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Counsels on Health
Thousands drag out their unprincipled lives, tainting their associates
and perpetuating their debased passions by transmitting them to their
children. They take the responsibility of giving to them the stamp of
their own characters.
Moral Principle the Only Safeguard
I come again to Christians. If all who profess to obey the law of
God were free from iniquity, my soul would be delivered; but they
are not. Even some who profess to keep all the commandments of
God are guilty of the sin of adultery. What can I say to arouse their
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benumbed sensibilities? Moral principle, strictly carried out, becomes
the only safeguard of the soul. If ever there was a time when the
diet should be of the most simple kind, it is now. Meat should not be
placed before our children. Its influence is to excite and strengthen the
lower passions and has a tendency to deaden the moral powers. Grains
and fruits prepared free from grease, and in as natural a condition
as possible, should be the food for the tables of all who claim to be
preparing for translation to heaven. The less feverish the diet, the more
easily can the passions be controlled. Gratification of taste should not
be consulted irrespective of physical, intellectual, or moral health.
Indulgence of the baser passions will lead very many to shut their
eyes to the light, for they fear that they will see sins which they are
unwilling to forsake. All may see if they will. If they choose darkness
rather than light, their criminality will be none the less. Why do not
men and women read, and become intelligent upon these things, which
so decidedly affect their physical, intellectual, and moral strength?
God has given you a habitation to care for and preserve in the best
condition for His service and glory. Your bodies are not your own.
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost
which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For
ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in
your spirit, which are God’s.”
1 Corinthians 6:19, 20
. “Know ye not
that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in
you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for
the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
1 Corinthians 3:16,
17
.
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