40
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene
system the nourishment that is to be found in unbolted wheat bread.
Its common use will not keep the system in the best condition. Spices
at first irritate the tender coating of the stomach, but finally destroy the
natural sensitiveness of this delicate membrane. The blood becomes
fevered, the animal propensities are aroused, while the moral and
intellectual powers are weakened, and become servants to the baser
passions. The mother should study to set a simple yet nutritious diet
before her family.
God has furnished man with abundant means for the gratification
of an unperverted appetite. He has spread before him the products of
the earth,—a bountiful variety of food that is palatable to the taste and
nutritious to the system. Of these our benevolent heavenly Father says
we may freely eat. Fruits, grains, and vegetables, prepared in a simple
way, free from spice and grease of all kinds, make, with milk or cream,
the most healthful diet. They impart nourishment to the body, and give
a power of endurance and a vigor of intellect that are not produced by
a stimulating diet.
Those who use flesh-meats freely, do not always have an unclouded
brain and an active intellect, because the use of the flesh of animals
tends to cause a grossness of body, and to benumb the finer sensibilities
of the mind. The liability to disease is increased by flesh-eating. We
do not hesitate to say that meat is not essential to the maintenance of
health and strength.
Those who subsist largely upon meat, cannot avoid sometimes
eating flesh which is more or less diseased. In many cases the process
of fitting animals for market produces an unhealthy condition. Shut
away from light and pure air, inhaling the atmosphere of filthy stables,
the entire body soon becomes contaminated with foul matter; and
when such flesh is received into the human body, it corrupts the blood,
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and disease is produced. If the person already has impure blood, this
unhealthful condition will be greatly aggravated. But few can be made
to believe that it is the meat they have eaten which has poisoned their
blood and caused their suffering. Many die of diseases wholly due to
meat-eating, when the real cause is scarcely suspected by themselves
or others. Some do not immediately feel its effects, but this is no
evidence that it does not hurt them. It may be doing its work surely
upon the system, yet for the time being the victim may realize nothing
of it.