Chapter 11—Extremes in Diet
The Value of a Consistent Course
315. Many of the views held by Seventh-day Adventists differ
widely from those held by the world in general. Those who advocate
an unpopular truth should, above all others, seek to be consistent in
their own life. They should not try to see how different they can be
from others, but how near they can come to those whom they wish to
influence, that they may help them to the positions they themselves so
highly prize. Such a course will commend the truths they hold.
Those who are advocating a reform in diet should, by the provision
they make for their own table, present the advantages of hygiene in
the best light. They should so exemplify its principles as to commend
it to the judgment of candid minds.
There is a large class who will reject any reform movement, how-
ever reasonable, if it lays a restriction upon the appetite. They consult
taste, instead of reason and the laws of health. By this class, all who
leave the beaten track of custom and advocate reform will be opposed,
and accounted radical, let them pursue ever so consistent a course. But
no one should permit opposition or ridicule to turn him from the work
of reform, or cause him to lightly regard it. He who is imbued with
the spirit which actuated Daniel, will not be narrow or conceited, but
he will be firm and decided in standing for the right. In all his asso-
ciations, whether with his brethren or with others, he will not swerve
from principle, while at the same time he will not fail to manifest a
noble, Christlike patience. When those who advocate hygienic reform
carry the matter to extremes, people are not to blame if they become
disgusted. Too often our religious faith is thus brought into disrepute,
and in many cases those who witness such exhibitions of inconsistency
can never afterward be brought to think that there is anything good in
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the reform. These extremists do more harm in a few months than they
can undo in a lifetime. They are engaged in a work which Satan loves
to see go on.
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