Chapter 5—Extremes in Diet
Many of the views held by Seventh-day Adventists differ widely
from those held by the world in general. Those who advocate an
unpopular truth should, above all others, seek to be consistent in their
own life. They should not try to see how different they can be from
others, but how near they can come to those whom they wish to in-
fluence, that they may help them to the positions they themselves so
highly prize. Such a course will commend the truths they hold.
Those who are advocating a reform in diet should, by the provision
they make for their own table, present the advantages of hygiene in
the best light. They should so exemplify its principles as to commend
it to the judgment of candid minds.
There is a large class who will reject any reform movement, how-
ever reasonable, if it lays a restriction upon the appetite. They consult
taste, instead of reason and the laws of health. By this class, all who
leave the beaten track of custom and advocate reform will be opposed,
and accounted radical, let them pursue ever so consistent a course.
But no one should permit opposition or ridicule to turn him from
the work of reform, or cause him to lightly regard it. He who is
imbued with the spirit which actuated Daniel, will not be narrow or
conceited, but he will be firm and decided in standing for the right.
In all his associations, whether with his brethren or with others, he
will not swerve from principle, while at the same time he will not fail
to manifest a noble, Christ-like patience. When those who advocate
hygienic reform carry the matter to extremes, people are not to blame
if they become disgusted. Too often our religious faith is thus brought
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into disrepute, and in many cases those who witness such exhibitions
of inconsistency can never afterward be brought to think that there is
anything good in the reform. These extremists do more harm in a few
months than they can undo in a life-time. They are engaged in a work
which Satan loves to see go on.
Two classes have been presented before me: first, those who are
not living up to the light which God has given them; secondly, those
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