St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-06-06

bad thing, my brother, to damage the
body; it is worse thing to damage the
mind, and any man of common sense
knows that the nervous system immedl-
ately acts upon the brain. More than that
Nearly all reformers will tell you that it
tends to drunkenness. 1t creates unnat-
ural thirst. There are those who use this
narcotic who do not drink, but nearly all
who drink use the narcotic, so that shows
there is an immediate affinity between the
two drugs. 1t was long ago demonstrated
that man can not permanently reform
from strong drink unless he gives up to-
bacco. In nearly all the cases where men
having been reformed have fallen back
it has been shown they have first touched
tobacco and then surrendered to intox-
icants. The broad avenue leading down
to the drunkard's grave and the drunk
ards hell is strewn thick with tobacco
leaves. What did Benjamin Franklin say:
ST never saw a well man, in the exercise
of common sense, who would say that to-
bacco did him any good" What did
Thomas jefferson say when arguing
against the culture of tobacco? He said:
at is culture productive of infinite
wretchedness." Horace Greeley said of it:
SIT is a profane stencil" Daniel Webster
said: ssIf those men must smoke, let them
take the horse-shed."
One reason why there are SO many VIC
tins of this habit is because there are so
many ministers of religion who smoke and
chew. They smoke until they get the
| bronchitis, and the dear people have to
pay their expenses to Europe. They smoke
| until the nervous system breaks down.
| They smoke themselves to death. could
name three eminent clergymen who died
| Of cancer in the mouth, and in. every case
the physician said it was tobacco. There
has been many clergyman whose tomb
stone was all covered up with the eulogy,
/ which ought to have had the honest cpl
/ taph: "Killed by too much Cavendlsh."
/ Some of them smoke until theroom IS blue,
and their spirits are blue, and the world IS
blue. and every thing is blue. Time was
when God passed by such sins; but it be-
comes now the duty of the American
| clergy who indulge in this narcotic to re-
pent. How can a man preach temperance
to the people when he is himself INDUCING
in an appetite like that? have seen
cuspidor in pulpit where minister
should drop his cud before he gets up to
read: "Blessed are the pure in hear"
and to read about s'rolling sin as q sweet
morseI under the tongue" and in Leviti-
Gus to read about the unclean animals that
! chew the cud. have known Presby teries
and General Assemblies and General Syn
DDS where there was a room set apart Tor
the ministers to smoke in.
Oh, it is sorry spectacle, a consecrated
man, holy man of God, looking around
for something which you take to be look
ing for a larger field Of usefulness. He is
not looking for that at ALL He is only
looking for some place where he can dis
charge mouthful of tobacco juicel am
glad the Methodist Church of the United
States in nearly all their Conferences have
passed resolutions against this habit, and
it is time we had an anti tobacco reform
in the Presbyterian Church, and the Epis-
copal Church, and the Baptist Church, and
the Congregational Church.
NARCOTICS.
There are ministers of religion to-day
indulging in narcotics, dying by inches,
and they do not know what is the matter
with them. might in a word give my
own experience. 1t took ten cigars to
make sermon. got very nervous. One
day awakened to the outrage was in
fiicting upon myself. l was about to
change settlements, and a generous whole
sale tobacconist in Philadelphia said if
would only come to Philadelphia he would
all the rest of my life provide me with
cigars free of charge. [ said to myself:
If in these war times, when cigars are sc
costly and my salary SO small, smoke
more than ought to- what would do if
had gratuitous and ilIimitable supply
And then and there, twenty four years
ago, quit once and forever. 1t made q
new man of me, and though I have since
, then done as much hard word as any one
think have had the best health God
ever blessed a man with. A minister Of
religion can not afford to smoke. Put into
my hand the money wasted in tobacco il
Brooklyn, and I will support three orphan
asylums as grand and beautiful as those
already established. Put into my HAND
the money wasted in tobacco in the United
States of America, and I will clothe, feec
!. and shelter all the suffering poor on Thu
continent. The American Church give:
81 ,000, 900 year for the evangelization o
the heather, and American Christian
spend S5,000,000 in tobacco.
AN ANALYSIS.
Now, stand this morning not only il
the presence of my God, to whom mus
give an account for what say to-day, bu
;. / stand in the presence of great multi
tude,of young men who are forming thei
habits. Between seventeen and twenty
! three there are tens of thousands of young
men damaging themselves irretrievably
J by tobacco. You either use very good to
bacco or cheap tobacco. II you use cheal
. tnhaccn rrant To fell Won why il is chaan