How to Preserve Our Sensibilities
[
Testimonies for the Church 3:50-52
(1871).]
God created man a little lower than the angels and bestowed upon
him attributes that will, if properly used, make him a blessing to the
world and cause him to reflect the glory to the Giver. But although
made in the image of God, man has, through intemperance, violated
principle and God’s law in his physical nature. Intemperance of any
kind benumbs the perceptive organs and so weakens the brain nerve
power that eternal things are not appreciated, but placed upon a level
with the common. The higher powers of the mind, designed for ele-
vated purposes, are brought into slavery to the baser passions. If our
physical habits are not right, our mental and moral powers cannot be
strong; for great sympathy exists between the physical and the moral.
The apostle Peter understood this and raised his voice of warning to
his brethren: “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims,
abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.”
1 Peter 2:11
....
Those who have had the light upon the subjects of eating and
dressing with simplicity, in obedience to physical and moral laws, and
who turn from the light which points out their duty, will shun duty in
other things. If they blunt their consciences to avoid the cross which
they will have to take up to be in harmony with natural law, they will,
in order to shun reproach, violate the Ten Commandments. There is a
decided unwillingness with some to endure the cross and despise the
shame. Some will be laughed out of their principles. Conformity to
the world is gaining ground among God’s people, who profess to be
pilgrims and strangers, waiting and watching for the Lord’s appearing.
[106]
There are many among professed Sabbathkeepers in-----who are more
firmly wedded to worldly fashions and lusts than they are to healthy
bodies, sound minds, or sanctified hearts....
The Lord, by close and pointed truths for these last days, is cleaving
out a people from the world and purifying them unto Himself. Pride
and unhealthful fashions, the love of display, the love of approbation—
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