Defrauding the Body

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THE FOLLOWING FROM THE PEN OF MRS. E. G. WHITE, IS SO MUCH TO THE POINT THAT, THOUGH FROM A PRIVATE LETTER, WE TAKE THE LIBERTY OF OFFERING IT TO OUR READERS:-

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«I wish we were all health reformers. I am opposed to the use of pastries; they are unhealthful; no one can have good digestive powers and a clear brain who will eat largely of rich cookies, cake, and all kinds of pies, or take a great variety of food at one meal. When we do this, and then take cold, the whole system is so clogged and enfeebled that it has no power of resistance, no strength to combat disease.

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«When will people learn that the appetite is not to be indulged at the expense of health? When men and women are always ailing, I inquire, ‘Is there not a cause?’ We want to be right, to do right, and then be cheerful and happy, believing that the Lord will bless us every day while we fight the good fight of faith, overcoming appetite and passion in the oft-repeated conflict, overcoming as Christ overcame, by meeting the enemy with, ‘It is written.’

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«O, how many are weak and sickly who might be strong if they kept a clear conscience and were brave in God, seeking to keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment. The body as well as the soul is to be treated as the Lord’s property, and never to be marred or abused by the indulgence of perverted appetite or debased passions. ‘Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.’ Eternity as well as time is to be kept in view in our relation to earthly as well as heavenly things. Disregard of principle in any relation of life will tell not alone to the injury of the body, but to the injury of the soul as well. It is a sin in any one to oppress the hireling in his wages, or to rob him of his due, because it can be done and he dare make no appeal; but it is as really a sin to defraud the body, and thus defraud the soul of its due, enfeebling both physical and mental powers through the gratification of selfish or perverted appetites or passions.

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«Those who are not doers of the word are not Bible Christians; the conscience is sullied, the principles of God’s law are violated, sacrificed upon the altar of lust. Such are wounding their own souls, and deforming their character; and their influence, conscious or unconscious, is leading other souls into false, forbidden paths. Such persons, whatever their position or profession, are sure to make a failure; for their foundation is not laid upon the Rock, but on sliding sand. Walking in the way of the Lord is walking in the path of self-denial, and living not to please ourselves; setting the Lord ever before us.»