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THE PILLARS OF HEALTH

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, Cal. · Feb 13, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 7.

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THE PILLARS OF HEALTH

By William S. Sadler, M. D.

By WILLIAM S. SADLER, M. D.

I. THE BIBLE ON DIET.

It may be a new thought to some that the Bible contains all the essential principles of the diet question. Remember, we say principles, not rules; for the Bible is a Book complete in principles, but very meager in rules.
The first great underlying principle—pillar of health—which we will notice is temperance. Yes, we might even say that temperance is the foundation of all the pillars of health. Temperance is the very key-note of all the practises of the successful health-seeker. True Christian temperance should regulate all the habits of mind, soul, and body.
We are to practise temperance not merely to gain peace of mind and ease of body here on earth, but because it is essential to that state of mind and body which is to prepare us to win the everlasting prize. Said Paul: “Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.” 1 Cor. 9:25.
The glory of God, and not merely the satisfaction of the sense of taste, is to be considered in all our eating and drinking. “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Cor. 10:31.
Probably no other one physical habit has so much to do with human happiness and health as the one question of what we eat, how we eat, and when we eat.
The wise man recognized the diet question as one of prime importance when he wrote: “When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee; and put [Jewish translation, puttest] a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties; for they are deceitful meat.” Prov. 23:1-3.
Wrong habits of eating, with their consequent train of dyspepsia and disease, are responsible for more suffering and misery than almost all other means of physical transgression combined.
The Bible long ago recognized what modern scientists are just awakening to—that is, that some foods are nourishing and others stimulating. In other words, some foods produce strength, others drunkenness; for it was Solomon who wrote: “Blessed art thou, O land, when . . . thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness.” Eccl. 10:17.
All food substances taken into the body, which can not be immediately and normally converted into tissues and energy, must exert a deleterious effect upon the body; and it is this stimulation, this reaction of the body to substances in the circulation which are not food, that produces a state of intoxication, or drunkenness. And this becomes a serious question when one stops to consider that a state of continual intoxication—auto-intoxication—may be produced by indigestion and chronic dyspepsia.