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Chapter 2—The Body the Temple
The Christian’s Responsibility
—“Know ye not,” Paul asks,
“that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth
in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy;
for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” Man is God’s
workmanship, His masterpiece, created for a high and holy purpose;
and on every part of the human tabernacle God desires to write His
law. Every nerve and muscle, every mental and physical endowment,
is to be kept pure.
God designs that the body shall be a temple for His Spirit. How
solemn then is the responsibility resting on every soul.... How many
there are, blessed with reason and intelligence, talents which should
be used to the glory of God, who willfully degrade soul and body.
Their lives are a continual round of excitement. Cricket and football
matches and horse racing absorb the attention. The liquor curse,
with its world of woe, is defiling the temple of God.... By the use
of liquor and tobacco men are debasing the life given them for high
and holy purposes. Their practices are represented by wood, hay,
and stubble. Their God-given powers are perverted, their senses
degraded, to minister to the desires of the carnal mind.
The drunkard sells himself for a cup of poison. Satan takes
control of his reason, his affections, his conscience. Such a man is
destroying the temple of God. Tea drinking helps to do this work.
Yet how many there are who place destroying agencies on their
tables.
No Right to Cripple One Organ of Mind or Body
—No man
or woman has any right to form habits which lessen the healthful
action of one organ of mind or body. He who perverts his powers
is defiling the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Lord will not work
a miracle to restore to soundness those who continue to use drugs
which so degrade soul, mind, and body that sacred things are not
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appreciated. Those who give themselves up to the use of tobacco
and liquor do not appreciate their intellect. They do not realize the
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