CLEAN CHRISTIANS

God will have a clean people, free from filthiness of every kind. In fact, He will own no other as His. Sin is a polluting element which God hates and is determined to rid this universe of it in His own time and way. If we are going to be Christians, let us be clean.

Our minds should be clean; free from evil thinking and pondering sinful thoughts. Our spirits should be free from lustful desires, unholy motives in our actions, and impure intentions. We should keep our bodies pure from all forms of sin, secret and public. Questionable habits should not be indulged in by Christian people.

As so many professing Christians indulge in the tobacco habit, let us examine the case and see whether or not it is a wise thing for a Christian to use it. May we illustrate it this way. It is said that someone asked Mr. D. L. Moody, the great evangelist, if he thought a man could be a Christian and use tobacco. He replied, "If he could, he would be a mighty dirty one."

It is sometimes argued that the Bible nowhere mentions tobacco. Very well; I accept the challenge. Neither does it mention morphine, but we know it is sinful to dope on it; nor does it say, "Thou shalt not gamble," but we know that it is wrong because it contradicts other plain statements relative to dishonesty, etc. There are numerous other worldly things which the Bible does not name, but it covers them all when in I John 2:15 it says, "Love not the world, neither the things of the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." That covers the bill for the dances, shows, horse races, immodest dress, tobacco and all other worldly Of sinful practices and habits.

While the Bible does not mention by name this habit, let us see what may be implied in the following Scriptures. Here are several reasons why Christians should refrain from the use of tobacco in all forms:

1. It is a Filthy Habit. "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God," II Cor. 7:1. "Touch not the unclean thing," Ch. 6:17. "Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls," Jas. 1:21. Here "laying apart all filthiness comes before receiving the Word unto salvation. In Rev. 22:11 Christ said, "He that is filthy, let him be filthy still," indicating that when He comes those who are filthy will be left behind.

Tobacco is filthy in all the forms it is used. It is truly a nasty habit. Nothing but a goat, a mule and a human will bother it, and the latter far exceeds the former two. You can lay your quid on a stump and the dogs, cats or even the buzzards will never bother it. Smoking fllthies up the inside of a person as much as chewing and dipping or upping the stuff does the outside. It poisons the blood stream, weakens the system in general and often degrades the mind. The poet was truly right when he said:

"Tobacco is a filthy weed,
'Tis said it is the Devil's seed;
It taints your breath, and stains your clothes,
And makes a chimney of your nose."

2. It is a Useless Habit. "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God," I Cor. 10:31. Can a person smoke and chew, squirt and puff this nasty stuff "to the glory of God"? If not, he is by God's word forbidden to do so. Of what use is it? It does not improve . the looks, strengthen the body, add to personality, increase knowledge nor help the purse of its consumer. It is a perfectly useless, foolish and detrimental habit. No other creature will pursue it but a poor, habit-enslaved human being. May I ask, is it Christian to squander so much time and energy in the pursuit of an entirely useless, worthless and foolish habit?

3. It is an Enslaving Habit. "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey?" Rom. 6:16. The writer once quoted this to a tobacco-using uncle of his and added, "See, Uncle, you are a servant of the old plug." He could make no reply, for the Word had him. Anything that binds and enslaves as does this habit is certainly wrong, even for sinners, much more so for Christians.

Why are people often ill, cross and peevish when out of tobacco? Is that the Christian spirit? They are bound by it, being made slaves as truly as the colored race were ever slaves in any land. Some have longed to be free from it; tried time and again to quit it, but failed, made many resolutions but are yet bound by its galling fetters. It weakens the will-power, lessens the initiative, tends to destroy certain higher senses of refinement and lowers self-respect generally. The poor captives of this treacherous indulgence need to come to Christ and let Him break their cords of bondage and set them free.

4. It is a Costly Habit. "Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which satisfieth not?" Isa. 55:2. Is not this a real pen picture of tobacco? Does it satisfy? Never! As soon as one morsel is gone the user craves another. Truly, it "satisfieth not, and its users are condemned in this very Scripture for following such a practice. We as Christians are God's stewards, our money is supposed to be His. How can one waste God's money for this accursed thing?

It is amazing what amounts are spent for tobacco annually. The R. J. Reynolds' Tobacco Company, Winston-Salem, N. C., is said to have cleared $36,000,000 in one year on tobacco sales, and it is only one of the large companies operating in this country. If you use it, figure your tobacco spendings for a year and you will be surprised what you could do with it. Sometimes innocent little children's mouths are robbed of needed food for parents' tobacco spendings. Can Christians do this?

5. It is a Dangerous Habit. "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God," Matt. 4:7. If anything we practice is likely to entail ill health and material danger upon us or our family, we do but flout God to continue its practice.

Dr. J. H. Kellogg, of Battle Creek Sanitarium, gives this information: "In the Phipps Institute in Philadelphia, where hundreds of post mortem examinations are made annually of persons who die of tuberculosis, the records for the past fifteen years show that tobacco users are more than twice as likely to have tubercular consumption."

Statistics show that thousands of dollars worth of damage is done annually by smokers setting fire to buildings, sometimes costing life. They sometimes set fire to beds at night, and children have been strangled on tobacco. Is it Christian to help keep up such a dangerous and useless practice?

6. It is an Injurious Habit. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy." The body contains about three billion cells which are very delicate, and tobacco nicotine cannot possibly enter the body without defiling these tiny cells.

The following quotations are from a tract, "Is Tobacco Injurious?" by Prof. A. S. London. "According to medical science tobacco contains from three to nine per cent of nicotine. And nicotine is a poison. It is declared to be the most deadly poison next to prussic acid known to medical science. . . One-half grain of morphine will kill an adult. One fifteenth of a grain of nicotine has been known to kill an adult and one-seventh of a grain always proves fatal."

It is a well-known fact that such diseases as affect the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and nerves are greatly agitated and increased in amount by the use of tobacco.

7. It is an Unexemplary Habit. St. Paul's admonition to Timothy was, "Be thou an example," I Tim. 4:12. That is our Christian duty today. Can you imagine Christ or His apostles, or Paul or Timothy or Mary, Martha or any of those good people using tobacco? Try to think for a moment of St. Paul with a cigar in his mouth or Timothy chewing a quid or puffing a cigarette! It seems almost like sacrilege to think of it. Yet, they were not supposed to be any 'greater examples of Christian living than we are to be. If it would look unbecoming for them, it is unbecoming for any Christian anywhere. I firmly believe if tobacco . had been in habitual use then as now St. Paul would have classed it along with the other sins of the flesh.

Again, parents have no right to forbid their children to do anything they themselves do, in questions of morals. If it is good for you, it is GOOD for them, too, If it is wrong for them, it is WRONG for you. Can you conscientiously say that you do not object to your little ones using this nasty, poisonous stuff?

So far we have dealt with the matter from the Scriptural viewpoint. We here give a few more facts and illustrations.

"Cigarette smoking is the outstanding sex sin of the people of the United States. The sensation of sucking a cigarette gives abnormal stimulus to the sex instincts and often leads to moral turpitude." Concerning moral delinquency, Judge Hulbert of the Detroit Juvenile Court said: "We find it (Cigarette) one of the most baneful influences which we have to combat in this court." -From a tract.

"There is no agency in the world that is so seriously affecting the health, education, efficiency and character of boys and girls as the cigarette habit. Nearly every delinquent boy is a cigarette smoker. Cigarettes are a source of crime." Ex-President, Herbert Hoover.

"Cigarette smoking has a violent action on the nerve centers, producing a degeneration of the cells of the brain, which is quite rapid among boys; unlike most narcotics, this degeneration is permanent and uncontrollable." -- Thomas A. Edison.

"I do not smoke and I do not approve of smoking. If you will notice, you will see that the practice is going out among the ablest surgeons, the men at the top. No surgeon can afford to smoke." -- Dr. Wm. J. Mayo, of famous Mayo Hospital, Rochester, Minn.

"Let me tell you how tobacco kills. Smokers do not drop dead around the cigar lighters in tobacco stores. From the tobacco trust's point of view that is one of the finest things about tobacco. The victims do not die on the premises. They go away, and when they die, the doctors certify that they died of something else-pneumonia, heart disease, typhoid fever or what not. In other words, tobacco kills indirectly and escapes the blame." -- Luther Burbank. (Quotations from "A Study of Tobacco in the Light of Scientific Research," by J. G. Taylorson.)

THE FEMALE SMOKER

"If a mother inhales the smoke the violent active principles of tobacco permeate her blood at once, and directly affect the quantity of her milk as do other drugs. This is most injurious to the child."

From the same source, we quote Arthur Brisbane: "Whatever she may do later, no woman has a right to put nicotine or any other poison in her blood until she has finished her work, the creation of the next generation. After the child bearing is done, ladies, if they choose, may smoke, chew or dip snuff-but they ought not. Their job then is setting a good example." From "The Scientific Facts About Tobacco," by F. M. Weatherford.

Addressing the American Association of Medico-Physical Research, Dr. Charles L. Barber said: "A baby born of a cigarette smoking mother is sick. It is poisoned and may die within two weeks of birth. The post mortem shows degeneration of liver, heart and other organs. Sixty per cent of all babies born to mothers who are habitual cigarette smokers die before they are two years old." -Tract, "Cigarette and Women."

A young cigarette smoker watching the monkeys in a menagerie asked the keeper,

"Would it do any harm to offer one of them a cigarette?"

"Not a bit," replied the keeper. "He would not touch it. A monkey is not as big a fool as he looks!"

We shall close this chapter with the words of the great and good Dr. Adam Clarke, one of the most learned and renowned Methodist ministers of his day:

"1. Every medical man knows that the saliva which is so copiously drained off by the infamous quid and the scandalous pipe is the first and greatest agent which nature employs in digesting the food.

"2. A single drop of the oil of tobacco, being put on the tongue of a cat, produced violent convulsions, and killed her in the space of one minute. A thread dipped in the same oil, and drawn through a wound made by a needle in an animal, killed it in the space of seven minutes.

"3. That it is sinful to use it as most do I have no doubt, if destroying the constitution, and vilely squandering away the time and money which God has given for other purposes, may be termed 'sinful.' Can any who call themselves Christians vindicate their conduct in this respect?

"4. The impiety manifested by several in the use of this herb, merits the most cutting reproof. When any of the tobacco consumers get into trouble, or under any cross or affliction, instead of looking to God for support, the pipe, the snuff-box or the twist (if he were writing today, he would say 'the cigarette' -- Author) is applied with quadruple earnestness; so that four times (I might say in some cases, ten times) the usual quantity is consumed on such occasions. What a comfort is this weed in time of sorrow! What a support in time of trouble! In a word, what a god!

"5. I am sorry to have to say that this idle, disgraceful custom prevails much at present among ministers of most denominations. Can such persons preach against needless self-indulgence, destruction of time, or waste of money?

"6. The loss of time in this shameful work is a serious evil. I have known some who, strange to tell, have smoked three or four hours in the day, by their own confession; and others who have spent six hours in the same employment. How can such persons answer for this at the bar of God?

"7. Consider how disagreeable your custom is to those who do not follow it. An atmosphere of tobacco effluvium surrounds you whithersoever you go. Every article about you smells of it-your apartment, your clothes and even your own breath.

"8. To those who are not yet incorporated with the fashionable company of tobacco consumers I would say, 'Never enter.' To those who are entered, I would say, 'desist, first, for the sake of your health, which must be materially injured, if not destroyed, by it; secondly, for the sake of your property, which if you are a poor man, must be considerably impaired by it; thirdly, for the sake of your time, a large portion of which is irreparably lost, particularly in smoking; fourthly, for the sake of your friends, who cannot fail to be pained in your company, for the reasons before assigned; lastly, for the sake of your soul. Do you not think that God will visit you for your loss of time, waste of money, and needless self-indulgence?" -- Clarke's Theology, page 405.