THE same deadly poison that is in tobacco smoke is in coffee. It is not nicotine: it is, if possible, a more virulent poison, even, than that. It is not obtained directly from the tobacco itself, but from the smoke. It is obtained by distillation both from coffee and from tobacco smoke. The simplest, most common way of extracting this poison from tobacco smoke is to take a tumbler, put in it some little pieces of ice, and then take a pipe of tobacco, draw the smoke from it, and puff it into the tumbler. The warm smoke, striking the ice, is chilled; and by being thus condensed, there is extracted from it this poison, which adheres to the sides of the tumbler. Then drink from the tumbler, and you get the poison. Enough poison can thus be taken from a few puffs of tobacco smoke to kill a man. In fact, this is one of the means frequently employed for drugging and robbing men who drink.ARSH May 24, 1898, page 329.1

At a camp-meeting, I stated this process and the effect of the poison. In the audience was a stranger from New Orleans, who, after the sermon, told me that he had been a member of a jury in the trial of three men for killing a man in precisely this way. I asked him to tell the circumstances to the audience at the next meeting, and he did.ARSH May 24, 1898, page 329.2

He said that three men planned to play a practical joke on another by first making him insensible, and then painting and marking him in as many grotesque ways as possible, so that when he came to, everybody would be laughing at him, and he would not know why. And the way they planned to make him insensible was to puff tobacco smoke into an iced tumbler and then have him take a drink of liquor from the tumbler. Accordingly, they so doctored the glass, and got their victim to drink from it, when lo! it not only made him insensible, but it killed him. The three men were there for prosecuted for murder. In the trial, however, they frankly told just what they have done, and that they intended nothing more than two stupefy the man and have some fun, and were as surprised and sorry as anybody could be a He was killed. They were convicted of manslaughter, and sent to the penitentiary for two years. The gentleman stated, further, that in the expert testimony given in the trial, it was repeatedly stated that this same poison is in coffee.ARSH May 24, 1898, page 329.3

I had known for fifteen years of this poison, its effects, how it is obtained, and that it is in coffee; but I was glad to learn of this case of actual experience, and especially glad to get it thus directly from one who was a juror in the trial of the case.ARSH May 24, 1898, page 329.4

The name of this poison is “empyreumatic oil.” How is it extracted from coffee?—Bear in mind that it is obtained by distillation, and you will have no difficulty in understanding the process as I describe it. Many a time when you have lifted the lid of the coffee-pot, you have seen the underside of it covered with large drops of water, which would roll down and fall into the pot. The air outside been cooler, the steam from the boiling coffee, when it strikes the lid, is cooled, and thus, by distillation, those drops of water are formed; they are distilled water. But the steam, having risen from boiling coffee, contains this poison; and when the steam is thus condensed and these drops are distilled, this poison—empyreumatic oil—is extracted from the coffee. In fact, in hotels, restaurants, and in many families, coffee is made nowadays by suspending the ground coffee above the water in the boiler, so that the liquid is extracted wholly by steaming instead of by boiling. This process is adopted because coffee thus made is stronger, and is counted much better, than when made in the old way.ARSH May 24, 1898, page 329.5

Yes; in it is much stronger, and to the taste of the coffee-drinker is much “better,” than when it is made by boiling, because there is so much more of the strong poison in it, and so it takes a much “better” hold on the taste. You know how utterly “flat, stale, and profitable” in the coffee would be counted that was made in an open vessel entirely. This is because the strength and chief “value” of coffee is obtained largely by distillation, which is precisely the process by which this deadly poison is obtained from tobacco smoke and coffee.ARSH May 24, 1898, page 329.6

This poison is not only an intoxicant and a narcotic, acting upon and paralyzing the nerves, but it retards digestion as well. Of course there is not as much of this poison in a given quantity of coffee as there is in the same quantity of tobacco; but is the same terrible poison, and that is enough for any one to know who would be free from its ruinous effects. This also further illustrates the principle that from tea to hashish, through alcohol, tobacco, and opium, there is a graduated scale of intoxicants (poisons) which, in their action upon the system, gradually shade into one another, all producing, or being capable of producing, consecutive paralysis of the various parts of the nervous system.ARSH May 24, 1898, page 329.7

Now we read another passage from the “Britannica,” under “Narcotics,” which clearly describes the course of this consecutive paralysis:—ARSH May 24, 1898, page 329.8

“All these substances act on the nervous system; and although the physiological action of each is characteristic, as there are many symptoms common to the whole of the group. Indeed, the course of action of all these shows three well-defined stages.ARSH May 24, 1898, page 329.9

“First, there is a period of apparent exaltation of function.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 329.10

That is, the system is excited, stirred up, stimulated to increased action, without first receiving strength to perform the increased action. In other words, strength is taken from the person without first putting it into him. In short, the system is robbed of strength and life.ARSH May 24, 1898, page 329.11

“Second, this is followed by a diminution and perversion of functional activity.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 329.12

That is, the nerves of organs thus excited to increased and unwonted action are less able to perform their usual function, after this excitement is over, than they were before, or than they would have been if they had not been so stimulated. And more than this, the nerves and organs so excited are, by the stimulant, perverted from their natural condition and office, and turned into the channel of disease and death. And in the very nature of the case, this is followed by—ARSH May 24, 1898, page 329.13

“Third, a total loss of function, in which there is profound coma and paralysis.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 329.14

And that means the utter ruin of those organs so far as any purpose for which God created them is concerned, and the complete enslavement of the individual to an ever-increasing appetite and an ever-strengthening habit.ARSH May 24, 1898, page 329.15

“Editorial” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 20, p. 330.

THE Lord desires that he “may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.1

The Spirit of wisdom is the Spirit of Christ; for he “is made unto us wisdom.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.2

The Spirit of wisdom is the Spirit of God; for it is one of the characteristics of the manifestation of “the seven Spirits of God.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.3

The Spirit of wisdom is the very Spirit which Christ had; for the Spirit of wisdom rested—remained, abode—upon him. The Spirit descended “from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.4

The Spirit of revelation in the knowledge of him is clearly the Spirit by whom came the revelation of the things of God; and that is plainly the Spirit of God,—the Eternal Spirit,—by whom “God hath revealed” to us the deep things of God, which “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.5

The Spirit of revelation is the Spirit by whom the word of God, the Scriptures, came “in old time.” For “the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.6

The Lord’s expressed desire, therefore, is, that he “may give unto you,” and that you may have, the Spirit of God,—the very Spirit that Jesus had, and the very Spirit by whom the Scriptures were given. O, he desires that you may have—yes, that you may be filled with—the Holy Ghost!ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.7

“Ask, and it shall be given you.” “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.8

“Editorial Notes” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 20, p. 330.

GOD’S purpose is that “in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in One all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.1

This purpose is “according to his good pleasure,” and is that “which he hath purposed in himself.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.2

Having purposed this in himself, and he being the eternal God, it is “his eternal purpose.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.3

And he has “made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself;” “even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.4

“Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.5

And the “intent” of all this “that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by [through, by means of] the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.6

Thanks be unto God for this eternal and unspeakable gift.ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.7

“The Servants of Righteousness” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 20, p. 330.

“BEING then made free from sin, ye become the servants of righteousness.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.1

We can be made free from sin, then: the word of God says so. “Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” “He that is dead is dead from sin.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.2

But our blessedness does not stop with being made free from sin: “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.3

We can not be the servants of sin and the servants of righteousness, both at the same time; for “when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.4

We must be freed from sin before we can become the servants of righteousness. And “he that is dead is freed from sin.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.5

We must be “dead with Christ” before we can “live with him.” “For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.6

“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And just as Christ lives unto God since his death to sin, so we live unto God when we are dead with him. When we are “dead with him” “unto sin,” we “live with him” “unto God.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.7

Have you been made free from sin? If not, why not?ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.8

Have you become the servant of righteousness? If not, it is because you have not been made free from sin.ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.9

Have you been trying, and failing, to be the servant of righteousness? Have you grieved over failures until you were almost, if not entirely, ready to think that there is no such thing in this world as being indeed a servant of righteousness?ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.10

O toiling, discouraged soul, “be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”! There is, in truth, in this world, in Him, the service of righteousness. But it comes only through “being made free from sin;” and only “he that is dead is freed from sin.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.11

Have you “endured the cross” of Christ with Christ? Are you crucified with him? Have you given up to destruction the body of sin, in order that henceforth you should not serve sin? Are you dead with him, and, so, freed from sin?ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.12

Be sure that all this is accomplished with you: then, and so, being “made free from sin,” you will become the servant of righteousness as surely as the Lord has spoken that glorious promise.ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.13

“If we would serve Christ acceptably, we must serve him supremely.”ARSH May 24, 1898, page 330.14

May 17, 1898

May 31, 1898