INDICTED AND TRIED. 255 



a dreadful need-be, or else what is far worse? Oh 

 for some Divine purifying hand that with its scourge 

 of small cords shall drive from the sanctuary all 

 these incongruous, uncleanly sights and smells ! 

 Oh for a breath from the heavenly heights that 

 shall lead every Christian, whether minister or lay- 

 man, to wash his hands and cleanse his garments 

 in innocency of this habit ! 



"It would be a sweet and blessed thing," writes 

 one, " if, in addition to all a man's positive works 

 of good in life, he could say, when he comes to die, 

 1 I have not consciously done a single thing, in 

 eating or drinking or pleasure, that I thought had 

 a tendency to mislead or stumble to their destruc- 

 tion, any of those around me !' " 



This tobacco problem is truly appalling. From 

 the rapid increase of the evil ; from its prevalence 

 among all classes ; above all, from the sanction of 

 men high in position, it is threatening us with 

 national degeneracy and degradation. 



Is it, then, an impertinence for me to make a 

 respectful, but most urgent appeal to every editor, 

 philanthropist, and Christian, to every minister 

 and teacher, to every college and every theo- 

 logical professor, to every member of a Young 

 Men's Christian Association, and above all, to 

 every wife and mother and daughter and sister 

 in the land, not only that you rid yourselves of 

 all complicity with this terrible evil, but that, 

 with downright earnestness and persistence, you 

 make common cause against it. 



