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Counsels on Diet and Foods
place our people in a position where they could learn of the Great
Teacher.
The time may come when it will not be safe to use milk. But
if the cows are healthy and the milk thoroughly cooked, there is no
necessity of creating a time of trouble beforehand. Let no one feel
that he must bear a message as to what our people shall place on their
tables in every particular. Those who take an extreme position will in
the end see that the results are not what they thought they would be.
The Lord will lead us by His own right hand, if we will be led. Love
and purity—these are the fruits borne upon a good tree. Every one that
loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
I was instructed to say to those in the-----Conference who had
been so strenuous upon the subject of health reform, urging their ideas
and views upon others, that God had not given them their message.
I told them that if they would soften and subdue their inherited and
cultivated tendencies, in which there is a large amount of stubbornness,
they would see that they need to be converted. “If we love one another,
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God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us.... God is love; and
he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” ...
Human wisdom is to be combined with divine wisdom and the
mercy of God. Let us hide self in Christ. Let us work diligently to
reach the high standard God has set up for us,—moral transformation
by the gospel. God calls upon us to advance in right lines, to make
straight paths for our feet, lest the lame be turned out of the way. Then
will Christ be satisfied.—
Letter 39, 1901
Error on Side of People Preferable to Opposite Extreme
331. Brother and Sister-----carried the matter of indulgence in
eating to extreme, and the institute became demoralized. Now the
enemy would push you into the opposite extreme if he could, to have a
poverty-stricken diet. Be careful to keep level heads and sensible ideas.
Seek wisdom from heaven and move understandingly. If you take
extremely radical positions, you will be obliged to back down, and then
however conscientious you may have been, you have lost confidence
in your own sound judgment, and our brethren and unbelievers will
lose confidence in you. Be sure to go no faster than you have positive