Bible Hygiene

by James White

[Digital Edition’s Note: pages 1-162 is found on the EGW CD under the title "Christian Temperance."]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOOD, AIR, AND EXERCISE 169

DIET AND CLEANLINESS OF THE HEBREWS 177

THE APPETITE IN HUMAN HISTORY 186

THE POWER OF APPETITE 193

APPETITE CONTROLLABLE 197

THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH 202

REDEMPTION 207

HYGIENIC REFORM: 211

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 237

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[HYGIENE from a Bible standpoint has always been a favorite theme with Mrs. White. Her husband, Elder James White, was also especially interested in the study of Bible hygiene, and took great pleasure in showing the wonderful harmony between true science and the Scriptures. His intimate acquaintance with the views of his wife, and his own experience with disease during several attacks of grave illness, by which he was led to a most careful consideration of the various phases of the health question, qualified him in a peculiar manner to write and speak intelligently upon this subject. The reader will be both interested and instructed by the perusal of the following collation of the more important writings of Elder White on the subject of hygiene from a Bible standpoint.]

The eccentric Lorenzo Dow once truthfully said that prejudice is like a cork in a bottle; it does not let anything out, neither does it let anything into the bottle. So blind prejudice will blockade the mind, and not allow errors to pass out of it, nor the plainest truths to enter in. It is asking too much when we say to men, "Give up your prejudices." But few could do this, should they try. In fact, they have a right to their prejudices, if held subordinate to reason. Hence we do not ask men to surrender their prejudices; but we do invite Christians, in the name of reason and religion, to so far waive their prejudices as to weigh evidence in the scales of reason and justice.

With a large portion of the people, the Bible is the highest and safest authority in all matters of truth and

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duty. Prove to Christian men and women, who fear God and tremble at his word, that existing reformatory movements are in strict harmony with the teachings of the Sacred Scriptures, and they will no longer regard them as unworthy of their notice. But the very general impression that the restrictions of hygienic practice are not sustained by the word of God, has placed many sincere Christians where it is difficult to reach them.

It is a painful fact that vain philosophy, driveling skepticism, and the extremes of some who have been connected with the health reform movement, have done much to prejudice sincere persons against the true philosophy of health. But those who revere God and his holy word can be reached with the plain declarations of Scripture. We hope to make it appear that the Bible does not justify Christians in many of the common and fashionable habits of our time, - habits which sustain a close relation to life and health, - but that it does demand of them changes from these injurious practices. If we succeed in doing this, it will be considered highly proper, by all Bible Christians, that the attention of the Christian public should be called to the subject of Bible Hygiene.

"God is love;" and his revealed will relates to man's well-being in this life, as well as in that which is to come. Our heavenly Father does not take pleasure in the miseries of this mortal state. He delights in the happiness of obedient intelligences in this world to come. The Bible teaches how to so live in this life as to promote that health and happiness so favorable to the securing of eternal life. True godliness does not blindly overlook and stupidly neglect the laws of our present existence, and try to view (however dimly) the immortal state only. Godliness is profitable unto all things. It gives promise of the life that now is, and also of that which is to come.

The religion of the Bible was not intended simply as a garment to cover moral and physical impurities. It was

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designed to convert the entire man, - soul, body, and spirit, - that he might be pure without and within. That bogus piety which would give license to consecrated gluttony, devoted lust, and sanctified filthiness, is simply a burlesque upon the religion of the Bible. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." ¹1 This is Bible religion. This is true godliness. It proposes to elevate in this life, make fallen beings real men, pure without and within here, and glorified saints in the world to come.

The record of man's creation, the ample provisions made for his comfort, his glorious surroundings, - all these attest the love of God to created intelligences in this life. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food." ²2

Of all the creatures that God made, man was his best work. He was formed in the image of his Creator, and was made lord over the Creator's works. Physically considered, Adam must have been a noble being. "God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." ³3 In its highest sense, this was true of the first man, both intellectually and physically. From Adam to the flood the patriarchs each lived nearly a thousand years. And may we not suppose that the race has fallen off in size and physical strength, in proportion to the average length of life then and now? Noah lived nine hundred and fifty years. For a time he and his sons

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must of necessity have eaten flesh as food, and from that point of time the race rapidly declined in length of days. The original curse, with all its accumulated weight of transgression and violation of natural law, has bowed down the race, and caused man to dwindle to his present brief period of existence, marked with disease, decrepitude, and imbecility.

With this view of the subject, we see Adam in Eden, standing in the glory of his manhood, a grand specimen of the perfect work of God. Earth has long since forgotten the grandeur, the beauty, the perfect symmetry, which characterized the first man before there fell upon him the blight of the curse. And there is so close a connection between matter and mind, that when we consider him intellectually, we are carried up in contemplation of what an intellect might have been, unaffected by the extremes incident to the curse and the depraving and depressing influence of continued transgression, until we are well-nigh lost in conjecture. We behold happy Adam, in holy Eden, walking and talking with God, the great originator of thought, and communing face to face with his Son and with the holy angels, the companion of the highest order of intelligences.

Has man been progressing for six thousand years? - Verily, downward, downward! We have only to look back to our parents as they were in the strength of their noon of life, and to our grandparents as their still nobler frames were bowed with the weight of years, to be impressed with the fact that each successive generation suffers under greater physical feebleness than the one before it. This is especially true of American women. It has finally come to this, that by reason of artificial habits and in-door life, and the feebleness thus engendered, not one woman in ten, in our country, is capable of bearing well-developed offspring.

And while we admit that, in the providence of God, the present is an age of discovery and invention, - and many of these things are a necessity to the very existence

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of this enfeebled generation, - we cannot but regard the popular idea of the increase of mental strength as at war with sound philosophy and the facts in the case.

"But what will you do with the text," says some old fogy, who has for a quarter of a century been dreaming of the golden age of mental progression, "that declares that every generation grows weaker and wiser?" We reply that the Sacred Scriptures contain no such text. This saying can be found only among those maxims that are about one half true and the other half false. Facts compel us to admit the weakness of the present generation, and seriously to question its superior wisdom. Those who have listened to the words of the eloquent Wendell Phillips, in his lecture upon the Lost Arts, must have been impressed with the fact that wisdom has not been especially reserved for the present generation.

"A sound mind in a sound body," is a maxim worthy of a place in the writings of Moses, Solomon, or Paul. Natural and correct habits of life result in health, physical force, mental clearness, and mental strength. Artificial and incorrect habits always tend to physical and mental enfeeblement. We call in question the sanity of those writers who blow hot and cold, in first representing that the bad habits of the present generation are ruinous to body and soul, to physical, mental, and moral strength; and then, by way of change in the exercises, strike up the popular siren song of grand progression!

But we turn from the sad picture of degeneracy to contemplate again the first man. God in love created him to enjoy the delights of taste, and to feast the eye on the beautiful. To this end his senses were perfect. "And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food." The God of the Bible is the author of all that is really beautiful; and we please him best when we, within proper limits, love that which he has made lovely. The great God has prepared a feast for the sight, as well as for the taste. We should provide for the proper gratification

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of both. The thousands who build large pig-pens and extensive hen-parks, and yet grumble over the labor and expense required to produce the sweet adornments of flowers, shrubs, and ornamental trees, are hardly within speaking distance of the Christian's beautiful heaven. But, thank God, we may not only feast the eye with the beauties of nature, but by returning to more natural habits of eating and drinking, we may educate and restore the appetite so as to enjoy much of the original delights of taste. Contemplating the good things which God has made for the happiness of men, and the present enjoyment which they may afford a sanctified sight and taste, we look back over six thousand years of transgression of divine and natural law, - during which time the curse has been rending the earth, man has been degenerating, and moral darkness, like the pall of death, has enveloped groaning creation, - and exclaim, What must have been the delights of Eden before sin entered!

FOOD, AIR, AND EXERCISE

THE Bible was given for the well-being of man in this life, as well as a rule by which he may attain to immortal life. And the first grand hygienic rule laid down was that which prescribed man's diet. God said to Adam, "Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." ⁴1 To every tree of the garden, excepting one, our first parents were to have free access. ⁵2

The very general belief that the Bible sustains flesh-eating, swine's flesh not excepted, makes it difficult to impress the minds of Christian men and women with the importance of adopting the vegetarian diet, until this false notion is removed. We are aware, however, that it is no small task to remove prejudice from minds, especially on subjects in which appetite is concerned.

There are certain facts which have an important bearing upon the subject of flesh as an article of food. These we will briefly notice.

It was not the plan of God in creation that the life of any of his creatures should be taken. Death, in man or beast, wherever it might exist, came in consequence of sin, and this whole mammoth custom of taking the life of God's creatures to sustain human life, is simply the fruit of transgression. Had our first parents maintained their Eden innocence, had the curse never fallen upon man or beast, the earth would never have been stained with a drop of blood; the almost universal custom of flesh-eating, with its attendant pain and death, would never have been known.

The Creator, in definitely stating what should constitute food for man, did not mention flesh. If he had formed the human teeth to tear the flesh of animals, as some

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urge, and designed that we should subsist largely upon animal food, flesh would have been at least mentioned in Adam's bill of fare. The word meat, as used in the Bible, means simply food, and is so defined by the best authorities. The American Tract Society's Bible Dictionary says: "Meat, in the English Bible, usually signifies food, and not merely flesh. Gen.1:29,30; Matt.15:37. So in Luke 24:41: 'Have ye here any meat?' literally, anything to eat? The meat-offerings of the Jews were made of flour and oil. Leviticus 2." William Smith, classical examiner of the University of London, in his Dictionary of the Bible, says of the word meat: "It does not appear that the word meat is used in any one instance in the authorized version of either the Old or the New Testament in the sense which it now almost exclusively bears of animal food. The latter is denoted uniformly by flesh." Animal food, then, did not constitute any part of the bill of fare of the holy pair in Eden. As true as the book of Genesis, that first venerable gentleman, who lived nine hundred and thirty years, without either the dyspepsia or the gout, was a vegetarian.

So far as we can learn from the sacred record, it was not until after the flood, a period of more than sixteen hundred years from the expulsion from Eden, that permission was given man to eat flesh. Its use had then become a matter of necessity. The waters of the flood had been upon the earth more than a year. By this time the patriarch's stock of provisions must have been very low, and the desolated earth could furnish nothing until it could be produced from the seed preserved in the ark. In this state of things, God said to Noah, "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things." ⁶1 The very language of this permission conveys the idea that, up to that time, the green herb, or that which grew out of the ground, - vegetables, fruits, and grains, - constituted man's diet.

And certainly, judging from the sacred record, that

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was a time of remarkably good health. From Adam to Noah, a period of more than sixteen hundred years of vegetarian living, no mention is made of the sickness and death of children, of feebleness in youth or middle age, or of fevers, dyspepsia, gout, or consumption. All lived in the full enjoyment of health nearly one thousand years, or until the springs of life, at last grown weary, stood still. Obituary notices of that time do not mention local diseases, which in our day are caused by the breaking down of certain organs of the system while others remain strong. We read of no sufferings long drawn out, no excruciating agonies in death. The record simply gives the measure of each life, and its cessation.

"And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died."

"And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died."

"And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years; and he died."

"And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died."

"And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years; and he died."

"And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years; and he died."

"And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years; and he died."

"And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years; and he died." ⁷1

As the second hygienic principle in the ample provision for man's happy existence, we notice the natural beauties with which the Creator surrounded him. "And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight." ⁸2 If after the three-fold curse on account of sin - first, that which followed the sin of Adam; second, that which followed the first murder; and, third, the terrible curse of the flood, which left a large portion of the earth's surface in its present

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broken and barren condition - if after six thousand years of the blighting, dwindling, deforming influence of the curse, there remains real beauty in the trees, vines, shrubs, and flowers, - a beauty more exquisite than can be found in the finest works of art, - what must have been the grandeur and glory of the trees and flowers of Paradise, fresh from the hand of the Infinite Artist!

And the Son of God, in addressing the "innumerable multitude," pointed them to the delicate lily, declaring that "Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." ⁹1 The superiority of the works of nature over those of art, was not a matter of debate with the Son of God. A single lily in his day, from the soil which had long felt the blight and mildew of the curse, possessed more glory than Solomon in all his royal array. If this be true of a single lily of the field four thousand years from the original glory of creation, what must have been the delights of our first parents as they stood in Eden before sin had paralyzed their senses, or the curse had touched a single leaf!

Man's employment, as seen in the original design, is also worthy of notice. "The Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." ¹⁰2 Man was designed for activity in the open light of the sun and the free air of heaven. These conditions were important to the joys of his existence. The subsequent curse upon Adam was not in that he should labor, but that his labors should be attended with difficulties. ¹¹3

The natural habits of the people for the first generations after the fall were evidently conducive to longevity and health. There is no mention of houses until the flood. Before that event, and long after it, many of the people, at least, dwelt in tents. Hiding away from sunlight and pure air, behind closed doors, together with other artificial habits, has well-nigh ruined the race. None but those worthy of death, or the next thing to it - close confinement in prison - should be made to suffer such wretched

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treatment. We admire that simple wisdom which said, "Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun." ¹²1

Proper exercise in the open air and genial sunshine, ranks among God's highest and richest blessings to man. It gives form and strength to the physical organism, and, all other habits being equal, is the surest safeguard against disease and premature decay. Being man's natural condition, it also gives buoyancy and strength to thought, and the mind maintains a healthful balance, free from the extremes resulting from artificial life.

It is true that artificial habits, which are in almost everything wrong, have so far perverted and enfeebled our nature that we are ill-prepared to enter at once upon the natural habits of the worthy patriarchs. We cannot begin where they did. Something may be done, but it is vain to talk of regaining all that has been lost in size, strength, health, and length of days. For this, however, we earnestly plead, that the spirit of reform in habits of life may get hold of the minds of sensible men and women, and that the rapid downward current may be checked.

The tendency to feebleness and premature decay in American women, is too evident to admit of a doubt, and to no one thing is it so clearly traceable as to their habit of staying so closely in-doors. The aboriginal women of our country are as strong as the men. And why? - Simply because their habits are so nearly like those of the men, - spending, as they do, so much of their time in the open air. This is also true, to a large extent, of European women who labor side by side with their husbands in the field.

Every room, and especially every sleeping-room, in the house, should be well-ventilated throughout the year, both by day and by night. The amount of out-door air that should be admitted, must be regulated by its temperature, and by the ability of the inmates to endure. Every man, woman, and child should enjoy as much of God's good

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sunshine as the circumstances will possibly allow. Admit the light and air, friends, into your houses, and let these grand medicines, wisely mixed by our gracious God, make you strong, healthy, and happy.

SWINE'S FLESH

Among the creatures distinctly pointed out in the Bible as "unclean," the swine holds a prominent place, yet it has become a common article of food, even in civilized and enlightened nations. We speak particularly of the flesh of this animal because of its nature, and its common and abundant use by many Christians. These people profess to receive the word of God as a rule of faith and practice, and yet that very word says of the swine, "It is unclean unto you. Ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcass." ¹³1 If it be said that this prohibition is Jewish, and therefore not binding upon Christians, we reply:-

1. The distinction between the clean beasts and the unclean, recognized at the flood, long before the existence of a Jew, was established upon the nature and habits of the creatures which God had made. This distinction received the sanction of law in the days of Moses; not, however, because God would have an arbitrary rule for the Jews during sixteen centuries, but because the forbidden things were of themselves unclean, and unfit for man to use as food.

2. The nature of the swine is plainly given as the reason why the Hebrews should not eat of it, nor touch its dead carcass. "It is unclean unto you." With this agree the words of the prophet, which class swine's flesh with the "broth of abominable things." If it be said that these words were given through Jewish prejudice, then we reply that it is the great God that speaks. He changes not, and never speaks from prejudice. Hear him:-

"I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; a people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens,

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and burneth incense upon altars of brick; which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments; which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels." ¹⁴1

"For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many. They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens, behind one tree in the midst [margin, one after another], eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord." ¹⁵2

The candid reader, after a careful examination of the chapters from which we have quoted, will entertain doubts as to their application to the Jewish age. In fact, it is evident that they apply to the present age, and that the last quotation, with its threatened judgment for sins, such as eating swine's flesh, applies definitely to the close of the present age.

Dr. Adam Clarke once said that if he were to offer a burnt-offering to the devil, he should choose a pig stuffed with tobacco. At one time, when invited to ask the blessing at the table, he used these words: "Lord, bless this bread, these vegetables and fruit; and if thou canst bless under the gospel what thou didst curse under the law, bless this swine's flesh."

God said of the flesh of swine in the days of Moses: "It is unclean unto you." What change can have taken place to make it clean, and a proper article of food for Christians? Has God changed his mind on the subject? Has man so changed that what was unclean as an article of food for the Hebrews has become clean to Christians? Or, has the change taken place in the animal? Has the change from the Jewish dispensation improved the nature of hogs? And does the freedom of the world-wide proclamation of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ give liberty to Christians to eat those things which were an abomination if eaten by the Hebrews?

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"But did not God make the swine?"

We reply that he did, and that he also made dogs, cats, rats, mice, and toads; not, however, for Christians to eat.

"Then for what were the swine made?"

We may not fully understand why God made rats, lizards, and rattlesnakes; but we are very grateful that we are not obliged to eat all the brutes and reptiles which cannot be definitely assigned to other uses.

The influence of swine-eating upon the human system is in some cases terrible almost beyond description. The word scrofula, which represents a disease very prevalent in our day, the almost endless varieties of which may be named legion, comes from the Latin word scrofa, which signifies "a breeding sow," the mother of abominations. And it may be a question whether the word, or the terrible disease signified by it, would have existed, had man never eaten swine's flesh.

The very nature and disposition of the swine accords with his gross habits and diseased flesh. We do not say that the moral evil of swine-eating is proportionate to the physical; but we do say that the very close connection between the physical and the mental, between matter and mind, would lead one to conclude that the physical ruin would tend to debase the moral nature.

DIET AND CLEANLINESS OF THE HEBREWS

IN the record of God's providential dealings with the race, the Hebrews hold a high rank. These descendants of the worthy patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were proud of the blood in their veins, and in the days of Christ were heard to say boastfully, "We have Abraham to our father." ¹⁶1

Abraham was a truly grand character. "I know him," says the great God, "that he will command his children and his household after him." ¹⁷2 He is called the father of the faithful. The reason his children were to be in number as the dust of the earth, or as the sand upon the sea-shore, or as the stars of heaven, is given thus: "Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." ¹⁸3

There is much of thrilling interest in the sacred sketches of Isaac, of Jacob and his twelve sons, of the bondage of Joseph and his elevation in Egypt, and of the subsequent slavery of the Hebrews and their miraculous deliverance. God designed to do great things for his people; hence it was his purpose, in his dealings with them, to restrict appetite, and to provide for them the most healthful food.

During centuries of slavery in a heathen land, the habits of the Hebrews had become more or less corrupted. And as their moral powers grew weak, in the same degree, appetite and passion grew strong. With a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, God led them from the land of servitude into the wilderness, where he proposed to reform them. Their wrong habits in Egypt

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had made them irritable, and had disqualified them to endure the pangs of thirst, or the gnawings of perverted appetite.

In their journeying they soon came to Marah. The water here was bitter, and a cry of murmuring ran through the host, "What shall we drink?" A certain tree cast into the waters made them sweet. This quieted the murmuring of the people for the time. The Lord "made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord that healeth thee." ¹⁹1

The candid reader will not fail to see that the gracious God of the Hebrews regarded the health of his people as a matter of great importance. He promised them health if they would obey him. Indeed, no fact appears more distinct in the sacred record than this, that in the great work of reforming them, and restoring them from wrong habits contracted in Egypt, - habits which affected the physical, the moral, and the spiritual nature, - God commenced with the appetite.

God did not propose to work miracles for the health of his people, while they were indulging habits injurious to health. He was soon to take the Israelites to the land he had promised them, - a second Eden, marred somewhat by the curse, - and to establish them there a healthy, happy, holy people. But before doing this, he would reform them in their dietetic habits, by taking them back, step by step, as near as possible to the purity of his original purpose when he provided the simple fruits, grains, and vegetables as the best food for man.

Thirty days after the departure from Egypt, the Hebrews were encamped in the wilderness of Sin, and there the circumstances of their position tested their trembling faith. It was evident that the chances for food were against

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them, unless God should work a perpetual miracle. And the infidel question was murmured through the camp, "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" The whole congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, "Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger." ²⁰1

The case was an urgent one. Something must be done. The people must have food. The necessity of his people was God's opportunity. Food came in abundance from heaven, and lay round about the camp. The God and Father of his people being judge in the case, he most certainly gave them that food which was best adapted to their wants. Well, did he send down to them cattle, sheep, swine, lobsters, oysters, clams, eels, and the like, tea, coffee, and tobacco? This he could, and would, have done, if these were necessary to life and health. But none of these were given. What did the God of Israel provide as food for that vast host? The following simple language gives the answer:-

"Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no." ²¹1 God was about to repeat his law in the hearing of all the people. Would they obey? Their appetites and passions were such that their obedience was a matter of doubt. This, however, seems to have been established in the Divine Mind, that unless they could control appetite, they could not be controlled by law. God proposed to prove their moral power, and he did it by testing them on the point of appetite.

From the description of the manna, one might safely conclude that it would be quite as disagreeable to a morbid taste as graham bread. Its shape, color, taste, and the manner in which it was prepared for food, are thus

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given: "The manna was as coriander seed, and the color thereof as the color of bdellium. And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil." ²²1

It appears from the record that the people were not at first restricted to manna alone. In the morning they were to eat of the manna, and in the evening they were to eat of the flesh of quails. Whether flesh was given them once a day at first, that the change of their habits might be more gradual, or because of their frenzied murmurings, may be a matter of debate. But at a later period they were restricted to manna alone, as the following statement shows:-

"The mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting; and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; but now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all, besides this manna, before our eyes." ²³1 God gave them flesh, not because it was best for them, but to teach them that he best knew their real needs. As other means of instruction had failed, he let them have their own way this time, to humble them, and bring them to submission.

The leader of murmuring Israel was instructed to say to the people: "Ye shall eat flesh; for ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt; therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; but even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you; because that ye have despised the Lord which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?" ²⁴2

We are sometimes gravely informed by those knowing gentlemen who give their influence on the side of indulgence

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of morbid taste, that the appetite indicates what is best adapted to the wants of the system. On the same ground, men may justify the drunkard, the opium inebriate, and the tobacco slave. Thousands are acting the glutton, and hastening to a wretched end, over this miserable untruth. How terribly false it was in the case of the Hebrews!

The great God, in his dealings with the Hebrews in the wilderness, not only restricted their diet to the simple manna, but he also taught them cleanliness. Both these restrictions were designed to promote health. Gluttony and filth are base companions; while temperance and cleanliness are congenial friends.

The excellent maxim, "Cleanliness is next to godliness," is not found in the Scriptures, as many suppose, but in the Jewish Talmud. Yet he who reads the books of Moses attentively will not fail to observe that in those moral lessons which were given to the people through Moses, cleanliness holds a high rank among the acts preparatory to acceptance with God.

When the Hebrews were about to assemble at the base of Sinai, to witness the grandeur of Jehovah as he should descend upon the mount, wrapped in a cloud of glory, to speak the ten precepts of his holy law, the following was one of the preparations which the Lord directed Moses to make for the occasion: "Go unto the people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their clothes." ²⁵1 This act of cleanliness, given so specifically in the sacred record, was one of importance. It was not commanded simply because our heavenly Father was pleased to see his children dressed in clean apparel; but it was simply to impress them with the purity of God, and to show them that he cared for their physical as well as their moral well-being.

While the vast hosts of the Hebrews were in the wilderness, it was necessary for their physical and moral good that they should be neat and cleanly in their common habits. The particulars of the command given them are recorded in Deut.23:10-14.

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That holy God of the Hebrews, who could not view moral or physical impurities with complacency, is the Christian's God. The death of his Son for the sins of men, and the world-wide proclamation of his glorious gospel, were never designed to give the idea that the Christian should be less particular and cleanly in the common habits of life than the Hebrew. Such habits were necessary to physical and moral health, and, from the very nature of the case, the same necessity exists in our time.

It is the most degrading and miserable fanaticism to suppose that the freedom of the gospel consists in slovenly dress, in rough, clownish, irreverent words and actions, or in careless, filthy habits of life. It is painful to state that there is much which passes with certain classes as plain, humble religion, that is a living disgrace to the Christian name. This results from the erroneous idea that God has abolished the rules of cleanliness found in the books of Moses, and that the gospel frees us from their restraint.

God is the same, yesterday, to-day, and forever. The same practical instructions which he gave to the Hebrews through Moses, for their physical and moral benefit, he also impressed upon the minds of the inspired writers of the New Testament. Paul exhorts his readers: "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." ²⁶1 Acceptance and heirship are the greatest blessings that God can offer on conditional promise to mortal men. Paul continues in the very next verse: "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." In these impressive words the purity (or impurity) of the physical nature is connected with that of the moral nature. The one is dependent upon the other. Filthy habits tend to moral impurity. The man who obtains real purity of spirit, will be led to cleanly habits of

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life. Cleanliness, health, and purity of spirit, are from the same source, and are priceless adornments of the Christian.

God pity the poor! They labor under disadvantages, but they can be cleanly, neat, and orderly. While we admit that poverty, in some cases, tends to make people slack, disorderly, and filthy, we deny that this is necessarily the case. The log cabin, with its rude, scanty furniture, may show marks of tidiness, as well as the mansion of the wealthy. And the scanty clothing may be clean. Though patch may be put upon patch, all may show the rough beauty and cleanliness of a hand and heart moved by the true spirit of reform.

But what can we say of the criminal carelessness of many professing Christians relative to their outhouses? We know of no language that will fully meet the case. We may write the words unhealthful, pestilential, terrible, horrible; but when compared with what the itinerant sometimes meets in August or September, such words really mean nothing. The sense of smell can sometimes recognize the existence of the poisonous, demoralizing abominations at a great distance.

By means of improper food, bad water, and impure air, diseases are received into the system. The food and water may be pure, but if the air is corrupt, the system will be poisoned, and, sooner or later, sickness must follow. In our frequent tours in New England, and throughout the Middle and North-western States, we have visited many sick persons. When searching for the cause of their ill health, if we failed to trace it to heredity, or to improper diet or impure water, we have usually found it in a bad condition of the outhouses. Whole families are often prostrated with fever, sometimes resulting in death to one or more of them, and yet the good people gravely and tearfully talk of the mysterious providence of God that has caused so much sickness, and removed kindred and neighbors, when the chief cause is in their own yard.

Often the barn and poultry yard are near the house, and the emanations from them, in connection with the

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vault usually found on the premises, are so foul that it is a wonder that any escape typhoid fever, which more frequently owes its origin to this cause than to all others. But what is worse, these abominations are sometimes so located that the drainage from them finds its way into the well. Among those so surrounded, health seems an impossibility. If a vault is used, it should be far from the well, and not too near the house; and dry earth or wood ashes, used as a covering, will absorb the foul emanations. The directions given to the Hebrews concerning cleanliness, show how careful God was that the camp should not become contaminated, and should lead us to the utmost care as to the healthfulness of our surroundings.

We wish to arouse the people upon the subject of securing health, moral elevation, and happiness by providing themselves with the most healthful food, good water, and pure air. If they will do this, and be temperate in all their habits, they may give drugs to the dogs, save pain and money, and be able to say, "I am well."

Personal cleanliness by proper bathing is not only a healthful luxury, but a virtue. Again we quote Paul, where he connects physical and moral cleanliness: "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." ²⁷1 The derivation of the word here rendered "washed," seems to have exclusive reference to washing from physical impurities. The effort of immersionists to press this text into the service of their mode of baptism, is an utter failure. Baptism by immersion does not wash the body.

Another apostle says of Christian baptism, It is "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh." ²⁸2 The expression of Paul, then, "Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water," refers to moral and physical cleanliness.

Between the altar of burnt-offering and the tabernacle of the congregation was the brazen laver, containing water in which the Jewish priests were to wash themselves before

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putting on the pure linen garments, preparatory to entering the sanctuary to minister before God, and it is distinctly stated that they must do this "that they die not." Here we are again impressed with the purity of God, and how particular he was to instruct the Hebrews that cleanliness was, to say the least, closely connected with acceptable worship.

Has the change of dispensations changed the character and mind of God in this respect? Has the death of his Son given license to Christians to pollute their bodies and souls with filthy indulgences, which in the former dispensation would have been prohibited on pain of death? - No! no!! God is the same in all dispensations. And those moral teachings found in the books of Moses, which contain rules to secure cleanliness, justice, holiness, and the favor of God, are as changeless as the eternal throne.

THE APPETITE IN HUMAN HISTORY

THE history of the human appetite is indeed a sad one. The Creator designed that the appetite should be man's servant, not his master. It was to be subordinate to the moral and intellectual faculties. This truth is seen in God's first prohibitory declaration to man: "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." ²⁹1

God made man upright, and endowed him with powers of mind far above those of any other creature living upon the earth. He placed him upon probation, that he might form a character for the glory of the Creator, and for his own happiness. The first great moral lesson which the innocent pair of Eden were to learn, was self-control. God appeals to man's nobler powers. He graciously gives him all he needs for the delights of taste, and for the support of life. And it was for man's moral good, to say the least, that his eating from the tree of knowledge was prohibited. Of all the trees of the garden he might freely eat, save one. In this prohibition, the Creator places the appetite under the watchcare and guardianship of the moral and intellectual powers.

When man came from the hand of his Creator, he was declared to be "very good." He was put upon probation, that he might develop a perfect character. But he failed to do this. He basely yielded to the tempter, and lost his innocence; and the entire race, for six thousand years, have felt, in soul, body, and spirit, the taint of sin. The weight of accumulated guilt and ruin, resulting from continual transgression of moral and physical law, has rested upon it. Sickness, pain, sorrow, and death are the legitimate fruits of transgression.

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Man alone is responsible for the moral and physical wretchedness under which the race suffers. There was no necessity for Eve to yield to the tempter; and Adam is quite as inexcusable. The surroundings of our parents in Eden were delightful. The Infinite Hand had spread out before them a feast of pleasure in the stately trees, the climbing vines, and the beautiful shrubs and flowers. Eden also abounded with that which was "good for food." God had caused every good fruit-tree to grow, affording variety, and an inexhaustible supply. He welcomed man to eat freely of them all, excepting one only; but of the fruit of that one tree he warned him not to partake, on pain of death. Thus surrounded with beauty and plenty, and thus warned by the beneficent Author of his happy existence, man basely yielded, and plunged the race in consequent ruin.

Eve was flattered with the idea that eating the forbidden fruit would raise her to a higher and happier life. Appetite, curiosity, and ambition triumphed over reason. But Infinite Wisdom immediately devised the scheme of redemption, which placed man on a second probation, by giving him another trial, with the great Redeemer to help him in the work of forming a perfect character. And, to say the very least, it is reasonable to suppose that, in the second probation, men would be tested just where God tested our first parents in Eden, and that the indulgence of the appetites and passions would be the greatest moral evil in this world during the period of human probation.

We are not left to mere supposition in forming an opinion upon this subject. The sacred record shows, in the clearest manner possible, that God has tested his people since the fall just where he tested man before the fall, and that among the most flagrant sins of the fallen race, resulting in the greatest amount of human woe, has been the indulgence of appetite.

Gluttony and drunkenness were the prevailing sins of Sodom. It is said of the people of Lot's time, "They did

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eat, they drank." Appetite ruled them, or their eating and drinking would not have been mentioned. For their sins they were visited with destruction by fire and brimstone. It is also said of the people in the time of Noah, "They did eat, they drank." ³⁰1

For the first twenty-five hundred years after the fall, sacred history is exceedingly brief. For example, the life and wonderful translation of holy Enoch are told in a few lines. While, doubtless, the almost numberless good deeds and careful acts of obedience in the long life of this wonderful man would furnish to some modern writers material for volumes, the whole matter is summed up in these few words: "All the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: and Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him." ³¹2

We could not reasonably suppose that very much could be said upon any one subject when the annals of twenty-five hundred years, embracing many of the greatest events in the world's history, are crowded into fifty short chapters of the Bible. But when God was about to establish the tribes of Israel in the good land of promise, that they should be to him "a peculiar treasure" above all people, "a holy nation," the sacred historian speaks more fully, and again the fact appears that God tests his people since the fall just where he tested man before the transgression in Eden.

In the providence of God the sons of Jacob went down into Egypt, where they sojourned in a strange land for hundreds of years. There they were humbled by slavery, but were delivered from it by the special hand of Providence, and in the most triumphant manner. The entire providential experience of the Israelites, both in their servitude and in their miraculous deliverance, was designed to lead them to revere, and trustingly obey, the God of their fathers.

The history of their departure from Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea before them, and the destruction of their

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pursuers, is one of thrilling interest to all Bible Christians. These manifestations were designed to remove their infidelity, to draw them very near to God, and deeply to impress them with the fact that the Divine Hand was leading them.

God brought another test upon them in the gift of the manna. The Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no." ³²1 The habits of the Hebrews in Egypt had become such that a change to the simple manna was a very great one. But this change, God being judge of what was best for them, was necessary to their physical, mental, and moral well-being. God designed to bring a whole nation near to himself, and give opportunity for the development of perfect character. He tested the Hebrews on appetite, as he did man in Eden, and murmuring and rebellion resulted. Had they proved faithful to God, he would have taken them through the wilderness in the brief period of eleven days, and would have triumphantly planted in the land of promise the mighty host of Israel, whom he had borne "on eagles' wings" from Egypt. But they did not sustain the trial of their faith, and, in consequence of yielding to the clamors of appetite, they fell all along the way in the wilderness, so that only two of the adults who left Egypt were permitted to reach Canaan. I repeat it: the history of the human appetite is a sad one.

We here leave the Old Testament record upon this subject, after noting that in the Jewish age there were men of God who controlled appetite, as did the holy Daniel, who refused to defile himself with the king's meat and wine. Please read the first chapter of the history of this bold representative of pure hygiene.

The mission of John the Baptist was to prepare the way for the first advent of Christ. In the address of the angel to Zacharias relative to John, there is a brief chapter on hygiene: "Thou shalt have joy and gladness, and

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many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink." ³³1 It is said of this plain, temperate, yet mighty man of God: "The same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey." ³⁴2

"The locust was a fruit, a bean-like pod, with a seed in it similar to the Carob, or husk, on which the prodigal son fed." - Butterworth.

"Locust, akris, Gr., may either signify the insect called the locust, which still makes a part of the food in the land of Judea, or the top of a plant. Many eminent commentators are of the latter opinion." - Clarke.

At the very opening of the Christian age, the mission of Jesus is heralded by John, who sets an example of self-denial and temperance. The teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and his holy apostles are in perfect accordance with the proposition that God, in all dispensations of probationary time, tests man just where he tested the innocent pair in Eden. "Take heed to yourselves," said the Son of God, "lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares." ³⁵3 And the words of Paul, addressed to the Christian church, make proper eating and drinking a matter of grave importance: "Whether, therefore, ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." ³⁶4 The apostle argues in another place, that if there were no resurrection of the dead, there would be no future existence, and his laborious and abstemious life would bring him no future reward. He says, "What advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die." ³⁷5 However much the apostle regarded it important to live temperately in order to a life of usefulness and happiness

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here, it is evident that he looked forward to the resurrection of the dead for the great reward of self-control. He says, in another place, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." ³⁸1

But many of the professing Christian churches of this day treat this matter as though God had become discouraged in trying to lead men and women to a life of self-denial and self-control, and had changed his plan, no longer testing them upon the point of appetite, as formerly.

It is a humiliating fact that the moral powers of the majority of those who profess to be true followers of Christ, have become so far weakened by the indulgence of appetite and passion, that the most successful way to move them to acts of benevolence is through appeals to the appetite. Hence the almost universal custom of holding church festivals. These gluttonous feasts strengthen morbid appetite and inflame passion, and in the same degree weaken the moral powers, and benumb the finer sensibilities of the soul. The slave of appetite is moved less by such worthy and stirring considerations as the glories of the eternal world, the reward of philanthropic deeds in this life, and the final righteous retributions of a just God, than he is if treated with roast turkey, oysters, ice-cream, and the like. These charm his soul, and apparently open the closed avenues to his feelings of benevolence and to his purse, - a result which the worthy consideration of heaven, earth, and hell failed to produce.

If God is now testing professed Christians upon appetite, as he tested Adam and Eve and the Hebrews, then the case, with the exception of a decided minority, is a lost one. With the majority, the moral and intellectual powers are the servants, while the appetite is master. This was the condition of our first parents as they stood in Paradise lost, - the condition of the Hebrews who perished in the wilderness under the wrath of God. And in the light of the Scriptures these modern epicures are not

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walking in the favor of God any more than were the perishing Hebrews, or Adam and Eve when they coveted the fruit which God had forbidden.

There are multitudes who are slaves to the expensive, health-destroying, filthy habit of tobacco-using. Ninety-nine out of one hundred of these will acknowledge the evils of the practice. Then why not abandon the use of tobacco? - Simply because the nobler powers are enslaved by appetite. We have not a word of censure for men who call in question the piety of those professed followers of Christ who are controlled by appetite and passion. Such do not truly represent the religion of the Bible. The religion of our Lord Jesus Christ is entirely another thing. The Redeemer of the world was tempted on all points as we are, yet without sin. When tested in the wilderness, he conquered, not on his own account, but for us. And Christians are to overcome as he overcame. That our adorable Redeemer might be able to succor his tempted followers, and help them to overcome, he, in the forty days' fast in the wilderness, endured the keenest pangs of appetite. In him it is possible for the glutton, the drunkard, and the poor inebriate of every stamp, to overcome. With those who are ruled by appetite, and who have not the help of Christ, the work of reform is exceedingly doubtful. And we can hardly conceive of anything more insulting to Heaven, than the profession of the pure religion of the divine Son of God by men whose reason and conscience are ruled by appetite and passion.

THE POWER OF APPETITE

GOD designed that the appetite should be man's servant. When controlled by the moral and intellectual powers, it is one of God's blessed gifts; but when it becomes master, it is a debasing tyrant, crushing out of man that which is noble and God-like.

We go back in imagination over long ages, until we stand amid the glories of Eden before sin entered, and there we meet the painful fact that one of the weakest points in the character of Adam and Eve, while in all the perfection of manhood and womanhood, was the appetite. Their failure to exercise self-control upon this point - together with their curiosity and ambition - led to their fall. As the consequent moral darkness and downward tendency increased with each successive generation, the reign of appetite became more debasing and supreme. If appetite could move our first parents to an act of base disobedience, what must be its power over men and women of the nineteenth century, in whose physical, mental, and moral nature the taint of the fall still exists, with all the aggravations which have been acquired since Adam and Eve passed out of the gate of Paradise?

It is true that among the patriarchs and prophets were men who walked with God, and were the masters, not the slaves, of appetite, - like Daniel and his friends, who refused to defile themselves with the king's meat and wine. The apostles treat of Christian temperance in a most pointed manner. The apostle Paul says that "every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things," and then adds, by way of application to the Christian life, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection,

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lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." ³⁹1

We live in an age remarkable for Bibles, the Sacred Scriptures now being read in two hundred and fifty-two languages and dialects; and yet there has probably never been a time when the people of Christian lands have been more completely under the rule of appetite. The gospel is preached everywhere. The present is said to be an age of wonderful light and gospel liberty; but unfortunately, the gospel as too often preached in our time hardly touches the appetites and passions of men. And why should it, when so many of the teachers of religion do not feel called upon to renounce wine and tobacco or to restrain appetite?

Many temperance men, with the waning cause of temperance as it relates to intoxicating drinks on their hands, are feeling that but little can be done in reforming drunkards, or in restraining young men from becoming such, while they indulge in the use of tobacco. The only way to cure men of the love of whisky is to restore the appetite to its natural state. And this can never be done while the common and free use of tobacco, tea, and coffee is continued. The only way to make real temperance men, is to teach the people to abandon all unnatural habits, and to use only those things which God designed for the use of man, and these in their natural state, as far as possible.

One has only to reflect a moment in order to be overwhelmed with astonishment at the unnatural, expensive, debasing habit of tobacco-using. We need not say that it is a filthy habit. If tobacco-chewers would only swallow that which is so sweet in their mouths, instead of spitting it out to the annoyance of cleaner people, their path would be less offensive; but instead they eject on the street, in public places, and on the cars, that which is extremely odious to all who are not initiated in the disgusting habit.

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The habit is unnatural. Not one lad in a thousand liked tobacco when he first tasted it. And more than this, most boys suffer a terrible sickness, and pass a severe struggle, in taking their first lesson in tobacco-using. Then why do they form a habit so unnatural and disgusting? But one answer can be given: The habit is made respectable by judges, lawyers, ministers, doctors, and men of all ranks, and their influence is pressing our dear boys, with few exceptions, into this terrible vice. And these men, especially those who profess to be Christ's ambassadors, will have to answer for the result of their influence in the final settlement of the Judgment.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine of every one thousand tobacco inebriates would be glad to rid themselves of the habit; but they have become slaves to appetite, and have not the moral courage to persevere in that self-denial, and pass through that suffering, necessary to master the vice. We are not writing the condition of the few only. It is a painful fact that a majority of the men of our time have surrendered to the debasing rule of the appetite for tobacco.

"I know it is a filthy, expensive, and hurtful practice," said a minister, "and I would give three hundred dollars to be rid of tobacco; but the habit is formed, and I cannot overcome it." Officers were not wanting in our armies, during the late American war, who could lead their men into the hottest fight without the quiver of a muscle, and yet had not courage enough to break off the habit of tobacco-using. It is the mind that makes the man. Just in proportion as appetite and passion grow strong by excessive indulgence, the intellectual and moral powers are enfeebled. And in the same proportion as the moral and intellectual are strengthened by self-denial, healthy conditions are restored, morbid appetite is dethroned, and the chains fall off from the enslaved victim.

The restraints of the Sacred Scriptures, and the self-denial especially taught therein, are wanted to save men from the controlling power of appetite. The sentiments

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uttered by Christ and his apostles upon this subject are the purest of the pure:-

"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself." - Jesus.

"Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." - Paul.

"Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." - Peter.

APPETITE CONTROLLABLE

THE power of perverted appetite has been dwelt upon quite fully in the preceding chapter. Now it remains to be shown how the tyrant may be conquered. For it is possible for the appetite to be brought fully under the control of reason and conscience. The reclaimed drunkard, and those who have been emancipated from the slavery of tobacco, tea, and coffee, may shout greater victories than can the general who leads his troops through the most successful battles. An inspired proverb reads, "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city." ⁴⁰1 It may be said with equal truth and force, He that conquers perverted appetite is truly greater than he that conquers armies.

Difficult as the task may be, a morbid appetite can be restored to a normal condition. As it is by indulgence that appetite gains the mastery, so it is only by rigid abstinence that it can be conquered and made man's servant. As in the one case indulgence is the cause, and the debasing rule of appetite the result; so in the other case abstinence is the redeeming cause, and natural appetite (controlled by reason and conscience), health, and happiness are the glorious result. But the man of strong habits, who undertakes to grapple with and conquer his appetite for fashionable indulgence, may as well understand at the very start that he has a hard battle to fight; and he should count the cost, lay well his plans, and nerve himself for the contest.

And there is a very important fact which we wish here to state for the encouragement of those who feel the need of reforming in habits of life, and who at the same time dread the difficulties in the way, and the suffering they may have to endure. It is this: Proper

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abstinence will soon give them complete victory; and when this is gained, when simple and natural habits have been established, the delights of taste and the pleasures of existence will far exceed the so-called enjoyments found in a gross and unnatural life of hurtful indulgence.

When the drunkard leaves his cup, he suffers inexpressible physical and mental agony until by continued abstinence and proper habits the fire dies out of his blood and brain, and nature restores order. This accomplished, the reformed inebriate has lost his love for liquor, and feels that he is a man again. It is not to be questioned that the man who satisfies his depraved cravings for whisky, feels a momentary pleasure in indulgence; but the enjoyments of existence, with him whose habits are natural and healthful, are almost infinitely greater than with him who is ruled by morbid appetite, and who surrenders to the momentary pleasure found in its gratification.

Here are facts of the greatest importance; and they are not only in harmony with natural law, but are sustained by the happy experience of many a reclaimed drunkard. It is difficult to make the drunkard, even in his soberest hours, see and feel the force of these facts. His friends may wish to help him; but he alone must fight the battle with appetite, or he can never enjoy the victory. The higher powers of his mind are benumbed and enfeebled, having been surrendered to the rule of appetite. He, however, decides to make the effort to reform, and abstains from liquor for a few days. He is in agony; and feeling no assurance that, if he perseveres, the period of his suffering will be brief, he is in danger of yielding to the erroneous idea that abstinence dooms him to a life-long period of mental and physical agony. Oh to get across this, to him, impassable gulf! The fields of delight which lie beyond, he cannot now see; but when fairly across, he may shout victory in the midst of the natural and healthful pleasures of an almost new existence. This is one of the greatest triumphs that mortal man can

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achieve, and one long step toward heaven. Yet such a victory can be won.

What has been said in the case of drunkenness is equally true of tobacco inebriety. The appetite for tobacco will continue so long as the tobacco poison remains in the system. When the system has been freed from tobacco by abstinence and hygienic treatment, the appetite will cease. Boys have a natural dislike for tobacco, but this they overcome by its use. When their blood becomes thoroughly poisoned, the collision between nature and tobacco ceases. Completely eradicate tobacco from the human system, restore the taste to a natural and healthful condition, and tobacco will be as offensive to its emancipated slave as to the youth before he took the poison into his blood.

Let no one try to overcome the appetite for tobacco by the long, tedious, murderous process of "leaving off by degrees." Victory is seldom, if ever, gained in this way. Total abstinence is the only sure course. Hygienic treatment is of great benefit to those who find this a difficult task. In order to obtain a speedy and certain victory, the poison should be taken from the blood as soon as possible. Water treatment will do this at a rapid rate. We have left tobacco invalids packed in the wet sheet forty minutes, and when they were taken out the scent of tobacco so pervaded the room as to be sensible to the taste, and the sheet itself was discolored.

What has been said about the liquor and the tobacco habit is true, in the main, in the case of those addicted to the use of tea and coffee. Total abstinence is the only remedy. When these habits are overcome, and restoration, so far as possible, to natural conditions takes place, whisky, tobacco, and tea and coffee sicknesses, in their many forms, will cease. For example, there are thousands of women in our country who once drank strong tea to cure the headache, and it did give them temporary relief; but at the same time it laid the foundation for more severe headache. Now they use neither tea nor coffee, and can

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bear the joyful testimony that when they had by abstinence overcome their desire for tea, their headache also disappeared.

Those on our side of the question, who have passed through the struggle against the clamors of morbid appetite, and have gained the victory, can appreciate this view of the subject. Those on the other side must pass over to us, and work out their own experience before they can fully understand the matter.

And right here is where the subject of hygienic reform meets one of its greatest obstacles. It is difficult for those under the control of appetite to see anything in the reform but privation and starvation. They sit down to a hygienic dinner, - without flesh-meats and highly seasoned gravies, - where all the food is, so far as possible, in its natural state, and are disgusted with its tastelessness. They pity us who live upon this diet, and, judging by their own condition of taste, are grieved that we are starving ourselves. But the very dinner they despise, we enjoy with the keenest relish, and do it liberal justice.

To us who have become accustomed to a simple, unstimulating diet, it would be painful to sit down to a fashionable dinner and partake of highly seasoned fleshmeats. The very spices, salt, vinegar, pepper, mustard, and pickles that would delight a fashionable taste, would be very unwelcome to ours. The great difficulty in this subject is, that those who differ with us cannot understand the matter fully until they have, through their own experience, come all the way over to our side of the question.

To all hygienic reformers I would say, Live up strictly to the convictions of your own enlightened mind. Be not led into indulgence by the entreaties of friends. Live the reform at home; and when you go abroad, carry it with you. Live it, and at proper times, in proper places, and in a proper manner, talk its principles. Never let the opposition or the kind entreaties of friends, gain ground on you. Ever hold on your way, and by all

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proper means labor to impress those around you with the importance of the subject.

A few words to those who are making changes: If you make them all at once, be sure to make a corresponding change in your mental or physical labor. If your circumstances are such that you cannot greatly lessen your labor for a while, or spend a few months at a sanitarium, you should, in matters of diet, make the changes gradually. But do not forget to change. As you prize health and the favor of God here, and a happy existence in his presence in the next world, turn from the violation of natural law. Let it be your study and constant effort to bring your habits of life more and still more into harmony with the laws instituted by the beneficent Author of your being.

THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH

"TO him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." ⁴¹1 This text presents two grand themes, - overcoming, and the victor's reward. The magnitude and importance of the work of overcoming are measured by the value of the reward presented. The human mind cannot conceive a reward of greater value than that here offered. It is to be exalted to the throne of the Son of God, when he shall reign King of kings and Lord of lords. Christ will then wear his kingly crown, and the overcomer will also wear a crown. Christ will reign, and the overcomer will reign with him. This reign of peace, of exaltation, of glory, in which the overcomer is to participate, will continue throughout the ceaseless rounds of eternal ages. And all this glory is presented to us as an inducement to engage earnestly in the great work of overcoming.

Christians generally have a very indefinite idea of what it is to overcome, in the sense of the text. With few exceptions, they seem never to think that it has reference to self-control, and especially to the complete control of appetite. Hence, professing Christians eat fashionable viands, smoke, chew, and snuff tobacco, drink tea and coffee, become gluttons and drunkards, and thus defile the temple of God, ⁴²2 simply to gratify depraved appetite. And many of these Christians, doubtless, regard the work of overcoming as very nearly summed up in mastering their embarrassment in speaking and praying in public, and saying grace over their fashionable tables. God pity them!

The text, however, gives a definite idea, in plainest terms, of what it is to overcome, - "even as I also overcame." Men and women are to overcome as Christ

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overcame. When we are able to comprehend the temptations and victories of the Son of God, we shall have a definite idea of what it is to overcome. The subject of Christ's overcoming may be discussed under three propositions:-

1. The Son of God did not overcome on his own account. He was not a sinner. He "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." The divine Son of God was so far a partaker of our nature as to feel our woes and suffer for our sins, yet in him was no sin, and his overcoming was not for himself.

2. The work of overcoming on the part of the Son of God was on account of our sins. The temptations he suffered and the victories he gained, were to enable him to succor mortal men and women suffering under the weakness of the flesh, and beset with strong temptations. The apostle speaks definitely on this point: "For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." "Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted." "For we have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." ⁴³1 The divine Redeemer was subjected to the fiercest temptations, passed through the most fearful struggles, and gained victories the most glorious, that he might redeem man from the ruin of the fall, the weaknesses of the flesh, and the temptations of the devil.

3. As the Captain of our salvation, Christ has led the way in the work of overcoming. And in order that he might succor the tempted, he has been tempted in all points as we are. This was not for his own benefit, but for our good. Therefore our temptations are, in kind,

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just what the Son of God endured; and the victories which we must gain in overcoming, are, in kind, just what the Son of God experienced when he overcame. This proposition is most fully sustained by the clause, "as I also overcame," found in our text. Having clearly before the mind the idea that the divine Redeemer, as the Captain of our salvation, has led the way, subjecting himself to the very temptations and self-denial which his followers must experience in order to be redeemed by his blood, let us consider the temptations of the Son of God, and the circumstances under which he overcame.

Immediately after his baptism in Jordan, "Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil." ⁴⁴1 The record of another evangelist reads, "Immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan, and was with the wild beasts." ⁴⁵2 Another evangelist gives the facts of the temptations of Christ in still another form, "Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing." ⁴⁶3

The Holy Spirit led the Son of God into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil. This was a part of the great plan necessary to the salvation of sinners. The temptation must occur as truly as the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension, or the second advent. The crucifixion of Christ and his intercession for sinners are subjects of very common and popular discussion in the pulpit and by the religious press; but the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, though holding an important place in the great plan, is passed over as having little more significance than if it were an accidental occurrence, - as if Christ chanced to be in the wilderness just then, and Satan seized upon the opportunity to annoy him. But mark well the strong expression of Luke: "Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness."

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There in the wilderness, wild, barren, and dreary, the Son of God endured the first of the three great temptations that represent the leading temptations to which the fallen race is exposed. For want of space, I can here dwell only on this first temptation, which relates to appetite. Satan urged Christ to work a miracle by changing stone to bread to satisfy the pangs of hunger after the fast of forty days. Christ resisted the temptation. The Saviour's long fast, the temptations under the peculiar circumstances, and the victory gained, were not only a part of the great plan by which Christ became the Redeemer of the lost race, but they were designed to present an example full of encouragement to those who have still to struggle against the power of appetite.

The grandest thought in all the range of revealed theology is, that Christ in his life on earth was tempted on all points as mortal men are, in order that he might be "able to succor them that are tempted." In that long fast in the wilderness, our Saviour endured the keenest pangs of hunger, in order to save sinners lost by indulgence of appetite, - that his arm might reach to the depths of wretchedness and weakness, even of the poor glutton and the miserable drunkard.

The Redeemer, both divine and human, as an overcomer in our behalf, stood in the very position where Adam's failure plunged the race into ruin. Christ endured the very test under which Adam failed. He took hold of redemption just where the ruin began, and succeeded in carrying out the plan.

The subject is truly grand. At thought of these things, there kindles in the soul the most ardent love, and the deepest reverence for our all-conquering King. He overcame on our account. He leads the way in suffering, mental agony, victory, and triumph, and bids us follow in self-denial and everlasting glory. We hear from him by way of Patmos, saying, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."

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Mark well these vital points on this subject:-

1. Christ did not overcome on his own account, but for us.

2. His temptations and victories were to enable him to succor his tempted people. Therefore, -

3. His temptations were in kind just what his people must meet and overcome.

The victory of our triumphant Head over the most subtle temptations during his forty days' fast, and the glorious promise of reigning with him in his throne, on condition that we overcome as he overcame, establish the fact that one of the highest attainments in the Christian life is to control appetite, and that, without this victory, all hope of heaven is vain.

Is there suffering and self-denial in the work of overcoming? The Christian will joyfully welcome these, in view of heirship to the eternal throne and the crown of glory. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him." "But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." ⁴⁷1

REDEMPTION

TO redeem is to purchase back from sale or from slavery; to deliver from the bondage of sin or its penalties. God proposed to redeem the fallen race through the sacrifice of his Son. This great redemption is threefold: First, from the condemnation and practice of sin; secondly, from the grave; and thirdly, from the disgrace of the fall.

1. Redemption from the condemnation and practice of sin. "Sin is the transgression of the law." ⁴⁸1 The apostle doubtless refers particularly to the moral code; yet the transgression of any law established by our beneficent Creator to govern our actions, is sin. Said the angel, referring to the Redeemer, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins." ⁴⁹2

Man fell under the power of appetite. The Redeemer set his people an example of self-denial, and he says to them, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." ⁵⁰3 But what of those who profess to be followers of Jesus, but are really drunkards and gluttons? How does the Master esteem those who gratify appetite without regard either to expense or to the physical and moral influence of such a course upon themselves and their children? Ministers and people, clergy and laity, chew, smoke, and snuff the "filthy weed," simply because it produces, for the time being, a pleasant sensation. They pollute their breath, their blood, their clothes, their dwellings, and the atmosphere of even their places of worship, to gratify morbid taste. Slaves to tobacco! The moral and intellectual in servitude to the animal! The Protestant, church-going people of America pay out more money annually for

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tobacco, tea, and coffee, to poison their blood, than for the gospel of Jesus Christ, to purify their lives. Professed Christians will yield to the clamors of appetite for luxuries and indulgences which stupefy their higher powers and strengthen the baser passions, and at the same time they will talk piously of the self-denial and cross of the Christian life! This certainly falls but little short of a burlesque upon the Christian religion. In the words of Charles Beecher, "O unhappy church of Christ! fast rushing round and round the fatal circle of absorbing ruin! Thou sayest, 'I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked'!"

"Know ye not," says Paul, "that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." ⁵¹1 Again the apostle appeals to the church at Corinth in these words: "Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." ⁵²2

To those, and to those only, who by self-control turn from a life of excess, and choose a life of self-denial and purity, will the atoning blood of Christ be applied. It is said of the numberless hosts of the saved, that they "washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." ⁵³3 The robes of character were not given to them for the occasion, to hide their sins. No; they washed their robes.

Some of the rich blessings which it is the privilege of Christians to enjoy in this life are mentioned in these stirring, triumphant words of Paul: "That ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness; giving thanks

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unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." ⁵⁴1

And the beloved John declares the message that "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." ⁵⁵2 The Redeemer, in overcoming, set an example of self-control to his followers, and then closed his life of disinterested benevolence by death on the cross. Here is seen his matchless love for sinners. Those who deny themselves, who overcome as he overcame, and by faith wash their robes of character and make them white in his blood, may sing of redeeming power and love here, and they will find eternal ages none too long to swell the happy strain, "Worthy, worthy is the Lamb!"

2. The redemption from the grave, by the resurrection to immortal life, of all who are in this life redeemed from the condemnation and practice of transgression, is the second stage in redemption. It is in this life that we obtain a moral fitness for the next. The change to immortality is not a moral change; it is simply an exchange of the corruptible body for one that is incorruptible. This second stage in the Redeemer's stupendous achievement of man's redemption, is expressed by the apostle thus: "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." ⁵⁶3

3. The redemption of the righteous from the disgrace of transgression completes the work of the Redeemer. The redeemed are then on higher and safer ground than that on which Adam stood before his fall. In the estimation of God, of Jesus, angels, and all created intelligences in the universe, they stand the same as if our first parents had not disgraced themselves and their children

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by yielding to the power of appetite. The Redeemer has borne their sin and shame, and has accepted, in his own sinless person, the punishment due them. Man's failure to form a righteous character was complete. Jesus took man's place, and endured the test; his success in working out a righteous character in man's behalf, is as complete as was Adam's failure. To those who, in a life of self-denial and self-control, have by faith followed their triumphant Head, the righteousness of Christ is imputed. In their Saviour the redeemed lose all their shame and disgrace. Not only will they then stand complete in the purity of their own robes of character, which they have washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb, but they will shine with the brighter luster of the divine righteousness and eternal glory imputed to them from their adorable Redeemer.

HYGIENIC REFORM:

IT'S RISE AND PROGRESS AMONG SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS.]]

[WHILE the reformatory principles held by Seventh-day Adventists are in no way peculiar to them, it is probable that this people present a unique example of the adoption, by a religious denomination, of a body of health principles requiring a radical change of habits, and affecting the lives of individual members in all their physical relations. The careful reader of the preceding pages of this volume will hardly need to be informed of the sources from which the health principles of the denomination have been drawn; but it will nevertheless be profitable to consider more at length the development of this remarkable movement among this people.

Fortunately, the task of tracing the history of this reform was undertaken, years ago, by one eminently qualified for its execution; and we cannot serve our readers better than by presenting the substantial part of what was then written by Elder James White in a series of articles which appeared in the pages of the Health Reformer during the years 1870 and 1871. To these articles will be appended a brief sketch of the growth of the movement since that time, and the development of the various new and important phases which have naturally grown up from the foundation laid by the pioneers of this great reformatory enterprise.]

Every real reform - every movement that tends to improve man's present condition or to affect his future happiness - is under the direct providence of God. This is true of the great cause of hygienic reform. Though Jews, Turks, skeptics, Christians, or modern Judases, who would

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sell their Lord for money, may act a part in it, the reform, nevertheless, is of God.

It is with great pleasure that we consider this matter from a Bible point of view. The Bible is to us the voice of Infinite Wisdom, the highest and safest authority; and it contains a vast amount of testimony touching the subject of health. Christian temperance is taught on almost every page of the New Testament. We thank God for science; and we also thank him that, on the subject of hygiene, science and the word of God are in harmony.

Seventh-day Adventists have not felt that it was safe to base their hope of salvation upon mere theories of the future life, or upon a belief in the arguments which prove that that immortal state is near. They have felt the necessity of a preparation for the great realities of the future, and have made this a matter of practical consideration. Now is the time to obtain that moral fitness which is necessary for the change of "our vile bodies" at the coming of our Lord. The moral change must take place now, in order to the change to immortality then.

Admitting that we are living in that brief period divinely allotted to the work of preparing for the second advent of the Son of God, and the change to immortality, how timely is the introduction of the subject of hygienic reform among us, - a reform which changes false habits for those of Christian temperance, and purity of soul, body, and spirit!

Look at the picture of Noah's time and ours, presented in Matt.24:37-39: "As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." The great sins of the men and women of the Noatic world, when God poured upon it a flood of waters and washed it from its moral pollution, were drunkenness, gluttony, and the indulgence

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of sensuous passions. The intellectual, the moral, the God-like, in man were brought down to serve the animal appetites and passions. The sins for which the antediluvians were condemned, are the leading sins of our own time. This is emphatically an age of drunkenness, gluttony, vice, and crime. Yet, thank God, in the midst of the moral filth and wretchedness, there are those who feel the force of the divine warning, - "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting [gluttony], and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares." ⁵⁷1

The glories of the future life are promised us on condition that we turn away from popular pollutions. "Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." ⁵⁸2

Would we be the adopted sons and daughters of the Almighty? Then we must shun the excesses of this degenerate age, and perfect that holiness which consists in physical as well as moral cleanliness. Our God is the embodiment of purity. Into heaven "there shall in no wise enter . . . anything that defileth." ⁵⁹3 The throne of God, the tree of life, and the river of life, clear as crystal, will be charming in their purity. We believe it to be but a little while to the ushering in of the day of immortal blessedness; and should we not feel unutterable longings for that purity of flesh and spirit which is necessary in order to be meet for the inheritance of the saints in light? With this in view, no one should marvel that Seventh-day Adventists are a denomination of hygienic reformers.

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The denomination known as Seventh-day Adventists has existed about twenty-two years; as an organized body, only ten years. Rising from a very small beginning, its members in the United States now [1870] number about fifteen thousand. From the first, some of the principles of hygienic reform have been cherished, but it is only about five years since the general change in diet and the reform in dress.

Seventh-day Adventists took up the subject of hygiene from religious principle, and they adhere to it in the love and fear of the God of the Bible. They have a living, growing interest in the reform as taught among them, because of its harmony with science, with their own invaluable experience, and with the word of God. Their ministers teach it to the people publicly and at the fireside, and they practice it, so far as possible, wherever duty calls them. This people also carry out the reform in their social relations with kindred and friends, at home and abroad. This straightforward course makes them practical as well as theoretical teachers of hygienic reform. And this is no more than might be expected. A people who have moral courage to leave the deep rut of human custom, and observe the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath of the Lord, purely from principle, should be found firm and true in all reforms. To be out of joint with the rest of the world for two days in each week, is neither convenient nor profitable. The observance of the Bible Sabbath is frequently attended with pecuniary loss. It is also decidedly unpopular; and nature shrinks from taking a step that carries one so far from the world. And the high sense of truth and duty that leads this people to a conscientious observance of the Sabbath of the Bible, also leads them to adopt and carry out the principles of hygienic reform.

Seventh-day Adventists have taken their position upon unpopular points of theology from hearing sermons and reading works which appeal to their moral and intellectual faculties. The grand themes upon which they dwell with

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delight and profit are the comparison of prophecy with history; the origin, nature, and perpetuity of the divine law; and that purity of flesh and spirit which is requisite to heirship to the future inheritance.

While thousands are induced to take a position in matters of religion simply because their feelings are wrought upon, and while tens of thousands adopt a religion simply because it is popular, Seventh-day Adventists are moved by appeals to the noblest powers of the human mind. Such a people should be ready to follow truth wherever it may lead them, and properly to estimate reforms wherever they may exist. And having, from reason and conscience, taken their position on the subject of hygienic reform, they are prepared to defend it, and to reap the benefits of it.

As a people, we have discarded the use of tobacco in all its forms. Thank God for so glorious a victory over perverted appetite! In the annual assemblies of the leading men of our denomination, not the least taint of the filthy weed can be discovered by sight or smell. Our people have also discontinued the use of tea and coffee, as unnecessary, expensive, and injurious to health. Here another victory has been gained.

This work of reform has entered at least four thousand families among us, and saves an expense of not less than twenty-five dollars annually to each family, making the entire sum saved in one year about one hundred thousand dollars. This is indeed a handsome sum to give for the cause of humanity and religion. When the benefits of emancipation from the slavery of morbid appetite are taken into the account, we, as a people, can afford to double the sum, and give two hundred thousand dollars as a tribute to the blessings of hygienic reform.

But the reform among us does not stop here. Our people have put away the use of swine's flesh, and, to a great extent, of flesh-meats generally. This they have done from a conviction that flesh is not the most nutritious or the most healthful food for man. While flesh-meats

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stimulate, they do not build up the system, as other foods do. This was once an experiment with our people; now it is demonstrated.

Seventh-day Adventists have adopted two meals a day, instead of three. But this is not a denominational law with them, as their church organization and discipline have nothing to do with regulating such matters. Yet in most cases they discard flesh-meats, and partake of food but twice each day. These facts we have learned from personal observation in holding camp-meetings with them from Maine to Kansas, during the past summer. Our ministers preach hygienic reform, and live it wherever they go. And our many publications carry it to the doors of all our people. Thousands have testified to the benefits of the changes they have made. They report better health, and an increase of physical strength. Ask them if they can perform as much labor without meat and without the third meal as they could before they made these changes, and they will tell you that since their present habits have become fully established, they can endure more labor, and that they enjoy life much better. This is the experience of all, whether professional or laboring men.

God designed our sleeping hours to be a period of complete rest to the entire being, stomach and all. But let one eat the third meal, and then go to bed; do the digestive organs rest? - No. Other parts of the system rest; but that mill of a stomach must grind the grist on hand, or still greater evils will result. So it grinds, while its owner imperfectly sleeps. He turns restlessly from side to side. The brain sympathizes with the overworked stomach. Bad dreams follow, perhaps nightmare; and in the morning the supper-eater wakes with bad feelings in the stomach, faintness, foul breath, depression of spirits, and perhaps sick-headache. He feels condemned for something, he knows not what. In fact, if domestic matters do not move off smoothly, he is decidedly cross. The birds sing, but he does not hear them. The glorious sun comes up, but what of that? This is no more than it has done

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every morning for six thousand years. With a heavy heart and a sad countenance he takes up the duties of the day.

There is no good excuse for habitual morning headache. When you sleep, let the stomach rest, as well as all other parts of the system. Take two full, healthful meals each day, and let all your other habits be temperate and correct, and we shall hear as little of headache as of handache or footache. Labor, physical or mental, may throw the blood to the brain, and the weary man may go to rest with aching head. But if his stomach be not loaded with the third meal, and if the entire man be permitted to enjoy rest while he sleeps, the blood will retire from the head, and he will awake in the morning free from pain, rested and refreshed with sleep, from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot. He feels not only the restoring influence of sweet sleep in his entire being, but he is in possession of a moral benefit which is beyond price. He wakes with a clean stomach, a clear head, a free heart, a clear conscience (if he deals justly, loves mercy, and walks humbly with God), and a buoyant spirit. The language of his soul is, "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord." ⁶⁰1 How delightful to such a man is the dawn of a summer morning! He wakes to join the happy songsters as they warble forth their morning praise to nature's God. He meets the rising sun again with gladness, and greets the members of his household with feelings of tenderness and love. And thus he goes forth to the duties of the day, enjoying health of body and mind, feeling that he is a man, and competent for the tasks of life.

It is true that the miseries of this life are made up of the natural results of many sins; but we solemnly believe that prominent among these is the sin of gluttony, especially in the form of the third meal. In a moral point of view, this sin is a terrible one. It debases the man, and makes him earthly, sensual, devilish. To eat and drink fashionably, - that is, of that which was not

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designed as food for man, - and too often, is an outrage upon the stomach. It deranges the digestive machinery, benumbs and beclouds the moral and intellectual powers, strengthens and inflames the passions. That which is God-like in man is brought down to serve the lower instincts.

Many persons of strong constitution who are engaged in active, out-door labor, do not appear to be much affected by wrong habits of eating and drinking. Some of them may live to old age; but in many cases, these wrong habits result in nervous dyspepsia, followed by physical and moral evils which seriously affect the Christian life. The dyspeptic suffers depression of spirits, and often falls into a desponding mood, which sometimes ripens into despair. Such persons cast a shadow, instead of giving light to the world. They are, in fact, a burden to themselves and to all around them. The influence of these gloomy, desponding, dyspeptic Christians goes far to impress the minds of the youth with the idea that religion is calculated to deprive them of real happiness, and that it is totally unsuited to their years.

I solemnly believe that ninety per cent of the existing despondency, despair, and what is called religious insanity, is caused by the abuse of the stomach. He who looks through smoked glass sees nothing bright and pleasant. The beauties of nature and of art all look stained and gloomy. So the dyspeptic Christian views God, Christ, angels, and heaven through a brain beclouded by continued abuse of the stomach.

But the man who is ignorant of the facts in the case cries out that those who have undertaken a reform in diet, are starving themselves to death! Let us see. My own table is furnished fourteen times each week from the following varieties, prepared by an intelligent cook, in every inviting form:-

Vegetables. - Potatoes, turnips, parsnips, onions, cabbages, squashes, peas, beans, etc.

Grains. - Wheat, corn, rye, barley, oatmeal, rice, farina, cornstarch, and the like.

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Fruits. - Apples, pears, peaches, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, huckleberries, grapes, cranberries, raisins, and tomatoes.

Besides these, we keep one of the finest young cows in Michigan, which is fed and treated in a manner to secure to our family of twelve, about ten quarts per day of the best milk. We starve to death? - Not we. "But can you afford these extras?" - Indeed we can. They do not cost, the year round, as much as the old diet of flesh-meats, spices, etc. But this is not our reason for the change. The object of hygienic reform is not to save money, but to secure health, manhood, purity, and heaven.

When the subject of healthful diet and two meals a day was first introduced among Seventh-day Adventists, it was favorably received by the majority. This was owing, in a great measure, to the manner in which it was presented. Mrs. White was the first to speak upon the subject among our people. She went from State to State, speaking once or twice at each of our large gatherings. She appealed to the people upon the subject of Bible temperance, dwelling upon the great benefits and blessings to be derived from correcting bad habits of life. The subject was a fruitful one, and was presented in a happy, earnest style. She spoke to men and women who held the Bible as the highest and safest authority, and there were few who objected to her teachings. Many immediately left the use of flesh-meats, and adopted the two-meal system. Several of our ministers, who had been afflicted with disease, soon reported a better state of health as the result of changing their habits of life. The interest was very general, and seemed to be steadily increasing.

In the year 1865, Mrs. White prepared a work of four hundred pages, entitled, "How to Live." It was first issued in six pamphlets, to subscribers, by the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association, Battle Creek, Mich. These pamphlets were devoted, one each, to the questions of food, bathing, drugs, air, clothing, and exercise. A large

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edition was printed, and a portion of it was bound in a neat volume, which had a large sale. It was readable, and well adapted to meet the wants of the people. It had a wide circulation outside of Seventh-day Adventists, and its influence for good, in calling attention to the subject of hygienic reform, can hardly be estimated.

Another book published about this time was a little work of sixty-four pages, entitled, "An Appeal to Mothers. The Great Cause of the Physical and Moral Ruin of Many of the Children of our Time." This also was prepared by Mrs. White, and a large edition was issued by the same publishers. Many personal friends scattered the work very widely, because of the confidence they had that the author was especially taught of the Lord. Others assisted in its circulation, because of the truth which it earnestly set forth. Thousands of youth have read this pamphlet, and many have been reformed by it. Thousands of mothers have had their attention called to the importance of taking every precaution to save their young children from falling into evil habits and polluting vices. The warning has been faithfully given, and its good results are already evident.

In the early part of 1865 I became fully satisfied that I had received great benefit from adopting the principles of hygienic reform, so far as we understood them. I had been afflicted with rheumatism, and with difficulties of the stomach and head. These were disappearing, and I enjoyed clearness of thought, freedom of spirit, and physical strength and activity. This great improvement in health led me to intemperance in labor. To my former arduous duties was added an active effort to teach the people the principles of hygienic reform. This was put forth in the form of lectures upon the subject in the morning and between religious services at our State Conferences.

At this time, while I was making important changes, my labors should have been decreased, instead of being increased. I was exploring a new field, ignorant of the

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dangers to which I was exposed. But with ardent zeal I labored on. One morning, after a constant strain on my mental and physical powers, as Mrs. White and myself were enjoying our usual walk, I suffered a stroke of paralysis. My right arm was rendered useless for a short time, and the brain and the power of speech were so far affected that I could utter but one word to the faithful friends who gathered around, and that was, Pray. After a short season of prayer, relief came, so that I could raise the paralyzed arm, and could imperfectly converse. But dyspepsia in its worst form followed, and in three months I was reduced over fifty pounds in weight. In this condition I continued for about one year. But by the blessing of God, and careful attention to the laws of health, I was finally enabled to rally. During the past three years I have dispensed with flesh-meats, and have taken but two meals a day. I have worked hard and incessantly, as few men do, and have come up from one hundred and thirty-four pounds to one hundred and eighty.

During the fifteen months of my severe sickness, Mrs. White was by my side; and of course she was necessarily silent, so far as public labors were concerned. Hence the work of pushing forward hygienic reform among Seventh-day Adventists devolved upon others. And some of those who undertook to guide the movement were so unfortunate as to adopt extreme positions, and, in some localities, brought reproach upon the cause.

These extremes operated against the reform in two ways: First, they caused a great amount of prejudice; and, secondly, in the minds of many who were but partially converted to the reform, they furnished an excuse for drawing back to former habits of life. It is a great misfortune for those who labor to move minds in any good cause, to run to extremes. Our work is to move the people; and the more people we can reach, the more good is accomplished. If reformers must err at all, it is safest for their own influence, and much better for those they would help, to err on the side nearest the people. If

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they err on the other side, they at once place themselves where they cannot reach the people at all. Some may be satisfied to take extreme positions, and stand in their defense, with the few who adhere to the same, leaving all the rest of the world uninstructed upon the broad principles of reform; but such a course does not commend itself to my mind.

One thing is certain, instructors should practice their own teachings before urging them upon others. And then, when they become fully established, and live out strictly their own sentiments, when they have learned to value them highly, and feel the importance of teaching them to others, they should labor judiciously to lift the people up to them. Have they reached a firm footing above their friends, and do they rejoice in a higher position than they occupied but yesterday? then they should remember the "hole of the pit" from which they have just been taken. We were all beginners once. The cause is a progressive one. As we advance, let us take as many of the people with us as possible.

In every society or association of men there are always novices ready to seize upon the most extreme thoughts and suggestions; and with a spirit more keen than tolerant, they will urge their views at any time, anywhere and everywhere. These persons appear never to think of the words of the Divine Teacher, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." ⁶¹1 They do not learn the truth contained in them, - that the human mind is not always ready to receive even important truths. Christ labored to lead his disciples forward step by step, as they could understand the new truths he was ever opening before them. He understood the philosophy of the mind, and he knew how to deal with it.

Not all are prepared to teach. There are a hundred who should take the learner's seat, where there is one adapted to the teacher's stand. Many who talk loud and long of reform would be better qualified for the work

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after learning something to say that would shed clear light upon the subject; while others fail entirely in their efforts to teach the people, from a want of mental discipline, and of experience in dealing tenderly with other minds. "He that winneth souls is wise." ⁶²1

All questions upon which people are sensitive should be treated with candor and great care, even by those who are well-informed, and competent to teach, lest the minds of those they would instruct should be closed by prejudice. But on the subject of hygiene, which restricts the appetites and passions of men, double care should be taken by those qualified for the work, to "speak the truth in love."

In the early days of the reform, there were errors and extremes in practice as well as in theory. We might refer to the cold-water men of from twenty to thirty years ago. Better-informed hydropathists now talk of less "heroic" treatment, - tepid water, and more pleasant baths. When water-treatment was first introduced, novices were, in some instances, guilty of remaining all night in a cold, wet-sheet pack, and that, too, by the consent of their friends. They would come out in the morning trembling with cold. It is a wonder they did not die outright. Cold water, applied in proper manner, during a proper period of time, is indispensable in some diseases, and for some persons. But cold water improperly applied has death in it.

What is true of extremes in the use of water, is also true in a degree of extremes in diet. And it is a matter of the deepest regret that the public mind has been soured by the advantages that have been taken of existing extremes, and that good men and women have become prejudiced against the true philosophy of life and health.

The cause of hygienic reform, however, is onward, and all enlightened and sincere reformers will follow on in the path of light and right. The changes from injurious habits of life to those conducive to health, are great, and should be made with care, especially if the same habits

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of labor are continued. It is always best to labor much less at the time of changing to a vegetarian diet, and adopting two meals a day. Is a man a tobacco user, a tea-and-coffee drinker, a meat eater, taking his three meals? Let him begin with tobacco, and put that away. Then let him leave off the use of tea and coffee, eat less meat, and make his third meal very light. He will find this a heavy tax upon his system. He may all the time feel worse; but what of that? There is a glorious victory ahead. Soon he can dispense with flesh-meats altogether. His appetite will become natural, and he can take simple, healthful food with a keen relish. Next, he leaves off the third meal. As he sleeps, his stomach rests; and in the morning he does not suffer from faintness, as when his stomach was taxed with the third meal. When right habits of diet are established, and the victory over morbid appetite is gained, the morning hours, especially in summer, are the happiest and best.

Shall we stop here? Having gained victories, and now enjoying many of the blessings resulting from a change from wrong habits of life, how natural and consistent that we should still look forward to higher and yet holier attainments in life and happiness!

The attention of our people was first called to the harmful effects of tea, coffee, and tobacco about twenty years ago. For thirteen years the voice of truth, pleading in the name of Christian temperance, was heard among us, warning us against these slow poisons, before our attention was called to any further advance in habits of life. This was all that could be borne till victory should turn in favor of purity and health, and against these popular evils. The good work went steadily on, until our tables were cleared of tea and coffee, and our homes and persons were free from the stench of tobacco.

Our dwellings and our places of worship are no longer defiled with the filthy narcotic. Here we will join the song of jubilee with our mothers, daughters, and sisters, that our homes are redeemed from this defilement, and

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that fathers, sons, and brothers are free from the scent of the baneful weed, and, in this respect at least, are pure and manly.

We forbear to enter into all the details of domestic wretchedness occasioned by the slow, but sure, process of enfeeblement, disease, nervousness, and fretfulness occasioned by the use of tea and coffee. Thank God that our sisters have found a happy release from these subtle enemies of health and happiness! With improved health, free from the tea headache, in the enjoyment of firmer nerves and a calm spirit, they will now allow husbands, sons, and brothers, in their turn, to rejoice.

If personal cleanliness only were involved in this matter, both men and women might well thank God for victories gained. But here are principles to be maintained that reach beyond the exterior, - principles that affect our well-being not only in this life but in the life to come.

When we say that those who have found freedom from the tyranny of tea, coffee, and tobacco, enjoy improved health, clearer brains, and more even and buoyant spirits, we state a fact to which thousands among us can bear testimony. But the good work of reform did not end here. About seven years ago, the attention of our people was especially turned to the importance of thorough ventilation, and to the relation of proper food and clothing to health. The question of flesh-eating came up, and was fully and candidly discussed. It was decided that flesh was less nutritious than bread, - an opinion sustained not only by the best medical authorities in our country and Europe, but by the experience of thousands who have tested the matter for themselves. While we admit that flesh is a food, we deny that it is the best food for man. It stimulates the system, but does not nourish and build it up, as do grains, fruits, and vegetables. Besides this, animals are liable to be more or less diseased; and by partaking of their flesh, man receives their diseases into his own system.

It is stated upon good authority that while wheat, corn, barley, rye, and oats contain seventy-five parts nutrition

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and twenty-five parts waste, pork, beef, and mutton contain only twenty-five parts nutrition and seventy-five parts waste. On this hypothesis, one pound of meal contains as much nutriment as three pounds of meat. The poor man may figure thus: The rich pay fifty cents for three pounds of meat, which contain no more value in nutrition than one pound of good, unbolted wheat-meal, costing only four cents. Again, the poor man may reason from established facts: It takes five pounds of corn fed to swine to make one pound of pork. Three pounds of the pork contain no more nourishment than one pound of cornmeal; therefore it is a hard trade to throw away fourteen-fifteenths of the golden blessing of a liberal Providence, and save only one-fifteenth for hungry children, and that, too, in the form of scrofulous swine's flesh.

But it may be argued that one feels stronger immediately after eating liberally of flesh. This is admitted. The same is true of tea and whisky. It is also true that the languor which follows the stimulating influence of tea and whisky, is felt in a degree by those who subsist largely upon flesh-meats. On this point also the writer can speak from experience. After breakfasting largely upon beefsteak, feelings of faintness used to call for a lunch by eleven o'clock. Now, after a breakfast at 6:30 A. M., of vegetables, fruits, and bread, nothing more is needed till 12:30. And it is the testimony of hundreds whose digestion is feeble, that the faintness they felt when eating flesh three times a day, has subsided since abstaining from meat entirely, and taking only two meals a day of grains, fruits, and vegetables.

Let no one imagine, however, that all the benefits of hygienic reform are to be realized in a day, in a week, or even in a year. It may take five or ten years for those who suffer from wrong habits of living to prove the good results of conforming to nature's laws. Once these changes were an experiment with our people, but the experience of years has demonstrated their importance. The longer the blessing that results from these changes

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is enjoyed, the more clearly it is seen, and the higher is our estimate of its value.

HEALTH INSTITUTIONS

In the summer of 1866, through the influence of Mrs. White, the foundations were laid for the first health institution among Seventh-day Adventists. Indeed, the institution founded at that time was one of the first of the sort in the western part of the United States. Perhaps it may be said that it was the first of the kind in the United States, or in the world, as it possessed many unique features, and was not conducted as a money-making scheme. Between thirty and forty thousand dollars was raised for the enterprise by the friends of health and temperance reform. A proper site was selected, and the Health Institute opened in August, 1866.

During the first years of the institution, water was almost the sole remedial agent employed, and a large number of persons were restored to health by a careful use of baths, and the healthful regulation of diet, rest, exercise, and general habits of life. After ten years of very successful work as a water-cure, the institution was reorganized under a new management and with a broader scope. The name was changed from "Health Institute" to "Medical and Surgical Sanitarium." Since that time the managers have undertaken to supply to their patients all known rational remedies for disease. The facilities for treatment have been constantly enlarging, but at no time have they been more than sufficient to meet the rapidly growing patronage of the establishment. The four original wooden buildings have given place to two fine brick structures, capable of accommodating several hundred sick people.

At the time of this writing, the family of the institution, comprising patients, nurses, and attendants, numbers more than six hundred persons. Nearly four hundred thousand dollars is invested in buildings and medical appliances, and competent persons, who visit this institution after

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having visited the principal medical establishments of the world, declare unhesitatingly that there is no establishment in the civilized world which equals this in the extent and completeness of its facilities for the care of the sick.

Several years ago the managers, finding themselves unable to accommodate the increasing demand for skilled nurses and attendants, established a Training School for Nurses, which has grown to be the largest school of its kind in the United States. At present, nearly one hundred nurses are employed in the Sanitarium. The Training School numbers more than eighty pupils. The course of training in this school is so thorough that its graduates are in constant demand. Almost daily the managers receive calls for nurses from various parts of the United States, which they are unable to supply. Scores of young men and women have already received training for most useful and lucrative positions, and the reputation of the school is such that the managers are able to receive only a small proportion of those who apply.

A Training School in Domestic Economy is also conducted in connection with the institution, in which young men and women are trained in the art and science of economic housekeeping. This department comprises one of the most excellent cooking schools in the United States, and is in session the year round. Scores of young men and women from various European countries, as well as from different parts of the United States, are in constant attendance at these schools.

Still another line of educational work is the Sanitarium Kindergarten, in which children are taught and trained after the most healthful methods for developing both the mind and the body. The managers of this department have recently organized a course of instruction for young women who wish to devote themselves to this branch of educational work.

A course of instruction is also carried on for the purpose of fitting persons to engage in health and temperance

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missionary work. This course comprises not only instruction in the principles of hygiene and temperance, but gives a training in the best methods of imparting instruction to others by means of talks, conversations, readings, and the distribution of health literature.

The generosity of the stockholders in relinquishing their dividends to be used for charitable purposes, has enabled the managers to extend the advantages of the institution to hundreds of worthy persons who are poor. The work in this department, since the organization of the institution, amounts to more than one hundred thousand dollars, or nearly three times the whole original capital stock as a self-supporting work. The success of this enterprise is unrivaled, and its charities are constantly extending into new lines, as fast as the funds of the institution will allow.

In the year 1877 a health institution, based upon essentially the same principles as the Sanitarium at Battle Creek, was established at St. Helena, Cal. This institution, known as the Rural Health Retreat, has developed into a large and flourishing establishment, capable of caring for one hundred invalids, and hundreds of sick people have been restored to health through its agency. Another institution has been recently opened at Mr. Vernon, Ohio; and several small establishments, mostly of a private character, have sprung up in various parts of the United States, being carried on by those who have been connected, more or less, with the original health institution at Battle Creek. Plans are now in operation for the establishment of a branch institution in some part of Colorado.

HEALTH JOURNALS

About the time of the establishment of the first health institution, the publication of a journal, known as the Health Reformer, was begun, with the object of promulgating the principles of health and temperance reform which were advocated and practiced at the Health Institute. The journal soon acquired a large subscription list,

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and became one of the most widely circulated health publications in the United States. About the time of the reorganization of the Health Institute, the name of the journal was changed to Good Health, under which title it is now published. Probably no other journal of the kind wields so wide an influence in the interests of health and temperance and social purity reform, as this.

Eight or nine years ago a health journal in the Danish language was started in Christiana, Norway. This soon became so popular that it was necessary to publish an edition also in the Swedish language. More recently, two journals in the Scandinavian languages have been started in this country, so that now there are four health journals in those languages, and each has a wide circulation.

Several years ago the managers of the Rural Health Retreat established a journal known as the Pacific Health Journal, which has reached a liberal circulation, and has accomplished much in the dissemination of the principles of health and temperance reform.

In addition to the various journals mentioned, books, tracts, and pamphlets have been issued by the hundred thousand.

Before leaving this subject, it will be proper to call attention to a prediction made by Mrs. White more than twenty years ago, regarding the health institution at Battle Creek: "With all the efforts in every department, put forth in a correct and judicious manner, and with the blessing of God, the institution will prove a glorious success." Another statement, made before the institution had reached half its present dimensions and facilities, is as follows: "If it [the Sanitarium] is conducted in a manner that God can bless, it will be highly successful, and will stand in advance of every other institution of the kind in the world."

The following article from Mrs. White clearly sets forth the principles upon which the Sanitarium should be conducted:-

ARTICLE BY E G WHITE - A HEALTH INSTITUTION.

231 - E G WHITE CONTINUED
232 - E G WHITE CONTINUED
233 - E G WHITE CONTINUED
234 - E G WHITE CONTINUED
235 - E G WHITE CONTINUED
236 - END E G WHITE ARTICLE

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

The following sketches of the lives of Elder Bates and Elder Andrews were written by Elder James White in 1877, and appeared in the pages of Good Health of that year:- ELDER JOSEPH BATES.

SKETCHES of the lives of great and good men are given to the world for the benefit of the generations that follow them. Human life is more or less an experiment to all who enter upon it. Hence the frequent remark that we need to live one life in order to learn how to live. This maxim, in all its unqualified strength of expression, may be a correct statement of the case of the self-confident and incautious; but it need not be wholly true of those who have had good and wise parents, and who have proper respect for the prudent and good people who have made life a success. To those who profit by the experiences of those who have fought the good fight, and have finished their course with joy, life is not altogether an experiment. Its general outlines, to say the least, may be patterned after those who have, by the grace of God, become good and noble and truly great, in choosing and defending the right.

Reflecting young men and women may acquire, even before they leave parental care, a practical education which will be invaluable to them in future life. This may be done to a considerable extent by careful observation; but in reading the lives of worthy people they may learn lessons by which they will be fortified against the evil, and be enabled to choose the good, that lies all along the path of human life.

Second to our Lord Jesus Christ, Noah, Job, and Daniel are held up before us by the sacred writers as patterns worthy of imitation. The brief sketches of the faith, patience, firmness, and moral excellence of these and

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other holy men, as found in the pages of sacred history, have been proved to be of inestimable value to all who would walk worthy of the Christian name. They were men subject to like passions as we are. Were some of them, at times, overcome of evil? erring men of our time may bless that record also; for it states how these ancient worthies overcame evil, and fully redeemed their errors, so that, becoming doubly victorious, they shine brightest on the sacred page.

In his epistle to the Hebrews, Paul gives a list of heroes of faith. In chapter eleven he mentions Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, and stopped the mouths of lions. The apostle presents these witnesses as patterns for the Christian church, as may be seen by the use he makes of them in the first verse of the chapter which follows: "Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."

Since the apostle's time, there have been many who exemplified in their life the same firm principles for which the ancient worthies were commended. Elder Joseph Bates was such a man. His life was crowded with unselfish motives and noble actions. That which makes his early history intensely interesting to his personal friends, is the fact that he became a devoted follower of Christ, a thorough reformer, a Christian gentleman, and ripened into a noble manhood, and all this while exposed to the evils of sea-faring life, - from the cabin-boy of 1807 to the wealthy retiring master of 1828, a period of twenty-one years.

Beauty and fragrance are expected of the rose, planted in suitable, well-cultivated soil, and tenderly reared under the watchful eye of the lover of the beautiful; but it is with wonder that we admire the living green, the pure white, and the delicate tints of the water-lily, whose roots reach far down into the cold mire at the bottom of the

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darksome lake. And we revere the Power that causes this pearl of flowers, uncultivated and obscure, to appropriate to itself all valuable qualities, and to reject the evil.

So, to apply the figure, we reasonably expect excellence of character in those who are guarded against corrupting influences, and whose surroundings are the most favorable to mental and moral development. In our hearts, pressing up to our lips, are blessings for all such. But he who, in the perpetual presence of the uncultivated and vile, and with no visible hand to guard and guide, becomes pure and wise, and devotes his life to the service of God and the good of humanity, - a Christian philanthropist, - such a one is indeed a miracle of God's love and power.

Joseph Bates was born July 8, 1892. The following brief account of his parentage and boyhood is taken from his "Autobiography," published in 1868:-

"My honored father and his forefathers were for many years residents in the town of Wareham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. My mother was the daughter of Mr. Barnabas Nye, of the town of Sandwich, Barnstable County, both towns but a few hours' ride from the noted landing-place of the Pilgrim Fathers.

"My father was a volunteer in the Revolutionary War, and continued in the service of his country during its seven years struggle. When Gen. Lafayette revisited the United States, in 1825, among the many who were pressing to shake hands with him at his reception rooms in the city of Boston was my father. As he approached, the General recognized him, and grasped his hand, saying, 'How do you do, my old friend, Captain Bates?' 'Do you remember him?' was asked. His answer was something like the following: 'Certainly; he was under my immediate command in the American army.'

"After the war, my father married and settled in Rochester, an adjoining town in Plymouth County, where I was born. In the early part of 1793 we moved to New Bedford, some seven miles distant, where my father entered into commercial business.

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"During the war with England, in 1812, the town of New Bedford was divided, and the eastern part was called Fairhaven. This was ever afterward my place of residence until I moved with my family to Michigan, in May, 1858.

"In my school-boy days my most ardent desire was to become a sailor. I used to think how gratified I should be if I could only get on board a ship that was going on a voyage of discovery round the world. I wanted to see how it looked on the opposite side. Whenever I thought of asking my father to let me go to sea, my courage failed, for fear he would say, No. When I tried to unburden my mind to my mother, she endeavored to dissuade me, and proposed some other occupation. At last they permitted me to accompany my uncle on a short trip to Boston, hoping this would cure me; but it had the opposite effect. My parents then complied with my wishes.

"A new ship, called the Fanny, of New Bedford, was about to sail for Europe; the commander, Elias Terry, agreed with my father to take me on the voyage as cabin-boy. In June, 1807, we sailed from New Bedford to take our cargo on board at New York City, for London, England."

With increasing interest we follow young Bates in his perilous experience upon the seas, and recognize in him a spirit firm and undaunted, ready to live up to his convictions of right, and we also see the hand of Providence in wonderful deliverances from danger and death. At one time he had the courage, under trying circumstances, to reject a bribe offered to induce him to take a false oath; and by testifying to the truth he saved the fore-fingers and thumb of his right hand, with which he wrote during his long life in advocating and defending the noblest reforms of the age. He says:-

"While we were congratulating ourselves respecting our narrow escape from shipwreck, two suspicious looking vessels were endeavoring to cut us off from the shore. Their cannon balls soon began to fall around us, and it

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became advisable for us to round to and let them come aboard. They proved to be two Danish privateers, who captured us and took us to Copenhagen, where ship and cargo were finally condemned in accordance with Bonaparte's decrees, because of our intercourse with the English.

"In the course of a few weeks we were all called to the court-house to give testimony respecting our voyage. Previously to this, our supercargo, who was also part owner, had promised us a handsome reward if we would testify that our voyage was direct from New York to Copenhagen, and that we had had no intercourse with the English. To this proposition we were not all agreed. We were finally examined separately, my turn coming first. I suppose they first called me into court because I was the only youth among the sailors. One of the three judges asked me in English if I understood the nature of an oath. After I had answered in the affirmative, he bade me look at a box near by, about fifteen inches long and eight high, and said, 'That box contains a machine to cut off the two forefingers and thumb of every one who swears falsely here. Now,' said he, 'hold up your two forefingers and thumb on your right hand.' In this manner I was sworn to tell the truth, and regardless of any consideration, I testified to the facts concerning our voyage. Afterward, when we were permitted to go aboard, it was clear enough that the 'little box' had brought out the truthful testimony from all; viz., that we had been wrecked by running against an island of ice fourteen days from New York; refitted in Ireland, after which we joined the British convoy, and were captured by the privateers. After this, some of our crew, as they were returning from a walk where they had been viewing the prison, said that some of the prisoners thrust their hands through the grating, to show them that they had lost the two forefingers and thumb of their right hand. They were a crew of Dutchmen, who were likewise taken, and had sworn falsely."

As the primary object of this sketch is to present Elder Bates to the reader as a true reformer, we pass over the

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perils and shipwrecks, the captures and imprisonments by sea and on land, the scenes of great suffering and providential escape, during the first eight years of his sailor life, up to the time he rejoined the home circle in June, 1815. Speaking of this time he says:-

"My father had been told by those who thought they knew, that if I ever did return home I would be like other drunken man-o'-war sailors. Our meeting quite overcame him. At length he recovered, and asked me if I had injured my constitution. 'No, father,' I replied, 'I became disgusted with the intemperate habits of the people I was associated with. I have no particular desire for strong drink.' This much relieved his mind."

In 1821 Joseph Bates became master of a vessel, and sailed on a voyage to South America. Not only did he have charge of the ship, but the cargo also was confided to him for sales and returns. Of his convictions on the subject of total abstinence from ardent spirits, he says:-

"While on our passage home, I was convicted of a serious error, in that I had for more than a year allowed myself to drink ardent spirits, although I had before practiced entire abstinence, having become disgusted with the debasing and demoralizing effects of strong drink, and being well satisfied that drinking men were daily ruining themselves, and moving with rapid strides to the drunkard's grave. Although I had taken measures to secure myself from the drunkard's path by not allowing myself in any case whatever to drink more than one glass of ardent spirits per day, which I most strictly adhered to; yet the strong desire for that one glass, when coming to the dinner hour, the usual time for it, was stronger than my appetite for food, and I became alarmed. While reflecting about this matter, I solemnly resolved that I would never drink another glass of ardent spirits while I lived. It is now about forty-six years since that important era in the history of my life, and I have no knowledge of ever violating that vow, having never since used spirits, except for medicinal purposes. This circumstance

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gave a new spring to my whole being, and made me feel like a free man. Still it was considered genteel to drink wine in company."

The mind of the youthful master was evidently guarded from corrupting influences, and deeply impressed by a high and holy power. The associations in which his position placed him were such as to make it almost impossible for him to keep his solemn pledge, yet he did not waver. The true spirit of reform had taken hold of him, and he moved out still further. On the passage from Buenos Ayres to Lima, Peru, in 1822, he gained another victory, of which he speaks as follows:-

"As I had resolved on my previous voyage never more to use ardent spirits except for medicinal purposes, so now I also resolved that I would never drink another glass of wine. In this work of reform I found myself entirely alone, and exposed to the jeering remarks of those with whom I afterward became associated, especially when I declined drinking with them. Yet after all their comments, that it was not improper or dangerous to drink moderately, etc., they were constrained to admit that my course was perfectly safe."

While in Peru, several months after he had resolved to leave off wine also, our hero was severely tested. His statement, which follows, shows that instead of wavering and yielding to the pressure of associates, he took another firm step in reform:-

"Mr. Swinegar, our Peruvian merchant, gave a large dinner party to the captains and supercargoes of the American vessels, and to a number of the officers of the American squadron, Feb. 22, in honor of General Washington's birthday. As I was the only person at the table who had decided not to drink wine or strong drink because of its intoxicating qualities, Mr. S. stated to some of his friends that he would influence me to drink wine with him. He filled his glass, and challenged me to drink. I responded by filling my glass with water. He refused to drink unless I took the wine. I said, 'Mr. Swinegar, I

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cannot do so; for I have fully decided never to drink wine.' By this time the company were all looking at us. Mr. S. still waited for me to fill my glass with wine. Several urged me to comply with his request. One of the lieutenants of the squadron, some distance down the table, said, 'Bates, surely you will not object to taking a glass of wine with Mr. Swinegar.' I replied that I could not do it. I felt embarrassed and sorry that a cheerful company should be so intent on my drinking a glass of wine as almost to forget the good dinner that was before them. Mr. S., seeing that I would not be prevailed on to drink wine, pressed me no further.

"At that time my deep convictions with respect to smoking cigars enabled me to decide also that from that evening I would never smoke another cigar, nor smoke tobacco in any way. This victory raised my feelings and elevated my mind above the fog of tobacco-smoke which had to a considerable extent beclouded my mind, and thus I was freed from an idol which I had learned to worship among sailors.

"I had now been in the Pacific Ocean about fourteen months, and was closing my business and preparing to return to the United States. The ship Candace, Capt. F. Burtody, was about to sail for Boston, Mass., in which ship I engaged my passage. Capt. B. and myself mutually agreed, when the Candace weighed anchor, that we would from that hour cease chewing tobacco. About the last week of November, 1823, all hands were called to weigh anchor. None but those who experience these feelings can tell the thrill that fills every soul, from the captain to the cabin-boy, when the order is given to 'weigh anchor for home.' No matter how many seas there are to pass, or how many storms to meet, or how far from home, the joyous feeling still vibrates in every heart, 'Home, home, sweet home! Our anchor's weighed for home!'

"Our good ship now lay by with her main topsail to the mast, until the boat came alongside from the commodore with our specie and silver, which Capt. B. and myself

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had gained by trading. When this was safe on board, all sail was made on the ship. It was now night, and we were passing our last landmark (St. Lorenzo), and putting out for a long voyage of eight thousand five hundred miles. The steward reported supper ready. 'Here goes my tobacco, Bates,' said Capt. B., taking it from his mouth and casting it overboard. 'And here goes mine, too,' said I, and that was the last that ever polluted my lips. But Capt. B. failed to overcome, and labored hard to induce me to keep him company. I was now free from all distilled spirits, wine, and tobacco. Step by step I had gained this victory. Nature never required either, and I never used the articles, except to keep company with my associates. How many millions have been ruined by such debasing and pernicious habits! How much more like a human being I felt when I had gained the mastery in these things, and overcome them all!

"I was also making great efforts to conquer another sin, which I had learned of wicked sailors. That was the habit of using profane language. My father had been a praying man from the time I had any knowledge of him. My mother embraced religion when I was about twelve years old. I never dared, even after my marriage, to speak irreverently of God in the presence of my father. As he had endeavored to train me in the way I should go, I knew the way; but the checkered scenes of my seafaring life had thrown me from the track, which I was trying now to regain."

Captain Bates reached his Massachusetts home in February, 1824, and remained with his family and friends several months. During this time a new brig named the Empress, of New Bedford, was launched, rigged, and fitted to his liking, and in August he sailed for Rio Janiero, touching at Richmond, Va., to finish the ship loading. On this passage his experience deepened, and he still advanced in reform. He says:-

"From the time I resolved to drink no more wine (in 1822), I had occasionally drank beer and cider. But now,

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on weighing anchor from Hampton Roads, I decided from henceforth to drink no ale, porter, beer, or cider, of any description. My prospect for making a profitable and successful voyage was more flattering than my last; for I now owned a part of the Empress and her cargo, and had the confidence of my partners to sell and purchase cargoes as often as it would prove to our advantage, and use my judgment about going to what part of the world I pleased. But with all these many advantages to get rich, I felt sad and homesick. I had provided myself with a number of what I called interesting books, to read in my leisure hours. My wife thought there were more novels and romances than were necessary. In packing my trunk of books, she placed a pocket New Testament, unknown to me, on the top of them. On opening this trunk, I took up the New Testament, and found in the opening pages the following poem by Mrs. Hemans, placed there to arrest my attention:-

"'Leaves have their time to fall,
And flowers to wither at the north wind's breath,
And stars to set - but all,
Thou has all seasons for thine own, O Death!

"'Day is for mortal care,
Eve, for glad meetings round the joyous hearth,
Night, for the dreams of sleep, the voice of prayer,
But all for thee, thou mightiest of the earth.

"'Youth and the opening rose
May look like things too glorious for decay,
And smile at thee; but thou art not of those
That wait the ripened bloom to seize their prey.

"'We know when moons shall wane,
When summer birds from far shall cross the sea,
When autumn's hue shall tinge the golden grain,
But who shall teach us when to look for thee?

"'Is it when spring's first gale
Comes forth to whisper where the violets lie?
Is it when roses in our path grow pale?
They have one season - all are ours to die!

"'Thou art where billows foam;
Thou art where music melts upon the air;
Thou art around us in our peaceful home;
And the world calls us forth - and thou art there.'

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"These lines did arrest my attention. I read them again and again. My interest in novels and romances ceased from that hour. Among the many books, I selected Doddridge's 'Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul.' This and the Bible now interested me more than all other books."

The Empress arrived at Pernambuco, Brazil, October 30, where her commander was assailed by his associates, as he had been in other places, for refusing to take wine at dinner, as the practice was very common in South America:-

"A large company of us were dining with the American consul, Mr. Bennet. His lady, at the head of the table, filled her glass, and said, 'Captain Bates, shall I have the pleasure of a glass of wine with you?' I responded, and filled my glass with water. Mrs. B. declined, unless I would fill my glass with wine. She was aware, from our previous acquaintance, that I did not drink wine, but she felt disposed to induce me to disregard my former resolutions. As our waiting position attracted the attention of the company, one of them said, 'Why, Mr. Bates, do you refuse to drink Mrs. Bennet's health in a glass of wine?' I replied that I did not drink wine on any occasion, and begged Mrs. B. to accept my offer. She readily condescended, and drank my health in a glass of wine, and I hers in a glass of water.

"The topic of conversation now turned on wine-drinking, and my course in relation to it. Some concluded that a glass of wine would not injure any one. True, but the person who drank one glass would be likely to drink another, and another, until there was no hope of reform. Said one, 'I wish I could do as Captain Bates does; I should be much better off.' Another supposed I was a reformed drunkard. Surely there was no harm in drinking moderately. I endeavored to convince them that the better way to do up the business was not to use it at all. On another occasion a captain said to me, 'You are like old Mr. _____, of Nantucket; he wouldn't drink sweetened water!'"

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We pass over the Christian experience of Captain Bates, introducing only those points that seem closely connected with his advancement in moral reforms. It is sufficient here to state that in the fulfillment of resolutions made while on ship-board, he erected the family altar on his return home, and took the baptismal vow. At this time he suggested the first temperance society organized in that community, of which he speaks thus:-

"The same day, while we were changing our clothes, I solicited Elder M., who baptized me, to assist me in raising a temperance society. As my mind was now free with respect to this last duty, I was forcibly impressed with the importance of uniting my energies with others, to check, if possible, the increasing ravages of intemperance. Since I had ceased to use intoxicating drinks, I was constrained to look upon it as one of the most important steps that I had ever taken. Hence I ardently desired the same blessing for those around me. Elder M. was the first person whom I asked to aid me in this enterprise; failing with him, I moved out alone, and presented my paper for signers. Elder G., the Congregational minister, his two deacons, and a few of the principal men of the place, readily subscribed their names, twelve or thirteen in number, and forthwith a meeting was called, and the 'Fairhaven Temperance Society' was organized.

"The majority of our little number had been sea-captains, and had seen much of the debasing influence exerted by ardent spirits among its users, abroad and at home. They seemed the more ready, therefore, to give their names and influence to check this monster vice. Elder G. exclaimed, 'Why, Captain Bates, this is just what I have been wanting to see!' The meeting was organized by choosing Captain Stephen Merihew president, and Mr. Charles Drew secretary. Pending the discussion in adopting the constitution, it was voted that we pledge ourselves to abstain from the use of ardent spirits as a beverage. Having no precedent before us, it was voted that rum, gin, brandy, and whisky were ardent spirits. Wine, beer, and

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cider were so freely used as beverages that the majority of our members were then unwilling to have them in the list. Some doubts arose with the minority whether we should be able to maintain the spirit of our constitution without abstaining from all intoxicating beverages. One of our members, who had always been noted for doing much for his visiting friends, said, 'Mr. President, what shall I do when my friends come to visit me from Boston?' 'Do as I do, Captain S.,' said another; 'I have not offered my friends any liquor to drink in my house these ten years.' 'Oh, you are mistaken,' said the president, 'it is twenty!' This doubtless was said because the man had ceased to follow the fashion of treating his friends with liquor before others were ready to join him.

"Inquiry was then made whether there were any temperance societies then known. A statement was made that certain individuals in Boston had recently agreed together that instead of purchasing their liquor in small quantities at the stores, they would get it by the keg, and drink it in their own houses. This association was called the 'Keg Society.' If any temperance societies had ever been organized previous to the one at Fairhaven, we were unacquainted with the fact. A short time after our organization, one of our number was reported to have violated his pledge. This he denied. 'But you were intoxicated,' said we. He declared that he had not drank anything but cider, and that was allowed. We were told that his wife said she would a great deal rather he would drink brandy; for when he got drunk on cider he was much worse tempered. During the trial of this member, he continued to declare that he had not violated the letter of the constitution. But it was evident to the society that he had violated the intent and spirit of it, which he was unwilling to admit, nor would he even promise to reform. He was therefore expelled.

"The society now saw the necessity of amending the constitution by striking out the words 'ardent spirits,' and inserting in their place, 'all intoxicating drinks,' or something

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else that would sustain and aid the cause. From this a reform was introduced, which finally resulted in the disuse of all intoxicating drinks, except for medicinal purposes. This reform gave us the name of 'Teetotalers.'

"Before this, our temperance society had become exceedingly popular. Our meeting-houses, in their turn, were crowded with all classes to hear lectures on the subject; and converts, both male and female, by scores cheerfully pledged themselves to the temperance constitution. Many of the citizens of New Bedford who came to hear, also united with us. From thence a society was organized in their town, and in other places also. Arrangements were soon made, and a Bristol County Temperance Society was organized. The Massachusetts State Temperance Society soon followed. Temperance papers, tracts, and lecturers multiplied throughout the land, and opposition began to rage like the rolling sea, causing the tide of temperance to ebb awhile. Then came the 'Cold-Water Army,' of little children from four years upward, commingling their simple little songs in praise of water, pure cold water - no beverage like unmingled cold water. Their simple, stirring appeals, especially when assembled in their society meetings, seemed to give a new impetus to the cause, and re-arouse their parents to the importance of total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks. As I examined my papers the other day, I saw the book containing the names of nearly three hundred children who had belonged to our Cold-Water Army at Fairhaven."

Captain Bates retired from the seas in the month of June, 1828, having acquired more than a competency. He immediately began to devote his time and means to moral reforms, and labored ardently and successfully in this way for about twelve years, when he became an Adventist. He soon entered the lecture field, laboring both as a speaker and writer. In the cause of what he regarded as Bible truth and reform he employed his means and energies during the remainder of his useful life, a period of thirty-two years.

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During his long ministry, reaching from the noon of life to old age, he lost none of his ardor in the cause of moral reform. In fact, his belief that the Son of God would soon come, with all the holy angels, to receive his people and take them to a pure heaven, gave double force to the inspired exhortations to purity of life, and the warnings to be ready for the coming of that day. While addressing the people upon the subject of being in readiness to meet the Lord at his coming, we have often heard him apply these texts with great force: "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares." "What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean, and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." ⁶³1 When we expect a visit from friends whom we love and honor, how natural to put things in good order, and dress suitably for the occasion! This may well illustrate the action of those Adventists who are really such, in adopting the rules of clean, pure, practical hygiene.

Captain Bates began his table reform about the time he left his sea-faring life. He says:-

"From the year 1824, when I made my covenant with God, I had lived up to the principles of total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks, but had continued the use of tea and coffee, without much conviction as to their poisonous

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and stimulating effects, for seven years longer. With my small stock of knowledge on the subject, I was unwilling to believe that these stimulants had any effect on me, until on a social visit with my wife at one of our neighbors', where tea was served us somewhat stronger than it was our usual habit to drink. It had such an effect on my whole system that I could not rest or sleep until after midnight. I then became fully satisfied - and have never since seen cause to change my belief - that it was the tea I had drank which so affected me. From thence I became convicted of its injurious qualities, and discarded the use of it.

"Soon after this, on the same principle, I ceased the use of coffee, so that it is now about thirty years since I have allowed myself knowingly to taste of either. If the reader should ask how much I have gained in this matter, I answer that my health is better, my mind is clearer, and my conscience in this respect is void of offense."

The writer first met Elder Bates at his home at Fairhaven, Mass., in the year 1846. He had at that time banished flesh-meats of all kinds, grease, butter, and spices, from his own plate. When asked why he did not use these things, his usual reply was, "I have eaten my share of them." He did not mention his views of proper diet in public at that time, nor in private, unless questioned upon the subject.

When I first became acquainted with Elder Bates, he was fifty-four years of age. His countenance was fair, his eye was clear and mild, his figure was erect and of fine proportions, and he was the last man to be picked out of the crowd as one who had endured the hardships and exposure of sea life, and who had come in contact with the demoralizing influences of such a life for more than a score of years. It had been eighteen years since he left the seas, and during that time his life of rigid temperance in eating, as well as in drinking, and his labors in the pure sphere of moral reform, had regenerated the entire man, body, soul, and spirit, until he seemed almost recreated

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for the special work to which God had called him. "Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord." ⁶⁴1

Elder Bates was a true gentleman. A man of great natural firmness and independence, after twenty-one years of sea-faring life, a large part of the time as commander of rough sailors - it might be supposed that he would be exacting and overbearing in his efforts to reform others. True, he would speak what he regarded as truth with great freedom and boldness; but after he had set forth principles, and urged the importance of obedience to them, he was willing to leave his hearers free to decide for themselves.

When many of his fellow-laborers embraced the principles of health reform, and began to advocate them (about the year 1860), he joined them in this work with great gladness of heart that he had sympathizers and fellow-workers in the cause. He now began to speak freely upon the subject, both in public and private. Up to this time he had refused all fruits and nuts because of the custom of eating them between meals. But when many of his brethren adopted only two meals a day, and furnished their tables with fruits and nuts, he would partake freely of them with his meals.

At a health reform convention held at Battle Creek, Mich., in the spring of 1871, Elder Bates, in his seventy-ninth year, made a speech of remarkable interest, into which he incorporated some items of his personal history and experience. He closed with the following summary of the benefits he had derived from adopting the principles of hygienic reform:-

"1. From the ruinous habits of a common sailor, by the help of the Lord I walked out into the ranks of sober, industrious, discerning men, who were pleased to employ and promote me in my calling, so that in the space of nine years I was supercargo and joint owner in the vessel and cargo which I commanded, with unrestricted commission to go where I thought best, and continue my voyage as long as I should judge best, for our interest.

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"The morning after my arrival in New York, among the laborers who came on board to discharge my vessel, was a Mr. Davis, one of my most intimate friends during my imprisonment. ⁶⁵1 We had spent many hours together talking over our dismal position, and the dreadful state and ruinous habits of our fellow-prisoners, and there agreed that if ever we were liberated, we would labor to avoid the dreadful habit of intemperance, and seek for a standing among sober, reflecting men. Now, aside from his associates, we conversed freely, and he readily admitted our feelings and resolutions in the past, but with sadness of heart acknowledged his lack of moral courage to reform; and now, in this uncertain way, he was seeking for daily labor, when his poor state of health would admit of it.

"2. When I reached this point of total abstinence, God in mercy arrested my attention, and on the free confession of my sins, he, for his dear Son's sake, granted me his rich grace and pardoning mercy.

"3. Contrary to my former convictions, that if I was ever permitted to live to my present age I should be a suffering cripple, from my early exposure in following the sea, thanks be to God and our dear Lord and Saviour, whose rich blessing ever follows every personal effort to reform, that I am entirely free from aches and pains, with the gladdening, cheering prospect that if I continue to reform, and forsake every wrong, I shall, with the redeemed followers of the Lamb, stand 'without fault before the throne of God.'"

No comment on the foregoing is needed. And it is hardly necessary to state that this speech, from one who had reached nearly fourscore years, and who could look back upon a long life of self-control, marked all the way with new victories and new joys, electrified the audience. He then stood as straight as a monument, and could tread the side-walks as lightly as a fox. He stated that his

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digestion was perfect, and that he never ate and slept better at any period of his life.

Elder Bates held a large place in the hearts of his people. Those who knew him longest and best, esteemed him most highly. When his younger and most intimate fellow-laborers told him that his age should excuse him from the fatigue of itinerant life and public speaking, he laid off his armor as a captured officer would surrender his sword on the field of battle. The decision once made, he was as triumphant in faith and hope as before. Mrs. White wrote to him, recommending a nutritious diet, which called out the following characteristic statements from his pen, written in February, 1872, about forty days before his death:-

"God bless you, Sister White, for your favor of yesterday, the 13th. You say I must have good, nutritious food. I learn from report that I am starving myself, and am withholding from my daughter, who is with me, and alone a good part of the time in my absence; and that when I ask a blessing at my table, I ask the Lord to bless that which I may eat, and not that which is on the table. This is what I am not guilty of, nor ever was in all my family worship for some fifty years, but once; and I do greatly marvel how my industrious neighbors found out this one exception. But I will tell you the circumstance.

"Several years ago I was with the church in Vassar, Tuscola Co., Mich., and was invited to address them and their children in a barn on the Fourth of July, and also to take dinner with them. The tables were soon up, and loaded with tempting eatables; and I was invited to ask the blessing. The swine's flesh upon the table I knew was abominable and unclean, and that God had positively, by law, forbidden the eating or touching of it. See Lev.11:7,8 (law, verse 46); also Deut.14:1-3,8. I therefore very quietly distinguished, and asked a blessing on the clean, nutritious, wholesome, lawful food. Some whispered, and some smiled, others looked, and so on.

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"Starving, with more than enough to eat! Now allow me to state what, by the providence and blessing of God, we have in our house from which to choose a daily bill of fare:-

"GRAINS.

"90 pounds of superfine white flour.
"100 pounds of graham flour.
"5 bushels of choice garden corn.
"Pop and sweet corn in abundance.
"Cornmeal, rice, and oatmeal.
"Cornstarch, butter, sugar, salt.

"VEGETABLES.
"Three varieties of potatoes.
"Sweet turnips, parsnips, squashes.
"Two varieties of onions.

"FRUITS.
"11 cans of preserved sweet peaches.
"6 cans of sweet grapes.
"Strawberries preserved and dried.
"Quince and grape jelly.
"Tomatoes by the jug.
"20 pounds of dried sweet peaches.
"Box of Isabella grapes, almost consumed.
"Three varieties of apples and quinces.

"But the people say, and think they know what they say, that he refuses to furnish his table with tea and coffee. That's true! They are poison. Some thirty-five years ago I was using both tea and coffee. After retiring from a tea-party at midnight, my companion said, 'What is the matter? Can't you lie quiet and sleep?' 'Sleep! no," I said. 'Why not?' was the next question. 'Oh! I wish Mrs. Bunker's tea had been in the East Indies. It's poison.' Here I forever bade adieu to tea and coffee. After awhile my wife joined me, and we banished them from our table and dwelling. That's the reason they are not on my table.

"They say, too, that this man does not allow any ardent spirits or strong drink in his house. That's true. Please hear my reason: Fifty years ago I was by myself on the boundless ocean. My thoughts troubled me. Said

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I to Him who always hears, 'I'll never drink another glass of grog or strong drink while I live.' That's why I have no intoxicating drink on or about my premises.

"Well, there is another thing that he is fanatical about, and differs from more than half his country-men. What is that? - He will not have about him nor use any tobacco. Guilty! My reason: Forty-eight years ago I was away toward the setting sun; our gallant ship was plowing her way through the great Pacific. During the night watch we were called to take some refreshment. I then tossed my chew of tobacco into the ocean, never, no, never, to touch, taste, or handle any more. And allow me to say that when I had gained the victory over this deadening, besotting, benumbing vice, I went on deck the next morning a better man than ever I was in all my former life. Why? - I was free. I could appreciate God's handiwork in sea and sky, even in the tumbling, rolling waves. I could breathe freely, inhaling the pure air of heaven, and shout. I was a free man.

"Therefore, if any demand is ever made on me for tobacco, tea, coffee, or strong drink of any kind that intoxicates, they must present an order from the Court above.

"Here comes half a barrel of graham crackers, and a lot of farina, a national breadstuff of the native South Americans. I think I am now well supplied with good, nutritious food. And if there is any lack, I have some good, faithful brethren who seem to be waiting to serve me.

"I am your brother, now on retired pay in Monterey, Mich. "JOSEPH BATES.

"Feb. 14, 1872."

Elder Joseph Bates died at Battle Creek, Mich., March 19, 1872, in the eightieth year of his age. His last hours, though characterized by pain such as few men have been called upon to pass through, afforded marked evidence of the superiority of faith in Christ over bodily suffering and the prospect of certain and rapidly approaching death.

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Having in early manhood chosen the service of God, and having for many years faithfully endeavored to live the life of the righteous, his last end was such as those alone can expect who have sedulously endeavored to preserve a conscience void of offense toward God and man.

As we close this sketch, we are impressed with the words of Paul, prompted by a review of his own past life, and the reward of the glorious future: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." ELDER J. N. ANDREWS.

John Nevins Andrews was born at Poland, Maine, July 22, 1829. His paternal ancestors were among the early colonists of this country, having landed at Plymouth eighteen years after the arrival of the Mayflower, and settled at Taunton, Mass. In the Indian wars that followed, nearly the entire family were massacred. As the male members of the family, with the exception of one sick boy, who remained at home, were at work in a field, the Indians surprised them, and got between them and their guns. They were men of high stature, and of great physical strength; and in their determination to sell their lives as dearly as possible, they tore up trees of considerable size, and used them as weapons. But the contest was unequal, and the well-armed Indians killed them all.

"Both my grandfathers," says Elder Andrews, in a sketch from his own pen, "served in the Revolutionary War. Their names were David Andrews and John Nevins. The name of the latter was given to me. Grandfather Nevins was a man remarkable for his piety and kindness of heart. He lived to be very aged.

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"My earliest religious conviction was at the age of five years, when I heard a discourse by Daniel B. Randall from these words: 'And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.' So vivid was the impression made upon my mind that I have rarely read the passage without remembering that discourse. But it was not until I was thirteen years old that I found the Saviour. This was in January, 1843. I then became deeply interested in the doctrine of Christ's near coming, and I have ever since cherished this faith."

Elder Andrews entered upon the work of the Christian ministry in 1850, at the age of twenty-one, and for twenty-seven years has been a close fellow-laborer and an intimate friend of the writer. He is tall, with slender chest and massive brain. When he entered the ministry, he was afflicted with sore throat and a cough, and it was the general opinion among his friends that consumption would terminate his life in a few years. His thirst for education was great, yet he could spare neither the time nor the means to take a regular course in school.

His labors as a preacher and writer have been excessive, and he has taxed his strength severely by continuous study. Yet his health has been improving since 1864, when his attention was called to the subject of health reform. As we have before stated, his prospects for life and health, when he entered the ministry in 1850, were most gloomy. And that he should recover health while laboring intensely hard, depriving himself of seasons of recreation, and frequently cutting short the proper periods of sleep, furnishes the strongest proof of the benefits of hygienic reform.

In 1871 a personal friend requested him to write his experience for another friend in Providence, R. I. Of this request Elder Andrews says:-

"In asking me to write directly to his friend, my correspondent truthfully remarks that 'many people will not believe what appears in papers or periodicals, but a

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personal account will always suffice to remove old prejudices.' Now there is a reason for this unbelief and distrust that is certainly very weighty. The press teems with accounts of wonderful cures wrought by such and such medicines; and the point of each statement is this: 'If you would have health, buy this marvelous remedy.' Sensible people long ago decided that these certificates were in the great majority of cases entirely unreliable, and that they were formed for the manifest purpose of enriching the proprietor of 'the matchless sanative' that they respectively extol.

"Now, why should not health reformers be as generally and as promptly discredited as should the venders of the various 'magic cordials' and 'healing balsams' everywhere offered 'for the relief of suffering humanity'? They should, if they can be justly classed together. And if the same principle governs the action of each, then let them share in the same condemnation.

"But observe the contrast: The advocates of the hygienic system declare, as a fundamental principle, that health can be regained or preserved only upon condition that we 'cease to do evil and learn to do well;' while the dealers in the aforesaid wonderful preparations severally state, as one of the most convincing reasons for the use of their respective medicines, that 'no change of diet or of habits of life is required in order to be benefited by this wonderful remedy.'

"The first party declares that the restorative power exists only in the vital forces which God has given us; the other, that it is to be found in drugs. The one affirms that the restorative power within ourselves can alone give us health, but will do it only upon condition of abstinence from wrong habits, and of simple obedience to the laws of our being. But the other replies in derision, 'This is all humbug; you may eat, drink, and act as you will, without any danger of evil consequences, provided you freely use my healing balm.'

"Which of these parties is entitled to our confidence?

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One of them asks no money, but insists that we govern ourselves by the laws which the Author of our being has established within our own organization. The other bids us freely disobey, and promises us immunity from evil consequences on condition that we use the medicines which they desire us to buy at their hands.

"We know which of these two kinds of teaching is the more enticing to the multitudes; but would it not be well to ask which is the more reasonable? One of them declares that obedience to the laws of life is the one condition upon which we can have health. The other asserts that God has provided means whereby men may deliberately disobey those laws, and yet escape the consequences of that disobedience; and that that means is something known only to the ones who say this, and to be had only on condition that you pay them well for it. On which side are reason and common sense? on that of self-control, or on that of self-indulgence? And which of these two classes is attempting to get your money upon false pretenses?

"I am a firm believer in the principles of health reform. I have cause to be such. My judgment is convinced that its principles are reasonable, and just, and true. Moreover, I have proved them true by the test of actual experience. In this thing, therefore, I speak not merely that which I have heard, but I also testify that which I know. I believed in the health reform when I first learned its principles, because to me they were self-evident truths. But there is no teacher like experience. Ever after I was first instructed in this system, I believed it to be true; but the experience of seven years enables me to speak now as one who knows whereof he affirms.

"I do not attempt to instruct the people in physiological and hygienic science. There are plenty to do this who are fully competent to the task. I speak rather as members of the church bear testimony after the sermon of their pastor, not to give instruction in the doctrines set forth, but to declare that I have proved these very things

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to be true, and to testify that I know the certainty of that wherein we have been instructed.

"And why should I not speak with much assurance? I know what were the difficulties under which I labored eight years ago, and I well understand that my present condition is in marked contrast to my state at that time. Then I was a feeble man from head to foot. Now I have found entire relief from all the difficulties under which I suffered, and in God's merciful providence have excellent health.

"I can hardly recall any period of my early life in which I was a possessor of firm health. In boyhood, my growth was rapid, but I never saw the time when my physical strength was fully equal to that of most of those of my years. I loved severe study much more ardently than I did any of the sports and pastimes of my associates. From my earliest childhood I was taught to shun evil associates, and was warned against intemperance in every form in which my parents understood it to exist; but I was not instructed in the principles of hygiene, for neither my father nor my mother had any just knowledge of these.

"I was kept from the use of tobacco, and from even tasting strong drink; but I learned almost nothing of the evils of unwholesome food - at least, of such as was common in our own family. I did not know that late suppers, and 'hearty' ones at that, were serious evils. I had no idea of any special transgression in eating between meals; and though this was mostly confined to fruit, I did herein ignorantly transgress to a very considerable extent. I supposed old cheese was good to aid digestion! Do not smile at my folly; unless my memory is at fault, I had learned this out of 'standard medical works.' As to mince-pie and sausage, I had no thought that these were unwholesome, unless too highly seasoned, or, as it was termed, 'made too rich.' Hot biscuit and butter, doughnuts, pork in every form, pickles, preserves, tea, coffee, etc., etc., were all in common use. Of ventilation I understood

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almost nothing. And I might continue to enumerate the particulars of my ignorance of vital hygienic truth, but it would be easier to tell what I knew than to attempt to mention that which I ought to have known but did not.

"But I must also expose my ignorance, by confessing that I had little other idea of headache, dyspepsia, nausea, fevers, etc., than that these were, for the most part, wholly beyond our control, and that, like the various phenomena of nature, they were ordered by God's hand, and man had generally no agency therein. Do not smile at this strange notion. It is strange, indeed, that such ideas should prevail; but that they do prevail, even now, you may satisfy yourself by calling out the ideas of the very next person you meet.

"When I entered the Christian ministry, at the age of twenty-one, I did not enjoy firm health. Though in no sense an intemperate man, as the word is commonly used, I did, nevertheless, have no just idea of Christian temperance. However much I lacked in other respects, I did not lack in zeal to labor in the work I had undertaken; and I think I may say in truth that I felt in some degree the responsibility of my calling. My anxiety of mind was constant, and oftentimes extreme. Associated with a few others in the defense, or rather in the attempt to advance, an unpopular truth, there fell to my lot a heavy burden of anxious care, and the necessity of much overtaxing labor, oftentimes requiring not the day merely, but much, or even all, of the night.

"But one cannot violate the laws of his being, even in the best of causes, without suffering the consequences; and so I found, to my own cost. Had I understood the laws of life in the right use of food, and in the principles of hygiene generally, I could have gone longer than I did in the exhausting labor which I attempted to sustain. But, in short, my story is this: In less than five years I was utterly prostrated. My voice was destroyed, I supposed permanently; my eyesight was considerably injured; I could not rest by day, and I could not sleep well at night;

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I was a serious sufferer from dyspepsia; and as to that mental depression which attends this disease, I think I have a sufficient acquaintance with it to dispense with it in time to come, if right habits of life will enable one to do so. On arising in the morning it was very generally the case that the sensation in my stomach was as though a living creature were devouring it. Often, without apparent reason, very great prostration would come over me. My brain, from severe taxation and from ignorance on my part of the proper manner of performing brain labor, had become much diseased, and seemed to be undergoing the process called 'softening.' It was only at times that I could perform mental labor to any extent. I was considerably troubled with salt-rheum, which made the middle finger of each hand raw on both sides much of the time. I had plenty of headache, though I thought little of that. But I had one difficulty which made life a heavy burden to me. I had catarrh to such an extent that my head seemed to be incurably diseased. I will not describe its disagreeable peculiarities, but will simply say that I have not often seen persons who have it in so very bad a form as mine. No other ill of life ever gave me such trouble as this. My general strength was prostrated; I was a burden to myself, and could not but be such to others.

"Some nine years of my life elapsed after my general prostration, before I learned anything of consequence respecting the subject of health reform. During this time, from laying aside mental labor to a large extent, and working in the open air, I had received considerable benefit so far as my general strength was concerned. But I need not further state my own troubles in the past. Thank God that I can say 'in the past.' For the opportunity to say this, I am indebted to the health reform."

In the Health Reformer for 1872, Elder Andrews related his own experience and that of his family in adopting health reform. From his narrative we quote:-

"My attention was especially called to this subject in the early part of 1864. At that time my son Charles, who

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was then six years of age, was in a very critical condition. His left leg was withered its entire length, and was much smaller than his right one. Fortunately, however, it was not shorter than the other. His left ankle was greatly enlarged from a scrofulous deposit, which was almost as hard as bone. The ankle joint was therefore almost entirely stiff. In hobbling along, for he could not be said to walk, he turned his foot as far round as the foot can be turned, so that the toe was something more than at a right angle with the other foot, and actually pointed back. His general health was much impaired. He complained much at night of pain in his back. His difficulties began when he was about two years of age, and gradually reached the state which I have described. My wife and I were deeply distressed. We often prayed God to teach us what to do. We had our son examined by physicians and surgeons, but they were quite at a loss what to say to us."

It was finally decided to place the child where he could receive hygienic treatment. Elder Andrews continues:-

"Fifteen weeks of strict hygienic living and of judicious water treatment wrought in my son a change little short of miraculous. He walked in a natural manner, the enlargement of the ankle joint had nearly disappeared, and the withered leg had begun to grow. He continued to gain in health and strength, for his mode of life at home was the same as that under which such great changes had been wrought. His health became firm, and his left leg became equal in size and strength to the right. He has possessed vigorous health to the present time. When we placed him under hygienic treatment, his mother and myself determined to fully adopt the principles of health reform, and this we did in serious earnest, not with any particular expectation of benefit to ourselves, but because it seemed plainly right. I certainly had no idea of any manifest personal advantage in the recovery of my own health.

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"We adopted the two-meal system, and have strictly adhered to it till the present time. We put away from our table, spice, pepper, vinegar, etc. We also put away butter, meat, and fish, and substituted graham for fine flour. But we endeavored to secure plenty of good fruit, and, with our vegetables and grains, we have always used some milk and a very little salt. We have strictly abstained from eating anything except in connection with our meals, and have taught our children to act on this plan. For a space of time we took a brief season for rest each day, before the second meal. This plan of rest-hour, however, we have not regularly followed for several years past, but have occasionally regarded it, as necessity has demanded. But we have tried faithfully to follow the hygienic system in every essential point. And now to state its consequences in my own case:-

"1. One of the first results which I observed upon the change made in my diet, was that my food had once more the keen relish which I can remember it possessed in my childhood, but which it had long since lost.

"2. Headache, dizziness, nausea, and the like, were gone.

"3. But several months elapsed before I found any increase of strength. Nor is this strange when I state that, though I made so great a change in my living, and withal omitted the third meal, I did, nevertheless, continue my labors as before the change. But after some months I became sensible of an increase of strength, and this continued to be the case till I could say in strict truth that I possessed greater strength and power of endurance than at any former period of my life.

"4. One of the immediate consequences of omitting my third meal was entire freedom from morning faintness. When I dispensed with suppers, I also closed my acquaintance with what seemed to be a living creature gnawing in my stomach each morning before breakfast. I thus found that it was not the lack of food of which my stomach complained, but quite the reverse. It had toiled all night to dispose of the supper, when it should have had rest.

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"5. And as to the strength derived from a hygienic diet, I have this testimony to bear, that whereas I often suffered from faintness under the common method of living, I have no recollection of one case of this kind in my own experience for the whole period of my present course of life. I have often remarked that I can omit one of my two meals with less inconvenience than formerly I could one of the three.

"6. As the direct consequence of omitting unhygienic articles from my diet, my salt-rheum has wholly disappeared. Boils used to be frequent with me, but I have not had one in eight years. And the painful sores which came upon my under lip every few weeks in former years, have absolutely discontinued their visitations. These things I attribute largely to the entire disuse of butter.

"7. When I adopted the health reform, I had, as I supposed, an incurable catarrh. I was ignorant of the fact that it was caused by an inability of the liver to keep up with its work while its owner was continually taking into the stomach substances which would vastly increase its work beyond the design of the Creator. But after some months of correct living, especially in the matter of diet, I found some intervals of relief from the terrible scourge. Then it seemed as bad as ever. Then after a time there came a longer period of relief. Then again a relapse, and then a still longer season of freedom. So it continued for nearly two years, when to my great joy it ceased to come back at all.

"I owe to God a debt of gratitude for the health reform, which I can never repay or even fully express. It is to me something sacred, constituting, as Christian temperance, an essential part of true religion. In one respect only do I knowingly allow myself to transgress, and that is in the endeavor to discharge the responsibilities which devolve upon me, which sometimes requires a large part of the twenty-four hours. Yet with the strength derived from correct living in other respects, I hope not to destroy myself by thus laboring at times beyond what I would approve in secular business."

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[Some years after the paragraphs above quoted were written, Elder Andrews went to Switzerland, where he labored most arduously for many years in the establishment of the Central European Mission, located at Basle. While he lived, almost the entire burden of this important work rested upon his shoulders; and under the pressure of great responsibility, cares, and duties to which he had not been accustomed, and of the new and perplexing difficulties incident to pioneer work in a foreign field, the disposition to labor far beyond his strength, which for many years had led him to deprive himself of proper opportunity for sleep and recreation, was indulged even to a greater extent than in previous years. In addition to this extraordinary strain upon his physical powers, he was in a new country, where health principles were little known, and was surrounded with most unfavorable conditions as regards diet, ventilation, and the disposal of waste. For years the house in which he lived was thoroughly permeated with sewer-gas. Surrounded thus with conditions most inimical to health, it is not surprising that Elder Andrews finally succumbed to the pressure of untoward circumstances. Oct. 21, 1883, at the age of fifty-five years, he died of consumption, after battling for more than three years with the disease. He continued his labors almost to the very close of his life. Few men have left behind them a record of greater purity of life, or of more earnest effort for Christ and humanity. His indefatigable labors did more, perhaps, than those of any other man, to develop the Bible evidence of the views advocated by this people; and the debt of gratitude which we owe him should lead us to study earnestly the principles that he loved so well, and to emulate his noble example in a life of temperance and self-sacrifice, and of devotion to the good of others.]

¹ 2Cor.6:17,18; 7:1.

² Gen.2:7-9.

³ Gen.1:31.

⁴ Gen.1:29.

⁵ Gen.2:16,17.

⁶ Gen.9:3.

⁷ See Genesis 5.

⁸ Gen.2:9.

⁹ Matt.6:29.

¹⁰ Gen.2:15.

¹¹ Gen.3:17-19.

¹² Eccl.11:7.

¹³ Deut.14:8.

¹⁴ Isa.65:2-4.

¹⁵ Isa.66:15-17.

¹⁶ Matt.3:9.

¹⁷ Gen.18:19.

¹⁸ Gen.26:4,5.

¹⁹ Ex.15:24-26.

²⁰ God was about to repeat his law in the hearing of all the people. Would they obey? Their appetites and passions were such that their obedience was a matter of doubt. This, however, seems to have been established in the Divine Mind, that unless they could control appetite, they could not be controlled by law. God proposed to prove their moral power, and he did it by testing them on the point of appetite.

²¹ Ex.16:3,4.

²² God gave them flesh, not because it was best for them, but to teach them that he best knew their real needs. As other means of instruction had failed, he let them have their own way this time, to humble them, and bring them to submission.

²³ Num.11:7,8,4-6,18-20.

²⁴ Num.11:7,8,4-6,18-20.

²⁵ Ex.19:10.

²⁶ 2Cor.6:17,18.

²⁷ Heb.10:22.

²⁸ 1Peter 3:21.

²⁹ Gen.2:16,17.

³⁰ Luke 17:28,27.

³¹ Gen.5:23,24.

³² Ex.16:4.

³³ Luke 1:14,15; 21:34.

³⁴ Matt.3:4.

³⁵ Luke 1:14,15; 21:34.

³⁶ 1Cor.10:31; 15:32.

³⁷ 1Cor.10:31; 15:32.

³⁸ 1Cor.4:27.

³⁹ 1Cor.9:25,27.

⁴⁰ Prov.16:32.

⁴¹ Rev.3:21.

⁴² 1Cor.3:17.

⁴³ Heb.2:10,17,18; 4:15.

⁴⁴ Matt.4:1.

⁴⁵ Mark 1:12,13.

⁴⁶ Luke 4:1,2.

⁴⁷ 2Tim.2:12; 2Peter 4:13.

⁴⁸ 1John 3:4.

⁴⁹ Matt.1:21.

⁵⁰ Mark 8:34.

⁵¹ 1Cor.3:16,17.

⁵² 2Cor.7:1.

⁵³ Rev.7:14.

⁵⁴ Col.1:9-14.

⁵⁵ 1John 1:5,7.

⁵⁶ Phil.3:21.

⁵⁷ Luke 21:34.

⁵⁸ 2Cor.6:17,18: 7:1.

⁵⁹ Rev.21:27.

⁶⁰ Ps.150:6.

⁶¹ John 16:12.

⁶² Prov.11:30.

⁶³ Luke 21:34; 2Cor.6:16-18; 7:1; 1Cor.3:16,17.

⁶⁴ Isa.52:11.

⁶⁵ Joseph Bates was impressed into British service in 1810. In 1812, refusing to fight against his country, he became a prisoner of war. He was released April 27, 1815, just five years from the time he was impressed.