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to it a bad quality of blood. The offspring is robbed of its vitality,
robbed of physical and mental strength.—How to Live 2:33, 34, 1865.
338. I was shown the course of B in his own family. He has been
severe and overbearing. He adopted the health reform as advocated by
Brother C, and, like him, took extreme views of the subject; and not
having a well-balanced mind, he has made terrible blunders, the results
of which time will not efface. Aided by items gathered from books, he
commenced to carry out the theory he had heard advocated by Brother
C, and like him, made a point of bringing all up to the standard he
had erected. He brought his own family to his rigid rules, but failed to
control his own animal propensities. He failed to bring himself to the
mark, and keep his body under. If he had had a correct knowledge of
the system of health reform, he would have known that his wife was
not in a condition to give birth to healthy children. His own unsubdued
passions had borne sway without reasoning from cause to effect.
Before the birth of his children, he did not treat his wife as a woman
in her condition should be treated.... He did not provide the quality and
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quantity of food that was necessary to nourish two lives instead of one.
Another life was dependent upon her, and her system did not receive
the nutritious wholesome food necessary to sustain her strength. There
was a lack in the quantity and in the quality. Her system required
changes, a variety and quality of food that was more nourishing. Her
children were born with feeble digestive powers and impoverished
blood. From the food the mother was compelled to receive, she could
not furnish a good quality of blood, and therefore gave birth to children
filled with humors.—
Testimonies for the Church 2:378, 379, 1870
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