of the race!'"

It is the most destructive agency in the world today. It kills more
than the bloodiest wars. It is the fruitful parent of crime and
idleness and poverty and disease. It spoils a man for this world, and
damns him for the next. The Word of God has declared it: "Be not
deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, . . .
nor _drunkards_ . . . shall inherit the Kingdom of God."

How can we overcome this enemy? Bitter experience proves that man is
not powerful enough in his own strength. The only cure for the
accursed appetite is regeneration--a new life--the power of the risen
Christ within us. Let a man that is given to strong drink look to God
for help, and He will give him victory over his appetite. Jesus Christ
came to destroy the works of the devil, and He will take away that
appetite if you will let Him.

Temper.

Then there is _temper_. I wouldn't give much for a man that hasn't
temper. Steel isn't good for anything if it hasn't got temper. But
when temper gets the mastery over me I am its slave, and it is a
source of weakness. It may be made a great power for good all through
my life, and help me; or it may become my greatest enemy from within,
and rob me of power. The current in some rivers is so strong as to
make them useless for navigation.

Someone has said that a preacher will never miss the people when he
speaks of temper. It is astonishing how little mastery even professing
Christians have over it. A friend of mine in England was out visiting,
and while sitting in the parlor, heard an awful noise in the hall. He
asked what it meant, and was told that it was only the doctor throwing
his boots downstairs because they were not properly blacked. "Many
Christians," said an old divine, "who bore the loss of a child or of
all their property with the most heroic Christian fortitude, are
entirely vanquished by the breaking of a dish or the blunders of a
servant."

I have had people say to me, "Mr. Moody, how can I get control of my
temper?"

If you really want to get control, I will tell you how, but you won't
like the medicine. Treat it as a sin and confess it. People look upon
it as a sort of a misfortune, and one lady told me she inherited it
from her father and mother. Supposing she did. That is no excuse for
her.

When you get angry again and speak unkindly to a person, and when you
realize it, go and ask that person to forgive you. You won't get mad
with that person for