100
Healthful Living
518. By advising friends and neighbors to take brandy for the
sake of their health, they are in danger of becoming agents for the
destruction of their friends.... Physicians are responsible for making
many drunkards. Knowing what drink will do for its lovers, they have
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taken upon themselves the responsibility of prescribing it for their
patients. Did they reason from cause to effect, they would know that
stimulants would have the same effect on each individual organ of the
body that they have on the whole man. What excuse can doctors render
for the influence they have exerted in making fathers and mothers
drunkards?—
The Review and Herald, May 29, 1894
.
519. Go with me to yonder sick-room. There lies a husband and
father, a man who is a blessing to society and to the cause of God. He
has been suddenly stricken down by disease. The fire of fever seems
consuming him. He longs for pure water to moisten the parched lips, to
quench the raging thirst, and cool the fevered brow. But no; the doctor
has forbidden water. The stimulus of strong drink is given, which
adds fuel to the fire.... For a time nature wrestles for her rights, but
at last, overcome, she gives up the contest, and death sets the sufferer
free.—
Testimonies for the Church 5:195
.
520. Those who do not control their appetites in eating are guilty
of intemperance.... With many, their first error is in making a god
of their appetite, subsisting mostly on highly seasoned animal food,
which produces a feverish state of the system, especially if pork is used
freely. The blood becomes impure. The circulation is not equalized.
Chills and fever follow. The appetite fails. They think something must
be done, and perhaps send for ale, which stimulates for the time, but
as soon as the influence of the ale is gone, they sink as much lower,
and a continual use of the ale keeps them stimulated and overexcited.
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They think that the ale was of so much benefit to them that they must
continue its use. After a while it loses its influence; then they use a
stronger beverage, until they give themselves up to every excess, and
man formed in the image of his Maker degrades himself lower than
the beasts. It required time to benumb the sensibilities of the mind. It
was done gradually, but surely.
Spiritual Gifts Volume 4a, 126
.
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