Specialized Counsels on health reform

Only one lease of life is granted us; and the inquiry with every one should be, “How can I invest my powers so that they may yield the greatest profit? How can I do most for the glory of God and the benefit of my fellow men?” For life is valuable only as it is used for the attainment of these ends.
Our first duty toward God and our fellow beings is that of self-development. Every faculty with which the Creator has endowed us should be cultivated to the highest degree of perfection, that we may be able to do the greatest amount of good of which we are capable. Hence that time is spent to good account which is used in the establishment and preservation of physical and mental health. We cannot afford to dwarf or cripple any function of body or mind. As surely as we do this, we must suffer the consequences. Counsels on Diet and Foods, 15.

December 10, 1871, I was again shown that the health reform is one branch of the great work to fit a people for the coming of the Lord. And it is as closely connected with the third angel’s message as the hand is united to the body. The law of ten commandments has been lightly regarded by man. The Lord would not come to punish the transgressors of his law without first sending them a message of warning. The third angel proclaims the warning message. Had men ever been obedient to the law of ten commandments, carrying out in their lives the principles of these ten precepts, the curse of disease now flooding the world would not be. Pamphlets 138, 1.