The church is the channel through which the Lord works to save the perishing. By the members of the church are to be made known his mercy, goodness, and power. What a wonderful work has been committed to us! All heaven is waiting for human channels through which to communicate the grace of God. But selfishness is hindering us in fulfilling God’s purpose for us. Selfishness is hiding the Saviour from his people. Thorough conversion is what the church needs. God calls for men imbued with the love of Christ to do his work. He needs men of sound minds, clear heads, and tender hearts.
I am instructed to say: Unless our ministers and the leading men in our institutions believe and practice the word of God, they will never see the King in his beauty. God’s law is his standard of character. And the foundation principles of this law are, “Thou shalt 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 neighbor as thyself.” Obedience to this law is the condition of gaining salvation. Upon our obedience depends our present and future happiness.
Will men and women claim to be Christians, and yet lose out of their lives the tenderness and love of Christ? Shall those who have a knowledge of the truth for this time allow themselves to speak and act harshly? Will they treat those connected with them in labor as if they were unworthy of notice?
When you see a fellow being striving to climb the hill, will you, standing securely at the top, reproach him because he is not there also? or will you descend the hill, and linking his arm in yours, guide his trembling feet in the upward path, soothing and encouraging him, till he stands at the summit, filled with hope and courage?
Have you not seen a fellow worker, pale and worn, bearing on his face the premonitions of death? How did you treat him? Was your heart touched, your sympathy aroused? Did you reach out to him the hand of fellowship? Did you do all in your power to help him? or did you selfishly seek gain for yourself at his expense,—you on vantage ground, he in sickness, sorrow, and want? Did you think it would please God for you to destroy your fellow worker’s faith, his hope, his confidence in human brotherhood? And after you had acted thus, did you congratulate yourself upon your financial gain?
How did the pitying Redeemer look upon such a course? Think you that he placed on it the seal of his approval?
We Are to Work the Works of Christ
Our work is to restore, not to destroy; to lift up, not to cast down; “to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” We are commanded to remember those that are bound, as bound with them. God asks, “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?”
Study your Bibles, my brethren. In the name of Christ I call upon you to work the works of Christ. Godliness is profitable for all things. It is the fruit of a repentance that needeth not to be repented of. The evidence of its worth is in itself, and is revealed by good works. True reform bears the fruit of the Spirit. He who loves God is a friend to those for whom the Son of God died.
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. . . . Put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”
Neglected duties confront us. Too often, instead of doing the work the Lord has given us, we have watched for defects in those whom, instead of criticising, we ought to have helped. We have not worked faithfully. There are in our institutions untrained men and women. Jesus needs their service. With yearning tenderness he is inviting them to come to him, that he may use them as channels for the communication of his grace. But those whom he has appointed to co-operate with him in fitting these souls for service, have failed to manifest that loving tenderness which as Christians they should manifest for the young and the inexperienced. Not only do they themselves fail of following Jesus; they keep others from his side. How can the Lord bless them? Let us break the crust of selfishness that surrounds us. Let us not descend to bickering and strife, criticising and condemning one another. Christ is ashamed to call those who do this his brethren.
Christ’s Work for Us an Incentive to Labor
A great work is to be done, and in doing this work, we are to labor on a much higher plane than we have labored on in the past. Brethren and sisters, this matter has been so forcibly presented to me that I cannot hold my peace. Into the church there has come a hard-hearted spirit, and with it principles of selfishness, which have excluded the light of Christ from our hearts.
Christ is constantly working for us. Our advocate in the heavenly courts, he is ever making intercession for us. The cry of the one ready to perish finds swift entrance to his ear. “He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.” Shall we not work for him in the way he has marked out? Shall we not help those in need of help?
Christ suffered, being tempted; therefore he always sympathizes with those whom Satan is seeking to destroy. That he might be a merciful and faithful high priest, he was in all things made like those he came to help. He has compassion on the ignorant, and on those that are out of the way; for when he was on this earth, he was compassed with infirmities. He is ever willing and ready8to help us in our perplexities. As he tiles, worked for us, let us work for others.
Many more than we suppose need a helping hand held out to them. There are many to whom words of sympathy would be as a cup of cold water to a thirsty soul. Are you doing Christ service by ministering to weary, discouraged fellow beings?
Answered Prayer
I ASKED for bread: God gave a stone instead,
Yet while I pillowed there my weary head,
The angels made a ladder of my dreams,
Which upward to celestial mountains led.
And when I woke, beneath the morning's beams,
Around my resting place fresh manna lay;
And, praising God, I went upon my way,
For I was fed.
I asked for strength: for with the noon-tide heat
I fainted, while the reapers, singing sweet,
Went forward with ripe sheaves I could not bear,
Then came the Master with his blood-stained feet,
And lifted me with sympathetic care;
Then on his arm I leaned till all was done;
And I stood with the rest at set of sun,
My task complete.
I asked for light: around me closed the night,
Nor guiding star met my bewildered sight;
For storm clouds gathered in a tempest near.
Yet, in the lightning's blazing, roaring flight,
I saw the way before me straight and clear.
What though his leading pillar was of fire,
And not the sunbeam of my heart's desire,
My path was bright.
God answers prayer: sometimes, when hearts are weak,
He gives the very gifts believers seek;
But often faith must learn a deeper rest,
And trust God's silence when he does not speak;
For he, whose name is Love, will send to life the best.
Stars may burn out, nor mountain walls endure,
But God is true; his promises are sure
To those who seek.
—Selected
Meats Offered to Idols
By RODNEY S. OWEN
RODNEY S. OWEN
WE often meet with those not in sympathy with the true principles of health reform, who make use of certain statements in the writings of Paul as a weapon of warfare against those principles. Especially have they become familiar with 1 Tim. 4:1–5, where they claim to find a prophecy which fits our case, at least on the question of meat eating. For the consideration of any who may have been exercised over this subject, we wish to offer a few thoughts upon this scripture.
The chapter begins thus: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith.” This is thought by some to locate the prophecy as applying especially to a people just before the second advent; but this is not a necessary conclusion, from the fact that this entire dispensation is spoken of as the last times. Thus we read of Christ: “Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” 1 Peter 1:20. Paul writes to the Hebrews that “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.” Heb. 1:1, 2; see also Acts 2:16, 17. So this departure from the faith may have been in the days of the apostles.
“Commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received.” Notice the qualification given to the foods in question. It is that which God hath created for food which these apostatized brethren were forbidding. “Meats” here are often taken as a matter of course to mean the flesh of animals; but this term in the Bible is applied to foods in general, frequently to grains and fruits, and these latter are especially mentioned at the time of creation as man’s “meat.” See Gen. 1:29. The “meat offerings” of ancient Israel usually consisted of “fine flour” mingled with oil, sometimes of “green ears of corn.” Lev. 2:1–14. The apostle Paul, speaking of the bread and lentils for which Esau sold his birthright, calls it a “morsel of meat.” Heb. 12:16.
“For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused.” This statement is also qualified by the preceding verse. Taken out of its connection, this would not be universally true. There are many things which God never designed as food for man, and which should be refused as not only unclean, but dangerous to life. Who will say that all unclean animals, venomous reptiles, and poisonous insects are good to eat? Would our pork-loving friends who apply this text to the swine, relish a dinner of vipers, buzzards, centipedes, and every other loathsome creature, because nothing is to be refused? Even the thought of such a thing is repulsive, and no one will contend that the apostle was giving a rule of diet designed to be of universal application.
There are several parallel statements in the writings of Paul which we will place before the reader, and then consider the circumstances which called out their instruction: “There is nothing unclean of itself.” Rom. 14:14. “All things indeed are pure.” Rom. 14:20. “Meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.” 1 Cor. 8:8. “Whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake.” 1 Cor. 10:27.
We now inquire, What does the apostle mean by such language? Is he talking on the subject of health? If so, he has certainly given us something “hard to be understood,” even by the doctors. What board of health would adopt such rules; and if they were to adopt them, what further need would there be of such a board? No! health reform was not the subject of the apostle’s argument when he penned these words; and as he was speaking to “wise men” (1 Cor. 10:15), he knew that such men would not thus misunderstand his language. The question was concerning “meats offered to idols.” Would the fact that the food had been offered to an idol render it unsuitable to eat? That was the question. The Christians to whom the apostle wrote, and with whom he had lived, were dwelling in the midst of an idolatrous people. They had “gods many, and lords many.” 1 Cor. 8:5. Their eating, their drinking, and almost every act of life was connected with idol worship. The apostle treated the matter in a most prudent and sensible manner, by showing that the idol had no effect whatever on the food itself, but only affected the consciences of the weak. We will let him speak for himself: “Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. . . . We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. . . . Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.” 1 Cor. 8:1–7. “If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake. But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience’ sake: for the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” 1 Cor. 10:27, 28. “For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.” Rom. 14:20, 21. “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused [because of the idol worship], if it be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” 1 Tim. 4:4, 5.
In the chapter from which we last quoted, the apostle speaks of those “who believe and know the truth.” They know that the idol is nothing. And though the food had been offered to an idol, those who teach the word of God in their conversation, thank God for the food, and pray to God for those whose hospitality they enjoy. They will not be misunderstood, and be taken for idol worshipers. It is thus that the food is “sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”
Thus by looking at the apostle’s language from the standpoint of his subject, all is plain and practical, and is not inconsistent with other scriptures nor with science.
Paul was an ardent advocate of temperance. He believed in being “temperate in all things.” 1 Cor. 9:25. He taught holiness of the flesh as well as of the spirit (2 Cor. 7:1); he taught that the body as well as the soul needed to be washed (Heb. 10:22); and that if any man defile this body temple, God will destroy him. 1 Cor. 3:16, 17.
A Lesson of Unselfishness
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
E. J. WAGGONER
THE apostle Paul refers to the gathering of the manna, to enforce a lesson of unselfish giving. When he was pleading for a liberal collection for the poor saints, he wrote: “I mean not that other men be eased, and ye be burdened: but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality; as it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.” 2 Cor. 8: 13-15; compare with Ex. 16: 16-18.
Some in reading the words, “He that gathered much had nothing over; and he that gathered little had no lack,” have supposed that in some miraculous manner the manna shrank if one had gathered more than a certain quantity, and increased if he had not gathered enough; but the fact is that those who had more than they needed for the day9divided with those who had an insufficient quantity. There was the same condition that existed after Pentecost, when all the believers had all things common, and none laid up for the future. The lesson of the manna is not only that God gives us bread, but that he gives it to us as we need it. We can trust him to provide for our wants, even as little children trust their parents.
The Lord feeds us from his own table, and naught of that which we have belongs to us. Therefore we are to consider that all of his children have the same right to the Lord’s table that we all have. If we find more “under our hand” than we need for the time, it is not to be hoarded up to spoil, but passed on to be used while it is fresh. So as we live by faith in the “God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all,” he will give day by day our daily bread, supplying all our need according to his riches in glory, and his kingdom will come, and his will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
The Glorious King
By Otto Lundell
OTTO LUNDELL
O I will love my Saviour dear!
From him I will never depart.
Trials and sorrows I cannot fear
When Jesus abides in my heart.
He is my gladness and my light,
Of him I evermore will sing;
He is the sun e'er shining bright,
The heavenly, glorious King.
The story so full of pathos and love
Is told for the children of men;
His glory the angels are singing above;
The Lord is coming again.
The Royal Law
THE apostle Peter, in an epistle that all Christians like to believe is addressed to them, and which we are sure does speak to us, because it contains living words, even the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever, says: “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.” 1 Peter 2:9. God’s people are a royal people, because they are children of the great King. God is the King of kings; and he reigns over kings, and has no subject of lower rank than king. All his subjects are members of his own family; they are his own children; hence they are a kingly race, a royal people.
Now it is fitting that a royal people should have a royal law, and this God’s people have. The apostle James, writing to those who have “the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory,” says, “If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.” James 2:8. This royal law, given by the King of kings, is what God’s loyal and royal people are to keep. They are to fulfill it from God even as Christ fulfilled it.
But this that is quoted by the apostle James is but a portion of the law. By the words of Christ we find that it is but one half of it; for we read the following question and answer:—
“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matt. 22:36–40.
Since the words, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” are a royal law, and are but the second portion of one great law, we know that the whole is the royal law of God for his royal people.
Although the law of God is summed up in two great commandments, there is no division in it. “The Lord our God is one Lord,” and his law is a unit. Just as there is one life, one purpose, controlling the two hands of the body, with their ten fingers, so the ten commandments into which the two great commandments of the law are divided all unite to form one word, namely, “love;” “for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Gal. 5:14. “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Rom. 13:10. Jesus named supreme and undivided love to God as the first and great commandment, and “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” as the second, like unto it. Matt. 22:37–39. The apostle James was not making any invidious distinction when he called this second commandment “the royal law.” James 2:8. On the contrary, it was to show that the second is equal to the first, being of the same nature. There is no ground in Scripture for the common supposition that “the second table,” so-called, pertains solely to our duty to man, while the first prescribes our duty to God. It is all the law of God, and the last six commandments show our duty to God as clearly as do the first four. Whatever we do, we are to do as unto the Lord. When Joseph was tempted to violate the seventh commandment, he said, “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Gen. 39:9. And when David had been guilty of both murder and adultery, he said to God, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.” Ps. 51:4. Nothing but a sense of responsibility to God, and love for him, can keep us in right relationship to our fellowmen.
The first and great commandment is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.” This includes the whole being, and all our powers and faculties. Therefore it evidently includes love to our neighbor. That is to say, after loving God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, we can have no love aside from this, wherewith to love our neighbor. Therefore love to our neighbor is part of our love to God, and is proof of it; “for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” 1 John 4:20. — Present Truth.
Consider
By Christina Rossetti
CONSIDER
The lilies of the field, whose bloom is brief:
We are as they;
Like them fade away,
As doth a leaf.
Consider
The sparrows of the air, of small account:
Our God doth view
Whether they fall or mount—
He guards us, too.
Consider
The lilies, that do neither spin nor toil,
Yet are most fair—
What profit all this care
And all this coil?
Consider
The birds that have no barn nor harvest weeks;
God gives them food—
Much more our Father seeks
To do us good.
— Christina Rossetti.
In the Heart of the Woods
By Margaret E. Sangster
Such beautiful things in the heart of the
woods!
Flowers and ferns and the soft green
moss;
Such love of the birds in the solitudes,
Where the swift wings glance, and the
tree-tops toss;
Spaces of silence, swept with song,
Which nobody hears but the God
above;
Spaces where myriad creatures throng,
Sunning themselves in his guarding
love.
Such safety and peace in the heart of
the woods,
Far from the city's dust and din,
Where passion nor hate of man intrudes,
Nor fashion nor folly has entered in.
Deeper than hunter's trail hath gone,
Glimmers the tarn where the wild deer
drink;
And fearless and free comes the gentle
fawn,
To peep at herself o'er the grassy
brink.
Such pledge of love in the heart of the
woods!
For the Maker of all things keeps the
least,
And over the tiny floweret broods,
With care that for ages has never
ceased.
If he cares for this, will he not for
thee—
Thee, wherever thou art to-day?
Child of an infinite Father, see—
And safe in such gentlest keeping
stay.
— Margaret E. Sangster.
A Real Experience
Jesus breathed upon his disciples, and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” The reception of the Holy Spirit is not for our own pleasure, but is a preparation for service. The flesh that Christ bore is the same that we bear, but “the flesh profiteth nothing.” It was not in the flesh to do the work God would have done in the earth; it must be by the power of his own life; so Christ took his place with us, and was an example to us of what God can do by his own power in just such flesh as we bear, when opportunity is given for him to have his way. When we think of Jesus, we must not put him so far away from us as we are wont to do, because what God wrought through Jesus Christ in his ministry, he will do through us by the same power. So if we would receive the greatest benefit, we must take his experience as a real one, offered to us, which we may have if we will but accept it.—Selected.
The Test of Sanctified Appetite
By Francis M. Wilcox
FRANCIS M. WILCOX
Much is said to-day of complete sanctification. Is this a possible experience with the child of God? It certainly must be, else the apostle would not have prayed that the children of God might be sanctified wholly. The Lord, to-day, as in all ages, desires the whole man sanctified to his service,—his actions, his thoughts, his motives, his purposes, his appetites and passions, all under the control and influence of the Spirit of God. As divine power takes away the love of the world, the pride of life, and selfish thoughts and purposes, so the same power will take away the thirst for strong drink and the love of those things that are debasing to the soul and destructive to the temple of God. As it is right and proper for one to give his sins to God to be buried in the depths of the sea, so it is as truly proper that he should give to God his appetites, to be changed and brought back into harmony with right principles.
But what is the standard of this desired condition? What is the test of sanctified appetite? It can be nothing less than the Word of divine revelation. We know that in all ages God has spoken to his church by the mouth of his apostles and prophets. The truth of this revelation lies, of necessity, at the very foundation of Christian experience, of hope and faith. To deny this is to deny the foundation of God, and to despise the agencies through whom God has established his work in the earth. This being so, this revelation of God, then, of necessity, must become the divine standard, the test of every act of man. The conformity or nonconformity of man to this divine standard indicates the relation in which he stands to God and to the truth of God. Some, however, upon this point are in danger of making shipwreck of their faith and experience. They feel that the spirit of divine revelation which has come to them individually, as they believe, becomes the gauge of their course of action, instead of this revelation of the Lord through his apostles and prophets. Well and good; let us not dispute this claim, provided the spirit of individual revelation leads in harmony with the recognized revelation of the Lord. But if it leads contrary to the revelation of the Lord through his chosen instruments, let us fear that it rises from another spirit than that which prompted the Word of the Lord. God cannot deny himself. It is too much to believe that through his prophet he would teach one principle and in individual experience teach an opposing principle. For instance, God and his Word teach the observance of the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. That same spirit could never teach in individual experience that the first day of the week was the Sabbath of the Lord.
The Lord, through his apostles and prophets, in dealing with the principles of healthful living, has taught that certain things are to be discarded as articles of diet, that other kinds of food are best and good. He cannot teach contrary to this in individual experience. To do this is to deny himself. Hence it should ever be borne in mind that the test of sanctified appetite is not an exercise of the mind, the desires of the flesh, nor any human standard. It is a “Thus saith the Lord.”
The good and the bad in healthful living occupy two distinct fields. In the field of good we may roam at will. Studying the principles and determining their application to our particular need, we may eat the fat and drink the sweet, and rejoice in the goodness of God which makes us the partakers of his bounties. Here, in the exercise of our God-given privileges and rights, we may know that we are in accord with the divine requirements, and in harmony with God. But if our feet are led to wander into the forbidden field of evil, and we find ourselves longing after those things forbidden of the Lord, we may know that however much we may profess to be of Israel, and although we may be physically out of Egypt, we are still spiritually in Egyptian servitude, still longing after those forbidden meats and harmful indulgences which marked our old-time bondage. The true liberty of the child of God is found in obedience. True sanctification is found in conformity to the divine standard. The man who the most truly walks at liberty will the most faithfully follow the requirements of the Lord, not of constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; not from sense of duty, but from joy of privilege. So also the man who is the most truly sanctified will be the one whose life most nearly conforms to the requirements of the Lord, and whose appetites and passions and impulses are the most directly controlled by the same Spirit which gave to men the words of life, and brings their lives into conformity to the life of God.
Man, the Natural Ruler and Worker of the World
By Kate Lindsay
KATE LINDSAY
MAN was created to be a ruler, and was given a vast dominion. To “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” was the original commission given the first pair in Eden. This planet, with all its forces and resources, was put in man’s power to develop his faculties and increase his knowledge of his Creator. The soil, in all its Edenic fertility, was his to cultivate, and was ready to manifest its life-giving activity in fruit, grains, grass, and flowers, to renew man’s energies forever, and to satisfy his love of the beautiful. Everywhere, harmony, and perfection of form and color, soothed the musical ear and satisfied the artistic eye. The heat, light, electricity, and all nature’s force manifestations were ready to serve man, to convey him or his words to the ends of the earth. They were so much in his power that they did only good at his bidding, without their present destructive manifestations. Even to-day they can be made to serve man and do his work, and to carry his words around this planet.
God thus meant to teach man and enable him to understand his Creator, also to give him power to rule his kingdom after the same plan that the Almighty rules the universe. Man would, year by year, have learned more of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness throughout all the ages of eternity, always growing more and more capable of using his inheritance for good, always reaching for more and greater results.
Man fell because he yielded to appetite, and then began a struggle for mere existence, and a contention of man with his fellows for what he regarded as the good things of earth; that is, the means of gratifying perverted appetites and passions. This led to mental weakness, moral perversions, and physical disease. Man, through his deterioration, lost not only the power to rule the earth, but he also lost all conception of the character of his Maker; and, knowing nothing higher or more desirable in the universe than himself, he turned to man-worship, and even deified his basely perverted, lustful passions. Darkness — dense, moral darkness — covered the earth and the people.11
In these last days God is again giving man some views of what might have been his, and of what will be the future inheritance of the saved. He is also shedding light upon the subject of the need of moral, mental, and physical health, that humanity may know the Creator’s attributes. To understand and use the means which will increase the moral, mental, and physical strength of mankind is the proper foundation on which man may build a stable and ever increasing ability to fulfill the two great precepts on which the law and the prophets are founded. To love the Lord with all the mind, might, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves, is easy just to the extent that we reflect the character of Christ in our lives. And we can love our neighbor as ourselves when we see him a child of the same Father, and capable also of reflecting his character. If he be already a child of God, we shall love him and do him good because he is our fellow worker, and represents the same truths about the Master. If he is a lost and wandering sheep, we shall faithfully seek him, as does the tender heavenly Shepherd, and shall love him so well that we shall gladly help carry him into the fold.
To do our Master’s work well on the earth, we must have sound physical health; for without this we are crippled and unable to work in these last days, when much needs to be done in a short time, and when diseases which weaken and destroy the body abound.
The Mother’s Prayer
By William Cullen Bryant
STARTING forth on life's rough way,
Father, guide them;
O, we know not what of harm
May betide them!
’Neath the shadow of thy wing,
Father, hide them;
Waking, sleeping, Lord, we pray,
Go beside them.
When in prayer they cry to thee,
Do thou hear them;
From the stains of sin and shame
Do thou clear them;
’Mid the quicksands and the rocks
Do thou steer them;
In temptation, trial, grief,
Be thou near them.
Unto thee we give them up:
Lord, receive them.
In the world we know must be
Much to grieve them,
Many striving oft and strong
To deceive them;
Trustful, in thy hands of love
We must leave them.
— William Cullen Bryant.
Anæmia
By D. H. Kress
D. H. KRESS, M. D.
ANÆMIA, better known as poverty of blood, is becoming a very prevalent disease. It is surprising to see the number of pale-faced and nervous young women in every city, town, and village, and even in the country, where nature is doing her best to paint roses on the cheeks of all. Recently at the close of a lecture a young woman came to me and said, “Doctor, I am very nervous; I do not sleep well, and am also troubled with deafness.” I inquired, “Have you had your ears examined to see if there is any local disease?” She replied, “Yes; but the doctor said there was no local difficulty, that I was suffering with poverty of blood, that I needed more iron in my blood. He advised me to take tincture of iron. I have been taking it for some time, but am not improving.”
The question naturally arises, What are the causes of anæmia? The causes, no doubt, are many. I shall only call attention to what I regard as two of the principal causes of anæmia in young women. It will be noticed that the disease usually makes its appearance in young ladies after reaching their teens; before this period it is of rare occurrence.
Why Is This?
It is well known that poisonous products are constantly being formed in the human body by the breaking down of tissue from muscular and mental activity. These wastes are mostly eliminated from the body through the lungs. Every ten minutes sufficient poison is thrown off through this channel alone to cause death.
It is through the rapid interchange of gases that takes place in the lungs by having pure air brought into almost immediate contact with the impure blood, that the blood is kept freed from impurities. So-called blood purifiers can never purify the blood. Nature recognizes but one blood purifier, and that is pure air, and we need plenty of it. The Creator has given us none too much lung capacity to keep the blood pure. Up to the age of twelve, the girl is permitted to dress loosely, and play with her brother in the open air. It will be noticed that up to this time her health is also usually as good as his. Now a change occurs. The boy is still allowed his freedom, but the girl has to have her waist placed in corsets. The lungs are thus constricted, which makes exercise impossible. Now a sufficient amount of air to keep the blood pure cannot be taken into the lungs. Is it any wonder that soon the nerves shriek out because of the impurities and irritants circulating in the blood, and that headaches, back aches, nerve aches, and nervousness result?
Another cause of anæmia is the use of tea. The evil resulting to the human family from the use of tea is greater than from the use of alcohol, great as I know that evil to be. It takes one part in one hundred of alcohol to kill a man, but it does not require nearly that amount of theine, the poisonous principle contained in tea. A strong man accustomed to the use of alcohol could take an ounce of pure alcohol without its causing death, but even one tenth of that amount of theine would result fatally. Theine is therefore ten times more powerful than alcohol.
There are two and one-half grains of theine in every cup of tea, as ordinarily made; one eighth of a grain will kill a frog. Two cups of tea contain five grains, or sufficient to kill a rabbit. Three cups contain seven and one-half grains, or enough of this poison to kill a cat, in spite of the proverbial nine lives. Aside from this, every pound, or sixteen ounces, of tea contains four ounces of tannin. Tannin interferes with the digestion of the food, especially the albumins, thus impoverishing the blood. Tannin also destroys the iron contained in the food. It is well known that the system cannot appropriate an inorganic substance, as iron. The vegetable kingdom feeds upon these minerals, and changes them into a form which can be utilized by man. Grains, vegetables, and fruit all contain iron in sufficient quantities fully to supply the needs of the human body. To ascertain the effect of tannin upon the iron contained in the food and blood, place a small amount of tincture of iron in a glass half full of water, now add to it a half cup of tea, and note the result. It becomes as black as ink. Tea destroys the iron contained in the food and blood, and causes anæmia. The physician recognizes that the blood needs more iron, and so recommends the use of tincture of iron or some other iron preparation, but the patient takes the iron, drinks more tea, and makes more ink. Is it any surprise that anæmia is a condition that is so difficult to overcome? There is but one way of getting rid of anæmia; that is by removing the causes. Stop the use of tea, and give the lungs an opportunity to take a bountiful supply of air to purify the blood; eat pure food, and take plenty of outdoor exercise.
Happiness
By Martha Gilbert Dickinson
No miracle, but faithful daily bread
Is happiness—whereon our hearts are fed
From our own hand.
A present goal, some glad, unhoped surprise
That folded ’neath a dark horizon lies
In this near land!
A passing quiver born of light;
The pain of yesterday, subdued to-night;
A sudden smile!
Rest after toil; a home on some dear breast—
So old the joys and various the quest
That men beguile.
*—Martha Gilbert Dickinson, in Great
Thoughts.*
What Answer?
By James Russell Lowell
God bends out from the deep, and says:
“I gave thee the great gift of life;
Wast thou not called in many ways?
Are not my earth and heaven at strife?
I gave thee of my seed to sow,
Bringest thou me my hundredfold?”
Can I look up with face aglow,
And answer, “Father, here is gold”?
— James Russell Lowell.
Sweet Assurance in the Storm
By Charlotte Murray
SHOULD life's storm clouds o'er me
gather,
Still it shall be, must be, well,
Though I may not see the reason,
Nor expect Thee now to tell.
Still I have this sweet assurance
That thou dost make no mistake:
That thou never canst grow weary,
That thou never wilt forsake.
— Charlotte Murray.
Love One Another
By Dean Stanley
Love one another in spite of your differences, in spite of your faults. Love one another, and make the best of one another, as He loved us, who, for the sake of saving what was good in the human soul, forgot, forgave, put out of sight what was bad—who saw and loved what was good even in the publican Zacchæus, even in the penitent Magdalene, even in the expiring malefactor, even in the heretical Samaritan, even in the Pharisee Nicodemus, even in the heathen soldier, even in the outcast Canaanite. It is very easy to fix our attention only on the weak points of those around us, magnify them, to irritate them, to aggravate them; and by so doing, we can make the burden of life unendurable, and can destroy our own and others’ happiness and usefulness wherever we go. But this was not the love wherewith Christ loved us; this is not the new love wherewith we are to love one another.—Dean Stanley.