p. 135 | The Moderate Drinker

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Apr 26, 1877

The Moderate Drinker.

A so-called moderate drinker was once very angry with a friend who claimed that safety is alone in totally abstaining from the use of ardent spirits, and who allowed his fanatical notion to insinuate that the moderate drinker himself might then be beyond control. “To make plain the question who is wrong,” said the temperance man, “will you just quit one month, not touch a drop during that time?” Said the other: “To satisfy your mind, I will, with pleasure, though I know myself; I will do as you ask to cure overwrought ideas.” He kept his promise, but at the end of the month he came to his friend with tears in his eyes and thanked him for saving him from a drunkard’s grave. Said he: “I never knew before that I was in any sense a slave to drink, but the last month has been the fiercest battle of my life. I see now I was almost beyond hope; had the test come many months later, it would have been too late for me. But I have kept the pledge, and by God’s help I will keep it for life.” Moderate drinker, just try it for one year, and see how near you are to the rapids, beyond which there is no returning.—Temperance Banner.