A SLAVE TO THIS, A SLAVE TO THAT by Author of “Shining Light”.

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 24, 1867

A SLAVE TO THIS, A SLAVE TO THAT.

By Author of “Shining Light”.

“Break every yoke, the gospel cries, And let the oppressed go free! Let every burdened captive rise, And taste sweet liberty.”

Your tea, brother, are you not as much a slave to it as the tipler is to his morning dram, his wine cup, or brandy bottle? or as the tobacco-monger is to his pipe, his quid? “Does this affect my salvation?” “Salvation,” indeed? Talk about salvation, meanwhile wedded to 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? Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.” Rom. vi, 16. “And if a man also striveth for masteries, yet he is not crowned except he strive lawfully.” 2 Tim. ii, 5. Whence your fidgety and rickety spells? Your often doubts touching your safe and joyful “admission 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 as a relish for the intoxicating bowl, or the vile Indian weed.” Look at your example. 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 destroy them. Brother, break loose from this tyrant, and be a free man. What! preach to sinners to repent, put away their evil deeds, be temperate in all things, “and yourself a bound slave, an idolator?” A slave? Yes you are, equally with the smoker, chewer, and snuffer of the vile “Indian weed,” or the man wedded to his wine-cup or morning dram! Awful! “Physician, heal thyself.” Then that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?” Mothers, what are ye 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 further go.

Little folks, one word to you, and we are done. What say you, with the Try company? “No tea nor coffee do we drink, Tobacco we despise; And liquor as a beverage, Ne’er comes before our eyes. So we are a healthy, happy band, Our minds are bright and clear. No awful dreams at night we have, And terror we don’t fear. We have escaped from Satan’s snare, In this respect, at least; And while others go to early graves, We still remain to feast.”

Some of the most poisonous mineral substances, including arsenite of copper, are used in the preparation of good (?) green tea from a poor kind of black tea, which, in its turn, may not have a particle of the tea plant in its composition. To such an extent is cheating in the tea trade carried on in the “Flowery Kingdom.”—AUTHOR OF “SHINING LIGHT.”