Christian Temperance
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Christians, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God.” If the body is saturated with liquor and defiled by tobacco it is
not holy and acceptable to God. Satan knows that it cannot be, and for
this reason he brings his temptations to bear upon the point of appetite,
that he may bring us into bondage to this propensity and thus work
our ruin.
The Jewish sacrifices were all examined with careful scrutiny to
see if any blemish was upon them or if they were tainted with disease,
and the least defect or impurity was a sufficient reason for the priests
to reject them. The offering must be sound and valuable. The apostle
has in view the requirements of God upon the Jews in their offerings
when he in the most earnest manner appeals to his brethren to present
their bodies a living sacrifice. Not a diseased, decaying offering, but a
living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.
How many come to the house of God in feebleness, and how many
come defiled by the indulgence of their own appetite! Those who have
degraded themselves by wrong habits, when they assemble for the
worship of God, give forth such emanations from their diseased bodies
as to be disgusting to those around them. And how offensive must this
be to a pure and holy God.
A large proportion of all the infirmities that afflict the human
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family are the results of their own wrong habits, because of their
willing ignorance or of their disregard of the light which God has
given in relation to the laws of their being. It is not possible for
us to glorify God while living in violation of the laws of life. The
heart cannot possibly maintain consecration to God while the lustful
appetite is indulged. A diseased body and disordered intellect, because
of continual indulgence in hurtful lust, make sanctification of the
body and spirit impossible. The apostle understood the importance of
the healthful conditions of the body for the successful perfection of
Christian character. He says, “I keep under my body, and bring it into
subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others,
I myself should be a castaway.” He mentions the fruit of the Spirit,
among which is temperance. “And they that are Christ’s have crucified
the flesh with the affections and lusts.”
Men and women indulge appetite at the expense of health and their
powers of intellect, so that they cannot appreciate the plan of salvation.