Flesh Foods
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not been in this family the right management in regard to diet; there
has been irregularity. There should have been a specified time for each
meal, and the food should have been prepared in a simple form, and
free from grease; but pains should have been taken to have it nutri-
tious, healthful, and inviting. In this family, as also in many others, a
special parade has been made for visitors; many dishes prepared and
frequently made too rich, so that those seated at the table would be
tempted to eat to excess. Then in the absence of company there was
a great reaction, a falling off in the preparations brought on the table.
The diet was spare, and lacked nourishment. It was considered not so
much matter “just for ourselves.” The meals were frequently picked
up, and the regular time for eating not regarded. Every member of
the family was injured by such management. It is a sin for any of our
sisters to make such great preparations for visitors, and wrong their
own families by a spare diet which will fail to nourish the system.
The brother referred to felt a lack in his system; he was not nour-
ished, and he thought that meat would give him the needed strength.
Had he been suitably cared for, his table spread at the right time with
food of a nourishing quality, all the demands of nature would have
been abundantly supplied. The butter and meat stimulate. These have
injured the stomach and perverted the taste. The sensitive nerves of
the brain have been benumbed, and the animal appetite strengthened at
the expense of the moral and intellectual faculties. These higher pow-
ers, which should control, have been growing weaker, so that eternal
things have not been discerned. Paralysis has benumbed the spiritual
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and devotional. Satan has triumphed to see how easily he can come
in through the appetite, and control men and women of intelligence,
calculated by the Creator to do a good and great work.
The case above referred to is not an isolated one; if it were, I
would not introduce it here. When Satan takes possession of the mind,
how soon the light and instruction that the Lord has graciously given,
fade away, and have no force! How many frame excuses and make
necessities which have no existence, to bear them up in their course of
wrong, in setting aside the light and trampling it under foot. I speak
with assurance. The greatest objection to health reform is that this
people do not live it out; and yet they will gravely say they can not live
the health reform and preserve their strength.