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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
school from day to day makes them nervous and diseased. Their
bodies are dwarfed because of the exhausted condition of the nervous
system. And if the lamp of life goes out, the parents and teachers do not
consider that they had any direct influence in quenching the vital spark.
When standing by the graves of their children, the afflicted parents
look upon their bereavement as a special dispensation of Providence,
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when, by inexcusable ignorance, their own course has destroyed the
lives of their children. To then charge their death to Providence is
blasphemy. God wanted the little ones to live and be disciplined, that
they might have beautiful characters and glorify Him in this world and
praise Him in the better world.
Parents and teachers, in taking the responsibility of training these
children, do not feel their accountability before God to become ac-
quainted with the physical organism, that they may treat the bodies
of their children and pupils in a manner to preserve life and health.
Thousands of children die because of the ignorance of parents and
teachers. Mothers will spend hours over needless work upon their own
dresses and those of their children to fit them for display, and will then
plead that they cannot find time to read up and obtain the information
necessary to take care of the health of their children. They think it less
trouble to trust their bodies to the doctors. In order to be in accordance
with fashion and custom, many parents have sacrificed the health and
lives of their children.
To become acquainted with the wonderful human organism, the
bones, muscles, stomach, liver, bowels, heart, and pores of the skin,
and to understand the dependence of one organ upon another for the
healthful action of all, is a study in which most mothers take no interest.
They know nothing of the influence of the body upon the mind and of
the mind upon the body. The mind, which allies finite to the infinite,
they do not seem to understand. Every organ of the body was made to
be servant to the mind. The mind is the capital of the body. Children
are allowed to eat flesh meats, spices, butter, cheese, pork, rich pastry,
and condiments generally. They are also allowed to eat irregularly
and between meals of unhealthful food. These things do their work
of deranging the stomach, exciting the nerves to unnatural action, and
enfeebling the intellect. Parents do not realize that they are sowing the
seed which will bring forth disease and death.
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