An appeal to a clergyman on the use of tobacco.

  • Trask, George, 1798-1875.
Date:
[1855]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An appeal to a clergyman on the use of tobacco. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    AN APPEAL TO A CLERGYMAN USE OF TOIB-A.OOO My Dear Sir : — » I address you as an Elder, who am also an Elder. In the brief interview we had a few days since, you remarked that the Anti-Tobacco Cause could not be of sufficient consequence to occupy my time, or that of any clergyman ; that few or no clergymen use the thing, and they should not trouble themselves about it. I disagree with you, Sir; and will state the grounds of my dissent. First, Tobacco stands in the way of the salvation of men. Many of your hearers are its victims. It poisons their blood, discolors their skin, wastes their muscle and strength; and their bodies, rightfully the temples of the Holy Spirit, become shamefully defiled, and God is robbed of the living and holy sacrifice, which he expressly claims. Science pronounces it a rank poison, a poison which leaves not a membrane, tissue, nerve, or hair of the head, unaffected by its malarious touch. Hence, a college of phy- sicians testify, that its habitual use changes the nature of its victim, and renders his condition completely abnormal. Hence, a physician of eminence has lately given his opinion that some eighty diseases, great and small, may be trace- able to its agency ; and hence the late Dr. Twitchell states, that it is a more fearful destroyer of human constitutions, tban alcohol.