212 TOBACCO. 



going testimony as a kind legacy to encourage all 

 who feel the fangs and the tightening toils of that 

 enchanting serpent, tobacco ! No earthly gift 

 could bribe me to return to the use of the weed ; 

 and I am sure that unyielding resolution, and 

 a patient looking for divine help, will enable all 

 who honestly desire to break the slavish chains of 

 that unnatural and degrading appetite, to become 

 free from its toils." 



A good deacon gives me his experience : " I com- 

 menced the use of tobacco when under ten, became 

 a habitual consumer at about fifteen, and when 

 thirty began to realize that it was injuring me. 

 Then came the struirsfle. I would leave it off for 



CO 



a week, for a month, and then for a year. The 

 moment my pledge was up I would commence 

 with renewed energy. This continued till I was 

 about forty, when I became satisfied that I must 

 either die or break from my bondage. I attempted 

 the latter. For more than two years I wrestled 

 with the appetite, at the end of which time my 

 craving was, if possible, stronger than ever. I 

 felt that I must have relief from this craving, or 

 succumb to it. In my despair, I took the matter 

 to the Lord with strong crying. He soon deliv- 

 ered me from the dreadful appetite, and it has never 

 returned, praised be the name of the Lord." 



Dr. Talmage tells us that he was once an ex- 

 cessive smoker, and that in writing his sermons he 

 was accustomed to take a fresh cigar with every 

 new head. On one occasion, after an experience of 



