WHAT WE EAT AND MORALITY by Daniel H. Kress, M. D.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · May 5, 1914

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 17.

WHAT WE EAT AND MORALITY

By Daniel H. Kress, M. D.

Our Food Does Much in Determining Our Characters

It Is Hard to Irritate the Stomach and Not the Temper

By DANIEL H. KRESS, M. D.

SHOW me what a man eats and drinks, and I will not go far astray in determining what that man is morally. There are foods and drinks of an irritating and stimulating nature that feed the lower passions and tend to war against the soul.

Wholesome foods may be combined in a way to cause fermentation, and a sour stomach and a sweet disposition are seldom associated.

FOODS AND DISPOSITIONS

Prayer has its place, but it alone will not sweeten the disposition of an individual who is careless in his habits of eating.

To make of the children of Israel what God desired them to be, "the light of the world," and a blessing to all the people they should be brought in contact with, He withheld from them the highly stimulating and irritating foods to which they had become addicted while in Egypt, and instead gave them manna to eat and water out of the rock to quench their thirst.

RELIGION AND PHYSICAL HABITS

A religion that does not correct the physical habits of man will not elevate him very much morally. The home should be a foretaste of heaven. But what the home is, depends upon what its inmates are; and what they are, may usually be determined by their food and drink.

The first pair were placed in a garden and surrounded with trees pleasant to the sight and good for food. God said to them, "Of every tree . . . thou mayest freely eat." Had men always followed this instruction, much misery would have been prevented.

The first home was marred by a departure from the bill of fare provided for its inmates. Satan knew that if he could influence mankind to an indulgence of the appetite, he would succeed in his efforts to demoralize them.

THE KITCHEN AS WELL AS THE SALOON

There is no doubt that much of the unhappiness in the homes of to-day is traceable to the foods prepared by well-meaning wives and mothers. Many divorces are attributable to the kitchen primarily, instead of the saloon.

BEECHER'S VIEW OF IT

Henry Ward Beecher, in one of his sermons, gave an admirable illustration of the influence of diet on the disposition, the morals, and the home. He said:

"It is not enough for you to pray that God will give you self-control. You are to study it both according to the law of moral truth and the law of physical truth. If men would go to their physicians, they frequently would find an answer to prayer in the revelations of truth concerning their structure.

"I have known men who prayed for the grace of good temper in vain until their physician told them to stop eating meat; for they were of a peculiar temperament that could not endure such stimulation. So long as they ate animal food, they could not control themselves, they were so irritable; but as soon as they began living on a diet of grains and fruits, they were able to keep their temper. They sought in prayer relief from their irritableness. Their physician, by the aid of science, revealed to them the cause of that irritableness, and their prayer was answered. They were not unwise in praying, but they were wise when to prayer they added medical advice.

TRANQUILLITY AND INDIGESTION

"It is quite in vain for you to pray for a tranquil spirit, or a genial, hopeful spirit, when your organs of digestion are out of order. Not that one who is sick should not pray for health; but prayer is to be joined to diet. It is vain for you to pray that God will give you patience, and then run heedlessly into those very circumstances where experience shows that the causes which lead to impatience will be omnipotent.

"Is it wise for me to ask that I may not be torn by briars, and then run into the thickest hedge? Is it wise for men to pray that God will give them all the fruit of the Spirit, and then associate with men that will contaminate them? Have I a right to pray that God will purify my heart, and then let my ears drink in all the vile sayings, and wicked speeches, and vulgar insinuations, of corrupt men? Can a man take fire in his hand and not be burned? Has a man a right to pray that he may be honest, and then go into temptation? Has a man a right to pray that he may be a truth-seeker, and then take no pains to seek the truth?

STUDY TO KNOW HOW

"It is folly for a man to pray for common morals even, and still more for spiritual graces, and then take no heed of the way, humanly speaking, by which these things are achieved. Just as soon might a man pray that he might have a knowledge of numbers, and then shut his arithmetic, and pray that he might be a practised civil engineer, and sit in his chamber, as to pray for Christian graces, and then do nothing.

"You must study these things. They are dependent on certain causes, and study is one of those causes. And the presumption of your prayer being answered is measured by the degree in which it leads you to study the conditions that tend to bring about that for which you pray. You are to work for it not without prayer, and you are to pray for it not without works."

In a home where simple foods are simply prepared, and where its inmates eat to live, happiness and good cheer are usually found.