54
Confrontation
your unholy offerings of ejected quids of tobacco defile the temple and
are abhorred of God. Your worship is not acceptable, for your bodies,
which should be the temple for the Holy Ghost, are defiled. You also
rob the treasury of God of thousands of dollars through the indulgence
[60]
of unnatural appetite.
If we would see the standard of virtue and godliness exalted, as
Christians we have a work devolving upon us individually to control
appetite, the indulgence of which counteracts the force of truth, and
weakens moral power to resist and overcome temptation. As Christ’s
followers, we should in eating and drinking act from principle. When
we obey the injunction of the apostle, “Whether therefore ye eat, or
drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God,” thousands
of dollars which are now sacrificed upon the altar of hurtful lust will
flow into the Lord’s treasury, multiplying publications in different
languages to be scattered like the leaves of autumn. Missions will be
established in other nations, and then will the followers of Christ be
indeed the light of the world.
The adversary of souls is working in these last days with greater
power than ever before, to accomplish the ruin of man through the
indulgence of appetite and passions. And many who are held by Satan
under the power of slavish appetite are the professed followers of
Christ. They profess to worship God, while appetite is their god. Their
unnatural desires for these indulgences are not controlled by reason
or judgment. Those who are slaves to tobacco will see their families
suffering for the conveniences of life and for necessary food, yet they
have not the power of will to forgo their tobacco. The clamors of
appetite prevail over natural affection, and this brute passion controls
them. The cause of Christianity, and even humanity, would not in
any case be sustained if dependent upon those in the habitual use of
tobacco and liquor. If they had means to use only in one direction the
treasury of God would not be replenished, but they would have their
tobacco and liquor, for the tobacco idolater will not deny his appetite
[61]
for the cause of God.
It is impossible for such men to realize the binding claims and
holiness of the law of God, for their brain and nerves are deadened by
the use of this narcotic. They cannot value the atonement or appreciate
the worth of immortal life. The indulgence of fleshly lusts wars against
the soul. The apostle in the most impressive language addresses