INDICTED AND TREED. 253 



but Him; and this, I was persuaded, was not a 

 thing to be safely done ; for, however slowly God's 

 mills grind, * they grind exceeding small,' and 

 sooner or later, as sure as we live, they will grind 

 exactly all. . .1 could not urge my people to f lay 

 apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughti- 

 ness,' while the traces of such superfluity were dis- 

 coverable in my breath and on my body. I could 

 not insist that they should ' keep the body under,' 

 if my body kept me under. 



" More and more imperious grew the demands 

 of an appetite that finally became impatient of 

 almost any intermission in its accustomed gratifica- 

 tion. . . . I endeavored to persuade myself that the 

 Lord did not concern himself about such a trivial 

 matter, and said to myself, f Is it not a little one, 

 and my soul shall live ? ' But I had preached from 

 that text too often, and to too many just such sin- 

 ners as myself, to extract much comfort out of it. 

 I remembered that Scripture, f He that eateth is 

 damned if he doubt ; ' and I more than doubted, 

 and so was involved in danger. 



" Then I deliberately, solemnly, prayerfully de- 

 termined, God helping me, to have done with 

 tobacco at once and forever. 



" It was just a question, and one of exceeding grav- 

 ity, as to the possible consequences of so sudden and 

 complete a revolution in the whole habits of my life. 

 But having decided that it was the Christian thing 

 for me to do, there was nothing left but to do it, 

 trusting Him for whose sake I did it to take care 



