Your ShelfYour Projects

Review and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 32.

AT SIMON'S HOUSE

Review and Herald

Aug 7, 1900

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 7, 1900

AT SIMON'S HOUSE.

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE.
“And the Jews’ Passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast? Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should show it, that they might take him.” “Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
“Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.” Mary had long kept this ointment; there seemed to be no fitting opportunity to use it. But Jesus had forgiven her sins, and she was filled with love and gratitude to him. The peace of God was upon her, her heart was full of joy; and she greatly desired to do something for her Saviour. She resolved to anoint him with her ointment. She thought the ointment her own, to use as she pleased, and so it was in one sense. But had it not first been Christ’s, it could not have been hers.
Seeking to avoid observation, Mary anointed Christ’s head and feet with the precious ointment, and wiped his feet with her long, flowing hair. But as she broke the box, the odor of the ointment filled the room, and published her act to all present. “Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?” Judas looked upon Mary’s act with great displeasure. Instead of waiting to hear what Christ would say of the matter, he began to whisper his complaints to those near him, throwing reproach on Christ for suffering such waste. “Why was not this ointment sold,” and the proceeds given to the poor? he said. Craftily he made suggestions that would be likely to awaken disaffection in the minds of those present, causing others to murmur also. Writing of this, Mark says, “There were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor?” Oh, that they had known that even though the most valuable treasures that science or art could produce had been bestowed on Jesus, it would not have been waste!
Judas was one of the twelve; but he had not been striving to overcome his natural traits of character in accordance with the light that was constantly shining upon him. He had a high opinion of his executive ability, and looked upon himself as superior in financial management to his fellow disciples. Constantly he strove to exalt himself, and by his business ability he had gained the confidence of the eleven. But he had a narrow, avaricious spirit. For the slight services that he performed for Christ he paid himself from the money in the bag. He took from the store committed to his care, thus narrowing down their resources to a meager pittance. He was eager to put into the bag all he could obtain; and when something that he did not think essential was bought, he would say, Why is this waste? Why was not the cost of it put into the bag that I carry for the poor?
General principles touching his case had been laid down by the Great Teacher, but Judas had not profited by these instructions. Instead, his selfishness had strengthened. This had tainted and corrupted the whole man. When Mary made her offering to the Saviour, Judas talked about the poor, “not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.” He who was about to sell his Master for thirty pieces of silver had no heart for the poor. He who stole from the treasure in the bag was capable only of cruel, mean actions. He carried blasphemy in his heart. Had Mary’s ointment been sold, and the proceeds fallen into Judas’ possession, not one particle improved would have been the condition of the poor.
Mary heard the words of criticism, and felt the lowering glances directed toward her. Her heart trembled within her. She feared that her sister would reproach her for extravagance. The Master, too, might think her improvident. Without apology or excuse, she was about to shrink away, but the voice of her Lord was heard: “Let her alone; why trouble ye her?” He saw that she was embarrassed and distressed. He knew that in the act of service just performed, she had expressed her gratitude for the forgiveness of her sins; and he brought relief to her mind. Lifting his voice above the murmur of criticism, he said, “She hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.”
“She hath done what she could,” Christ continued; “she is come beforehand to anoint my body to the burying.” Jesus knew that when Mary and those accompanying her should go to the sepulcher to anoint him, they would not find a dead Saviour, whose body needed their loving ministrations, but a living Christ.
Mary could not answer her accusers. She could not explain why she had anointed Christ on this occasion. But the Holy Spirit had planned for her. Inspiration has no reasons to give. An unseen presence, it speaks to the mind and soul, and moves the hand to action. Thus many actions are performed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Christ told Mary the meaning of her act, the full significance of which she had not understood. He gave her more than he received. “In that she hath poured this ointment on my body,” he said, “she did it for my burial.” Mary did not then think of connecting death with her gift of love. But Christ was to die; his body was to be broken. He was to rise from the tomb, and the fragrance of his life was to fill the earth. “Verily I say unto you,” he declared, “wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done be told for a memorial of her.”
Mary’s act was in marked contrast with what Judas was about to do. He was soon to betray his Lord into the hands of cruel and blood-thirsty men. What a sharp lesson Christ might have given him who had dropped the seed of criticism and evil-thinking into the minds ofthe disciples! How justly the criticiser might have been criticised! He who reads the motives of every heart, who understands every action, who weighs the spirit that prompts to action, might have opened before those at the feast dark chapters in the experience of Judas. The hollow pretense on which the traitor based his words might have been laid bare; for he did not sympathize with the poor, nor make efforts to relieve them. But had Christ unmasked Judas, this would have been used as a reason for the betrayal; and though charged with being a thief, Judas would have gained sympathy, even among the disciples.
The love that Mary expressed for Christ made apparent the selfishness of Judas. By commending the action that Judas had so severely condemned, Christ rebuked Judas. This should have brought him to his senses. He should have been led to investigate his motives, and to confess that his judgment of Mary’s action had been wrong. But his past experience had not been one of repentance and confession. His narrow, selfish ideas had often been rebuked by Christ in a general way. In his teachings Christ had presented the danger of selfishness and avarice. But Judas had not benefited by the instruction given. He did not take Christ’s words into his heart, engraving them on his character. Of him it could be said: ‘Every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.’
Judas was given opportunities and privileges which, had they been improved, would have constituted him a man having that faith which works by love and purifies the soul. He would have been cleansed from selfishness and covetousness. Light was given him, but he refused to act on this light. His character was not changed for the better; his heart was not purified. The opportunities given him were not appreciated. He did not appropriate the truth, and put it into practice in the service of God. His mind was open to receive the temptations of the prince of darkness, and he fell into the snare prepared for him. He wanted his own way; and as the Lord does not force any man to do him service, he was permitted to entertain the temptations of the enemy. Instead of resisting Satan, he admitted him, and therefore he was controlled by a spirit that led him to criticise the words and works of Christ.
The Saviour’s love for his followers can not be measured; and Judas could not but see the lovable traits of his Master’s character, his sympathy and compassion, because they were in such marked contrast with his own. But the words spoken by Christ as he rebuked him for criticising Mary’s action rankled in his heart. He was not humbled, but provoked, by the reproof. He said to himself, ‘I will be revenged for this reproof.’ By betraying Christ, he thought to obtain a large sum of money. He went directly from the supper to the chief priests, and agreed to deliver Christ into their hands. The priests were greatly rejoiced, ‘and they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.’
The history of Judas is given as a representation of the history of some who will be in the church till the close of this earth’s history. There are more than one Judas among the professed followers of Christ. They are to be found in every country, in every church. Persons that are not Christians are brought into church relationship. They may appear to serve Christ; but because of this, it does not follow that they have the love of Christ in their hearts. There are those who have the name of being in the service of Christ, but who are inspired by the same spirit as was Judas.
Not always is a man a Christian because he professes to be a disciple of Christ. Though a disciple, Judas never understood Christ. He refused the light given him. He who sets his feet in a wrong path is very apt to misunderstand. He is blind; he can not see. He misinterprets what he hears, giving it a meaning that is altogether wrong. The Holy Spirit must guide the imagination, or words will be so placed that they will do harm. Wise words, words that the Lord has spoken, words tender and kind and true, will be given a meaning that God never meant them to have.
There are to-day those who have acted as did Judas. Every opportunity has been given them to hear the word of truth, and to be sanctified through it; but they refuse to eat the bread of life. They have been given light, but they have refused to walk in it, and the light has become darkness to them. That which they once loved and upheld, they now hate and tear down. Filled with rage, they treat as poison what once was light and joy to them.
‘Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.’ ‘Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and who say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?’

BE THOU MY ALL.

By Emma C. Dowd

Be thou my Friend, my close Companion ever! Earth's paths diverge as comrades onward wend; Friends may depart, but thou, O leave me never! Be thou my Friend!
Be thou my Guide through darkness and through light, In even the sunniest way may danger hide. Thy feet have trod my road. By day, by night, Be thou my Guide!
Be thou my King! Let me know what to do, That all my hours may serve some goodly thing; Command my life, and keep me loyal, true! Be thou my King!
Be thou my Saviour! Pardon all my sin, I grieve o'er broken laws and wrong behavior; Without thee, heaven I can not hope to win: Be thou my Saviour!
Be thou my Strength! Heavy am I with weakness, In thee alone can I be strong at length. Help me to lean on thee in trust and meekness: Be thou my Strength!
Be thou my Life! No other one can feed me; I faint, weary and worn with pain and strife; Where living waters flow, O gently lead me! Be thou my Life!
Be thou my All! Terrors sometimes enfold me; The vasts of thy great universe appall. Closer to thy dear heart, O closer hold me! Be thou my All!
—Emma C. Dowd.

STUDY II.

By A. Reader

A. READER.

Study what?—The Review. “Oh, I do! I never think of attempting to review the Sabbath-school lesson with the school without giving it a careful, prayerful examination.”
I am glad to hear you say so; however, I was not thinking of the Sabbath-school lesson especially, but of our dear old paper, the REVIEW AND HERALD; and let me say again, dear brother, do not be satisfied with the common, careless way of going over its columns, but study it. Read slowly, in the fear of God, and make the thought your own. I have been a bookworm nearly all my life of more than fifty years, and I know that bookworms amount to very little; but I know that the Lord has forgiven me that sin, and has answered to a happy extent my anxious question, “What, when, and how shall I read?”
Oh, the precious articles contained in our dear paper from week to week! Are they not written and selected by men and women who are walking with God and have learned of him? and are they not much more valuable than many of us have given them credit for? Take, for example, No. 24 of the present volume, although each number later seems just as precious.
But now let us reread that paper together, beginning with “The Things I Miss.” Ah! have we really thanked our Father for them?
Then “Caiaphas:” can we possibly conceive what he will pass through before he suffers the second death? May God save us from pride and jealousy.
Then “Our Words:” can we speak or write in future enough of them to atone in some measure for past wrongs?—Maybe so; but they must be brimful of love, joy, peace, long-suffering.
Now let us glance at “Life’s Mirror.” Who of us has committed it to memory, with a determination to profit by the sentiment?
Now Brother Westbrook’s article on the third commandment: how good the dear Lord has been to urge this upon our attention! I read that article over four times, thanking the Lord more heartily at each reading. The next day I met a dear old Irishman, a member of the Catholic Church, spading on the street, and swearing because of the hardness of the ground.
I gave him this new version of the third commandment in as kindly a manner as I knew how, and he received it in the same way.
“Rome in the Book of Daniel”—here is portrayed the sad fate of a nation that was inconsistent with its profession. Then follow “The Hour of God’s Judgment Is Come” and “Be Thou Prepared.”
Then that good “Food for Soul and Body.”
Then the good things in the Home department, and “Suitable Reading for Children.”
Then the Editorial department—“The Third Angel’s Message: The Place of Sunday Legislation in the Making of the Beast;” the “Studies in Galatians: the Two Covenants;” “Mine;” “The Cause of Babylon’s Fall Is Revealed;” and “A Call” to the church-school work.
And now comes the last, but by no means the least,—Brother and Sister Lamie’s faithful efforts in Scotland. We said, when they and their dear ones left us, “We’ll pray for you;” and now we know that God has blessed them.
And besides all this, there are precious bits of news, and the last-page notes, telling us how stand the world’s affairs as related to the signs of the times and of the end.
Is there a Seventh-day Adventist on the globe who does not regard the REVIEW AND HERALD as one of God’s special instruments in the closing work of the gospel?—I think not. But when we take it in our hands as it comes to us from week to week, and begin to peruse it, do we fully and clearly sense this fact?

LIFE

By Mary C. Wilson

MARY C. WILSON.
(St. Helena, Cal.)
God is the very embodiment of life. John 5 : 26.
1. His is a living throne. Ezekiel 1.
2. A river of life flows from the throne. Rev. 22 : 1.
3. On its banks grows the tree of life. Rev. 22 : 2.
4. God's words are life. John 6 : 63; Genesis 1.
5. Thus, he is the fountain of life, filling with life everything connected with himself. Ps. 36 : 9.
6. In order to have life, we must connect with him. 1 John 5 : 12.
7. In his natural condition, man is alienated from the life of God. Eph. 4 : 18.
8. His iniquities are what thus separates him from God. Isa. 59 : 2.
9. Sin separates because (Hab. 1 : 13) God can not sanction sin in the least degree.
10. Since sin separates from him who is life, him who is the only source of life, it surely must bring death. James 1 : 15.
11. The Jews in Christ's day refused to forsake their sins, come to Christ, and obtain life. John 5 : 40.
12. It is not because God is angry and destroys the sinner, that death comes to him; but his own sins keep him separated from the only life there is, so only death can follow. Eze. 18 : 30-32.
13. God declares that he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; and he pleads with the sinner to turn and not die. Eze. 33 : 11.
14. How much sin will it require to separate from God?—“No one will ever receive the seal of God as long as there is one sin upon his character.” See Hab. 1 : 13.

Whom Christ Pardons He First Makes Penitent

“Whom Christ pardons he first makes penitent.”

THE SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK.

By Alonzo T. Jones

A. T. JONES.
I HAVE been appointed to speak to-day on the Sabbath-school work, especially as it is at the present time — its present work in the studies now before the school. The Sabbath-school work is, plainly enough, school work — school work for Sabbath. It is a school that is held on the Sabbath, in which instruction is given, as in a school, by teachers.
So far, then, a part of the subject that was presented here the last time that I spoke, is present instruction for to-day,— as to what is teaching; as to what is the work of a school, and of teachers in school. I may refer to that for a few minutes, to recall the thought of what is true teaching. To teach is to show; to show how; to lead the way, in the doing of things. So teaching is not theorizing at all: it is substantial, concrete — the actual, practical “showing how” to do things.
In the Sabbath-school, of course, the teaching is showing the way to God; is teaching the truth; is showing the way of truth to people who do not know it. You remember the definition I read, of teaching, that other day, from the French,— “To show the shortest way out of the wood to those who have lost their way.” I then quoted several expressions of Scripture, showing that all mankind have gone out of the way, and have lost their way in the darkness, the mist, and the maze of the wood of iniquity, and transgression, and sin.
When mankind had thus gone out of the way of God, they were indeed like lost sheep: they could not find the way back. It is the peculiarity of a lost sheep that he does not know which way to turn. Other animals may get lost, and find their way out and home; but a sheep, lost, is utterly confused: he is lost for good; he does not have the first idea of how to get home. Therefore, the Scripture puts it: “All we like sheep have gone astray.” Isa. 53: 6. “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant.” Ps. 119: 176.
When mankind had all, thus, like sheep, gone astray, and were utterly unable to find the way out of the woods and home, God, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, sent to us a Teacher to teach us the way to God: and he is a true teacher, one who shows the way. Consequently, when he was sent to be, indeed, the Great Shepherd of his sheep in the world, to lead us back home, he did not attempt to do that in any other way than by coming here, and putting himself just where we are; and then finding the way out — being led out by God unto the home of all, to his place at the right hand of God. And having so done, he now says to all mankind, Come now, “learn of me;” this is the way: “I am the Way;” come, “take my yoke upon you, and learn of me,” and you shall know the way.
So he started from just where we are; and he found “the shortest way” to the throne of God, and to the sure place at the right hand of God forevermore. And there he is ever since, our Teacher, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, who gathered the lambs and carried them in his bosom, and leads us all, all the way.
He asks no one to take a step that he himself has not first taken. He knows perfectly the way, having gone over it: and he does not ask us even to go over the way alone, which he has gone over before us; but, having gone before us all the way to the throne of God, he comes to us again, and goes over the way WITH US, hand in hand, taking us with him to the throne of God at the right hand of God, where we, with him, shall sit down amid the pleasures that he has prepared for us forevermore.
That is the lesson that is sent to us, to be taught, to be studied, and to be learned, in this school for the Sabbath day, the Sabbath-school. And since he has gone away from the world in person, bodily, as he was when he was here first, he has left others in his stead to call men to God; to be in the world as he was, and as he is in the world; to be teachers.
But we must all be sure that we learn the lesson, or else we can not teach it. He can not teach who has not first learned. You and I can not teach; we can not show the way to God; we can not show the people how to find the way, nor how to walk in the way when they have found it; until we ourselves have learned the lesson of how to find the way to God, and how to walk in the way after having found it. We can not teach these until we have learned them; and we can not learn them except from him who is “the Way,” and who is the original Teacher of the way.
And, having learned these things, then it is the sole work of the school for the Sabbath to teach these things. There is nothing else to be taught. And anything that has not that lesson in it, anything that has not in it the elements of showing how — of showing the people the way out of darkness into light, and then the way of light after they have got into light — anything that is not that, has no place in the school for the Sabbath, has no place in the Sabbath-school.
Now the work of the Sabbath-school, at this present time, is exactly that; and that in a certain sense, more definitely than it ever was before in our Sabbath-school work. I mean the study of the book of Galatians. This is not to say that any of the former Sabbath-school lessons did not teach the way of salvation, nor that those who have been teaching those lessons have not been teaching the way and giving instruction concerning how to get into the way of salvation. But this is to say that, in the studies now before the Sabbath-school, the way of salvation is, in a certain sense, more definitely made known, and especially how to walk, being in the way, than it ever was in the Sabbath-school lessons before. This, simply because it is the study of Galatians.
That you may see this, I cite a verse in the first chapter, over which you have gone. You remember this expression: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” And then, to make it certain that that is a deliberately formed and thought-out statement, he repeats it: “As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” Verses 6–9.
That is not, in itself, the putting of a curse upon any one who would do that; but anybody who does that shows by it that he is already under the curse. Nothing but the gospel saves from the curse. He who has not the gospel can not be saved from the curse; and hence he has the curse. There are only two things in the world — the gospel and the curse.
Now, notice that the gospel — that is, the way of God — the way of God’s salvation — is so set forth in the book of Galatians that, though “an angel from heaven” were to come down to-day and preach the gospel in the Sabbath-schools, he could not preach to you a single thing that is not there: he could not do it any better than it is done there.
Then, when there is given to us a letter from God,— a treatise given by the Lord, in which he has presented the gospel so certainly, so clearly, so positively, that an angel from heaven could not better it if he tried,— when to swerve from it, to teach differently from it, would only be to put one’s self under the curse,— then has not the Lord, in that thing, given to us the gospel in a way, and in a sense, that is not found in any other way or in any other book?
The Sabbath-schools are now studying that epistle which God has so given — his own gospel, given in such a way — that, though so long ago given, if, to-day, an angel from heaven were to try to preach the gospel, and were to differ from what is there given, he would not preach the gospel at all, but would only bring himself under the curse, with all the people who should go that way with him. Then, that being so, when God has so brought it around that all the Sabbath-schools are studying that gospel there given, is it not true that the work of teaching these lessons in the Sabbath-schools is in that sense such as we never had before? It is exactly the work of Christ, which he did in the world when he came. It is showing mankind the way unto God,— the shortest way out of the wood in which we are lost,— and the way of righteousness, after we have got into it.
Then, in order to teach that lesson, what is essential, first of all? — To learn the lesson. In order to show people that way, every one who is to teach must first of all know that way, as it is shown in the book of Galatians.
Yet it is true that already — though only the first chapter has been covered — there have been found those who think that it is “dry,” “very dry.”
What is it that is so dry? Is it the gospel given in such sincerity, in such fullness and perfection, that an angel from heaven could not preach it any differently? Is that “very dry”? If that should prove to me “very dry,” would that fact not prove that I do not have that gospel? More than that, would it not prove that I do not have any confidence in it? When the gospel, which is the gospel of salvation of God, given by the Lord himself, is given to me for my salvation; and it fails to me to teach lessons in which that gospel is to be set forth, and I find the lessons, and the whole arrangement, “very dry,” — then what can the Lord possibly do for me? The gospel is the only means he has of saving anybody. I profess to be in the way of salvation: I profess to have received the gospel. I am called upon to teach the way of the gospel which I profess, and in which I profess to walk; and that part of God’s great lesson book is given to me in which he himself puts that gospel before me, and in a way that an angel could not give it any differently and still preach the gospel. I have it so, and yet to me it is “very dry:” it does not seem that I can getanything out of it: it is “too tedious.” That is a sad showing for me: not for the gospel, nor for the Sabbath-school lessons, nor for the book of Galatians; but for ME.
In that case, the thing for me to do—the first of all things, and the only thing, for me to do—is to get into the place where the gospel of God’s salvation will be to me salvation indeed. And when that is so, it is written—written for everlasting, for it is everlastingly true—that “with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” Isa. 12: 1–3. [Voice: Amen.] He who has the salvation of God; he who knows the gospel of God, and what is this salvation—instead of its ever by any possibility being to him “dry,” much less “very dry,” it is simply the wells of salvation eternally flowing; and he is ever drinking to the full.

SOWING FOR PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL HEALTH

By David Paulson; W. S. Sadler

David Paulson ✠ W. S. Sadler

STRUCTURE BUILDERS, OR THE PROTEIDS.

(Continued.)

THE DIGESTION OF PROTEIDS.

Most of the ordinary foods are furnished us by the hand of nature in a solid or semisolid state. When they have finally been transformed into human structure, they again become solid, such as bone; semisolid, as muscle; or liquid, as blood. The principal function of digestion, therefore, seems to be to change the solid food into a fluid, so that it can be passed through the intestinal walls, and then be carried by the blood to various parts of the body, there to be deposited to become a part of the bodily structure.
The chemical composition of starch is very simple, consisting of six parts of carbon, ten parts of hydrogen, and five parts of oxygen. The digestive elements can readily transform it into a solution, which can easily be passed through the intestinal membrane; while the chemical composition of the proteids, although not definitely known, is extremely complicated. One author has given it as six hundred parts of carbon, nine hundred and sixty parts of hydrogen, one hundred and fifty-four parts of nitrogen, one part of iron, three parts of sulphur, and one hundred and seventy-nine parts of oxygen. See Verworn’s General Physiology, page 104.

GASTRIC JUICE.

Nature has made thorough provision for the digestion of proteids by arranging that they should be subjected for several hours to the continuous action of the gastric juice, whose only function seems to be to act upon the proteids. The change which takes place in the digestion of proteids might be illustrated by the unlinking of a long chain into shorter sections. When this change has been accomplished, it is then in a soluble condition, known as peptone, and can be passed through the intestinal walls into the blood. It appears that this change is only effected to enable it to pass through the intestinal walls, for as it circulates in the blood, it appears as if these links had again united; for in the blood we find the proteids in practically their original condition. See Schäfer’s Physiology, page 25.

PANCREATIC JUICE.

If, for any reason, there are some proteids that have not been fully acted upon in the stomach, they still have another opportunity after they have passed into the small intestine; for here they meet a very active digestive fluid, manufactured by the pancreas, which lays hold in a thorough manner upon any particles that have not already been digested, and completes the process.

INTESTINAL JUICE.

Along the entire length of the small intestine there is manufactured a weak digestive fluid, which has a slight transforming action on any food substance that may have escaped the attention of either the saliva, gastric juice, or pancreatic juice. The almost infinite care and provision that nature has made to give every particle of food an opportunity to be thoroughly digested, so that it may do its appointed work in the human system, should be a constant lesson to us that God will spare no means to give us the necessary opportunities to be subjected to that spiritual transformation which is so essential to the work of preparing us to become a part of his body on earth.

SPIRITUAL TRUTHS AND LESSONS DRAWN

FROM THE DIGESTION OF PROTEIDS.
The proteids are the structure builders in the physical realm; and in the spiritual realm we have the Bible doctrines, which serve the purpose of forming the spiritual framework, as it were, of our moral being or Christian experience. If we should abstain from physical food, would we not still continue to break down tissue by our thoughts and actions?—Most certainly. If we should forget to take spiritual food or moral nourishment, would we not also be called upon to suffer from our neglect or failure to provide the soul with food? As the promises of the Bible and their relation to the soul were compared to starch and its use in the body, so the underlying doctrines, the great cardinal truths of the word of God, being the spiritual structure builders, may most fittingly be compared to the proteids, and, like them, are of little use to the spiritual economy unless they are properly masticated, digested, and assimilated by the soul.
Unused proteids become the source of the most serious and deadly poison to the body; and just so with unused doctrines. These doctrines which do not become a part of the soul, a part of the real Christian experience,—these unassimilated doctrines,—however vital and important to begin with, under such conditions of spiritual indigestion become the source of a most serious spiritual disorder, and produce a most distressing form of moral darkness and spiritual lethargy.
The proteids, after being acted upon by the gastric juice in the stomach, next come in contact with the pancreatic juice, the all-round and most complete digestive agent in the body; for it acts upon all the important food elements. So living faith lays hold of moral nourishment, whether in the form of Bible truth, present duty, or missionary opportunities, and prepares it to enter into the formation of the moral character without further delay. Thus it is that “the just shall live by faith,” and “without faith it is impossible to please him.”
As the new-born babe is unprepared to take into its stomach all forms of physical proteids, just so the new convert, or new-born Christian, is entirely unprepared to at once receive into his moral being all forms of the spiritual proteids—the doctrines—the strong meat. But as the teeth soon put in their appearance in the infant, and the digestive juices begin to be more active, so with the young convert: he soon begins to acquire an appetite for still stronger meat, which is indicated by the inquiries he makes concerning the doctrines and deep teachings of the word of God. The sameall-wise Creator presides over both the physical and spiritual appetites and digestive processes. The young convert, like the infant, must be fed upon milk,—the sincere milk of the Word,—but the growth that is thereby induced will soon prepare him for the reception of the deeper things of God. It is just as great a mistake, and indicates the same great error of judgment, to undertake to feed the young Christian with the strong doctrines of the Bible, as it would be to feed an infant with solid food. The results in either instance are anything but satisfactory; and the lesson learned in either case should effectually admonish us not to attempt to repeat the experiment.

ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE PROTEIDS.

Neither men nor the lower animals have the power to subsist upon inorganic, earthy substances. So God, through the plants, lays hold of the earth, and by a marvelous transformation changes these substances into wholesome and palatable food, as found in the grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables. The flesh of both man and animals represents these food substances as they are being torn down—they are one step nearer the earth. This accounts for the large amount of waste products that always accompanies flesh foods. The natural products of the earth—grains, fruits, etc.—need no eliminating organs to carry off waste products; for they simply build up, and do not in any sense tear down: while man and the lower animals tear down that which has been previously constructed by the plant; and it is this tearing-down process that results in the production of poisonous waste material. When it is possible for us to secure our nourishment in the original form in which God has prepared it, why should we suppose that good food could be improved by becoming a part of an animal for a time, when in eating it we are compelled to take with it a portion of the sewage that is always seeping through animal tissue?

EATING FOR STRENGTH, OR FOR DRUNKENNESS.

The structure of the human body is made up largely of proteids. Animals’ bodies are also made up largely of the same substance. There are two ways in which we may obtain these proteids for our nourishment: first, from plants, or the vegetable world, where we may get them first-hand in all their purity and nutrition; second, from flesh foods, which contain proteids; but along with this latter source we are compelled to eat both the animal and the waste products found in its muscles at the time of death. And so such proteids, while furnishing us nourishment for the development of the body, must also produce, as they did in the children of Israel, “leanness of soul.” Ps. 106: 15.
Inspiration bids man eat for strength, and not for drunkenness. Eccl. 10: 17. Things that are alive and nutritious may be converted into strength; but things that are dying, dead, and poisonous must, to a certain extent, serve to cause drunkenness. Every man, woman, and child must settle this question: Shall I eat for strength instead of drunkenness, or for drunkenness instead of strength? The stomach of a dog has such digestive powers that if it is fed decomposing meat, and then is killed an hour later, it will be found that this meat has been thoroughly disinfected in the dog’s stomach. When man descends to the dog’s level, in eating the scavengers of both earth and sea, even though he has thus dragged his physical nature to these low depths, nevertheless, he finds himself minus the dog’s digestive ability.

SOURCES OF SPIRITUAL FOOD.

Just as the flesh-food diet provides substances that may be utilized by the body, but along with them compels the user to partake of large quantities of poisonous waste matter, so the man who chooses to forsake true Bible sources of truth,—the snow-waters of Lebanon,—and goes to the polluted streams of the valley, may there get some things that will in a measure feed his soul; but along with this inferior spiritual food he must take much spiritual poison. One of Satan’s master policies is that of perversion and adulteration. He does not always seek to convince you that you need no moral food. He is satisfied with contaminating your moral food supply, so as continually to benumb the sensibilities of the soul and wither its aspirations. Spiritual adulteration, in its sphere, has kept pace with the physical adulteration, in its sphere. Persons go off after this movement and that ism, and secure some truth. So-called Christian science, theosophy, Spiritualism, etc., all have some things in them that are either truth or once were truth, just as the proteids of the animal were once the pure and ideal proteids of the plant-world. But why should intelligent human beings, either physically or spiritually, forsake the bounties of nature and the pure truth of revelation, to go after these second-hand, polluted, dead, and dying things?
Copyrighted, 1900, by David Paulson and W. S. Sadler.
Continue reading: HOW TO PRONOUNCE CHINESE NAMES