THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN by D. F. Newton

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 9, 1868

THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN.

By D. F. Newton

A SLAVE TO THIS, A SLAVE TO THAT.

“Break ev’ry yoke;” the Gospel cries, ‘And let the oppressed go free;’ Let ev’ry burden’d captive rise, And taste sweet Liberty.”

Your tea, brother, are you not as much a slave to it as the tippler is to his morning dram, his wine cup, or brandy bottle; or as the tobacco-monger is to his pipe, and his quid? Does this affect my salvation? Salvation, indeed! Talk about salvation, meanwhile wedded to an evil habit—the lust of appetite! ‘Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?’ Rom. vi, 16. ‘Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.’ ‘And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully.’ 2 Tim. ii, 5.

Whence your fidgety and rickety spells, your often doubts, touching your safe and joyful entrance ‘into the everlasting kingdom?’ Your nervous system is affected injuriously by the use of this narcotic, to which you are a slave. The taste, or habit of tea drinking is unnatural, and acquired, as much so as a relish for the intoxicating bowl, or the vile ‘Indian weed.’ Look at your example, also. Consider the millions expended to gratify a perverted taste, worse than useless, that ought to go to build up the Redeemer’s kingdom, not Satan’s; to save souls, and not to destroy them. Brother, break loose from this tyrant, and be a free man. What! preach to sinners to put away their evil deeds, be ‘temperate in all things,’ and yourself a bond-slave, an idolater! Awful! ‘Physician, heal thyself.’ ‘Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?’

Mothers, what are you doing? allowing your ‘little ones’ to sip their tea at meal times, acquire a vicious habit that will prove a curse in time, and jeopard their souls eternally? Stop, stop this wickedness. Stop and think before you farther go.

Says an eminent physician:

“Much of the nervous unrest and over anxiety of the women of this generation is due to the excessive use of tea. . . . I have known many who lived largely on their tea, eating little food and growing thin, sensitive and sleepless, sharp in feeling and often in words.

“Every year I am more and more surprised to see the number of women and children who are suffering from loss of appetite, loss of sleep, and that peculiar irritability which comes from the two combined, and yet have no idea of the cause, for they say, ‘I never dreamed black tea hurt any one.’ Now this same black tea may be excellent to help one through an emergency, when rest is needed and cannot be had, just as you would put spurs to a horse to win a battle, or meet a railway train; but to ride at this rate long would be ruinous to man and beast. Just so our women, spurred by this stimulant, rush on when they should rest. . . . As to coffee, all know it is injurious in many ways, save those who,

“—convinced against their will, Are of the same opinion still.”

“No tea nor coffee do we drink, Tobacco we despise; And liquor as a beverage Ne’er comes before our eyes.

“We are a happy, healthy band, Our minds are bright and clear; No awful dreams at night we have, And tremor we don’t fear.

“We have escaped from Satan’s snares— In this respect at least; While others go to early graves, We still remain to feast.”

D. F. NEWTON.