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118
Temperance
ity to overcome without the help of Christ, and their constant cry is,
“I cast my helpless soul on Thee.”
These can help others. The one who has been tempted and tried,
whose hope was well-nigh gone, but who was saved by hearing
a message of love, can understand the science of soulsaving. He
whose heart is filled with love for Christ because he himself has
been sought for by the Saviour, and brought back to the fold, knows
how to seek the lost. He can point sinners to the Lamb of God. He
has given himself without reserve to God, and has been accepted in
the Beloved. The hand that in weakness was held out for help has
been grasped. By the ministry of such ones, many prodigals will be
brought to the Father.—
The Ministry of Healing, 176-179
.
Helped by Helping Others
—One who is weakened, and even
degraded by sinful indulgence, may become a son of God. It is in
his power to be constantly doing good to others, and helping them to
overcome temptation; and in so doing he will reap benefit to himself.
He may be a bright and shining light in the world, and at last hear the
benediction, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” from the lips of
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the King of glory.—
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 149
.
When Presented From the Standpoint of the Christian
—In
Australia I met a man considered free from everything like intem-
perance, except for one habit. He used tobacco. He came to hear us
at the tent, and one night after he went home, as he afterward told
us, he wrestled against the habit of tobacco using, and obtained the
victory. Some of his relatives had told him that they would give him
fifty pounds if he would throw away his tobacco. He would not do
it. “But,” he said, “when you present the principles of temperance
before us as you have done, I cannot resist them. You present before
us the self-denial of One who gave His life for us. I do not know
Him now, but I desire to know Him. I have never offered a prayer in
my house. I have cast away my tobacco, but that is as far as I have
gone.”
We prayed with him, and after we left him we wrote to him and
later visited him again. He finally reached the point where he gave
himself to God, and he is becoming the very pillar of the church in
the place where he lives. He is working with all his soul to bring his
relatives to a knowledge of the truth.—
Evangelism, 531, 532
.