164
Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods
surely undermining the constitution and preparing the system for acute
diseases, by impairing nature’s fine machinery and battering down her
fortifications erected against disease and premature decay.
Those who make a change and leave off these unnatural stimulants,
will for a time feel their loss and suffer considerably without them, as
does the drunkard who is wedded to his liquor. Take away intoxicating
drinks and he suffers terribly. But if he persists, he will soon overcome
the dreadful lack. Nature will come to his aid and remain at her post
until he again substitutes the false prop in her place. Some have so
benumbed the fine sensibilities of nature that it may require a little time
for her to recover from the abuse she has been made to suffer through
the sinful habits of man, the indulgence of an acquired, depraved
appetite, which has depressed and weakened her powers. Give nature
a chance, and she will rally, and again, perform her part nobly and
well. The use of unnatural stimulants is destructive to health and
has a benumbing influence upon the brain, making it impossible to
appreciate eternal things. Those who cherish these idols can not rightly
value the salvation which Christ has wrought out for them by a life of
self-denial, continual suffering and reproach, and by finally yielding
His own sinless life to save perishing man from death.
Testimonies for the Church 3:136
Children are allowed to eat flesh-meats, spices, butter, cheese,
pork, rich pastry, and condiments generally. They are also allowed to
eat irregularly and between meals of unhealthful food. These things do
their work of deranging the stomach, exciting the nerves to unnatural
action, and enfeebling the intellect. Parents do not realize that they are
sowing the seed which will bring forth disease and death.
The Facts of Faith 2:132
The lives of many children from five to ten and fifteen years of age
seem marked with depravity. They possess knowledge of almost every
vice. The parents are, in a great degree, at fault in this matter, and to
them will be accredited the sins of their children which their improper
course has indirectly led them to commit. They tempt their children
to indulge their appetite by placing upon their tables flesh-meats and