Fragments
131
Such do not know what they are talking about. While men and women
professing godliness are diseased from the crown of the head to the
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sole of the feet; while their physical, mental, and moral energies are
enfeebled through gratification of depraved appetite and excessive
labor, how can they weigh the evidences of truth, and comprehend
the requirements of God? If their moral and intellectual faculties are
beclouded, they cannot appreciate the value of the atonement or the
exalted character of the work of God, nor delight in the study of his
word. How can a nervous dyspeptic be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asketh him, a reason for the hope that is in him, with
meekness and fear? How soon would such a one become confused
and agitated, and by his diseased imagination be led to view matters
in an altogether wrong light, and by a lack of that meekness and calm-
ness which characterized the life of Christ, be caused to dishonor his
profession while contending with unreasonable men?
As a people, with all our profession of health reform, we eat too
much. Indulgence of appetite is the greatest cause of physical and
mental debility, and lies at the foundation of a large share of the
feebleness which is apparent everywhere.
The controlling power of appetite will prove the ruin of thousands,
who, if they had conquered on this point, would have had the moral
power to gain the victory over every other temptation. But those who
are slaves to appetite will fail of perfecting Christian character. The
continual transgression of man for over six thousand years has brought
sickness, pain, and death as its fruit. And as we draw near the close of
time, Satan’s temptations to indulge appetite will be more powerful,
and more difficult to resist.
There are but few who are roused sufficiently to understand how
much their habits of diet affect their health, their character, their use-
fulness in this world, and their eternal destiny. I saw that it is the duty
of those who have received the light from heaven, and have realized
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the benefit of walking in it, to manifest a greater interest for those
who are still suffering for want of knowledge. Sabbath-keepers who
are looking for the soon appearing of their Saviour should be the last
to manifest a lack of interest in this great work of reform. Men and
women must be instructed, and ministers and people should feel that
the burden of the work rests upon them to agitate the subject and seek
to educate others.