Page 63 - Temperance (1949)

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Tobacco’s Polluting, Demoralizing Influence
59
and-soul-destroying indulgences. And they who will not subject the
appetites and passions to the control of reason, will indulge them
at the expense of physical and moral obligation.—
The Review and
Herald, March 18, 1875
.
Tobacco’s Enslaving Power
—In fastening upon men the terri-
ble habit of tobacco using, it is Satan’s purpose to palsy the brain and
confuse the judgment, so that sacred things shall not be discerned.
When once an appetite for this narcotic has been formed, it takes
firm hold of the mind and the will of man, and he is in bondage under
its power. Satan has the control of the will, and eternal realities are
eclipsed. Man cannot stand forth in his God-given manhood; he is a
slave to perverted appetite.—
Letter 8, 1893
.
Those who claim that tobacco does not injure them, can be
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convinced of their mistake by depriving themselves of it for a few
days; the trembling nerves, the giddy head, the irritability they feel,
will prove to them that this sinful indulgence has bound them in
slavery. It has overcome will power. They are in bondage to a vice
that is fearful in its results.—
The Signs of the Times, October 27,
1887
.
The Witness of Those Who Overcame
—While speaking, we
asked those to arise who had been addicted to the use of tobacco,
but had entirely discontinued its use because of the light they had
received through the truth. In response, between thirty-five and
forty arose to their feet, ten or twelve of whom were women. We
then invited those to arise who had been told by physicians that it
would be fatal for them to stop the use of tobacco, because they had
become so accustomed to its false stimulus that they would not be
able to live without it. In reply, eight persons, whose countenances
indicated health of mind and body, arose to their feet.—
The Review
and Herald, August 23, 1877
.
Warn Against Presumption
—Parents, warn your children
against the sin of presumption. Teach them that it is presump-
tion to educate an appetite for tobacco, liquor, or any hurtful thing.
Teach them that their bodies are God’s property. They are His by
creation and by redemption. They are not their own; for they have
been bought with a price. Teach them that the body is the temple of
God, and that it is not to be made strengthless and diseased by the
indulgence of appetite.