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TEMPERANCE

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · Feb 19, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 8.

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TEMPERANCE

By A. M. Winegar, M. D.

A. M. WINEGAR, M. D.
“And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.” 1 Cor. 9:25. The giant of intemperance has become such a great monster in our land that Churches and other organizations are making strenuous efforts to stay the evil. So intense has become the anxiety, and so fierce the struggle, that women have sacrificed that which is most dear to them, their home, with all its happiness, and have gone out to save some other mother’s son who has fallen into the gutter, or some beautiful daughter who has lost her purity and sunken into a life of shame.
This is all good, and who does not admire the faithful women who have given so much of themselves for the saving of others? But, my sisters, there is no disease without a cause. Just as, in medical practice, we are obliged to relieve symptoms, so it is also proper to raise those who have fallen into the pit of drunkenness and vice; but the work must not end with those upon whom the habit of drink has become so firmly fastened, but, like the true physician, we must seek for the cause, and having found it, apply the remedy which will most quickly remove it. Many of the women of the W. C. T. U. who are so nobly working to stay this great evil, are quite unconscious of the fact, that in their own homes this mighty giant is beginning its deadly work.
The reforming of the drunkard on whom these habits have become so firmly fixed is like stripping the leaves off the tree, with the hope of destroying the tree. The root of the evil still remains, and it is only by the mighty power of God that such a life can be changed. In the work of reformation, not only must the habit of drink be overcome, but also other habits and tendencies that may have had their origin long before the man took his first drink. The foods set before the children in many homes are often such as to create an unnatural appetite, or cravings which the simple foods and those intended to nourish and build up the body no longer satisfy.
Intemperance often has its origin with the young babe in its mother’s arms. The appetite is perverted, and instead of the child receiving only its natural food, he is given other food, which at first is distasteful to the little one; but the habit is soon formed, and a great variety of foods are given him, which tend to weaken the digestive powers. Already he begins to have cravings for other things, and in the attempt to satisfy this longing, more stimulating foods are given, such as tea, coffee, spices, rich pastries, etc. A feverish state is produced, which causes extreme thirst. This is at first quenched with water, but by and by water ceases to satisfy, and when the boy grows older, he goes to the saloon to satisfy this burning thirst with drink. Can we say then that this first drink is the beginning of the boy’s downfall?—By no means. Trace it back to his mother’s table. While mothers are studying some of the great problems that confront the world at this time, they overlook the question that should be of vital importance to every mother,—that of the study of her own child, what will best nourish it, and how to prepare its food in a way that will be palatable as well as nourishing.
(To be continued.)