Temperance Work
43
souls will, many of them, be saved in the kingdom of God.—
Medical
Ministry, 242, 243
.
Pledging to Total Abstinence
The subject of temperance should be strongly presented, and a
pledge to abstain from all intoxicating liquor and from tobacco should
be presented. Habits of intemperance are preventing minds from
discerning the importance of the truths which make men wise unto
salvation. The brain must be cleared from the befogging influence of
intoxicating liquor and tobacco, and then men will realize that Christ
has died for their salvation.—
Letter 187, 1904
.
[40]
Responsibility of Parents
Often intemperance begins in the home. By the use of rich, un-
healthful food the digestive organs are weakened, and a desire is
created for food that is still more stimulating. Thus the appetite is
educated to crave continually something stronger. The demand for
stimulants becomes more frequent and more difficult to resist. The sys-
tem becomes more or less filled with poison, and the more debilitated
it becomes, the greater is the desire for these things. One step in the
wrong direction prepares the way for another. Many who would not
be guilty of placing on their table wine or liquor of any kind will load
their table with food which creates such a thirst for strong drink that
to resist the temptation is almost impossible. Wrong habits of eating
and drinking destroy the health and prepare the way for drunkenness.
There would soon be little necessity for temperance crusades, if in
the youth who form and fashion society, right principles in regard to
temperance could be implanted. Let parents begin a crusade against
intemperance at their own firesides, in the principles they teach their
children to follow from infancy, and they may hope for success.
There is work for mothers in helping their children to form correct
habits and pure tastes. Educate the appetite; teach the children to abhor
stimulants. Bring your children up to have moral stamina to resist the
evil that surrounds them. Teach them that they are not to be swayed by
others, that they are not to yield to strong influences, but to influence
others for good.—
The Ministry of Healing, 334, 335
.