116
Counsels on Diet and Foods
sisting of highly seasoned meats, with rich sauces, cakes, pies, ices,
tea, coffee, etc. No wonder that, with such a diet, people have sallow
complexions, and suffer untold agonies from dyspepsia.
234. The present corrupt state of the world was presented before
me. The sight was terrible. I have wondered that the inhabitants of
the earth were not destroyed, like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
I have seen reason enough for the present state of degeneracy and
mortality in the world. Blind passion controls reason, and every high
consideration with many is sacrificed to lust.
The first great evil was intemperance in eating and drinking. Men
and women have made themselves slaves to appetite. They are intem-
perate in labor. A great amount of hard labor is performed to obtain
food for their tables which greatly injures the already overtaxed sys-
tem. Women spend a great share of their time over a heated cookstove,
preparing food, highly seasoned with spices to gratify the taste. As a
[150]
consequence, the children are neglected and do not receive moral and
religious instruction. The overworked mother neglects to cultivate a
sweetness of temper, which is the sunshine of the dwelling. Eternal
considerations become secondary. All the time has to be employed
in preparing these things for the appetite which ruin health, sour the
temper, and becloud the reasoning faculties.—
Spiritual Gifts 4a:131,
132, 1864
235. We meet intemperance everywhere. We see it on the cars, the
steamboats, and wherever we go; and we should ask ourselves what we
are doing to rescue souls from the tempter’s grasp. Satan is constantly
on the alert to bring the race fully under his control. His strongest hold
on man is through the appetite, and this he seeks to stimulate in every
possible way. All unnatural excitants are harmful, and they cultivate
the desire for liquor. How can we enlighten the people, and prevent
the terrible evils that result from the use of these things? Have we
done all that we can do in this direction?—
Christian Temperance and
Bible Hygiene, 16, 1890
Worshiping at the Shrine of Perverted Appetite
236. God has granted to this people great light, yet we are not
placed beyond the reach of temptation. Who among us are seeking
help from the gods of Ekron? Look on this picture—not drawn from