Chapter 36

In most parts of the word man has found out some way of stimulating, soothing, or deadening his animal system by means of plants or drugs. Hundreds of these stimulating, intoxicating, soothing, and stupefying substances have been discovered and used in various countries, chief amongst which may be mentioned--

Opium, Tobacco, Indian Hemp, Betel Nut, and Alcohol; and others are used in a less degree, such as Coca, Kola Nut, Thorn Apple, Cocculus Indicus, Intoxicating Toadstool, Deadly Nightshade, Henbane, Rhododendron, Azalea, Emetic Holly, Bearded Darnel, etc. The first five among those human pleasers and human destroyers are--

1. Alcohol, now drank in the shape of spirits, wine, beer, or some other form probably by 500,000,000 persons. 2. Opium, smoked, inhaled, drank or swallowed by probably 100,000,000. 3. Tobacco, now smoked, chewed, and snuffed by probably 300,000,000 4. Haschish, made from Indian Hemp, now smoked, chewed, or swallowed by probably 150,000,000. 5. Betel Nut, chewed probably by 50,000,000.

These five narcotising and intoxicating poisons are used, more or less, by half the people in the world, giving some considerable pleasure at times, but destroying, more or less, the health of all who use them, and gradually stunting the form and otherwise undermining the well-being of the entire human race.

Chemistry also produces many things which are taken in the same way and for the same purpose, such as Laudanum, Morphia, Cocaine, Chloral, Chloroform, Ether, &c., and many so-called patent medicines. These all tend to form habits which soothe and please for a time, but they all damage or destroy in the end.

The great bulk of easy-going, unreflecting people have no idea what an amount of mischief and misery the habit of using these things inflict upon poor humanity.

_Books show narcotics, toxicants,_ _Of each and every kind;_ _Insidious destroyers all,_ _Of body and of mind._

These four pages show at a glance the effects of the three most fascinating and seductive Drugs in the world--Tobacco, Opium, and Alcohol, and which physically, mentally, and morally injure or ruin the greatest number of mankind.

First Shoeblack--What yer doin', Bill? Second Shoeblack--Learnin' to Smoke.

The Drink Craving

Probably the best use a man can make of his leisure time is to read good books and to follow their advice, and the worst use he can make of it is to indulge in intoxicating liquor, and to go where that will lead or take him.

It is said that "Dipsomania," "Alcoholism," or the "Craving-for-Drink" disease can be cured in most persons by certain remedies an proper management, and the time has come now when the lovers of human progress everywhere feel that this fearful curse must be grappled with, and, if possible, stamped out like the smallpox, or any other terrible disease. One writer sums up the evils of drinking as follows:--

"It injures the health. It shortens life. It originates hereditary disease. It ruins the character of thousands. It destroys the peace of families and of individuals. It causes husbands and wives to neglect each other, their children, and their homes. It makes wives widows, and children orphans. It bereaves parents of their children. It reduces families to penury. It hinders the amelioration of the poorer classes of society. It makes time hard and trade bad. It is a cause of quarrels, robberies, and murders. It is a cause of suicide. It fills our prisons. It fills our poorhouses. It fills our hospitals. It fills our madhouses."

_Books, like strong drink, will drown a man's cares_ _But do not waste his wealth,_ _Books leave him better, drink the worse,_ _In character and health._

[Page 205--Pipes of the World]

Pipes of the World Showing one of Cole's "Similarities of Mankind"

[Page 206--The Supreme Being]

GOD

Go to the top of a mountain so that you can see 50 miles in all directions; you then observe a space 100 miles in diameter. Now the _world_ contains 25,000 such areas as that. Our world is amazingly vast, but our sun is a million times as large; yet we see rolling in space thousands as large as our own, which probably have accompanying worlds. And again, beyond this the telescope and astral-photography reveal to us that _to the right, and to the left, before and behind, above and below, and to every point of the heavens, and at immense distances,_ millions and millions again of enormous stellar bodies exist, roll, revolve and travel through space. Multitudes of these suns and worlds around us in every direction are at such immense distances that a person travelling with the speed of light, namely, 200,000 miles, or 8 times round our earth, in a _second_, world take _1000,000 years_ to reach them. Nor can we imagine an end to this stupendous universe, or an end to space, for is we try to do so the question immediately occurs, _what is still outside and beyond that?_ And so on to incomprehensible and overwhelming infinitude. And these many millions of suns and worlds and systems and all their parts are clearly working together, like the most exquisitely designed clockwork. Look at the marvellous mechanism of the human brain, the human eye, the human hand, the human heart, and in fact the whole human structure and composition; they all prove the truth of the affirmation that man is "fearfully and wonderfully made." Nay further, examine carefully every object in existence, however stupendously large or, as shown by the microscope, infinitesimally small, and they each and all appear equally perfect for their purpose. Can we see all this, and think on it, and not imagine a Designer and Controller of infinite attributes? It always appeared to me that there must be in this vast, illimitable, and beautiful universe, myriads of beings, superior to our weak mortal selves, and at the head of all and over all, an immortal Being of infinite perfections, which thinking men in all countries and ages have called GOD. And shall not we, immortal souls, increase in knowledge and wisdom, and as the ages roll on, more and more perceive and understand this mighty universe and its Author? I firmly believe we shall, and that as yet we are only beginning to live and think and understand and appreciate.

The Supreme Being was believed in, praised and worshipped by all the ancient peoples, and is now believed in, praised and worshipped by the vast majority of the people of the world--it is true under different names, but still it is the same idea--a Being without beginning and without end--Infinite in Wisdom--Infinite in Goodness --Infinite in Power--Infinite in Action and, at all times, everywhere and present.

E. W. Cole

The Ancients' Idea of God

God extends from eternity to eternity.--_Aristotle._

Nothing is more ancient than God, for He was never created; nothing more beautiful than the world, it is the work of that same God.-- _Thales._

Nature herself has imprinted on the minds of all the idea of a God; for what nation or race of men is there that has not, even without being taught, some idea of a God.--_Cicero._

There is one God; Him the Christians, Him the Jews, Him all the Gentile people worship.--_Emperor Adrian._

Amid so much war, contest, and variety of opinion, you will find one consenting conviction in every land that there is one God, the King and Father of all.--_Maximus Tyrius._

If we suppose a God, to Him there can be nothing mean and nothing great. The most trivial things must be equal under His regard as the most august. All-powerful, omniscient, and omnipresent, He must encompass all things, and pervade all things. Ignorant of nothing, forgetting nothing, despising nothing, He must direct the operations of the universe with perfect skill, and sustain every part in consummate order.--_Plato._

What land or what see will man find without God? Into what part of the earth wilt thou descend and hide thyself, O unhappy wretch! where thou canst escape from God?--_Plutarch._

Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and in the earth, is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as head above all.--_David._

He is God, the Great, the Mighty, the Tremendous, the Merciful, the Gracious, the Benign, the Wise, the Faithful, the Just, and the Virtuous; Omniscience, Omnipresence, Omnipotence, are His alone, whose Being knew no beginning, and can know no end.--_The Mishna Torah._

The Name of God in 48 Languages

"Aeolian and Doric--Ilos. Arabic--Allah. Armorian--Teuti. Assyrian --Eleah. Celtic and Gallic--Diu. Chaldaic--Eilah. Chinese--Prussa. Coromandel--Brama. Cretan--Thios. Danish and Swedish--Gut. Dutch-- Godt. English and Old Saxon--God. Finch--Jumala. Flemish--Goed. French--Dieu. German and Swiss--Gott. Greek--Theos. Hebrew-- Elohim, Eloha. Hindostanee--Rain. Irish--Dia. Italian--Dio. Japanese--Goezur. Lapp--Jubinal. Latin--Deus. Low Breton--Done. Low Latin--Diex. Madagascar--Zannar. Malay--Alla. Modern Egyptian --Teun. Norwegian--Gud. Olalu Tongue--Deu. Old Egyptian--Teut. Old German--Diet. Pannonian--Istu. Persian--Siie. Peruvian-- Puchecammae. Pollaacca--Bung. Portuguese--Deos. Provencal--Diou. Runic--As. Slav--Buch. Spanish--Dios. Syriac and Turkish--Alah. Tartar--Magatal. Teutonic--Goth. Zemblain--Fetiza."

The Moderns' Idea of God

Father of ALL! in every age, In every clime adored, By saint, by savage and by sage, Jehovah, Jove, or Lord.--_Pope._

The Supreme Being whom we call God, is a necessary, self-existent, eternal, immense, omnipotent, omniscient, and best Being; and therefore also a Being who is and ought to be esteemed most sacred of holy.--_N. Grew._

What an immense workman is God! in miniature as well as in the great. With the one hand, perhaps, He is making a ring of one hundred thousand miles in diameter, to revolve round a planet like Saturn, and with the other as forming a tooth in the ray of a feather of a humming-bird, or a point in the claw of the foot of a microscopic insect. When he works in miniature, everything is gilded, polished, and perfect, but whatever is made by human art, as a needle, etc., when viewed by a microscope, appears rough, and coarse, and bungling.--_Bishop Law._

Nothing is easier than to say the word--_universe_, and yet it would take us millions of millions of years to bestow one hasty glance upon the surface of that small portion of it which lies within the range of our glasses. But what are all the suns, comets, earths, moons, atmospheres, seas, rivers, mountains, valleys, plains, woods, cattle, wild beasts, fish, fowl, grasses, plants, shrubs, minerals, and metals, compared with the meaning of the one name--God!--_Pulsford._

The whole evolution of times and ages, from everlasting to everlasting, is, collectedly an presentifickly represented to God at once, as if all things and actions were at this very instant really present and existent before Him.--_Sir T. More._

Who taught the bird to build her nest, Of wool and hay and moss? Who taught her how to weave it best, And lay the twigs across? Who taught the busy bee to fly Among the sweetest flowers-- And lay her store of honey by, To eat in winter hours? Who taught the little ants the way Their narrow holes to bore, And through the pleasant summer's day To gather up their store?

There's not a tint that paints the rose, Or decks the lily fair, Or marks the humblest flower that grows But God has placed it there. There's not of grass a simple blade, Or leaf of lowliest mien, Where heav'nly skill is not displayed, And heav'nly goodness seen. There's not a star whose twinkling light Illumes the distant earth, And cheers the solemn gleam of night, But mercy gave it birth. There's not a cloud whose dews distil Upon the parching clod, And clothe with verdure vale and hill, That is not sent by God. There's not a place on earth's vast round, In ocean deep, or air, Where skill and wisdom are not found, For God is everywhere. Around, beneath, below, above, Wherever space extends, There Heaven displays its boundless love, And power with mercy blends.--_Wallace._

Eternal Goodness

I dimly guess from blessings known, Of greater out of sight, And, with the chastised Psalmist, own His judgements, too, are right.

I know not what the future hath Of marvel or surprise, Assured alone that life and death His mercy underlies.

I know not where His islands lift I only know I cannot drift Their fronded palms in air; Beyond His love and care.

[Page--Back Cover]

Northern Portion Of COLE'S BOOK ARCADE, Melbourne, Australia.

More than Two Million Books to choose from

Every sightseer in the City of Melbourne should visit COLE'S BOOK ARCADE. It is entirely an Australian institution, being the first of its kind opened anywhere, and at the present time unequalled in any city of the world. It is 3 stories high, 600 feet deep, and an average width of 45 feet, with frontages to Bourke and Collins Sts., the two main arteries of Melbourne; its public walkways are half a mile long, its galleries are supported on brass pillars, while hundreds of rainbows (the trade mark) decorate the interior and exterior of the establishment. There are 100 mirrors tastefully placed throughout the building. The present Arcade was opened on Cup Day, 1883, and has been visited every day (except Sundays), year in, year out, by an average of 5000 people, so that during the first 35 years of its existence, more than 50 million visits were paid to it.

Can get almost any Book you want

There are several miles of shelving and 3,000 cedar drawers. The plan of book-drawers greatly facilitates the minute classification so that one can find with ease any book wanted on any subject. There are two Retail Departments of Books, one in Bourke Street, and one in Collins Street, and a large Wholesale one of three stories between the two. The Second-hand Book Department is 150 feet by 40. There are many other departments including New and Second-hand Music, Stationary, Fancy Goods, Artist's Materials, Toys, Art, Glass, and China-ware, Tea Salon, Circulating Library, Printing Works, etc. Free music recitals are given every afternoon and evening. Intellectual, well-behaved people collect and friends meet and feel happy in the Palace of Intellect.

[End]