CHAPTER XIII.
GLUTTONY.

SELF-PRESERVATION is nature's first law, and the first and essential
means of preserving one's existence is the taking of food and drink
sufficient to nourish the body, sustain its strength and repair the
forces thereof weakened by labor, fatigue or illness. God, as well as
nature, obliges us to care for our bodily health, in order that the
spirit within may work out on earth the end of its being.

Being purely animal, this necessity is not the noblest and most
elevating characteristic of our nature. Nor is it, in its imperious and
unrelenting requirements, far removed from a species of tyranny. A kind
Providence, however, by lending taste, savor and delectability to our
aliments, makes us find pleasure in what otherwise would be repugnant
and insufferably monotonous.

An appetite is a good and excellent thing. To eat and drink with relish
and satisfaction is a sign of good health, one of the precious boons of
nature. And the tendency to satisfy this appetite, far from being
sinful, is wholly in keeping with the divine plan, and is necessary for
a fulsome benefiting of the nourishment we take.

On the other hand, the digestive organism of the body is such a
delicate and finely adjusted piece of mechanism that any excess is
liable to clog its workings and put it out of order. It is made for
sufficiency alone. Nature never intended man to be a glutton; and she
seldom fails to retaliate and avenge excesses by pain, disease and
death.