Every chain is riven;
Jesus makes me free indeed,
Just as free as heaven.”
IV.
The Plague of Narcotics.
A part of this article is from the pen of Dr. Talmage. He said that America had some as bad plagues as those of Egypt, and characterized narcotics as follows:
“In all ages the world has sought out some flower or herb or weed to stimulate, to alleviate, or to compose its griefs. A drink called nepenthe calmed the nerves of Greeks and Egyptians. Theben women knew how to compound it. Nepenthe passed away and next came hasheesh, manufactured from Indian hemp. Whole nations have been stimulated, narcotized, and made imbecile with the use of accursed hasheesh. Visions are conjured up gorgeous and magnificent beyond all description, but it finally drags down body, mind and soul. I knew one of the most brilliant men of this city (Philadelphia) taken captive by this drug. Friends tried in vain to save him. First body gave way, then his mind. He became a raving maniac, blaspheming God into a starless eternity.
OPIUM is the scourge of nations.”
In 1861 we used 109,000 pounds. In 1887 not far from 1,000,000 pounds. At the present—1888—we have, beyond doubt, more than 1,000,000 opium consumers. That is appalling! Don’t think that those are merely barbaric Asiatics.
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, after conquering the world, was conquered by opium. There are thousands, more women than men, who are being bound body, mind and soul by this terrific drug. There is a great mystery about some families. You don’t know why they don’t get along. The opium habit is stealthy, deceitful, deathful. You can cure one hundred drunkards where you can cure one opium eater.
Have you just begun to use it for the assuagement of physical distress? I beg of you stop! The pleasures at the start will not pay for the horrors at the end.