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Testimonies for the Church Volume 6
that tact and ingenuity must be exercised in preparing food in the most
healthful manner. The system must be properly nourished in order to
perform its work. It is contrary to health reform, after cutting off the
great variety of unwholesome dishes, to go to the opposite extreme,
reducing the quantity and quality of the food to a low standard. Instead
of health reform this is health deform.
True Temperance
The apostle Paul writes: “Know ye not that they which run in a
race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth
the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest
that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be
a castaway.”
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
.
There are many in the world who indulge pernicious habits. Ap-
petite is the law that governs them, and because of their wrong habits
the moral sense is clouded and the power to discern sacred things is
to a great extent destroyed. But it is necessary for Christians to be
strictly temperate. They should place their standard high. Temperance
in eating, drinking, and dressing is essential. Principle should rule
instead of appetite or fancy. Those who eat too much or whose food is
of an objectionable quality are easily led into dissipation and into other
“foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdi-
tion.”
1 Timothy 6:9
. The “laborers together with God” should use
every jot of their influence to encourage the spread of true temperance
principles.
It means much to be true to God. He has claims upon all who are
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engaged in His service. He desires that mind and body be preserved in
the best condition of health, every power and endowment under the
divine control, and as vigorous as careful, strictly temperate habits can
make them. We are under obligation to God to make an unreserved
consecration of ourselves to Him, body and soul, with all the faculties
appreciated as His entrusted gifts, to be employed in His service. All
our energies and capabilities are to be constantly strengthened and
improved during this probationary period. Only those who appreciate