THE ADVOCATE by Editor

Training-School Pub. Ass'n, Ltd. · Battle Creek, Michigan · Jan 1900

FromTraining School Advocate, The Advocate, Vol. 2, No. 1.

THE ADVOCATE.

By Editor

ITS HISTORY.

One year ago the Spirit of God attended the educational work in a marked degree. The work was going, not by argument, but by the convincing power of love. Young people, with hearts overflowing, were used to proclaim the message, and the principles of Christian education came more prominently before the minds of our people than ever before.

Righteousness by faith has been accepted, nominally by some, it is true, but in sincerity by many others, for several years. Health reform was one of the earliest distinguishing features of the third angel’s message, and we are told that it is as closely connected with the gospel for to-day as the right arm is with the human body.

The righteousness of Christ, to be accepted by faith, is the great central trunk of the tree from which all phases of the message spring, and which nourishes unto eternal life. This trunk has two main roots: one is health reform, which, when properly understood and practiced, will prepare the physical man to accept righteousness by faith; and the other root is Christian education, which, taken in its fulness, fits the mind to grasp the principles of truth. For long we have been striving to keep the tree upright when but one root was present. Of late, light has revealed the presence of that other root which balances the whole, and supplies the needed nourishment to make a well-fed plant.

We have found it hard to manifest the righteousness of Christ because of this one-sided development.

The ADVOCATE came into existence in the midst of deep experiences in education by faith. It has advocated mind and soul culture as a means of developing the kingdom of Christ within the man. It has been in existence one year, and with this number begins the second volume.

THE FUTURE.

In the future the ADVOCATE will be published by the Training-School Publishing Association, an organization recently formed for the purpose of publishing the principles of Christian education, and placing them before the public.

While in the past, a local paper devoted to the interests of Battle Creek College, the opening of the new year takes the ADVOCATE from the College, and makes it a paper for the field in general. It is in a special sense the organ of the church-school work, and the application of Christian education to the home and the church. Every church-school teacher is a recognized agent.

THE ENLARGED FORM.

The current number appears in its new form for the year 1900. The subscription price is 50 cents a year. This does not cover the cost of publishing the magazine, but owing to the kindness of the friends of Christian education and the ADVOCATE, and the desire of the publishers to keep these principles prominent, the magazine will be published at the stated price for one year.

Teachers throughout the field are invited to contribute to its pages, and the ADVOCATE will welcome correspondence with all who are interested in the principles of true higher education.

there will come a time when each will be his own physician. In the degree that we live in harmony with the higher laws of our being, and so, in the degree that we become better acquainted with the power of the mind and spirit, will we give less attention to the body,—no less care, but less attention.

“The bodies of thousands to-day would be much better cared for if their owners gave them less thought and attention. As a rule, those who think least of their bodies enjoy the best health. Many are kept in continual ill health by the abnormal thought and attention they give them.

“Give the body the nourishment, the exercise, the fresh air, the sunlight, it requires, keep it clean, and then think of it as little as possible. In your thoughts and in your conversation never dwell upon the negative side. Don’t talk of sickness and disease. By talking of these you do yourself harm, and you do harm to those who listen to you. Talk of those things that will make people the better for listening to you. Thus you will infect them with health and strength, and not with weakness and disease.

“To dwell upon the negative side is always destructive. This is true of the body the same as it is true of all other things. The following from one whose training as a physician has been supplemented by extensive study and observation along the lines of the powers of the interior forces, are of special significance and value in this connection: ‘We can never gain health by contemplating disease, any more than we can reach perfection by dwelling upon imperfection, or harmony through discord. We should keep a high ideal of health and harmony constantly before the mind . . .’

“Never affirm or repeat about your health what you do not wish to be true. Do not dwell upon your ailments, nor study your symptoms. Never allow yourself to be convinced that you are not complete master of yourself. Stoutly affirm your superiority over bodily ills, and do not acknowledge yourself the slave of any inferior power. . . . I would teach children early to build a strong barrier between themselves and disease, by healthy habits of thought, high thinking, and purity of life. I would teach them to expel all thoughts of death, all images of disease, all discordant emotions, like hatred, malice, revenge, envy, and sensuality, as they would banish a temptation to do evil. I would teach them that bad food, bad drink, or bad air makes bad blood; that bad blood makes bad tissue, and bad flesh bad morals. I would teach them that healthy thoughts are as essential to healthy bodies as pure thoughts to a clean life. I would teach them to cultivate a strong will power, and to brace themselves against life’s enemies in every possible way. I would teach the sick to have hope, confidence, cheer. Our thoughts and imaginations are the only real limits to our possibilities. No man’s success or health will ever reach beyond his own confidence; as a rule, we erect our own barriers.

“Like produces like, the universe through. Hatred, envy, malice, jealousy, and revenge all have children. Every bad thought breeds others, and each of these goes on and on, ever producing itself, until our world is peopled with their offspring. The true physician and parent of the future will not medicate the body with drugs so much as the mind with principles. The coming mother will teach her child to assuage the fever of anger, hatred, malice, with the great panacea of the world,—love. The coming physician will teach the people to cultivate cheerfulness, goodwill, and noble deeds for a health tonic as well as a heart tonic; and that a merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”

“After all, there is nothing in the world so great, so effective in service of mankind, as a strong, noble, and beautiful manhood or womanhood. It is this that in the ultimate determines the influence of every man upon his fellow men. Life, character, is the greatest power in the world, and character it is that gives the power; for in all true power, along whatever line it may be, it is, after all, living the life that tells. This is a great law that

but few who would have great power and influence seem to recognize, or, at least, that but few seem to act upon.

“Are you a writer? You can never write more than you yourself are. Would you write more? Then broaden, deepen, enrich the life. Are you a minister? You can never raise men higher than you have raised yourself. Your words will have exactly the sound of the life whence they come. Hollow the life? Hollow-sounding and empty will be the words, weak, ineffective, false. Would you have them go with greater power, and thus be more effective? Live the life, the power will come. Are you an orator? The power and effectiveness of your words in influencing and moving masses of men depends entirely upon the altitude from which they are spoken. Would you have them more effective, each one filled with living power? Then elevate the life, the power will come. Are you in the walks of private life? Then, wherever you move, there goes from you, even if there be no word spoken, a silent but effective influence of an elevating or a degrading nature. Is the life high, beautiful? Then the influences are inspiring, life-giving. Is it low, devoid of beauty? The influences then are disease laden, death-dealing. The tones of your voice, the attitude of your body, the character of your face, all are determined by the life you live, all in turn influence for better or for worse all who come within your radius.

“I have seen this great principle made the foundation principle in an institution of learning. It is made not a theory merely, as I have seen it here and there, but a vital, living truth. And I wish I had time to tell of its wonderful and beautiful influence upon the life and work of that institution, and upon the lives and the work of those who go out from it. A joy indeed to be there. One can’t enter within its walls, even for a few moments, without feeling the benign influence. One can’t go out without taking it with him. I have seen purposes and lives almost or quite transformed; and life so rich, so beautiful, and so valuable opened up, such as the persons never dreamed could be, by being but a single year under these beautiful and life-giving influences.”

NOTE.—These paragraphs are selected from Trine.