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Review and Herald, Vol. 35, No. 35.

PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE

Review and Herald

Aug 28, 1900

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 28, 1900

“PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE.”

MRS. E. G. WHITE.
“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
These words present before the Christian the privileges brought within his reach through the sacrifice of the Son of God. The promises are full and broad and deep. They encourage our faith; for has not God pledged his word to combine his divine power with our human efforts, that we may overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony? While Satan is playing the game of life for the souls of men, precious encouragement is given to the one who seeks to do God’s will. “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me,” God says, “and he shall make peace with me.”
Man has the assurance that he can become a partaker of the divine nature, even as Christ became a partaker of human nature. In Christ God pledges himself to come under obligation to mankind, if man will comply with the conditions. “Take my yoke upon you,” he says, “and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” God purposes to yoke up with human instrumentalities. This must be a work of co-operation; for how can two walk together, except they be agreed? Never did an earthly parent pity and love his children as our Heavenly Father pities and yearns for those who strive for the overcomer’s reward. Promises of his love and his grace could not be more abundant. And this that we might be “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
Personal piety bears its testimony in a wise and unreserved co-operation with divine principles. The apostle Peter writes: “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. . . . For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
“Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but now are the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having your conscience honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
“The elders which are among you I exhort,” Peter continues, “who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory which shall be revealed: feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”
These directions to the elders of the church are to be heeded. If God, the great Master worker, is with his servants, they will reveal this fact in their daily conduct. Among those who have the oversight of the flock of God are men who bear the stamp of defective characters. They are not walking with Christ. Their piety is not sound and healthful; it is of a cheap order. These need to learn what constitutes true religion. Religion is not a patchwork concern, which makes everything of the Christian’s name, and in which self is personified. A man’s religion must be founded on the word of God. Practiced in the home life, and exemplified in the church, it will constitute him a laborer together with God.
The efficiency of any church lies in the willingness of its members to learn. Upon the love and harmonious action of church-members depend their power for winning souls to Christ. Therefore cherish love and confidence; for this will give you moral strength. Those who do not make the kingdom of God their first consideration soon lose God out of their experience; for he is the great worker. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” he says, “for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” “Ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” Let the transforming energies of the Holy Spirit into the temple of the soul.
In failing to co-operate with God, the church has lost her first love. Very many of God’s professed people to-day do not love God supremely and their neighbors as themselves. The prayer of Christ for unity among his followers is not lived out. The principles that Christ carried into his life and work must be practiced. God has given dignity to men by giving his Son to save them. Christ allied himself to humanity that he might make it possible for humanity to ally itself with divine power, that man might love his fellow man with the love wherewith Christ has loved him. Christ calls upon men to exercise the same spirit of forgiveness, the same tender spirit of sympathy and love, which he has revealed for us. This is a debt that every man enlightened by the Spirit of God and converted through the truth owes to every other man with whom he comesin contact, be he friend or foe, acquaintance or stranger.
Jesus is inviting all who will co-operate with him. A great work is to be done, and God calls the willing ones to come out from among those who will not take their stand by the side of Christ. Who will co-operate with the Captain of our salvation? A practical religion is the life and power of the church. The only way for the church to increase in efficiency is for the members to grow up to the full stature of men and women in Christ Jesus. Then will their light shine in clear, bright rays to those who have not a knowledge of the truth. Then work, yes, work with all your powers, for the perishing souls around you. And as you work, pray. God is always at your right hand, proffering you his omnipotent power. Lift up the standard higher and still higher. Let your glad cry be, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” The Captain of the Lord’s host has gone before you. Then press on after your leader. Strike the foe like men who have learned of Christ. Handle his weapon, “It is written.” Thus you can work with Christ, and even your thoughts will be brought into captivity to his will.
As we work in Christ’s lines, God will break down the partition walls. He will widen before us the circle of our influence. Leading us to the mount of Beatitudes, he will strengthen our vision by presenting before us truths of the greatest importance. All territorial lines, all man-made distinctions, disappear before his teaching. Our vision takes in sinful, suffering humanity in the regions beyond. God wishes us to learn deeper lessons. He desires to lead us to greater heights, to educate us to love and obey him. He wishes to place us where we can use the talents he has given us. He is giving us opportunities to impart grace, that he may refill us with increased grace. It is by working in Christ’s lines that we become laborers together with God. Do not fail nor be discouraged in the work. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” God’s promise is immutable. The unfailing God has encouraged us to ask, assuring us that he will establish his word. Hope and faith will increase as the agent of God works with all the talents that God has provided.
When our intrusted capabilities are allowed to lie unimproved, God’s vineyard is deprived of the labor it should have. We are to obey the command, “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” This is a duty, broad and deep, to be brought into our practical lives, one which, under God’s divine working, will be a convincing power to the world. Go, laborers, go and work in humble ways to bring souls to the truth. The Lord will open the way before you. In the great day of reckoning, the slothful servant will be dealt with according to the work he might have done by putting his talents to use. Your one talent improved will gain another talent, and those two talents will gain other two. In a faithful discharge of your duty, you will acquire increased ability, tact, knowledge, and experience.
Had there been nothing in the world to work at cross-purposes with us, our patience, forbearance, gentleness, meekness, and long-suffering would not have been called into action. The more these graces are exercised, the more they will be increased and strengthened. The more we deal our temporal bread to the hungry, the oftener we clothe the naked, visit the sick, and relieve the fatherless and the widow in their affliction, the more decidedly shall we realize the blessing of God.
Every believer who takes the yoke of Christ pledges himself—soul, body, and spirit—to do God’s work in self-denial and self-sacrifice. He is a partaker of Christ’s joys and of his sufferings. He is imbued with his courage. The obedience that God required of Adam in Eden will be the obedience he will render to all the commandments of God. From the first hour of his belief in Christ as his personal Saviour, all his influence will be under contribution to God. He is Christ’s purchased possession, and his physical, mental, and moral powers are to be constantly increasing in adaptability for the work of God.
Those standing under Christ’s banners are to be united in the work. They are to be of one mind, of one judgment. As there is to be one Shepherd of the sheep, so there is to be one flock. Union with Christ brings man back to his allegiance to his Creator. It implants in his mind a love for God and for his holy law. The person who is one with Christ prays, and watches unto prayer, that he may have transcribed in his heart and reflected in his life the righteousness of God. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, . . . full of grace and truth. . . . And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” Upon this all-perfect pattern he fixes his eye; and with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, he is changed into the same image from glory to glory, “even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

SATISFIED

By C. H. Keslake

C. H. KESLAKE.
(New Brunswick, N. J.)
When in his beauty the Saviour I see, When in his image renewed I shall be, When from all sin I’m forever set free, I shall be satisfied.
When in my bosom shall dwell love divine, When in my life my dear Saviour shall shine, So that the world may know, Lord, I am thine, I shall be satisfied.
When, filled with love, with lost sinners I plead, And, led by Jesus, shall show them their need, How for them all the dear Saviour did bleed, I shall be satisfied.
When day by day I’m possessed of Christ’s mind, And in his service my happiness find; When, as was he, I am gentle and kind, I shall be satisfied.
When from the voice of my Saviour I hear The glad invitation his glory to share,— Precious the thought! ’t will be sweet to be there, I shall be satisfied.

QUESTION

The King's Messenger.

How can you enjoy the presence of the Holy Spirit and be so immersed in business? is the question propounded by many of my friends. The idea seems to be that to be indwelt by the Comforter we must be idly supine and lazily happy. The thought has in some way obtained that his abiding is only for those who live pietistic lives, and shut themselves out from the world, and give themselves up to dreamy ecstasies, or engage in entrancing deliriums of delight. Hence the monkish cell was the plan in other ages; the separation was the way later; and now it is the profession and the practice. Business is regarded “worldly;” and to be engaged in business is to be “worldly minded” and to be “serving mammon;” and how dwells the Holy Spirit in such?
Paul worked with his own hands, and was dwelling in his own hired house, that he might not be chargeable to any. To be “diligent in business” preceded the “fervent in spirit,” and in both “serving the Lord.”
To my mind the Holy Ghost does not, can not, abide in a lazy person; for an idle mind is the devil’s workshop, and this surely is no place for Him. Do business unto the Lord. Whatever you do, do it as unto him.
So many of our young people desire to shirk work—to go to school, to attend conventions, to continually go to meetings, thinking these will tend to their spiritual development, and anything of manual labors will lessen their growth in grace. To attain this they are willing to pauperize themselves, and to be beggars on the Christian community. This seems to be a mistake. The Holy Spirit does not design that we should lose our manhood or womanhood, or degrade ourselves by living on or off of others. He desires us to be dependent on him, and independent of others; to be in subjection to no one; to love, and live, and labor for his glory and the good of men.
There is more enjoyment in business than out. There is more communion in service than in idleness. The way to serve God is to use the talents he has given—to meet with the trials and tribulations incident to a business life is the best way to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth

God’s Law Is the Law of Love

“God’s law is the law of love.”

CONFUSING MORAL DISTINCTIONS.

The Watchman.
The fact that the purposes of God are accomplished in spite of the evil done by men, and that the evil done by men is overruled in the interests of God’s kingdom, should not for a moment blind our eyes to the fact that the evil done by man is always and everywhere evil, and that it is not in the slightest degree palliated or excused by the excellence of the purposes toward which it seems to have contributed. The moment we have admitted that God chooses unrighteous methods to advance his purposes, we have struck at the root of the conception of God as a righteous being. If he does that, you can not make it out that he has any moral character whatever. Whatever else he is, he is not a being that supremely loves righteousness and hates iniquity.
The Christian is justified in saying, with David, “The Lord reigneth, . . . let the earth rejoice.” Like Isaiah, David took great comfort because he believed that Jehovah sat upon the circle of the heavens. They believed that the wrath of man should praise him, and the remainder he would restrain. But never for a moment did David or Isaiah lose a perception of the fact that evil is always evil, and that it does not in the slightest degree lose its character of evil by being overruled to advance the divine purposes.
This line of reflection is of the greatest importance to-day, because we observe that men who ought to know better,—some ministers of the gospel and missionaries,—are using language in a way that obliterates the clearest moral distinctions. Frequently during the last year we have heard statements like this: It may be that the relation of the advanced nations toward the backward races, and of Christendom toward the Chinese Empire, has not been morally defensible. We would admit that grievous injustices have been committed; but, for all that, we believe that the interests of civilization have been promoted, and the cause of Christian missions has been advanced.
Now it is proper to rejoice that these ends, in the providence of God, have been promoted; but such a mode of statement gives color to the notion that the methods are palliated and atoned for by the excellence of the ends that have been served. In this matter it seems to us that there is only one consistent attitude for those who believe that God is essentially a God of righteousness. It is to denounce and refuse to condone injustice, fraud, oppression, treachery, and unrighteous aggression, no matter how directly they may appear to promote the interests of civilization or religion. The moment a man allows his belief that God will overrule the wrath of man to condone unrighteous methods, he has begun to confuse fundamental moral distinctions.
The truth is that evil is always evil, and however it may be overruled to serve beneficent ends, it is always wicked; the face of God is always set against it, and it always involves an eternal loss. God does not, and can not, choose such methods. He overrules them, but he does not condone them. They never lose their character of evil in his sight. There always was a better way to achieve the end in view, and God would have achieved that end in the better way, if the self-will of man had not chosen the evil.
Why, the sin of Judas can be amply and triumphantly defended by the identical reasoning that is employed to palliate national injustice; for the sin of Judas directly contributed to the sacrifice of Christ for the redemption of the world.

THE SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK.

By Alonzo T. Jones

A. T. JONES.
Our time is so nearly gone that I can call attention only to another phase of this subject. But I hope that this to which I have called your attention will encourage every soul here to get the principle so that we can have it, every one, every day, as we come into the school, or into the church. Let us not continue for a moment in a way that any of the Sabbath-school lessons, in the book of Galatians, or in any other part of the Bible, will be in any sense dry or tedious. If it has been so with any, let it not be so longer.
There is a philosophy in bringing to us now this great principle of the book of Galatians. This is in order that we may be able to show to the world the way to the power of God. That is what the Third Angel’s Message is. We must learn it ourselves, before we can give it to the world.
There is not only a philosophy in the bringing of the study of this book to us now, but there is a philosophy in the book itself—in the way it is put together in presenting the gospel as it is, and that which annihilates all ceremonialism, root and branch.
Look at it. The first thing in the book, after the greeting, is: “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.” Thus speaks that word always to every soul. Can anybody ever grow weary of drinking in the grace of God and his peace, which are poured out from heaven in a mighty stream? Then accept that word, and drink in of the grace of God, and his peace, in all its fullness,—the peace of God, which passeth all understanding. Then that peace will keep your hearts, and will keep your minds, through Christ Jesus. Many persons are distressed in keeping their minds where they would like to have them. They are anxious, and toiling, to keep their heart in the right way. Oh, just take in the grace and the peace of God, which are given to you in the very first thought of the book of Galatians, and that “peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Then thy peace shall be “as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.”
What is the next thought?—Oh, it is that he “gave himself for our sins,”—gave himself for our sins. For what did he give himself?—For my sins? He paid the price for all the world? Did he buy the sins of all the world?—He did. Then to whom do the sins of the world belong?—To him.
Let us leave out the great world now, and count those in this house. To whom do all the sins of all the people in this house to-day belong?—To him.
Now let us leave out all the others, and let only you and me be counted. To whom do all your sins belong to-day? Whose are they?—They are Christ’s. All mine are his; every sin that I ever had, every one that the Lord himself could find in me now,—and he could find a host,—whatever sins could be found by the mighty searching of the Lord, belong to the Lord Jesus, because he paid the price for them—he gave himself for my sins. He paid such a price that I could not ask him to forego what he paid. He gave himself for my sins; and in that he gave himself for me, sins and all.
That is where many persons mistake. They get it into their heads, somehow,—it is from Satan, of course,—that the Lord will receive them, if only they will separate themselves from their sins, and come to him without sin. But that is a satanic delusion. We can not separate ourselves from our sins. We can choose to have it so; but he is the only One who can take away our sins. He bought us and made us his own, sins and all. You belong to him, sins and all. We all belong to him, sins and all. And he can cleanse us from all sin. Only he can do it. We never can. We have all tried it. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked,” because the sin is still there, and he (the wicked) can not get rid of it. But when the Lord takes away that sin, and puts his own righteousness in the place of the sin, do you not see that that righteousness, being the very essence, the very quality of God’s own character, imparts righteousness to the believer in Jesus? And through him it is manifested to others. That is just what the Lord Jesus can do; that is what he does, for everyone who will let him have what he bought—himself, sins and all.
And what did he do it for?—“Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world.” Oh, who would not wish to be delivered from this present evil world? Who would not be glad, and who is not glad, if he can be delivered from this present evil world? There is deliverance for every soul in the world. Christ has paid the price. He has done the work. And when we allow him to have what he has paid for, he does deliver. [Voice: “Praise the Lord!”] Then let every soul in the house take this deliverance to-day, and let the Lord do what he will with his own. He makes us fit to dwell with him—fit “to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” He “hath delivered us from the powers of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.”
Then he gives us this precious gospel, which an angel from heaven could not improve. And that comes to us “by revelation.” By next Sabbath every teacher can come before his class with that genuine gospel taught to him by revelation of God. It can not be taught to you by men: “they shall all be taught of God.” It must be taught by revelation—the direct revelation of Jesus Christ to the soul.
And how is it done?—Oh, “it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son IN me,”—“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”—Christ in the life, the power of God,—Christ in the life, the wisdom of God,—Christ in the life, “all the fullness of God.” That is this gospel.
And it is all put into the first chapter, to prepare you to see and to receive the truths in the following chapters. And, I pray you, do not pass by the first chapter of Galatians without finding the power of God. If you do, you will not be prepared to receive the truths in the chapters that follow, and you will be at sea all the way through. God has put that book together in such a way that you and I, going through the book, shall be brought into the way of God,—into the way in which he wishes us to go,—to be delivered forever from the very principle, root and branch, of ceremonialism, in whatever way it may manifest itself in the world.
Then, for your soul’s sake, brethren and sisters,—for the sake of the sifting that will come to this whole denomination, through the very study of this book of Galatians,—let every one seek the Lord with all the heart, and receive the truth that is given in the lessons before you in the first chapter. Do not go into the second chapter,—do not think of going there; you are not prepared to go there,—until you have received what God has for you in the first chapter. Then, having received the gospel as given in the first chapter; having received the power of God to deliver from this present evil world; having found God revealing his Son in you,—then you can with joy and ever-increasing light go through the following chapters of the book.
Then let there be such an awakening in this time as God calls for, in this time when the world is sunk in the condition of formalism, of the form of godliness without the power of God. God has raised us up to convey to the world the message of the true gospel,—that gospel which is indeed the power of God, because in it the righteousness of God is revealed. If that is not what we are here for, then we have no place at all. But how can we do that unless we ourselves have in very truth that true gospel, that power unto salvation?
Therefore, to prepare us for the loud cry, the crisis of the message that must be sounded to a world sunk in the form of godliness without the power, the Lord sends to us these studies in Galatians, this gospel that is so pure and true that even an angel from heaven could not improve it, that we may first be completely delivered from the form of godliness without the power.
Let us accept and study this gospel. And when it shall be allowed to reign in our everyday lives in everything, our lives will be filled with the power of the Lord in all his grace and all his goodness, and we shall be saved from all formalism. Christ in us, the hope of glory, will be revealed; and “the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.”

“SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN TO COME UNTO ME.”

By Nannie B. Kellar

NANNIE B. KELLAR.
(Battle Creek, Mich.)
Jesus had been teaching the people of Galilee lessons of humility and forbearance from a little child, whom he had called unto him. Now, as he had finished his teachings in Galilee, he directed his steps toward the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan.
Among the Jews it was customary to take little children to a rabbi, who would lay his hands upon them in blessing. Several mothers had heard of the work Jesus was doing, and desired his blessing to rest upon their children. They came near to the Saviour; but when the disciples saw them, they thought the children too young to be benefited by a talk with Jesus, and believed that he would be displeased to have them near him. Jesus knew why the mothers had brought their children, but wished to see how his disciples would treat them. Just as soon as they had sent the mothers away, the Saviour rebuked the disciples for their unwise course of action. “But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer littlechildren to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” Jesus knew their hearts. “He knew that these children would listen to him and accept him as their Redeemer far more readily than would grown-up people, many of whom were the worldly-wise and hard-hearted.”
Jesus, the King of heaven, had time to simplify the important truths to meet the childish understanding, and to answer the many questions the children were always ready to ask. In those young hearts, he planted seeds of truth that afterward sprang up, yielding fruit unto eternal life.
“It is still true that children are the most susceptible to the teachings of the gospel; their hearts are open to divine influences, and strong to retain the lessons received.”
As Jesus called those little ones to him when the disciples were about to turn them away, so to-day he is still calling the children to come and learn of him. But why is it that so many drift out into the world, into sin and wickedness of all kinds, instead of sitting at the feet of Jesus and following his example?
There are a great many things in the world to keep the children from becoming acquainted with Jesus. Many children meet with cold formality and harshness in their own homes. This destroys all the love and tenderness God has implanted in the young heart. Because of a lack of encouragement at home they choose evil associates; and, instead of asking their parents for advice, they go to these companions, who lead them further away from God. If we, by our indifference or wrong influence, are keeping the children from coming to Christ, he says also to us, “Suffer [or let] the children to come unto me.” We must not hinder them, but seek to remove those influences that will not let them come to Christ.
Instead of being stumbling-blocks, let us arise and help the children. Let us bring them to Christ instead of turning them away.

Sowing for Physical and Spiritual Health

By David Paulson; W. S. Sadler

David Paulson W. S. Sadler

Fats and Oils.

One of the most important constituents of the body is fat, or adipose tissue. Viewed from a chemical standpoint, fat consists of glycerin combined with three fatty acids in varying quantities, their names being palmitic, stearic, and oleic acid. Each of these melts at different degrees of temperature.
Fat is the most unstable tissue of the system, and therefore is the first to disappear in lingering diseases, particularly those having a tendency to produce emaciation, such as wasting fevers. During prolonged starvation the body seems at first to feed itself upon its own fat, and just previously to death from this cause the fat has almost entirely disappeared.
Fat is built up in the human body from each of the principal food elements,—proteids and starches,—as well as from fats. It is not acted upon at all by either the saliva or the gastric juice, so it passes out of the stomach in practically the same condition as when eaten. When it reaches the small intestine, it is immediately met by two digestive agents, the pancreatic juice and the bile, which have the ability to digest fat and prepare it for absorption.

Digestion of Fats.

The pancreatic juice is the most active digestive fluid in the body. It contains a digestive ferment, steapsin, which, when brought in contact with fat, at once separates the glycerin from the fatty acids. The acids unite with the alkaline bile, and thus form a kind of soap. This soap helps to emulsify a considerable portion of the remainder of the fat, so that it can readily be dissolved and absorbed.

Sources of Fat.

Careful estimation has shown that the human system thrives best when it has about one and one-half ounces of fat each day. Fat can be secured from either the animal or vegetable world. There is no essential difference in the chemical composition of the fat from either of these sources.
1. Animal Fat.—The process of fattening animals for the market by overfeeding, and frequently depriving them of necessary exercise, tends to produce obesity; and the quantity of fat that some animals can deposit in their tissues, in proportion to their normal weight, is very great. The almost universal prevalence of disease among animals affects to a greater or less extent every tissue of their bodies, including the fat; and those who depend upon the animal kingdom to supply them with their daily ration of fat are surely subjecting themselves to unnecessary liability to disease.
2. Cream, Butter, and Eggs.—Another common source of fat is found in dairy products and eggs. Milk contains four per cent of fat, cream has twenty-seven per cent, while the yolk of eggs contains thirty-two per cent. The tiny fat globules scattered throughout the milk, when it is allowed to stand, gradually rise to the top, and form cream. Each little globule is surrounded with a microscopic, nitrogenous envelope, which is broken down by the process of churning, so that the fat is all brought together in one mass, which we call butter.
3. Nuts.—The natural products of the earth nearly all contain more or less fat. Nuts, as a class, contain an abundance of fat, which is built up under natural conditions. Nuts do not, like animals, become obese, nor do they become emaciated; the oils are stored away naturally, normally, and in harmony with the great laws of growth. Some of the common nuts, such as peanuts, almonds, etc., contain nearly half their weight in fat, this being a larger percentage than can be produced in even an overfed animal.
4. Grains.—The grains contain fats in varying proportions. Oats, being one of the richest, contains nearly eight per cent; corn, five per cent; wheat, less than two per cent.
5. Fruits.—Nearly all the common fruits are deficient in fat, the olive and banana being exceptions. The strawberry, however, contains about one half of one per cent of fat.
6. Vegetables.—The majority of vegetables contain only a sufficient amount of fat to make possible a bare estimation.
7. Legumes (Peas, Beans, and Lentils).—The legumes average about the same amount of fat as do the grains.

Three Forms of Fat.

Fats, as ordinarily used for foods, are found either as emulsified fat, free fat, or fried fat.
In the emulsified state, fat is found in fine globules, as in milk or cream, or in nuts. In this condition it can be diluted to any extent, by the addition of water or other fluids, and yet it will remain in solution.
In free fat the tiny globules have become crushed, as it were, and they all unite in a solid body. There can be no doubt that fat in a condition of emulsion will do less harm in the stomach by way of interfering with the process of starch and proteid digestion than when taken in its free form; and in this emulsified condition it is more readily assimilated.
It has become a matter of common experience with thousands of persons that fried fats tend to produce heartburn and other digestive disturbances. This is because of the fact that when fat is subjected to such high temperatures, its chemical composition is so changed as to render it very difficult of digestion.

Use and Abuse of Fats.

Probably no food element, unless it be sugar, is eaten in such immoderate quantities as are fats. Thousands of persons forget that fats can not build up structure in the human system. Pawlow, an eminent Russian investigator, has recently noted the fact that large quantities of fat produce biliousness by interfering with the activity of the gastric juice.
The human system has the power to build up fats from both proteids and starches, as has been mathematically demonstrated by experiments similar to the following: A litter of pups was selected, several of them were killed, andevery particle of fat contained in their bodies was carefully analyzed and weighed. Several of the remaining pups were fed on nothing but proteids for a few weeks. Then they were likewise killed, and the amount of fat that they had stowed up was carefully weighed and measured. It was found that these pups had many times more fat than was found in the bodies of those killed without being fed on proteids.
Man possesses the same power; and undoubtedly if he had trained his digestive organs from earliest childhood to manufacture fats from grains, they would be able to do so without difficulty: but when persons have grown up, accustoming themselves to take large quantities of free animal fat, and then this supply is suddenly stopped, the system frequently rebels from undertaking a task that it has never before had to perform. Such changes, if they are made at all, must be made slowly, otherwise the system may become emaciated, and fall an easy prey to tubercular germs or other death-dealing microbes. Fortunately, such persons can secure the fats just as easily from nuts. There are some, however, who seem to have a peculiarity of digestion that renders them unable readily to utilize fats from the plant world. Such persons are no doubt justified in continuing to use animal products; but they should take pains to secure those products from as healthy a source as possible, and gradually train themselves away from their use, and accustom themselves to the use of fats from the vegetable world, which are in every way better, as well as free from the liability to produce the diseases common among animals.

Significance of Obesity.

Fat is the most variable tissue found in the body. In fact, it is often a convenient means that nature has of stowing away waste matter in persons who habitually overeat and neglect physical exercise. Who ever saw a man who was daily performing hard manual labor, such as digging ditches, overloaded with fat? We are gradually coming to have a “fat variety” of the human race,—the aldermen, the office holders; in short, those who secure their bread without sufficient daily toil to cause them to sweat.
Copyrighted, 1900, by David Paulson and W. S. Sadler.
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