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

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 19, 1900

SOWING FOR PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL HEALTH

By David Paulson; W. S. Sadler

David Paulson & W. S. Sadler

THE STARCH FAMILY.

Starch is by far the most abundant of any of the food elements; and the more we study it, the more interesting it becomes; while the less we study it, the more misery we are likely to derive from its use. No other food element comes to us in so many different forms and conditions. The entire starch family is called carbohydrates.

ORIGIN OF STARCH IN THE PLANT WORLD.

Starch enters largely into the composition of nearly all plants. As we study the food elements as they are found in the natural products of the earth, we find them stored away by the hand of nature as carefully as a kind mother would arrange the food in a lunch basket for her child. Starch is the first food element that is acted upon in the digestive process (cooked starch is acted upon by the saliva); and so it is the first food substance that is made in the plant. Under the influence of sunlight, the plant absorbs carbon dioxide,—the poisonous gas exhaled by man and animals,—which is present in the air, together with moisture from the earth, and then combines these two substances in such a way as to build up starch. During this process oxygen is gradually being liberated, or given off, by the plant, thus actually purifying the surrounding atmosphere. It was formerly supposed that in its breathing the plant never gave out carbon dioxide, as animals do, but that it always gave off oxygen. This, however, is a mistake. The plant breathes just the same as all other living things,—by taking in oxygen, and giving out carbon dioxide. At night, when the plant is deprived of the stimulating influence of the sunlight, and the formation of starch practically ceases, it can very readily be demonstrated that the respiration of plants does not differ essentially from that of man and the lower animals. See “Verworn,” pages 158, 174.

At first sight, it seems to be a remarkable thing that, while the plant utilizes some of that small per cent of the air which is made up of carbon dioxide, it makes no use whatever of the almost eighty per cent of nitrogen, which is also found in the air; since nitrogen is an element essential to the production of proteids, another food substance made by the plant. Yet the plant makes absolutely no use of this nitrogen in the air, but secures, entirely from the soil, the nitrogen it uses in building the proteids. This is readily explained by the fact that the nitrogen in the air fulfills a very useful purpose, while the carbon dioxide contaminates the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a waste product that is constantly being thrown out from the lungs of the whole animal kingdom, as well as arising from various sources of fermentation. The plant gathers up this poison from the atmosphere, and out of it manufactures a wholesome and essential food element—starch. It likewise takes certain waste products in the earth, which are more or less the result of decay and decomposition, and from these it constructs the proteid portions of our food,—the gluten of wheat, etc. For these reasons the intelligent farmer plants trees in the ill-smelling marsh, to purify the soil; and the trained nurse places flowers in the sick-room, to assist in purifying the air.

SPIRITUAL LESSON FROM STARCH-MAKING IN THE PLANT.

We have just learned that plants manufacture only starch while in the sunshine. In the night the plant actually begins to consume the starch it has previously made. Just so with man’s spiritual nature. We develop Christian character only when we are being shone upon by the Sun of righteousness; only while we are “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” Heb. 12:2. Christ is “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1:9. Let man remove himself from the influence of that divine light, or obscure heaven’s sunshine in the soul, and immediately the process of transforming into Christian character the various substances found in the soil and atmosphere of his surroundings is brought to a standstill; for during periods of spiritual darkness and moral depression, man, like the plant, actually consumes, or loses, much of the Christlike character that he has previously acquired through the influence of the rays of the Sun of righteousness as they shone upon his soul. By periods of spiritual darkness, etc., we do not refer to trials and tribulations, but to doubts and despair. How important, then, that we should “walk in the light, as he is in the light.” 1 John 1:7. We should be “children of light.” Eph. 5:8. We should walk, eat, live, and move in the light, even in the light of his countenance. Let us pray, with the psalmist: “Make thy face to shine upon thy servant.” Ps. 31:16.

TWO GREAT CLASSES OF CARBOHYDRATES, OR SOLUBLE AND INSOLUBLE STARCH.

We may first divide the starch family into two great classes: First, the permanent, or insoluble, form; and second, the soluble form. The insoluble forms are represented by starch and cellulose. Cellulose is commonly known as “woody matter,” the bran of wheat being an example. The soluble forms are sugar and dextrin. Dextrin is partially digested starch. The sweetness of well-toasted bread is due to the presence of dextrin. Starch is found most abundantly in the grains; in fact, the great bulk of all grains and seeds is composed of starch. If the carbohydrates were deposited in the seeds and grains in the soluble form,—sugar or dextrin,—they could not be kept very long, and thus the perpetuation of their kind would be imperiled. For this and other reasons, we find the carbohydrates stored away in all ripe grain, in the permanent and insoluble form of starch.

CELLULOSE.

Cellulose is an insoluble member of the starch family. Wood is only cellulose; in fact,

it is possible to take a wooden plank and subject it to such a chemical process as to convert it into a form of sugar. In many of the trees the sap, while it is being carried up through the trunk of the tree to form the leaves and branches, is in the “sugar stage.” Thus we see how closely related are the different members of the starch family, which, at first sight, bear no resemblance whatever to one another. The covering of all the grains and seeds is largely composed of cellulose and a form of glass. Nature seems to “can up” these small food particles in glass, the same as we can our fruit. Human beings have little or no power to digest cellulose, although the lower animals possess the power to digest it to a large extent. A cow can eat dried-up grass, and make sweet milk from it.

DEXTRIN.

Dextrin is a soluble member of the starch family. We have an example of dextrin in starch that is toasted until it is thoroughly browned. The characteristic sweetness of the brown crust of zwieback (twice baked bread) is due to this form of sugar. The presence of dextrin is indicated by the “brownness” of toasted bread.

SUGAR.

Sugar is another soluble member of the starch family. We have examples of sugar in ripe fruit, and in the sap of the maple tree. In the winter the starch of the tree is stored up in its roots. In the spring, nature begins to digest this starch—to turn it into sugar; and then, in the form of sap,—sugar,—it is carried up through the tree to be deposited in the leaves, bark, and branches, in the form of cellulose. Just as nature digests the starch in the roots of the tree before sending it up in the sap to the branches, so the starch that enters the human system must likewise be digested before it can be used in the body. Our blood fulfills the same function for us that the sap does for the tree. Nature digests the starch in the roots of the tree, so that by the sap it can readily be transported to the very tree-tops. For the same reason, nature digests the starch in the human system, so that by the blood it can be readily carried to every part of the body where it will be needed in the work of tissue repair, and for the purposes of heat and energy. Another illustration of sugar in the sap is found in sorghum. The farmer cuts down the sorghum plant at just the right time, presses out the juice, evaporates the excess of water, and converts the residue into either sirup or sugar.

SPIRITUAL LESSON FROM THE SAP.

The word of God that liveth and abideth forever is an infinite principle. Finite beings are unable to grasp, or to comprehend, the infinite Word, as it comes direct from the eternal Father; and so “the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14), that it might dwell among us, and that we might be able to understand it. In Christ, the Word of life is presented to us in such a form that we can both recognize and utilize it. As the starch in the roots of the tree is converted into sugar, only to be elevated to the branches, there to be converted into cellulose, which is but starch in another form; just so the Word of God, that infinite principle, is presented to us in the life of Christ—the life of a MAN. In Christ we are able to recognize the divine Word—to appropriate it. And thus the Word of life, having passed through Christ, “the true vine,” may now be manifested in us, the living branches. The life of God is made flesh in Christ; and Christ being formed within us, the hope of glory, we are enabled to live the divine life before the world.

Just as the starch in the roots of the tree, and the cellulose in the branches, are one and the same substance,—members of the same family,—only in different forms; so the life that the Christian lives is the same life that Christ lived, although it may not so appear to the world; for it is written of our life that it “is hid with Christ, in God,” and “the world knoweth us not because it knew him not.” Col. 3:3; 1 John 3:1. And Paul wrote: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.” Gal. 2:20.

In the living principles brought to our view in the life and character of Christ, we have the divine character so presented to us that the human mind can grasp it, living faith can appropriate it. And just as the maple tree takes the starch converted into sugar in the sap, and converts it into cellulose, spreading it out in beautiful foliage, in which the birds may alight, and sing, and build their nests; so it is the Christian’s privilege to take the life of God that has been made flesh in Christ, and live it,—spread it out before the world in the beautiful foliage of Christian character. “For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” Jer. 17:8.

The trees in the garden of Eden bore their fruit every month; and so the Christian is bearing fruit continually. When we cease to yield fruit, it is evidence to the sinner who may chance to come our way, that it is useless to expect spiritual help from us. If our trials, troubles, or difficulties interfere with our fruit-bearing, they will also interfere with our ability to help and strengthen our fellow men. Our influence should be the same at home, abroad, everywhere. Tap the maple tree at any point you choose, and it will yield the sweetened water. And it should be so with Christians: they shall be “called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.” Isa. 61:3. The believer’s connection with Christ should ever be full and complete: at home, at church, in the shop, or in the field, there should always go out from his life that fragrant influence that will cause all who come in contact with him to hunger and thirst for righteousness.