Chapter 13—Diet in Childhood
Counsel Based on Divine Instruction
339. The inquiry of fathers and mothers should be, “What shall we
do unto the child that shall be born unto us?” We have brought before
the reader what God has said concerning the course of the mother
before the birth of her children. But this is not all. The angel Gabriel
was sent from the heavenly courts to give directions for the care of
children after their birth, that parents might fully understand their duty.
About the time of Christ’s first advent the angel Gabriel came to
Zacharias with a message similar to that given to Manoah. The aged
priest was told that his wife should bear a son, whose name should be
called John. “And,” said the angel, “thou shalt have joy and gladness;
and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of
the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be
filled with the Holy Ghost.” This child of promise was to be brought
up with strictly temperate habits. An important work of reform was to
be committed to him, to prepare the way for Christ.
Intemperance in every form existed among the people. Indulgence
in wine and luxurious food was lessening physical strength, and de-
basing the morals to such an extent that the most revolting crimes
did not appear sinful. The voice of John was to sound forth from the
wilderness in stern rebuke for the sinful indulgences of the people, and
his own abstemious habits were also to be a reproof of the excesses of
his time.—
The Signs of the Times, September 13, 1910
The True Beginning of Reform
The efforts of our temperance workers are not sufficiently far-
reaching to banish the curse of intemperance from our land. Habits
once formed are hard to overcome. The reform should begin with the
mother before the birth of her children; and if God’s instructions were
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faithfully obeyed, intemperance would not exist.
It should be the constant effort of every mother to conform her
habits to God’s will, that she may work in harmony with Him to pre-
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