Chapter 38a—Salt, Spices and Condiments
315
The Ministry of Healing, 335
Great efforts are made to put down intemperance; but there is
much effort that is not directed to the right point. The advocates of
temperance reform should be awake to the evils resulting from the
use of unwholesome food, condiments, tea, and coffee. We bid all
temperance workers Godspeed; but we invite them to look more deeply
into the cause of the evil they war against, and to be sure that they are
[135]
consistent in reform.
It must be kept before the people that the right balance of the mental
and moral powers depends in a great degree on the right condition
of the physical system. All narcotics and unnatural stimulants that
enfeeble and degrade the physical nature tend to lower the tone of the
intellect and morals. Intemperance lies at the foundation of the moral
depravity of the world. By the indulgence of perverted appetite, man
loses his power to resist temptation.
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 46-47
Many a mother sets a table that is a snare to her family. Flesh-
meats, butter, cheese, rich pastry, spiced foods, and condiments are
freely partaken of by both old and young. These things do their work in
deranging the stomach, exciting the nerves, and enfeebling the intellect.
The blood-making organs can not convert such things into good blood.
The grease cooked in the food renders it difficult of digestion. The
effect of cheese is deleterious. Fine-flour bread does not impart to the
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.
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