188
Counsels on Diet and Foods
not rise from the table grumbling because he does not see before him
a platter of meat and various dainties to tempt his appetite.
Jesus, the Son of God, in laboring with His hands at the carpenter’s
trade, gave an example to all youth. Let those who scorn to take up
the common duties of life remember that Jesus was subject to His
parents, and contributed His share toward the sustenance of the family.
Few luxuries were seen on the table of Joseph and Mary, for they
were among the poor and lowly.—[
Christian Temperance and Bible
Hygiene, 61, 62
]
Fundamentals of Christian Education, 150, 151, 1890
Relation of Diet to Moral Development
362. The power of Satan over the youth of this age is fearful.
Unless the minds of our children are firmly balanced by religious
principle, their morals will become corrupted by the vicious examples
with which they come in contact. The greatest danger of the young
is from a lack of self-control. Indulgent parents do not teach their
children self-denial. The very food they place before them is such as
to irritate the stomach. The excitement thus produced is communicated
to the brain, and as a result the passions are aroused. It cannot be too
often repeated, that whatever is taken into the stomach affects not only
the body, but ultimately the mind as well. Gross and stimulating food
fevers the blood, excites the nervous system, and too often dulls the
moral perceptions, so that reason and conscience are overborne by the
sensual impulses. It is difficult, and often well-nigh impossible, for one
who is intemperate in diet to exercise patience and self-control. Hence
the special importance of allowing children, whose characters are yet
uniformed, to have only such food as is healthful and unstimulating.
It was in love that our heavenly Father sent the light of health reform
to guard against the evils that result from unrestrained indulgence of
appetite.
[244]
“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to
the glory of God.” Are parents doing this when they prepare food for
the table, and call the family to partake of it? Do they place before
their children that only which they know will make the very best blood,
that which will keep the system in the least feverish condition, and will
place it in the best relation to life and health? Or do they, regardless of
the future good of their children, provide for them unhealthful, stim-