Some time ago we had the curiosity to read one of the quack medicine advertisements that are so regularly thrown in at the door. Two or three sentences in it were so striking that we repeat them here, omitting the name of the vaunted remedy, because we do not wish in the remotest way to assist in advertising such stuff. The reader can put in the name of almost any medicine he sees advertised, and it will fit. This particular medicine was lauded as a foe to indigestion. The advertiser said:-BEST August 24, 1903, par. 1

“No, thank you, I’ll take no cheese. I like it, but it does not like me.” How often we hear people talk so about some article of food or another! Things that please the palate do not suit the stomach, and to eat them means the pain and distress of a sharp indigestion.... They are afraid to eat. Instead of being the best of friends, as Nature intended, food has become an enemy. Now, eating is not only a necessity, but should also be one of our chief pleasures. The use of—makes it so. A moderate dose taken immediately after eating will enable you to digest almost anything you relish; and being digested, your food will do you good and strengthen you, as you get confidence in the power of—to prevent and overcome indigestion, you will enjoy your meals and no longer feel afraid of them. You can eat the things you like.BEST August 24, 1903, par. 2

That the medicine is designed especially for the purpose of enabling people to gratify their appetites without feeling any ill-effects therefrom, is evident not only from the foregoing, but from the following two paragraphs:-BEST August 24, 1903, par. 3

”—Pills prevent ill effects from excess in eating or drinking. A good dose at bedtime renders a person fit for business or labour in the morning.BEST August 24, 1903, par. 4

“The wisest and most cautious of us are sometimes tempted to eat and drink too much, and sit up too late at night. When we have been guilty of this indiscretion there is nothing in the world like—to speedily correct the unlucky results and to send us off to business next morning with a clear head and elastic step.”BEST August 24, 1903, par. 5

There is now question that medicine thus advertised will find many purchasers; for almost all the ills that people suffer arise from errors and excesses in eating; and since most people love to eat so well, merely for the pleasure of eating, that even pain will not deter them from gratifying their appetites. It follows that the promise of unlimited self-gratification without accompanying or following pain, will prove an unfailing attraction.BEST August 24, 1903, par. 6

The apostle Paul tells about men “having their conscience seared with a hot iron,” and there are very many who have got into that sad condition. Most of us know what it is to have our fingers seared with a hot iron. The skin is not blistered, so that it comes off, but hardened, so that it has no feeling. Fingers in that condition cannot distinguish between soft and rough substances; all things have the same feeling. It is not at all pleasant.BEST August 24, 1903, par. 7

There are many, however, who seek just such a condition for their consciences. They sometimes feel condemned for their evil practices, and they wish to be free from the feeling of condemnation, but have no notion of leaving off their evil ways. Now everybody must know that such a condition is the very worst thing that can come to any person. Sin is sin, whether a man is conscious of it or not; and “sin when it is finished bringeth forth death.” So long as the conscience makes one uncomfortable over sins committed, there is hope of repentance and salvation; but when the conscience is dead, and one can commit crimes and still feel perfectly easy, the case is about hopeless.BEST August 24, 1903, par. 8

What would you say now, if somebody should advertise a means sinners could be relieved of all compunctions of conscience, while still pursuing their sinful ways, “fulfilling the desires of the flesh?” Would you not say that he was in a most accursed business? But that is in reality what these patent medicine vendors are doing. A man sins against his own body, and therefore against God, because the body is the temple of God; as a result he suffers pain. This pain is the physical conscience, or remorse. It is not the sin, but is the evidence that sin has been committed. Now comes along a man who says: “I can give you something that will deaden that pain, and benumb your nerves, so that you can eat any sort of indigestible matter without consciousness of it.” The injury to the system is just the same whether one feels it or not; the pain that follows the eating of improper substances is calculated to deter the misdoer from repeating the act; but when one promises to take away the pain, so that the harmful things can be eaten and enjoyed, it is nothing else than promising an easy and pleasant way of committing suicide. Such people are enemies of the human race. We need not advise any action being taken against them, but we can shun their evil counsel.BEST August 24, 1903, par. 9

Let the reader be assured this fact, that perfect food can never injure the system when taken at proper times and in proper quantities. Even when these precautions are not heeded, it is not the food itself, but the abuse of it, that does the injury. Food which the Lord has created to be eaten with thanksgiving, if taken as God designs that it should be, can never do any injury and will never produce pain. It does only good, and produces nothing but pleasure, not only during the act of eating, but afterwards.BEST August 24, 1903, par. 10

Further, let it be accepted as a fixed fact, that no amount of medicine of any kind whatever can do away with or in any degree modify the evil effects of errors in diet. The taking of medicine for indigestion is as useless and as senseless as learning and saying prayers, or wearing a hair-shirt to cleanse the soul from sin. Both are most pernicious, because they lead a person to think that he can continue in sin with impunity.BEST August 24, 1903, par. 11

What everybody ought to know is that “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Sin, of whatever kind or degree, will do injury, and will involve the penalty, so long as it exists, no matter what the sinner does. In the matter of eating and drinking, as well as in every other act of life, this rule applies: “Put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well.” Let no man deceive you with vain words, and do not listen to anybody who says that you can safely sin. If you sin, “be sure your sin will find you out.” There is only one way to avoid the wages of sin, and that is to get rid, entirely rid of it.BEST August 24, 1903, par. 12

August 10, 1903

September 21, 1903