THE PROCESS OF PUTTING ON THE “NEW MAN” PHYSICALLY.
By David Paulson
THE human agent has some responsibility in the matter of putting off the “old man” and putting on the “new man.” It is left, to a certain extent, with him to determine whether he shall have a more healthy body or a weaker one in the place of the one which he now has. Just as it is essential for the spiritual invalid to cultivate faith in order to secure spiritual transformation, so it is essential for the physical invalid to secure pure food, pure air, proper exercise, and various tonic hydrotherapeutic applications to secure the right kind of physical transformation. There are some who will never be better physically until they either change their cooks or get their cooks to change their minds on the preparation of food. There are others who will never secure a good degree of physical health unless they forever renounce their sedentary life; and instead of cultivating an “abundance of idleness” (Eze. 16:49), begin to recognize that labor and vigorous exercise are a blessing, not a curse,—that it is a blessing to work enough to sweat. There are others who, instead of hovering over stoves and hot-air registers on the first approach of winter, will have to begin to provide their bodies with winter on the instalment plan by systematically taking cold baths, before they can escape from their annual attacks of bronchitis, grippe, colds in the head, and the long train of evils that these difficulties annually introduce. The man who would secure the blessing of sound physical health will have to do some things that, viewed from a distance, seem unpleasant, and to a certain extent disagreeable and often possibly annoying. The Scripture speaks of crucifying the “old man.” Rom. 6:6. There is a physical counterpart of this process. Again, we are exhorted to “mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth.” Col. 3:5. If we wish to have a long lease of life instead of a premature death, we must be willing to go thru a few death struggles in order to secure it. It may at times seem trying to refuse to tickle four square inches of taste-surface in order that the body may be built up by sound, natural, and nutritious food. It may sometimes seem more pleasant in unfavorable weather to hover around the home than to be out of doors taking vigorous exercise, thus “working out” our physical salvation. It may often be annoying to take cold baths, which would arouse a perfect tempest of healing impulses in every organ of the body. But crucifixion and mortification are essential; for the golden crown of health will never adorn the head of the man or woman who fails earnestly, enthusiastically, and perseveringly to practise them. Pure Blood Required to Build up a Sound Body.
“The blood is the life.” Deut. 12:23; Lev. 17:14. It visits every part of the human organism; and when it has an opportunity, it carries a healing, restoring message to every cell in the body; but in order to do this it must be clean, and God promises to cleanse the blood. Joel 3:21. But if man deliberately sows for unclean blood, he will reap a harvest of the same; “for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Gal. 6:7. And contaminated blood, instead of being a messenger of life to every part of the body, becomes an agent of death. Good Food Required in Order to Secure Pure Blood.
If we put into our stomachs the scavengers of earth, sea, and sky, blistering, burning substances, and doughy and pasty food, at either regular or irregular hours, we need not expect that God will transform this into pure blood that can build up a sound physical organism; for “who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” Job 14:4. The same God that inspired the words, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” is operating the mechanism of the human body, and will not allow physical law to be transgressed without exacting the corresponding penalty. The prophet was given a glimpse of a time thousands of years in advance, and he saw tables loaded with something which was supposed to be food, but which he could only describe adequately in the following words: “For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.” Isa. 28:8. Take a glance at the average hotel table, and observe how little there is upon it that a man could consistently ask God to transform into pure blood. How little of it a careful man would venture to feed to a valuable animal! The few representatives of the natural products of the earth, that God first recommended man to eat, have had almost all their natural flavors obliterated by such artificial coarse flavors as mustard, pepper, etc. The starchy foods have not been sufficiently transformed by stove heat to render them in a fit condition for the digestive juices to act upon properly. When a portion of the center of a loaf of bread can be rolled between the fingers, and then tossed to the floor, and it will bound back like a tennis-ball, it is not fit to be eaten, and should stay in a well-heated oven for half an hour or more until it is thoroly browned. When a portion of the ordinarily kettle-cooked grains is rubbed between the hands, they will stick together almost as tenaciously as two sheets of fly-paper. When a portion of this paste is eaten, what an unusual and unnatural task is laid upon the stomach in trying to transform it into pure, healthy, and wholesome blood. Unless the individual is endowed with remarkably strong digestive powers, it is more than likely that the microbes will cause it to ferment faster than the tired, over-worked stomach can digest it; and so various unpleasant and annoying symptoms must necessarily result, tending to still further weaken the system. Such grains should be spread out in a bread tin, and subjected to oven heat until a nice brown crust is formed; it is then as readily digested as toasted bread. It requires extra trouble and exertion to do these things; but it is likewise troublesome to sit up nights with invalids; it is the very climax of troubles to have funerals; it is trouble to have a vacant chair at the table, to be a daily reminder to us that eating just such things, in just such conditions, is largely responsible for the sad vacancy. There is as good reason for the employment of scientific principles and talent in the preparation of food in the kitchen as there is for the adoption of labor-saving machinery on the farm, or cash registers on the salesman’s counter. Why should we keep on eating pasty mush because our forefathers ate it, or doughy bread because they lived (or did not succeed in living) upon it, when science has shown that there is a better way? For sad experience has certainly demonstrated that “died from the miseries of mush” might consistently be inscribed on many a tombstone. The only part of grains, as ordinarily cooked in the kettle, which is fit to be eaten, is the part which clings to the kettle, and which is afterwards scraped off for the chickens. Baked potatoes, all other things being equal, are much more digestible than the watery, soggy, kettle-cooked ones. After potatoes are cooked, they should be mashed, and then spread in a bread tin and baked until a nice brown crust forms. Potatoes prepared in this way are much more toothsome, much more readily digested, and their natural flavors become much more marked. God has put an individual flavor into every food, just as He has put an individual odor into every flower; and when we leave off the artificial coarse flavors a sufficient length of time, we will begin to detect and relish the natural ones. Fruit is another of God’s great gifts to man, and everyone who desires to sow for clean blood should make as liberal a use of fruit as his circumstances will permit. Peas, beans, and lentils may be cooked, then put thru a colander, and baked on the same principle as potatoes. Cook-stove energy is cheaper than nerve energy. We can not consistently carry out the injunction to “eat for strength,” when we are eating poorly cooked and improperly prepared foods. And while it may be true that we can not eat ourselves into the kingdom of health, a little observation at least ought to teach us that there are multitudes who are succeeding beyond all their expectations in eating themselves out of the kingdom of health. We are not only bidden to “eat for strength,” but also to “eat in due season.” Eccl. 10:17. Nature persists in a certain amount of regularity in all her functions; and when this rhythm is interfered with and broken up, she exacts the penalty. Chicago, Ill. DAVID PAULSON, M. D.