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172
Temperance
wedded to these vile habits, women should have left them to their
life of single blessedness, to enjoy these companions of their choice.
Women should not have considered themselves of so little value as to
unite their destiny with men who had no control over their appetites,
but whose principal happiness consisted in eating and drinking, and
gratifying their animal passions.
Women have not always followed the dictates of reason instead
of impulse. They have not felt in a high degree the responsibilities
resting upon them, to form such life connections as would not en-
stamp upon their offspring a low degree of morals, and a passion to
gratify debased appetites, at the expense of health, and even life. God
will hold them accountable in a large degree for the physical health
and moral characters thus transmitted to future generations.—
How
to Live 2, 27, 28
.
[173]
The Newborn Child
—The inquiry of fathers and mothers
should be, “What shall we do unto the child that shall be born
unto us?” We have brought before the reader what God has said
concerning the course of the mother before the birth of her children.
But this is not all. The angel Gabriel was sent from the heavenly
courts to give directions for the care of children after their birth, that
parents might fully understand their duty.
About the time of Christ’s first advent the angel Gabriel came
to Zacharias with a message similar to that given to Manoah. The
aged priest was told that his wife should bear a son, whose name
should be called John. “And”, said the angel, “thou shalt have joy
and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be
great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong
drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.” This child of
promise was to be brought up with strictly temperate habits. An
important work of reform was to be committed to him, to prepare
the way for Christ.
Intemperance in every form existed among the people. Indul-
gence in wine and luxurious food was lessening physical strength,
and debasing the morals to such an extent that the most revolting
crimes did not appear sinful. The voice of John was to sound forth
from the wilderness in stern rebuke for the sinful indulgences of the
people, and his own abstemious habits were also to be a reproof of
the excesses of his time.—
Counsels on Diet and Foods, 225
.