have their own tables free from these things. Brother B, even while taking
his stand in the Reformer with Dr. Trall in regard to the injurious effects of
salt, milk, and sugar, did not practice the things he taught. Upon his own
table these things were used daily.
Many of our people had lost their interest in the Reformer, and letters
were daily received with this discouraging request: “Please discontinue my
Reformer.” Letters were received from the West, where the country is new
and fruit scarce, inquiring: “How do the friends of health reform live at
Battle Creek? Do they dispense with salt entirely? If so, we cannot at
present adopt the health reform. We can get but little fruit, and we have left
off the use of meat, tea, coffee, and tobacco; but we must have something
to sustain life.”
We had spent some time in the West, and knew the scarcity of fruit,
and we sympathized with our brethren who were conscientiously seeking
to be in harmony with the body of Sabbathkeeping Adventists. They were
becoming discouraged, and some were backsliding upon the health reform,
fearing that at Battle Creek they were radical and fanatical. We could not
raise an interest anywhere in the West to obtain subscribers for the Health
Reformer. We saw that the writers in the Reformer were going away from
the people and leaving them behind. If we take positions that conscientious
Christians, who are indeed reformers, cannot adopt, how can we expect to
benefit that class whom we can reach only from a health standpoint?
We must go no faster than we can take those with us whose consciences
and intellects are convinced of the truths we advocate. We must meet the
people where they are. Some of us have been many years in arriving at our
present position in health reform. It is slow work to obtain a reform in diet.
We have powerful appetites to meet; for the world is given to gluttony. If
we should allow the people as much time as we have required to come up to
the present advanced state in reform, we would be very patient with them,
and allow them to
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advance step by step, as we have done, until their feet are firmly established
upon the health reform platform. But we should be very cautious not to
advance too fast, lest we be obliged to retrace our steps. In reforms we
would better come one step short of the mark than to go one step beyond it.
And if there is error at all, let it be on the side next to the people.
Above all things, we should not with our pens advocate positions that
we do not put to a practical test in our own families, upon our own tables.
This is dissimulation, a species of hypocrisy. In Michigan we can get
along better without salt, sugar, and milk than can many who are situated
in the Far West or in the far East, where there is a scarcity of fruit. But
there are very few families in Battle Creek who do not use these articles
upon their tables. We know that a free use of these things is positively
injurious to health, and, in many cases, we think that if they were not used
at all, a much better state of health would be enjoyed. But at present our
burden is not upon these things. The people are so far behind that we
see it is all they can bear to have us draw the line upon their injurious
indulgences and stimulating narcotics. We bear positive testimony against
tobacco, spirituous liquors, snuff, tea, coffee, flesh meats, butter, spices,
rich cakes, mince pies, a large amount of salt, and all exciting substances
used as articles of food.
If we come to persons who have not been enlightened in regard to health
reform, and present our strongest positions at first, there is danger of their
becoming discouraged as they see how much they have to give up, so that
they will make no effort to reform. We must lead the people along patiently
and gradually, remembering the hole of the pit whence we were digged.
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Chap. 2 - Unsanctified Ability
I have been shown that Brother B has serious defects in his character,
which disqualify him for being closely connected with the work of God
where important responsibilities are to be borne. He has sufficient mental
ability, but the heart, the affections, have not been sanctified to God;
therefore he cannot be relied upon as qualified for so important a work
as the publication of the truth in the office at Battle Creek. A mistake or a
neglect of duty in this work affects the cause of God at large. Brother B has
not seen his failings, therefore he does not reform.
It is by small things that our characters are formed to habits of integrity.
You, my brother, have been disposed to undervalue the importance of the
little incidents of everyday life. This is a great mistake. Nothing with
which we have to do is really small. Every action is of some account,
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
either on the side of right or on the side of wrong. It is only by exercising
principle in small transactions of ordinary life that we are tested and our
