to follow Christ through evil, as well as through good
report. Is there no appearance of evil, in the use of tobacco? Can the
Christian deny himself and follow Christ, with the quid, or pipe in his
mouth, or the contents of the snuff-box in his nose? If Christ himself,
were here on earth, in this age of action, when six hundred millions of
men, for whom he died, are perishing for lack of vision--think you he
would waste a single cent of _property_, or a single moment of _time_,
or a single ounce of health and mental energy, in the habitual use of
this narcotic? Would he _handle_, _touch_, or _taste_, the poison? And
will _you_, whose names are written in his book,--_you_, who have been
bought with his blood, and sanctified through his grace, and made heirs
of all the riches of his kingdom,--_you_, whom he requires to be
_examples_ in all things,--will you _handle_, or _touch_ or _taste_ it?
Let every Christian in our country, abstain from this poison,
_immediately_, _entirely_, and _forever_; and let him use the whole
weight of his influence and example, to persuade others to practice
_entire abstinence_; and this work of reform will soon be done. We put
the question to every true Christian: _will you do it_?

I appeal to the _youth_ of both sexes. You are the flower and the hope
not only of this nation, but of all nations struggling for freedom. The
destinies of this republic are about being placed, under God, in your
hands; and inasmuch as all the friends of freedom, everywhere, are
looking up to our institutions for light and aid, the destinies of the
world will rest with a mightier weight of responsibility upon your
shoulders, than upon any other generation that has come forth upon the
stage of action, for twenty centuries. The importance of sound and
enlightened principles--of pure and elevated examples, and independent
and decided action in _you_, is above all estimation. You are placed in
the moral Thermopylae of the world. The evils arising from _alcohol_ and
_tobacco_, which you have it in your power to avert from your country,
are more dreadful than the invasion of Xerxes with his millions. The
cause of moral reform, in the use of the latter of these articles, which
we urge upon you with deepest and sincerest solicitude, is far more
urgent than that in which the Bruti and the Gracchi offered up their
lives. Some of you have not yet handled or tasted the fatal drug. Let
all such stand firm henceforward, and neve