p. 756 | Review and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 48. (11/27/1900)

Review and Herald

Nov 27, 1900

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 27, 1900

PREPARE TO MEET THE LORD.

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE.

A crisis has arisen in the government of God on earth. Enmity to God has struck its roots deep in human hearts. It has become widespread, both in the world and in the professed churches of Christ. A wakeful impiety is quickened into an instinctive vigilance, and rouses to demonstrations of hatred against the testing truth for this time. Wherever the truth is proclaimed, it will be opposed in a decided manner.

Everything has been moving on just as the Lord revealed in prophecy that it would. Something great and decisive is soon to take place, else no flesh would be saved. The character of God will not be compromised. Under the wrath of God, universal desolation will soon reach all parts of the known world. There have been lightnings and earthquakes, fires and floods, calamities by sea and land; but who reads these warnings? What impression is made upon the world? What change in their attitude is seen? No more than was seen in the inhabitants of the Noachian world. The people are just as ardent to-day in their games, in their horse racing, in their love of amusement, as were the antediluvians, who “knew not until the flood came, and took them all away.” They had heaven-sent warnings, but they refused to listen. By their attitude they declared, We want not thy way, O God; we want our own way, our own will. To-day the world is mad: an insanity is upon men and women, and is hurrying them on to eternal ruin. Every species of indulgence prevails, and men have become so infatuated with vice that they will not listen to warnings or appeals.

The Lord says to the people of the earth, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” All are now deciding their eternal destiny. Men need to be aroused to realize the solemnity of the time, the nearness of the day when human probation shall be ended. God gives no man a message that it will be five years or ten years or twenty years before this earth’s history shall close. He would not give any living being an excuse for delaying the preparation for his appearing. He would have no one say, as did the unfaithful servant, “My Lord delayeth his coming;” for this leads to reckless neglect of the opportunities and privileges given to prepare us for that great day. Everyone who claims to be a servant of God is called to do his service as if each day might be the last.

The words of Christ have a direct application to this time: “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.”

Let everyone to whom the Lord has given light from his word be sure that he makes a right use of that light. Let him beware that he does not presume to feed the flock of God with food which is not appropriate for the time. “Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” Talk of the speedy appearing of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Put not off that day. God has given no man a right to say, “My Lord delayeth his coming.” Let the inquiry be made, Shall I stand at the right hand or at the left hand of the Judge at that day? “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?”

“If that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow servants [how?—By suspicious words, by evil-thinking and evil-speaking. It is thus that confidence is changed to doubt and unbelief], . . . the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” It is essential that all shall know what atmosphere surrounds their own souls, whether they are in co-partnership with the enemy of righteousness, and unconsciously doing his work, or whether they are yoked up with Christ, doing his work, and seeking to establish souls more firmly in the truth.

Satan would be pleased to have anyone and everyone become his allies in the work of weakening the confidence of brother in brother, and sowing discord among those who profess to believe the truth. Satan can accomplish his purpose most successfully through professed friends of Christ who are not walking and working in Christ’s lines. Those who in mind and heart are turning away from the Lord’s special work for this time, those who do not co-operate with him in establishing souls in the faith by leading them to heed his words of warning, are doing the work of the enemy of Christ.

It is a most serious matter to go from house to house, and, under pretense of doing missionary work, scatter the seed of mistrust and suspicion. Such seed speedily germinates, and there is created a distrust of God’s servants, who have his message to bear to the people. When God speaks through his servants, the seed sown has developed into a root of bitterness. The word falls upon ears that will not hear, and hearts that will not respond. No earthly or heavenly power can find access to the soul. Who is accountable for these souls? Who shall eradicate that poisonous root of bitterness that has prevented them from receiving the word of the Lord? A sister or brother in the church planted the evil seed, but who will restore the soul thus imperiled? The tongue that should have been used to the glory of God in speaking words of faith and hope and confidence in God’s workmen, has turned a soul away from Jesus Christ. Those who themselves despised the words of Christ, and refused to hear his voice and to be converted, have leavened other minds with the leaven of evil-surmising and evil-speaking.

This is the day of the Lord’s preparation. We have no time now to talk unbelief or to gossip, no time now to do the devil’s work. Let everyone beware of unsettling the faith of

others by sowing seeds of envy, jealousy, disunion; for God hears the words, and he judges, not by assertions which are yea and nay, but by the fruit of one’s course of action. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” The seed sown will determine the character of the harvest.

So long as the people of God are in this world, they will have to meet conflict and trouble and deception, because men choose the attributes of Satan instead of the attributes of God. There is a conscience that is not good. There are those whose words are yea and nay, in regard to the same thing. How are we to deal with those who make these false statements? We should not try to deal with them. The Lord God of Israel will deal with minds according to his knowledge; for he reads the heart. The less we have to do with untruthful elements, the better it will be for the church.

Bear in mind always that the human brotherhood are not sin-bearers. Jesus alone can bear the sins of the transgressor. We are to leave them with him. The conscience needs to be converted. The heart that is not true needs to be renewed, but we can not do this work. We must leave the sinner with God. He has borne long with the false tongue. He does not force men to forsake evil, and we must let men falsify if they will. The Lord is our only trust. We are to rest in him and be still. We may feel that the Lord’s work is in jeopardy, through the deceptions of those who deal falsely, but we need not feel thus. We are not to think that the issue of the conflict is in our hands. Our duty is to walk by faith. In his own time God will deal with the deceiver. He will reward every man according to his work.

Jesus says, “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” Here is the great burden to be carried by each one. Are my sins forgiven? Has Christ, the burden-bearer, taken away my guilt? Have I a clean heart, purified by the righteousness of Jesus Christ? Woe be to any soul who is not seeking a refuge in Christ. Woe be to all who shall in any way divert the mind from the work, and cause any soul to be less vigilant now.

The Lord wishes all to understand his providential dealings now, just now, in the time in which we live. There must be no long discussions, no presenting of new theories in regard to prophecies that God has already made plain. The great work from which the mind should not be diverted is the consideration of our personal standing in the sight of God. Are our feet on the Rock of Ages? Are we hiding ourselves in the only Refuge? The storm is coming, relentless in its fury. Are we prepared to meet it? Are we one with Christ as he is one with the Father? Are we heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ? Are we working in co-partnership with the Saviour?

Let all who would co-operate with God unite in proclaiming the present truth, the message of the third angel: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” Then, as the eyes of John rested upon God’s people, he exclaimed: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them. And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.”

Already kingdom is rising against kingdom. There is not now a determined engagement. As yet the four winds are held until the servants of God shall be sealed in their foreheads. Then the Powers of earth will marshal their forces for the last great battle. How carefully we should improve the little remaining period of our probation? How earnestly we should examine ourselves? We should eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God; that is, carefully study the Word, eat it, digest it, make it a part of our being. We are to live the Word, not keep it apart from our lives. The character of Christ is to be our character. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our hearts. Here is our only safety. Nothing can separate a living Christian from God.

It is discipline of spirit, cleanliness of heart and thought, that is needed. This is of more value than brilliant talent, tact, or knowledge. An ordinary mind, trained to obey a “Thus saith the Lord,” is better qualified for God’s work than are those who have capabilities, but do not employ them rightly. Christ is the truth, because he is the fulfillment of ancient prophecies. Men may take pride in their knowledge of worldly things; but if they have not a knowledge of the true God, of Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, they are deplorably ignorant, and their knowledge will perish with them. Secular knowledge is power; but the knowledge of the Word, which has a transforming influence upon the human mind, is imperishable. It is knowledge sanctified. It is life and peace and joy forever. The deeper knowledge men may have, sanctified wholly unto God, the more they will appreciate the value of Jesus Christ.

SONG OF THE BURDEN-BEARER.

By M. H. Sangster

Over the narrow footpath That led from my lowly door I went with a thought of the Master, As oft I had walked before. My heart was heavily laden, And with tears my eyes were dim, But I knew I should lose the burden Could I get a glimpse of him.

Over the trodden pathway, To the fields all shorn and bare, I went with a step that faltered, And a face that told of care. I had lost the light of the morning, With its shimmer of sun and dew, But a gracious look of the Master Would the strength of morn renew.

While yet my courage wavered, And the sky before me blurred, I heard a voice behind me Saying a tender word; And I turned to see the brightness Of heaven upon the road, And suddenly lost the pressure Of the weary, crushing load.

Nothing that hour was altered; I had still the weight of care, But I bore it now with gladness Which comes of answered prayer. Not a grief the soul can fetter Nor cloud its vision when The dear Lord gives the spirit, To breathe to his will amen. —M. H. Sangster, in Witness.

HEAVENLY OPPORTUNITIES.

By Eugene A. Brown

EUGENE A. BROWN.

(Phoenix, Ariz.)

In the large cities—the centers of population—one of the problems of the day is what to do with the man who is out of work. The penniless man is a character that is becoming more common, just in proportion as the wealth of the world is pouring into the hands of a few individuals.

Too often, indeed, the man without work and without money is the man without friends and without sympathy. He is an outcast. In this wretched condition, the heavy hand of the law is laid upon him, and the demand made: “Why are you tramping around all the time idle? Why don’t you go to work?” Useless it is for the poor man to tell of his sorrows, of his vain efforts to find work. The usual reply to his pathetic story has become a stereotyped phrase. The “justice” nonchalantly repeats, “Thirty days. Next!” And so the weary procession finds its way from street to prison, helpless before the majesty of the law. That is man’s dealing with man. That is man’s way of meeting the perplexing issue.

But while all this is going on before our very eyes, and we note the direful failure man and man’s “justice” are making to alleviate this condition of woe, another Questioner demands of us the very same thing. It is a heavenly voice, however, that makes this inquiry. It is the voice of a friend, a voice full of love and sympathy. The whole transaction may be found in Matt. 20: 1–16, particularly in verses 6, 7. That voice comes to us quietly, yet with authority: “Why stand ye here all the day idle?”

Turning from our survey of the struggling masses, we look toward the kingdom of God. Ah, how often that question from man’s lips has come but in mockery! How often it has been framed simply to draw forth an answer that would convict the discouraged wanderer. But our Heavenly Father deals differently from man. He has a place for everyone who is willing to labor. Indeed, he has carefully searched them out, and hailed every group that has gathered along the highway. Early in the morning we find him looking for workers, and until the last hour he continues to hail every idle man: “Go ye also into the vineyard.”

When man demands why man is idle, he offers him no place, but simply punishes him for not possessing that which he desires and is vainly seeking for. But God demands why man is idle, and furnishes the place to work. He asks not his nationality, his previous condition, nor his vocation. He regards not those tattered rags, nor that broadcloth suit. He accepts them all.

The fitting up for this work may be done at once. Every employer expects his men to be willing and obedient, and to take an interest in the work. So our heavenly Employer asks for our entire consecration. His wishes in the matter are defined in Col. 3: 17 and in 1 Cor. 10: 31: “Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,” and “to the glory of God.”

Those engaged in worldly labor often find themselves placed in positions where the work taxes their strength, their health, and their energies, until frequently they are broken down in health. Often the work is not congenial, it is beyond the capability of the worker. He works to accomplish a little, while other hands could have done better, in much less time, and with more ease. The love of money has so hardened the sensibilities of the employer that, as a rule, he gets all the work possible from his employees, regardless of their hardship. Nor do we ourselves know just what work we are exactly adapted to, could we have our choice in the matter at all times. This is the condition of labor under man’s rule.

But our loving Master not only provides a place for us in his vineyard, but he sets us to work at just the kind of labor we are adapted to, and that is congenial to our soul. No task that he gives us is beyond our strength, for “he giveth power to the faint.” There are no failures in our work when done according to his directions. He knows just how many talents each one possesses, and exactly what those talents are.

So the Lord not only calls us to work to his glory, and furnishes the work and the strength and wisdom to perform it, but he has so arranged his plans that each talent may be used in its place, precisely where it belongs in the total work. Knowing what is in man, and knowing every intricacy of the work to be done, our Employer is certainly able to superintend the work to the advantage of all concerned. Therefore we should not insist upon our plans and ideas being carried out in the Lord’s work; but, like the faithful laborers of old, follow where the Spirit leads.

We may be hard at work in the field, the store, the shop, the office, or any other place, yet, if we are not employed in the Lord’s work, we are idle; if our farming, or clerking, or whatever the work may be, is not itself the work of God, we are idle; and that question reaches down into our hearts, “Why stand ye here all the day idle?”

The only real labor that counts in heaven is labor in the Lord, is work that is the Lord’s work. This does not mean that we must change

our usual vocation; but it means that our work must be the Lord’s work wherever we are. We must not be idle while doing even man’s work.

You may be a blacksmith: you may have hammered for John Doe or Richard Roe for the last seventeen years. You may have devoted your best efforts to build up his business. Yet perhaps all this time you were idle, absolutely idle, so far as the winning of souls was concerned. Before you, for every day of those seventeen years, was passing, as it were, a vast, endless chain, with every link marked “Opportunity to cast influence for the kingdom of God.”

Ah, precious child of God! you were paid for by Jesus’ blood. You are his. You are in a land filled with those of another kingdom. They are under condemnation, under sentence of death for rebellion. Can you, brother, can you, sister, with the tender Christ-love in your heart, pass by one of these poor, wandering children in his unhappy condition, and not bear witness for him who died on Calvary? Our every conversation is an opportunity for God. In every person with whom we come in contact we are to see an opportunity to point heavenward. Perhaps before us stands one whom angels, after long seasons of effort, have succeeded in directing this way, with heart softened to hear the word. How many thousands of such opportunities do we allow to slip by without notice? Have we stood “here all the day idle”?

The thought strikes me that this simply points to the “loud cry” that we are expecting. It simply means for us who love the Lord, to get to work with all our heart, and do as faithful work in our sphere as do the angels in theirs, so that “old and young, both maids and little children, and women,” may all receive the wondrous tidings of the coming King.

I am trying, with the Lord’s help, to improve every golden opportunity as it flits by. In the last few months I have met many strangers. All the time I kept in view my responsibility to the Lord in each case. Sometimes, through my thoughtlessness, a person left my presence without the word of truth that should have been given. In many cases I found it difficult so to direct the conversation that the truth might be given. Then I lifted my heart to Jesus in prayer, and he never failed me. In every instance the way opened; and the angels, too, had prepared minds for just the words that were spoken. Praise the Lord for his love and goodness!

The following is a remarkable instance, illustrating this point: I met an atheist, very bitter against every form of religion, whom I had known many years ago. It so happened that I had been giving Bible readings, by invitation, to his married son, who resided in another part of the city.

The old man asked me what I was doing. “Missionary labor has been my principal work,” I replied. The word “missionary” seemed to anger him, and he changed the subject abruptly. Meanwhile I was asking the Lord for an opportunity to give him the light. Finally he asked me if I had called on his son.

“Certainly,” I answered, “I have been out there several times, and have also given him several Bible readings.”

“What!” he exclaimed, “did you take a Bible into Harry’s house?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And he allowed you to?”

“He invited me to, and seemed much interested.”

“Harry did? Well, I don’t believe he ever looked into a Bible before in his life. What denomination do you belong to, anyway?”

“Seventh-day Adventist.”

“I don’t know anything about their faith, but I want to know what there is to it. Next time you go out there, come and get me. Sure, now, don’t fail me. I want to hear those Bible readings.”

They are all interested at that home, and I hope to meet them in the kingdom. It is God who is placing these opportunities in our way, and he has told us to “arise, shine.” The light all comes from him, and to him be the glory.

“Why stand ye here all the day idle?” Surely, God has furnished work enough for us all. Let us fast and pray, that we may discern the work we are to do.

THE DANGER OF MODERN MISSIONS.

By Henry S. Nash

Henry S. Nash, D. D., in the Churchman.

We look down upon the Middle Ages. We thank God that we no longer think of handing heretics over to the “secular arm,” piously commanding the said “arm” to deal with them “without shedding of blood.” But a brief study of recent events in connection with foreign missions may moderate our pride by suggesting that our Christianity is still entangled in that hideous confusion between spiritual and secular principles.

Our government, whenever it has time and opportunity, presses upon Turkey the question of payment for the damage done to the property of American missionaries in Armenia. At first blush this strikes us favorably. It even thrills us to think of an American fleet in a quarter of the world where our flag has too long been unfamiliar. Bombard some Turkish port! But let us take a second thought. Might it not be better for American Christians to rebuild, twenty times over, the buildings which the “unspeakable Turk” has destroyed, rather than make the “Oregon” and the “Kearsage” agents of the Lord Christ, of him who died for pure love of men? We do well to say that the deadliest error of Mohammedanism is its complete identification of church and state, its adulterous connection between force and religion, its perpetual alliance between the Koran and the scimitar. But is our shield altogether clean? Damages for missionary property destroyed, collected by the state, perhaps at the cannon’s mouth! Is this the pure gospel of Christ?

The present situation in China has brought to light another striking example of the vicious consequences ensuing upon an unclear conception of the missionary motive.

A recent letter signed by many of the missionaries in China, urged upon our government the duty of strenuous exertions in defense of all Americans in China. Thousands of letters from the friends and kinsfolks and supporters of missionaries have been sent to Washington to press the same duty. Just a little while ago a prominent official complained that the government was expected to send a regiment or a battle-ship to defend every single merchant and missionary who might be in danger. Observe the fatal association—“merchants and missionaries.” Men who have gone out in search of gain are put on a footing with those who have gone forth in search of souls. And apparently Christians at home will have it so; for with one voice they demand that the government shall protect the missionaries. . . .

But are not our missionaries Americans? Are they not under the flag wherever they go? Is it not the bounden duty of America to protect them and all her citizens at all costs?—Not so. Our missionaries go forth not as Americans, but as Christians. Their only flag is the cross. To demand of the state that it shall protect them by force of arms is to degrade and abase the missionary motive, and to rob missionary efforts of their chief glory.

What a humiliating situation in China, with English missionaries under the English flag, German missionaries under the German flag, American missionaries under the American flag, and so on. If the Sublime Porte will but rouse himself and send one of his crazy war-ships to defend the Mohammedan missionaries in China,—if there be any such,—our shame will be complete.

“NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP.”

By Eugene Field

The fire upon the hearth is low, And there is stillness everywhere; Like troubled spirits, here and there The firelight shadows fluttering go. And as the shadows round me creep, A childish treble breaks the gloom, And, softly, from a farther room Comes, “Now I lay me down to sleep.”

And, somehow, with that little prayer And that sweet treble in my ears, My thought goes back to distant years, And lingers with a dear one there; And as I hear the child’s “amen,” My mother’s faith comes back to me; Crouched at her side I seem to be, And mother holds my hands again.

Oh for an hour in that dear place! Oh for the peace of that dear time! Oh for that childish trust sublime! Oh for a glimpse of mother’s face! Yet, as the shadows round me creep, I do not seem to be alone,— Sweet magic of that treble tone,— And “now I lay me down to sleep.”

— Eugene Field.

THE MYSTERY OF ELECTRICITY.

Springfield Republican.

THE phenomena of lightning are constantly observed, just as electricity is constantly used in hundreds of ways through our inventions, yet no one knows anything about the matter,— it is just as mysterious as when the primitive man first saw it. A few years ago an ancient hemlock stood in a wide pasture lot in this city. Beneath its roots came forth a crystal clear and cold spring. For many years that tree had been the sport of the lightning; it had been struck again and again; and when it received its final blow, the event was witnessed. The electric force in a fierce storm came from below, not from the skies. The tree was seen to rend from root to topmost twig, and its ruins filled the pasture for fifteen rods around, in fragments from ten feet long to the size of toothpicks. It looked like a tremendous fountain for the moment. A dozen years have passed, the spring is degraded to a furtive passage underground, streets have been laid through the pasture, and the lightning has not since visited the spot. Let the scientist explain that.

Not many years ago, in a thunder-storm, a little house in this city was chosen for a plaything by the mysterious force. Very little harm was done to the house,— just some splintering from the roof where it entered and from the baseboards where it went out,— but on the way the fluid—it was formerly called so—followed a gilt molding on which pictures were hung all around a room, stripping off the gilt, and doing the same indignity to every picture-frame. What has the scientist to say in explanation of that sportive work?

It is nearly forty years since a church in one of our foothill towns was struck by a bolt in one of the briefest storms, whose whole local course was run in a quarter of an hour. In the midst of it a flash and crash came together, and the gilt globe of the church weathercock split in twain and fell to the ground. But the force rushed along the imperfectly insulated rod to the rear gable of the building, suddenly darted off half-way before the ground was reached, and tore a hole in the earth where it disappeared. Why did it act that way?—No one knows.

Sowing for Physical and Spiritual Health

By David Paulson; W. S. Sadler

David Paulson & W. S. Sadler

FLESH FOODS.

(Continued.)

FOUR GREAT REASONS IN FAVOR OF

A NON-FLESH DIET.

1. The Folly of Gratifying a Depraved Taste at the Expense of Animal Life.—Some maintain that if animals were not eaten, the world would soon be overrun by them; but this is certainly a poor excuse for persisting in laying the foundation for a premature grave; for in that case both the man and the animal die together. On the other hand, many whose conscience does not allow them to see a dumb animal slain simply to gratify four square inches of taste space, say that, in order to be consistent, we must not interfere with the various vermin and bugs that infest the world. But such forget that the Lord allowed the thorns and thistles to grow for Adam to dig up, not for him to eat. And so undoubtedly the Lord has allowed a great many unpleasant creatures to exist in the world; and the principle that leads us to destroy a bug that may be stealing our own blood is certainly a different principle from that which leads us to kill a cow for the purpose of contaminating our blood. To deprive an animal of its life for no other reason than to satisfy perverted appetite, when there is an abundance of other food substances to be had, is surely unwarranted.

2. Remarkable Increase of Disease in the Animal World.—As the curse is resting more and more heavily upon man on account of his sinful habits of life, those animals which are the most closely associated with him are compelled to share in the curse.

Tuberculosis.—The consumptive man expectorates on the hay; the cow that eats the hay contracts tuberculosis, and its milk is contaminated with the same; the susceptible child contracts the disease from this milk, and perhaps either dies a premature death or grows up to be a wretched consumptive,—to go about spreading the infection to both men and animals. The owners of some of the finest herds in the United States are finding that from fifty to sixty per cent of their milch cows have tuberculosis in some form. The live-stock commissioners of one State have estimated that one third of all the cows that furnish one of the largest cities in the Union with milk are infected with this dread disease.

Lumpy Jaw.—Lumpy jaw is a common name for another disease that is becoming prevalent among cattle. The neck becomes large and swollen and great abscesses form, and the animal becomes a hideous sight. At the stock yards the bodies of such animals are supposed to be used simply for fertilizing purposes; but if the reports of those who have investigated this subject are to be trusted, many of these animals are worked up into sausage, to be sold to cheap restaurants, street lunch cars, and where else we do not know.

Hog Cholera.—It is a well-known fact that when an epidemic of hog cholera invades a certain part of the country, a great many more railroad cars are needed in that vicinity to carry the swine to the market than before; and if the butcher can get the start of the disease by only a day or two, it is regarded perfectly proper and consistent.

Trichinosis.—Many swine are also infected with trichinæ. Germany does not accept any pork from the United States that has not been subjected to governmental inspection. Small slices of pork are slipped under a microscope, and careful eyes try to discover the little cysts in which the trichinæ lie curled up. Two out of every hundred hogs killed in one of the largest packing houses are found to have trichinæ, and so these can not be sent to Germany; but as there is no law against selling pork containing trichinæ in the United States, they are put on the market just the same, thus increasing the real percentage of diseased pork that is consumed in this country. One of New York’s most eminent physicians said, after years of experience in post-mortem and dissecting rooms, that five or six per cent of all human bodies give evidence of having been infected with trichinæ. So there are more men who have trichinæ than swine, which is presumably because there are more men who eat hogs than there are hogs that have an opportunity to eat men. Rats burrow in the cemeteries, and eat the bodies of the dead, and thus become infected from those who have had trichinæ; and as one of the favorite delicacies of the hog is a rat, either dead or alive, the hog becomes infected; and when man eats the swine, the circle is completed. When an infected hog is hung up in the market, and twenty persons buy of it, all become infected; so it can be readily seen how easy it is for such diseases to become diffused.

Cancer.—That the increase in cancer among human beings is keeping pace with the increase in the use of flesh foods is a fact that is now being recognized by many leading physicians. It is evident that when the human system has to use up a great deal of its reserve force in carrying off the waste matter found in meat, especially if such a person has inherited a susceptibility to cancer, his chances of succumbing to the disease must be immensely increased by the use of flesh foods.

3. Meat Eating and Spirituality.—From first to last, the practice of flesh eating is in no way calculated to promote spirituality. The influence of killing animals and using them as food is in every way calculated to lessen our regard for life. This must be particularly the effect upon the men, and oftentimes young boys, who are employed in the work of slaughter. The newspapers a short time ago recorded a sad case of two children, aged six and eight respectively, who, having seen their father killing hogs, concluded to play “butcher,” as they called it; the older of the two killing his younger brother with an ax. This is an exceptional case, but serves to indicate the moral influence of the practice of taking animal life to gratify depraved appetite. Aside from these indirect moral influences, the poisons contained in the meat exert a direct influence upon the finer sensibilities of mind and soul. The presence of these poisons in the blood as it circulates through the brain day by day can not but result in great injury to the moral sensibilities. How inconsistent for the Christian, who is striving for purity of mind and holiness of heart, to cause his brain to be ever bathed with a stream of poisonous substances which nature had previously recognized as such, and was engaged in the task of eliminating from the animal’s system when it was felled by the slaughter weapon! Meat eating produces cloudiness of mind, numbness of conscience, and lethargy of soul.

4. Is It Economy to Eat Secondhand Food?—We can get albumen or proteids from both the animal and the vegetable kingdom. About ten per cent of ordinary bread is gluten, which is a proteid. Less than one fourth of the weight of a pound of beefsteak is food, the remainder is water, not pure water, however, as found in fruit. From a health standpoint, animal foods should be regarded expensive, at any cost; but even when viewed from a standpoint of dollars and cents, flesh foods must necessarily be more expensive than the natural products of the earth, as a rough calculation will show: Ordinarily an ox is not sold to the butchers until he is three years old. Previously to this time he has required, on the average, an acre of land each summer for grazing, and another acre to supply the necessary hay for winter. To raise this animal has therefore required six acres of land. The ox now probably weighs about twelve hundred pounds, live weight, or about six hundred pounds when dressed and hung up in the meat market. As flesh contains only about twenty-five per cent of nourishment, if a person were to live exclusively on meat, he would use about three pounds a day; so in this way these six acres of land would furnish food for only two hundred days, or a little more than six months. Suppose, instead, that these six acres were sown with wheat, with a yield of only ten bushels to the acre, we should receive sixty bushels, or thirty-six hundred pounds of wheat. A pound of wheat produces about three fourths of a pound of flour. The land necessary for the raising of the steer yielded six hundred pounds of flesh food. The same amount of land sown with wheat gives us twenty-seven hundred pounds of flour; and instead of its being less than twenty-five per cent nutriment, as is the case with flesh food, it is fully seventy-five per cent; therefore, it will not require so much to supply the daily ration as when living exclusively upon animal flesh.

To aid in determining how much dry food was actually consumed in one day, ten healthy young persons volunteered to live for two weeks exclusively on granose, a thoroughly toasted whole-wheat preparation. At the end of that time it was found that they had consumed an average of a pound a day, and a comparison of their bodily weight at the beginning and at the close of the experiment showed a gain of several pounds in the weight of some, only a slight gain in others, while not one had lost in weight.

To secure more trustworthy data, the food that was actually consumed by several hundred of the nurses and other employees of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, was weighed, and its equivalent in dry food estimated, and it was found that they used daily about a pound and a quarter of dry food, divided among the following food elements: starch 16 ounces; proteids, 2½ ounces; fats, 1½ ounces. These young persons maintained their normal weight on this quantity, so it would be fair to assume that this was the normal amount for at least these working people.

Six acres would yield twenty-seven hundred pounds of flour, three fourths of each pound being solid nourishment; so this quantity would equal

about two thousand pounds of dry food (free from water), and, allowing one and one-fourth pounds for daily consumption, would supply one person with food for sixteen hundred days, or nearly four years and a half. Six acres of land, when used to rear an animal, will furnish food for only six months: the same land sown in wheat will supply food for four years and a half.

Do we, then, wonder that flesh foods are expensive? A pound of peas, beans, or lentils has more nourishment than three pounds of meat; but think of the enormous difference in their expense as they are purchased in the market.

Prominent investigators have again and again called attention to the fact that one cause of the poverty of the laboring man is the fact that he spends so much of his money for that which is not bread (Isa. 55:2); or, in other words, for articles of food containing but little food value. The ordinary family spends sufficient money for tea and coffee and flesh foods to bountifully support another family on the luscious fruits, nourishing grains, and wholesome nuts, which nature originally intended man to live upon.

Copyrighted, 1900, by David Paulson and W. S. Sadler.

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