritual good of their 
mother. 
When her husband first undertook to 80 
IN HEALTH 
control her, there seemed no bounds to her 
anger; she would even call to the neigh- 
bors as they were passing to come to her 
assistance. 
I learned afterward she was enjoying as 
good health as could be expected for a 
person of her years, being able to ride out 
and take whatever exercise she chose, and 
that her exacting disposition was changed 
to one of love and good-will toward all. 
The explanation of the case is very sim- 
ple. She had had her own selfish way so 
long that her efforts to move were made 
with such intense will-force as to paralyze 
her; when she became obedient to her 
husband, her own will was broken so that 
Christ's will could be done within her. 
This restored the equilibrium of the 
nervous forces, and the muscular effort 
could be made without so much intensity 
as to produce paralysis. 
From my observation of paralytic cases 
I have been led to conclude that in many RELATIQN OF THE SEXES 
81 
of them the paralysis results from this 
undue force thrown by the will on the 
muscles. 
Another lady was opposed to having her 
form changed during pregnancy lest her 
situation should be known, and exerted so 
much will upon her body as to succeed in 
concealing her condition until the physi- 
cian was called at her confinement. The 
effort of her will to contract her form 
deprived the legs of life-force and resulted 
in paralysis. She seemed angry with her 
legs, using bitter invectives against them 
because they would not do her bidding. 
At one time when I was trying to teach 
her to walk, she exclaimed with ven- 
geance, " Plagued legs! " "You can never 
walk while you have such a spirit toward 
them,'' I said; "you have bitterness enough 
toward your body to send you to the 
grave." She could not be benefited, be- 
cause she refused to believe. She never 
walked again, and has since died. 82 
IN HEALTH 
A lady came to me from a water-cure 
where she had been taught that there was 
a physiological incompatibility between 
herself and husband. She was greatly 
distressed because he refused to pay any 
further medical expenses. I told her she 
would not require medical aid if she would 
forgive her husband, that then she would 
see her own fault, for which forgiveness 
would be granted if she sought it of Christ. 
She was advised to return to her husband, 
and obey him, for in that obedience she 
would become a happy wife. She accepted 
the doctrine, and after remaining a week, 
during which I talked to her daily on for- 
giveness and obedience, she left my house 
a happy woman. On her way home she 
visited the institution from which she came, 
where her friends were astonished at her 
improvement, thinking her cure almost a 
miracle. 
Mrs. F. came to me from the same cure, 
under the same delusion in regard to her- RELATION OF THE SEXES 
83 
self and husband. Physically, mentally, 
and morally, she was a complete wreck. 
What she ate, though but a morsel, caused 
her extreme suffering. She freely ex- 
pressed her great sorrow that she had a 
husband. She was advised to forgive him, 
for then she would realize the fault was in 
herself. If she came into this perception, 
and sought forgiveness for her sins, Christ 
would grant it, redeeming her soul and 
healing her body. She saw her mistake, 
and soon began to improve. Her appetite 
returned, her digestion became good, and 
at the end of four weeks she went home. 
Since that time she has lived happily with 
her husband. 
I was once called to see a lady who had 
been confined to her bed for some years. 
I told her that her prostration resulted 
from rebellion against the will of God in 
creating her to be a wife and mother. She 
replied that before she married she thought 
her husband was too good a man to wish 84 
IN HEALTH 
to cohabit with her. I said it was that 
thought which produced her disease; and 
an hour was spent in impressing upon her 
the belief that her desire must be subject 
to her husband, which was all that was 
done for her. I heard about two months 
afterward that she was well, and doing her 
own housework. 
" Wives submit yourselves unto your 
husbands as unto the Lord." (Eph. v. 22.) 
" As unto the Lord " means in love. 
Paul's advice to husbands and wives 
was intended for the best good of each, 
not expecting either to compel the other, 
for he knew that was impossible. 
An English lady told me that about 
nine o'clock every night the surface of 
her whole body became so heated that she 
could get but very little sleep, while her 
pulse did not show any fever. She had 
consulted many of the noted physicians 
of Europe and America, without obtaining 
any relief. RELATION OF THE SEXES 
85 
I told her the cause of her trouble was 
a nervous condition caused by disobedience 
to her husband which she denied for six 
months. She said her husband was an 
Englishman and compelled her to obey. I 
replied, 'Then you do not love to obey 
him;" and she answered, "No." I then 
said, "Your obedience is not obedience, 
because it is not as 4 unto the Lord.' " At 
the end of these six months my prayer 
that Christ would reveal to her the truth 
of my teachings was answered, and from 
that hour this nervous heat left her and 
her sleep was as natural and peaceful as 
that of a child. My experience of forty- 
five years in treating chronic diseases of 
women convinces me that only Divine 
love can make a wife happy in obeying 
her husband or can make the husband 
happy in obeying the wife; then each 
will seek the happiness of the other. I 
believe woman was created to be queen 
over the affectional kingdom and through 86 
IN HEALTH 
Divine love ruler over the whole human 
family. 
The following case will illustrate a wife's 
power over her husband; but I have never 
known a case where a husband had as 
much power over his wife. In 1887 Mrs. 
came to me for physical help, say- 
ing she had been anxious to come for twenty 
years, and had been angry with her husband 
during this entire period, being so wretched 
that she had no desire to live because of 
his intemperance and intimacy with de- 
praved women. I told her that Christ 
would give her power over her husband to 
win him from his bad habits if she would 
obey him in love. She claimed she had 
just cause to hate him. I replied, " ' With- 
out a cause,' in Matt. v. 22, is omitted 
in the New Revision, and your present 
physical state is the fruit of your anger." 
For the next five weeks her condition was 
unchanged, at the end of which time I 
convinced her of the truth of the above RELATION OF THE SEXES 
87 
doctrine. The next day she told me she 
was healed of her infirmities. A few days 
later she returned to her home, and a year 
afterward informed me that her husband 
was entirely changed, having become good 
and kind, and she was sure no woman 
could induce him to be untrue to her. Four 
years later a letter from her indicates con- 
tinued health and happiness. 
I often hear it asserted that the husband 
should obey the wife as well as the wife 
the husband. This I believe to be true, 
but his obedience will be the natural result 
of her loving to obey him. Then there 
would be no bondage, because each will 
love to obey the other, and in this perfect 
love is perfect liberty for both. 
Physicians often advise women not to 
yield to the sexual desires of their husbands, 
lest their disease should be augmented. It 
is the wife's fear of becoming a mother that 
has created the disease, and though all the 
devices which man's ingenuity can invent 88 
IN HEALTH 
be employed to prevent conception, the 
fear will still exist, and have its effect upon 
the health. When the fear is eradicated the 
life overcomes the disease. 
If woman had reverence for her sexual 
life, and faith in Christ, she would suffer 
but little in childbirth. St. Paul says, " Not- 
withstanding, she shall be saved in child- 
bearing, if they continue in faith, and 
charity, and holiness, with sobriety." 1 
The truth of this has been proved in the 
experience of those whom I have enabled 
to accept this promise. 
When Mrs. G. became my patient, she 
was able to walk but a few steps, and had 
been carried up and down stairs for two 
years. She had chronic inflammation of 
the womb, and her arms were partially 
paralyzed, the muscles of the whole body, 
and the lungs, were very sore, and she 
experienced much difficulty in breathing. 
She had suffered intensely in childbirth, 
1 I. Tim. ii. 15. RELATION OF THE SEXES 
89 
and it was the opinion of her physicians 
that she could not live through another 
confinement, and, therefore, she ought not 
to have any more children. She possessed 
a strong sexual nature, and the fear of 
childbirth caused her to fight it des- 
perately. I assured her that the course 
she was pursuing was destroying her 
health, and if she chose to continue it she 
might as well go home at once, for her 
health could only be restored by commit- 
ting her sexual life to Christ, and trusting 
her future to Him. As she grew into this 
belief she improved rapidly, and in three 
weeks was able to go up and down stairs 
without assistance. When she left my care 
at the end of eight weeks, she could walk 
four or five miles in climbing mountains. 
A gentleman consulted me in regard to 
the health of his wife, who had been for 
a year under hydropathic treatment for 
chronic inflammation of the womb. Sev- 
eral physicians after consultation had de- 90 
IN HEALTH 
cided she was incurable, and in all proba- 
bility would soon be permanently confined 
to her bed. This opinion was doubtless 
correct so far as human aid could avail, but 
I told her husband she could be cured if 
she would believe what I should say to 
her. When she came to me, she was told 
that the fear of becoming a mother was 
the cause of the inflammation; that this 
fear was a great sin in her soul, and she 
needed to ask forgiveness of Christ for 
having lived in it; He would grant her 
desire, and heal her. She admitted the 
fear, realized the sin, sought forgiveness, 
and went home well in four weeks. If she 
had not believed, nothing could have cured 
her, for in similar cases unbelief has de- 
feated all my attempts to benefit. 
" Perfect love casteth out fear."1 All 
fear is distrust of the power and goodness 
of God. It unfits woman to be a happy 
wife, and prepares her to receive the idea 
11 John iv. 18. RELATION OF THE SEXES 
91 
that her husband is brutal. The Creator 
did not make man so unlike woman that his 
sexual desire cannot be turned into love for 
her, if she loves him. But her fear and 
hatred of his sexual nature has the effect, 
sooner or later, to destroy all her sexual de- 
sire; in this state, man's passional nature, not 
redeemed by Christ, is constantly excited, 
and the wife reaps what she has sown. 
Any intense emotion, if continued, pro- 
duces a permanent rigidity of the muscles. 
Fear of conception causes rigidity of the 
constrictor vaginae muscle, and through 
this rigidity all the muscles become tense, 
creating more or less soreness in the whole 
body. This contraction of the constrictor 
vaginae muscle produces the suffering of 
which many wives complain. All who 
thus suffer should desire sexual life, and 
reverence and gratitude for every con- 
sciousness of it, trusting in Christ to over- 
come their fear. Then the muscles will 
relax and the suffering cease. 92 
IN HEALTH 
The unconscious action of the will occa- 
sioned by fear seems to take complete 
possession of the body. The will force of 
the brain, which has not been occupied 
with the object of fear when awake, is 
turned during sleep in the direction of this 
unconscious action, and the individual suf- 
fers more when asleep. Patients thus suf- 
fering often awake with the muscles so rigid 
that it is with difficulty they can move. 
Sometimes the breath is almost suppressed. 
A lady who sought to crush out all 
sexual feeling was frequently attacked 
while asleep with suppression of the breath, 
or hysteria. Her family would suppose 
her to be dying, but she would recover so 
as to attend to her household duties the 
next day. I told her that if she did not 
stop the effort to suppress her sexual life, 
she would die in one of these attacks. She 
insisted that sexual desire was wrong, and 
she would rather die than have any such 
feeling. RELATION OF THE SEXES 
93 
These attacks continued several years. 
One night, after she had attended to her 
duties as usual during the day, I was 
called to see her, and found her struggling 
for breath. It was too late for help, and she 
died in a few minutes. I can give no other 
explanation of her disease, than that it was 
caused by the action of the will as described 
above. Hysteria is frequently caused by 
the voluntary suppression of sexual life. 
The will, acting unconsciously upon the 
voluntary muscles, uses up the vital force, 
causing what is termed general debility. 
Two of my patients were thus affected by 
their bitter condemnation of the men who 
had made impure proposals to them. One 
recovered because she forgave the man 
who attempted her injury. As soon as she 
became ruled by a forgiving spirit all in- 
tensity and rigidity of the muscles passed 
away. The other would not forgive, and 
did not recover, but died soon after leaving 
my care. 94 
IN HEALTH 
A gentleman told me that his brother, 
with whom I was acquainted, had given 
up his business by the advice of his phy- 
sicians, because they thought his brain 
was softening. I said his disease was 
caused by the fear of having too large a 
family. After hearing this he returned to 
business, his health improved, and his 
family has increased. 
Miss H. when placed under my care 
was entirely helpless. She was engaged 
to be married, but was deferring her mar- 
riage in the hope that her intended would 
agree that she should have no children. I 
told her that her idea of marriage in the 
sight of God was nothing but adultery, 
that it had already adulterated her life, 
creating an unnatural heat1 which was con- 
suming her strength. She believed me, saw 
her error, and through accepting a better 
ideal of the marriage relation, and willingly 
trusting her future to Christ, she recovered. 
1 The burning spoken of by St. Paul. I Cor. vii. 9. RELATION OF THE SEXES 
95 
Another case was that of a young lady 
who had lost her voice, because of the 
repugnance she felt toward becoming a 
mother. When told that this was the 
cause of her affliction, she whispered that 
if she should ever marry a good husband, 
he would not wish her to have children. 
As she could not be convinced of the 
truth, she went home, not cured, and in a 
few months died of consumption. 
In a deep spiritual sense children are all 
illegitimate until a woman comes into the 
realization that it was a deep purpose of 
her Maker to appoint her a wife and 
mother, that sexual life is divinely given, 
that she should be passive, and full of love 
for that life in her husband. Then she 
will fill his soul with peace, and he will 
find rest for his soul, she being ruled in 
that life by Divine love. Oh, could women 
but once meet their husbands with that 
love, how quickly they would realize their 
queenly power, and how soon would 96 
IN HEALTH 
vanish the dread evil thought that men 
only marry for the gratification of their 
passions! 
How many husbands have been killed 
by that thought in the wife. Much of the 
suffering and illness of man is traceable 
to that one cause. 
A wife's fear of child-bearing destroys 
her sexual desire, and chronic inflamma- 
tion of the womb follows, which not only 
unfits her to give rest to her husband, but 
has the opposite tendency of increasing his 
desire. The husband under these circum- 
stances would find perfect peace and rest 
for his sexual life, if he would look to 
Christ for its redemption; and if the wife 
would look to the same source for a resto- 
ration and redemption of sexual feeling, 
Christ would heal her. Then they would 
become husband and wife from the Lord, 
doing His will in their souls and bodies, 
which are His. Children of such a mar- 
riage would be received as blessings from RELATION OF THE SEXES 
97 
the Lord, and would be born purer in soul 
and healthier in body than those who are 
not desired. 
The great mortality of infants has its 
origin in the inability of father and mother 
to transmit fulness of life to their off- 
spring, because of their unwillingness to 
become parents. The children of such 
parents do not come into existence with a 
firm hold on life; they have enfeebled 
moral and religious natures, and unhappy 
dispositions, which mar both face and 
form. A woman should realize that every 
fit of passion, every act of wilfulness, 
every unkind thought or feeling, leaves its 
impress on the disposition of her unborn 
child. That children may be born with 
good constitutions and happy dispositions, 
the parents must have reverence for sexual 
life, and be thankful for the conception of 
every immortal soul. Sexual redemption 
would lift father and mother above sinning 
against sexual life in thought or deed, it 98 
IN HEALTH 
would give strong physical and moral 
force to their offspring, and is the only 
remedy for the prevention of mortality 
among children. Many diseases of my 
patients can be directly traced to their 
parents' aversion to their conception. 
A lady inquired of me the cause of her 
daughter's weak eyes. I informed her 
that she herself was the cause, on account 
of her opposition to bearing children. She 
admitted the truth of my statement, but 
sought to justify herself by all the reason- 
ing the Evil One could devise. 
The daughter had been treated by the 
best oculists in Philadelphia, who consid- 
ered her incurable, and thought she would 
be obliged to remain in a dark room the 
rest of her life, as she had for the past two 
years. She was reduced almost to a skel- 
eton, and every word she uttered mani- 
fested her great nervous excitement. The 
mother's opposition had prevented the 
development of the sexual nature in the RELATION OF THE SEXES 
99 
daughter. I advised her to look to Christ 
to give her sexual life, and to return thanks 
to Him for it that it might be redeemed for 
the salvation of her soul and the healing of 
her body. When Christ restored to her 
the consciousness of sexual feeling she 
removed the bandage from her eyes, and 
found she could endure the light with but 
little pain. Her thankfulness for this life 
diffused it through her system, and that 
diffusion gave increased functional power 
to all the vital organs. Her appetite in- 
creased, she gained flesh, and in a few 
weeks her eyes became so strong that she 
could go out-of-doors when the sun was 
shining on the snow, and suffer no pain in 
consequence. When she left my care she 
was a fully developed woman. 
The following is another illustration of 
the effect of inheritance, where the opposi- 
tion to having children descended from the 
mother.1 The young lady had no disease 
1 See case Mrs. E., p. 78. 100 
IN HEALTH 
or pain, but she was very pale, and suf- 
fered from weakness and coldness. Al- 
though it was the month of July, she 
was obliged to sleep under two or three 
comfortables, and even then could not keep 
warm. The previous winter she had 
almost perished with the cold. She 
wished me to tell her the cause of this 
coldness. I said it was caused by the 
postponement of her marriage until a time 
of life too late for conception. Upon her 
admitting the truth of this she was assured 
there was no hope of cure while she was 
ruled by such a purpose, for in her heart it 
was prayer for the annihilation of the life 
which begets children, and that this desire 
had produced the coldness and weakness 
from which she suffered. She believed 
what I said, and recovered in a few weeks. 
The next winter when we met she was 
enjoying good health, and suffering no 
inconvenience from the cold. 
Every thought or deed in opposition to RELATION OF THE SEXES 
101 
having children is a sin against the soul, 
and is productive of disease. Marriage 
with such feelings is little better than a life 
of prostitution, and often leads to the ter- 
rible sin of abortion. 
No adequate remedy can be found in 
medical or religious works for the crimes 
against fcetal life. In Dr. Storer's essay, 
entitled i( Why Not? " there is the follow- 
ing passage: "If these wretched women, 
these married, lawful mothers, and these 
Christian husbands, are thus murdering 
their children by thousands through igno- 
rance, they must be taught the truth ; but 
if, as there is reason to believe is too often 
the case, they have been influenced to do 
so by fashion, extravagance of living, or 
lust, no language of condemnation can be 
too strong." 
Faith in Christ is the all-sufficient rem- 
edy for the sins of men and nations. If 
mankind would receive the power of 
Christ for the regeneration of sexual life, 102 
IN HEALTH 
the sacredness of marriage would never be 
profaned by the terrible sin of interference 
with the Almighty in the birth of immor- 
tal souls. No person ruled by God could 
ever have such a thought or purpose. 
While in the depths of the heart it is 
acknowledged to be a great sin by those 
who commit it, still they invariably seek 
to justify their murderous designs and 
deeds by the counsel of physicians or 
friends. The darkness in which they live 
can never be dispelled by the wisdom of 
man, - only by Christ, through the re- 
demption of sexual life. 
The Bible asserts that the sin of Onan 
" was evil in the eyes of the Lord." It is 
one of the greatest sins a human being can 
commit, and destroys the soul and body of 
both husband and wife. To this sin may 
be traced unmistakably cases of rheuma- 
tism, paralysis, and insanity. Without 
repentance there is neither cure nor salva- 
tion. RELATION OF THE SEXES 
103 
I was called to see a gentleman who was 
an active layman in the Baptist Church, 
and found him laboring under great mental 
depression caused by self-condemnation. 
When I told him he must forgive himself, 
he said he could not, for he had been so 
wicked, so lustful, - he had committed 
the sin of Onan, until he had become im- 
potent, and now he was afraid to be left 
alone, lest he should yield to the tempta- 
tion to commit suicide. I acknowledged 
he could not forgive himself by his own 
power, but he could desire a forgiving 
spirit of Christ, and He would help him. 
This was a new doctrine of forgiveness 
which he refused to accept. Soon after 
this interview he was taken to an insane 
asylum. 
Women marry, professing to believe 
marriage a Divine institution, yet in their 
hearts the spirit of the nun rules, and 
destroys the peace and happiness of the 
marriage relation. They drag out a mis- IN HEALTH 
104 
erable existence, because their sense of 
duty constantly compels them to violate 
their own ideal of purity. This spirit 
creates in the husband a craving which 
the wife cannot satisfy, and children con- 
ceived under such circumstances inherit 
passion instead of love. This has been a 
great source of lust in all ages of the 
world, and is the hidden cause of the 
destruction of nations and empires, for 
when the life falls, the fall of all human 
governments is inevitable. 
One of the saddest facts recognized by 
the public is that the mistress, through her 
sexual nature, has a greater influence over 
a man than his wife. There is but one 
remedy for this, and that is sexual redemp- 
tion. The wife's sexual life, under the 
control of God, becomes quiet and peace- 
ful ; she regards that life in herself and her 
husband with reverence, and through this 
feeling she will obtain a stronger influence 
over him than any other woman. Her RELATION OF THE SEXES 
105 
Maker through her affection gives her 
power to create in her husband quietness 
instead of passion, love and devotion to 
her, and a higher esteem for woman; thus 
she may ennoble his life, and lead him in 
the paths of virtue and holiness. Then, 
truly, will she become a helpmeet from 
the Lord, and looking upon marriage as 
pure and holy in all its relations, she will 
perceive that in being a wife and mother 
she is doing the will of her Creator in soul 
and body. 
If a wife does not love the sexual life of 
her husband, it is no excuse for his lustful 
deeds with other women, for it is equally 
his duty to commit his sexual emotions to 
Christ for redemption, that whatever be 
the condition of his wife he may be at rest. 
In this state he will become an instrument 
in the hands of the Lord for the redemp- 
tion of the sexual life of his wife. 
Married women frequently complain that 
their husband's love is low and animal. 106 
IN HEALTH 
They believe purity consists in having no 
consciousness of sexual life, and they pray 
that their husbands may be brought to this 
condition. When they see their error, 
they admit that their husband's ideas of 
sexual life have been nobler than their 
own. As soon as they believe they need 
to bestow " more abundant honor on that 
part which lacked," they improve in health, 
and become happy in the desire of giving 
their husbands happiness. Forgiveness, 
and the desire to serve each other, would 
remove all incompatibility between hus- 
band and wife. A married man who died 
of paralysis said just before his death, 
" Had I known these truths years ago I 
might have lived." 
A gentleman came to my house to visit 
his wife, who had been my patient for two 
weeks. He was prostrated physically in 
consequence of domestic troubles, and he, 
also, placed himself under my care. He 
told me that when his wife left home he RELATION OF THE SEXES 
107 
had no hope that she would ever return; 
and he began to complain bitterly of her. 
He was told that he must cease to com- 
plain, and must forgive her; he would then 
perceive that he, too, had been in fault, for 
which he must desire forgiveness, and 
Christ would give him the victory, making 
him a true husband. Through this for- 
giveness he would realize that his con- 
demnatory spirit toward his wife had so 
darkened his mind that he had misjudged 
her. His wife had been ruled by the same 
spirit, and to her the same advice was 
given, with the hope of effecting a recon- 
ciliation between them. At the end of 
three weeks they went home contented, 
and are still happily united. 
Such is my advice to all discontented 
husbands and wives. While my patients 
contemplate breaking their marriage vows, 
they do not improve in health, and unless 
they can be prevailed upon to give up 
all such intentions, no benefit can be re- 108 
IN HEALTH 
ceived. To advise husband and wife to 
separate should be made a criminal of- 
fence. 
If teachers in our seminaries and col- 
leges were sexually redeemed, their pupils 
would feel the influence of this redeemed 
life, without any effort on the part of the 
teachers to impress it. My young patients 
universally acknowledge that they have 
been influenced by the disgust of their 
teachers for sexual life. 
This pernicious influence is not only felt 
at school, but in all branches of society. 
I know of no source from which a girl can 
receive a pure ideal of the marriage rela- 
tion; neither in the home circle, at school, 
in society, nor in the church. So strong 
is the influence of the false ideal, that 
girls feel instinctively that even their 
mothers would consider it impure to ac- 
knowledge a consciousness of sexual life. 
Its effect is most injurious when a young 
woman makes an engagement of marriage, RELATION OF THE SEXES 
109 
as will be seen in the following case of 
Mrs. I. 
She had no fear, but thought in common 
with most women, and many men, that no 
wife could be pure if she had any enjoy- 
ment in sexual intercourse. Shortly before 
her marriage, she began to lose her health 
without any apparent cause. She had 
been fond of study all her life, and seemed 
to thrive on it. She never experienced 
the slightest physical discomfort from 
menstruation, but as easily fulfilled her 
ordinary duties, both in class-room and 
gymnasium, as at other times. Her sick- 
ness at first seemed trivial, and her physi- 
cian said she needed only a few tonics and 
plenty of beefsteak; but these failed to 
benefit her, and she continued to grow 
thin and pale. About this time she was 
married, but constantly grew worse. She 
was now thought to have scrofula, and this 
condition increased in severity until one of 
her limbs began to wither, when she was 110 
IN HEALTH 
pronounced incurable by her physicians. 
She then tried hydropathic treatment and 
mineral waters, but without relief. When 
she came to me she was invariably nau- 
seated after taking food, was unable to 
walk without a crutch, and frequently 
fainted in trying to cross a room. I told 
her the want of sexual life was the cause 
of her illness, that she elevated everything 
except sexual life, which she thought 
low. She admitted the truth of my state- 
ment, saying, "That is my religion." "I 
see it is, and look to what a condition it 
has brought you." I told her she had set 
up in her heart a false standard of purity. 
Sexual life in her husband was not animal, 
but given by God to woman as well as to 
man. This being the first time in her life 
that the subject had been presented to her 
without shame or reproach, she considered 
it seriously, and soon acknowledged that 
God could bestow nothing that was im- 
pure. She then felt that her husband had RELATION OF THE SEXES 
111 
been purer than herself. Her appetite im- 
proved immediately, she sobn laid aside 
her crutch, and in a few weeks could walk 
four or five miles over rugged hills without 
lameness or fatigue. It is now five years 
since she was cured, and she still appears 
to enjoy perfect health, having never in 
that time been ill a day. 
The cause of her disease was the im- 
pression she had received from her friends, 
that the sexual relation in marriage was 
low. She said she had determined not to 
allow marriage to create in her any sexual 
desire, and to this determination she had 
religiously adhered with entire success. 
When she learned to love and reverence 
sexual desire, she became receptive of 
Christ's healing power. 
To the causes mentioned in this chapter 
may be ascribed many of the diseases of 
woman. While young, her idea of mar- 
riage becomes diseased, and she does not 
perceive in the sexual relation anything 112 
IN HEALTH 
nobler than the gratification of man's ani- 
mal nature, as it is termed. If she marries 
with this idea, her influence has the ten- 
dency to degrade her husband, for she 
cannot raise him above her estimation of 
him. Many cases of disease in unmarried 
women are caused by their condemnation 
of the deeds of lustful men; through their 
anger they become as miserable as if they 
were the wives of such husbands. I tell 
them they cannot be cured unless they for- 
give all wicked men.1 
The reader should bear in mind that in 
speaking of forgiveness there is no inten- 
tion to convey the impression that forgive- 
ness includes the overlooking of faults. 
Desire to feel the forgiveness granted by 
Christ toward our sinful deeds fills us 
with His light and keeps us from temp- 
tation; while self-condemnation turns into 
darkness the light He has given us to show 
us our sinful deeds. To be ruled by 
1 gee cases of two ladies on p. 93. RELATION OF THE SEXES 
113 
Christ we must acknowledge our sins, yet 
in the perception of them have no feeling 
of hatred. God is love, and to be ruled by 
Him we must be ruled by love, even tow- 
ard our own sins. 
If woman's spiritual nature was enlight- 
ened through the regeneration of sexual 
life, in making an engagement of marriage 
she would feel a Divine love and reverence 
for the sexual life of her intended. Sexual 
desire should be implied in the love of a 
woman for her husband; she should not 
consent to marry a man for whom she has 
no desire, for if the marriage vows are 
assumed under such conditions, they are 
false; a sin against her own life, against 
her husband, and against her Maker. 
Sexual redemption would, however, make 
this a true marriage. 
A wife's real happiness will come 
through the obedience which is the result 
of love and reverence for her husband, and 
which is a delight, not a drudgery. In IN HEALTH 
114 
marriage the desire to be made happy by 
the opposite sex is productive of disease 
and misery. When the sexual life is born 
again, the leading desire of husband and 
wife will be to make each other happy. 
Canon Farrar and Joseph Cook tell us 
that it was five hundred years after the 
foundation of Rome before the first divorce 
was obtained. 
I asked a classical scholar if Greece and 
Rome did not rise while they loved and 
reverenced sexual life. He answered in 
the affirmative. I asked him if they did 
not begin to go down when they ceased 
their love and reverence for sexual life, 
and he replied, "Yes, they did; we learn 
these facts from the classics." I then said, 
"Where is America going?" I have 
waited many years without an answer. 
Who can tell me? CHAPTER V 
MIRACLES NOT MIRACLES 
"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All 
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." - Matt. 
xxviii. 18. V 
MIRACLES NOT MIRACLES 
" And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All 
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." - Matt. 
xxviii. 18. 
"Our pontiffs say, the age of miracles is past; but no 
New Testament ever told them so. Christianity, as we 
read it, was the institution of miracles as in the order of 
nature; and if the age of miracles is gone, it is because the 
age of Christianity is gone." - Wilkinson. 
Webster defines a miracle as "an 
event or effect contrary to the established 
constitution and course of things, or a 
deviation from the known laws of nature." 
Miracles are considered a deviation from 
the laws of nature because man's knowl- 
edge is imperfect. Nature is only an 
effect of which God is the cause, and, 118 
IN HEALTH 
being God's work, is not a law-giver, and 
should not be used as a standard by which 
to judge of Him. There can be no mate- 
rial revelation of Deity. 
If we believe that God is omnipotent, 
we must believe that nature is in harmony 
with Him, and that He cannot act contrary 
to His own " established constitution and 
course of things." 
This false standard would never have 
been erected had man remained obedient 
to God, receiving every blessing as a gift 
from Him. In assuming this standard man 
turns away from God, and walks in dark- 
ness, and in his chaotic state the works of 
Christ astonish him. But the Bible opens 
a kingdom of light, and it is the Father's 
good pleasure to give this kingdom to him 
who will forsake his own wisdom, which 
is " foolishness with God." The more we 
realize our incapacity to understand the 
Creator, and the more we acknowledge 
that He pervades all things, the stronger MIRACLES NOT MIRACLES 
119 
will be our belief in Him, and the more 
will our souls grow in life,- in the deep 
hidden life which is of God. 
It is generally believed that the age of 
miracles ended when Christianity became 
firmly established. Is this belief a revela- 
tion from God, or did it originate in the 
mind of man? The miracles Christ per- 
formed when on earth were beyond human 
power; but He will do the same now for 
any one who will trust in Him. There is 
no reason, except man's unbelief, why mir- 
acles should cease. " And He did not 
many mighty works there, because of their 
unbelief." 1 
The healing of the sick by Christ will 
be considered miraculous until all nations 
become thoroughly Christianized; then the 
faith of man will be so strong, that any 
manifestation of His power will excite no 
more wonder than the daily rising and set- 
ting of the sun. We cannot receive this 
1 Matt. xiii. 58. 120 
IN HEALTH 
faith if we believe that the age of miracles 
ended with the first century. 
It is indeed astonishing that so many 
who are in need of what Christ can give, 
have no faith in His willingness to help 
them, and, because they do not believe, 
continue to suffer. 
The Greeks believed in the power of 
their god of medicine, and this belief 
brought them into a state to receive what 
they desired, and the true God healed 
them. According to " Renouard's History 
of Medicine," the priests who officiated in 
the temples erected to this god were, 
through the faith of the people in the cura- 
tive power of idols, the chief physicians for 
a period of seven hundred years. 
The cause of all failure is in ourselves. 
God is ever ready to do His will in us, 
ever waiting for us to return to Him, the 
Giver of life; therefore in sickness we 
should put our trust in Him, and not in 
the skill of man. The Creator has not MIRACLES NOT MIRACLES 
121 
appointed man to devise a plan of healing 
for Him to execute. He teaches that we 
must surrender all things to Him, that Ilis 
will may be done in us. While trusting in 
outward means for cure we have no per- 
ception of the power of Christ, who says, 
" He that followeth me shall not walk 
in darkness, but shall have the li^ht of 
life."1 
Although we cannot comprehend God, 
we may believe in Him. If He has the 
first place in our affections, and fills our 
mind and soul, events, which would other- 
wise excite wonder, do not astonish us, for 
we feel that He has but manifested His 
power. 
Christ will fulfil His promise, " Accord- 
ing to thy faith be it unto thee," if the 
New Testament is a record of His will; 
and when He heals an individual, whose 
ruling desire is to be cured by Him, there 
is no cause for astonishment. Christ's 
'Johnviii. 12. 122 
IN HEALTH 
miracles of healing are the fulfilment of 
His promise, " What things soever ye 
desire, when ye pray, believe that ye re- 
ceive them, and ye shall have them." 1 
The desire of the leper who came to 
Christ for healing was for his body alone, 
and Christ granted that desire. " And He 
straitly charged him, and forthwith sent 
him away; and saith unto him, See thou 
say nothing to any man; but go thy way, 
shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy 
cleansing those things which Moses com- 
manded, for a testimony unto them."2 
This command was given to the leper, 
because Christ knew that he had no 
spiritual light, and wished to teach him 
that he should not become elated with the 
change in his physical condition, but 
should render thanks to God in the way 
appointed for the gift of healing. By 
obedience to this command he would 
have received spiritual light and subse- 
1 Mark xi. 24. 
2 Mark i. 43-44. MIRACLES NOT MIRACLES 
123 
quent salvation. " But he went out, and 
began to publish it much, and to blaze 
abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus 
could no more openly enter into the city, 
but was without in desert places."1 
It is evident that the man from whom 
Christ cast out the legion of devils re- 
ceived spiritual light through obedience, 
and was sent forth to labor in the Lord's 
vineyard. "Now, the man out of whom 
the devils were departed besought Him 
that He might remain with him; but Jesus 
sent him away, saying, Return to thine 
own house, and shew how great things 
God hath done unto thee. And he went 
his way, and published throughout the 
whole city, how great things Jesus had 
done unto him." The result of his obe- 
dience was to draw the people to Jesus. 
" And it came to pass, that, when Jesus 
was returned, the people gladly received 
Him, for they were all waiting for Him."2 
1 Mark i. 45. 
a Luke viii. 38-40. 124 
IN HEALTH 
In these two instances the contrast in 
the spiritual condition of the persons 
healed will be perceived. There is no 
evidence that the curing of the body 
secures the redemption of the soul. Those 
who believe that physical healing includes 
spiritual redemption do not seem to re- 
alize the significance of Christ's inquiry, 
"Where are the nine?" Only one of the 
ten lepers cleansed returned to give Him 
thanks. The others went their way, re- 
joicing that they had received the desire of 
their hearts. Spiritually, they had no per- 
ception of the Divine power which had 
healed them. 
After Christ had given power to the 
twelve disciples to heal the sick,1 " He ap- 
pointed other seventy also, and sent them 
two and two before His face, into every 
city and place, whither He Himself would 
come. Therefore said He unto them, 
. . . Heal the sick that are therein, and 
1 Luke ix. i. MIRACLES NOT MIRACLES 
125 
say unto them, The kingdom of God has 
come nigh unto you." 1 
" And the seventy again returned with 
joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are 
subject unto us through thy name. And 
Ue said unto them, I beheld Satan as 
lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give 
unto you power to tread on serpents and 
scorpions, and over all the power of the 
enemy; and nothing shall by any means 
hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice 
not, that the spirits are subject unto you; 
but rather rejoice, because your names are 
written in heaven." 2 
When the seventy returned, Christ con- 
firmed their report, and gave them addi- 
tional power. They had been enabled to 
cast out, through His name, the sinner's 
false hopes of happiness, which constituted 
the heaven from which Christ " saw Satan 
as lightning fall." But He foresaw their 
danger of becoming vain-glorious, and 
1 Luke x. 1-9. 
2 Luke x. 17-20. 126 
IN HEALTH 
warned them against boasting of success. 
This warning should be heeded by all who 
desire to work in the Lord's vineyard. 
In " Nature and the Supernatural," by 
Dr. Bushnell, an account is given of a man 
who possessed power to heal the sick 
through prayer. Farther on, the narrative 
states that he lost this influence, and the 
reason given is that Christ withdrew Him- 
self. But an Omnipresent Being cannot 
withdraw from any soul; God is un- 
changeable, His gifts neither increase nor 
decrease; it is the selfish spirit in hu- 
manity that darkens the soul, and prevents 
the manifestation of Divine Love. When 
Christ had completed His work on earth, 
and met His disciples among the mountains 
of Galilee, He taught them thus: "Ob- 
serve all things whatsoever I have com- 
manded you: and, lo, I am 'with you 
alway, even unto the end of the world."1 
The admonition given to the seventy indi- 
1 Matt, xxviii. 20. MIRACLES NOT MIRACLES 
127 
cates that it is the condition of the indi- 
vidual, which unfits him to heal in the 
name of Christ. He becomes vain with- 
out merit, assuming the power which be- 
longs to Christ, and a vain-glorious spirit 
renders abiding with Him impossible. 
"Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank 
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, 
that thou hast hid these things from the 
wise and prudent, and hast revealed them 
unto babes."1 
The healing of the body by Christ is 
perfectly in harmony with the " established 
constitution and course of things." Christ 
being all in all, those events which are 
contrary to His law are the result of man's 
disobedient spirit, - and this spirit Christ 
came to redeem. 
1 Luke x. 21. CHAPTER VI 
SEXUAL ABUSES, AND THEIR 
REMEDY 
"Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." 
John viii. n. VI 
SEXUAL ABUSES, AND THEIR 
REMEDY 
" Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." 
John viii. n. 
The sins committed against soul and 
body through sexual abuses have forced 
themselves upon the attention of philan- 
thropists, but it is doubtful whether any 
remedy has been found. The only suffi- 
cient one is trust in Christ for sexual 
redemption. 
A lady who introduced herself as a mis- 
sionary for abandoned women told me that 
she trusted for their reformation to their 
conversion to Christianity. " Have you 
taught them to look to Christ for the re- 132 
IN HEALTH 
demption of the sexual life which they 
have abused?" With a look of astonish- 
ment, she answered, " I never heard of 
such a thing!" and asked me how I was 
led to think of it. I told her that it came 
to me through my religious experience. 
She admitted she had always hated sexual 
feeling in herself, and asked how I knew 
that she did. I replied, " I can see it in 
your looks." She said she thought she 
was doing God service in condemning the 
sexual nature. " I think you have mis- 
taken your mission, and have gone forth in 
your own strength to condemn others as 
you have condemned yourself." I advised 
her to commit her sexual life to Christ, and 
then she would be fitted to work for Him; 
having the light in her own life, she would 
teach others to commit every sexual sensa- 
tion to Christ, that it might be redeemed. 
The restlessness of the sexual nature in 
fallen women is the cause of their degraded 
condition; not desiring Christ for a keeper, REMEDY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE 
133 
they fall. The failure to elevate them lies 
in the fact that they are not taught to seek 
the redemption of their sexual life; this 
would fill them with a reverence for sex 
which would keep them from temptation; 
but it cannot be taught by one who, be- 
lieving his sexual life to be unholy, is at 
war with it, and seeks its destruction in- 
stead of its redemption. Christ alone can 
change lust to love, and it is His purpose 
to redeem, not to annihilate, that which 
He has created. He whose sexual life is 
controlled by Christ has no warfare with it, 
neither as it exists in himself, nor in others, 
and only such a person is prepared to labor 
for the reformation of degraded humanity. 
In the year 1858 I was requested to visit 
a lady who was in great despair, and not 
expecting to live long. She was being 
treated for uterine disease, and was suffer- 
ing from nervous dyspepsia, which had 
reduced her almost to a skeleton. She ate 
only four crackers daily, but even these 134 
IN HEALTH 
caused her great pain. After stating her 
symptoms she asked the cause of her dis- 
ease. I told her the cause was self-condem- 
nation for the habit of self-abuse. She said 
she believed there was no forgiveness for 
that sin which she had committed. I 
directed her to desire of Christ a forgiv- 
ing spirit toward it, assuring her that He 
would grant forgiveness, for He had said, 
"Neither do I condemn thee ; go, and sin 
no more." 
After urging her for two hours to put her 
whole trust in Christ for her soul, leaving 
her body also in His hands, I succeeded in 
convincing her that there was redemption 
for sexual life, and for the abuse of it. 
Shortly after, she ate a hearty meal, 
which caused her no suffering. I met her 
one week afterward; she was a happy 
woman, and said she had been enabled to 
forgive herself, and was trusting in Christ 
for salvation. In three weeks she was 
well, and able to do her own housework. REMEDY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE 
135 
The following statement of Mr. J., who 
was addicted to the habit of self-abuse, has 
been recently published, and is, with the 
exception of a typographical correction, 
copied verbatim: 
"The winter of 1864 witnessed great 
distress in my mind over the involuntary 
act by which I lost the seminal fluid. I 
no more yielded to wilfully excite my 
sexual feelings, but commenced a fight for 
freedom and life which lasted for eight 
years. From advertisements which fell in 
my way I read statements to the effect 
that the habit of self-abuse, producing 
certain symptoms which were described, 
and which I thought I saw in myself, 
would result in loss of health, in idiocy, or 
insanity. I never applied for help to any 
of these advertisers, nor took any drug of 
any kind for my cure. It seemed a shame 
for me, a Christian, to have such feelings, 
yet I prayed to God without ceasing, and 
trusted in Him with all my heart. Con- 136 
IN HEALTH 
vinced that involuntary action of any sort 
was not guilt, I held fast the profession of 
my faith without wavering, and finding my 
intentions pure toward God and men, I 
suffered on in faith. 
44 With intervals of teaching, my student 
life continued from November, 1862, to 
August, 1866, when I commenced studying 
regularly with reference to the ministry, 
having preached now and then from Feb- 
ruary, 1864, the time of my license as a 
local preacher. 
441 think few, if any, suspected that I 
was a sufferer from sexual disorder during 
all this time. In the summer of 1868, at 
a camp meeting, I communicated to my 
oldest brother, a devout minister of Jesus 
Christ, the secret of my life, with this 
object in view: that by associated prayer 
he and I might claim the fulfilment of 
those great promises on which I relied for 
salvation. The struggle went on, - a 
struggle to overcome and crush out of me REMEDY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE 
137 
what seemed the remains of the carnal 
nature. Day and night the one thought 
was ever present, and my prayers centred 
on this longed-for deliverance. I studied 
the Scriptures with direct reference to 
the salvation of the body. I dwelt on the 
promises and on the faith which was the 
condition of their fulfilment. I collected 
instances of physical healing in answer to 
prayer, and sought by careful inquiry to 
discover the law of the faith which healed. 
I set apart days of fasting and prayer, and 
wept bitter tears of sorrow at the desola- 
tion which seemed to be coming upon me. 
All the time from August, 1864,1 reckoned 
myself 'wholly the Lord's every moment, 
never withholding when the inquiry was 
put to me: 'Do you hold all subject to the 
will of God?' I consecrated the powers 
of my body especially, was temperate in 
eating, endeavoring to do all to the glory 
of God. I plead with God that He had 
called me to the Gospel ministry, that I 138 
IN HEALTH 
longed to enter it for His honor and 
human salvation only, that it must be a 
triumph against Christ's kingdom if Satan 
ruined my body and mind. All the while 
I was achieving unusual success in study, 
seeking God's glory in the same. I there- 
fore prayed on the ground that, inasmuch 
as men would say I had ambitiously 
studied myself to death if I was suffered to 
fall, I should cause reproach to the cause 
of God. 
" Sometimes I would get a great up- 
lifting, and for two or three weeks would 
not have a seminal emission. Then, just 
as I thought deliverance had come, again I 
would be put to shame. Strange, that 
never in all these years did I think of my 
sexual powers as having any such rela- 
tion to the atonement as I accorded to the 
powers of my mind. Strange that 1 
never asked Christ to save them, but only 
to destroy them. 
u During this time, as my powers of REMEDY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE 
139 
mind and spirit grew, my sexual feeling 
asserted itself stronger and stronger. Yet 
it was never nourished by indulgence of 
any sort. I never told impure stories, nor 
would I listen to or tolerate in my presence 
any reference to the powers or functions of 
sex, nor anything which I regarded as 
unclean. 
"Many times the thought came to me: 
4 take these promises of God's word - 
44 according to thy faith so be it unto thee," 
and stake your faith upon them. Should 
they fail you, know the Bible is not true. 
Because you are not delivered you have 
proved them false.' To this I replied: 
4 These promises have proved true in all 
cases but this: 44 Let God be true, though 
every man be a liar." There is a reason, 
unknown to me, why God does not heal 
me. God help me to hold fast!' So He 
did. All this time I was experiencing the 
states and conditions of inward peace, 
growth, and joy which distinguished me 140 
IN HEALTH 
among my fellow believers as a happy, 
even-tempered Christian. I never had the 
blues, never despaired, never doubted God, 
but determined to die fighting, if God 
willed, but to never give up to what 
seemed to me a siege of the Devil. As 
early as four years after my conversion, an 
assurance commenced to grow up in my 
soul that I should be delivered from sexual 
desire and have health. This promise was 
a sheet anchor, viz.: 'And the very God 
of peace sanctify you wholly,' etc. But 
the struggle was fearful; the night long. 
"I was greatly perplexed by this. After 
preaching with a rapture unspeakable, I 
would retire to rest, and awake in the 
morning to find that in the night I had 
lifted my hand against myself, and de- 
pressed in body and full of wonder, I 
would throw myself upon God and pray 
and hope again. The society of the best 
women I enjoyed very much indeed, but 
was not often in company; for after such REMEDY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE 
141 
association I felt a sensible weariness of 
brain, as if it were sore, from its strong ac- 
tion in self-control. Yet there was not the 
least desire to violate their chastity; from 
this I was wholly saved; but I felt that 
association with them ought to be entirely 
independent of thoughts of sex or bodily 
motions of sexual feeling, an association of 
mind and heart wholly independent of 
body and sexual differences. 
"Spiritual inefficiency is the natural pro- 
duct of such a state of warfare, because 
strength that is needed for work is all ex- 
hausted in the desperate efforts at self-con- 
trol. And attending these efforts are 
frequent failures, which so dishearten the 
struggling one that opportunities are al- 
lowed to pass unimproved that are full of 
results if only made the most of as they 
fly- 
" After eight years of such struggles I 
felt that a crisis had come in my life. 142 
IN HEALTH 
I was doing an unusual amount of study, 
and seemed to others quite well in health; 
but, watching myself closely, I felt assured 
that unless I had help soon I should sud- 
denly go to pieces and become a mental 
wreck, falling from the highest point of 
intellectual activity to one of imbecility. 
My mental powers were being forced by 
my will, and memory was less and less 
reliable. 
" At this juncture I communicated with 
an eminent physician, asking him if there 
was any help for me. I had never before 
told my story except to my brother, and 
though it cost me an effort, I felt that 
something must be done. His cheerful 
and hopeful reply induced me to put my- 
self under his care. His quiet and assured 
way of receiving my statements put me 
somewhat at my ease, for it seemed not 
new to him, but one of many cases. He 
told me that my trouble, sexually, arose 
from my brain, which was over full of REMEDY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE 
143 
blood. The seminal emissions were not 
my disease, but the congested brain. The 
emissions were the work of Nature to re- 
lieve the pressure on my brain, and unless 
I had them, I might have had apoplexy. 
The nerves of the back brain, governing 
the sexual functions, being stimulated to 
undue activity by the presence of too 
much blood, must have rest; and as all 
mental work induced the flow of blood 
to the brain, I must stop studying and 
preaching until the harmony of the circu- 
lation could be restored. Then my cold 
feet and legs would become warm, and 
my hot head would lose its excessive 
heat. 
" So here I was, overwhelmed and com- 
pletely humbled at the thought that God 
had continued my emissions, contrary to 
my prayers, for the purpose of saving my 
life. The very thing I had prayed to be 
saved from had been made the instrumental 
means of my salvation. Now I saw why IN HEALTH 
144 
the emissions had been more frequent after 
occasions of the greatest brain activity in 
severe study and preaching. 
" I took no medicine whatever, but baths 
to restore a perfect circulation, and pure 
food to make good blood, for of course my 
blood had not only been disturbed in its 
free flow through my body, but also had 
thereby become inflamed; the derangement 
having commenced before puberty, and 
being of so long standing my case was con- 
sidered an obstinate one, and the doctor 
said that having continued so long a time, 
the structure of my back brain had been 
modified, and must be changed to its normal 
state by new conditions of living. 
"With him I remained seven months, 
experiencing many kindnesses and some 
benefit; but my emissions still continued at 
intervals. I was told by the associate 
physician that when my digestion was 
so improved that I was able to make 
strength faster than I lost it by the seminal REMEDY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE 
145 
emissions, then I would not be weakened 
by them and would be practically well. 
" During these months I constantly 
waited upon God for physical healing, after 
making the general matter of healing the 
sick by prayer a subject of conversation 
with devout and judicious persons, collect- 
ing more incidents of answered prayer, and 
expecting added light. 
"In the month of February, 1872, by 
means which I will narrate as briefly as 
possible, I found salvation by Faith to a 
greater degree than I had ever before 
known. 
" The striking providences by which 
God led me to this experience I will not 
minutely trace, but will only say that, fol- 
lowing the plain guidance which He gave, 
I found myself brought into the society of 
Dr. Ingersoll, of Corning, New York, who 
spoke words to me by which I was in- 
structed in the way of physical salvation. 
Several pious persons whom I knew had 146 
IN HEALTH 
preceded me to him, and had been wonder- 
fully helped in a very brief time. From 
information which they gave me I was 
led to seek an interview with him. This 
I did with a mind keenly alive to the 
vagaries of many so-called physicians who 
deal in magnetism, animal and chemical, in 
clairvoyance and the like, having less and 
less disposition to put confidence in human 
opinions, from my former experience of 
their unreliability. 
" In my first interview with the doctor I 
recounted to him briefly my experience 
during the years past, giving him at the 
same time the opinion of the physicians by 
whom I had been treated. He replied to 
me somewhat in this strain: 
"'Your trouble is spiritual. It arises 
from a wrong conception of the relations of 
your bodily to your spiritual powers. You 
have thought the two hostile to each other, 
and, antagonizing your bodily by your 
spiritual power, have lived in a state of REMEDY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE 
147 
stern warfare. Into the conflict of your 
life Christ comes as a peace-maker, to save 
your body and soul, that all your powers 
may co-exist in harmony and peace. All 
your life you have been sorely grieved and 
well-nigh angry with yourself that you 
were a man. The feelings and powers of 
sex which make you distinctively a man, 
you have never reckoned holy in Christ, 
nor redeemed by Him, nor fit subjects of 
consecration. Instead of having your 
whole body full of light, you have reck- 
oned the sexual part of it dark, have had a 
horror of the same, have hidden it away 
from your prayers, consecrations, and 
thoughts. Christ's salvation makes your 
sexual power as much a subject of grace 
as your intellectual power. Consider that 
through this power in your parents, you, 
an immortal being, received life; through 
it you have the power of reproducing the 
image of God in beings who shall live 
eternally, and in the light of such truth, 148 
IN HEALTH 
how can you regard it as less than the 
noblest power with which God has en- 
dowed you ! Yet you have despised this 
gift of God, have been ashamed of God's 
work, and so ashamed of Him. All else 
in you, the power to think and reason, the 
power to love and trust, all other of your 
physical powers you have specifically 
offered to Christ, and devoted to holy uses. 
But the sexual power you have left outside 
and battled with. Bring it to Christ. He 
created and gave its functions. Praise 
Him for that gift. Trust Him that in wis- 
dom He made you thus. You give thanks 
when you have spiritual desires and pray 
that they may be satisfied in God; for 
desires after knowledge also, and give 
praise for all good thoughts; so also when 
you have a good appetite for food you 
thank God and pray for the government 
and satisfaction of that appetite. Now, 
when you have sexual feeling and sexual 
desire, do the same. Commit all to Christ REMEDY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE 
149 
for His government. Praise Him for the 
gift, and leave all subject to Plis control. 
Do not fear that you will become lustful 
and ungovernable. What Christ governs 
is not ungoverned. Because conscious of 
muscular power and rejoicing in your 
strength, you do not feel desirous of beat- 
ing your neighbor, - nor can you if gov- 
erned by Christ's law of love, " for love 
worketh no ill to his neighbor." Neither 
when money, not your own, is within your 
grasp, will you have any disposition to 
steal it, - though you value and prize 
money as a means of power, usefulness, 
and gratification, - because the law of 
love says, " Thou shalt not steal." Again, 
you are conscious of sexual power, sensible 
of the desires associated with a healthy sex- 
ual nature. While rejoicing in it, you are 
in no danger of dishonoring yourself or 
another, provided you put it with all the 
other desires which Christ controls and 
trust it to His care. You have intense 150 
IN HEALTH 
desires after knowledge, and often feel the 
spring of this powerful force seeking to 
know. For this you give thanks, yet be- 
cause you value and love this power, are 
you any the more in danger of seeking 
knowledge of evil, the ways of evil men, 
the society of impure minds? By no 
means. The trouble with people is that 
they put all the rest of the powers into one 
class, - the salvable class, - and put sex 
by itself as essentially different, - unholy 
and unsalvable. He who made the body 
no doubt controls all its involuntary condi- 
tions. If your body is given up to God, 
and then you have sexual feeling, either 
the Lord or the Devil causes it. It cannot 
be that what is consigned to God He leaves 
under the power of Satan; therefore, the 
motions and feelings of life in you are 
according to the will of God, and of all 
your powers none are to be destroyed, but 
all to be saved. Christ is the Saviour of the 
body. A man is told to love his body as REMEDY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE 
151 
Christ also loved the Church.1 Again and 
again is the body called an holy temple of 
the Lord, while Rom. xii. 2 exhorts us 
to present our bodies (undoubtedly our 
whole being) a living sacrifice, holy, ac- 
ceptable unto God.' 
" It needed no very extended reference 
to the relations of the spirit to the body to 
convince me that the whole secret of my 
sickness had been revealed in the antago- 
nism which had existed between my soul 
and body. As a light from God the truth 
shined into my heart. The newly awak- 
ened hope of having the peace of God 
within me, the peace which would har- 
monize all my powers in Him, filled me 
with inexpressible gladness. I resolved 
no longer to set my will in hostile array 
against my bodily powers, but to humbly 
trust all those powers in the hands of my 
Saviour. My redeemed life seemed to 
swell with currents of love. The con- 
* Eph. v. 152 
IN HEALTH 
scions presence of Christ, bringing with 
Him ineffable glory, possessed me. At 
once I felt that He healed me of my sick- 
ness. Before this I thought I knew what 
Rom. viii. i meant. Now I found that 
I had interpreted it too narrowly, for all 
the while that I had applied it to God's 
relations to me, I had been severely con- 
demning my own body. My folly and 
ignorance in praying for the obliteration of 
all sexual feeling was manifested, and I 
was led to praise God that He had not 
answered the prayers which I had offered 
to that effect. This was the most humili- 
ating view of myself that I ever had, asso- 
ciated at the same time with a higher 
estimate of my value as one whom Christ 
had purchased. He seemed to me all in 
all, not only in the conception of my mind, 
but in the feeling of my heart. Toward all 
human beings I felt a degree of tenderness 
hitherto unknown. Just as soon as I ac- 
cepted myself as I was in Christ without REMEDY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE 
153 
controversy, my feelings toward humanity 
were softened; my union with them was 
strengthened, for I saw that their powers 
and mine were all subjects of Christ's 
salvation. 
" In Christ abiding, I at once undertook 
to finish the study which had accumulated 
during the months of my sickness. My 
emissions did not cease, but I felt well. 
My old habits of thought did not at once 
give full place to my new convictions, but 
yielded steadily to the renewing power of 
Christ. Now my mind was easy. The 
dread of insanity which many times fol- 
lows the continuous strain of mind attend- 
ant upon such a conflict as I had passed 
through, was wholly removed. A sense 
of perfect security in Christ filled my 
mind, and as I am writing not only past, 
but present experience, I may say fills my 
mind continually. 
" Before, I used to think that if in time 
of great sexual excitement I was solicited 154 
IN HEALTH 
to evil by one of the opposite sex, I could 
only be safe in virtue by running away as 
fast as possible. Now, and from the first, 
I have felt that no persuasions nor 
blandishments could, by any means, se- 
duce me, on account of the saving grace 
which keeps me. Do I not have sexual 
desires? Yes, certainly, but in entire sub- 
jection to Christ. Sexual desire does not 
control me; Christ controls me as a whole, 
and, therefore, specifically. Sexual appe- 
tite is removed from the pale of selfish 
desire. It is only one of several powers, 
all Christ's." 
It has been deemed desirable to give the 
preceding statement in full; it is hoped the 
reader will note the three following points: 
First. According to Mr. J.'s own 
words, that although he had prayed eight 
years for " physical salvation," as he terms 
it, and annihilation of sexual feeling, his 
prayers availed nothing. 
Secondly. That after Mr. J. became REMEDY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE 
155 
my patient, he desired his body might be 
healed through the salvation of sexual 
life, and the Lord granted the desire of 
his heart. 
Thirdly. He believed his soul was al- 
ready redeemed, and, therefore, he did not 
commit his sexual life to Christ, that he 
might be born again; consequently, his 
body was healed, but he did not experi- 
ence the second birth as taught by Christ. 
To prove that he felt himself fully re- 
deemed before coming to me, the follow- 
ing passage is quoted from the story of his 
life previous to our acquaintance: 
" It seemed a shame for me, a Christian, 
to have such feelings, yet I prayed to God 
without ceasing, and trusted in Him with 
all my heart. ... I held fast the pro- 
fession of my faith without wavering, and 
finding my intentions pure toward God 
and men, I suffered on in faith. 
All the time from August, 1864, I reck- 
oned myself wholly the Lord's every mo- 156 
IN HEALTH 
ment,1 never withholding when the inquiry 
was put to me, (Do you hold all subject 
to the will of God?' I consecrated the 
powers of my body especially, endeavor- 
ing to do all to the glory of God. 
All this time I was experiencing the states 
and conditions of inward peace, growth 
and joy, which distinguished me among 
my fellow-believers as a happy, even-tem- 
pered Christian. I never had the blues, 
never despaired, never doubted God." 
In this account of his spiritual condition 
he represents himself as " experiencing the 
states and conditions of inward peace, 
growth and joy, which distinguished him as 
a happy, even-tempered Christian;" at the 
same time, only two lines below, he ex- 
presses a determination " to die fighting," 
•The doctrine of "perfection," "entire sanctification," and 
" the higher life," cannot be accepted by those in whom the light 
of Christ has been revealed; for if He is the standard by which 
they judge of their state, they will find how far they are from 
being " wholly the Lord's every moment." Christ's words prove 
this, for He said, " There is none good but one, that is God." REMEDY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE 
157 
and " to never give up to what seemed to 
him a siege of the Devil." Can there be 
peace and joy, struggle and fighting, in the 
same soul? If Mr. J. had committed his 
sexual desires to Christ for his soul's salva- 
tion, he would have realized that during 
the eight years in which he " reckoned 
himself wholly the Lord's," he was labor- 
ing under a great delusion. 
" There is, therefore, now no condemna- 
tion to them which are in Christ Jesus, 
who walk not after the flesh, but after the 
Spirit."1 Mr. J. says: "Before this I 
thought I knew what Rom. viii. i meant. 
Now I found that I had interpreted it too 
narrowly, for all the while that I had ap- 
plied it to God's relations to me, I had 
been severely condemning my own body."2 
He says he "interpreted this passage too 
narrowly;" but he did not Understand it at 
1 Rom. viii. I. 
8 By " body," he must mean sexual lesires, because he says 
before, " I consecrated the powers of my body especially." • 158 
IN HEALTH 
all. When he came to me he believed he 
ought to condemn all sins that he had ever 
committed, and that they were all de- 
stroyed except his sexual powers; if, as I 
advised him, he had desired redemption of 
sexual life that his soul might be saved, it 
would have been granted; then he could 
have said, " Strange that never in all these 
years did I think of my sexual powers as 
having any such relation to the Atonement 
as I accorded to the powers of my mind. 
Strange that I never asked Christ to save 
them, but only to destroy them," because 
he would have understood that he had 
formerly desired the destruction of all his 
sins, and not the forgiveness that works by 
love for their redemption through Christ, 
and that " condemnation remained in him, 
because he was not in Christ Jesus." 
The condition of all Christians who have 
come to me has been similar to that of Mr. 
J. Before becoming my patients their 
prayers for healing have been unavailing, REMEDY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE 
159 
because at the same time they prayed for 
the annihilation of sexual life. I teach them 
to commit every sexual desire to Christ 
for the redemption of their souls; but believ- 
ing they have previously committed their 
souls to Christ, their only desire is for physi- 
cal healing, and they mould my instructions 
to that desire, and receive accordingly. 
When Mr. J. informed me that an emi- 
nent physician whom he had consulted said 
he had congestion of the brain, I told him 
that the congested state of the brain was 
caused by condemnation and desire for an- 
nihilation of all sexual feeling, and this had 
brought greater agony of soul and destruc- 
tion of physical power than his former 
habit of self-abuse; that the mind and the 
feelings were two belligerents, and the 
body was the battle-field. He said this 
was true, and no language could convey 
the agony he had suffered during the con- 
flict. I told him if he would seek, Christ 
would errant, forgiveness for the sin of self- 
O 7 0 160 
IN HEALTH 
abuse. He followed my instructions, and 
his recovery was very rapid. 
I find that the great failure in the re- 
covery of health, and in the possession of 
happiness and rest, is due to the fact that 
when man perceives a fault in himself he 
is at once angry that it exists in him. 
Christ gives him the light to see his fault; 
but this anger, which is self-condemnation, 
turns that light into darkness, and event- 
ually he will be lost; for if we turn the 
light which is in us into darkness, how 
great is that darkness! We should be 
thankful for the light Christ gives for the 
perception of our sins, and in that thank- 
fulness commit them to Him that they may 
be redeemed; this is forgiveness of self, 
and is necessary for the salvation of the 
soul and the health of the body. We can 
only forgive ourselves by desiring of Christ 
a forgiving spirit toward our sins; He will 
grant the desire of our hearts. " Forgive 
and ye shall be forgiven." CHAPTER VI! 
HUMAN LIFE 
"So God created man in His own image." - Gen. i. 27. VII 
HUMAN LIFE 
" So God created man in His own image." - Gen. i. 27. 
Those who have read the preceding 
pages have had their attention directed to 
the regeneration of sexual life, and a ques- 
tion might arise as to the distinction be- 
tween man and the brute creation, as the 
latter also possesses sexual life. 
Metaphysicians have attempted to show 
that the distinction between man and the 
brute is in the capacity of the former to 
reason. Others have said that brutes rea- 
son shrewdly. Neither assertion has any 
weight, for man's highest faculty is his 
affection, not his reason. 
As brutes have no capacity to reflect the 164 
IN HEALTH 
love of God, they do not possess it. Christ 
did not reveal Himself to them; He did not 
tell us they had fallen through sin, or had 
souls to save, or were responsible for their 
deeds. 
Sexual life is in the brute creation, but it 
constitutes in it no individuality. God, in 
His wisdom, created man with an affec- 
tional nature, capable of receiving the light 
of Christ, and of reflecting, or giving it to 
others, thus making him conscious of the 
existence of the true God. This aflec- 
tional nature constitutes his individuality, 
and gives him the capacity to choose 
between good and evil; without this he 
would have been an irresponsible being. 
Our first parents chose evil, and their 
descendants have done the same. Christ 
came as our Redeemer, and salvation de- 
pends upon our own choice. 
Sexual feeling is admitted by nearly all 
Christians to be the most powerful faculty 
man possesses, yet they never think of HUMAN LIFE 
165 
committing it to Christ for redemption, be- 
cause they believe it is the animal nature, 
which cannot be born again. They say 
Christ did not mention the redemption of 
sexual life. He did not mention any part 
of our nature, nor did He reject any, when 
He said, "Ye must be born again." 
Our sexual nature is our very essence, 
being the life in us that begat us, through 
which we inherited the original sin, and, 
therefore, must be born again. The sec- 
ond birth is of the spirit, in which the love 
of Christ triumphs over selfishness and 
lust. If we are seeking to control sexual 
life by our own strength, His love does not 
reign in us, neither are we at peace with 
ourselves, nor with our Creator. 
We should love all our faculties that 
they may be redeemed by Christ. The 
second birth should include our whole 
nature, and lift us out of the degrading, but 
popular belief, that part of our nature is 
animal. This belief is a weak point in 166 
IN HEALTH 
theology, and prepares the mind to receive 
the idea that man originated in an animal. 
Darwin will fail to establish his theory of 
evolution, unless he can show the begin- 
ning of Divine affection which makes man 
the only temple of God on earth. "What! 
know ye not that your body is the temple 
of the Holy Ghost 'which is in you, which 
ye have of God, and ye are not your 
own ? "1 If our whole nature were subject 
to Christ, we would not be disturbed by 
the researches of science, nor accept any 
doctrine which teaches that human life 
originated otherwise than in Divine love. 
1 I Cor. vi. 19. CHAPTER VIII 
GOD IS LOVE 
" God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in 
God, and God in him." - i John iv. 16. VIII 
GOD IS LOVE 
"God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in 
God, and God in him." - i John iv. 16. 
The following. extract from a sermon 
contains the idea of God's love and hatred, 
which is often expressed by clergymen 
and members of Orthodox churches : 
" I contend that every man who reads 
the Bible will find out that God loves the 
sinner, not that He loves sin, for He hates 
it, but that He loves the sinner. Man's sin 
and fall brought out Christ's love." 
If, as we are told, by reading the Bible 
we shall find that God loves the sinner, 
but hates sin, why did not man's sin and 
fall bring out Christ's hatred, instead of 170 
IN HEALTH 
His love? If God hates all the sin there 
is in a sinner, and still loves him, He loves 
that which is good only, and therefore does 
not love the sinner. Hatred of sin, and 
love for the sinner, are impossible, unless 
sin exists outside of the soul of man; but a 
man cannot be separated from his sins. 
" For God so loved the world, that He 
gave His only begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in Him should not perish, 
but have everlasting life."1 The world 
which God loved, and sent His only begot- 
ten Son to save, was man's sin. All who 
believe on Him will have the witness 
within that the power of His love has 
redeemed them, and changed their deeds 
of sin to righteousness; for " in Christ shall 
all be made alive."2 
The love of Christ in the redeemed soul 
permeates every sinful deed, giving it eter- 
nal life. This love is the new heart that 
He will give to all who believe on Him, 
1 John iii. 16. 
2 I Cor. xv. 22. GOD IS LOVE 
171 
and " they shall not perish, but have 
eternal life." 
The cause of illness in professing Chris- 
tians is that they have sought the annihila- 
tion of their evil deeds, instead of their 
redemption. A deed cannot be called a 
sin unless there is a purpose or motive in 
it. Motive is the active principle which 
constitutes the sin. The deed includes the 
motive, and the effect of that motive in the 
soul, which effect, if not redeemed, is 
eternal. If we believe in the redemption 
through Christ of all our past sinful deeds, 
we receive of Him an inheritance of 
spiritual power which works for the over- 
coming of bodily disease. 
True conversion of soul consists in the 
restoration to life through Christ of all our 
past sinful deeds. " Comfort ye, comfort 
ye my people, saith your God. Speak 
ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto 
her, that her warfare is accomplished, that 
her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath 172 
IN HEALTH 
received of the Lord's hand double for 
all her sins."1 If we hate our past deeds 
we do not seek their redemption. We 
should in love desire their forgiveness, 
and Christ will grant it, giving us peace 
and happiness, " having abolished in His 
flesh the enmity."2 What is this en- 
mity? Is it not the warfare of evil 
against good ; and does not self-condem- 
nation prevent the good from overcoming 
the evil ? In the Anglo-Saxon " God " 
and "good" are the same, " God is love;" 
therefore when Paul said, " Be not over- 
come of evil, but overcome evil with 
good,"8 he meant that evil should be over- 
come with love. 
Belief in Diyine things is a revelation of 
God's love within us; " Charity (love) be- 
lieveth all things." We shall understand 
the mystery of Christ's will when we re- 
alize that He comes in the power of love 
to all that believe on Him, to make alive 
'Isa. xl. I, 2. 5 Eph. ii. 15. 3Rom. xii. 21. GOD, IS LOVE 
173 
in them all that was before " dead in tres- 
passes and sins." "For God sent not His 
Son into the world to condemn the world, 
but that the world through Him might be 
saved."1 
" And we have known and believed the 
love that God hath to us. God is love; and 
he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, 
and God in him."2 " God is love " the apos- 
tle asserts. Can hatred be an attribute of 
a Beingc whose essence is love? 
" Love is the root of creation ; God's essence ; worlds 
without number 
Lie in his bosom like children; he made them for this 
purpose only. 
Only to love and to be loved again, he breathed forth 
his Spirit 
Into the slumbering dust, and upright standing, it laid 
its 
Hand on its heart, and felt it was warm with a flame 
out of heaven. 
Quench, O quench not that flame ! It is the breath of 
your being. 
'John iii. 17. 
2 I John iv. 16. 174 
IN HEALTH 
Love is life, but hatred is death. Not father nor mother 
Loved you as God has loved you ; for 'twas that you 
may be happy 
Gave he his only Son. When he bowed down his head 
in the death-hour 
Solemnized Love its triumph; the sacrifice then was 
completed. 
Lo ! then was rent on a sudden the vail of the temple, 
dividing 
Earth and heaven apart, and the dead from their 
sepulchres rising, 
Whispered with pallid lips and low in the ears of each 
other 
Th' answer, but dreamed of before, to creation's 
enigma - Atonement! 
Depths of Love are Atonement's depths, for Love is 
Atonement." 1 
The spiritual meaning of partaking 
worthily of the Lord's supper is being ruled 
by His love. It is always ready. " Behold, 
I stand at the door, and knock: if any man 
hear my voice, and open the door, I will 
come in to Him, and will sup with Him, 
'"The Children of The Lord's Supper," by Bishop Tegner; 
translated by Longfellow. GOD IS LOVE 
175 
and He with me." 1 a Opening the door," 
is receiving Him; "supping," is partaking 
of His love,- an eternal feast. 
" For this is my blood of the new testa- 
ment. which is shed for many for the 
remission of sins." 2 The spiritual meaning 
of " blood " is Christ's Love, which is 
Atonement. 
Christ declares there is a spiritual mean- 
ing in all His words when He says: "It 
is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh 
profiteth nothing; the words that I speak 
unto you, they are spirit and they are 
life."3 
1 Rev. iii. 20. 2 Matt. xxvi. 28. 3 John vi. 63. CHAPTER IX 
LOVE 
"And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thj? 
neighbor as thyself." - Matt. xxii. 39. IX 
LOVE 
"And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself."-Matt. xxii. 39. 
In the command to love our neighbor as 
ourselves our love for ourselves is given 
as the standard of our love for others ; it 
should be the same as Christ's love for us, 
■- a love which seeks the redemption of sin. 
By not observing this command, man 
has reached the condition which Pope thus 
expresses: 
"Yet to be just to these poor men of pelf, 
Each does but hate his neighbor as himself." 
He hates himself as though some other 
power than that which is Divine gave him 
existence. While in this spirit Love can- 180 
IN HEALTH 
not rule him. If he comes to the light of 
Christ he will realize this state of hatred, 
and that the remedy is given in the words, 
"Ye must be born again." 
" If we love one another, God dwelleth 
in us, and his love is perfected in us." 1 It 
is not of ourselves that we love our neigh- 
bor, but through Christ's spirit which He 
gives us; as purely as He gives it, so 
purely should we give of the same spirit 
to all mankind. " Seeing ye have purified 
your souls in obeying the truth through 
the spirit unto unfeigned love of the 
brethren, see that ye love one another with 
a pure heart fervently; being born again, 
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, 
by the word of God, which liveth and 
abideth forever."2 
All love is of God, but much that is called 
love is really selfishness or lust. " Love 
not the world, neither the things that are 
in the world. If any man love the world, 
11 John iv. 12. 
2 I Peter i. 22-23. LOVE 
181 
the love of the Father is not in him. For 
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, 
and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of 
life, is not of the Father, but is of the 
world."1 The fallen affection here re- 
ferred to leads man to trust in earthly 
instead of heavenly things; in that state 
his love is false, and he delights in sin. 
Through the disobedience of Adam and 
Eve he became lost in selfishness, and only 
by obedience to Christ's commands can he 
know God, who is Love. 
" God is just." If Divine justice rule us 
we shall love all mankind alike, and realize 
that what we previously called degrees of 
love for others, were but degrees of indebt- 
edness for what we had received from 
them. The more we permit the Divine 
love to control us, the more we shall 
understand that our affectional state is, and 
must be, the same toward all. God is un- 
changeable; therefore when His kingdom, 
11 John /5-16. 182 
IN HEALTH 
which is Love, is established within us, we 
shall not love some and hate others, for we 
cannot serve two masters. If the love of 
God rules us, we shall give it to all man- 
kind without respect of persons; then shall 
we be His servants. " Freely ye have 
received, freely give." 
From man's darkened state, in which 
the soul is warped by selfishness, comes 
that perverted affection which makes him 
desirous of receiving rather than of giving 
happiness. If he expects happiness to 
depend upon what is received here or 
hereafter, disappointment must follow, for 
Divine love, which gives without expecta- 
tion of return, is not in him. If this love 
rule him, his hopes of happiness will 
consist in the desire of service; " His ser- 
vants shall serve Him." 
" Oh, what it is to live in gold ! 
Some flowers first the secret told; 
They gave the sun's gold ray away, 
And golden flowers they shine to-day. LOVE 
183 
Oh, what it is to live in gold ! 
Those birds that no sweet note withhold, 
Are golden birds with golden songs, 
For what they give to them belongs; 
As by its gifts, the heart is known; 
What we give most is most our own; 
And good bestowed creates a grace, 
The heraldry of a grand race. 
Oh, what it is to live in gold ! 
The miser's soul, for riches sold, 
Is ignorant of wealth like this; 
He dies and never knows the bliss. 
Oh, what it is to live in gold ! 
To live, - in giving hundred-fold, 
Gold words, gold deeds, the coinage pure. 
Of blessedness that shall endure." 
Laura Sanford. 
" Charity (love) seeketh not her own." 
That soul is in harmony with God from 
which the rays of His love are reflected 
toward humanity. Christ said, " Inasmuch 
as ye have done it unto one of the least of 184 
IN HEALTH 
these, my brethren, ye have done it unto 
me."1 
To be the sons of God we must be ruled 
by the truth of love, that is, by a desire to 
give to others with no expectation of re- 
turn ; then shall we receive power to labor 
for their salvation. "For if ye love them 
that love you, what reward have ye ? do 
not even the publicans the same?"2 
" For God so loved the world, that He 
gave His only begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth on Him should not perish 
but have everlasting life. For God sent 
not His Son into the world to condemn the 
world, but that the world through Him 
might be saved."3 I believe in a Divine 
Eternal God who loved a lost world, but 
that God does not dwell in the mind of 
man to-day. Sins are our motives, not our 
acts. A man may kill his friend ; if it is 
an accident it is not a sin, but if intentional 
it is a sin, yet the act remains the same. 
'Matt. xxv. 40. 2 Matt. v. 46. 3 John iii. 16, 17. LOVE 
185 
God loves our sins to redeem them. 
" Though your sins be as scarlet they shall 
be as white as snow ; though they be red 
like crimson they shall be as wool."1 You 
cannot separate the motive or sin from the 
individual, therefore it is the sins which 
God so loved as to give His Son to save. 
When I declare I love sin, I do not mean 
that I rejoice in sin; that would be selfish- 
ness, not love. Divine love will regenerate 
or make alive your past sins if you keep 
His commandments, for His promise is He 
will come in unto you, and make His 
abode with you ; and " you will He 
quicken who were dead in trespasses and 
sins." 
1 Isa. i. 18. CHAPTER X 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
"Thy faith hath made thee whole." - Matt. ix. 22. X 
ILLUSTRATIONS1 
" Thy faith hath made thee whole." - Matt. ix. 22. 
When Miss K., who had been an invalid 
for many years, became my patient, her 
legs were so paralyzed that for five years 
she had been unable to walk. She was 
told that her disease was caused by the 
condemnation of sexual desire. She ad- 
mitted that while under an engagement of 
marriage, becoming conscious of sexual 
desire, she had condemned it, thinking it 
wrong, and had prayed for its annihilation. 
1 The following illustrations of the healing of the body are 
not given with the assumption that the souls also have been 
redeemed. The physical change is evident, but that of the soul 
is known only to Him who " searcheth the reins and hearts " of 
all men. 190 
IN HEALTH 
Her prayer was granted, and the life-force 
of the body became so enfeebled that it 
could not move the lower limbs. The 
upper part of the body alone possessed 
sufficient life to be active, because she had 
bestowed upon that part " more abundant 
honor." I told her she needed a physician 
who believed in Christ. She said she had 
employed twenty-eight physicians; that 
several of them were Christians, and that 
all her religious instructors had told her to 
look to Christ for health; but He had not 
seen fit to restore it. I assured her the 
want of fitness was in herself, that she had 
looked to Christ to bless the means used 
for the restoration of health, which was 
putting faith in medicine, not in Christ ; 
if He is not first, He is nothing ; that a 
condemnatory spirit turned the gift of life 
into death, and disease would be her lot, 
until she should desire the forgiveness that 
works by love for all her sinful desires and 
deeds. She thought sexual desire in the ILLUSTRATIONS 
191 
unmarried was sinful. I told her it was 
so in both the married and the unmarried, 
until Christ redeemed and cleansed it from 
lust ; and that she must ask of Him its 
restoration. She wished to know what 
she should do with it. " Return thanks to 
Christ for it, and desire Him to keep it 
from temptation." 
She had been troubled for several years 
with leucorrhcea, caused by her condemna- 
tion of sexual life ; this had turned the 
healthy moisture of the vagina into a 
diseased secretion. She was told that 
she must desire forgiveness for having 
condemned the moisture which accom- 
panied the sexual feeling. She believed 
this, and the leucorrhcea was cured in a 
few days. Depending on Christ for for- 
giveness, with the desire to be in harmony 
with His spirit in regard to sexual life and 
its effects, has been the means of the cure 
of this disease in hundreds of similar 
cases. 192 
IN HEALTH 
Through looking to Christ her sexual 
life was restored, and in three weeks she 
was able to walk ; but she remained with 
me for more than a year, to be cured of a 
pain in her side and back, which physicians 
had told her was caused by an internal 
tumor, which, however, I believe did not 
exist. Her friends at last became dis- 
couraged, and her brother wrote that he 
did not believe any physician could cure 
her entirely. This I told her was true ; 
that she needed to bestow more abundant 
honor, love, and reverence upon her sexual 
life. She replied, as she had repeatedly, 
that she did reverence and love that life, 
and I as often affirmed that she did not. 
She begged me to write to her brother, 
and request him to allow her to remain 
with me longer. I would not accede to 
her wish, but told her she had already re- 
mained too long with her unbelief, and 
that if she would commit her sexual life 
to Christ, in love and reverence, for its re- ILLUSTRATIONS 
193 
demption, she would be healed. For three 
days she was very unhappy, weeping most 
of the time, and imploring me to plead 
with her brother to allow her to prolong 
her stay. After the third day she gave up 
all hope of persuading me to yield to her 
request, and retired at night in perfect 
despair. She soon fell asleep, and did 
not awake until morning, when she was 
astonished to find herself well. She then 
acknowledged that she never loved and 
reverenced her sexual life before. 
The leading desire of her heart was for 
the healing of her body, and when she sur- 
rendered her whole will, Christ granted 
her desire. If she had desired the salva- 
tion of her soul, as well as the healing of 
her body, both would have been granted. 
She remained six weeks, to be satisfied 
that her cure was permanent, and enjoyed 
perfect health, - which still continues. 
After her recovery she heard a bishop 
preach upon the cross of Christ, which for IN HEALTH 
194 
some, he said, was to live in a diseased 
body. According to this doctrine, a very 
sinful deed had been committed in teach- 
ing her to seek the restoration of her 
sexual life, and the forgiveness of her sin- 
ful thoughts and deeds, that Christ might 
heal her, - thus taking His cross from her. 
But she said she now believed the cause of 
her disease was her condemnatory spirit 
toward the sexual life which her Creator 
had given her, and that if she had rever- 
enced and loved it, she would never have 
been sick. She could no longer believe 
that to live in a diseased body had been 
the cross of Christ for her to bear. 
The cross of Christ is love for our enemies, 
that is, love in its Divine sense, which is 
of God, and possesses Almighty power, so 
that no contact with evil can contaminate 
it. The command to love our enemies,- 
the worst enemy we have being sin within 
ourselves,- implies that we have also for- 
giveness for ourselves, accompanied by ILLUSTRATIONS 
195 
love for our past sinful deeds, that they 
may be redeemed. 
Miss L. came to me from a water-cure 
at which she had been treated for uterine 
disease, and a slight paralysis of the right 
arm. She said she had gone to the water- 
cure without the approbation of her par- 
ents. I told her there was no hope for 
her while she had the disposition to dis- 
obey her parents; that disobedience from 
early childhood was the cause of her dis- 
ease, and while controlled by that spirit no 
power could heal her. She wished to re- 
main with me, and was very anxious that 
I should assist her in writing a letter to 
her father, which would induce him to 
allow her to do so. I consented, on the 
condition that she should write according 
to my dictation; she must ask the for- 
giveness of her parents for having dis- 
obeyed them, and say that she was now 
ready and anxious to do their bidding. 196 
IN HEALTH 
She was fearful, if she wrote in this man- 
ner, her parents would require her to re- 
turn home. I assured her that I should 
not permit her to remain unless they con- 
sented; but she might say she would like 
to do so, with their approbation, not other- 
wise. She wrote as directed, and received 
permission to remain until cured. 
She was filled with condemnation to- 
ward the opposite sex, and was taught the 
necessity of forgiveness before she could 
be healed. The paralysis was caused by 
bad temper, which would be aroused by 
very slight provocations. She had no 
uterine disease, and could ride and walk a 
long distance. The more she exercised, 
the stronger she became, because she did 
it in a spirit of obedience, and in three 
weeks she went home well. This was the 
first time in her life she had ever willingly 
obeyed. 
This case is given to show parents the 
necessity of obedience, and the importance ILLUSTRATIONS 
197 
of maintaining good government in the 
family. 
Miss M., when placed under my care, 
had been treated eight years for spinal dis- 
ease, by the best physicians in her vicinity. 
I told her that her spine was not diseased, 
but that the pain was caused by the action 
of her will to suppress sexual life. She 
said she had tried to suppress her sexual 
life because of the disgust she felt on read- 
ing in a religious paper that it was not 
safe for any clergyman to attempt to re- 
form abandoned women, for in association 
with them he would be liable to fall. The 
thought that women possessed an evil pro- 
pensity of such strength that even clergy- 
men were liable to fall, was terrible to 
her; she thought sexual life was such a 
curse that no one was safe who possessed 
it, and that it should be resisted to the very 
last. Her bitter feeling had a crushing 
effect upon her system, and was the insid- 198 
IN HEALTH 
ious cause of what was termed spinal dis- 
ease. She was told that if she would look 
to Christ to restore and redeem her sexual 
life she would have sufficient strength to 
walk up the neighboring mountain. She 
saw she had not regarded sexual life as a 
gift from her Creator, and through a recon- 
ciliation to it her health was soon restored. 
A few months afterwards she consulted 
me in regard to leucorrhcea. I told her 
that she was vexed with herself again. 
This she denied, saying she was very 
thankful for her sexual life, and trusted it 
to Christ; but was afraid she would lose 
it, and become sick once more. "What! 
you trust your life to the Lord, and are 
afraid He cannot keep it for you?" She 
saw that her fear was distrust, and in two 
weeks wrote to me that she was well. 
I have had many cases of persons who 
have been treated for spinal disease by 
eminent physicians. Their sufferings are 
caused by disgust for, and the effort to ILLUSTRATIONS 
199 
suppress, sexual life. When the patient 
becomes thankful for the gift of life, and 
trusts Christ as its keeper, the warfare 
ceases, and all symptoms of spinal disease 
pass away. 
Miss N. was a delicate child, and by the 
advice of physicians was kept much in the 
open air, and practised gymnastics and 
other exercises, - but without apparent 
benefit to her strength. At the age of 
seventeen, while attending school, she was 
attacked with pain in her back and head. 
Soon after reaching home she had conges- 
tion of the lungs: from this time she was 
unable to sit up, and lost the use of her 
limbs. 
The pain in her back was called spinal 
irritation. Many eminent physicians were 
consulted, but none of them gave any 
encouragement; some thought she had 
spinal curvature, and would never be able 
to walk. During the following four 200 
IN HEALTH 
months she grew weaker, and lost all 
power to move or to speak, even in a 
whisper. She had taken no nourishment 
for twelve days previous to the time I 
visited her. I saw that her prostration 
was caused by the suppression of sexual 
life by the will, and advised that she should 
be placed under my care, because there 
seemed hope that she could be led to look 
to Christ for the restoration of that life. 
Soon after she left home her aunt met 
one of her physicians, who asked how the 
young lady was. The aunt replied, " She 
is gone." The doctor said he did not 
think she would live long, but had not 
expected her to die so soon. 
I told Miss N. that she had considered 
her intellect God-given, but had despised 
her sexual nature; that God had made all 
parts of the body equally pure, and she 
sinned every time she thought of sex with 
shame; and that the cause of her illness 
was the false feeling in which she had been ILLUSTRATIONS 
201 
educated. She had thought her condition 
the effect of excessive study, but admitted 
that the influence attending her education 
had led her to despise everything pertain- 
ing to her sexual nature. 
When she realized the truth of what I 
taught her, and gave " more abundant 
honor to that part which lacked," 1 looking 
to Christ for the redemption of sexual life, 
she began to recover. She has been well 
for the past six years. 
Miss O. inherited a delicate constitution, 
and suffered much during childhood from 
headache, sleeplessness, and nervous fears. 
At the age of four she taught herself to 
read, and at sixteen graduated from school 
with honor. She gloried in her intellectual 
ability as it developed, and neglecting the 
usual occupations of youth, pursued her 
studies with an intensity which consumed 
her physical strength ; the result was 
1 i Cor. xii. 24. 202 
IN HEALTH 
severe pain in the back, which her physi- 
cians defined as " spinal irritation." Sub- 
sequently, her disease was called " spinal 
neuralgia," and with this she had chronic 
inflammation and displacement of the 
uterus. 
For several years she received homoeo- 
pathic, hydropathic, and allopathic treat- 
ment, but with constantly increasing 
suffering. At length she submitted to an 
operation for the removal of the coccygeal 
vertebrae ; but even this afforded no relief. 
During the three following years she was 
constantly confined to her bed with aug- 
mented pain. At the end of this time she 
was placed under my care in an extremely 
emaciated condition. Her physicians had 
all acknowledged their inability to help 
her, and her friends said they brought her 
to me as the last resort. 
I told her that her physical condition 
was the direct result of her mistaken 
ideas ; that she had all her life gloried in ILLUSTRATIONS 
203 
intellect, had felt only disgust for her body, 
and, as a consequence, had no sexual life ; 
that her only hope of health was in seeking 
the restoration of sexual life from Christ. 
She would not believe, until, humbled by 
the prospect of failure in finding health, 
she became willing to receive Christ's 
teachings. She then began to recover, 
and became entirely well. She said that 
through this change in her feelings, came 
her first experience of light and peace, al- 
though she had previously thought herself 
a Christian. 
It is now several years since this change 
occurred, and she has gained steadily in 
physical strength. 
The following case of Miss P. illustrates 
the healing influence of looking to Christ 
for sexual redemption : 
At seventeen she was attacked with dys- 
pepsia, and grew thin, pale, and weak. 
Uterine disease supervened, and lasted 204 
IN HEALTH 
thirteen years. During that time she had 
the usual medical treatment, but with less 
and less benefit, until finally it ceased to 
afford any relief. 
When she became my patient she was 
told that her prayer for the annihilation of 
sexual feeling was the cause of her long ill- 
ness, that unless she changed her desire, 
and sought the restoration of sexual life 
from its Giver, all human efforts to restore 
her would fail. She said she had prided 
herself on being free from all consciousness 
of sexual life, and admitted that her whole 
nature had rebelled against having children. 
For three months, although most of the 
time she realized she was wrong, she re- 
tained this spirit of opposition, which I 
think was inherited. When she yielded to 
her convictions she was astonished to find 
herself well. I objected to her going home 
at once, because I thought she did not yet 
truly love and reverence her sexual life, 
but she would not heed my counsel. ILLUSTRATIONS 
205 
Two years afterward she returned in a 
worse condition than at first. She then 
remained six months, and was exhorted to 
commit herself to Christ for the salvation 
of soul and body, yet she received no 
benefit. After leaving me she was en- 
couraged by a lady, who had recovered 
while under my care, to put her trust in 
Christ. This lady believed that no hu- 
man power could help the sick woman, 
but if she would come into harmony with 
Christ, and fully trust Him, He would heal 
her. 
Nearly another year passed, when, be- 
ing very sick, she yielded in a degree, and 
commenced to improve slowly until she 
fully believed Christ would heal her, then 
she recovered as suddenly as when first 
under my care. She visited me soon after- 
ward, and said she had again been healed 
through believing Christ to be the Giver 
of life. She is still in the enjoyment of 
health. 206 
IN HEALTH 
Miss Q. was never vigorous, and, during 
early childhood, was easily fatigued. Ex- 
citement invariably produced sick-head- 
ache. When about eight years of age she 
began to suffer from pain in side and back. 
The pain increased, and was attributed to 
her growth, but did not disappear when 
she attained it. 
After suffering many years from neu- 
ralgia, and finding the usual remedies gave 
but temporary relief, she consulted an 
eminent physician, who treated her for in- 
flammation of the uterus and ovary. After 
having been pronounced cured she was 
surprised to find that the neuralgic pains 
continued. Upon asking for an explana- 
tion she was informed that she would 
probably suffer from neuralgia all through 
life, and that her constitution required an 
occasional tonic. 
Four years after this time she became 
my patient. She told me she had been 
vainly endeavoring to believe her suffering ILLUSTRATIONS 
207 
was appointed by God to teach her 
patience, but that she had no submission to 
Uis will, having used every means possible 
for the restoration of health. She was 
shown the inconsistency in the belief that 
she could learn patience by illness, while 
making an unceasing effort to gain health. 
She was also told that her will was in 
opposition to God's, for she had rebelled 
against His manner of creating the human 
race, and especially against the functions 
of womanhood; her mind had suppressed 
sexual feeling, and her body had become 
enfeebled in consequence. When she 
asked if any organs were displaced, I told 
her there would be no displacement when 
there was sexual life, and reverence for it. 
I also assured her that menstruation was 
not an exhaustive process, and that exer- 
cise was beneficial, rather than injurious, 
during the performance of that function, if 
the wisdom of God in creating it was 
gratefully acknowledged. 208 
IN HEALTH 
She at length perceived that He whose 
wisdom had created all the functions had 
power to preserve them, and realized that 
her efforts to repress sexual feeling had 
been distrust of its Creator. A grateful 
acknowledgment of His gift, and a belief 
that it could be redeemed, gave an increase 
of its power. She soon found that the 
pain in her side and back was lessening, 
and the neuralgia disappearing. The fear 
which had been instilled in regard to exer- 
cise during menstruation was overcome, 
and she could walk five miles with as 
much ease as at any other time. 
Wishing to show the conflict through 
which many patients pass, before accepting 
the belief that Christ will heal them 
through the restoration of sexual feeling, 
the conclusion of this statement is given as 
Miss Q. expresses it: 
" My nature being intense, I was greatly 
affected by the circumstances surrounding 
my life. At times my nervousness seemed ILLUSTRATIONS 
209 
to be overcome, then something would 
occur in opposition to my desires, - it 
might be but the expression of some senti- 
ment that differed from mine, - and I 
again became restless and unhappy. When 
the fault was discovered in myself I 
prayed in agony of soul for faith and for- 
giveness, but, as I afterwards saw, without 
trust, and in a self-condemnatory spirit. 
At length I realized that, though nominally 
a Christian, I lacked the spirit of a disciple 
of Christ in being excited by opposition to 
my views. I saw also that I had limited 
His Power, by disbelieving Pie would heal 
the sick now, as while on earth; and that 
my intensely emotional nature was the re- 
sult of rebellion against my Creator's will 
in giving me sexual life, and caused the 
restlessness and feverishness from which I 
suffered. I desired peace, but did not 
obtain it, and my nervousness continued. 
I was frequently much distressed, and very 
impatient, because of my emotional ten- 210 
IN HEALTH 
dency. The doctor taught me to desire of 
Christ a forgiving spirit toward myself, to 
be patient with my faults, and trust them 
to Christ for redemption. I had before 
attained the belief that my Creator could 
take care of every part of my organism, 
but I failed to trust my soul to Him. 
" The doctor, having become discour- 
aged, advised me to leave him, as he 
thought in the performance of active 
duties I might be kept from dwelling 
upon my failures, and in serving others, be 
led to trust myself more fully to Christ. 
After hearing this opinion I wept almost 
constantly for two days and nights. I was 
aware that my wilfulness in some way was 
the only hindrance to my reception of 
Christ. His promises I mentally believed 
were for me, as for others, but in my soul 
there was no response. I was in spiritual 
dearth, and hungered for that which would 
satisfy the craving of my soul. 
a On the following Sunday, while listen- ILLUSTRATIONS 
211 
ing to the doctor's exposition of the first 
ten verses of the seventeenth chapter of 
Luke, I was led to realize that increase of 
faith is granted only after faithful service, 
and that instead of obeying Christ I had 
erected a spiritual and physical standard 
which I had determined to attain. I saw 
clearly that I should desire only to know 
Christ's will, and gladly obey it, leaving all 
the results with Him. With this belief 
came peace and health. 
. "For several years I have been engaged 
in duties involving much physical exer- 
tion, and I am happy in the ability to per- 
form them.'' 
Miss R. says, "For nearly a year and 
a half I was an intense sufferer from spinal 
irritation and photophobia. 
" Physicians said it was probably caused 
by a fall and persistent application to 
study. During this time many methods of 
treatment were tried; and although much 212 
IN HEALTH 
benefited I suffered from severe pain in 
my head and back, and was confined to a 
very dark room on account of my eyes. 
" When in this condition I heard of 
Dr. Ingersoll's Cure at Corning, N.Y. I 
went there at once, though obliged to be 
taken on a bed, and have my eyes heavily 
bandaged. I had not borne my weight on 
my feet for fifteen months; but the day 
after I arrived I walked about twenty feet 
with the doctor's help.1 
1 For half an hour I helped her to expel the gas by pressing 
on her chest with my hands when she was lying on her back. In 
that time the venous blood was thrown into the lungs thirty times. 
(See Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 24, last paragraph on page 
107. By J. G. McKendrick, M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Institutes 
of Medicine, University of Glasgow.) 
If the patient is able to help expel the gas by keeping up the 
expiration as long as the pressure lasts it will give no pain. This 
treatment continued will cure indigestion, constipation, and all 
chronic inflammatory diseases. To many dyspeptics I have given 
one such treatment, after which they have been able to eat all 
they wanted and what they liked, without any trouble from indi- 
gestion. This gas is the cause of chronic and acute inflammations of 
the human body. Thirty-seven years ago I inhaled so much coal 
gas from sleeping in a room with a door opening into another 
room where there was a coal stove that I believed I was very near ILLUSTRATIONS 
213 
" The seventh day, again with his assist- 
ance, I walked upstairs and the length of 
the hall (sixty feet long), and back. After 
six weeks I laid aside even my smoked 
glasses, and could walk a mile with com- 
parative ease. At the end of ten weeks I 
was able to leave the sanitarium well, and 
could walk three or four miles without the 
slightest inconvenience. 
" Dr. Ingersoll said I did not have spinal 
disease, but the cause of my illness was 
the suppression of sexual feeling, which 
had destroyed the power of the lungs to 
contract sufficiently to expel all the gas 
thrown into them from the venous blood. 
my end. But something told me to roll up a comfortable as hard 
as possible and lay my stomach on it, raising my legs, shoulders, 
and head so as to throw all my weight on the comfortable, and 
thereby help the lungs to expel the gas. At each expiration I 
held the air out of my lungs as long as I possibly could. I con- 
tinued to do this for two hours, after which I began to feel better. 
One week later I was able to attend to business. 
This occurred about two years before I became a Christian. 
Since that time I have believed that " the something " which 
directed me was the Holy Spirit. 214 
IN HEALTH 
This gas had returned into the blood and 
made every part of the body sore. 
" The brain and spine, being the nervous 
centres, were most affected. 
" The doctor stated also that I had been 
condemning men for their abuse of women; 
that in the perception of this sin I should 
feel no hatred, but in a spirit of forgiveness 
desire its redemption. That it was when 
in this spirit of condemnation that I had sup- 
pressed my sexual life. He said I must 
seek forgiveness for both these sins before I 
could hope to get well. I was compelled 
to acknowledge that he had told the truth. 
" I sought forgiveness with all my heart, 
and heard a still, small voice say, ' Thy 
sins be forgiven thee; commit thy soul 
unto Me and I will make thee whole.' I 
obeyed, and Christ changed the war within 
me into love, joy, and peace. I have proof 
in myself that Christ can and will heal 
both soul and body if we only desire Him 
to do so, and leave it all with Him." CHAPTER XI 
THE WORD "HEART" 
DR. JENNINGS' BIBLICAL EXPLANATIONS OF ITS FUNC- 
TIONS CONSIDERED XI 
THE WORD "HEART" 
DR. JENNINGS' BIBLICAL EXPLANATIONS OF ITS FUNCTIONS 
CONSIDERED. 
In the " Elmira Gazette " of January 15 
I find an account of a sermon delivered in 
the First Presbyterian Church of that city, 
by Rev. Isaac Jennings, Jr., wherein he 
claims the heart to be the seat of life, as 
well as origin of all the issues of life, 
taking as his text Prov. iv. 23: " Keep thy 
heart with all diligence, for out of it are 
the issues of life." It informs us that 
" The speaker, in treating the subject, first 
spoke of the heart anatomically, as one 
of the seats of life, if not the seat thereof." 
. . . " It was the heart which directed 218 
IN HEALTH 
a man's course of action and his faith 
through life." . . . " Out of it were the 
issues of life," etc., etc., he ascribing to the 
word "heart," evidently, the meaning at- 
tached to it in the nineteenth century. 
Permit me to remind Mr. Jennings that 
this proverb of Solomon's was written about 
a thousand years B.C., fully twenty-six 
hundred years before anything whatever 
was known as to the heart he refers to, 
or its functions. It was not until 1619 
A.D. that Harvey made his important dis- 
covery of the circulation of the blood by 
the heart. Clearly then the word, since it 
was in use prior to that time, must have 
had a different meaning attached. This 
fact necessitates some thorough and care- 
ful study, if we would arrive at an accurate 
definition for ourselves. 
First. Let us determine about this word 
" issue," relating to the heart, or life. Take 
up Webster, and see "issue," fourth defini- 
tion, where he defines the word, evidently, THE WORD "HEART" 
219 
in this connection. What is it? Offspring 
- "progeny," and he sustains himself in this 
position by reference to 2 Kings xx. 18. 
" And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, 
which thou shalt beget." Here is at once a 
complete overthrow of Mr. Jennings' theory 
that it is the heart that circulates the blood 
out of which come the issues of life. 
Refer next to Deut. x. 16 : " Circum- 
cise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart." 
Deut. xxx. 6 : "And the Lord thy God will 
circumcise thine heart." Jer. iv. 4: "Cir- 
cumcise yourselves to the Lord and take 
away the foreskins of your heart." In Matt, 
xv. 19, Christ tells us that " out of the heart 
proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, 
fornications," etc. In Matt. v. 27, 28, He 
says : "Ye have heard that it was said by 
them of old time, Thou shalt not commit 
adultery. But I say unto you that who- 
soever looketh on a woman to lust after 
her, hath committed adultery with her al- 
ready in his heart." 220 
IN HEALTH 
Now, as to keeping this heart pure, St. 
Paul tells us in i Cor. xii. 23, 24 : "Those 
members of the body which we think to be 
less honorable, upon these we bestow more 
abundant honor ; and our uncomely parts 
have more abundant comeliness. For our 
comely parts have no need; but God hath 
tempered the body together, having given 
more abundant honor to that part which 
lacked." In keeping the heart " with dili- 
gence," by loving and reverencing sexual 
life, kingdoms and empires have ascended. 
It was only when they lost that love and 
reverence, and went down in lust, that 
Greece and Rome fell. It was five hundred 
years after the foundation of Rome before 
the first divorce was obtained. They must 
indeed have kept their hearts " with dili- 
gence," and there must have been many 
true-hearted Cornelias whose children 
were their "jewels and ornaments." 
If Mr. Jennings' "anatomical" explana- 
tion of the heart, and its functions, as de- THE WORD " HEART " 
221 
duced from his text, be the true exposition 
of the heart and issues of life, the revela- 
tion of the rite of circumcision by God to 
Abraham, was in direct violation of his 
own command, " Thou shalt not kill." 
The words of man may change their mean- 
insf, but " the word of our God shall stand 
O' 
forever." CHAPTER XII 
DIVINE GOVERNMENT IN 
MARRIAGE XII 
DIVINE GOVERNMENT IN 
MARRIAGE. 
In thinking of this all-important subject 
- Divine Government in Marriage - there 
seems so much for me to say that one idea 
almost crowds out the other. 
During the past twenty-seven years I 
have realized, most deeply, that the wife's 
false ideas of marriage have been the 
source of her woes, her tribulations, and 
her diseases; I have also realized that a 
true idea of marriage, the holiest appoint- 
ment of her Creator, would bring her back 
again to peace, to joy, and to health. As 
it now is, whatever goes wrong between 
husband and wife is usually attributed by 226 
IN HEALTH 
each to be the fault of the other, and in 
that spirit of condemnation there surely is 
nothing but suffering. In Bryant's Homer's 
Iliad (Book I.) we find an illustration of 
the obedience of Juno to Jupiter, through 
which she became " the mistress of the 
golden throne," from which we can learn 
a valuable lesson. Homer lived 850 B.C., 
and in that age a poet was regarded as a 
prophet and a wise man; and certainly in 
this poem there is a deep lesson for us if 
we will but heed it. He represents the 
silver-footed Thetis, the daughter of " the 
gray Ancient of the Deep," pleading with 
Jupiter for the life of her son, and Juno, 
believing they are plotting something of 
which she has no knowledge, complains to 
Jupiter. He tells her that whatever plans 
he can make known to gods or mortals 
she shall know, but when he forms designs 
apart from all the gods she must not pre- 
sume to question him nor pry into his 
plans. She expresses fear that the silver- DIVINE GOVERNMENT IN MARRIAGE 
227 
footed Thetis has overpersuaded him, at 
which Jupiter commands her to sit down 
in silence and obey. The poet then intro- 
duces Vulcan, Juno's son, who pleads with 
her to obey his father, lest the feast be 
spoiled and trouble come upon them all; 
referring also to a former time when he 
had sympathized with her and so angered 
Jupiter that he had flung him o'er the 
battlements of heaven. Juno yielded to 
the pleadings of Vulcan, and drank of " the 
round cup of double form sweet nectar 
from the jar." The feast went on until the 
all-glorious sun was down, then " Each to 
his sleeping-place betook himself;" Jupiter 
went also to his couch, 
" And there, beside him, slept the white-armed queen 
Juno, the mistress of the golden throne. 
" All other deities, all mortal men, 
Tamers of war-steeds, slept the whole night through." 
The golden throne is of a mythological 
origin. On the coast of Coromandel, in 228 
IN HEALTH 
Hindoostan, there was in the beginning of 
this century, and for aught I know may 
still be, the ruins of a most beautiful 
temple. In the smallest of its chapels was 
a chair plated with gold, screened by 
a curtain of purple silk; on this chair 
the pious Brahmins believed was seated 
the omnipresent immaterial Brahm, the 
supreme god of the Hindoos, although as 
invisible as the air itself. The golden 
throne represents the highest spiritual 
purity attainable in this world or the next. 
The pious Brahmin expects to be absorbed 
into this almighty good when he dies. 
There is no evil in his idea of Brahm as 
there is in the Greek idea of God - Theos, 
(according to the definition of that word 
by Homer), the author of all good and 
evil events of life. The golden throne well 
represents the gift of the Holy Spirit to 
obedient wives, making them spiritual 
help-mates to their husbands; when the 
wife becomes mistress of the golden throne DIVINE GOVERNMENT IN MARRIAGE 
229 
she always rules her husband with Divine 
power. What is this rule or government? 
Its influence is a thousand times greater 
than the husband's. It is appointed of God 
that through her obedience to her husband 
she may attain to the liberty of love, even 
as He appointed that the husband should 
rule by decision. Ruskin, in speaking of 
the marriage relation, says of the wife, " In 
his house she shall be servant, but in his 
heart she is queen." There is no servitude 
if in her heart she loves him. According 
to Ruskin, her husband by his judgment 
should be the ruling power, and the wife 
through submission to him becomes the 
recipient of Divine wisdom, thus becoming 
his spiritual guide. The moment a wife in 
judgment begins to rule over her husband 
she gets into darkness, and cannot lead in 
that which is spiritual. A gentleman once 
said to me that " wives wanted to have 
their own way, and have their husbands 
yield to them in everything;" adding, "if 230 
IN HEALTH 
a man does not rule his own household, 
he cannot rule anywhere, and when he 
undertakes to transact business with other 
men they just clean him out." 
When Jupiter commanded Juno to sit in 
silence, " all the gods were inly grieved." 
If such a thing should happen in these 
days there would be enough tears shed to 
put out the fire which the Adventists think 
will destroy the world. Think of the 
power Juno obtained over Jupiter in being 
silent; she drank of "the cup of double 
form." This symbolizes the wife's being 
filled with Divine power and her influence 
over her husband to be by Divine appoint- 
ment his joyous service, and in that service 
is found his greatest happiness. He will 
be a noble man among men. Why? Be- 
cause he has a loyal wife at home, and he 
will be as loyal and fight as nobly and gal- 
lantly for her as ever a knight of old 
fought for his lady love. The influence of 
such a wife is divine. Woman is spoken DIVINE GOVERNMENT IN MARRIAGE 
231 
of as wisdom; that is, she receives Divine 
wisdom more than man, and if she gives 
this to him it will bring forth fruit sixty 
fold - an hundred fold; yes, a thousand 
fold, to her own good. When a wife 
yields to her husband, Christ rules him 
through her spirit of obedience. Why is 
this? It is one of the mysteries we know 
but little about. It is the Holy Spirit rul- 
ing in the wife, and diffused from her to 
him; it will be so manifest that he will be 
known of all men. The superiority of the 
government of the wife over the husband's 
is given to the wife by the Holy Spirit, and 
is therefore a spiritual government. I will 
illustrate this by an incident: A young 
man, who spent much of his time in gam- 
bling, was married, and for a time he and 
his wife led a gay life. The wife became 
converted, while he kept on in his evil 
ways. One night, after gambling with 
several of his companions until two 
o'clock, he proposed going home, one of 232 
IN HEALTH 
his companions said: "I shall have no 
peace when I get home, for my wife will 
do nothing but scold." " Then," said the 
first, "I can go home and take you all with 
me, and my wife will get up and prepare 
supper for us without one unkind word." 
They all doubted him, but he offered a 
wager that it could be done, which was 
accepted, they going home with him, first 
stipulating that he should not go into the 
room where she was, but that the con- 
versation should be carried on where all 
might hear it. To this he agreed, going to 
the house and walking in, the door being 
unlocked. He called to his wife that he 
had brought some friends home with him, 
and they would like some supper. She 
immediately arose and prepared supper for 
them as expeditiously as possible, without 
one cross word or look. One of the com- 
pany asked her how she could do such a 
thing so pleasantly, to which she replied 
that once she had been as gay as her hus- DIVINE GOVERNMENT IN MARRIAGE 
233 
band, but had found there was a better way 
to live, and that if she wished to have any 
influence for good over him she must ever 
be obedient to his wishes. The desired 
effect was attained, for he afterward re- 
formed and became an earnest Christian, 
a good husband and citizen. Now this 
woman did ascend the golden throne; the 
victory was given her, not because she 
was wiser than her husband, but because 
she drank of the " cup of double form " of 
Divine wisdom. 
Allow me to bring before your imagina- 
tion the way lovers keep their accounts 
with each other, and I refer as much to the 
married as to the unmarried. If I am cor- 
rect, it is a very large book, and full of 
charges of the one against the other. It 
reads: My wife, or my husband, or my 
intended is indebted to me for thousands, 
perhaps millions on millions of love. The 
amount which each feels is due them by 
the other is very large, and full pay and 234 
IN HEALTH 
compound interest are expected to be 
given them. They marry, expecting to 
get it all. Suppose the accounts balance, 
what is there for either to expect? I once 
asked a young lady who had just finished a 
letter to her intended, if she had " sent lots 
of love in that letter?" " Oh," said she, 
" I do not send him any more than he 
sends me." " Well," I said, "if you send 
him just what he sends you, where is there 
any love of your own in the matter? If he 
sends you his love, and you use what you 
want of it and then send it back to him, I 
should think it would be rather stale." 
This is the way in which the best men and 
women lay the foundation for domestic 
ruin and misery which I cannot describe. 
This is not love at all, but selfishness of 
the deepest dye, for it extends only to our 
own happiness; the idea of happiness 
should be to give happiness, instead of 
seeking to receive, all that we can. In 
spiritual things we should give all we pos- DIVINE GOVERNMENT IN MARRIAGE 
235 
sess; this is the side on which we fail, and 
why? Because inherited selfishness rules 
in us. When a couple are ruled by this 
selfishness they become dissatisfied with 
each other, and often appeal to the court 
for the money-value of their loss, or for a 
divorce. We often read about broken 
hearts because of disappointments in love; 
love never breaks any hearts; selfishness 
does that, because it cannot get what it 
wants. It is this love of getting great 
things that hurts us so; the idea of giving 
happiness to any human soul should make 
us happy; the desire to make another 
happy makes us strong instead of weak. 
The book of love should read : I am 
indebted to my intended, or to my hus- 
band, or to my wife, a thousand million 
fold, and I will give all that is in my power 
to give, expecting nothing in return. 
When we feel indebted to each other we 
will think of heaven as a state where we 
give that Divine love to all humanity. In 236 
IN HEALTH 
Christ, love is boundless and endless ; 
freely it is given to us. All that is required 
of us is to give it away, " a pure river of 
water of life, clear as crystal." 
The true theory of love is that each 
should feel indebted to the other, and to 
pay the debt each should do all in his or 
her power to add to the happiness of the 
other. Each should seek to fill well his or 
her own sphere, neither desiring to fill the 
place of the other. Woman is the most 
ennobling gift of God to man, and so is 
man to woman. A husband must feel that 
all he has will be required to pay the debt 
of love which his wife has kindled in him ; 
he is indebted to her, and she to him, if 
they keep their accounts as they ought, 
and each will desire to pay the debt of 
love. 
I do not believe that the Almighty in- 
tended that wives should make all the 
sacrifices. " Sacrifice for love's sake " can 
never exist in thought or feeling where DIVINE GOVERNMENT IN MARRIAGE 
237 
there is Divine government in marriage. 
After its attainment there is no sacrifice, 
slavery, or bondage for either. Then the 
wife will obey her husband because she 
loves him, and she will become his spirit- 
ual helpmate. This she cannot reach ex- 
cept through Divine government in the 
Apostolic sense, when both " will stand 
fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has 
made " them " free." 
Where Divine government is, each lives 
to make the other happy, not " for love's 
sake," in the usual acceptation of the term, 
which is to get and not to give. 
Pope says, " Love on earth is an endless 
sigh." So it is, as " love" is generally un- 
derstood. 
The Divine command, " Wives obey 
your husbands," if kept in love would make 
them both recipients of that love of Christ 
which expects nothing in return, and the 
more they give each other the more will 
they both receive from Him. I believe 238 
IN HEALTH 
Paul saw with his spiritual eyes that a 
wife's obedience through love would be 
the royal road to liberty and rest for both. 
I have treated chronic diseases of women 
for forty-five years ; consequently I have 
heard much, both from the married and 
unmarried, of what women had to sacrifice 
in marriage. The truth of this I do not 
deny, as marriage now is. The recovery 
of their health depends upon their belief 
that marriage is a Divine institution, in 
which there is no sacrifice, because " love 
never faileth." 
Marriage is often spoken of in the Bible 
as the type of heaven. Where love reigns 
between husband and wife there is peace 
and happiness ; the husband in love, exer- 
cising his judgment for both, nothing adds 
more to his happiness than seeking to add 
to the happiness of his wife ; and through 
the wife's obedience he becomes her will- 
ing servant, feeling it is no bondage for 
him. He is happy in doing to the utmost DIVINE GOVERNMENT IN MARRIAGE 
239 
all that he can do for her, because she has 
sown in him love. Man will always follow 
where woman leads in love ; she was first 
in the transgression, so she must be first in 
the return. 
A few months since I read an article 
from " The Continent," entitled " The 
Statute of Limitation," in which the ex- 
cesses in the marital relation were de- 
plored, and the wish expressed that there 
might be a statute of limitation to prevent 
all such excesses. The true remedy is 
found in the words of St. Paul, " Wives, 
submit yourselves unto your husbands as 
unto the Lord." Should every wife, in 
essence and in heart, follow these words of 
St. Paul, she would become the queen and 
" mistress of the golden throne " in her 
husband's affection. If a wife yields her 
sexual nature to her husband, with deep 
reverence for that life in herself and in him, 
believing it is God-given and holy, she will 
have no disgust for him in this respect, and 240 
IN HEALTH 
the Lord will give unto her and her hus- 
band rest and peace. I know from the 
testimony of those who have been ruled 
by this belief that this is true ; but it is 
difficult to make others believe it, for most 
wives and many husbands seem by their 
own condition to be prepared to join in the 
wish expressed by the writer of the article 
referred to, that there might be a statute of 
limitation that would subject the baser part 
of our natures to the better part. 
A lady who had been my patient, and to 
whom I had taught the doctrine that a wife 
should yield herself unto her husband as 
unto the Lord, was told by her husband 
shortly after her return home that she had 
cured him of all lustful thoughts toward 
woman. Her yielding to him had wrought 
this great change in him. The deep 
spiritual change in her had made a Divine 
statute of limitation. Another lady com- 
plained of the excessive demands of her 
husband. I told her through Divine sub- DIVINE GOVERNMENT IN MARRIAGE 
241 
mission to her husband the Lord would 
give her power over all his excesses. 
Through her he would receive rest, and 
her body would be full of health. The 
first time I met her after her return home 
she told me he was greatly changed, and 
that when she asked him what had come 
over him, " Oh," he replied, " I know now 
that you are all mine ; what you are is 
better than anything you can do for me ; I 
am happy and contented." His happiness 
came from his Creator, because his wife 
submitted herself to him, "as unto the 
Lord." 
A widower, a clergyman, was deploring 
his own high state of passion, saying he 
did not believe a wife could satisfy his 
desires. I said to him: "You had a wife 
who despised that nature in you," which 
he said was true. I told him I hoped the 
one he soon expected to marry would be 
a true wife unto him as unto the Lord. 
Soon after he was married he told me that 242 
IN HEALTH 
my hopes for him had been fulfilled, that 
he was at rest, and happy, and acknowl- 
edged it all as the work of the Lord. 
A lady told me that a friend had com- 
plained to her of her husband's excesses 
and crabbedness. I told her to tell this 
wife that if in the earnest purpose of her 
heart she yielded to her husband, she 
would cure him of these traits. She gave 
her my advice, and one day soon after, was 
surprised by the sudden exclamation of 
her friend, " Where did Dr. Ingersoll get 
his wisdom? You know how he advised 
me through you to submit myself unto my 
husband as unto the Lord, and now that I 
have followed his advice, no better husband 
than mine can be found. I dare not ex- 
press a wish for only what I positively 
need, for I no sooner do so than it is 
gratified, no matter how trivial it may be." 
Yes, through her submission there was a 
great change wrought in her husband. 
St. Paul knew the truth contained in this DIVINE GOVERNMENT IN MARRIAGE 
243 
divinely appointed law: "Wives submit 
yourselves unto your husbands as unto the 
Lord." 
The greatest obstacle in the way of 
Divine government is the spirit of condem- 
nation in husband and wife for the short- 
comings and faults of the other. This dust 
of ill-feeling that creeps into the social life 
makes marriage a torment instead of a 
heaven; it is the little foxes which steal 
in and spoil the vines. 
The Romans had a goddess, Viriplaca, 
" who presided over the peace of families, 
whence her name (yirum ftlacare). If 
any quarrel happened between a man and 
his wife, they generally repaired to the 
temple of the goddess, which was erected 
on the Palatine mount, and came back 
reconciled." [Lempriere's Class. Diet.] 
Here it was that Plutarch and his wife 
after domestic trouble sacrificed a goat, 
and returned to their home in peace. 
There was something Divine in this faith IN HEALTH 
244 
which brought about a reconciliation, 
closed up their troubles, shutting down 
upon the past. It would seem that the 
forgiveness that works by love was the 
essence of this faith which brought peace 
and harmony into the household. 
Judgment and condemnation cannot exist 
together, for true judgment is forgiveness, 
having for its essence or living principle, 
love. The only judgment Christ has for 
us is that which works by love for the 
redemption of our sins. If the judgment a 
husband or wife has for the other is of for- 
giveness, there will be for them a heaven 
on earth, - a heaven begun here that will 
never end. In the desire to be forgiving 
to each other, Christ will ever be present 
with them, " for there is now no condem- 
nation to them which are in Christ Jesus, 
who walk not after the flesh, but after the 
Spirit." APPENDIX APPENDIX 
I am sincerely grateful to Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson 
for his kind testimonial in favor of my book, for 
I realize that he feels the force of the blow I have 
struck at Manicheism, but cannot understand why 
he calls it a "heresy;" for, according to Webster, 
a heresy is " an opinion held in opposition to the 
established or commonly received doctrine." The 
religious feeling from the fall of Adam to the pres- 
ent day is in harmony with the belief of the Mani- 
cheans. Manicheists believed that all things were 
affected by " the combination or repulsion of the 
good and the bad; men had a double soul, good 
and evil; even their bodies were supposed to be 
formed, the upper half by God, and the lower 
by the Devil." (See " History of all Religions," by 
Samuel M. Smucker, LL.D.) 
I will illustrate the above idea by giving one 
case, and of the thousands which have been under 
my care it is no exception to the rule. All eccle- 248 
APPENDIX 
siastical history which I have read corroborates my 
experience. A young lady came to me for physical 
help, desiring to learn the nature of her disease. 
I said to her, "The cause of your trouble is that 
you believe your body is vile; " and her reply was: 
"Yes, it is vile; my father believes it, and St. Paul 
teaches it." I said, " You remind me of Ruskin's 
illustration of the way mankind read the Bible, which 
is as porcupines steal grapes. They roll over where 
the grapes lie on the ground, carrying away all that 
stick on their sharp spines." Her New England 
puritanical sharp spine stuck in "vile body," and 
she did not comprehend Paul's teaching, for she 
seemed never to have read that he said, " For our 
conversation is in heaven ; from whence also we 
look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who 
shall change our vile body,1 that it may be fashioned 
like unto His glorious body, according to the working 
whereby He is able to subdue even all things unto 
Himself." She seemed perfectly astonished when I 
quoted the entire passage, and after learning to love 
and reverence Christ's humanity, and her own body 
as the temple of His spirit, she recovered. In 
further support of my declaration that all mankind 
are intuitively believers in the doctrine of Manes, 
1 " Body of our humiliation." (New Revision.) APPENDIX 
249 
see Art. 9 of Articles of Religion of the Episcopal 
Church, which I think expresses the belief in feeling 
of the whole human race except those who have 
been born again sexually. 
" At that day ye shall know that I am in my 
Father, and ye in me, and I in you." John xiv. 20. TESTIMONIALS INDIVIDUAL TESTIMONIALS 
75 Wimpole Street, Cavendish Square, West. 
London, Oct. 25, 1877. 
My dear Sir : Whether I am indebted to you or 
not for the copy of your book, " In Health," I desire 
to thank you for its contents. I wish it could be dis- 
seminated over the world, on the wings of the wind. 
It is full of the most unclouded perception of the 
effects of doctrinal and mental sin on the body. As 
I read it many cases start up before me, and say to 
me, You needed such words as these. 
You have struck a blow at the Manichean heresy. 
Do not think your style is ineffective. You have 
said all on this simple stupendous subject; I mean 
all that is necessary at present. 
Sincerely yours, 
J. J. GARTH WILKINSON, M.D. 
Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. 5, 1878. 
Dr. A. J. Ingersoll, Corning: 
Dear Sir: The book entitled "In Health," 
which you have kindly sent to me, is received. I 
have taken great pleasure in reading it; and I con- 254 
INDIVIDUAL TESTIMONIALS 
cur heartily with the views therein expressed on 
"The Relation of the Sexes," and "Sexual Abuses 
and their Remedy." I believe with you that sexual 
life, God's greatest gift to man, is the life of the 
organs to which He has assigned the important 
office of bringing into existence immortal souls, and, 
in fact, that all existence, either animate or inani- 
mate, is but the result of a " sexual life " or the 
union of Good and Truth, which always results in a 
product. Also, that " If sexual life was under con- 
trol of God, intemperance is another evil that 
would pass away." " Dissatisfaction with the manner 
of our creation or existence is warfare," etc. " Her 
instructor should be guided by God's word and 
educate her to fill the sphere designed by His wis- 
dom," etc. " Every thought or deed in opposition to 
having children is a sin . . . and is productive of 
disease." "The wife's sexual life under the control 
of God," etc. I sincerely believe that if the above 
few extracts, coupled with the many truisms ex- 
pressed by you, were generally received, it would 
add immensely to the health, peace, and happiness 
of the human race throughout the world. 
Thanking you very much for sending me your 
book, and trusting that it may accomplish a great 
use, I am, 
Yours very sincerely, 
H. M. GUERNSEY, 
Late President of Homoeopathic Medical Society 
of Pennsylvania. INDIVIDUAL TESTIMONIALS 
255 
Extract from letter to a friend: 
" Dr. Ingersoll's book is of extreme and entirely 
precious interest. It seems to give the true solution 
of the most difficult, and yet the most pressing, of 
all human questions. 
" Most truly yours, 
"JOHN RUSKIN." 
To 
January 29, 1879. 
I have read with interest Dr. Ingersoll's book 
" In Health." It is undoubtedly true, as the doctor 
seems to see, that the health of mind and body is 
lost in contending with the inevitable; that dissatis- 
faction with Divine Providence and the laws and 
limitations of our minds and bodies not only pre- 
vents a restoration to health, but induces death. 
The wise founder of Buddhism never said a truer 
thing than that " the mind is the origin of all; the 
cause of all that heals or harms body and soul." 
I am particularly struck with what is said of the 
effects of anger, bitterness, jealousy, etc., upon the 
invalid who indulges such feelings. Years ago I 
learned that apart from the moral wrong of the 
thing I could not be angry, or censorious, or 
envious without bodily suffering. In fact, I believe 
the Sermon on the Mount is the best prescription 
not only for the soul but for the body. 
Thy friend, 
JOHN G. WHITTIER. 256 
INDIVIDUAL TESTIMONIALS 
I have had in my possession a copy of Dr. A. 
J. Ingersoll's little book, " In Health," during the 
last seven years. Some portions of it I have read 
and re-read many times, so as to make sure that I 
got hold of the author's meaning. My honest con- 
victions are that it is a wonderful book in the reve- 
lations which it makes in regard to the true 
relation of the sexes; and also in regard to 
the necessity and possibility of " Sexual Redemp- 
tion," through faith in Christ's atonement. I know 
from experience that it reveals the true secret of a 
happy life, whether we live, by God's appointment, 
a single or married life. In my humble judgment 
its wide circulation would do more to solve the 
problem of personal and social purity than any 
other book which has been published in our day, 
bearing on that subject. It ought, by judicious par- 
ties, to be placed in the hands of many of our 
young men, and young ladies too; and it ought to 
be in the hands of all persons who are seeking after 
domestic tranquillity or happiness in the married life. 
Respectfully, 
L. GOLDEN. PRESS TESTIMONIALS 
Hartford, Conn., " Post." 
The work is one of special interest for home 
life, and could with profit be placed in the hands 
of the heads of families generally. 
Toledo, Ohio, " Sunday Journal." 
Dr. Ingersoll, who has for some years been at 
the head of the Corning " Cure," embodies in the 
neat little work before us his theory in regard to 
the preservation of health, through the sexual 
relations, which, sifted of all verbiage, is simply 
the entire obedience of the human to the Divine •will. 
The consequent purification attending the conse- 
cration is illustrated by the relation of many 
cases coming under his practice. The book is 
thoroughly Christian, opening with its cardinal 
principle, " The Second Birth," but anti-ascetic, 
insisting, not upon the mortifications, but the ex- 
altation, of the body. 
Rochester, N.Y., " Express." 
We have carefully examined this treatise, and 
we are convinced that it has real merit; that no 258 
PRESS TESTIMONIALS 
man or woman can possibly be injured by read- 
ing it; while, on the other hand, we honestly be- 
lieve that no one can study its teachings without 
having created within them more elevated ideas 
of what is generally considered the lower or ani- 
mal part of our nature; hence they must of neces- 
sity be made better by it. As God is the Creator 
of our whole being, and as He has created nothing 
unclean or impure, so we ought to submit, or 
consecrate, our whole being, our entire nature, 
sexual and all, to Christ, for redemption and holi- 
ness. Through this act and by Christ's help we 
shall be enabled to live happier and holier lives. 
We have met individuals who have read this work 
that regard it as almost a new revelation to man- 
kind. At all events, if the doctor's theories are 
correct, and can be made effectual in curing 
disease and lust, his book ought to be placed 
in the hands of every intelligent man and woman 
on the face of the earth. 
Scranton, Pa., "Journal." 
The book is new in style, new in thought, and 
new in its explanation of the healing art. Dr. 
Ingersoll has for many years been at the head 
of a medical institution at Corning, and must have 
had large experience in treating the ailments to 
which humanity is heir. He seems to regard 
that by the fall of our first parents the human PRESS TESTIMONIALS 
259 
family were bodily and spiritually diseased, and 
the healing power can only be applied by Christ, 
through the new birth. As in Adam all die, in 
Christ all shall be made alive. Disobedience will 
produce disease, not only of the soul, but of the 
body. Obedience will restore the soul, and also 
the body, to health. The doctor teaches, in his 
new work, that Christ is the source of power, 
and His willingness the same now as in the days 
of His incarnation, to heal all those who trust in 
Him. He is unchangeable, the same to-day and 
forever. He has never lost His power or willing- 
ness to heal the sick. Those who say that He 
has, assume and declare that which the Bible 
does not teach. Hundreds of cases pronounced 
incurable have received healing power by a full 
submission to the doctor's advice or treatment. 
Those who will take the trouble to read the book 
may learn something new. 
Havana, N.Y., " Journal." 
Of the potency of the mind over disease we 
have rarely met with so favorable an illustration as 
in a recent work entitled " In Health," by Dr. 
A. J. Ingersoll, of the "Cure," at Corning, N.Y. 
Believing that the Giver of life has power to be 
its keeper, he bases the restorative principles upon 
the regulation of the functions through which our 
life has been given us. From experiences in the 260 
PRESS TESTIMONIALS 
treatment of patients under his care at the " Cure," 
the doctor comes to the conclusion that the sup- 
pression of the fountains of life, by the will, are 
destructive of digestion, and weakening to all the 
vital organs. The ills that flesh is heir to, the 
doctor believes have no such trust and invocation 
in and to the Giver of life as is necessary to 
enable the spiritual nature to come into harmony 
with its functions, and thereby effect a cure. He 
instances many remarkable cures under his care, 
where the patient has given up and consecrated 
the entire nature, with all its susceptibilities, to 
Christ the giver. The notion that any portion of 
our God-given natures is of itself base and ignoble, 
brings derangement to the mind and disease to the 
body, and is unworthy to be held by a sincere 
believer in the Divine economy. He would lift 
humanity through religious belief into the highest 
realms which the spirit of mortal is capable while 
dwelling on the shores of mortality. Concerning 
the relation of the sexes and of woman's sphere, 
many curious and pertinent observations are given. 
The work is altogether one of deep interest, and 
will be perused with profit by Christian readers. 
It is the work of a sincere and earnest reformer, 
and should meet with a wide sale. 
"Corning Journal." 
Dr. Ingersoll has been for several years at 
the head of a "Cure" at Corning, N.Y., and has 261 
PRESS TESTIMONIALS 
had abundant opportunity amid a most successful 
trial of his theory of rest, and entire giving up 
of the mere human will to the Divine, to observe 
the effect of moral causes upon the physical or- 
ganism. If he carries some of his conclusions to 
a point which, to the general inexperienced 
reader, appears verging on enthusiasm, it must be 
taken into consideration that he has had an 
opportunity for observation and investigation which 
the reader has not, and may be - ought to be - 
by just so much nearer the truth. The book is 
an earnest one, going down to the very bed- 
rock of accountability to, and dependence on, the 
Divine Love, for life not only, but health, purity, 
and the use of the functions which beget life. 
It should have readers.