A religious lady of the Dutch aristocracy, whom we have known for years, lost within a short time both her grown-up son and her husband, to whom she was most devotedly attached. Imagining that she must have been completely crushed, we inquired of a member of the family how she had sustained these terrible losses. The answer was that she was perfectly calm and that she was the most composed member of the whole family.

We know from personal observation that this lady was truly religious; and we are, therefore, inclined to believe that only her great sense of religion enabled her to withstand so well these terrible shocks. Her case is a typical one, showing that persons of a truly religious belief are better able to withstand depressing impressions. They will not give way to despair so readily as most irreligious people, and it is exceedingly rare to find a case of suicide among such.

Not only will truly religious people avoid suicide and mental depression, with all their fatal consequences, as we have shown in the preceding chapters, but they will also, as a rule, withstand diseases better than others. As we have noted, truly religious people, when seriously ill, have such a strong faith and hope in their recovery—they invariably are convinced that God will help them—that this has proved to us a most invaluable aid in their medical treatment. The importance of this fact is also confirmed by our friend, Dr. Eberson, one of the busiest practitioners in Amsterdam, who remarked to us that the outlook for recovery was always more favorable in such cases. As Prof. Charles Beck, of New York, told us, he often remarked that his religious patients could stand narcosis better: they showed less anxiety, and thus the heart action became less excited. Thus religion can undoubtedly tend to prolong life; and in this we are not saying anything novel, for it is well known that the mind has a wonderful influence over the body. Religion acts on the mind, and the mind powerfully governs the body.

This is made use of by certain religious sects in what are known as “faith cures;” and that in certain cases, and especially in nervous diseases, such as hysteria or neurasthenia, these cures may be of service, cannot be denied on the ground of the above observations.

The influence of the mind over the body was recognized hundreds of years ago by all great physicians. The great philosopher, Kant,^[344] insisted upon it in a special article, and Charcot has effected some wonderful cures by such means in hysteria, as have hundreds of other physicians. We all agree, for we see it every day, that the mind governs the body; but there are also certain agencies that govern the mind, and religion is one of the most important of these.

Therefore, happy are they who are truly religious, for their days may be longer, and they are better prepared to meet the vicissitudes of life!

There are many scientific people who do not believe in a Superior Being because His presence cannot be scientifically proved. But there are many things that are quite inexplicable, but which none the less do exist, and in which we do believe. Are there not many such things, even in medicine, which are most mysterious, but nevertheless true? If we consider the human body we find that to the smallest details, to the minutest of the millions and millions of cells of which it is composed, it is built up in a most marvelous way. It is admirable with what ingenuity and forethought the smallest particles are put together to suit one another. There may be an artistic genius who can erect one wonderful construction, as a masterpiece of art; but in the human body the microscope will reveal thousands and thousands of such masterpieces, perfect in the smallest details, which no artist could be capable of putting together and of making them work admirably in unison.

And the physician must be an artist, too, to discover which of the wheels in this most wonderful machinery are not doing their duty; and if it took but a second to conceive a human body, it takes a whole lifetime to study all the recesses and angles of this masterpiece of mechanism.

The admirable forethought with which the different parts are formed in man or animal, must give us the idea that it must be the sequence of a cause, as indeed there is in this world no effect without a cause; and this cause must be the action of a Superior Power.

To give one of the numberless examples for the truth of this, we should like to quote the ingenious mechanism affecting the eyes of certain young animals, such as dogs. As is well known, puppies cannot see for a few days after birth, but are prevented from so doing by a delicate mucous membrane that covers their eyes. And yet there is a cause for this, which cause is the result of a most tender circumspection; for these little animals are provided with this membrane so that strong light, like sunshine, shall not irritate the eye until certain modifications have taken place in the inner eye, which allow these parts to stand such a light; and as this requires a few days, the membrane in question closes the eye during that time. It seems as if Almighty Nature stands with her hands over the eyes of these puppies to protect them from being harmed by the light.

Maternal love is a necessity in all animals to save the race from extinction. There are a few exceptions in which animals occasionally kill their young for certain reasons; but this is confined to a few of them such as cats and dogs, and only happens the first or second days after labor, being due probably to mental alterations induced by the processes of birth; it may happen also in man. It is truly marvelous how insects provide for their descendants, which they will never see, for they themselves die prior to their development. An interesting example has been lately quoted by a naturalist. The wasp, before dying, thinks of a most ingenious way for providing food for her larvæ. This is in the form of a worm; but as this worm would putrefy before the development of the larvæ, the wasp does not kill the worm but merely stings it in the spinal cord. This does not kill the worm, but simply paralyzes it, and thus the worm will live on till the larvæ are developed, when there they will find their food ready prepared for them by their far-seeing mother. Who is the cause of such foresightedness being given to these insects?

There are certain people who cannot believe in a Supreme Being, because injustice, mishaps, and accidents happen daily. But there are natural laws which must pursue their course. When a child falls out of a top floor window and is killed on the pavement below, the law of gravity is acting; but the accident may be due also to a want of foresight on the parents’ part. If disease overtakes us it is also frequently, if not always, due to our own fault, or that of our forefathers. On the other hand, we see the wonderful work of Nature; for, as already shown in Chapter III, our body is wonderfully provided with every means of defense against disease; and like a careful mother, Nature warns us first, for hardly ever do we get ill without there being some premonitory symptoms. Thus, before chronic kidney affections come on, we eliminate for some months, and sometimes longer, casts; and before diabetes comes on traces of sugar, as a rule, appear in the urine for a certain time; and then is the time for us to follow a diet in order to avoid these diseases. Infectious diseases also give warning symptoms before they develop, and these, as well as others, may sometimes be prevented by a timely defense and certain hygienic measures on our part. Even against poisonous animals we are protected in a wonderful way. Thus, before the rattlesnake bites he utters a warning by his rattles, and before the mosquito gives us malaria through its sting a premonitory hum falls on our ear. Unfortunately we have not sufficient space to give further examples of the admirable way in which a Superior Power is doing His best to protect us, and if mishaps do very often occur, very frequently, if not always, as already mentioned, it may be traced to certain of our own actions.