328
Counsels on Diet and Foods
733. Tea is poisonous to the system. Christians should let it alone.
The influence of coffee is in a degree the same as tea, but the effect
upon the system is still worse. Its influence is exciting, and just in the
degree that it elevates above par, it will exhaust and bring prostration
below par. Tea and coffee drinkers carry the marks upon their faces.
The skin becomes sallow, and assumes a lifeless appearance. The
glow of health is not seen upon the countenance.—
Testimonies for the
Church 2:64, 65, 1868
734. Diseases of every stripe and type have been brought upon
human beings by the use of tea and coffee and the narcotics, opium
and tobacco. These hurtful indulgences must be given up, not only
one but all; for all are hurtful, and ruinous to the physical, mental, and
moral powers, and should be discontinued from a health standpoint.—
Manuscript 22, 1887
[
Sowing Seeds of Death—655
]
735. Never take tea, coffee, beer, wine, or any spirituous liquors.
Water is the best liquid possible to cleanse the tissues.—
The Review
and Herald, July 29, 1884
736. Tea, coffee, and tobacco, as well as alcoholic drinks, are
different degrees in the scale of artificial stimulants.
The effect of tea and coffee, as heretofore shown, tends in the same
direction as that of wine and cider, liquor and tobacco....
Coffee is a hurtful indulgence. It temporarily excites the mind to
unwonted action, but the aftereffect is exhaustion, prostration, paral-
ysis of the mental, moral, and physical powers. The mind becomes
enervated, and unless through determined effort the habit is overcome,
the activity of the brain is permanently lessened. All these nerve ir-
ritants are wearing away the life forces, and the restlessness caused
[422]
by shattered nerves, the impatience, the mental feebleness, become a
warring element, antagonizing to spiritual progress. Then should not
those who advocate temperance and reform be awake to counteract the
evils of these injurious drinks? In some cases it is as difficult to break
up the tea-and-coffee habit as it is for the inebriate to discontinue the
use of liquor. The money expended for tea and coffee is worse than
wasted. They do the user only harm, and that continually. Those who
use tea, coffee, opium, and alcohol, may sometimes live to an old age,
but this fact is no argument in favor of the use of these stimulants.