The Memory by John Harvey Kellogg

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · May 16, 1878

The Memory.

By John Harvey Kellogg

"For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass ; for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." James 1:23-25.

So it appears that the memory is helped by doing the will of God, while it is destroyed (at least in this direction) by hearing and neglecting to do his will. How much the memory and all the powers of the mind are affected by habits of living and principles of action, is well known to enlightened persons. The Bible is a rule of life; it affects our every act. "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

It is surprising to witness the failure of memory upon those subjects upon which there is felt no interest, and its power, on the other hand, to retain those things upon which affection and interest demand place and attention. The man who loves this world will retain his memory of his favorite objects of pursuit; but the words of the Lord are forgotten or seem distant and mystical. On the other hand, the man who loves and fears God, and obeys him in every respect, will retain religious impressions and facts, and at the same time his memory will be good on other points, necessary to this life yet not religious in their nature.

Dear reader, if you would retain your memory, live out all the principles of reform and live near to God. See John 14:26. J. C.