That you may see the connection more clearly between vice and victuals, let me show you how food may damage our bodies and demoralize our souls. I am fully aware of the difficulties I encounter in entering this thought on your minds. Because religion has been considered as having little or nothing to do with the body, I shall encounter the settled opinions of good men to this effect. Because our popular methods of eating have the sanction of custom and the defense of long established habits, I may not criticise them without losing the favor of those who are content with things as they are. Because I shall call in question many indulgences of appetite hitherto considered sinless, I shall run the risk of being called a fanatic or fool. Because I shall preach the New Testament doctrine of self-denial many will say this is a hard saying—“who can bear it?” But with the hope that I may unfold to you a glorious realm of liberty from the bondage of bodily propensities, I cheerfully do my duty and leave the consequences for God to look after. Very few of us are aware of the great physical demoralization and spiritual wickedness, brought on us and our children, by bad habits of eating, as to the kind of food, the mode of its preparation, and the manner and times of taking it. We refuse to think of our indulgences of appetite as the cause of our physical ailments and premature death, and much less will we allow ourselves to believe that these indulgences have anything to do with forming our morals or shaping our characters or determining our eternal destiny.