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Review and Herald, Vol. 79, No. 1.

TILL SHILOH COME
Earlier text: TILL SHILOH COME

AN EXHIBIT,

Showing the Present Standing of the ROYAL, and Its Business for 6,000 Years.

WONDERFUL RECORD! SURPRISING FIGURES!!

Total Number Insured Since the Charter was Taken Out: “A great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.” Rev. 7:9.
Paid-Up Capital: “The unsearchable riches of Christ,” Eph. 3:8.
Collaterals: God’s boundless MERCY and everlasting LOVE, Ps. 103:17. Jer. 31:3.
Assets—REAL ESTATE: “An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,” 1 Pet. 1:4.
Cash in the Bank: “Gold tried in the fire,” Rev. 3:18.
Securities and Stocks: “Two immutable things”—the Oath and Promise of God, Heb. 6:17, 18.
Liabilities (The Unmerited Claims of the Human Family): “There is none that doeth good, no, not one.” “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:12, 23.
Surplus over all Liabilities: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 1 Cor. 2:9. “Able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think!” Eph. 3:20.

Further Facts Concerning the Royal.

FIRST.— It has never changed its management during a history of sixty centuries.
SECOND.— Every claim against this Company will be fully adjusted when the word of promise matures, which in all probability is near at hand.
THIRD.— The Royal has declared one glorious dividend in the spring of A. D. 31, “when captivity was led captive,” and death in them was swallowed up of life.
FOURTH.— Persons who do not believe in Human Accountability, or reject the doctrine of the Atonement, cannot be insured by the Royal. Also all applications must be made personally to the President, through the Actuary.
FIFTH.— All companies offering to issue policies AFTER DEATH are frauds.
SIXTH.— All genuine policies are stamped with a BLOOD RED SEAL.
SEVENTH.— ☞ The Royal has its deputies in every quarter of the globe, but those who wish to insure must keep a sharp look-out for FRAUDS!

CONDITIONS OF POLICY.

“Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:21.

ELIGIBILITY.

“Whosoever will, may come.” Rev. 22:17; Isa. 55:1.

PREMIUMS.

“Without money and without price.” Isa. 55:1–3.
NOTE.— This is the Largest, the Oldest, and the only absolutely Reliable Life Insurance Company on earth.

THE FOUNDATION OF THE FORWARD MOVEMENT.

There is only one life. “I am . . . the life.” John 14:6. “He is thy life.” Deut. 30:20.
There is only one source of life. “With Thee is the fountain of life.” Ps. 36:9. “He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” Acts 17:25.
All men have forfeited life through sin. “All have sinned.” Rom. 3:23. “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23. “Being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them.” Eph. 4:18.
This gift of life was renewed to men in the gift of Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world. “And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath the life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life.” 1 John 5:11, 12, R. V.
We receive Christ the Son (and therefore have Him) by believing. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” John 1:12. “Believing [or by believing] ye might have life through His name.” John 20:31.
The purpose of eating is to impart life, and not to gratify appetite. “Eat . . . for strength, and not for drunkenness.” Eccl. 10:17.
The food and drink which God gives are spiritual. “And did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink.” 1 Cor. 10:3, 4. This was just as real food and drink (bread and water) as we deal with now.
Life comes only from the word of God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” John 1:1, 4. Man lives only by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. We are to recognize this constantly in our eating and drinking.
It is our privilege to drink living water which comes direct from the throne of God. “And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Rev. 22:1, 17.
The original diet of man was the word of God. “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” Gen. 1:29, R. V. “The seed is the word of God.” Luke 8:11. In saying, “Let the earth bring forth grass,” etc., God sowed the seed of every good thing. The earth was empty, and nothing could come from it until the seed was sown. But there was nothing sown but the word of God. Therefore the seed from which everything came that grew out of the ground in the beginning was nothing else than the word of God. And it also follows that the life of every seed that is borne by the grass, herbs, and trees, is nothing other than the actual word of God.

AN EARNEST PLEA.

One afternoon of the recent session of the Atlantic Union Conference was occupied in presenting principles and plans relating to The Forward Movement. Sister White spoke first upon the importance of following the light which has been given upon the principles of healthful living, both for our own sake and that we may be a greater blessing to others. The following is a portion of her talk at that time:—
In the twelfth chapter of Romans we read, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Much is comprehended in this. Here the apostle beseeches us to reach the high standard that it is possible to attain.
Christ made it possible when He laid aside His royal robes, His royal crown, stepped down from His royal throne, clothed His divinity with humanity that humanity might touch humanity. He could not with His glory and majesty take His position among men. The glory must be laid aside. He must take the rude garments of humanity that He might be afflicted with all the afflictions of humanity, that He might understand their temptations. He would become a faithful judge of how much they had to contend with in the conflict with satanic agencies. Through this experience Christ was enabled to give power to His people, for to “as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” See where our power is. It is not in ourselves.
The Lord wants every one of us to educate himself for God. At baptism, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost we were set apart to engage in the very work that Christ came to the world to do. What was He?—In the highest sense He was a missionary, and He was a healing missionary. He went from place to place healing the sick and suffering, and His disciples were gaining from Him that instruction which alone could be called higher education. The Lord wants the work that has been neglected in our cities to be taken hold of without delay. There is a great work to be done. Solemn interests are at stake in our cities: souls are hungering for the bread of life. Shall we receive the word from Christ to give to him that is hungry, and to impart to the thirsty the water of life? Why should we pass by and neglect the most wealthy classes? God gives somebody a message to them, a call to repentance, as did John, “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” There is nothing in the world to accomplish this, to open doors where truth can enter, like the medical missionary work. This work will commend itself to the hearts of men whose whole life has been perverted. Indulgence of appetite has spoiled them. They have been in the habit of eating and drinking, and having their luxuries, and what is the result?—They are broken down before they come to maturity. They are in need of heavenly truth, Bible enlightenment. Do you not think that there is hope of saving some of these?—Certainly there is. There is nothing that will help them into right paths like the presentation of the necessity of becoming acquainted with the human temple that God has given them, the beautiful machinery to be brought into perfect order.
No one is to be indifferent in this matter. Life, eternal life, is presented to all as a gift of God, if they will receive it. Will they show wisdom, as did Daniel and his fellows, to refuse the meats and the wines which, if used, will spoil the Lord’s wonderful and beautiful machinery? Will they reason from cause to effect? They—yes, the supposedly wealthy men—need wisdom as to how to conduct themselves so as to preserve their powers of mind and body. They are ignorant in regard to the effect of their eating and drinking, and do not know what a temperate diet will do for them.
We should not be prevailed upon to take anything into the mouth that will bring the body into an unhealthy condition, no matter how much we like it. Why?—Because we are God’s property. You have a crown to win, a heaven to gain, and a hell to shun. Then for Christ’s sake I ask you, Will you have the light shine before you in clear and distinct rays, and then turn away from it and say, “I love this, and I love that”? God calls upon every one of you to begin to plan, to co-operate with God in His great care and love, to elevate, ennoble, and sanctify the whole soul, body, and spirit, that we may be workers together with God.
There is a work to be begun in every city, in every town. What are you going to do to help it forward? You are to obtain all the light and knowledge that you can. There are the health books. Our canvassers can take these books right along with them, and read them. As they go, they will find that there is light in them, which they can present to the families they visit. They will find persons sick, and they can read something in those books that will do these persons good. Many are going to work on this plan. God never sets a man to work, and leaves him without putting any ideas into his mind. God gave Daniel knowledge, superior knowledge, in all matters of difficulty, and the Lord gave him the power to obtain that education that placed him on the highest platform of higher education before all the astrologers and magicians in all the realm of mighty Babylon. Now what is God going to do for every diligent searcher for truth? You see what He gave to Daniel. Daniel would not touch the king’s meat. Who of us are eating meat to-day? Who have thought that they must live upon the flesh of dead animals? We should not do it. We are composed of what we eat. God has given you those things that will make you healthy. Do not put corpses upon your tables; do not, I beg of you, eat the flesh of dead animals; for there is enough that you can live upon without that.
What does meat-eating do?—It creates animalism in the human agent, it strengthens the animal propensities, which are already strong enough. You would better be strengthening the spiritual powers. God helps us that we may, by self-denial and self-sacrifice, keep a clear brain and an understanding mind. It is better to let sweet things alone. Let alone those sweet dessert dishes that are placed on the table. You do not need them. You want a clear mind to think after God’s order. We should now come into line with health reform principles. There is a work to be done, and we want to unite with Dr. Kellogg in doing this work. He knows what he is talking about; and we want to take the light from the word of God, and form ourselves into companies to work for others. God will help us do this work.
There is an abundance to eat. We do not believe in a poverty-stricken diet; but we want to eat those things that shall not corrupt in our stomachs, and sour our tempers. It is bad eating and sour stomachs which make men that are called Christians act unreasonably. They get a little mote of difficulty before their mind’s eye, and exalt that mote to a mountain; and then the mountain of eternal spiritual advantages that ought to be exalted will become a molehill. That is the way the enemy wants it to be; but we do not want to work in such a way; for it is not profitable. Let us reverse the whole matter. Eat wholesome, good food; and sweeten up in your disposition.
There is a work to be done, a large work to be done. There is a world to save, a world to put on the right track. What have you been doing these years with the light that God has been flashing upon your pathway? I ask you, What have you been doing?
Are you “rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer”? You cannot do that unless you have a good, sweet stomach. With a sour stomach you are thinking all the time, “Oh, dear, how my stomach hurts me! What is the matter with me?” If you had thought just a little earlier, and eaten the right things, you would have avoided the difficulty. Let us all be temperate. It is our duty to be cheerful. We are not to be like a band that is marching along in a slow and mournful tread. That is not our place. What we want is to rejoice in hope.
You can go to the houses all around you, to those of the high as well as to those of the lowly, and find access. Their souls are just as hungry for the truth of God as the very lowliest among us; and we want to get together and organize for service. God will give us wisdom. He will give us strength for this work if we continue instant in prayer. The light of heaven will shine into our minds and hearts.
From the light which God has given me, there is a solemn accountability that rests upon you who for years have had the light on health reform. What have you been doing? Have you been living it out to the letter? Our sanitarians are to represent health reform. As they have patients there, they are to present the very best kind of food which will be for the health of these patients. If you expect to do your patients good, provide simple food, do not tempt them with sweet pies and puddings which will place them where it will take more than one or two baths and fomentations to take away the evil effects of that which you brought before them to eat. We want to teach all the people all these things. Teach them in every place that faith and works must harmonize. The Lord calls upon you to show your colors. Stand as eternal health reformers, and do not be in such a condition that when they ask you if you are a health reformer, you will blush for shame. No; you want to say, Certainly, I am; certainly I am a health reformer in every respect; and I want to help others to be health reformers. This work is the right hand of the gospel. It is this health reform, and this healthful living, that is cleaving the way for us right to the hearts of thousands who have nearly killed themselves with their improper diet. Now let us begin to save them. ELLEN G. WHITE.

POINTED PARAGRAPHS.

PRACTICAL sympathy is a test of the purity and unselfishness of the heart.
Good works cost us a sacrifice, but it is in this very sacrifice that they provide discipline.
The world will be convinced not so much by what the pulpit teaches as by what the Church lives.
Combine medical missionary work with the proclamation of the Third Angel’s Message. Make regular, organized efforts to lift the church-members out of the dead level in which they have been for years.

A New Element in the Work

By Ellen G. White

A NEW element needs to be brought into the work. God's people must realize their great need and peril, and take up the work that lies nearest them.—Mrs. E. G. White.

ACTION OF ALCOHOL ON THE BODY.

By Frederick M. Rossiter

FREDERICK M. ROSSITER, M. D. (Battle Creek, Mich.)

ACTION ON THE HEART AND THE CIRCULATION.

In studying the action of alcohol upon these organs, let us first consider it as a stimulant. Is alcohol a stimulant? Nearly the entire medical profession regards this drug as one of the most efficient cardiac stimulants. Personally I do not look upon it as such, for it meets none of the requirements of a stimulant, even when the term is considered in its original meaning. The word “stimulant” comes from the Latin word stimulans, the present participle of stimulare, meaning, to prick, to goad on, to incite or animate to action, or more vigorous action,—to exasperate.
To goad on an elephant with an iron probe, or to use a whip on a horse about to stop on a hill with a heavy load, is a stimulant. It does not put any more energy or strength into the animal, but it simply enables it to utilize in a short period of time all its available reserve force. In other words, a stimulant gets increased action out of an animal or out of a man, but does not put any energy into either. A man returning from a hard day’s work, so tired that he can hardly drag one foot after the other, is suddenly set upon by thieves. He forgets his weariness at once, and runs. He runs faster than he ever did before. The attack of the robbers acts as a stimulant in this case. The entire central nervous system is aroused, every motor center is intensely excited, and compels the muscles to work in spite of being tired. This is the effect of a stimulant. When the excitement is over, the man sinks from exhaustion, for he has used up his store of surplus vital energy. This is the reaction from a stimulant, or the secondary effect.
Strychnia, cocaine, and caffeine are all stimulants in this sense, but alcohol does not meet even these requirements.
The results obtained from the action of any stimulant depend upon the degree of excitation of nerve centers. Caffeine and cocaine excite the nerve centers of the central nervous system, and actually enable one to do more work for the time being; but after the nerve center has expended all its energy, fatigue and exhaustion follow. This action of stimulants, an action we see in all conditions of life, demonstrates a great law in drugs; namely, that a drug which stimulates when given in moderation, will depress and paralyze if given to excess.
An ordinary meal of wholesome food energizes body and mind, giving one a feeling of satisfaction, exhilaration, and strength; but if an enormous meal is eaten, stupor and drowsiness take the place of mental and physical activity, and one feels like a boa constrictor after a full meal,—he must sleep it off.
A natural or physiological nerve energizer differs from a stimulant in that, in the former case, while a nerve cell or a nerve center is expending energy, vital processes are at work replenishing the loss of energy. Oatmeal is a physiological excitant for this reason. “A horse feels his oats,” we say. He feels like doing more work, and he is able to do more work. Eating oats will make even a hog frisky and playful. Cold water is a physiological invigorator, for while it arouses the nerve centers by its action upon the skin, at the same time it stirs every glandular structure into vigorous action to supply the working nerve cell with more energy.
The working capacity of a muscle depends upon its connection with a nerve center, and upon the condition of that particular nerve center. In order for a muscle to work, or to do more work, its nerve center must be in a condition receptive to stimulation, and nothing must prevent the effect of the stimulation from reaching the muscle. Alcohol interferes with both these processes.
The latest scientific data on this subject, gathered from numerous experiments carried on by men of world-wide reputation,—men who have reported conscientious conclusions, though some of them do not hesitate to drink the social cup,—show that alcohol in the smallest quantities tends to lessen the activity of the nerve centers; that in the smallest quantities it is a narcotic. It has also been shown that alcohol lessens the contracting power of a muscle and diminishes its working capacity.
Based upon these facts, it is difficult to see how alcohol acts as a heart stimulant even; for the heart is a muscle, and is subject to all the conditions governing the action of muscle. In experiments upon animals it has been shown that the first effect of alcohol on the heart is to lessen its efficiency and to weaken its power of contraction. (Cushney, on “Action of Drugs,” 1900.)
As soon as alcohol enters the stomach, and the sensation of warmth is diffused over the body, the heart begins to beat more rapidly in consequence of the depression of the nerve that slows the heart, and of the depression of nerves that control the caliber of the small arteries, with a distention of both the heart and the arteries. The flushing that soon follows imbibing, is not confined to the face, but occurs in every organ of the body, and is due to a vasomotor paralysis. This enlarging of the blood channels removes the resistance to the heart’s action and hence it beats more rapidly, just as an engine would spurt ahead if it should break away from its train. In this condition the blood moves more rapidly for a time through the arteries. Alcohol in this respect acts very much like amyl nitrite, one of the most powerful and quickly acting heart depressants known. Amyl nitrite is made from alcohol, and affects the heart in a fraction of a minute, when simply inhaled, relaxing the blood vessels, lowering the blood pressure, and allowing the heart to beat more rapidly. No physician would claim that amyl nitrite is a heart stimulant, and yet it acts on the heart the same as alcohol, only much more rapidly and powerfully. Alcohol exhausts the heart by allowing it to beat more rapidly, and hence to lift a greater weight of blood. Six ounces of spirits of alcohol increase the number of heart-beats one sixth, or twelve beats every minute, thus making 17,280 beats in twenty-four hours. This, multiplied by six, the number of ounces of blood expelled from the heart at each contraction, equals, when reduced, 6,480 foot pounds of blood, or the equivalent of raising more than three tons one foot high. Alcohol, by interfering with the nervous control of the heart, allows the organ to wear itself out by doing extra work that is not required by the body, just in the same way that an engine will shake itself to pieces when the governors are removed.
Alcohol is very likely to produce heart failure because of its depressing influence upon the nerve centers in the brain that regulate the heart’s action. Large doses of alcohol frequently cause sudden heart failure. The constant use of alcoholic drinks produces a permanent relaxation of the blood vessels in the skin and the organs of the body. The “rum blossom” and bloated face of the heavy drinker indicate this.
With the blood vessels in a relaxed condition, and the nerve centers narcotized so that they but poorly respond to energizing influences, and in turn slowly and feebly transmit these to the organs and muscles, we can see that such a person is in a poor condition to resist disease; for the “blood is the life,” and the health of any part of the body depends upon the perfection of the circulation in that organ.

GIVING LIKE A LITTLE CHILD.

The Christian Weekly.
Not long ago a poor widow came into my study. She is over sixty years of age. Her home is one little room, about ten feet by twelve, and she supports herself by her needle, which in these days of sewing machines means the most miserable support.
Imagine my surprise, then, when she put three dollars into my hands, and said: “There is my contribution to the church fund.”
“But are you able to give so much?”
“Oh, yes,” she exclaimed. “I have learned how to give now.”
“How is that?” I asked.
“Do you remember,” she answered, “that sermon of three months ago, when you told us that—you did not believe one of your people was so poor that if he loved Christ, he could not find some way of showing that love by his gifts?”
“I do.”
“Well, I went home and cried all night over that sermon. I said to myself, ‘My minister don’t know how poor I am, or he never would have said that.’ But from crying I at last got to praying. And when I had told Jesus all about it, I seemed to get an answer in my heart that dried up all tears.”
“What was the answer?” I asked, deeply moved by her recital.
“Only this, ‘If you cannot give as other people do, give like a little child.’ And I have been doing it ever since. When I have a penny change over from my sugar or loaf of bread, I lay it aside for Jesus, and so I have gathered this money all in pennies.”
“But has it not embarrassed you to lay aside so much?”
“Oh, no!” she responded, eagerly, with beaming face. “Since I began to give to the Lord, I have always had money in the house for myself, and it is wonderful how the work comes pouring in. So many are coming to see me, that I never knew before.”
“But didn’t you always have money in the house?” I asked.
“Oh, no! Often when my rent came due, I had to go and borrow it, not knowing how I ever should find means to pay it again. But I don’t have to do that any more, the dear Lord is so kind.”
Of course I could not refuse such money.
Three months later she came with three dollars and eighty-five cents saved in the same way. Then came the effort of our church in connection with the Memorial Fund, and in about five months she brought fifteen dollars, all saved in the little mite-box I had given her. This makes a total of twenty-one dollars and eighty-five cents from one poor widow in a single twelvemonth. I need hardly add that she apparently grew more in Christian character in that one year than in all the previous years of her connection with the Church.
Who can doubt that if in giving, as well as in other graces, we could all thus become as little children, there would result such an increase in our gifts that there would not be room enough to contain them?

Sabbath-School Work

By William Warren Prescott

A MODEL SABBATH-SCHOOL.

(Concluded.)
When we make it simply an intellectual matter, we lose the chief benefit. The intellect will be exercised, and that to its utmost, in grasping the revelation of divine truth made; but it is with the heart that man believeth unto righteousness. It is the word that is hidden in the heart, not in the head, that accomplishes the good. “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
The one thing needed as a defense against sin is a power coming into our flesh. It is not simply in form, but it is in fact; it is in reality that that experience must come.
Now when we turn to the forms, the outward dress, in which the life is revealed, and spend the time over that, with definitions, with intellectual discussions, with controversy as to the meaning of terms and propositions, then we are dealing simply with the husk, simply with the shell. It is not the outward form, it is that which is incarnate within; that is the life, and that is received not as a means of establishing intellectual propositions, but as a means of defense against sinful temptations.
In the study of the Word, no matter what portion may be considered, the one aim in that study is to see the revelation of Christ crucified, that through it we may be brought more closely into that union of the human with the divine in which is the strength of all our Christian experience.
When Christ was gathering His disciples, the record says: “Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write.” We have found Him, the person. It was not, We have found a new statement of our creed; but it was just this one central thing—we have found Him.
Now any study of the Scripture, any teaching of the Word, that does not help us personally toward finding Him, does not meet its true end. When the time that ought to be spent in getting right to the very heart of the truth, and getting in actual, living touch with that, is spent in the form, the outward things, and we do not get to that central heart of it all, we have missed the purpose of study. Every lesson should be a revealing of Christ to us. If we will just take the Scripture itself, and be guided in our study by the Spirit promised to guide us into all truth, our understanding may be opened, so that we may understand the Scriptures, and we may see what is there, the beauty, the glory, and the joy. These do not all lie on the surface. You remember the words of the wise man, and they are worthy of very careful consideration in this connection: “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”
That is the one thing to be sought, even the knowledge of God. But how?—If thou criest after knowledge, if thou liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou searchest for her as for hid treasures, then thou shalt find the knowledge of God. But I have regretted very much to observe, as far as my experience has gone, that there is not that earnest soul-hunger for truth that leads people to cry for understanding, to seek for this knowledge of God, as they seek for hidden treasures. If there is any reality in this thing, that there is here hidden,—hidden not to keep it away from us, but hidden in order that it may be revealed to us,—if there is any truth in this, that this is our life and understanding, our wisdom, then is it not worth our while to apply our hearts to understanding? Is it not worth while to treat this as a matter that is practical and real, and know that God by His Spirit will teach us?
The only theme, then, to be studied is Christ crucified, Christ manifested in the flesh, Christ our personal, indwelling Saviour. That is the theme, no matter what portion of the Book is studied. Any lesson that does not help us to a closer grasp and a better experience in that thing is not the lesson we ought to be studying; but if taken from this Word, there will be such a revelation in it.
The third division of the subject is the need of teachers filled with the teaching Spirit of God. Truth must be revealed to us. We must receive it. We are not sent out to roam around in a state of darkness and uncertainty to see if we can find truth. There is a certain class of persons who pride themselves upon the fact that they are simply seekers after truth. That is right when it is properly understood. But know that truth, absolute truth, has been revealed to us; and it is that revelation of truth that we are to study, and not hunt around in a maze of uncertainty to see if we can find the truth. The word of God is the incarnate truth. We are not to go along as though we did not know where the truth is. Here is the truth. Christ is the truth.
There has been a revelation made to us, a revelation made in human conduct, in Christ manifested in the flesh; a revelation made in human language, in Christ in the Word. Now we are to study the revelation made, that we may comprehend that, not putting our reason above God's word. It is not to be brought to our reason, to determine whether it is truth or not; when reason is given that place, it is given its wrong place. This Book is to instruct our reason, and not to be judged by our reason. Our reason will be used to its utmost in comprehending the truth, but not in judging the truth. There is a vast difference between the two. Anything that judges this Book, anything that judges God, anything that judges the revelation of himself, puts itself above Him, and that is the very essence of the papacy. The greatest revelation of opposition to God that this world has ever seen, all grows out of this; that this Book, this revelation of truth, is made subject to human reason.
If we are to be used of God to make a revelation of light and truth to this world, such a revelation that it itself will judge the world, and that will compel every one in the world to take a definite attitude toward it, such a revelation of truth in every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, that everywhere people will be actually compelled to make their decision, their final decision, in their attitude toward Jesus Christ and His truth,—with such a work as that committed to us, do not let us turn aside from the very fountain, and the very incarnation of truth, and put any man, even ourselves, above this Word.
Our understanding is to be instructed by the truth. We are to be judged by the truth. The fact is that every person who sets his mind up to judge the Word, and brings it to the bar of his reason, is by that very act judging himself, and not the Book. It is the attitude that men take toward the divine revealing of truth as set forth in this Book that determines the final decision. Therefore God is calling upon a people now to rise up that shall in themselves be the very incarnation of the word of God, and shall reveal that word as light and salvation in every part of the world.
So the Book itself will carry to every soul ready to receive it, its own conviction of the truth. The place to find evidences that the Bible is true is in the Bible itself. The very best evidence to any one that this Book is the Book of God, and what it claims to be, is what it will do for him in his own experience, if he will receive it.
Therefore it is not to be judged by the reason, but it is to reveal itself in the conduct of life, and that will be the greatest proof of its truthfulness.
But, to understand it, there must be the Spirit as the teacher. The Spirit, the very life that is in it, must interpret it unto us, and in us. God has taken simple language and revealed in it a depth of truth which no human man, unaided by the Spirit, will be able to fathom. It is only the spirit of truth, truth’s spirit, truth’s life, that can open our minds, and impart that to us. Remember that it is the mind through which we are allied to God, and with which we worship God. The truth must come in through that avenue. It must not stop in that avenue; it must come in through that avenue, and be revealed in experience.
And so the Spirit that is itself incarnated in this Word, that is in itself the wisdom, the light, the knowledge hidden here, must itself be the agency through which our minds are brought into direct, living touch and consciousness with that truth. No man, unaided, can do that.
Now take these simple things, and apply them to a school where the Bible is the book studied, where Christ crucified is always the theme, and where teachers are filled with the teaching Spirit of God. Then what will be the possibilities?—The possibilities will be the re-creation, the manifestation of the very image of God in the flesh. The human mind can hardly grasp, it cannot put any limits upon, what the word of God is able to do for those who are willing to receive it in this way, as their life, their light, and their salvation. So it is of no use to try to define these possibilities. They are with God. But, under such a plan as this, there would be a constant flow of the life, of new, creative life, into the hearts of all those who study and teach under these circumstances.
Would that there might be revived among this people a genuine study of the Bible. We are living on the labors of men of the past. Some one else has studied, and we read what they have studied, instead of ourselves studying for ourselves.
When an announcement is made that such and such a book is indispensable to the study of any portion of the Bible, I wonder what the people have done for these centuries before that book was printed.
I will tell you what is indispensable to an understanding of this Book, and that is a heart submitted, and ready to receive the Spirit of God; and that is worth more than all the helps ever printed. The trouble is we have put the “helps” that were designed to be helps, and, properly used, may be helps, in the place of that which is indispensable, and then the helps become a hindrance.
It is often true that what are advertised as helps to Bible study would more properly be advertised as hindrances to Bible study. Real helps to study may be used, but helps are not the first thing to be sought. We have used so many helps that we have allowed the very faculties that God would use through which to reveal to us personally a knowledge of the truth,—we have allowed those faculties to become weakened by depending upon some other help than the real help that God has provided in this unseen Spirit.
This whole people should be a people who study the Word, each for himself. That is the only hope for us. We are coming into experiences where God’s word itself, hidden in the heart, will be the only defense; where it will not be sufficient for us to know what others have thought about this Book; but to know its every thought in our lives; where the only salvation will be the word that is spirit and life.
No matter how it may come, no matter under what technical forms it may come, let there be a revival in all our hearts of the love of the study of the word of God, and let time be spent with that word, that we may feed upon Him who is our life, our light, and our salvation.
W. W. PRESCOTT.

NUTTOSE

By Mrs. M. H. Dunmead

MRS. M. H. DUNMEAD.
(Adams Mills, Ohio.)
One cup peanut butter, one-half cup cornstarch, one and one-half cups water; salt, finely minced or grated onion, and sage to taste. Mix by adding the water a little at a time, and rubbing smooth. Steam for three hours in tightly covered tin cans, set in a kettle of boiling water, also covered. Raise the cans so that water may pass underneath, or, if preferred, steam in a double boiler. This is nice sliced cold, with a little lemon juice added. Or it makes a good stew by cutting in dice and stewing with potato, flavored with a little onion, and thickened with flour that has been slightly browned. It is also good cut in slices, and browned on an oiled tin, and makes a good sandwich when placed between thinly sliced bread.
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