316
Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods
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
other food prepared with spices, which have a tendency to excite the
animal passions.
Fundamentals of Christian Education, 150-151
I was seated once at the table with several children under twelve
years of age. Meat was plentifully served, and then a delicate, nervous
girl called for pickles. A bottle of chow-chow, fiery with mustard and
pungent with spices, was handed her, from which she helped herself
freely. The child was proverbial for her nervousness and irritability of
temper, and these fiery condiments were well calculated to produce
such a condition.
Testimonies for the Church 3:21
Above all things, we should not with our pens advocate positions
that we do not put to a practical test in our own families, upon our own
tables. This is dissimulation, a species of hypocrisy. In Michigan we
can get along better without salt, sugar, and milk, than can many who
are situated in the far West or in the far East, where there is a scarcity
of fruit. But there are very few families in Battle Creek who do not
use these articles upon their tables. We know that a free use of these
things is positively injurious to health, and, in many cases, we think
that if they were not used at all, a much better state of health would be
enjoyed. But at present our burden is not upon these things. The people
are so far behind that we see it is all they can bear to have us draw
the line upon their injurious indulgences and stimulating narcotics.
We bear positive testimony against tobacco, spirituous liquors, snuff,
tea, coffee, flesh-meats, butter, spices, rich cakes, mince pies, a large
amount of salt, and all exciting substances used as articles of food.
Testimonies for the Church 2:485
One family in particular have needed all the benefits they could
receive from the reform in diet; yet these very ones have been com-
pletely backslidden. Meat and butter have been used by them quite