Alfred Stevens, and cast it behind thee for ever. Look not after
it when thou dost so, with an eye of regret lest thou forfeit
the merit of thy self-denial. If thou wouldst pursue the higher
vocation of the brethren, thou must seek for the needful strength
from a better and purer spirit. But what unhappy teacher could
have persuaded thee to an indulgence which the good men of all the
churches agree to regard as so deadly?"

"Nay, Mr. Cross--"

"John Cross, I pray thee; do I not call thee Alfred Stevens?--Mr.
is a speech of worldly fashion, and becomes not one who should put
the world and its fashions behind him."

Stevens found it more difficult to comply with this one requisition
of the preacher, than to pursue a long game of artful and complex
scheming. He evaded the difficulty by dropping the name entirely.

"You are too severe upon brandy, and upon those who use it. Nay, I
am not sure, but you do injustice to those who make it. So far from
its manufacturers being such as you call them, we have unquestionable
proof that they are very worthy people of a distant but a Christian
country; and surely you will not deny that we should find a medicine
for our hurts, and a remedy for our complaints, in a liquor which,
perhaps, it might be sinful to use as an ordinary beverage. Doctors,
who have the care of human life, and whose business and desire it
is to preserve it, nevertheless do sometimes administer poisons to
their patients, which poisons, though deadly at other times, will,
in certain diseases and certain conditions of disease, prove of
only and great good."