The secret of health is what has been hidden from you, and now it is brought to light. That which was done in darkness is revealed, and your spirit is troubled, as well it should be. For true health, the health of your entire being, spirit, soul, and body, cannot coexist with a fondness for that which stupefies the mind and weakens the moral nature. It is no small matter when one who is bound to another in the affection of a near relationship conceals a practice that is not only unwise for the body but ruinous to the soul’s watchfulness. The health of the countenance is the outward sign of the inward condition, and what shall we say of a countenance clouded by a substance that dulls the mind and opens the door to further carelessness? If he finds no harm in it, he is already deluded; they have no longing to rise to spiritual health, of which, indeed, they know nothing.
The relationship of marriage, if it is to be entered into, is a matter of the most solemn responsibility. He who would be a husband must assume the weight of leading, protecting, and nurturing, and whatsoever clouds his judgment or enslaves his appetite makes a mockery of that holy charge. You have discovered a portion of his life that was kept apart, and this must bring you to earnest searching. For the wife is to reverence her husband and be subject to him in all things; but how can reverence be given to one who is himself in bondage to a foolish and fleshly indulgence, and how can subjection be safe where the helm is held by a hand made unsteady? You do well to see it as a weighty matter, for what fellowship has light with darkness?
Yet let us look deeper, for the physical ailment is but a shadow of the spiritual danger. Do you remember that fine, athletic young man who was envied for his robust health, and yet he fell into a course that wasted his strength and brought him low? So it is with the soul that trifles with these things; God forbid that he should run the frightful risks that backsliders run who thus walk wide of Jesus Christ and dwell far below the elevated region where spiritual health is sustained. The craving for such things is often a sign of a soul ill at ease, seeking a false peace instead of flying to the cross. When the sharp and deep cut of the first surgeon ministers to ultimate health and is absolutely necessary to a cure, is it not best? This news, though painful, may be the very incision of the Lord’s mercy to awaken you both.
And what is our hope in such a case? It is this: God is the health of the countenance of His people, and He can restore even the backslider. He has said, "I will heal their backsliding." He can drive out the love of the drug, break the chain of secret indulgence, and make the man a vessel of honor. Pray, then, with all importunity that he would stop this, but pray with a larger view, that his soul would be brought into the health that comes from beneath the wings of the Sun of Righteousness. For nothing but a sight of the Crucified One will truly sever him from his sin.
As for yourself, is it not a sweet contentment that does not need to see all the outcome at once? "Since I never did trust in my substance, or my health, though He goes farther, still, and slays me, yet will I trust in Him." If this relationship must be broken for the sake of your own fidelity to Christ, then it is the Lord’s taking away of a support that would have been a snare. Do not trust in the substance of your hopes for this union, nor in the appearance of health, but in God alone. Lay the whole matter at the foot of the cross. If you perish, perish there. If he is to be saved, it must be there. Christ is all our salvation, all our desire, and all our praise.