Control of Appetite
131
order for them to be this, they must place their wills on the side of His
will.—
Letter 166, 1903
256. Bewitching temptations to follow the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are to be met on every side.
The exercise of firm principle, and strict control of the appetites and
passions, in the name of Jesus the Conqueror, will alone carry us safely
through life.—
The Health Reformer, May, 1878
The Futile Attempt to Reform Gradually
257. Some say, when an effort is made to enlighten them on this
point [
Use of liquor and tobacco
], I will leave off by degrees. But
Satan laughs at all such decisions. He says, They are secure in my
power. I have no fear of them on that ground. But he knows that he
has no power over the man who, when sinners entice him, has moral
courage to say No squarely and positively. Such a one has dismissed
the companionship of the devil, and as long as he holds to Jesus Christ,
he is safe. He stands where heavenly angels can connect with him,
giving him moral power to overcome.
Peter’s Appeal
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 53, 54, 1890
258. The apostle Peter understood the relation between the mind
and the body, and raised his voice in warning to his brethren: “Dearly
[167]
beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly
lusts, which war against the soul.” Many regard this text as a warning
against licentiousness only; but it has a broader meaning. It forbids
every injurious gratification of appetite or passion. Every perverted
appetite becomes a warring lust. Appetite was given us for a good
purpose, not to become the minister of death by being perverted, and
thus degenerating into “lusts which war against the soul.”....
The strength of the temptation to indulge appetite can be measured
only by the inexpressible anguish of our Redeemer in that long fast
in the wilderness. He knew that the indulgence of perverted appetite
would so deaden man’s perceptions that sacred things could not be
discerned. Adam fell by the indulgence of appetite; Christ overcame
by the denial of appetite. And our only hope of regaining Eden is
through firm self-control. If the power of indulged appetite was so