Counsels on Health - Ellen G. White

depends upon the normal condition of the vital
forces, what care should be exercised that neither
stimulants nor narcotics be used.
Tobacco is a slow, insidious poison, and its
effects are more difficult to cleanse from the
system than those of liquor. What power can the
tobacco devotee have to stay the progress of
intemperance? There must be a revolution in our
world upon the subject of tobacco before the ax is
laid at the root of the tree. We press the subject still
closer. Tea and coffee are fostering the appetite
which is developing for stronger stimulants, as
tobacco and liquor. And we come still closer home,
to the daily meals, the tables spread in Christian
households. Is temperance practiced in all things?
Are the reforms which are essential to health and
happiness carried out there? Every true Christian
will have control of his appetite and passions.
Unless he is free from the bondage and slavery of
appetite, he cannot be a true, obedient servant of
Christ. It is the indulgence of appetite and passion
which makes the truth of none effect upon the
heart. It is impossible for the spirit and power of
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