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Enduring Victory
119
A Fisherman Gains the Victory
—In this place a fisherman has
recently been converted to the truth. Although formerly a habitual
user of the poisonous weed, he has, by the grace of God, determined
to leave it alone for the future. The question was asked him, “Had
you a hard struggle in giving it up.” “I should think I did,” he an-
swered, “but I saw the truth as it was presented to me. I learned that
tobacco was unhealthful. I prayed to the Lord to help me to give
it up, and He has helped me in a most marked manner. But I have
not yet decided that I can give up my cup of tea. It braces me, and I
know that I should have a severe headache did I not take it.”
[119]
The evils of tea drinking were laid before him by Sister Sara
McEnterfer. She encouraged him to have moral courage to try what
giving up tea would do for him. He said, “I will.” In two weeks he
bore his testimony in meeting. “When I said that I would give up
tea,” he said, “I meant it. I did not drink it, and the result was a most
severe headache. But I thought, Am I to keep using tea to ward off
the headache? Must I be so dependent on it that when I let it alone I
am in this condition? Now I know that its effects are bad. I will use
it no more. I have not used it since, and I feel better every day. My
headache no longer troubles me. My mind is clearer than it was. I
can better understand the Scriptures as I read them.”
I thought of this man, poor as far as worldly possessions are
concerned, but with moral courage to cut loose from smoking and
tea drinking, the habits of his boyhood. He did not plead for a little
indulgence in wrongdoing. No; he decided that tobacco and tea
were injurious, and that his influence must be on the right side. He
has given evidence that the Holy Spirit is working on his mind and
character to make him a vessel unto honor.—
Manuscript 86, 1897
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Stand in His Strength
—The Lord has a remedy for every man
who is beset by a strong appetite for strong drink or tobacco, or any
other hurtful thing which destroys the brain power and defiles the
body. He bids us come out from among them and be separate, and
touch not the unclean thing. We are to set an example of Christian
temperance. We are to do all in our power by self-denial and self-
sacrifice, to control the appetite. And having done all, He bids us
stand,—stand in His strength. He desires us to be victorious in
every conflict with the enemy of our souls. He desires us to act