Evangelistic Temperance

Chapter 1 - The Lord's Wish

Advent Review, January 11, 1898

Temperance is self-control. Evangelistic temperance--Christian temperance--is self-control in all things,--of body, soul, and spirit.

For, "He which strives for the mastery is temperate [controls himself] in all things." (1 Corinthians 9:25)

This is the only true temperance. And this is in order that we may glorify God in both body and spirit,--glorify Him, and Him alone, in all things, and so meet the object of our creation and of our redemption.

The Lord has created and redeemed the body as really as He has the soul. He cares for the body as really and as fully as He does for the soul. And He wants us to care for the body as really and as fully as we care for the soul. Therefore He has said:

"I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers." (3 John 1:2)

Thus it is certain that the wish of the Lord is that our prosperity in health shall be even--evenly balanced--with our prosperity of soul, or spirit.

No one will for a moment question that God has given directions and prescriptions abundant to assure the prosperity of the soul. Everyone knows that everyone who will sincerely accept the word of God as to the good of his soul will assuredly find his soul prospering abundantly.

Yet as the Lord has recorded His wish, "above all things," that our health may prosper evenly with our souls, it certainly follows that He has given directions and prescriptions assuring prosperity in health evenly with the directions and prescriptions assuring prosperity of soul.

Yet this is very little thought of, even by professed Christians; and by many who happen to think of it, it is not believed sufficiently to lead them to an honest study of the word of God to know what He has said on the subject, and then give it a place in the life.

Many will bear great concern about the prosperity of their souls, to the utter neglect of their health, when if only they would take thought and care as to how they are living, and correct that by the word of God, the prosperity of their souls would be so abundant that there would be no room for anxiety in the matter.

Many people will ask for prayers that they may enjoy the blessing of God, when all that is needed is that they quit using some pernicious thing in food or drink. Many will "call for the elders of the church" to pray that they may not be sick, when all that is needed is simply a good bath, or perhaps only a good hot foot-bath. They will ask for prayers for recovery from sickness, when a bath, or perhaps only a foot-bath, would have entirely prevented the sickness.

Now we are not saying anything against calling for the elders of the church or praying for the sick; but we do say that the Lord never intends that prayers shall take the place of thought and common sense in everyday, simple things. He does not intend that He and miracle shall be substituted for individuality and intelligence.

He has given us responsibility, intellect, and judgment. He has given us His word and His Spirit to be our knowledge and guide. In His word He has told us that "above all things" He wishes that we may be in health; in His word and our own bodies He has made every possible provision that, by the co-operation of His word and ourselves, we may indeed, "above all things," prosper and be in health according to His wish.

That we may do all that is possible to help in this great thing, we shall publish, in this department of Evangelistic Temperance, the Bible principles of evangelistic health, which are essential to evangelistic temperance, as well as the principles of evangelistic temperance itself.
 
Chapter 2 - Living by Breathing

Advent Review, January 25, 1898

Original title: How to Live

We live by breathing. The first thing that anybody does in the world is to breathe; and the last thing He does in the world is to stop breathing. We can live weeks without eating, and days without drinking; but it is only the smallest number of minutes we can live without breathing; this, of itself, is sufficient to settle it that breathing is the most important part of living--indeed, that it is living.

As certainly as we live by breathing, so certainly we can live rightly only by right breathing. What, then, is right breathing? how can we know? Upon a certain point, Inspiration cites "nature" as a sufficient teacher:

"Does not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?" (1 Corinthians 11:14)

We may lawfully, therefore, and we know successfully, appeal to "nature itself" for instruction on the subject of right breathing. We are "fearfully and wonderfully [and wonderfully wisely] made" (Psalm 139:14).

And upon the great and all-important subject of how to live, "even nature itself" is a wise instructor, through the principles and hints written in our members.

The lungs are the organs of breathing, the nostrils and windpipe being merely open passages by which the air reaches the lungs. The place of the lungs is within the chest, which is the upper part of the body. Here they are strongly fenced in with the largest and most powerful ribs, these being further strengthened with the breast-bone. The breast-bone does not extend downward as far as the ribs number; the lower ribs, growing shorter as they descend, are loose at the front ends, and so are pliable. They are therefore called "floating" ribs.

The general shape of the thorax, the inside of the chest, and of the vital organs therein, (the heart and lungs), is that of a cone, right side up; that is, the small end up. However, it is not the shape of a complete cone, but of what is called a "truncated cone;" that is, a cone with the point off,--a cone which does not end in a point at the top, but yet is considerably smaller at the top than at the base. The lungs and heart, the vital organs, completely fill this cavity, so that there is not a particle of unoccupied space there. And as the heart occupies but a very small place, it is evident that almost the whole cavity is occupied by the lungs alone.

Now, this cone-shaped body formed of the lungs and heart is not fastened at any place to any part of the chest. It is connected with the throat by the windpipe, but it does not hang from the throat by this. What, then, supports these organs and keeps them in place? The diaphragm.

The diaphragm is a floor upon which rests this cone-shaped body formed by the lungs and heart.

The accompanying diagram shows the position and general shape of this cone, and of the diaphragm which supports it. The diaphragm is that apparent band, marked "d", running across the body just below the heart, marked "A". And just beneath the diaphragm is the stomach, marked "D".

The diaphragm is an arched, or, more properly speaking, a dome-shaped, muscle, which forms the floor of the organs in the chest-cavity, and at the same time the roof of the organs in the abdominal cavity. It is thus a lateral, or transverse, dome-shaped partition between the inside of the chest and the inside of the abdomen.

Thus the vital organs--the lungs and heart--are the contents of the thorax. The thorax has the general form of a cone right side up. This cone is formed almost wholly by the lungs, and is therefore capable of expansion, so as completely to fill,--when at rest,--the whole cavity of the chest. This cone is supported by the dome-shaped floor--the diaphragm.

The amount of air taken in at a full breath varies, of course, according to the various sizes of individuals; but the average is about 230 to 250 cubic inches. Here we stand, then, ready to breathe.

Now with the whole cavity of the chest completely filled already by these organs, it is plain enough that in order to get 230 cubic inches of air into the lungs, room must be made for it in some way. And it is evident enough that in order to make the required room, something has to move. To make this required room in the right way, to move the right things in the right way,--this is the whole philosophy of right breathing.
 
Chapter 3 - How Not to Breath

Advent Review, February 1, 1898

How, then, shall the necessary space be created for this air which we must have at each breath? Shall the cover of this cone be moved? or shall the cone itself be moved? What does nature itself teach in answer to these questions?

Let us take the first question first: Shall the cover be raised in order to give the cone, the lungs, the required space in which to expand, and thus receive the 230 cubic inches of air required?

The cover of this cone is that part of the chest from the tip of the breast-bone upward. In other words, it is that part of the chest which is formed of the strongest and heaviest ribs, strongly braced, both front and rear, by the back-bone and the breast-bone, and therefore is the most rigid part of the whole structure.

Now to look at this structure, does it appear as if it were made to be either raised or expanded so as to create 230 cubic inches of space twenty times a minute? Everybody can see that the only possible answer is a decided and emphatic "No." It is true, as we shall see later, that there is a slight movement of these ribs upward at the outward ends; but it is so very slight, when compared with the amount of space which must be created, that it is practically nothing.

But even though the chest--the cover of this cone--could be raised sufficiently to form the required space, it would have to be done by drawing the air into the lungs; and by this means, with the lung-fiber as a lever, lifting the chest. This would bring all the pressure upon the lungs, and would require that they do all the lifting. It would practically make the lungs perform the function of a force-pump, with which to lift a weight. But the lungs are not a force-pump, and cannot be made to perform the function of a force-pump without destroying them, and so destroying life itself.

The lungs are not muscular tissue at all. They are neither muscle nor flesh, but a sort of spongy texture containing air-cells, with only enough of tissue to hold these cells together, and give place for the necessary arteries and veins to keep them alive, the whole forming a texture almost as elastic as rubber and as light as sponge.

The air-cells contained in the lungs of an average man are so numerous that, if spread out flat, they would cover a space of two thousand square feet, equal to a floor or ceiling fifty by forty feet in size. Yet think, all this two thousand square feet of air-surface is contained in the lungs, which occupy so little space as to be held in that part of the chest from the fifth rib, or point of the chest-bone, upward, in a medium-sized man.

A single glance at these facts is enough to convince anybody forever that the lungs, not being composed of muscular tissue, are totally incapable of performing any work for themselves; and that therefore no process of breathing or speaking which causes the lungs to do any work in lifting or expanding the chest, can possibly be right.

From these facts it is clear that the chest and shoulders were never created thus to be raised; that the lungs were never created for any such purpose as the raising of them; and that to make any such use of the lungs is a violation of nature's law, which is the law of God. Therefore, "does not even nature itself teach" that all breathing that requires the lifting of the chest is certainly wrong breathing?

It will be well to note the danger that is caused by this perversion of nature's intent in the use of the lungs.

The surface of the air-cells in the lungs is a membrane so thin and delicate that when the blood is thrown against the inside of it, and the air strikes the outside of it, the life-property of the air passes through into the blood; yet the blood cannot pass through to the outside. God has made it so.

Now it is a principle in nature that when any unusual exertion is required of any organ, nature begins at once to supply whatever is needed, that the organ may perform the extra labor, or meet the extra demand, without injury. When any part is injured, nature seeks at once to repair the injury. This is done only by sending to that place an increased supply of blood, carrying in its corpuscles building material with which to strengthen the organ for the increased exertion, or to repair the injury done. It is a fact that nature will, against continued abuses, thus fairly work miracles to keep men alive; and it is a sad fact that she is compelled to do this nearly all the time with multitudes of people.

But it is impossible for nature, with safety, to strengthen the lungs to perform the unusual labor that is put upon them by this wrong way of breathing, which tries to lift, or expand, the chest. She tries to do it, but cannot; for the very effort which she makes to remedy the evil is itself an injury.

Let us examine this. When this unusual exertion, this work which was never intended, is put upon the lungs, of course they are unprepared for it. Nature is compelled at once to strengthen them for it in the only way possible; that is, by sending an increased supply of blood into the lungs.

But if this blood is to strengthen the lungs, it can do it only by making the tissue itself stronger. And this must inevitably make thicker that delicate membrane which is the surface of all the air-cells. But as certainly as this is made thicker, the vitalizing property of the air will not as readily pass through into the blood.

Thus not enough breath can be taken to keep the blood pure; the blood, therefore, being deprived of this vitalizing property, becomes sluggish, and grows more and more impure. This conduces to ill health, breeds disease, and brings death.

But the lungs cannot in all cases endure this process, particularly in those who have much talking or public speaking to do. In many cases this delicate membrane of the air-cells becomes distended by the increased supply of blood. When so distended, it is easily ruptured; and then, instead of the vitalizing property of the air passing through into the blood, the blood itself passes through into the air; there is bleeding at the lungs, and this means death.

It is plain, therefore, that whatever nature may do in her efforts to build against the abuse of the lungs, it means only death,--not death on the instant, of course, nor in a day, nor in a week; but it means death just the same, sooner or later, and that long before nature's proper time. As the Testimony expresses it, it is "slowly committing suicide."[1]

It is certain, then, that "nature itself" teaches, in positive tones, that any practice of breathing in which the chest must be lifted and lowered, or that brings pressure upon the lungs to lift and lower the chest, is positively, and even dangerously, wrong breathing.

Note:

1. See Gospel Workers, p. 147: "Some of our most talented ministers are doing themselves great injury by their defective manner of speaking. While teaching the people their duty to obey God's moral law, they should not be found violating his physical laws. Ministers should stand erect, and speak slowly, firmly, and distinctly, taking a full inspiration of air at every sentence, and throwing out the words by exercising the abdominal muscles. If they will observe this simple rule, giving attention to the laws of health in other respects, they may preserve their life and usefulness much longer than men in any other profession.

"The chest will become broader, and by educating the voice, the speaker need seldom become hoarse, even by constant speaking. Instead of becoming consumptives by speaking, our ministers may, by care, overcome all tendency to consumption. I would say to my ministering brethren, Unless you educate yourselves to speak according to physical law, you will sacrifice life, and many will mourn the loss of 'those martyrs to the cause of truth,' when the facts in the case are, that by indulging in wrong habits you did injustice to yourselves and to the truth which you represented, and robbed God and the world of the service you might have rendered. God would have been pleased to have you live, but you slowly committed suicide."

Chapter 4 - Does Not Nature Itself Teach You?

Advent Review, February 8, 1898

The leading question just now in our study of breathing is, How shall the necessary space be created in the chest-cavity to enable the lungs to receive the necessary amount of air seventy times a minute?

We have seen that the lungs and heart together form a cone-shaped body which completely fills the thorax, the inside of the chest, and that the strongly built chest is a protecting cover to the vital organs which form this cone. We have inquired whether the cover of this cone shall be raised in order to provide the necessary space for breath; and we have found that answer to be a most emphatic No. The chest cannot be kept in motion for any such purpose, and the lungs cannot be used to produce such motion, without tending directly to disease and death.

Then as the cover of the cone cannot be moved, can the cone itself be moved? As nature teaches so decidedly that the chest, the cover of the lungs, cannot be lifted for this purpose, does nature itself teach that the cone itself can be lowered so as to provide the necessary space for air in breathing?

Well, as something has to move in order to provide the space for the two hundred and thirty cubic inches of air that we must have, and as the chest cannot be moved sufficiently for this purpose, it follows, and nature itself teaches, that the cone itself--the lungs and heart-must be moved. How, then, shall this be done?

In describing these organs at the beginning,[1] we found that the cone formed by the lungs and heart rests upon the diaphragm as upon a floor. If that floor can be lowered, this will lower the cone. And when the cone is lowered, this will give space as really as though the chest were raised; then the lungs will be expanded by the air which will rush in of itself.

Now this is precisely what is done in right breathing. This is nature's way. This is just what God has made these organs to do. And this is why the diaphragm is made as it is, and occupies the place that it does occupy as the floor of the lungs, the base of that cone.

The diaphragm is an arched, or rather, dome-shaped, muscle (as it is arched on all sides), which forms the floor of the organs in the chest-cavity, and at the same time forms the roof of the organs in the abdominal cavity. The drooping sides of this dome, all around, are formed of muscle, which reaches up over the curve toward the center, but does not extend entirely to the center. A considerable portion of the center of the diaphragm is not composed of muscle, but is simply a sheet of tendon.

The drooping sides of the diaphragm extend downward along the inner surface of the body to the twelfth rib all around, except in front, where it extends only a very little below the tip of the breast-bone; and the edge is fastened all around to the inner surface of the body. By this it is seen that the edge of the diaphragm where it is fastened all around, is a considerable distance below the top of the diaphragm, except immediately in front. It is seen also that the drooping sides of the diaphragm all around, extend downward close to the inside walls of the body.

Now the muscles of these drooping sides of the dome-shaped diaphragm contract, and thus draw down the top of the dome, which is the floor of the cone that is formed of the lungs and heart.

When this floor is drawn down, that which rests upon it--the whole cone-shaped contents of the chest--descends with it. the lowering into a larger cavity of that cone which already only fills the cavity where it is, would leave a space all around and over itself from bottom to top, but for the fact that "nature abhors a vacuum." Therefore as this cone is lowered, and begins thus to make room, the air, which exerts fifteen pounds of pressure to the square inch outside of the body, rushes through the nostrils into the lungs, and causes the lungs to expand till every particle of this larger space is filled as completely as was the smaller space before the cone was lowered.

Thus is created the room for that two hundred and thirty cubic inches of air which must be taken in at each breath. And in this way of breathing, it is perfectly plain that it is all accomplished without a particle of exertion being made by the lungs themselves, and without any pressure being brought upon the lungs.

Now we have taken the breath in, how shall it be got out? Let us follow on and see.

It was stated a little while ago that the top of the diaphragm not only forms the floor of the organs of the chest cavity, but also the roof of the organs in the abdominal cavity. The stomach, liver, etc., fit up under this roof just as closely as the lungs fit down on the floor above. From this it is evident that when this roof descends by the contraction of the muscular sides of the diaphragm, that which is beneath--the contents of the abdomen--is forced downward also. but the abdominal cavity is completely filled already, and there is no vacant place into which to push the contents of the abdomen. Besides, the abdominal cavity is smaller at the lower part than at the upper.

What, then, can be done? That roof is surely descending, and so surely that which is beneath if must be pushed downward out of the way. And this is just right. The Lord has provided for this. It is true that there is no vacant space into which to push these organs. But the Creator made the muscular walls of the abdomen elastic, so that when the diaphragm forces down the contents of the abdomen, these elastic muscles are stretched by the pressure against them, the abdomen swells outward, and thus ample room is made for the contents of the abdominal cavity when the contents of the chest-cavity descend by the drawing down of the diaphragm.

Then, when the muscular contraction of the diaphragm has ceased, and the pressure is removed from the elastic abdominal muscles, those muscles naturally return to their former and normal position. This forces the contents of the abdomen back again, up against the diaphragm; this carries the diaphragm upward again to its normal position; and this, in turn, carries the contents of the chest cavity back to their normal position by contracting the lungs and forcing out the air which has been taken in at the previous inspiration.

And still it is all accomplished without a particle of exertion being made by the lungs themselves. They are not required to do any work at all, but are wholly passive, subject to the movement of the diaphragm.

Thus the abdominal muscles, alternating with the muscles of the diaphragm, carry on the motion which alone is right breathing. The principle is that of the blacksmith's bellows. The weights attached to the lower part of the bellows draw it down, the pressure of the air outside raises the valves underneath, and the air rushes in and fills the bellows. The blacksmith's hand presses down the lever, compresses the bellows, and forces the air out.

The diaphragm corresponds to the weight on the bellows, the abdominal muscles correspond to the lever, and the lungs are the bellows. As the bellows can do no work except as it is moved by the lever, so the lungs can properly do nothing except as they are moved by the abdominal muscles and the diaphragm. The lungs, as the bellows, are never active of themselves, but always passive; they never act, but are always acted upon.

This, though, is in normal, regular breathing. But when taking a long, full breath, the fullest kind, there is another motion added to these, and that comes only as the consequence of these. It is a slight upward motion of the ribs.

In looking at the course of the ribs, it is seen that from back to front they tend downward, instead of pointing straight around. If the front ends of the ribs could be raised so that they would point straight, or nearly straight, around, instead of downward, it would make the chest larger, and so make more room inside.

Now there are muscles attached to the ribs, and interconnected from rib to rib over the whole chest, which are put there for the express purpose of raising the ribs to the position in which they point nearly, if not quite, straight around. This is so arranged in order that the deep, full, long breath can be taken, which is taken only occasionally, in addition to the normal, regular breathing; and which, when it is taken, should fill each cell of the lungs to its fullest capacity.

But, as before stated, this motion is only in addition to the regular motion of the diaphragm and abdomen, and is only the consequence of that motion. It can never be properly made, except as it follows the full motion of the diaphragm and abdomen.

In military tactics there are certain movements that are made in what is called "one time in two motions." The second motion is always the consequence of the first, and cannot properly be made except as it follows the first.

Right breathing is also "one time in two motions." The primary, original motion is of the abdominal and diaphragmal muscles. The secondary is the rib motion, and is the consequence of the primary, and cannot properly be made except as it follows the prima.[2] 

Thus the only way to elevate and broaden the chest is by "exercising the abdominal muscles in deep breathing."

Notes:

1. See the diagram in second chapter.
2. In military tactics there are certain movements that are made in what is called "one time in two motions." The second motion is always the consequence of the first, and cannot properly be made except as it follows the first. Right breathing is also "one time in two motions." The primary, original motion is of the abdominal and diaphragmal muscles. The secondary is the rib motion, and is the consequence of the primary, and cannot properly be made except as it follows the prima.

Chapter 5 - How to Breathe

Advent Review, February 15, 1898

We have studied the teachings of nature as to what is the only right way to breathe. It will now be well to study the teachings of the Spirit on the same subject, that we may have all the light possible upon it.

Our first quotation, will be found in the little book entitled Christian Education. Under the heading, "The Necessity of Doing Our Best," page 125, we read:

They should perseveringly practice speaking in a low, distinct tone, exercising the abdominal muscles in deep breathing, and making the throat the channel of communication.

This is right breathing, and only this is right breathing. The abdominal muscles, or muscles of the abdomen, form the structure which God has built that men and women may breathe for health.

This confirms what we learned from "nature itself,"--that no effort is to be made by the lungs; no strain is to be brought upon them. They are not made for that. Whenever this is done, it is only warring against life.

You are not to breathe with your lungs, nor to talk with your throat. The abdominal muscles are to be used to breathe with and to talk with. The lungs are not to be active, but passive; they are not to act, but to be acted upon by the machinery which is to be kept in motion by the exercise of the abdominal muscles. So, likewise, with the throat; it is not to be the organ, but only "the channel, of communication."

The exercise of the muscles of the abdomen, causing contraction of the lungs, forces the air through the throat over the vocal cords, and thus creates the tones; then the tongue, teeth, and lips cut the tones into words, and thus speech is formed. Therefore, do not breathe with the lungs, and do not talk with the throat. Breathe with the abdominal muscles, and talk with the abdominal muscles and then mouth.

Many speak in a rapid way, and in a high, unnatural key, but if they continue such a practice, they will injure the throat and lungs, and as a result of continual abuse, the weak and inflamed organs will become diseased in a serious way, and they will fall into consumption.[1]

Do you not see, then, that it is a serious wrong for any Seventh-day Adventist to be a consumptive? It is wrong for any Seventh-day Adventist to have continued lung trouble of any kind; but it is an awful thing for a Seventh-day Adventist, and above all, a minister, to die of consumption.

Ministers and teachers should give especial attention to the voice, and learn the art of speaking, not in a nervous, hurried manner, but in a slow, clear, distinct manner, preserving the music of the voice.[2]

But you never can do that if you use the throat, much less if you use your throat and lungs both.

Let no one say, "There is no use for me to try to pray, for others do not hear me." Rather say, "I will make earnest efforts to overcome this God-dishonoring habit of speaking in a low, indistinct tone, and I will put myself under discipline until my voice shall be audible, even to those who are hard of hearing." Will it not be worth disciplining yourself to be able to add interest to the service of God, and to edify the children of God?

Let the voices of the followers of Christ be trained so that instead of crowding words together in a thick, indistinct way, their words will be clear, forcible, and edifying. Do not let the voice fall after each word, but keep it up so that every sentence will be full and complete.

The proper use of the vocal organs will bring benefit to the physical health, and increase your usefulness and influence.[3]
 
You will see this more fully as we advance. We are simply searching now for the right principles.

They can give attention to the cultivation of the voice, and by judicious exercise may expand the chest and strengthen the muscles.[4] 

But it is not enough simply to expand the chest,--it may be, and often is, expanded altogether wrongly,--but you must expand it rightly. Now let us see how that is done.

Let the abdominal muscles have full play. Do not bind the waist with bands and corsets, but taking in full breath, let the burden of your words come from this foundation, supported by abdominal breathing, and let the throat be the channel for the tone.[5]

The abdominal muscles cannot have any proper play at all, much less can they have full play, when you have them bound with dress bands and corsets.

And when we come right down to practical health reform, really to right living, it is a living test with our sisters as to whether they are going to accept God's way or the devil's way in this matter,--whether they will follow the Lord's word, or follow fashion's tyranny.

Which will you do? Will you set about this in sacred earnest, and breathe according to the Lord's directions? or will you bind yourselves tightly about so that you cannot possibly breathe properly, and so never have good health? O, let your bodies loose! set yourselves free!

Let the abdominal muscles have full play. Do not bind the waist with bands and corsets, but taking in full breath, let the burden of your words come from this foundation.[6]

In this way you can take in a full breath, even while you are talking or reading, and can keep it up right straight along, breathing not only between sentences, but between clauses, or even between words, if the sentence is long, just as you please, and nobody will notice it.

But it you undertake to use your lungs in breathing, speaking, or reading, you will be constantly on a strain to keep yourself in breath; and if the sentence is long, you will actually have to catch your breath in the very midst of it; the reading or speaking will be all broken up; you will get weary, and those who hear you will also get weary in listening; your lungs will be in pain; your throat will be sore; you will be a living invitation to throat and lung diseases; your work will be crippled, and your efficiency, and even your usefulness, will be destroyed. O, such a course is only a lingering death!

The other way, according to the Lord's directions, is life,--bright, cheery, active, vigorous, healthy, God-given life. Which will you choose? Which will you follow?

Notes:
1. Ellen White, Christian Education, p. 125.
2. Id., p. 126.
3. Ellen White, Christian Education, p. 131-132.
4. Id., p. 132.
5. Id., p. 132.
6. Ellen White, Christian Education, p. 132.

Chapter 6 - Healthful Effects of Right Breathing

Advent Review, February 22, 1898

Original title: How to Live

As we can live only by breathing, it certainly follows that we can live rightly only when we breathe rightly; our physical life will be full, bright, and strong only when we breathe fully, brightly, and strongly. And when, physically, we live fully, brightly, and strongly, we can also live a spiritual life that is full, bright, and strong. Read this:

By giving heed to proper instruction, by following health principles in regard to the expansion of the lungs and the culture of the voice, our young men and women may become speakers that can be heard, and the exercise necessary to this accomplishment will prolong life.[1]

This touches the point; yea, it tells the whole story. And again we may say, It is not enough simply to expand the lungs. You can expand the lungs in such a way as to make them only an invitation to consumption; yet in the right way, you can also expand the lungs so that it will be impossible for consumption to get hold of you.

When this is done, then even if you should take cold, and it should even reach and settle upon your lungs or in your throat, you need not be afraid; it cannot stay, neither can it stop you in your work. The life and living vigor of the whole system will drive it speedily away. O, the Lord wants us to live!

There is need that among our ministers careful attention should be given to the culture of the voice, or many will lie down in untimely graves. The Lord is not glorified by the reflections that are cast upon Him, when men attribute to Him their sufferings; for the Lord has no pleasure in the suffering and death of His people. He would have them pursue a right course of action, carefully looking after their bodies that they may be in health, and know how to keep the habitation in order.[2]

Now, do not get the idea that this is an intricate thing, hard to understand, and difficult to get hold of, so that you must have a whole lot of unscientific instruction to get it. It is not that at all. It is all as simply as any other part of the religion of Christ. Listen to this:

If we neglect to heed the simple laws by which we may preserve health, and fail to cultivate right habits, the Lord will not work a miracle to heal our disorders, while we continue to transgress His laws. Men are sleeping in their graves that the Lord would have had live. They destroyed themselves through lack of knowledge.[3]

What kind of laws are these? Simple laws. That is just what they are. Do not allow yourself, nor allow anybody else for you, to make them anything else than simple. You will see this more fully as we follow this subject further:

Some of our most talented ministers are doing themselves great injury by their defective manner of speaking. While teaching the people their duty to obey God's moral law, they should not be found violating the laws of God in regard to health and life. Ministers should stand erect, and speak slowly, firmly, and distinctly, taking a full inspiration of air at every sentence, and throwing out the words by exercising the abdominal muscles.

If they will observe this simple rule, giving attention to the laws of health in other respects, they may preserve their life and usefulness much longer than men in any other profession.[4]
 
Well, then, is it not almost a disgrace for any Seventh-day Adventist minister, except the oldest, to die, especially to die of lung or throat troubles? And he professing to be a health reformer, too!

If we did not have these things, if God had not spoken on these subjects, and set them so plainly before us, and so repeatedly, too, it would not be so bad. But with all these things made so plain, and these good wishes of the Lord so fully expressed, it is awful to have our ministers dying, when to take the Lord's way, the ministers may "preserve their life and usefulness much longer than men in any other profession."

Then let us quite dying. This expression is not out of place, either; for men often think they are all right, and not dying, when the truth is that they are dying all the time. Read again:

The chest will become broader. ...[5] 

What? The chest become broader by exercising the abdominal muscles? Yes, of course. That is the only way the chest can become broader in the right way, in the way to have health.

Now there is no contradiction nor inconsistency here. I am not explaining, yet, just how this will be. It is all true, though. You believe it, and practice it, and you will find it so. However, we are searching now for what is the right way to breathe; how to practice it we shall study afterward.

The chest will become broader, and by educating the voice, the speaker need seldom become hoarse, even by constant speaking.[6]

The throat is the place in the body to become weary from speaking; the lungs, never. The abdominal muscles may become tired sometimes, and the back also, and even other parts of the body, with long or strong speaking, but the lungs and throat will be all right. Only use them as God intended them to be used, and they will outlast all the rest of the system.

Instead of becoming consumptives by speaking, our ministers may, by care, overcome all tendency to consumption.[7]
 
Good. Then why should any Seventh-day Adventist minister have any tendency to consumption, much less have consumption itself? And even some of our doctors have tendency to consumption; yea, some have actually died of consumption, in the face of this direct instruction from the Lord, too! How long shall these things be?

Instead of being delicate, and sunken-chested, and weak-lunged, the Lord wants us to be healthy, full-chested, strong-lunged, and proof against disease instead of being subject to it. And why is not this true of all the people as well as of the ministers? Why should our sisters be sunken-chested, stoop-shouldered, and weak-lunged, and subject to lung troubles, any more than our brethren or our ministers? They should not.

The Lord wants women to have as good health as He wants men to have. And these excellent things that we have been reading are just as much for women as for men, and are just as true of women as they are of men. Then, sisters, you stand erect, and use the abdominal muscles in deep breathing and in expanding the chest. You, too, can throw out your words by exercising the abdominal muscles.

Then, if you have any tendency to consumption, you will soon be all right,--in more ways than simply your lung troubles, too,--you will "overcome all tendency to consumption." This is a great deal; it is a blessed promise.

I would say to my ministering brethren, Unless ministers educate themselves to speak in accordance with physical law, they will sacrifice life, and many will mourn the loss of "those martyrs to the cause of truth;" when the facts in the case are, that by indulging in wrong habits, they did injustice to themselves and to the truth which they represented, and robbed God and the world of the service they might have rendered. God would have been pleased to have them live, but they slowly committed suicide.[8]
 
That is to Seventh-day Adventists who die of consumption. It is an awful thing when a person, in very desperation, commits suicide by a sudden act. But how much more awful it is for a person--and of all people a Seventh-day Adventist, too--slowly to commit suicide,--to keep it up, and follow it up persistently for years, till it is finally accomplished? That is terrible.

Who, then, will continue to do it? O, rather, who will not cease entirely to do it, by choosing now, and diligently following, the right way?

Notes:

1. Ellen White, Christian Education, p. 132.
2. Ellen White, Christian Education, p. 133.
3. Ibid.
4. Ellen White, Gospel Workers, p. 147.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.

Chapter 7 - How to Speak

Advent Review, March 1, 1898

The right way of breathing has everything to do with the right way of speaking. We are to use the abdominal muscles in speaking as well as in breathing; and if we do not use them in breathing, we cannot use them in breathing, we cannot use them in speaking. Therefore it we do not breathe rightly, we cannot speak rightly.

Speaking from the throat, all the time fretting and irritating the vocal organs, letting the words come out from the upper extremity of the vocal organs, is not the best way to improve health or to increase the efficiency of those organs.[1]
 
There have been even Seventh-day Adventist workers, who had a great deal of talking to do, who had so nearly ruined the throat that it was somewhat doubtful whether it would ever be well again. The throat was so filled with diseased formations that it had to be cauterized--burnt out.

And the sole difficulty was that the throat had been used in talking just as is here stated should not be done. The throat had been used alone, all the time fretting and irritating it, until it was almost destroyed. And all this through lack of knowledge of the simple principles which we are now studying.

You should take a full inspiration, and let the action come from the abdominal muscles.[2]

Let what come? The action. From what place? From the abdominal muscles. The action should not come from the lungs, nor from the throat.

Let the action come from the abdominal muscles. Let the lungs be only the channel; but do not depend upon them to do the work. If you let your words come from deep down, exercising the abdominal muscles, you can speak to thousands with just as much ease as you can speak to then.[3]
 
Where shall the words come from? From "deep down", not from high up; from the base of the vocal organs, not from the top, the action coming from the abdominal muscles. Then you can speak to thousands with just as much ease, so far as the lungs and throat--the vocal organs--are concerned, as you can speak to ten.

But no man can do that who speaks with his lungs and throat; for the more effort there is put upon these, the more destructive it is. But any extra exertion of these muscles can be made just as easily as can the normal by the man who is using his abdominal muscles. Of course, if he has to speak to but ten, he will speak as if he were speaking to but ten; and the muscular exertion will not need to be much, if anymore, than if speaking to one.

But if he is speaking to ten thousand, this will require more power; yet all he has to do is to bring more pressure on the abdominal muscles, and he can make the people hear; and the throat and lungs will be just as safe as in the other case. There is no more danger of injuring the throat in the extra use of the abdominal muscles than in the regular use of them.

Some of our preachers are killing themselves by long, tedious praying and loud speaking, when a lower tone would make a better impression.[4]

You have heard it,--you have heard ministers, when speaking in a small room to only a few people, strike a high key, that would make the house fairly ring. To cause all in the house to hear, they did not need to talk any louder than they would in simply talking to one or two; yet they actually talked louder than would have been necessary had they been speaking to hundreds.

When they stopped talking, they were tired, and you were also tired. Then, too, if they chanced to go out into cold or wet weather, they took cold; and the throat being all irritated and inflamed already, the cold seized upon that at once, and they were "laid up" for days or perhaps weeks, besides having laid the foundation for serious disease.

A lower tone would make a better impression, and save their own strength. Now, while you go on, regardless of the laws of life and health, and follow the impulse of the moment, do not charge it upon God if you break down.[5]

Do not think these are but imaginations, or mere trifles, meaning but little. They are not; they mean your life. And you can carry out these instructions if you will but persevere, and work with diligence. You can do it alone.

There will yet be teachers in all our schools, and among the ministers, who will give this training. But you need not wait. Until these teachers come your way, you can study these principles and follow a few simple rules, and so breathe and speak rightly anyhow. Here is a sentence on that:

A teacher should be employed to educate the youth to speak without wearing the vocal organs.[6]

Thus you see the right way to speak is not to wear the vocal organs. Then do not allow yourselves to wear your vocal organs when you are talking. That is the way a teacher would train you if he were with you; but till you meet him, do it for yourself. And that you may see that it can be done easily, read the following sentence:

All that was essential was to study and conscientiously follow a few simple rules...and to exercise a little common sense.[7]

This was originally given as a testimony of reproof of that which was done a number of years ago, when a "professor of elocution" was employed to come to Battle Creek and teach elocution. They got up a great stir over the matter, and some even dropped the work of the ministry to take up the teaching of elocution.

This Testimony was given to correct this wrong course. I have met some of the brethren who were there, and who took that instruction in "elocution," and they have been suffering from the effects of it ever since. They did not know what was the matter with them, until they studied up in the Testimonies on this matter. And then they had to undo that which they had been taught by that "professor of elocution."

But the Testimony says that instead of employing a professor of elocution, all that was essential was to study and conscientiously follow a few simple rules, and educate themselves by the exercise of a little common sense.

That was all that was needed then; and it is all that is needed now--at least until a teacher is found who understands the subject himself, and can train people as directed by the Lord.

You should not let the labor come upon the upper portion of the vocal organs; for this will constantly wear and irritate them, and will lay the foundation for disease. The action should come upon the abdominal muscles. The lungs and throat should be the channel, but should not do all the work.[8]

There it is written both how to breathe and how not to breathe,--not to breathe,--not to use the throat and lungs, but to use the abdominal muscles, while the lungs and throat form only a channel. Again, in speaking of a certain one, the Testimony says:

He breathes only from the top of his lungs. It is seldom that he exercises the abdominal muscles in the act of breathing.[9]

Notes:

1. Ellen White, Gospel Workers, p. 150.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, p. 405.
7. Id., p. 605.
8. Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 311.
9. Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 67.

Chapter 8 - The Breath of Life

Advent Review, March 8, 1898

Please read carefully the following sentence, and consider how much of you is involved in right breathing. See how certainly breath, by proper breathing, is "the breath of life":

He breathes only from the top of his lungs. It is seldom that he exercises the abdominal muscles in the act of breathing. Stomach, liver, lungs, and brain are suffering for the want of deep, full inspirations of air, which would electrify the blood and impart to it a bright, lively color, and which alone can keep it pure and give tone and vigor to every part of the living machinery.[1]

How much of a person suffers from failing to exercise the abdominal muscles in breathing! Think of it,--"stomach, liver, lungs, and brain"! Take these things away from a man, and how much is he worth?

Put it in another way: Take away from man the proper and free use of these organs, and what is he in comparison to what God intended that he should be? He is as nothing compared to what God made him to be. And yet the "stomach, liver, lungs, and brain" of thousands of people--some of them Seventh-day Adventists, too--are suffering because they do not now how to breathe correctly.

Study up on these things. God has given us these organs to be kept in health, and to be used to glorify Him. But it is not health to have the stomach, liver, lungs, and brain suffering.

Now to sum up:

Question: What is right breathing?
Answer: "Exercising the abdominal muscles."

Q: What is wrong breathing?
A: "The use of the top of the lungs."

Q: What is the right way and manner of speaking?
A: "By using the abdominal muscles."

Q: What is the wrong way?
A: "To use the top of the lungs and the throat."

Q: Where are the words to come from?
A: "Let your words come from deep down."

Q: Where shall they not come from?
A: "Not from high up. Not from the throat, nor from the upper extremity of the vocal organs."

Q: What is to do the work?
A: "The abdominal muscles."

Q: What is not to do the work, not to be worn?
A: "The lungs and throat, the vocal organs."

That you may see yet more plainly how important this is, we quote a statement clipped from one of the leading papers of the United States--a Christian and temperance paper, too. Under the heading, "Physical Culture for Children", it says:

"I would begin when a child is two years old, and teach her [her, mark it. You will readily see that there is a point in so teaching her rather than him] to stand poised from the hips, and slightly forward, chest up, abdomen contracted, toes turned out at an angle of sixty degrees, and neck erect, so that the collar-bone should be horizontal. ... Then I would teach her to breathe slowly, inflating the chest upward and outward, not downward, keeping the abdomen contracted."

Think of it,--chest up, abdomen contracted, toes turned out, neck erect, breathe slowly, inflating the chest upward and outward, not downward! To take a grown person who is breathing rightly, and put him or her through that drill, would be torture to him or "her."

A child two years old breathes rightly just as she is; she breathes naturally, as God made her to breathe. But lo! this proposes to take her at that age, and train her into this absolute perversion and inversion of nature. Let not such speak anymore against the Flathead Indians, nor against the Chinese binding the feet of their female children.

If a child, taken at that age and trained in that way, should chance to survive the dreadful ordeal, she will be shaped, when she gets her growth, directly opposite to what God made her to be,--she will be shaped like an inverted cone, like a common ink-bottle upside down,--and will be a living invitation to consumption.

It is plain to see, however, why such directions are given as physical culture for children. Some devotee of fashion invented this plan so as to have the women wasp-waisted, as fashion dictates. People will take the girl at two years old, and train, or rather, torture, her into this shape, so she will have as small a waist as possible. These same people will praise the Venus of Milo, and then take their children and train them in exactly an opposite shape,--opposite, too, to the shape which God made them to bear.

Now, in the way the Lord made us, as we have already seen in these studies, the vital organs--the heart and lungs--are in the upper part of the body, and are fenced in strongly with the large, powerful upper ribs, which are further strengthened and braced by the breast-bone; but the breast-bone does not extend all the way down as far as the ribs number. The lower ribs are loose at the front ends. This makes them pliable, and therefore they are called "floating" ribs.

Now which is it easier to move--the ribs that are so strongly braced as to be almost immovable, or the ribs that are left free and floating purposely to be moved? There is only one possible answer. Therefore, does not nature itself, and common sense, too, teach that breathing should be downward instead of "upward and outward," as this extract says?

Nothing more than this simple consideration is needed to demonstrate that this method of physical culture for children, or anybody else, is contrary to nature. And by every passage which we have quoted, we know that it is contrary to revelation.

The general shape of the thorax, of the inside of the chest, and of the vital organs contained therein, is that of a cone right side up; that is, the small end up, and the large, broad part down. But the method given in the extract under consideration would develop just the reverse of that. This would put the broad part up and the point down. Do you not see that this reverses nature, and makes the shape just the opposite of what God made it?

Nothing more is needed to demonstrate that such a method of breathing is contrary to nature and revelation, to reason and common sense. And here we leave the subject for the present. Study these things carefully, consider them prayerfully, apply them conscientiously, and glorify God by having good health.

Note:

1. Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 67.

Chapter 9 - Exercises in Breathing

Advent Review, March 15, 1898

We do not want this matter of breathing to be a theory in any sense. We want it to be strictly practical. There is too much involved in it for us to treat it lightly, or to pass it by merely as a theory. We therefore ask you, Are you breathing right? Are you exercising only the muscles of the abdomen and diaphragm in your regular breathing? Examine yourselves and see.

An easy way to determine whether or not you are breathing correctly is to place one hand on the upper part of the chest, and the other on the point of the abdomen, and see which one moves. If only the upper hand moves, your breathing is altogether wrong. If only the lower hand moves, your breathing is partly right and partly wrong. You must train yourself to breathe so that only the lower hand will move.

Again: put your hands upon the sides. If they move out and in, except slightly and as a result of the full abdominal motion, you are breathing wrongly. Train yourself so that when you breathe, in regular breathing, there shall be visible only the motion of the abdomen.

Breathe so that in deep, long, full inspirations, there shall be only the abdominal motion, followed by the rising of the ribs in the expansion of the chest, as explained above. The motion of the abdominal muscles is the foundation and key of all.

Do not say you cannot bring yourself to it. By diligent and persevering effort you can; for the Testimony says so, and it is so. If you have no teacher, you can train yourself by following "a few simple rules." We give a few:

Fill the lungs as full as possible, any way that you can; then hold your breath, and force all downward. This will help to get the diaphragm in motion.

To help the abdominal muscles to their proper motion, place the thumbs backward, on the sides at the top of the hip-bone, and knead the abdomen with the hands. When you have once acquired the proper motion, it will soon go easily enough, and at last it will become so natural that it will go on of itself.

But be sure that you get the right motion. That is, when the breath goes in, the muscles of the abdomen must swell out; and when the breath goes out, the muscles of the abdomen must draw in. You will have to watch this carefully, or you will get it going just the reverse of the right way. I have known many to do it. It is not enough that the abdomen should move out and in. It must do so at the right time and in the right way.

Take a good stiff stick; place it across the back, with the ends in the bend of the elbows. Hold it tightly, and bend the body to the right, to the left, and backward; stand stiffly, and turn the body right and left. Do not practice too long at once, especially at first.

1. Inhale: Breathe deeply, forcing the abdominal muscles outward.

2. Exhale: Breathe out; let the abdominal muscles sink as much as possible during exhalation.

3. Full Breathing: Inhale slowly, and exercise the will upon all parts of the body simultaneously. This is but an intensified form of what should be the natural habit of breathing.

4. Exhale slowly: exercising the will, the same as above.

5. Prolonged Breathing: Prolong the exercise of full breathing.

6. Effusive Breathing: Inhale naturally until all parts of the lungs seem to be filled; then give out the breath in the sound of the letter "h," as gently and gradually as possible, until the lungs are empty.

7. Expulsive Breathing: Inhale as in full breathing, and expel the air forcibly, but gradually, upon the sound of the letter "h.".

8. Explosive Breathing: Take full breath; expel suddenly, and with force, in a whispered utterance of the word "ha.".

Position: In No. 1 allow the arms to hang by the side, but raise gradually while inhaling. In No. 2 allow the arms to drop gradually while exhaling. In Nos. 3, and 4 place the hands about the waist. In No. 5 allow the arms to hang by the side. In Nos. 6, 7, and 8 take a natural position. Stand erect in all cases.

Caution: Always breathe through the nose, whether inhaling or exhaling. Keep the mouth shut, and thus preserve your health; for the nose will prevent germs from entering the lungs.

Chapter 10 - Choosing Life
 
Advent Review, April 19, 1898

Original title: How to Live

As we can live only by breathing, it certainly follows that we can live rightly only when we breathe rightly; our physical life will be full, bright, and strong only when we breathe fully, brightly, and strongly. And when, physically, we live fully, brightly, and strongly, we can also live a spiritual life that is full, bright, and strong. Read this:

By giving heed to proper instruction, by following health principles in regard to the expansion of the lungs and the culture of the voice, our young men and women may become speakers that can be heard, and the exercise necessary to this accomplishment will prolong life.[1]

This touches the point; yea, it tells the whole story. And again we may say, It is not enough simply to expand the lungs. You can expand the lungs in such a way as to make them only an invitation to consumption; yet in the right way, you can also expand the lungs so that it will be impossible for consumption to get hold of you. When this is done, then even if you should take cold, and it should even reach and settle upon your lungs or in your throat, you need not be afraid; it cannot stay, neither can it stop you in your work. The life and living vigor of the whole system will drive it speedily away. O, the Lord wants us to live!

There is need that among our ministers careful attention should be given to the culture of the voice, or many will lie down in untimely graves. The Lord is not glorified by the reflections that are cast upon Him, when men attribute to Him their sufferings; for the Lord has no pleasure in the suffering and death of His people. He would have them pursue a right course of action, carefully looking after their bodies that they may be in health, and know how to keep the habitation in order.[2]

Now, do not get the idea that this is an intricate thing, hard to understand, and difficult to get hold of, so that you must have a whole lot of unscientific instruction to get it. It is not that at all. It is all as simple as any other part of the religion of Christ. Listen to this:

If we neglect to heed the simple laws by which we may preserve health, and fail to cultivate right habits, the Lord will not work a miracle to heal our disorders, while we continue to transgress His laws. Men are sleeping in their graves that the Lord would have had live. They destroyed themselves through lack of knowledge.[3]

What kind of laws are these? Simple laws. That is just what they are. Do not allow yourself, nor allow anybody else for you, to make them anything else than simple. You will see this more fully as we follow this subject further:

Some of our most talented ministers are doing themselves great injury by their defective manner of speaking. While teaching the people their duty to obey God's moral law, they should not be found violating His physical laws. Ministers should stand erect, and speak slowly, firmly, and distinctly, taking a full inspiration of air at every sentence, and throwing out the words by exercising the abdominal muscles. If they will observe this simple rule, giving attention to the laws of health in other respects, they may preserve their life and usefulness much longer than men in any other profession.[4]

Well, then, is it not almost a disgrace for any Seventh-day Adventist minister, except the oldest, to die, especially to die of lung or throat troubles? and he professing to be a health reformer, too! If we did not have these things, if God had not spoken on these subjects, and set them so plainly before us, and so repeatedly, too, it would not be so bad. But with all these things made so plain, and these good wishes of the Lord so fully expressed, it is awful to have our ministers dying, when to take the Lord's way, the ministers may "preserve their life and usefulness much longer than men in any other profession." Then let us quit dying. This expression is not out of place, either; for men often think they are all right, and not dying, when the truth is that they are dying all the time. Read again:

The chest will become broader. ... [5]

What! the chest become broader by exercising the abdominal muscles? Yes, of course. That is the only way the chest can become broader in the right way, in the way to have health. Now there is no contradiction nor inconsistency here. I am not explaining, yet, just how this will be. It is all true, though. You believe it, and practice it, and you will find it so. However, we are searching now for what is the right way to breathe; how to practice it we shall study afterward.

The chest will become broader, and by educating the voice, the speaker need seldom become hoarse, even by constant speaking.[6]

The throat is the last place in the body to become weary from speaking; the lungs, never. The abdominal muscles may become tired sometimes, and the back also, and even other parts of the body, with long or strong speaking, but the lungs and throat will be all right. Only use them as God intended them to be used, and they will outlast all the rest of the system.

Instead of becoming consumptives by speaking, our ministers may, by care, overcome all tendency to consumption.[7]

Good. Then why should any Seventh-day Adventist minister have any tendency to consumption, much less have consumption itself? And even some of our doctors have tendency to consumption; yea, some have actually died of consumption, in the face of this direct instruction from the Lord, too! How long shall these things be?

Instead of being delicate, and sunken-chested, and weak-lunged, the Lord wants us to be healthy, full-chested, strong-lunged, and proof against disease instead of being subject to it. And why is not this true of all the people as well as of the ministers? Why should our sisters be sunken-chested, stoop-shouldered, and weak-lunged, and subject to lung troubles, any more than our brethren or our ministers? They should not.

The Lord wants women to have as good health as He wants men to have. And these excellent things that we have been reading are just as much for women as for men, and are just as true of women as they are of men. Then, sisters, you stand erect, and use the abdominal muscles in deep breathing and in expanding the chest. You, too, can throw out your words by exercising the abdominal muscles.

Then, if you have any tendency to consumption, you will soon be all right,--in more ways than simply your lung troubles, too,--you will "overcome all tendency to consumption." That is a great deal; it is a blessed promise.

I would say to my ministering brethren, Unless you educate yourselves to speak according to physical law, you will sacrifice life, and many will mourn the loss of "those martyrs to the cause of truth," when the facts in the case are, that by indulging in wrong habits you did injustice to yourselves and to the truth which you represented, and robbed God and the world of the service you might have rendered. God would have been pleased to have you live, but you slowly committed suicide.[8]

That is to Seventh-day Adventists who die of consumption. It is an awful thing when a person, in very desperation, commits suicide by a sudden act. But how much more awful it is for a person--and of all people a Seventh-day Adventist, too--slowly to commit suicide,--to keep it up, and follow it up persistently for years, till it is finally accomplished! That is terrible.

Who, then, will continue to do it? O, rather, who will not cease entirely to do it, by choosing now, and diligently following, the right way?

Notes:

1. Ellen White, Christian Education, p. 132.
2. Id., p. 133.
3. Id., p. 133.
4. Id., p. 147.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.

Chapter 11 - Benefits of Right Breathing

Home Missionary, February 1894[1]
 
We shall begin this lesson with a statement of the Testimonies for a text:

Perfect health depends upon perfect circulation.[2]

And perfect circulation depends upon perfect breathing more than upon anything else. Now, it is a perfectly fair proposition, that God has not given to any person more lung capacity than that person needs to keep him in such condition of health as God made him to have, and as God wants him to enjoy. I suppose this will not be disputed by anyone.

It follows, then, plainly enough, that if all the lung capacity which God has given to you is not used, you will not have the health which God made you to have. Just to the extent that you come short of using all the lung capacity which God has given you, in the same proportion you will come short of having the health that the Lord made you to have.

And I do not believe that it is to the glory of God to give anyone health by a miracle, and keep him in it by the miracle constantly maintained, when the cause of the ill health is the neglect of the very things within himself which are given to insure good health. It is not prayer but conformity to nature's laws, which are God's laws, that is needed in such cases. I can see no room for a prayer of faith to heal the sick, when that person has made himself or herself sick by wrong habits of eating, or by shutting off the life-giving air of heaven by tight lacing or wrong habits of breathing.

As perfect circulation depends so largely upon perfect breathing; as perfect breathing is only the use of the full lung capacity which God has given; and as the Lord has shown us both in our very makeup and in his Testimonies how to do this, there is certainly no excuse for any of us having imperfect health because of imperfect circulation.

The Circulation of the Blood

As perfect health depends upon perfect circulation let us study a little while--the circulation of the blood, that we may gather as far as possible what perfect circulation is.

The passages through which the circulation is carried on, are the arteries and the veins. The arteries are the passages along which the good blood is sent by the heart to all parts of the system to supply its wants. The veins are the passages along which the exhausted blood is carried back to the heart to be sent to the lungs to be purified.

The life-blood is sent out by the heart in two directions--toward the head and all the upper parts of the body, and toward the feet and all the lower parts of the body. Where the blood leaves the heart there are but two of these arteries and they, of course, are therefore very large. But as the blood goes farther and farther from the heart, these two large arteries are divided and subdivided and so become smaller and smaller until they become as small as the finest silken fibers and so numerous that you cannot penetrate the skin anywhere, even with the sharpest needle, without touching these and drawing blood.

These small, hair-like blood-vessels are called capillaries. Where the capillaries of the arteries end, there the capillaries of the veins begin. The capillaries of the veins take up the blood which has been exhausted here from the capillaries of the arteries, and carry it to the small veins; these carry it to the larger veins, and these to the largest, which empty it into the heart.

The heart sends it into the lungs, there to receive the life-giving property of the air, which purifies it and so makes life-blood of it, which is drawn back into the heart and is sent on its way again through the arteries, and so on around and around. This is the process of the circulation of the blood.

The Purpose of Circulation

Now let us look at it again and see the purpose of the circulation.

Every motion, voluntary or involuntary, within the human system, exhausts human tissue. The thinking of a single thought exhausts some tissues of the brain. And so with every part of the system, any motion of any part exhausts some of the tissues of which that part is composed. Therefore food must be taken to furnish material to supply good tissue to take the place of this constant waste. But how is this done?

Let us take our stand at the heart as it is laden with its supply of good life-giving blood. Every corpuscle, that is, every part of every drop of this blood is laden with material to supply good tissue in the place of that which has been exhausted by the motions of the different parts of the system.

As the heart throbs, this blood is dashed through the arteries into the capillaries all over the system in every part. Through the capillaries the corpuscles deposit their load wherever the material is needed, depositing most where most is needed--as where there is a cut, a bruise, or an abrasion. When the blood has thus deposited its load, its value is gone. In unloading its material to take the place of exhausted tissue, it has become exhausted blood.

Then it passes on from the capillaries of the arteries into the capillaries of the veins, and so through the veins back to the heart, receiving on the way the nutrient properties of the food, and all passing into the lungs where the impurities are thrown off, and the blood receives the vitalizing property of the air which makes it good life-blood again. This is taken up by the heart and again sent on its glad, life-giving way. Thus the circulation is carried on in its ceaseless round from birth to death.

The Purpose of the Lungs

Now let us look at this exhausted, this lifeless blood, as it is thrown into the lungs to be vitalized, that is, to be given life. Bear in mind that God has not given to any person more lung capacity than that person needs to keep the blood that is in him as pure as it must be in order that he may have the health that God made him to have.

If then, a part of the lungs is not used, if some of the air chambers cannot be reached by the blood or the air, then a portion of the blood will return to the heart impure as it came from the veins, to be sent out impure through the arteries and capillaries. This causes the blood to become sluggish; it will not pass easily through the capillaries, and the heart is not only compelled to work harder than it ought, but the sluggish, impure blood breeds boils, pimples, sores, and disease.

Therefore that the blood may be kept pure and full of life, all the lung capacity must be used in breathing. And in order that all the lung capacity may be brought into use there must be full, deep breathing, and this can be accomplished only by the use of the abdominal muscles, as shown in the previous lessons. And thus it is that, as perfect health depends upon perfect circulation, perfect circulation depends upon perfect breathing.

There are other elements, it is true, which enter into the keeping up of perfect circulation. These are:

1. Keeping the extremities--the hands and feet, wrists and ankles--properly clothed that the blood may not be driven back upon itself, and chilled by the cold;

2. Eating good food, etc.

For, even though you breathe properly, if you eat pork, overfed turkey, "high" meats, and such impure and gross things, it is impossible for any amount of air to make pure and good the blood which comes from such victuals.

Yet on the other hand, even though you eat only the very best of food, which will make the purest and best of blood, it is impossible to keep even this blood pure and good without using all the lung capacity which the Lord has given you, which can be done only by the deep breathing caused by the free and full use of the abdominal muscles.

So that it remains true that, taken all around, perfect circulation depends first and most of all, upon perfect breathing.

The Effects of Improper Breathing

Now let us go a little farther in this. You will remember that in one of these lessons[3] we read the statement from the Testimonies, that:

... stomach, liver, lungs, and brain suffer for want of deep, full inspirations of air, ...

Let us read that again and study how this is. Here is the passage:

He breathes only from the top of his lungs. It is seldom that he exercises the abdominal muscles in the act of breathing. Stomach, liver, lungs, and brain, are suffering for the want of deep, full inspirations of air, which would electrify the blood and impart to it a bright, lively color, and which alone can keep it pure, and give tone and vigor to every part of the living machinery.[4]

Let us take the lungs first. They are made to suffer from this kind of breathing, thus: Breathing only from the top of the lungs, all the lower part lies wholly unused. The air-chambers of this unused part of the lungs fill up with a sort of serum and finally harden. And the longer the parts remain thus unused the worse they get, and there goes on that process as before expressed of "slowly committing suicide."

Next, the brain. This is made to suffer thus: As only a part of the lungs is used in breathing, part of the blood that is thrown into the lungs to be purified and vitalized returns as impure and dull as it was sent up. It is then so sluggish that it will not pass easily through the extremely delicate capillaries of the brain. The brain thus robbed of the full life-current becomes wearied by a little exertion, there is dullness of mind, depression of spirit, and if an attempt it made to force the brain to do work, there will be sleepiness or headache.

The stomach is made to suffer in more ways than one:

1. Like the brain, being robbed of a good quality of blood, it is in a measure robbed of the strength which it needs in order to do the work which it must do, and thus a weak stomach, and from that, indigestion will result.

2. There being no motion of the abdominal muscles, the stomach is held tightly in place, tucked up under the diaphragm, and when filled with food is distended and thus more tightly held, and as the consequence it is deprived of that free movement which is essential to easy and good digestion.

The liver is made to suffer in the same way. Lying close alongside the stomach, it, too, by there being no motion of the abdominal muscles, is held closely in place, tucked up under the diaphragm, and being thus deprived of any free action, not only cannot perform its normal function, but torpid liver is induced.

In addition to all this the heart by being compelled constantly to drive impure and sluggish blood through the course of circulation, is overworked and thus weakened, and then, with a little unusual exertion, there is irregularity and palpitation of the heart.

Oh! with the human system compelled to endure the abuses that it is, it is a standing proof of the mercy of the beneficent Creator that so many people live as long as they do.

The Effects of Proper Breathing

Look, however, at the other side of the picture. Let the abdominal muscles be always exercised in deep breathing. Then every part of the lung capacity is used; every air chamber is opened to the free entrance of the life-giving air of heaven.

The impure blood which is thrown up to these chambers is at once purified and vivified by the life property of the oxygen which enters its corpuscles "as free as air." It being thus "electrified," the heart takes it up gladly, and cheerily sends it fairly dancing to the farthest extremity of every capillary in the system.

The brain, receiving about one fifth of all the blood of the body, is clear, ready, and vigorous, and capable of any task.

The abdominal muscles, moving fully and regularly, give to the stomach and liver and all the digestive apparatus and intestines that easy, free, regular, and full motion that is the most efficient aid to the performance of all their functions.

Thus "tone and vigor" are given to every part of the "living machinery." This is health. Thank the Lord. Take it, take it, and enjoy it to the glory and praise of Him who wishes. ...

 ... above all things that you may prosper and be in health. (3 John 1:2)

Notes:

1. This article appeared in the Home Missionary periodical, 4 years before the series was later written up in Advent Review. It appeared alongside a number of articles that were almost identical to some of the chapters in this book, so probably belongs in this series. The Folio Views collection of Pioneer Writings is missing some of the articles from the Advent Review, as for example, the last part of Chapter 12 in this book, which was taken from the May 31, 1898 Advent Review, which I had to extract from a PDF of the actual magazine, available on the Adventist Archives website.
2. Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 531.
3. See Chapter 8, The Breath of Life.
4. Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 67-68.

Chapter 12 - What is Not Food

Advent Review, May 17, 24, 31, 1898

Original title: Touch Not, Taste Not, Handle Not

The Lord wants His people to have the best of everything. He therefore wants us to have the best of health. We have studied something about the place that right breathing occupies in our having the best of health. Now we take up the consideration of food. This will be considered in three divisions:

1. What is not food at all, and is therefore not to be used.

2. What is not good food, and is therefore not to be used if it can be avoided.

3. What is the best food, and is therefore to be used freely.

In the present lesson we shall study what is not food. One way of defining what is not food is:

Whatever does not either build up tissue or minister to animal heat, can not be a food.

Another definition is this:

Whatever gets strength out of a man without first putting it into him, is not food.

Yet another way of stating it is:

Whatever affects the nerves only, is not food.

The last two of these statements are also definitions of a stimulant. Stimulants affect only the nerves, and get strength out of a person, without putting it into him. Therefore, anything that stimulates is not food, and is not to be used. In other words, our lesson at this time is a study of what things are stimulants.

I shall quote from the Testimonies and from standard scientific authority. I do not cite the scientific authority to prove that the statements of the Testimonies are sound and trustworthy, nor to support the Testimonies, but that you may see how the Testimonies, while making no pretensions to scientific instruction, as such, are thoroughly scientific and more. Making no pretensions to being scientific, they tell scientific truth in the name of the Lord, and as the truth of God, witnessed by His sanctifying Spirit.

That this may be seen in the best way, I shall cite the scientific authority first, as the Testimonies make plainer the statements from this source. This authority is the Encyclopedia Britannica, the latest edition; and under the headings of "Drunkenness," "Coffee," "Tea," and "Narcotics," you can find for yourselves all that I shall quote.

First, from the article on "Drunkenness," we read as follows:

From tea to hashish we have, through hops, alcohol, tobacco, and opium, a sort of graduated scale of intoxicants, which stimulate in small doses and narcotize in larger. The physiological action of all these agents gradually shades into each other, all producing, or being capable of producing, consecutive paralysis of the various parts of the nervous system.

"Consecutive" means "uninterrupted succession." That is to say, then, that the effect of all these things, from tea to hashish, is to produce successive paralysis of the various parts of the nervous system. This shows that the effect of all these things is upon the nerves only, that this effect is only to paralyze the nerves, and that each repetition of the drink or dose only increases the paralysis.

This "consecutive paralysis" is produced by the use of tea, coffee, tobacco, alcohol, opium, and hashish. And not only does each of these increase the evil effect which proceeds from itself, but each one gradually leads on toward, and shades into, the one next above it in the intoxicating and paralyzing scale.

Again, we read, from the same place:

Even the cup so often said to "cheer, but not inebriate" [tea], can not be regarded as altogether free from the last-named effect.

What is that last-named effect? Why,

... consecutive paralysis of various parts of the nervous system.

Thus tea, although the lowest in the scale, is yet an intoxicant and a narcotic, producing paralysis of the various parts of the nervous system. And that even this effect is not slight, as might be hastily concluded from its holding the lowest place in the scale, is made clear by the next sentence:

Tea sots are well known to be affected with palpitation and irregularity of the heart, as well as with more or less sleeplessness, mental irritability, and muscular tremors, which in some culminate in paralysis; while positive intoxication has been known to be the result of excessive use of strong tea.

So much, then, for this mischievous stuff which is the lowest in the list. What, then, about coffee, which stands above it? Here is the word as to that. We read still from the Britannica, under the article "Coffee":

Coffee belongs to the medicinal, or auxiliary, class of food substances, being solely valuable for its stimulant effect upon the nervous and vascular systems. It produces a feeling of buoyancy and exhilaration, comparable to a certain stage of alcoholic intoxication.

And under "Tea" we read further:

theine of tea is an alkaloid identical with the caffeine that is obtained from coffee.

Thus, tea being akin to coffee, its effect shades into that of coffee; and coffee, in its turn, having solely a stimulant effect akin to that of alcohol, shades into that, and leads on to an appetite for it.

Nor is this all. Coffee is not only akin to alcohol in its effects, but it is akin to tobacco in both its nature and its effects. The same deadly poison that is in tobacco smoke is in coffee.

• It is not nicotine: it is, if possible, a more virulent poison, even, than that.

• It is not obtained directly from the tobacco itself, but from the smoke.

• It is obtained by distillation both from coffee and from tobacco smoke.

The simplest, most common way of extracting this poison from tobacco smoke is to take a tumbler, put in it some little pieces of ice, and then take a pipe of tobacco, draw the smoke from it, and puff it into the tumbler. The warm smoke, striking the ice, is chilled; and by being thus condensed, there is extracted from it this poison, which adheres to the sides of the tumbler. Then drink from the tumbler, and you get the poison.

Enough poison can thus be taken from a few puffs of tobacco smoke to kill a man. In fact, this is one of the means frequently employed for drugging and robbing men who drink.

At a camp-meeting, I stated this process and the effect of the poison. In the audience was a stranger from New Orleans, who, after the sermon, told me that he had been a member of a jury in the trial of three men for killing a man in precisely this way. I asked him to tell the circumstances to the audience at the next meeting, and he did.

He said that three men planned to play a practical joke on another by first making him insensible, and then painting and marking him in as many grotesque ways as possible, so that when he came to, everybody would be laughing at him, and he would not know why. And the way they planned to make him insensible was to puff tobacco smoke into an iced tumbler and then have him take a drink of liquor from the tumbler.

Accordingly, they so doctored the glass, and got their victim to drink from it, when lo! it not only made him insensible, but it killed him. The three men were therefore prosecuted for murder.

In the trial, however, they frankly told just what they had done, and that they intended nothing more than to stupefy the man and have some fun, and were as surprised and sorry as anybody could be a he was killed. They were convicted of manslaughter, and sent to the penitentiary for two years.

The gentleman stated, further, that in the expert testimony given in the trial, it was repeatedly stated that this same poison is in coffee.

I had known for fifteen years of this poison, its effects, how it is obtained, and that it is in coffee; but I was glad to learn of this case of actual experience, and especially glad to get it thus directly from one who was a juror in the trial of the case.

The name of this poison is "empyreumatic oil." How is it extracted from coffee? Bear in mind that it is obtained by distillation, and you will have no difficulty in understanding the process as I describe it.

Many a time when you have lifted the lid of the coffee-pot, you have seen the underside of it covered with large drops of water, which would roll down and fall into the pot. The air outside been cooler, the steam from the boiling coffee, when it strikes the lid, is cooled, and thus, by distillation, those drops of water are formed; they are distilled water. But the steam, having risen from boiling coffee, contains this poison; and when the steam is thus condensed and these drops are distilled, this poison--empyreumatic oil--is extracted from the coffee.

In fact, in hotels, restaurants, and in many families, coffee is made nowadays by suspending the ground coffee above the water in the boiler, so that the liquid is extracted wholly by steaming instead of by boiling. This process is adopted because coffee thus made is stronger, and is counted much better, than when made in the old way.

Yes; and it is much stronger, and to the taste of the coffee-drinker is much "better," than when it is made by boiling, because there is so much more of the strong poison in it, and so it takes a much "better" hold on the taste. You know how utterly "flat, stale, and unprofitable" the coffee would be counted that was made in an open vessel entirely. This is because the strength and chief "value" of coffee is obtained largely by distillation, which is precisely the process by which this deadly poison is obtained from tobacco smoke and coffee.

This poison is not only an intoxicant and a narcotic, acting upon and paralyzing the nerves, but it retards digestion as well. Of course there is not as much of this poison in a given quantity of coffee as there is in the same quantity of tobacco; but it is the same terrible poison, and that is enough for anyone to know who would be free from its ruinous effects.

This also further illustrates the principle that from tea to hashish, through alcohol, tobacco, and opium, there is a graduated scale of intoxicants (poisons) which, in their action upon the system, gradually shade into one another, all producing, or being capable of producing, consecutive paralysis of the various parts of the nervous system.

Now we read another passage from the Britannica, under "Narcotics", which clearly describes the course of this consecutive paralysis:

All these substances act on the nervous system; and although the physiological action of each is characteristic, as there are many symptoms common to the whole of the group. Indeed, the course of action of all these shows three well-defined stages.

First, there is a period of apparent exaltation of function.

That is, the system is excited, stirred up, stimulated to increased action, without first receiving strength to perform the increased action. In other words, strength is taken from the person without first putting it into him. In short, the system is robbed of strength and life.

Second, this is followed by a diminution and perversion of functional activity.

That is, the nerves of organs thus excited to increased and unwonted action are less able to perform their usual function, after this excitement is over, than they were before, or than they would have been if they had not been so stimulated. And more than this, the nerves and organs so excited are, by the stimulant, perverted from their natural condition and office, and turned into the channel of disease and death. And in the very nature of the case, this is followed by:

Third, a total loss of function, in which there is profound coma and paralysis.

And that means the utter ruin of those organs so far as any purpose for which God created them is concerned, and the complete enslavement of the individual to an ever-increasing appetite and an ever-strengthening habit.

We will now quote from the Testimonies, on the nature and effects of tea and coffee upon the human system. And in only a few short sentences both the science and the philosophy of this whole subject are set forth so plainly and so simply that anybody can understand it all. Thus we read:

To a certain extent, tea produces intoxication. It enters into the circulation, and gradually impairs the energy of body and mind. It stimulates, excites, and quickens the motion of the living machinery, forcing it to unnatural action, and thus gives the tea-drinker the impression that it is doing him great service, in imparting to him strength. This is a mistake.

Tea draws upon the strength of the nerves, and leaves them greatly weakened. When its influence is gone, and the increased action caused by its use is abated, then what is the result? Languor and debility corresponding to the artificial vivacity the tea imparted. When the system is already overtaxed and needs rest, the use of tea spurs up nature, by stimulation, to perform unwonted, unnatural action, and thereby lessens her power to perform, and her ability to endure; and her powers give out long before Heaven designed they should. Tea is poisonous to the system. Christians should let it alone. ...

The second effect of tea-drinking is headache, wakefulness, palpitation of the heart, indigestion, trembling of the nerves, with many other evils.

Now as to coffee:

The influence of coffee is in a degree the same as tea, but the effect upon the system is still worse. Its influence is exciting, and just in the degree that it elevates above par, it will exhaust and bring prostration below par. Tea and coffee-drinkers carry the marks upon their faces. The skin becomes sallow, and assumes a lifeless appearance. The glow of health is not seen upon the countenance.

And now of both together read:

Tea and coffee do not nourish the system. The relief obtained from them is sudden, before the stomach has time to digest them. This shows that what the users of these stimulants call strength, is only received by exciting the nerves of the stomach, which convey the irritation to the brain, and this in turn is aroused to impart increased action to the heart, and short lived energy to the entire system. All this is false strength, that we are the worse for having. They do not give a particle of natural strength.[1]

The nature of these things being to affect the nerves without strengthening them, to act upon the system without digestion, it is clearly evident that their course in the system is directly the reverse of the natural, and that therefore they are not in any sense foods.

The very purpose of the digestive system is to prepare the material which the system must have to sustain it. According to this process, the nerves are the last parts of the system that are reached or affected by that which is taken into the system, and then they are affected only to be strengthened and built up and prepared for further efficient work.

On the other hand, whatever affects the nerves first of all, whatever reaches the nerves without the digestive process, being the reverse of the order of nature, can only tear down and destroy.

Nor is this all. The order and course of nature being thus reversed, its functions are perverted; an unnatural appetite is created, which imperiously demands that it shall be supplied, in spite of every other consideration and thus a perverted, unnatural appetite possesses and controls the man, instead of his being free to control himself. He is the slave of a perverted appetite, instead of being his own free man.

The principle here touched contains the sum and substance of all temperance. Temperance is literally self-control. That is the Bible idea expressed in the word "temperance." That is the meaning of the Greek word that is translated "temperance." So what temperance is, and all that it is, is simply self-control.

Use the word "self-control" all the time, instead of the word "temperance," and you will be enabled better to understand and to practice genuine temperance. For you can see, readily enough, that nobody can be temperate while using anything that tends to create an appetite for itself, and thus to take control. You can see plainly that no person can be temperate while using anything that affects the nerves,--anything that gets strength out of him without first putting it into him,--anything, "from tea to hashish."

And as temperance--self control--is one of the three grand divisions of Christian truth (Acts 24:25),  it is easy to see that the use of any of these things is not in any sense in harmony with the Christian profession. The use of any of these things is contrary to both health and Christianity.

It is perfectly plain that it is the will of God that we shall prosper and be in health, even as our souls prosper; and this will cannot be fulfilled in those who continue the use of any of these things. They are no foods at all; they are only poisons. Let them forever alone.

Note:

1. Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 2, pages 64, 65.

Chapter 13 - What Is Not the Best Food

Advent Review, June 7, 1898

Original title: What is Not Good Food

We have already studied what is not food at all; that is, those things which have only a stimulating effect upon the system. We found that. ...

... from tea to hashish, we have, through hops, alcohol, tobacco, and opium, a sort of graduated scale of intoxicants, which stimulate in small doses and narcotize in larger.

We studied the effect of these things, particularly tea and coffee, because they are so largely used by people who profess to be strict temperance reformers.

All these things having only a stimulating, narcotizing, intoxicating effect upon the human system, it follows that they are not foods in any sense, and therefore are never to be used at all by those who would present their bodies "holy, acceptable unto God,"[1] and who are preparing to be translated at the soon coming of the Lord.

Having found, then, what is not food at all, we will now study what is not good food.

It is proper, indeed, to study not only what is not good food, but what is not the best food; for the Lord wants His people to have the best of everything. He has given us the best Gift in His possession. In this He has given us the best religion in the universe. And He wants His people to have the best health, so that we can enjoy, in the best way, the religion which He has given. And that we may have the best health, He wants us to live on that which is best.

On this subject the Testimonies use the expression that such and such "is not the best" many more times than the expression, "is not good." This simply illustrates the thought that the Lord wants us to use that which is the best.

Having shown the injurious effects of tea and coffee, and that those things have no other than injurious effects, the questions have been asked:

"What about cocoa?"

--and,

"When we leave off tea and coffee, is not cocoa a good substitute for them?"

If we use the word "substitute" in the sense of doing the same thing that tea and coffee would do, then cocoa is a perfect substitute for them. But if we use the word "substitute" in the sense that is evidently here intended, of using cocoa with the expectation of its doing good where tea and coffee do only evil, then it is not a substitute at all.

We have seen that the evil effects of tea and coffee come altogether from the theine and caffeine that they respectively contain--theine and caffeine, however, being but different names for the same identical thing. Now the truth is that a given amount of cocoa always contains nearly as much, and often more, of the same identical poison that is found in the same quantity of tea, and one-and-one-fifth times as much as is found in the same quantity of coffee.

The active principle of tea is theine; the active principle of cocoa is theobromine. And all three of these words are simply three different names for the same thing. Theine and caffeine and theobromine are identical. Perhaps we had better give the proof of this; so here it is:

Theine is an alkaloid identical with the caffeine obtained from coffee....Theine is precisely the characteristic constituent of coffee.[2]

The constituent upon which the peculiar value of cocoa depends is the theobromine, an alkaloid substance which, till recently, was supposed to be distinct from, though closely allied to, the theine of tea and coffee. It is now, however, known that the alkaloid in these and two or three other substances similarly used is identical, and their physiological value is consequently the same.[3]
 
The physiological and dietetic value of coffee depends principally upon the alkaloid caffeine, which it contains in common with tea; cocoa; matι, or Paraguay tea; guarana; and African colanut.[4]

The proportion of this constituent that is identical in tea, coffee, and cocoa is as follows:

Tea   : 1.8% to 3.0% (average: 2.4%)
Cocoa : 2.0%
Coffee: 0.8%

Now when you leave off coffee because of the evil effects of four fifths of one percent of stimulant, and take in its place cocoa, which has in it two and one-half times as much of the same identical stimulant, it is evident enough that that is not exactly health reform. Indeed, it is not reform of any kind; it is only to make the matter worse than it was before.

And when you leave off tea because of the injurious effects of two-and-two-fifths percent of stimulant, and "substitute" for it cocoa, which has almost as much, and in many cases more, of the same identical stimulant, it is evident that this is also just as far from being true health reform as the other.

This only illustrates the necessity of our using thought and judgment in all this work of health reform. It is not acting, sensibly to leave off a thing that we have learned is bad, and then blindly take up, simply because it tastes good, something that is as bad, or perhaps worse, or is the same identical thing under another name or in another form. This is not health reform.

We need to think on all these things, and act upon a thoughtful, well-formed, and well-balanced judgment. Of all things, this is one in which haphazard action is not allowable. Everyone needs to learn, and never to forget, that health reform does not consist in simply leaving off what we have learned is not good, but in using that which is good, or even the best. When we use only what is good or the best, all those things that are injurious will drop away like dead leaves from a tree, and will simply be left behind and never missed.

There is a difference, however, between cocoa and tea and coffee. That is, whereas tea and coffee have a very small proportion of food elements, or none at all, cocoa has a large proportion. More than four fifths of the constituents of cocoa--82 percent--are food elements; while in coffee less than one fifth is food, and in tea there are practically no food elements at all.

From tea and coffee, therefore, practically nothing is obtained but the stimulants, which are only injurious; while from cocoa the same, or a greater amount of the same, stimulant is obtained, yet along with it there is more than forty times as much of food elements. The proportion is:

Theobromine  :  2%
Food Elements: 82%

These food elements consist of:

Fat                  : 52%
Nitrogenous Compounds: 20%
Starch               : 10%

Yet the greater proportion of food elements does not, by any means, destroy the stimulant. The effect of the stimulant is the same, whether taken with the larger proportion of food elements in cocoa, or with very little, or none, in tea and coffee. It is better to do without the food elements as found in cocoa, and thus escape the stimulant, than to take the stimulant with the food elements. In other words, it is far better to use that which contains only food than to use what contains both food and stimulant.

This brings us to another principle of health reform. It is this: As anything, the effect of which is only to stimulate, is not food, and therefore is not to be used at all, so also anything that carries with it any stimulant is not good food, and is therefore not to be used if it is possible to avoid it.

Notes:

1. Encyclopedia Britannica, article: "Tea".
2. Id., article: "Cocoa".
3. Id., article: "Coffee," also under "Tea".

Chapter 14 - Flesh Meat

Advent Review, June 14, 1898

Original title: What is Not Good Food

In the last article the principle was stated that anything, the effect of which is only to stimulate, is not food, and therefore is not to be used all: and its correlative, that anything that carries with it any stimulant is not good food, and is therefore not to be used if it is possible to avoid it.

This is one of the reasons that flesh-meats are not good food. Flesh-meats have in them stimulating properties akin to those in tea, coffee, cocoa, etc. Perhaps we had better have the proofs of this statement, too, so here they are. The Encyclopedia Britannica, in discussing tea and its kindred stimulants, says:

The theobromine of cocoa is closely allied to theine, and the characteristic components of the extract of meat shows certain points of contact with these stimulant bodies.

And Dr. Foote writes on this point as follows:

All flesh contains excrementitious products, upon which depend its so-called stimulating properties, as well as the strong or distinct flavors which may take the flesh of the feeders. Those who are unaccustomed to the use of meat are, by its occasional use, noticeably stimulated by the so-called "extractive matters"--so-called because they can be extracted in the laboratory, though it is not possible to eliminate them from the butcher's meat.

The Abyssinians other tribes addicted to occasional gluttonous sprees, when they consume immense quantities of raw meat, have been observed to exhibit signs of intoxication, as if stimulated with wine. ...

It is a common observation that children are made restless, irritable, and quarrelsome by much meat-eating, due to the fact that they are very susceptible to it stimulating properties. ...

The origin, nature, and effects of ... these extractive matters ... are analogous to those of alcohol and ammonia. Every drop of venous blood is laden with them, so much so that if an animal is not well bled when it is killed, the meat is rendered quickly putrescent, and is not a safe food.

All waste products of living tissues, when applied to other living tissues, produce the effects which are called stimulating. To the hungry stomach and faint heart these affects give a sort of quick satisfaction, and this is soon followed by the more staying gratification of the real food properties of the meat. ...

Meat-eaters are generally impatient of any delay of their meals beyond the usual hours; they miss their accustomed stimulus at the expected time. The stimulating effects of meat are probably the cause of that habit of the system which makes it seem sometimes unwise as well as difficult to do without it. Those who are prompted by their finer feelings to rid themselves of what they have come to regard as a savage propensity, are often held in the strong bonds of appetite and habit, and reluctantly conclude that it will be "unnatural" for them to do without it.[1]

After these plain statements of scientific authorities as to the stimulating properties of flesh-meats, perhaps I may be allowed to present, without being counted an extremist on health reform or the Testimonies, the statement the Lord made to us thirty years ago, that "meat stimulates"[2]. And in view of the fact that so "high" an authority as the Britannica shows the stimulating effects of the extract of meat to be akin to the stimulating effects of tea and coffee, it may not be too "strong meat" to present a statement to the same effect upon the authority of the Lord from the Testimonies:

We do not hesitate to say that flesh meat is not necessary for health or strength. If used it is because a depraved appetite craves it. Its use excites the animal propensities to increased activity and strengthens the animal passions. When the animal propensities are increased, the intellectual and moral powers are decreased. The use of the flesh of animals tends to cause a grossness of body and benumbs the fine sensibilities of the mind.[3]

This and other statements concerning the injurious effects of flesh-meats are followed immediately with the statement of the injurious effects of tea and coffee. Thus these things are classed together in the Testimonies, just as they are by the scientific authority. And this was done for us thirty years ago.

Shall we, then, allow the evil effects of the stimulant in flesh-meats to hold us "in the strong bonds of appetite and habit," any more than we shall allow the kindred stimulants in tea and coffee and cocoa to hold and injure us? Not if we are to be temperate in all things; not if we are to practice temperance--self-control--indeed.

There is another thing which should be mentioned in this connection before we close,--a thing that makes me much more injurious than it would otherwise be, and much more injurious than it was in olden times. That is the way in which it is killed, and the length of time between the killing and the eating of it.

The way that animals are taken to market, the way that they are killed, the way that the meat is handled, and the length of time that it is kept after the animal is killed before the meat is sold,--all these things are only direct and positive means of manufacturing those "extractive matters" in which lie the stimulating properties. Besides, such usage puts the meat in a condition where the fiber of the meat itself begins to break down in the first stages of putrefaction; and to eat such meat is to take into the system that which can only load it with deadly humors. And this is the kind of meat that nine tenths of the people use meat, buy and eat.

Those who subsist largely upon flesh cannot avoid eating the meat of animals which are to a greater or less degree diseased. The process of fitting the animals for market produces in them disease; and fitted in as healthful a manner as they can be, they become heated and diseased by driving before they reach the market.

The fluids and flesh of these diseased animals are received directly into the blood, and pass into the circulation of the human body, becoming fluids and flesh of the same. Thus humors are introduced into the system. And if the person already has impure blood, it is greatly aggravated by eating of the flesh of these animals. The liability to take disease is increased tenfold by meat-eating.[4]
 
Could you know just the nature of the meat you eat, could you see the animals when living from which the flesh is taken when dead, you would turn with loathing from your flesh meats. The very animals whose flesh you eat are frequently so diseased that, if left alone, they would die of themselves; but while the breath of life is in them, they are killed and brought to market. You take directly into your system humors and poison of the worst kind, and yet you realize it not.[5]

These statements could be abundantly corroborated from the writings of others; but what is the use of it? If a person will disregard the evidences here presented on this subject, he would disregard all the evidences that could possibly be brought together. The evidences here given clearly show that flesh-meats, cocoa, tea, and coffee form but a graduated scale of stimulants and intoxicants, and that flesh-meats, as they are today, are not the least injurious in the scale.

As true temperance is not to use any stimulants at all, it therefore excludes all foods which contain stimulants; consequently, true temperance excludes flesh-meats from dietetics.

Will the people who are preparing to become holy, pure, and refined, that they may be introduced into the society of heavenly angels, continue to take the life of God's creatures, and subsist on their flesh, and enjoy it as a luxury? From what God is shown me, this order of things will be changed, and God's peculiar people will exercise temperance in all things.[6]

There are other things yet to be named that are not good food; but we shall consider them later. In the meantime, be sure that in leaving off these things that are injurious, you do it by taking that which is good, and only good, and good for you.

Notes:

1. Food: What's Best to Eat, pages 18, 19.
2. Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, page 486.
3. Id., page 63.
4. Id., page 64.
5. Id., pages 404, 405.
6. Id., page 63.

Chapter 15 - Changing the Diet by Faith

Advent Review, June 21, 1898

Original title: What is Not Good Food

Our previous lesson closed with a statement of the fact that the stimulating properties in flesh-meats cause them to be not the best food; and that these stimulating properties are greatly increased by the multiplication of impurities in them. The fewer impurities, therefore, the less of a stimulant.

There was a time when some flesh-meets were eaten without special harm. At the same time there were, and are yet, certain flesh-meats which were not, and are not, to be eaten at all, because they were not, and are not, fit to be eaten.

This distinction between flesh-meats which might be eaten and those which must not be eaten, is laid down in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. The distinction is made so clear, and by tests so easy to be applied, that everyone who can get hold of the Bible is without excuse in not understanding the subject.

As to beasts, the rule is: Whatever is cloven-footed and chews the cud may be eaten. But they must have both of these requirements. Anything that chews the cud only, or is cloven-footed only, or that goes on its paws, is not to be eaten, and never was fit to eat.

As to things that are in the sea, the rule is: Whatever has both fins and scales may be eaten. If it has not both fins and scales, it is not, and never was, good for food. Of winged creatures those that are not good are named, and all others may be eaten.

Yet the fact that these things were once eatable does not prove that in all times, and under all circumstances, the same things are good for food. The truth is that the time will come when not a single earthly thing will be good to eat. When the plagues of the wrath of God are poured out upon the earth, and the curse is devouring the earth, death will be in everything that is in the earth; and to eat of any earthly thing then will be only to partake of the elements of death. At that time the Lord Himself will supply His people with bread and water, as He did Elijah when he was persecuted and had to flee for his life.

As we come nearer to that time, the people of God, under His guidance and instruction, will drawn nearer to the original diet of man. And before probation closes, we shall exclude from our dietary everything that has come into the dietary of man since sin entered. And under the influence of this way of living, this people will reach the point, before probation closes, at which, when every earthly thing becomes tainted with death, all can be dropped, and the change made, without inconvenience, to that which the Lord himself will supply.

God now gives us instruction and opportunity by which we can fully prepare for this time which we all professed to believe is coming soon, and which is coming soon, whether we profess it or not. Many, at least, of the children of Israel were not prepared for the change from their regular diet in Egypt to that which God supplied in the wilderness. They therefore lusted for the flesh-pots of the Egypt, grew impatient with what they decided was a hard way, murmured against the Lord, and were destroyed by the destroyer. And this was written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Those who will now disregard, all through this time of preparation, the careful instruction that the Lord has so long and so patiently set before us, to fit us for this all-important time that is now so near,--those who will disregard all this, and live on just what they please, expecting to continue so through the plagues, or expecting suddenly to drop it all, and change to the other in a day or an hour, will, as surely as did the children of Israel, long for the flesh-pots of the former time, grow impatient with "the hard way," murmur against the way in which the Lord is leading and at what He is giving, and will, as certainly as were they, be destroyed by the destroyer, and that irrecoverably.

If beef were as nearly pure as it was in the time when it could be taken quietly, and fresh from the herd, as by Abraham (Genesis 18:7-8), it would now, in itself, be no more objectionable than it was then. But this can not be so now with one person in a hundred of those who eat it. On the contrary, the beef that is used, except in very few instances, is put through the market in the way, and with the results, described in a previous article. The Testimony says even as much. Here are the words:

Could we know that animals were in perfect health, I would recommend that people eat flesh-meats sooner than larger quantities of milk and sugar. It would not do the injury that milk and sugar do.[1]

Instead of meat being of this character, however, it is the opposite. The animal creation is diseased. Flesh-meat is diseased. And even though it was not diseased when in the herd in the field, by the time it has been put through the course of the market, it is laden with impurities.

And the nearer we come to the end, the nearer we come to the time when none of it will be eatable, because of the impure and injurious properties that will abound in it. For this reason, and for the further reason that a change will have to be made, and that suddenly, at the beginning of the plagues, it is now time to take up the instruction that the Lord has given in this matter, and apply it faithfully; that is, in a way full of faith.

When the Lord tells us a thing is not good now, and that He does not want us to eat it now, it is not a sufficient answer to say, as many do:

"It was eatable once, and was allowed in the Bible, and why is it not now?"

This is no answer at all, for the simple reason that what was eatable and allowable once may not be so now; and what is now good will not be eatable in the time of the plagues; in fact, cannot then be eaten at all.

Whether we can see why these things are not good, or whether the Lord ever tells us why, can have no proper bearing in the case. The Lord says such and such things are not good food in this time; and if we are willing to allow that He knows more than we do, we shall be willing to take His word for it, and drop the use of that which He says is not good, taking, in its place, that which He says is not only good, but the best.

And where the reason is given as to why certain things are not good food, do not try to offset it by saying:

"If that is so, why does such and such a person use it?"

Just leave out all that part of it, and accept it or reject it for yourself alone. Do not try to regulate what the Lord would have you do, by citing what somebody else does. Do not forget that the health reform work is an individual work, and each one is to apply it in his own case, for himself alone. This is what you and I are to do; and whether other people do it or not is for them, not for us, to decide.

Note:

1. Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, page 369.

Chapter 16 - Something Better

Advent Review, June 28, 1898

Original title: What is Not Good Food

If, in reading up on this important subject, you find yourself using some of the things that are named as injurious, do not fly to the other extreme, and go to starving yourself by dropping everything at once, without putting that which is better in its place. To do that is only to perpetuate the evil; for an impoverished diet will produce the same results as flesh-meats and rich food,--it will create a poor quality of blood.

Another class who have taken hold of the health reform are very severe. They take a position, and stand stubbornly in that position, and carry nearly everything over the mark. Sister A was one of these. She was not sympathizing, loving, and affectionate like our divine Lord. Justice was nearly all she could see....Her impoverished diet gave her impoverished blood.[1]

We would not recommend an impoverished diet. I have been shown that many take a wrong view of the health reform, and adopt too poor a diet. They subsist upon a cheap, poor quality of food, prepared without care or reference to the nourishment of the system. It is important that the food should be prepared with care, that the appetite, when not perverted, can relish it.

Because we from principle discard the use of meat, butter, mince pies, spices, lard and that which irritates the stomach and destroys health, the idea should never be given that it is of but little consequence what we eat.

There are some who go to extremes. They must eat just such an amount and just such a quality, and confine themselves to two or three things. They allow only a few things to be placed before them or their families to eat. In eating a small amount of food, and that not of the best quality, they do not take into the stomach that which will suitably nourish the system. Poor food can not be converted into good blood. An impoverished diet will impoverish the blood.[2]

These changes should be made cautiously, and the subject should be treated in a manner not calculated to disgust and prejudice those whom we would teach and help.[3]

Let us turn, then, to the consideration of what is good food. Yes, let us find what is the best food, and enjoy ourselves to the full on that, in order that we may have the best of health, and enjoy ourselves in every other right way. what, then, is good? What shall we find to put in the place of all these things that are not good to eat in this time? Here is is:

Grains and fruits prepared free from grease, and in as natural a condition as possible, should be the food for the tables of all who claim to be preparing for translation to heaven.[4]

Fruits and grains, prepared in the most simple form, are the most healthful, and will impart the greatest amount of nourishment to the body, and, at the same time, not impair the intellect.[5]

Those who discard meat ...

... need to supply its place with the best fruits and vegetables, prepared in the most natural state, free from grease and spices. If they would only skillfully arrange the bounties with which the Creator has surrounded them, parents and children with a clear conscience unitedly engaging in the work, they would enjoy simple food, and would then be able to speak understandingly of health reform.[6]

God has furnished man with abundant means for the gratification of natural appetite. He has spread before him, in the products of the earth, a bountiful variety of food that is palatable to the taste and nutritious to the system. Of these our benevolent heavenly Father says that we may "freely eat." We may enjoy the fruits, the vegetables, the grains, without doing violence to the laws of our being. These articles, prepared in the most simple and natural manner, will nourish the body, and preserve its natural vigor without the use of flesh meats.[7]

Adopt the free use of these things, and you will find that all those other things will drop away and never be missed. Then health, such as the Lord desires that you shall have, enjoyment of life, and prosperity in all the things of God, will be yours. For:

"I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers." (3 John 1:2)

Notes:

1. Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 368.
2. Id., p. 367.
3. Id., p. 370.
4. Id., p. 352.
5. Id., p. 400.
6. Id., p. 486.
7. Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 50.

Chapter 17 - Importance of Good Cooking

Advent Review, July 5 & 12, 1898

We have found that one of the vital principles of true health reform is to eat that which is good, rather than merely to do without that which is not good,--that it is not health reform to stop the use of what is not good, unless that which is good is put in its place. And that is because an impoverished diet, even of things that are not injurious in themselves, has the same effect as a diet of those things that are, of themselves, not good. And it is but proper to say that good cooking of the things that are good in themselves is an essential in the carrying out of this principle.

In putting into the dietary what is good in the place of what is not good, the attempt is a failure if that which is good in itself it not well cooked, or otherwise well prepared if it does not need to be cooked. That which is good in itself may be so poorly prepared as to cause it to be really injurious. And material that, in itself, is not good, may be so well prepared as to be really better food than material that, in itself, is far better, but is poorly prepared.

For instance, fine-flour bread is not so good as graham or whole-wheat bread; yet light, well-baked, fine-flour bread is far better than heavy, poorly baked graham or whole-wheat bread. Yet it is a fact that too many people who could make good, light, fine-flour bread have attempted to be health reformers, and to make their families health reformers, by leaving off the use of this fine-flour bread, and proposing to put in its place graham bread or "gems," so heavy, and many times even so sour, as to be unfit for any use in the world. And all this because "the Testimonies say" that "fine-flour bread can not impart to the system the nourishment that you will find in unbolted wheat bread."

But this is not health reform in any sense. Light, well-baked, fine-flour bread is far better than is heavy, poorly baked bread of graham or any other kind of flour. And bread that is sour should never be put on the table in any form or for any purpose. The only thing to do with sour bread is to throw it away. Nor is it any waste to throw it away. The eating of sour bread is the greatest possible waste that there can be about it. Yea, that is worse than waste--it is injury. No bread at all is better than sour bread.

It is much the same, also, with that stuff (probably we have all seen it) which is called graham bread, or "gems," and which, though not exactly sour, is so heavy as to be turned back to dough, rather than to anything else, by eating. It is true that the Testimonies say that:

Fine-flour bread can not impart to the system the nourishment that you will find in the unbolted wheat bread...the common use of bolted wheat bread can not keep the system in a healthy condition.[1]

And they say a good deal more than this. It may be well to set down here some of the main points in this matter, in addition to what is so often quoted in justification of the use of graham bread of the sort we have mentioned. Here it is:

Because it is wrong to cook merely to please the taste, or to suit the appetite, no one should entertain the idea that an impoverished diet is right. Many are debilitated with disease, and need a nourishing, plentiful, well-cooked diet.

We frequently find graham bread heavy, sour, and but partially baked. This is for want of interest to learn, and care to perform, the important duty of cook.

Sometimes we find gem cakes, or soft biscuit, dried, not baked, and other things after the same order. And then cooks will tell you they can do very well in the old style of cooking, but, to tell the truth, their families do not like graham bread; that they would starve to live in this way.

I have said to myself, I do not wonder at it. It is your manner of preparing food that makes it so unpalatable. To eat such food would certainly give one the dyspepsia.

These poor cooks, and those who have to eat their food, will gravely tell you that the health reform does not agree with them. The stomach has not power to convert poor, heavy, sour bread into good; but this poor bread will convert a healthy stomach into a diseased one. Those who eat such food know that they are failing in strength. Is there not a cause?

Some of these persons call themselves health reformers, but they are not. They do not know how to cook. They prepare cakes, potatoes, and graham bread, but there is the same round, with scarcely a variation, and the system is not strengthened. They seem to think the time wasted which is devoted to obtaining a thorough experience in the preparation of healthful, palatable food. Some act as though that which they eat were lost, and anything they could toss into the stomach to fill it would do as well as food prepared with so much painstaking.

It is important that we relish the food we eat. If we cannot do this, but eat mechanically, we fail to be nourished and built up as we would be if we could enjoy the food we take into the stomach. We are composed of what we eat. In order to make a good quality of blood, we must have the right kind of food, prepared in a right manner.

It is a religious duty for those who cook to learn how to prepare healthful food in different ways, so that it may be eaten with enjoyment. Mothers should teach their children how to cook. What branch of the education of a young lady can be so important as this? The eating has to do with the life. Scanty, impoverished, ill-cooked food is constantly depraving the blood by weakening the blood-making organs.

It is highly essential that the art of cookery be considered one of the most important branches of education. There are but few good cooks. Young ladies consider that it is stooping to a menial office to become a cook. This is not the case. They do not view the subject from a right standpoint. Knowledge of how to prepare food healthfully, especially bread, is no mean science.

In many families we find dyspeptics, and frequently the reason of this is the poor bread. The mistress of the house decides that it must not be thrown away, and they eat it. Is this the way to dispose of poor bread? Will you put it into the stomach to be converted into blood? Has the stomach power to make sour bread sweet? heavy bread light? moldy bread fresh? ...

Many a wife and mother who has not had the right education and lacks skill in the cooking department is daily presenting her family with ill-prepared food which is steadily and surely destroying the digestive organs, making a poor quality of blood, and frequently bringing on acute attacks of inflammatory disease and causing premature death. Many have been brought to their death by eating heavy, sour bread.

An instance was related to me of a hired girl who made a batch of sour, heavy bread. In order to get rid of it and conceal the matter, she threw it to a couple of very large hogs. Next morning the man of the house found his swine dead, and, upon examining the trough, found pieces of this heavy bread. He made inquiries, and the girl acknowledged what she had done. She had not a thought of the effect of such bread upon the swine. If heavy, sour bread will kill swine, which can devour rattlesnakes and almost every detestable thing, what effect will it have upon that tender organ, the human stomach?

It is a religious duty for every Christian girl and woman to learn at once to make good, sweet, light bread from unbolted wheat flour.[2]

The point in all this is: Do not try to make health-reform foods take the place of the old until they are at least as well prepared as the old. If the old were well prepared, and the new are as well prepared, the new will always be better than the old.

It is true, and experience will demonstrate it every time, that when the health-reform dietary is as well prepared as the old, it will always be not only accepted, but freely chosen, instead of the old.

I have seen families who despised the thought of Seventh-day Adventists, and hated the name of health reform, won to a full health-reform dietary, simply by the wisdom and tact of the faithful wife in putting on the table, along with the other foods, the health foods brightly prepared. In a little while the health foods were so freely chosen that the old kinds were not wanted at all, and so found no place.

These changes should be made cautiously, and the subject should be treated in a manner not calculated to discussed and prejudice those whom we would teach and help.[3]
 
Having found in the list of what is good, that which is good for you, and having prepared it in a healthful and inviting manner, then thank the Lord for it, cast off all care and anxious thought, and eat with a cheerful heart; and then, having so eaten it, let it alone. For if you do not let it alone, it will hurt you. Of all the times that food should be let alone, it is after is eaten. On this point I can do no better than to quote the words of the Testimonies. So here they are:

Exercise will aid the work of digestion. To walk out after a meal, hold the head erect, put back the shoulders, and exercise moderately, will be a great benefit. The mind will be diverted from self to the beauties of nature. The less the attention is called to the stomach after a meal, the better. If you are in constant fear that your food will hurt you, it most assuredly will. Forget self, and think of something cheerful.[4]

And again we read:

You ... keep thinking on what you eat and drink. Just eat that which is for the best, and go right away, feeling clear in the sight of Heaven, and not having remorse of conscience.[5]

This closes the series of lessons on health and temperance, that we have been studying together. There has been no effort to treat the subject exhaustively, or even fully. All that has been attempted is simply to set forth the principles, with sufficient other matter to make clear the application of the principles, in order that all may see that the health reform is as simple as any other of the Christian principles.

I know that if these principles are studied, and carefully applied by faith in Jesus Christ, who is the Author of all right principles, nothing but the best of health can possibly follow. And thus will be fulfilled in all the "wish" that, "above all things, you may prosper in be in health." (3 John 1:2)

So we may close were we began, with the statement that all health reform, with all good health, is contained in this simple statement:

• Find out all that you can as to what is good food.

• Then find in this list what is good food for you, then cook it well, or otherwise prepare it in an inviting form.

• Then thank the Lord for it, and ask Him to bless it to your good.

• Then eat it with a glad heart.

• Then let it alone. And breathe right.

Do these things by true faith in Jesus, and you will be all right. Let us all do these things by true faith in Jesus,

" For whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23),

--and we shall all be all right. Then we shall be healthy and tem-perate indeed, and so be true health reformers.
 
Notes:

1. Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 68.
2. Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 681, 682, 684; see also vol. 2, p. 369, 373, 537, 638.
3. Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 370.
4. Id., page 530.
5. Id., page 374.