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To Have a Clear Mind, Follow Temperance Principles, October
24
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your
whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
, NKJV.
The apostle thus entreats, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service.” ...
When we pursue a course of eating and drinking that lessens physical and
mental vigor, or become the prey of habits that tend to the same results, we dishonor
God, for we rob Him of the service He claims from us. Those who acquire and
indulge the unnatural appetite for tobacco do this at the expense of health. They are
destroying nervous energy, lessening vital force and sacrificing mental strength.
Those who profess to be the followers of Christ yet have this terrible sin at their
door cannot have a high appreciation of the atonement and an elevated estimate
of eternal things. Minds that are clouded and partially paralyzed by narcotics are
easily overcome by temptation, and cannot enjoy communion with God.
Those who use tobacco can make but a poor plea to the liquor inebriate. Two
thirds of the drunkards in our land created an appetite for liquor by the use of
tobacco. Those who claim that tobacco does not injure them can be convinced of
their mistake by depriving themselves of it for a few days; the trembling nerves, the
giddy head, the irritability they feel, will prove to them that this sinful indulgence
has bound them in slavery. It has overcome willpower. They are in bondage to a
vice that is fearful in its results....
God requires that His people should be temperate in all things. The example of
Christ, during that long fast in the wilderness, should teach His followers to repulse
Satan when he comes under the guise of appetite. Then may they have influence to
reform those who have been led astray by indulgence, and have lost moral power
to overcome the weakness and sin that has taken possession of them. Thus may
Christians secure health and happiness, in a pure, well-ordered life and a mind clear
and untainted before God.—
The Signs of the Times, January 6, 1876
.
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