p. 3 | A Smoking Minister

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 2, 1862

A Smoking Minister.

Yes, a smoking minister. On last Monday evening by previous engagement we called upon a clergyman, the pastor of one of the largest and most influential churches in the city of —. He dwells in a splendid parsonage, and has a splendid salary; no doubt preaches splendid sermons, and prays long and splendid prayers. But what was our reception? Cold, of course. How could it be otherwise? for in one hand was his segar, and the other hand, oh, how slow it was to come forth to greet us. With a slow unwelcome tone he bade us be seated. His manner was so frigid that a blind man could almost see the icicles upon his heart. We were seated, and what then? Why, his Havanna was again re-lighted, and this divine once more seated in his free and easy chair, commenced puffing, puffing, puffing. But what was he doing?

Puffing, puffing, puffing away his self-respect. Puffing away his religion. Puffing all the love from his heart. He was preaching a sermon; a sermon, I fear, that will not soon be forgotten. Even the youngest of our company, a little mute girl, could understand such preaching as that. Could you have seen those poor deaf and dumb children as they left that splendid mansion, and beheld the disgust depicted upon their countenances; could you have understood their gestures, you would have said that was a sermon indeed. "Puffing, puffing, puffing," said the poor little mute girl by her silent gestures, "puffing, puffing, filthy, filthy, clean not; holy man not; God loves smoke not; bad man loves black deaf and dumb not; deaf and dumb loves puffing man not." All the language in our possession was not sufficient to convince that poor little mute child that that man was a minister of God. To speak of him as a holy man was disgusting to her. If I called him a good man, she would shake her head violently, "No, no, he was not good; tobacco was not good; puffing was not good; the tobacco was bad; the smoke was bad; the man was bad."

Oh! what were our feelings when this poor little mute continued repeating by her gestures bad, bad, bad. Here was a professed ambassador of the meek and lowly Jesus; that pure and holy Jesus; that God of infinite love, here in the presence of this little mute, he stood condemned. In her little unsophisticated mind tobacco was filthy, and every man that would defile his lips with it was filthy. Any man that would puff, puff that filthy smoke into her face was not only filthy, but wicked.

Could I reverse all the thoughts of her mind, and try to teach her that this was a holy man of God? Could I tell her that Jesus loved that nauseous weed? that he would roll the filthy tobacco quid under his tongue? that he would puff that stenching perfume from a filthy segar? Or could I insist that Jesus, the type of holiness and purity, would sanction the use of this filthy weed? To do this would be only to condemn myself, for I knew that this poor little mute child knew what every one must know, that tobacco was filthy, and that no one could by any means use it without making himself filthy. Oh! when, when shall we have the gospel preached by pure lips, from clean hearts, when tobacco-smoking and tobacco-chewing ministers shall not be heard of in all this land?

But what was the reply of this clergyman when we wished to plead the cause of the blind, of the deaf, of the dumb, and the unfortunate, in his church? Turning to these poor little dark-faced ones he said, "We would not allow our lectures or meetings to be disturbed by such as those."

The question instantly arose in our minds, How could Jesus permit himself to be so much disturbed as to stop in the street and open the eyes of a poor blind man? Or how could he utter such words concerning little children? "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." The query arises whether there were any of these that were blind, or dumb, or black, of whom this great Teacher was speaking? Did he mean to say, Suffer all little children to come unto me except the black ones? Would he have taken his filthy segar and sat down in the presence of poor little deaf, mute, and blind children, and after puffing, puffing, puffing that filthy, noxious tobacco smoke into their faces, would he have thus indignantly turned them away with the reply, "We will not have our meeting disturbed by such as those?" May it not be possible that these poor, black, blind, and mute children may yet rise up in judgment to the condemnation of some who now thus spurn them from their presence and drive them from the house of God?