placed by another one. How the devil's power ground me beneath his hoof
of steel. Awful slavery, terrible bondage! We often express our
thankfulness for a free country, but who is free? Of all the many sins
that lay upon my soul, none seemed so heavy as the tobacco sin. In a time
of danger or fright our first thought would be of tobacco, and we feared
and trembled before God. In a time of storm when the lightning would flash
and the thunder roll we would vow to the Lord that if he would keep us
through the storm we would use tobacco no more. But when the clouds had
rolled away and the sun shone out so peacefully, our tyrannical master
would scourge us beneath his heavy yoke, and we would yield to his
demands. For several months we thus fought against this monster only to be
conquered, until early one October morning when all alone we earnestly
besought the God of heaven to come to our rescue. We confessed our sins to
him and plead for mercy. He heard our prayer and blotted out all our
transgressions. He filled our soul with such a wondrous glory that full
two weeks had passed before we thought of tobacco, and when we did we
loathed it more than we had ever loved it. Eight years have passed and
still we are free. Since the day we were saved we have no more desired it
than if we never had used it. "If the Son therefore shall make you free,
ye shall be free indeed." John 8:36.

Opium.

The habit of eating opium is fast increasing. We are told that thousands
of tons are used annually in smoking and chewing in different parts of the
world. Over half a million pounds are consumed by the opium eaters of our
own country. It is a lust of the flesh and classed among the things which
if we do we can never enter heaven. It is because it is a sin that will
bar you forever from the land of eternal rest, that prompts us to add a
few words of warning.

Like alcohol and tobacco, the word opium does not appear in the
Scriptures, but that it is a sinful lust but very few will deny. Opium is
the dried juice of the white poppy. Morphine is a powder made from opium.
Laudanum is made by soaking opium in alcohol. The custom of drugging
infants and children with "Soothing Cordials" is shameful and sinful. The
"soothing" effect is produced by the opium the drug contains. It is
exceedingly dangerous. One writer has said that it is very certain that
many infants annually perish from this single cause. Any work on hygiene
or common school p