Wesley Corpus

Objec tions rose in abundance from all sides. These I now proceed to consider; whether they are advanced by you, or by others; and whether pointed at the premises, or directly at the conclusion. 13. I. Some objected: “Tea is not unwholesome at all; not in any kind prejudicial to health.” To these I reply, First, You should not be so sure of this. Even that casual circumstance, related in Dr. Short's history of it, might incline you to doubt; namely, that “while the Chinese dry the leaves, and turn it with their hands upon the tin plates, the moisture of them is so extremely corrosive, that it eats into the flesh, if not wiped off immediately.” It is not probable, then, that what remains in the leaves is quite friendly to the human body. Secondly, Many eminent Physicians have declared their judgment, that it is prejudicial in several respects; that it gives rise to numberless disorders, particularly those of the nervous kind; and that, if frequently used by those of weak nerves, it is no other than a slow poison. Thirdly, If all physicians were silent in the case, yet plain fact is against you. And this speaks loud enough. It was prejudicial to my health; it is so to many to this day. 14. “But it is not so to me,” says the objector: “Why then should I leave it off?” I answer, First, To give an example to those to whom it is undeniably prejudicial. Secondly, That you may have the more wherewith to give bread to the hungry, and raiment to the naked. 15. “But I cannot leave it off; for it helps my health. Nothing else will agree with me.” I answer, First, Will nothing else agree with you? I know not how to believe that. I suppose your body is much of the same kind with that of your great-grandmother. And do you think nothing else agreed with her, or with any of her progenitors? What poor, puling, sickly things, must all the English then have been, till within these hundred years! But you know they were not so. Other things agreed with them; and why not with you? Secondly, If, in fact, nothing else will, if tea has already weakened your stomach, and impaired your digestion to such a degree, it has hurt you more than you are aware.