I thought, with trembling hands the names were given and the entire thirty signed their names. (Te 202.1) MC VC

Then one of the most solemn addresses was given upon temperance. The subject was taken up from the table. “Here,” said the speaker, “is the appetite created for love of strong liquor. Appetite and passion are the ruling sins of the age. Appetite, the way it is indulged, influences the stomach and excites the animal propensities.... (Te 202.2) MC VC

The stomach becomes diseased, then the appetite is morbid and continually craving something to stimulate, something to ‘hit the spot’! Some acquire the disgusting habit of tea and coffee, and go still further using tobacco, which benumb the tender organs of the stomach and lead them to crave something stronger than tobacco. They go still further to the use of liquor.—Manuscript 7, 1874. (Te 202.3) MC VC

An Early Experience in Pledge Signing—Monday morning, June 2, 1879, while in attendance at a camp meeting held at Nevada, Missouri, we assembled under the tent to attend the organization of a temperance association. There was a fair representation of our people present. Elder Butler spoke, and confessed that he had not been as forward in the temperance reform as he should have been. He stated that he had always been a strictly temperance man, discarding the use of liquor, tea, and coffee, but he had not signed the pledge being circulated among our people. But he was now convinced that in not doing so he was hindering others who ought to sign it. He then placed his name under Colonel Hunter’s; my husband placed his name beneath Brother Butler’s, I wrote mine next, and Brother Farnsworth’s followed. Thus the work was well started. (Te 202.4) MC VC

A Cause of Accidents—We read of steamboat disasters, and railroad accidents, and what is the matter? Somebody in many, many cases has beclouded the mind with intoxicating drink. He did not feel the weight of responsibility resting upon him. Many, many lives have been lost because somebody got drunk. Thus lives will be charged to the man that put the bottle to his neighbor’s lips. (Te 288.1) MC VC

In olden times when a man had a vicious animal he paid for it. It says in Exodus 21:28, 29: “If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit. But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.” (Te 288.2) MC VC

Now we wish to carry this principle right out to those that brew the deadly poison. Here is the law that the God of heaven gave to regulate what to do with vicious animals. Christ is seeking to save, and Satan to destroy. I ask you that have reasoning powers to think on these things. The man that is intoxicated is robbed of his reason. Satan comes in and takes possession of him and imbues him with his spirit; and his first desire is to bruise or kill some of his loved ones. Yet men will allow this accursed thing to go on, that makes man lower than the beast. What has the drunkard obtained? Nothing but a madman’s brain. And here the laws are such that the temptations are continually before them. (Te 288.3) MC VC

That liquor seller will have to answer for all the sins of the drunkard, and the drunkard will have to give account of his deeds. Their only hope is to lay their souls upon the crucified and risen Saviour. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. What does Christ say? Ye “are laborers together with God.” 1 Corinthians 3:9. Christ came to bring back to man moral power. Here we see human passions destroying human beings. Here are our youth being tempted. The minds of many are being taken up with gambling and horse racing. May God help us to arouse. (Te 289.1) MC VC

Those that are in legislative councils should not drink wine or strong drink. They need clear brains that they may have sharp and clean-cut reason. The destiny of human life is in their power, whether this or that man shall meet with death as his penalty, or be punished otherwise. We have known of a drunken carousal in the courts of justice. Have they had a clear brain and an eye single to the glory of God? Nature is defaced in man. Christ came to elevate. “Touch not, taste not,”(Colossians 2:21) should be your motto. You should be temperate in eating. But, liquor—let it alone. Touch it not. There can be no temperance in its use. Satan would sweep in the human family. Christ came to redeem, to elevate man, for He took human nature upon Him. (Te 289.2) MC VC

Begin With the Children—Parents, you must arouse to your God-given duty. Teach your children obedience. Many have lost respect for father and mother. They will have just as much respect for their heavenly Father as for their own parents. Teach your children. Give them lessons when babies in your arms. Angels will be around you when you do this. When those weary mothers knew not what to do with their children, they thought that they would bring them to Jesus. And as one mother started, and would say to another, “I want Jesus to bless my children,” then another would join the company, and still another, and so on until quite a little group came to Jesus with their children. As they came to where Jesus was, He caught the sound. He knew when they had first left. Jesus Christ sympathized with these mothers. As they brought their little ones to Jesus, He said, “Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:14. Parents, take hold; the gates are ajar. (Te 289.3) MC VC