SOWING FOR PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL HEALTH by David Paulson; W. S. Sadler

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 30, 1900

SOWING FOR PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL HEALTH

By David Paulson; W. S. Sadler

David Paulson & W. S. Sadler

MILK.

THE INFANT’S FOOD.

Milk is pre-eminently the food for the infant. It is not merely a filtrate of some of the fluids of the body, for the proportions of its composition are different from that of any other secretion of the body. The mammary gland has the power of selecting the necessary food elements and of transforming them into milk. In fact, some eminent authorities maintain that milk is produced at the very expense of cell life itself; that the cell gradually becomes a round droplet, full of small milk globules; and finally a part of the cell, not the whole, actually disintegrates and dissolves, thus forming milk. Younger gland cells succeed the older, and they in turn pass through the same change.

The dietetic needs of each child must differ slightly from every other child, even as the child in his general outward appearance differs from all others. Therefore it must be evident that the milk nature has provided for the child in its own mother, is the only absolutely proper food for that child. It is certainly a part of the divine order that each mother should nourish her own child. Therefore, when a child is deprived of the benefit of this divine arrangement, and is turned over to the breast of another woman, or is fed upon artificial milk or upon cow’s milk, it is deprived of one of its divine rights. Milk made from another woman’s tissues, or from the tissues of a cow, can not exactly supply the needs of the child. Nothing but extract of the child’s own mother can precisely meet that child’s needs.

The saliva which the infant secretes during the first six or eight months of its existence, has no power whatever to transform starch into sugar. This is a clear suggestion that it is useless to try to feed a child before this age upon starchy foods; and even then for a number of months all the starch it receives should be so thoroughly toasted that the final act of transforming it into sugar can be done with the greatest ease.

MILK NOT THE ADULT’S IDEAL FOOD.

Because milk is the ideal food for the infant, it does not necessarily follow that it is such for the adult. Milk is received by the infant in small dribblets, thus preventing the formation of large curds in the stomach. The infant’s stomach is small, and almost set on end, being in reality only a slight enlargement of the alimentary canal. As the child grows older, the stomach gradually begins to recline more on its side, as it were, and enlarges; and, unfortunately, in the case of thousands of persons it sooner or later becomes permanently dilated. In this condition it is not nearly so well prepared to care for the large curds of milk, which must necessarily form from the ordinary manner of drinking milk. Nature does not allow the mother to continue to feed her child indefinitely upon milk; for in some instances the secretion of the lacteal gland ceases when the child is old enough to subsist upon other foods.

But instead of accepting this suggestion of nature as a wise one, the child is often compelled to accept the cow as its foster-mother, instead of feeding on luscious fruits, nuts, and grains.

SPIRITUAL LESSON FROM MILK, THE INFANT’S FOOD.

“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.” Heb. 5:12. Here Paul tells the Hebrews that they have been trying to take a spiritual diet that was too strong for them; he advises that they return to the milk of the word. Do not think for a moment that in feeding souls spiritual milk you are not giving them the gospel; for, as we have seen, milk contains everything that is needed for the upbuilding and nourishment of the infant: and so the sincere milk of the word—the first and simple truths of the gospel—have in them all that is required to nourish and strengthen the young Christian.

It is just as much a mistake to undertake to feed the newborn Christian upon the strong meat and deep truths of the word of God, as it would be to undertake to feed the infant six weeks old upon peas, beans, and lentils. Paul recognized this great truth when he wrote the following words: “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.” 1 Cor. 3:1. Was not Paul engaged in the work of God?—Most certainly. And yet he says he had to speak to these Corinthian brethren as unto babes. There were, no doubt, many things he could have spoken, which he did not, because they were unable to digest them. If Paul, after all he had done for the Corinthians, could not take the responsibility of feeding them with strong meat, we should not be discouraged if the young convert does not immediately demonstrate his ability to digest and make use of the same kind of meat that we are prepared to handle, perhaps after years of Christian experience and familiarity with the things of God.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COW’S MILK AND MOTHER’S MILK.

It is essential to have clearly defined in our minds the fact that there is a marked difference between the chemical composition of cow’s milk and that of mother’s milk. The widespread ignorance on this subject undoubtedly accounts for the fact that it is not regarded a serious calamity to deprive a child of its natural source of nourishment, and attempt to rear it upon cow’s milk, without even any effort to adapt or modify that milk to the child’s needs. Human milk contains about two per cent of proteids, while cow’s milk is practically twice as rich in this substance, having nearly four per cent. The quantity of fats is practically the same in both cases, or four per cent. Human milk contains about six per cent of sugar, which is slightly in excess of the amount found in cow’s milk, which is about five per cent.

HOW TO PREPARE COW’S MILK FOR THE INFANT-

One medical authority has said that in our large cities ninety-seven per cent of the cases of cholera infantum are found among bottle-fed infants. If we accept this alarming statement, it certainly is a matter of importance that the proper preparation of cow’s milk and the care of the bottle be clearly understood by every person who has to do with the artificial feeding of infants.

Feeding-bottles that have been connected with a considerable quantity of rubber tubing, even with the best care, are liable to be lurking places for germs, which will be swallowed with the milk, and thus be the cause of trouble in the child’s stomach. The rubber tips of many feeding-bottles often become a veritable death-trap on account of the large number of microbes that are likely to inhabit it. It is necessary to subject the bottle, rubber tip, and everything connected with it, to water at boiling temperature, several times a day, to be absolutely sure that the very act of feeding the infant is not in reality a process of destroying its life.

As cow’s milk contains double the amount of proteids found in human milk, it is necessary to dilute it in order to make this percentage right; and when this is done, the percentage of fat and sugar will necessarily be reduced below the proper amount. And so it becomes an extremely puzzling question how properly to adapt cow’s milk to the infant. The following valuable advice, from Dr. Kellogg, will give light upon this complicated question: “As regards cow’s milk, it is impossible to adapt it exactly to the condition of the young infant, for it was intended for the young calf, not for the young child. The best method is to combine sterilized cream and long-boiled barley water or oatmeal gruel (the oatmeal would be benefited by being browned in the oven before cooking), strained through a cloth. After this has been boiled six or seven hours, it may be mixed with cream in the proportion of one part of cream to three parts of the thin barley water.

“When malt grains can be obtained, a much better preparation can be made in this manner: Make a thick paste of wheat flour. Allow it to cool, until it is just possible to hold the finger in it. Then add a malt extract which is to be prepared by soaking a teacupful of malt grains in cold water for an hour. Turn off this cold water, and add it to the paste, and set the whole in a basin of boiling water. By the time the gruel is well heated, the starch will be well changed into dextrin, as is shown by the fact that it becomes almost as thin as water. This dextrinized gruel should then be boiled for ten minutes, so as to kill the germs which may have been introduced with the barley solution. Then add one part of cream to three parts of this gruel. This makes the very best possible preparation for a young child.”

During the heated season, in our large cities, nearly half the number of deaths reported to the board of health are of children, and three fourths of these are among those under one year of age; and in the majority of instances the immediate or remote cause of death was some form of stomach or bowel trouble. This being so, is it not worth the while to take the most painstaking care properly to prepare the infant’s food?

THE SINCERE MILK OF THE WORD.

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere [“unadulterated,” Rotherham] milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” 1 Peter 2:2. Milk, instead of being an ordinary secretion, is made by a process that seems to be at the expense of the cell life itself, or at the expense of the very tissues of the mother; hence, nursing her infant is, as it were, an actual giving of a part of herself to it. And so receiving

the sincere, unadulterated milk of the word is a process of taking into our moral being—into our very spiritual nature—a part of the Author of that word. It is the word of God, and in partaking of the sincere milk of that word we become “partakers of the divine nature,” of the very life of the Author and Spirit of the word. It is “the word of life,” the word “of eternal life,” even of the life of God. And to receive the sincere milk of the word is to receive that life.

The word is not only represented as the living water, which can cleanse the tissues of the soul, but it is also represented as the nourishing milk, which can feed and nourish the moral being. We are not merely to absorb an influence from the Bible, but we are to take the sincere milk—the living principles—of the word, and make it a part of ourselves. This word is actually to be taken into us, to become the structure of our characters, and the life of our life. Let us beware lest the sincere milk of the word be successfully adulterated and contaminated by the enemy, and thus be insufficient for our nourishment and sustenance.

Again: it is written, “Except ye become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Spiritually, we must become as little children. They live entirely upon milk; they thrive upon it; and so we are to “desire the sincere milk of the word,” that we may “grow thereby.” Just as the infant must take the real life of the mother to make its life, so the newborn Christian must take the real life of the Word—of Christ; for he is the Word made flesh—to make his new life.

Let us be sure that we get milk that is sincere, unadulterated with error and with perversions of truth. We well know that milk can be so adulterated as to be of little value, so far as nourishment is concerned. And so it is with the present-day literature. Religious novels and literature of this class, which has become popular, can not be said to be the sincere milk of the word. These things fascinate the mind without nourishing it. They stimulate the emotions of the soul, but fail to supply spiritual nourishment.