INDICTED AND TRIED. 251 



of a letter I once received from a clergyman who 

 has passed into the other life, simply explaining 

 that the subject had often been urged upon him 

 while he was a theological student : — 



" I have left off smoking. I indulged in it till I 

 was thoroughly convinced that it was not only op- 

 posed to the fine socialities of life, but that it was 

 detrimental to health, befooling to the intellect, and 



' CO o ' 



stupefying to the sensibilities. I will give you a 

 few details of its moral bearings : — 



w f If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat 

 no flesh while the world standeth.' A very prac- 

 tical text ; but I was a smoker, and that habit was 

 opposed to the best Christian sense of my brethren, 

 and even by many who were not Christians was 

 regarded as a vice. I must waive that subject, lest 

 my people say, f Physician, heal thyself.' 



" I wanted to preach upon the duty of self-denial 

 — a duty which needs often to be urged ; but the 

 idea of a smoker preaching such a sermon was 

 simply ridiculous. That must be delayed, then. 



"The subject of temperance came up. I felt 

 that I ought to preach upon it ; but I could find 

 no sound premise from which to reason that was 

 not destructive to my peace as a smoker. 



" I wished to preach on benevolence — saving the 

 littles for Christ ; but my cigar bill faced me. 



M It was my daily prayer that God would cleanse 

 my heart from sin. Conscience would whisper : 

 Smohirig is sin. 



* I wanted to visit my people. Both my clothes 



