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56
Temperance
Lives Are Sacrificed
—Alcohol and tobacco pollute the blood of
men, and thousands of lives are yearly sacrificed to these poisons.—
The Health Reformer, November, 1871
.
Nature does her best to expel the poisonous drug, tobacco; but
frequently she is overborne. She gives up her struggle to expel the
intruder, and the life is sacrificed in the conflict.—
Manuscript 3,
1897
.
Tobacco Use Is Suicide
—God requires purity of heart, and per-
sonal cleanliness, now, as when He gave the special directions to the
children of Israel. If God was so particular to enjoin cleanliness upon
those journeying in the wilderness who were in the open air nearly
all the time, He requires no less of us who live in ceiled houses,
where impurities are more observable, and have a more unhealthful
influence. Tobacco is a poison of the most deceitful and malignant
kind, having an exciting, then a paralyzing influence upon the nerves
of the body. It is all the more dangerous because its effects upon the
system are so slow, and at first scarcely perceivable. Multitudes have
fallen victims to its poisonous influence. They have surely murdered
themselves by this slow poison. And we ask. What will be their
waking in the resurrection morning?—
Spiritual Gifts 4a:128
.
[58]
There Is No Defense
—Intemperance of every kind is holding
human beings as in a vise. Tobacco inebriates are multiplying. What
shall we say of this evil? It is unclean; it is a narcotic; it stupefies
the senses; it chains the will; it holds its victims in the slavery of
habits difficult to overcome; it has Satan for its advocate. It destroys
the clear perceptions of the mind that sin and corruption may not
be distinguished from truth and holiness. This appetite for tobacco
is self-destructive. It leads to a craving for something stronger,—
fermented wines and liquors, all of which are intoxicating.—
Letter
102a, 1897
.