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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
nourishment. It was considered not so much matter “just for our-
selves.” The meals were frequently picked up, and the regular time
for eating not regarded. Every member of the family was injured
by such management. It is a sin for any of our sisters to make such
great preparations for visitors, and wrong their own families by a
spare diet which will fail to nourish the system.
The brother referred to felt a lack in his system; he was not
nourished, and he thought that meat would give him the needed
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strength. Had he been suitably cared for, his table spread at the right
time with food of a nourishing quality, all the demands of nature
would have been abundantly supplied. The butter and meat stimulate.
These have injured the stomach and perverted the taste. The sensitive
nerves of the brain have been benumbed, and the animal appetite
strengthened at the expense of the moral and intellectual faculties.
These higher powers, which should control, have been growing
weaker, so that eternal things have not been discerned. Paralysis has
benumbed the spiritual and devotional. Satan has triumphed to see
how easily he can come in through the appetite and control men and
women of intelligence, calculated by the Creator to do a good and
great work.
The case above referred to is not an isolated one; if it were, I
would not introduce it here. When Satan takes possession of the
mind, how soon the light and instruction that the Lord has graciously
given, fade away and have no force! How many frame excuses and
make necessities which have no existence, to bear them up in their
course of wrong in setting aside the light and trampling it underfoot!
I speak with assurance. The greatest objection to health reform is
that this people do not live it out; and yet they will gravely say they
cannot live the health reform and preserve their strength.
We find in every such instance a good reason why they cannot
live out the health reform. They do not live it out, and have never
followed it strictly, therefore they cannot be benefited by it. Some
fall into the error that because they discard meat they have no need to
supply its place with the best fruits and vegetables, prepared in their
most natural state, free from grease and spices. If they would only
skillfully arrange the bounties with which the Creator has surrounded
them, parents and children with a clear conscience unitedly engaging
in the work, they would enjoy simple food, and would then be able
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