Health and Beauty

1908

The Practical Guide to Health - The Masterpiece of Creation

Lovers of art travel thousands of miles to visit the ancient ruins of a long-buried city, or to see a pillar, a column, all that now remains of a once famous temple erected three or four thousand years ago. Scores of volumes, representing years of toil, are devoted to descriptions of the beauties and wonders of Egyptian, Etruscan, Venetian, Grecian, Byzan-tine, and Roman structures of rare and marvelous architec-tural design. The mystery of antiquity, which is associated with these ancient ruins, has always exercised a powerful influence over the mind of man.

The most famous temple of olden times was Solomon's temple. It was the marvel of its age for design and splen-dor, and was known far and wide. This temple was built of stone and costly wood, and adorned with gold and silver and precious stones. A vast army of men spent seven years in building it, and, what was considered more remarkable, "there was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building."

But more wonderful in design and more beautiful in archi-tectural structure than any column, arch, pillar, ancient ruin, or even than Solomon's temple, is the human body. Paul told the philosophers of Athens that the "Lord of heaven and earth dwelleth not in temples made with hands;" but he does dwell in temples of his own building.

Famous ruins of ancient Egypt and Babylon date back three and four thousand years; many cities have long been buried and their places forgotten, but this rare and beautiful temple, the human body, dates back to the first week of creation.

From Adam to the present day there has been a continuous un-interrupted succession of living temples. Though the human temple is six thousand years old, and has been marred by fierce tempests without and sullen fires within, by ignorance and super-stition, by sin and sick-ness, and though it has passed through raging storms of passion and disease, yet it has weath-ered these elements of disin-tegration. Marred and de-faced as it is, it still stands, a monument of beauty to the Master Archi-tect, who, in the beginning, fashioned it after the divine similitude.

Carbon is an element necessary to all organic life. It is found in all animals and plants; it is the part that turns black when these are burned. Carbon occurs in nature in many combinations, but is found pure in only two forms, the diamond and the graphite. The diamond is pure carbon crystallized. It is perfectly transparent, emits light, and is a precious "living" stone. Graphite is pure carbon, yet it is as black as coal, and soft. The diamond and the graph-ite, both pure carbon, serve two entirely different purposes in the world.

These two forms of carbon represent in a way the dif-ference between men and the lower animals. They are made from the same material, and there is very little actual difference in the structure and function of their organs. In fact, it is impossible to tell the difference between the structure of the various corresponding organs when placed under the microscope. Why, then, may the human body be re-garded as a temple, any more than the body of any animal, inasmuch as God gives life and breath to both?

Solomon's house was made from the same kind of material as that which entered into the making of the temple. It took even more time to build Solomon's house than it did to build the temple. What was the difference? The temple was con-secrated and set apart for a sacred and holy purpose, while Solomon's house was not. This body, though made from materials common to all animals, is more than an organism; it was designed to be the temple of the living God.

While the body is not to be worshiped, it is to be held as a sacred trust. The proper care of it is just as much a part of the service due to God as is prayer or the giving of alms. A dead body is held in reverence and awe, even by uncivilized tribes, and it is against the law of nations to mutilate a body slain in battle. How much greater respect should be paid to a body which throbs with life and intelligence, and in which we have unmistakable evidence that a divine power is at work!

The diamond is carbon crystallized, hence, absolutely pure and exceedingly beautiful. The body is composed of the dust of the ground, organized by creative power, and endowed with life from God. It is composed of elements that at some past time served other forms of life, but now tarry with us for a while. Dust, sunlight, and air are converted into brain, bone, blood, and muscle. God, who takes common carbon and makes a beautiful diamond, takes common dust, molds and fashions it, breathes into it, and of it produces a being who is a candidate for immortality. Marvelous are the works of the Lord!

The body is not only wonderful for what it is, its structure, but it is more wonderful and full of mystery because of what it does, its func-tions. For a time a dead body is as marvelous in structure as a living one; but the life has gone out of it. It has lost its personality and indi-viduality, hence, its charm. Where
function is there is life, and to us function is more impor-tant than structure. The mystery of life is the mystery of God, hence to study functions is to know more of God's way of working.

It sounds strange and very much like a fairy tale to say that a large man, six feet tall, and weighing two hundred pounds, came from one single little body called a cell. Yet it is true. It is more fascinating than to read a story to follow that little cell, as it multiplies into other little cells, forming heart, lungs, brain, liver, muscles, blood, bones, until finally it has developed into a beautiful, symmetrical body.

The growth of the body is all from within. Not only is the entire body made up of little cells, but all the com-plex functions of the body are per-formed by these tiny individual bits of life. Picture 04

At one time these little bodies were thought to be sacs, and so they were called cells, which means sacs. Now we know that a cell is a great deal more than a sac. It is a living bit of something called protoplasm, a living body that breathes, and eats, and moves, and grows, and gives off other cells, and dies. Its life is just as real as a human life, and each individual human life in health depends upon the happy working together of the millions and myriads of microscopic bits of life that enter into the composition of its own body.

These little microscopic cells form every structure of the body, even to the hairs. They are sympa-thetic and neighborly, work-ing together in groups and colonies, thus forming or-gans and glands. All the cells in any one organ are similar, but the cells of dif-ferent organs and tissues possess a distinct individu-ality. Thus nine billion cells are grouped together to form the brain and spinal cord, and we call them nerve-cells. These are the most highly organized workers in the body, for through them instructions are conveyed to all the other cells. With them we think, reason, re-member, act, and are conscious of being. Another colony of cells forms gastric juice, and assists in digesting food. A very large band of busy cells, called hepatic cells, constitute the liver, which works night and day.

So, up and down the corridors of the human temple and in all the various apart-ments, everywhere are groups of cells, all exceedingly busy, and working with an intelligence that impresses one deeply that they are under the guidance of the Master Architect.

These cell workers are the builders of the body. They work with the most mathematical precision, and with infinite skill. When these cell workers are not interfered with, there is no noise or commotion or friction in the body. Altogether they make a beautiful, harmonious whole, each part co-operating with every other part. Each organ is unique in its work, striving as much for the whole as for itself.

There is nothing more beautiful in all the creation than a healthy and symmet-rically developed hu-man body, with a well-balanced intel-lect expressing itself through every feature. In the beginning, man, crowned with glory and honor, was made upright, able to talk face to face with his Maker. Possessing a conscience and high moral and reasoning powers, and having a countenance into which flash mastering mental impressions, man towers above all other creatures. The human smile can not be imitated or duplicated. The human hand, with its flexibility, adapt-ability, gracefulness, compactness, strength, and dexterity, is marvelous beyond compare. The human foot in itself is a masterpiece of creation. That a body possessed of such rare beauty and power and design should have evolved to its present state through an infinite period of time from lower organisms, is not only a colossal deception, but an idea belittling to the Creator.