Year: 1864

A SERMON AGAINST TIE Use OF ToBAcCo--


A lady, whose refined sensibilities are offended


by the association of those inveterste choker:


and smewers who puff their smoke and squirt


their saliva everywhere and on all occasions


and who takes 10 pains to conceal her repug


nance to these filthy practices. has requested u:


to print the following eztrac; from sermon
of Henry Ward Beecher in reference to The
use Of -the weed :" i must be permitted to
! specialize still another danger from the general
head Of dlssi pation-o1e that you are not &C.
customed TO hear spoken OF in the pulpit
mean the danger Of using tobacco. Do DO,
think that propose TO deliver an indiscriminate
TRADE OF abuse against this practice. | wish
to speak moderately, and to give the result OF
my reflections founded upon much observation,
| do not deny tha. there are many tempera
ments that seem to be able to use tobacco all
their life long with comparatively little incon-
venieuce-to themselves. | do not mean that
every young man who addicts himself TO chew
ing or smoking will Of necessity take on other
vices, or let his habit run to excess But We
are nervous people. Everything in the econ
omy of our society tends to develop the brain
and the nervous system unduly. Now. as a
matter Of fact, it is true that among such a
people smoking IS apt 10 lead to thirst al
drinking. Not always, not necessarily; but
frequently, and naturally. The cup and the
cigar are well acquainted with each other. TIE
use OF tobacco always tends to waste the nerve
force and the brain force and in thousands OF
cases there can be DO question but that it
squanders life By leakage right from the center


And you do not know whether you are tie one
in five that will be poisoned and prematurey
destroyed, or not. If there was one single
reason for this habit, there might be some ex-
cnse for those that indulge in it, but it is q
thing which is utterly without any reason what


ever. You have to make superhuman exertions
in the first instance, to persuade yourselves to
touch tobacco. 1t would seem as if God, when
be made that weed, said | invoke all spirits of
rausea and nastiness to stand around about and
defend it from any touch" For, it seems to
me that, if anything would be secure from
human meddIing, that would. 1t is repugnaut
to every feeling. The whole nature revolts
from 1t. on are not drawn to il by ANYTHING
that Is in you or 10 it. Not one single element
of health does it give you and the pleasure
that Is derived from It's use is. in the main,
luslve pleasure. And such is the effect of il
as poison upon many constitutions, that the
struggle OF breaking away from it is next only
to the struggle of breaking away from the cup


And it has led many and many youth to the
cup. If you have but just begun to smoke. ask
yourselves what earthly good it will do YOU {;
and il you fail. as you will, TO find good excuse
Tor continuing the habit leave it off Ii you
chew and smoke, your misery is double; and if
you do but one do not try to cure Yourselves
by doing the other for you will end in doing
both. On grounds Of simple common sense,
ask every young man in this congregation who
is addicted to the unwholesome practice of
smoking or chewing, Is it worth your while to
spend YOUR means, and to entail upon yourselves
an unnecessary expense for the sake of keeping
up habit that incommodes others, that annovs
those about you, that will probably have bad
influence upon your health and that will posi-


bly, inlure your morals? While | would not
seem TO be extravagant, | cannot fail to give
solemn and alfectionate warning to the young
people of my charge on this subject. If you
have not learned TO use tobacco in any form, |
beseech fyou, abstain from it. The young often
acquire the habit because they feel that it will
be a distinction. No; unfortunately, smoking
Is so common that it is not distinction. If you
wish to have distinction, refrain from smoking:
that viii make you rather remarkable"