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FEEDING THE HUNGRY

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 19, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 47.

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FEEDING THE HUNGRY.

By David Paulson, M. D.

DAVID PAULSON, M. D.
(November 24-30.)
God makes a man hungry, so it is a divine ministration to satisfy the very craving which God himself has created; but, like any other function of the body, the appetite may be so perverted that the satisfying of its clamors may actually be a ministration of death. The Lord never intended any function of the body to be degraded to such an extent that it should be used for selfish gratification. Why should not eating and drinking be regarded in just as sacred a light as we regard the reading of the Bible or prayer? The fact that the majority do not regard it in this light has nothing to do with the question. The majority did not regard truth in the proper light in the days of Noah, and so they were left outside the ark. And those, to-day, no matter on what church book their names are enrolled, who regard their bodies simply as a harp, whose strings they may play upon for selfish gratification will have to be born again before they can be translated to heaven without seeing death.
God also created the mental and the moral appetite just as truly as He creates physical hunger. In asking a thousand questions in regard to a thousand things the child manifests a thirst for knowledge which is as truly heaven-born as is its thirst for water. It is wrong to quench its physical thirst with water to which has been added such poisons as tea and coffee, or with water from a well which, on account of its close proximity to the barnyard or other sources of infection, has become contaminated. It is likewise a sin to satisfy a child's mental hunger and thirst by supplying it with vile literature.
Although we are born in iniquity and sin, and have inherited to a certain extent the propensities and lusts that characterized our parents, yet there is in the heart of every human being who has not sinned away his day of grace, a definitely implanted hunger and thirst for Him who is the “desire of all nations.” In the majority of even the most degraded specimens of humanity, warped and deformed as are their spiritual and physical tastes, there is a relish for the sincere, unadulterated milk of the gospel, but nothing short of this can stimulate their spiritual appetites. Those weak gospel milk-and-water combinations that are served up so frequently, mingled with a great deal of human notions, do not arouse the spiritual taste in those who have so nearly lost their spiritual appetite. The man in health can often relish almost anything, but the invalid requires dainties and delicacies; so if we would feed the moral invalid that is nigh unto spiritual death, we must be prepared so to present to him the sweet gospel of Christ, in all its delicacy and beauty and fragrance, that it will serve to tempt his appetite.
After Nehemiah had reared the wall of Jerusalem amid untold difficulties, they had a pentecostal feast, and he charged the people to “send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared.” Neh. 8:10. We have been trying to build up a wall of truth, and the Lord has certainly blessed our efforts; but there are thousands for whom nothing suitable to feed upon, either mentally, morally, or physically, has yet been prepared. Have we any responsibility in reference to this matter? or shall we compel the Lord to raise up others to feed the hungry ones for whom nothing is prepared? Is the definite message of Christ ringing in your ears, “Give ye them to eat”? The great majority in the world are trying to live upon husks, just as truly as did the prodigal son. The highly spiced food and various condiments, the diseased animal foods, tea and coffee, doughy breads, pasty mushes, and a long series of similar wretched things are composing the dietaries of multitudes to-day. Christ is saying to us, “Give ye them to eat.” He is anxious to use us to cleanse such tables. Shall He call in vain?
A recent analysis of the New York Mutual Life Insurance Company's statistics of the causes of the death of over 45,000 of their policy holders shows that by far the largest percentage of deaths are of such a character that they may be traced directly to follies and errors in eating and drinking. How many of these premature deaths might have been avoided if we had years ago grasped the thought that the establishment of pure food dining rooms in our large cities is a solemn duty enjoined by this message, or if each of our sisters had been so thoroughly stirred over the terrible number of unnecessary funerals as first to obtain a knowledge in reference to the principles of health, and then teach them to her neighbors? Thank God, a good beginning has been made in both these directions. Although it is only during the last few years that we have responded to the crying necessity of establishing places in our large cities where the people may be fed upon food that is conducive to purity of life and clearness of intellect and strength of body, yet nearly a score of these places are in successful operation, and are being patronized by a class of people whom it would be difficult to get an audience with in any other line of our missionary operations, and the opportunities are measured only by the degree of the consecration of those who are connected with them. Only a few weeks ago one of these dining rooms was opened in Madison, at the University of Wisconsin. It gives good promise of becoming an entering wedge for the truth. More recently another has been started at the University of Chicago; and although at this writing it has been in operation only a few weeks, it is already patronized by members of the faculty and the best class of students, and words of highest appreciation are heard on every side. We are thus being daily brought into contact with a class of humanity that has never before come within the influence of any of our missionary operations which are being carried on in different parts of this city.
Suppose none of these people ever become members of our church; is it a small thing to have had an opportunity to help make humanity healthier and happier? Did not Christ help many who were not saved? Is it too much to say that this people ought to lead the world in every enterprise and movement that stands for the upbuilding and betterment of humanity. If we are willing to keep our eyes open to our opportunities, we may have just this privilege; for the world is so absorbed in financial gain that they cannot be expected to be largely interested in movements that do not promise satisfactory lucrative returns.
The mail business in this country has increased so enormously that whole trains have to be chartered to transport it from some of our great centers. This indicates the amount of material that is required to feed the natural craving for mental food. Shall our literature and publications, which contain just the truths for this time, be left in the rear, while the products of worldly minds are being flaunted before the eyes of the people everywhere? We have now developed a class of literature which will not only satisfy every normal taste, but will tend to correct perverted mental and moral appetites. Yet we must ask for divine wisdom that we may prescribe the right kind of mental food. It is not enough to say that there is truth in all our publications. We are dealing almost constantly with diseased minds, and it requires just as careful discrimination to decide what kind of literature will best meet their condition as it requires to prepare a diet prescription for a dyspeptic.
To give a person a copy of the Good Health when he should have a copy of the Signs, while not a fatal error, is nevertheless a blunder. On the other hand, there is a class of persons whom God has especially prepared to appreciate the Good Health, and whose minds are not in a condition to assimilate with the same ability the truths that are contained in the Signs. There is a class of youthful readers who would feast on the Youth's Instructor; and why should they not have it? There is no gospel worker, no matter to what church he belongs, who would ever need a second invitation to read the Life Boat if he had been permitted to read one copy; for it deals with just the topics that he is interested in. What a pity he should go through life without learning that we publish such a paper! And so with each of our papers. The same principle holds good with reference to our books.
After we have carefully diagnosed the mental and moral condition of our friends and of those with whom we are brought in contact, let us earnestly study what kind of food they need, and God will bless our efforts. To force a man to eat either spiritual, mental, or physical food that he is not prepared for is nauseating to him, and nearly always leads to unpleasant results. It is not a sufficient excuse for the careless nurse to say, “Well, I gave the fever patient nothing but good food;” and so with the gospel worker; after he has stirred up a tempest of unnecessary prejudice, or has nauseated an individual on what he has tried to impart to him, then it is not a sufficient excuse for his lack of good judgment to say, “I taught him nothing but the truth.” We are to study to show ourselves approved of God, as workmen that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. We are to give to the household of God “meat in due season,” or, in other words, what is to them seasonable food. We are to present to the world not only theories and arguments, but that practical religion which feeds them, soul, body, and spirit, even as did the Master, who left us the immortal command, “Give ye them to eat.”

QUESTIONS.

1. Who creates hunger?
2. Under what circumstances may eating, instead of being a divine ministration, become a sinful ministration?
3. Does self-gratification of any function of the body tend to prepare the individual for translation?
4. How does the child manifest the mental longing that God has implanted within it?
5. Does God implant a moral hunger within us similar to the physical and mental?
6. If physical food has to be served in a dainty and delicate manner for the physical invalid, is it less important to be able to present the gospel in its most attractive and appetizing form to the sin-sick soul?
7. Is Christ's admonition, “Give ye them to eat,” carried out by the food that is served upon the average table to-day?
8. What startling fact does the report of the New York Mutual Life Insurance Company present for consideration to those who love the lives of their fellow men?
9. If we willingly withhold from the people the knowledge which would have saved their lives, are we not responsible to a certain extent for their death?
10. In what way may pure food dining rooms in our large cities become opportunities for untold good?
11. Is it our privilege to lead out in any movements that have for their object the uplifting of humanity, or does God simply want us to drop in, the last ones in the rear?
12. What do the enormous train-loads of mail suggest as to the extent of the modern mental appetite?
13. Is it necessary for us to discriminate as to what literature we put into the hands of the people? If so, why?
14. If forcing a man to eat physical food which he dislikes nauseates him, will not seeking to compel a man to absorb mental truths for which he is not prepared, have a similar effect?
15. What does the gospel admonition, “rightly dividing the word of truth,” mean to you?