p. 8 | That Which Was Lost by Ernest Lloyd

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 7, 1908

“That Which Was Lost”

By Ernest Lloyd

ERNEST LLOYD

ONE of the most remarkable economic features of this age is the discovery of wealth in waste products, and the recovery of very valuable material from that which was formerly thrown away. In the early days of the manufacture of coal gas, no one knew what to do with the tar which was left behind in the waste receivers. The accumulation of it in great quantities became a serious difficulty. When allowed to run off into a river, it simply hurt the vegetation, harmed shipping, and poisoned the fishes. Then science came to the rescue, and to-day that waste product is saved, and the number of useful things that can be made from it is wonderful. The chemist gives from it to the silk-weaver his beautiful

rainbow dyes, to the perfumer his rarest odors and essences, and to the druggist his saccharin, three hundred times sweeter than ever came from cane-brake, or dripped from maples in the old sugar camp. These are only some of the things which are now obtained from this once despised and obnoxious substance. That which was formerly a trouble to the gas companies to get rid of has proved a gold-mine to chemists,—a living comment on scriptural language, “O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.”

Does not this brief description suggest something of the work of saving grace in the soul and life of man? They tell us that caloric, which was formerly wasted in prodigal excess through the furnace stack, is now trapped, cooled, divided, turned into power, delivered over wires, running countless wheels, and supplying many industries, so that the strength previously flung into space from the top, is worth as much as the stream of steel from the crucible’s base.

“The Son of man is come to save that which was lost.” That love, that power, that honor, that manhood, that womanhood—heathenism wasted it, Christianity saves it. His servants in their service and sacrifice are gathering up “that which was lost,” to enrich the kingdom of God. “He hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” Many around us are weak, and must be strengthened; sick, and must be healed; broken, and must be bound up; driven away, and must be brought again; lost, and must be saved. May the love of Christ constrain us, and his Spirit quicken us to “take forth the precious from the vile.” May he enlarge our sight to see it, and our hearts to love it.

Pasadena, Cal.