icine to help him. "Why didn't some men come on this errand?" the missionary asked. "Because they were afraid," said the boys. "Why were not you afraid?" "We were," said the boys, "but we thought it was what Jesus Christ would like us to do, so we came." (Text.)
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FOLLOWING, INEXACT
Two persons were walking together one
very dark night, when one said to the other,
who knew the road well, "I shall follow you
so as to be right." He soon fell into a ditch
and blamed the other for his fall. The other
said, "Then you did not follow me exactly,
for I walked safely." (Text.)
(1116)
FOLLY
Are there not people comparable to those discribed below, who, instead of seeking the substance of religion, are content with the mere breath of theology; and others who, instead of seeing and facing the world's evils, "take out their eyes" whenever anything disagreeable happens along?
Lucian says the people on the moon lived
on frogs that they cooked over a fire, but
that, instead of eating the flesh, they simply
breathed in the smell that came from the
cooking; and that they had a custom of
taking their eyes out of their heads to save
them from seeing anything that might displease
them.
(1117)
See Carelessness, Cost of; Miracles.
FOOD AND CULTURE
A careful study of historical statistics
shows the great influence that food and the
laws of menu have exerted on the world's
progress. Did not an uncooked apple drive
the human race out of Paradise? Did not
a mess of pottage differentiate a nation?
Did not a fit of indigestion lose the battle
of Leipsic and check the career which
threatened to change the face of Europe?
Did not tea found the American Republic?
The history of the dinner table is the history
of civilization. The culture of any people
may be gaged by its cooking and the
amount of sentiment thrown into and around
its daily meals.—Ethel A. Lennon, The Epoch.
(1118)
FOOD AND EXERCISE The instruction of the pulpit and Sunday-school may well be likened to the food provided at the family table. It is, very likely, abundant in quantity, and nutritious in quality, but food without exercise makes the sickly, dyspeptic child. Food without exercise in the church is apt to produce no better results. Even the horses in our stables can not long live without exercise. Fill their cribs ever so full of the best feed, they must yet do something to keep healthy. This is a natural law, which is imperative in the spiritual world. There are a great many dyspeptic Christians in all our churches. They are bilious and disappointed and hopeless and useless, except as they become by their continual growling and fault-finding a means of grace to the pastor and other workers. In fact, they have all the symptoms of spiritual dyspepsia. Now, the only remedy for this disease is spiritual activity. "Go to work," said the famous English doctor to his rich, dyspeptic patient; "go to work. Live on sixpence a day, and earn it."—Francis E. Clark, "Proceedings of the Religious Education Association," 1903.
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Food and Work—See Diet and Endurance. Food and World's Progress—See Food and Culture. Food Economy—See Health, Economies of. Food in Prehistoric Times—See Prehistoric Woman. FOOLISH CONFIDENCE The King of Persia once ordered his visier to make out a list of all the fools in his dominions. He did so, and put his majesty's name at the head of them. The king asked him why, and he immediately answered: "Because you entrusted a lac of rupees to men you don't know to buy horses for you a thousand miles off, and who'll never come back." "Ay, but suppose they come back?" "Then I shall erase your name and insert theirs."—Public Opinion.
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Foolishness Prevented—See Prevention.
FOOLISHNESS SOMETIMES IS WISDOM
The wisdom or unwisdom of things is not always apparent on their face. Paul speaks of "the foolishness of preaching." Most of the great inventors and discoverers were not considered wise in the initial stages of
