p. 9 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 14. (4/3/1907)

'TIS NOT THE GIFT.

By Flora E. Yergin

'Tis not the gift Bestowed by human hand That marks the motive in the giver's heart,— Measuring thus the length of his esteem; But O, the gift Sent from a loving heart, What cord can measure what its lines impart? But ah, we know its joys are what they seem!

'Tis a bright flow'r, Kissed by the sun and dew; A cup of living water sent to cheer; A message sweetly saying, "Love is true, Its wells are deep, its springs are ever new." FLORA E. YERGIN.

"I COUNSEL THEE."

By H. A. St. John

"I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see." Rev. 3:18.

JESUS is the counselor. He is in the presence of God for us. Lukewarm professors in this our day, are the ones thus counseled. O, if only the lukewarm, indifferent, careless professors, could realize but for a few moments, with what intense anxiety and deep, yearning love this counsel of the blessed Jesus is given, they would be melted into tenderness, and with brokenness of heart and contrition of spirit they would be zealous to repent of all their sins of omission and commission, and thus open the door of the heart, and constrain Jesus to come in.

He would surely come in and sup with you, and you with Him; for He is standing at the door knocking for admission. Reader, have you unbarred the door? Jesus will not compel admission, you must make Him a welcome guest, or He will not become your guest at all.

You are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, without Him. He will take all these disgraceful and destructive conditions in exchange for the true, beautiful, and life-giving riches,—faith and love, tried in the fire. In the person of Jesus, from Bethlehem to Calvary, in His obedient life, and tragic death, the faith of God and the love of God were tried in a furnace of fire. O, with what intense, fiery zeal and hatred did Satan and his angelic and human agencies pursue the Redeemer from the cradle to the tomb, making the furnace seven times hotter than ever before, that he might cause the divine Son of God to fail in His revelation of the faith and love of God to a lost, rebellious world. But Jesus came out of the crucible unharmed, without even the slightest taint upon the faith and love of His Father which He came to the world to reveal. Thus it is demonstrated to all the universe of God that there is no power able to destroy a being that is filled and led by the faith and love of God, shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit.

And Jesus has an overflowing abundance of these true riches—this gold tried in the fire—for every lukewarm professor that will open the door of the heart with the key of true repentance, and let Jesus in. With the faith and love of Jesus filling our souls, we will be all light in the Lord. We will be clothed with the beautiful garment of salvation,—a garment of light,—and then, and not before, we will shine as lights in the world. We must learn to walk with Jesus in light, or we never shall walk with Him in white.

Then, too, we shall behold spiritual things and eternal realities with wonderful clearness, ecstasy, and delight. We can not see natural or material things without the light of the sun of the physical world; and we can not see spiritual and eternal things without the light of the Sun of Righteousness. In exchange for our darkness and blindness, our divine Lord counsels us to accept the true light and sight. With this divine illumination we will be able to see things that are not seen, even Him who is invisible. Thus did Jesus in His earthly pilgrimage always see His Father, and was never moved, and thus may we see Jesus, and walk and talk with Him by the way. And by and by we shall see Him as He is, and be like Him as He is, and be with Him where He is.

H. A. ST. JOHN.

THE GENEALOGY OF CHRIST.

By H. W. Oliver

THE subject of the genealogy of Christ has occasioned much study and perplexity on the part of Biblical students, as well as criticism by those who doubt the integrity of the Scriptures.

In his comment upon Luke 3, Dr. Adam Clarke said: "Perhaps few questions have occasioned more trouble to the learned than that which concerns the genealogy of our blessed Lord as it is given by St. Matthew and St. Luke. The tables found in these writers are extremely different, or, as some think, contradictory."

It is one of the stock arguments of skepticism that no man can harmonize these tables. Many have tried it. One of the earliest was Africanus who wrote voluminously upon the question. Later, Dr. Barrett, and I may say all the commentators have made more or less extensive additions to the literature of this subject. Dr. Clarke himself has favored us with quite a long chapter hoping to somewhat clear up the atmosphere surrounding this question, but in the end admits that it is beset with many difficulties. It is, I trust, with becoming modesty that I submit to the readers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, a solution of this difficulty that has occurred to me as the result of considerable study upon the subject; a solution which I consider very simple, and yet withal, containing a grand and beautiful truth.

The trouble found with these tables by the casual reader has arisen partly, at least, from an effort to understand them as lines of lineal descent from father to son; but it is evident that this can not be the case, as they diverge from David—one line coming down thru Solomon, and the other thru Nathan—coalesce in Salathiel and Zerubbabel, yet diverge again from the latter, to finally unite in "Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews."

It is usually suggested that one table gives the lineage of Joseph and the other of Mary; but however true this explanation may be, it by no means at once adjusts all the difficulties pertaining to the situation; moreover critics disagree as to which one represents Mary. Now as a matter of fact I believe that only one of these lines—that given by Luke—is intended by Inspiration to represent simply genealogy, that is, a direct line as from father to son each step of the way. This thought first occurred to me after comparing the number of names from David down to Joseph. Matthew gives twenty-five, while Luke mentions forty. If one line simply represents the lineage of Joseph and the other Mary, as is popularly supposed, would it not seem that the number of ancestors in a given period would be more nearly equal? But if the table given by Matthew does not represent a direct step-by-step lineage, what does it represent? I answer—and this is the key to the whole situation—it represents the line of royal inheritance from David down to Joseph; showing that Jesus, as Joseph’s reputed son, was entitled to the throne of His father David. This view of the matter explains the above allusion to the less number of names as found in Matthew’s table, for some of these kings were grandsons, and others were even great grandsons of former kings. Compare Matt. 1:8, 11, with 1 Chron. 3:11, 12, 15, 16. Note that the margin for Azariah is Uzziah, who is the Ozias of Matt. 1:8.

The question as to why some who occupied the throne are not mentioned in the table, I will pass with the remark that He who "ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will," either did not consider them entitled to the succession, and so purposely omitted their names from the record; or the names may have been omitted to complete the scheme of fourteen generations as mentioned in Matt. 1:17.

Also the question of how the lines happened to coalesce in the case of Salathiel and Zerubbabel, I will answer by saying that we may easily understand this to have occurred by the circumstance of marriage, without doing any violence to the language used in the tables.

Since Jechonias was the last king to sit, by divine appointment, upon the throne of Judah, let us now inquire who the individuals were whose names occupy the space from Jechonias down to Jesus. They were evidently those who were entitled to the crown, and who should have sat upon the Judean throne, had it not been "overturned" because of national disobedience. It is a well-known

fact that a government may lose its nationality and temporarily become a tributary without the royal succession being destroyed; and to prove that this was the case with the government of God's chosen people, I quote Gen. 49:10: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and to Him shall the gathering of the people be." God had said, "There shall not fail Me a man to sit upon the throne of Israel;" and true to His promise, as the centuries rolled along, there was always provided a son of David to sway the scepter—altho part of the time the exercise of this authority was withheld because of national apostasy—until He came who should "reign over the house of Jacob forever."

In closing, I remark that in the nature of Jesus, humanity was blended with divinity. He was the Son of Adam, and yet the long-wished-for Messiah and King. Luke, who wrote for the Gentiles (Luke 1:3, 4), traces the genealogy of Jesus, the supposed son of Joseph, who was son-in-law of Heli, back thru the long ancestral line to Adam, showing that in Him was fulfilled the promise made to our first parents that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. But Matthew, who wrote for the Jews, beginning back at Abraham whose "Seed" should "possess the gate of His enemies," traced down to and thru the line of kings, crowned or uncrowned, showing that the royal prerogative descended to Him of whom it was said, "He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David."

Twin Falls, Idaho. H. W. OLIVER

“AS THE HART PANTETH.”

By Alice McAlilly

(Ps. 42:1.)

O, IN the morning my soul, Lord, doth flee, Longing and thirsting and seeking for Thee; Still at the noontide and yet at the eve Only Thy presence my needs can relieve. As the hart panteth for waterbrooks deep, When from the race he returns to the keep, Weary and burning from heat of the plain, Unto the fountain of cooling again, So my soul, panting and thirsting, must be Ever returning and drinking of Thee. —Alice McAlilly

IN HIS OWN SNARE.

By E. S. Brooks

"He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it." Eccl. 10: 8.

ONCE upon a time there was a country in which dwelt many Protestants and some Catholics. Some of the Protestants, not being satisfied with their traditional creed, began to search the Scriptures very carefully. Being close students of the Bible, they perceived that the diversity of creeds among Protestants were perpetuated by trusting in traditions, and allowing leaders to do the thinking. They perceived that leaders used traditional explanations, and their followers were like birdlings in the nest, ready to swallow anything brought to them.

The most of the Protestants were Traditionalists, but the careful Bible students were Biblicists.

The Traditionalists began to feel alarmed at the rapid increase of the Biblicists, and declared that they had become a noisome and grievous sore, and that their creed and practise were working great damage to Protestantism. Yes, they said, the very sight of them set good church-members and others to doubting the long-cherished and venerable creeds of their forefathers. They therefore clamored and clamored at legislative bodies to induce them to enact laws favoring themselves while checking the Biblicists. But they were never satisfied with such laws as they procured, but constantly clamored to obtain laws more favorable to themselves and restrictive to Biblicists. They denied every intention of becoming persecutors. The Catholics laughed, and said, "These Traditionalists are very short-sighted. They would better take their telescopes and look into the future."

The Catholics, year after year, induced other Catholics to swarm into the country, till finally the country became so filled with Catholics, that they seized the reins of government, enacted laws favorable to themselves and oppressive to all Protestants. The Biblicists were not taken by surprise, but said, "Persecution is persecution, whether from Protestants or Catholics. 'All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.'" But the Traditionalists complained bitterly, and declared that the Catholics had cast away the Golden Rule, and had forgotten the Sermon on the Mount. But the Catholics laughed and said, "You have no right to complain. We are only giving you some of your own medicine. Haman was hanged on the gibbet which he erected for Mordecai. The enemies of Daniel fell into their own trap. But you have fallen into the trap you set for the Biblicists."

E. S. BROOKS.

JOSEPHUS AND CHRISTIANITY.

By Charles W. Smiley

As Josephus was born in Jerusalem four years after the date assigned for the crucifixion, was thoroly educated, and became both a scholar and public official in Jerusalem as well as in Galilee, and finally, after the city was destroyed, wrote a minute history which covered all of that century and more, all the world naturally turns to his histories to learn something about Jesus and Paul and the rest.

This man had no religious prejudices. He describes with equal fairness the Pharisees, the Saducees, and the Essenes. The latter he could not find out much about because they were a secret and ascetic order of Jews. He describes trivial disorders in Jerusalem at times when we suppose disciples of Jesus to have lived there, but he never describes any of the events of which we read in the Gospels or in the Acts. To judge by what he wrote, he never heard of any New Testament character or event. He never mentions Christians nor any person whom we consider to have been Christians. He makes no allusion to the observance of the first day of the week as a "Sabbath." He can not be appealed to on the first-day question, nor upon any "baptisms" in which one person "baptizes" another.

He wrote in Greek. He was an excellent Greek scholar. Whatever New Testament Greek writings existed at the time were kept so secretly [or within so limited a circle, ED. S. OF T.] that neither Josephus or presumably any of his acquaintances ever saw them or heard anything of their contents. He says that the Essenes had secret writings, but he mentions no other people as having such writings. Every one ought to read carefully his eighth chapter of his second book of the "Antiquities of the Jews," in which the descriptions of the Essenes may easily remind us of the Gospel people.

Writing in Greek he uses the word baptizo which occurs so often in the Gospels. But by it he meant that practise which the Jews had observed from time immemorial in ceremonial purification. It was an immersion of the entire body, stripped naked, and was performed secretly and alone. It was a religious observance, but never were two people involved as must be the case to constitute Christian baptism. Wherever Josephus uses the word baptizo he clearly means that Jewish ceremony. At least, is this true outside of Antiquities XVIII, 5: 2. In this paragraph there is mention of "John who was called the Baptist," if we trust current editions. But this can not be done as we shall see later. Then we shall see that Josephus never heard of "John's baptism."

Turn back a few pages to XVIII, 3: 3, where we find the barefaced forgery which Christians of the fourth century, that is to say, Roman Catholics, basely interpolated into the then existing manuscripts. That this is a forgery, all Protestants and many Catholic scholars now boldly admit and prove. See especially the article on Josephus in "McClintock & Strong's Biblical Encyclopedia" where the reasons are recorded. The strongest is that none of all the second and third century writers ever quoted it, tho hard pressed for just such materials, and next to this, the fact that in those days of Eusebius and of the Council of Nice, Christians made great numbers of just such forgeries. Eusebius himself, bishop of Cæsarea (314 A.D.), was quite equal to this rascality. The passage of one hundred twenty-five words begins: "Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man."

That a Pharisee, which Josephus was, should admit any such "if" into his writings is absurd. But that we have a sandwich here is evident from the ragged edges above and below the interpolation. Notice the connection which the interpolator has broken. Josephus wrote:

"There were a great number of them slain by this means, and others of them ran away wounded. And thus an end was put to this sedition. [Interp.] About the same time also another sad calamity put the Jews into disorder, and certain shameful practises happened about the temple of Isis that was at Rome."

The "sad calamity" would mean Jesus' crucifixion if the interpolation is put in, and Josephus the Pharisee would never have called it such. It was the killing and wounding in the sedition which he calls the "sad calamity," but this shuts out the forged paragraph. On these grounds we say that Josephus makes no allusion to "the tribe of Christians."

In a like manner the paragraph about "John who was called the Baptist" was fraudulently inserted. The connection is as follows:

"Tiberius wrote to Vitellius to make war upon Aretas and either to take him alive, . . . or to kill him and send him his head. This was the charge that Tiberius gave to the president of Syria. [Interp.] So Vitellius prepared to make war with Aretas, having with him two legions of armed men."

The only allusion to the work of "John who was called the Baptist," coming thus only ten pages after a forgery of the rankest sort, and put in between two parts of the account of the doings of a military man, and the use of baptizo in an entirely new sense, all stamp this pretended history as part of the universal lying and fraud which Christian Catholics said was justifiable for the good of the cause and to help the church to acquire the rule of nations as well as souls. It is out of that very time of forgery that come the oldest and best codexes that we possess of New Testament Greek (300-350 A.D.). That helps to explain the differences between them.

If these palpable forgeries be conceded to be such, we then have the strange fact that a boy grew up in Jerusalem right after the crucifixion and never saw or heard of anything worthy to record in history of a new and strange sect. This has always been a tough problem. Christians have tried to alleviate it, first by forgery, later by accusing Josephus improperly. The only wise or safe thing is to admit the intense secrecy which enveloped the movement, and then seek to so live as to come into the perfect knowledge of the "mystery of godliness," which experience explains all such difficulties to the entire satisfaction of whoever has "Christ formed within." He who knows the indwelling knows why the secrecy. He has the only possible key to the meaning of the Scriptures. He cares not that Josephus knew nothing of Christ or of Christians. He will not lie about Josephus nor even abuse a faithful historian. CHAS. W. SMILEY, A. M. Berkeley, Cal.

THOU WILL OF GOD.

By Madame Guyon

THOU sweet, beloved will of God, My anchor-ground and fortress-hill, My spirit's silent, fair abode, In thee I hide me and am still. O will, that willest good alone, Lead thou the way, thou guidest best; A little child, I follow on, And, trusting, lean upon thy breast. —Madame Guyon.

"HOW READEST THOU?"

By T. E. Bowen

WHAT meaning can he who believes in the immortality of the soul get from such passages as these?

"O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before Thee; let my prayer come before Thee: incline Thine ear unto my cry: for my soul is full of trouble: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength: free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom Thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from Thy hand." Ps. 88: 1-5.

When a man dies, this scripture says, he is cut off from the hand of God. The Lord can do nothing for him. Neither can the dead glorify the Lord. They can not enter into His courts to praise Him. Their voices are silent, their lips are closed in the sleep of death. "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Ps. 115: 17. No voice can awaken them but that of the Son of God. Were it not for the resurrection, every purpose of God for man would likewise have perished when he died.

How could any one cause another to understand, or make him get the sense of these passages of scripture, and at the same time hold to that delusive idea of the immortality of the soul? It certainly is folly to attempt such a thing. Jesus Himself said that God was not the "God of the dead," but "of the living." He meant exactly what He said. He came to destroy him who has the power of death—that is, the devil. Death is an "enemy." As far as it pertains to His saints, Jesus will destroy even death itself; but the time appointed for doing it is when He shall come the second time "without sin unto salvation."

In Eden God said, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The devil said, "Ye shall not surely die." Jesus said of him who told Eve "Ye shall not surely die:" "He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." John 8:44.

Let us seek the Lord while life is granted us, and He may be found, and take to the sure refuge found in the truth of God's word, and not that other refuge to be swept away. Ponder carefully the following words of the Lord: "Because ye have said [Note that God is quoting what men say in their hearts], We have made a covenant with death, and with hell [the grave] are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass thru, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves; therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place." Isa. 28: 15-17. Nothing but truth can stand the scrutiny of God, and serve as a refuge in that day when He shall try every man's work by Jesus Christ. Every refuge other than that will be swept away. No one will in that day regret having built upon the sure foundation—the truth as revealed in Jesus Christ.

T. E. BOWEN.

SIGNS.

By Agnes E. Blanchard

The icy hands of winter slow relax; A tiny rill 'scaped laughing yesternoon, The skies are blue as fields of flowering flax, Mild winds go wandering, and softly croon.

Last night as twilight veiled the sunset's spell, A twig flashed forth a glint of sapphire blue Then faintly liquid music rippling fell, “The spring is here!—'tis true! 'tis true! 'tis true!”

Tho snows be deep, and bitter blasts still sting, We hear the luring call, and restless wait The resurrection glory of the spring, The symbol of the soul's immortal state. —Agnes E. Blanchard.

NONE GOOD.

By Max Hill

“THERE is none that doeth good; no, not one.” How fond some people are of quoting this passage! What satisfaction they get from a text that seems to implicate all in evil-doing! What a theme for prayer meeting! We speak of trying to serve the Lord “in our weak way,” of “wanting” to do what is right; we are made sad to see the evil in the world about us, sorry we ourselves make so many mistakes; but “there is none good; no, not one!”

What a wail! Of course there is none good; no, not one—of himself. The natural man is not good, and this is the class David is speaking of, the fool that says in his heart, “There is no God,” the children of men that do not understand and seek God. They are not good. But there is One good, and that is God. His love, His perfection, His goodness, will cover all the imperfection of the man who will allow Him to do so. Man is not good because he is willing, wills to be otherwise.

Then what shall our testimony be? That we are perfect? By no means. Let it be, God is good, God is love, God is strong; His strength overtops “my weak way,” and I, too, am strong; and being strong in Him in whom I can do all things, I not only want to do His will, but am determined to do so. The world is evil; God give me strength and wisdom to help lead it to Thee. I do make mistakes; but I have an Advocate with the Father. I am not good myself of myself, but there are good men in the world, because God is good, and He can make me good.

Max Hill.

OUR JESUS.

By Adelaide D. Wellman

THE “sons of one Sceva” once assayed to do in the name of the “Jesus whom Paul preacheth,” such works as they had seen that apostle do. Verily, Paul preached the true Jesus, and thru His name accomplished marvelous things; yet the attempts of these men to imitate Paul's course resulted disastrously.

In sooth, the “Jesus whom Paul preacheth,” or the Jesus whom our pastor preaches, or the Jesus whom some evangelist preaches, will never set His seal to our drafts on heaven's resources, until He is to us something else than the Jesus whom some one preaches. He must be our Jesus, our all and in all—in all our acts, in all our purposes. We must ourselves know Him; not simply know of Him, but personally know Him, whom to know is life eternal.

Become acquainted with God! Know His character, know His will regarding you, know the power of His grace, know the comfort of His love. Then, indeed, like Paul, you will speak the name of Jesus “in demonstration of the spirit and of power.”

ADELAIDE D. WELLMAN.

THE GIFTS I ASK.

By Henry Van Dyke

[From "God of the Open Air."]

THESE are the gifts I ask Of Thee, Spirit serene: Strength for the daily task, Courage to face the road, Good cheer to help me bear the traveler's load, And, for the hours of rest that come between, An inward joy in all things heard and seen.

These are the sins I fain Would have Thee take away: Malice, and cold disdain, Hot anger, sullen hate, Scorn of the lowly, envy of the great, And discontent that casts a shadow gray On all the brightness of the common day.

These are the things I prize And hold of dearest worth: Light of the sapphire skies, Peace of the silent hills, Shelter of woods and comfort of the grass, Music of birds, murmur of little rills, Shadow of clouds that swiftly pass, And, after showers, The smell of flowers, And of the good, brown earth,— And best of all, along the way, friendship and mirth.

So let me keep These treasures of the humble heart In true possession, owning them by love; And when at last I can no longer move Among them freely, but must part From the green fields and from the waters clear, Let me not creep Into some darkened room and hide From all that makes the world so bright and dear, But throw the windows wide To welcome in the light; And while I clasp a well-beloved hand, Let me once more have sight Of the deep sky and the far-smiling land,— Then gently fall on sleep, And breathe my body back to nature's care, My spirit out to Thee, God of the open air. —Henry Van Dyke.

THE PILLARS OF HEALTH

By William S. Sadler, M.D.

By WILLIAM S. SADLER, M.D.

V. MUSHES AND LIQUID FOODS.

ONE of the great mistakes in present-day diet reform is the tendency when giving up the use of flesh foods and other questionable articles of diet, to substitute for them mushes, or pasty, and semi-liquid foods.

As mushes are prepared from cereals, and most cereals are about three-fourths starch, and since mushes are difficult to masticate, it must readily appear that the starch in all mush foods will not be properly digested, owing to the fact that it is not properly mixed with the saliva in the mouth.

Mushes, soft, doughy bread, and similar food substances are difficult of digestion in the stomach. They are formed into soggy masses, and are most difficult for the digestive juices to penetrate.

The Drier the Food

one eats, the greater quantity and better quality of the digestive juices which are poured out to act upon it. Especially is this true with reference to the saliva in mouth digestion, and it must be remembered that the mouth is an organ of digestion,—for the digestion of cooked starch.

Many of the so-called breakfast foods, which are eaten in mushy form, are far from being health foods in the true sense of the word. Mushes may be digested without much trouble by some strong stomachs, but those with deranged digestion or ordinary "stomach trouble," will do well to avoid the large use of mushy foods, and use in their place dry toast, the toasted flake foods, baked potatoes, etc.

If mushes are eaten, it is better, after they are cooked in the ordinary double boiler and cooled, to cut into thin slices, cover with bread crumbs, or something of that kind, and bake thoroly in an oven. In this way, the starch will be cooked sufficiently to enable the saliva to digest it much more easily and to digest much more of it.

Newly Baked Bread.

Too much can not be said in condemnation of the practise of eating fresh, soft, newly-baked bread. If one takes a portion of this bread beneath the crust, and rolls it between the palms of the hands, it will make a mass of india rubber consistency which will readily bound back again when thrown against the floor. This is altogether an unfit article of diet to place in a weak stomach, and is bound, sooner or later, to derange the digestion of even the strongest stomach.

Pasty foods are objectionable for the same reason. They consist largely, as a rule, of starch, are insufficiently cooked, are in a form difficult both of mastication and digestion, are unfit food for dyspeptics, and have a tendency to produce dyspeptics out of well stomachs.

The objection to mushes is largely removed if the grains are first toasted in an oven before being made into mush, as rice may be browned and then afterward boiled.

Mushes are made still more undesirable for weak stomachs by the addition of sugar and milk; as sugar is not well received by the enfeebled digestion, and the addition of milk still further favors fermentation; and still more does it liquefy and make mushy the foods to which it is added.

All foods containing starch are very easy of digestion when thoroly baked, when the starch begins to turn brown, as on the crust of well-baked bread. This brown color is due to dextrin, the transition stage in the conversion of starch into sugar. Baked potato, and other cereal products in which dry heat has had a chance to act upon the starch, are the most easily digested and nutritious of all cereal products.

In the next article we will take up the question of starch,—how it is best prepared for digestion, by both natural and artificial agencies.

MAGGIE'S GIFT.

By Gertrude M. Jones

THE minister's eyes swept with intense searching the apathetic faces of his stylish, worldly congregation. He had made an impassioned appeal for help in the support of a little mission church among the mountains—a section where rough men and women knew scarcely anything of God and of the religion of Jesus Christ. He had hoped to inspire the people with the spirit of giving, to make them feel that it was a sweet, blessed privilege, and—he had failed. A sense of desolation crept over him.

"God help me," his lips murmured, mutely. He could not see the bent figure of little crippled Maggie in the rear of the church—a figure which was trembling under the fire of his appeal.

"Lord, Jesus," the little one was saying, brokenly, "I ain't got nothin' ter give; I want the people in the mountains to hear 'bout my Saviour. O Lord, I ain't got nothin' ter—"

What was it that made the child catch her breath as tho a cold hand had taken hold of her heart?

"Yes, you have, Maggie," whispered a voice from somewhere; "you got your crutch, your beautiful crutch that was given ter you, an' is worth a lot of money. You kin give up your best frien' what helps you ter get into the park where the birds sing, an' takes you ter preachin', an' makes yer life happy."

"O, no, Lord," sobbed the child, choking and shivering. "Yes, yes, I will. He give up more'n that for me."

Blindly she extended the polished crutch, and placed it in the hands of the deacon who was taking up the scanty collection. For a moment the man was puzzled, then, comprehending her meaning, he carried her crutch to the front of the church, and laid it on the table in front of the pulpit. The minister stepped down from the rostrum and held up the crutch with shaking hands. The sublimity of the renunciation unnerved him, so that he could not speak for a moment.

"Do you see it, my people?" he faltered at last—"little crippled Maggie's crutch—all that she has to make life comfortable? She has given it to the Lord, and you—"

There was a moment of silence. The people flushed, and moved restlessly in their cushioned pews.

"Does any one want to contribute to the mission cause the amount of money this crutch would bring, and give it back to the child, who is helpless without it?" the minister asked, gravely.

"Ten pounds," came in husky tones from the banker.

"Fifteen."

"Twenty pounds."

And so the subscribing went on, until

papers equivalent to £120 were lightly piled over the crutch on the table.

"Ah, you have found your hearts—thank God! Let us receive the benediction," almost whispered the minister, as he suddenly extended his hands, which were trembling with emotion.

Little Maggie, absorbed in the magnitude of her offering, and the love which prompted it, comprehended nothing that had taken place. She had no thought of the future, of how she would reach her humble home, or of the days in which she would sit helpless in her chair as she had once done. Christ had demanded her all, and she had given it, with the blind faith of an Abraham. She understood no better when a woman's arm drew her into close embrace, and soft lips whispered into her ears:

"Maggie, dear, your crutch has made £120 for the mission church among the mountains, and has come back to stay with you again. Take it, little one."

Like a flash of light there came the consciousness that in some mysterious way her gift had been accepted of God and returned to her, and with a cry of joy the child caught the beloved crutch to her lonely heart; then, smiling thru her tears at the kind faces and reverential eyes, she hobbled out of the sanctuary. "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Mal. 3:10).

HUMAN AND ANIMAL TUBERCULOSIS.

FEW reports have evoked greater interest than that of the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis which receives lengthy editorial comment in a recent issue of the Lancet, Feb. 9, 1907. The commission has found that "marked differences are met with between bovine tuberculosis and certain strains of human tuberculosis in respect of their infective ability to certain lower animals (in particular to calves); but practically speaking, the difference, where it exists, is always in one direction; whatever the animal in question, the tubercle of bovine origin has the greater virulence. The experiments have extended to anthropoid apes which have been found readily susceptible to bovine infection. No reason has been shown for inferring that man alone possesses a specially lessened susceptibility to tuberculosis of bovine origin."

The writer in the Lancet further says that "we are forced to conclude that it is more than ever necessary to take active steps to minimize the risk which the public runs from tuberculous food and tuberculous milk. We can not be content to tell the public to boil or sterilize all its milk. We know from experience the limited utility of such advice. We want milk free from tuberculous infection as its source." This want, like many other human desires, is at present somewhat difficult of realization. What we want, and can get, is milk free from tuberculous infection—at its source if possible, but before it is delivered to the consumer at all events. The finding of the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis emphasizes the danger of tuberculous milk and the necessity of pasteurization of all milk derived from suspicious sources.—Medical Record.

Continue reading: THE MINISTER'S LONG DRAWN OUT WORDS