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188
Temperance
are rightly employed, he will become a power in our world to lead
others upward and onward in the path of righteousness. The salvation
of one soul is the salvation of many souls.—
The Review and Herald,
July 10, 1888
.
Weaving a Web of Habits
—Remember that you are daily weav-
ing for yourself a web of habits. If these habits are according to the
Bible rule, you are going every day in steps heavenward, growing
in grace and the knowledge of the truth; and like Daniel, God will
give you wisdom as He gave to him. You will not choose the paths
of selfish gratification. Practice habits of strictest temperance, and
be careful to keep sacred the laws which God has established to
govern your physical being. God has claims upon your powers,
therefore careless inattention to the laws of health is sin. The better
you observe the laws of health, the more clearly can you discern
temptations, and resist them, and the more clearly can you discern
the value of eternal things.—
The Youth’s Instructor, August 25,
1886, 135
.
[189]
Daniel’s Example
—No young man or young woman could be
more sorely tempted than were Daniel and his companions. To
these four Hebrew youth were apportioned wine and meat from the
king’s table. But they chose to be temperate. They saw that perils
were on every side, and that if they resisted temptation, they must
make most decided efforts on their part, and trust the results with
God. The youth who desire to stand as Daniel stood must exert
their spiritual powers to the very utmost, co-operating with God, and
trusting wholly in the strength that He has promised to all who come
to Him in humble obedience.
There is a constant warfare to be maintained between virtue and
vice. The discordant elements of the one, and the pure principles of
the other, are at work striving for the mastery. Satan is approaching
every soul with some form of temptation on the point of indulgence
of appetite. Intemperance is fearfully prevalent. Look where we
will, we behold this evil fondly cherished.
Honorable to Refuse
—The followers of Jesus will never be
ashamed to practice temperance in all things. Then why should any
young man blush with shame to refuse the wine cup or the foaming
mug of beer? A refusal to indulge perverted appetite is an honorable
act. To sin is unmanly; to indulge in injurious habits of eating