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LIBRARY  OF  CONGRESS. 

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UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 


I MPORTANT 


SUGGESTIONS   AND  FACTS 


FOR 


Christian  Professors! 


AN   ADDRESS    ON    TEMPERANCE 


By     WILLIAM     BAXTER. 


Central  Book  and  Tract  Committee  of  Friends, 
Richmond,  Indiana.     k 


■  33 


FRIENDS'    PUBLISHING    HOUSE    PRESS, 
New  Vienna,  Ohio. 


Important  Suggestions  and  Facts 


Christian  Professors, 


We  are  met  together  this  afternoon  in  the  interests  of  the 
Church.  The  cause  of  Temperance  is  one  of  the  most  import- 
ant outposts  of  Zion.  In  the  progress  of  the  Church  militant 
there  are  hindrances  to  be  removed.  This  work  has  to  be  done 
thro'  the  instrumentality  of  the  servants  of  the  Lord.  Among 
the  many  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  the  gospel,  the  use  of  and 
traffic  in  strong  drink  are  the  most  formidable.  So  great  a 
barrier  does  it  present  to  the  moral  and  spiritual  progress  of 
mankind,  that  some  of  the  most  learned  among  the  Jewish 
rabbis  earnestly  contend  that  the  serpent  which  deceived  our 
first  parents  was  the  "serpent  of  the  still."  And  really  there 
would  seem  to  be  some  force  in  this  position  when  we  remember 
that  the  use  of  strong  drink  is  the  greatest  source  of  vice,  sen- 
suality, and  sin.  An  eastern  fable  forcibly  illustrates  this  point. 
It  was  enjoined  upon  a  certain  person  that  he  should  commit  one 
of  three  crimes.  He  should  himself  choose  whether  it  should 
be  getting  drunk,  stealing,  or  committing  murder.  He  decided 
to  get  drunk,  thinking  that  was  the  least  of  the  three  crimes  ; 
but,  alas,  while  drunk,  he  committed  the  other  two.  And  thus 
it  is  that  strong  drink  is  made  the  father  of  crime. 

The  use  of  and  traffic  in  strong  drink  to-day  are  the  greatest 
barriers  to  the  progress  of  Christianity.  The  Church  claims 
America  for  her  own.  But  does  Christ  ?  A  rapid  glance  around 
us  will  find  an  answer  to  sadden  the  heart,  not  only  of  every 


4  •     ADDRESS    ON   TEMPERANCE. 

Christian  but  of  every  patriot.  Look  in  any  direction  we  may, 
and  we  see  very  many  who,  having  the  form  of  godliness,  deny 
the  power. 

Our  country,  which,  at  this  moment,  should  be  a  land  of  plenty, 
order,  and  virtue,  is  crowded  with  paupers,  criminals,  and  an 
army  of  police  to  stand  between  the  vicious  and  the  virtuous. 
1SW  I  ask,  Why  is  this  ?  Are  there  no  churches  erected,  no 
schools  open,  no  ministers  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 
Every  one  knows  that  the  answer  must  be — that  there  are 
all  these,  and  many  more  agencies  in  operation.  How  is  it, 
then,  that  in  spite  of  our  houses  of  worship  and  prayer,  of  our 
ministers  and  teachers,  of  our  schools  and  most  admirable  system 
of  education — in  spite  of  all  these  ameliorating  and  elevating 
influences,  such  depravity  exists  ? 

I  answer,  principally  because  there  is  that  enormous  evil,  the 
drink  traffic,  established  among  us,  which  casts  its  dread  shadow 
over  everything  that  is  lovely  and  of  good  report. 

Where,  I  ask,  do  the  great  mass  of  our  population,  more 
especially  in  the  larger  cities,  spend  their  Sabbath  ?  Certainly 
not  in  the  houses  of  worship  and  prayer.  They  spend  it  in  the 
drinking  saloon,  familiarizing  themselves  with  vice  and  sensu- 
ality of  the  grossest  character. 

Some  time  ago,  some  Christian  young  men,  in  a  noted  city  of 
the  East,  watched  ten  saloons  during  the  Sabbath.  What  was  the 
result  ?  Just  this  :  that  in  round  numbers,  into  these  ten  saloons 
there  went  upward  of  ten  thousand  men,  women,  and  children  ! 
w,  I  leave  you  to  say.,  whether  that  is  not  an  explanation 
of  the  reason  that  so  few  of  our  population  are  found  clothed 
and  in  their  right  minds  sitting  at  the  feet  of  Jesus?  So  long  as 
the  masses  spend  their  Sabbaths  in  saloons,  there  is  very  little 
hope  of  the  evangelization  of  the  world.  For  as  Mrs.  Wight- 
men  says  in  her  "  Haste  to  the  Rescue"  :  "Until  the  besetting 
sins  of  drink  and  bad  companions  are  given  up,  men  will  not  at- 
tend any  place  of  worship." — p.  119.  Every  experienced  city 
missionary  will  tell  you  that  drink  and  the  saloon  are  the  great 
preventives  of  people  being  brought  under  the  influence  of  the 
gospel. 


ADDEESS   ON   TEMPERANCE.  '     & 

Then  there  is  another  important  point.  There  are  those  who 
go  to  the  house  of  God  and  yet  are  not  saved.  Why  ?  I  firmly 
believe  that  the  grand  neutralizer  of  the  gospel  is  the  habit  of 
drinking  alcoholic  liquors.  You  ask  for  my  reason.  Many 
could  be  given,  but  time  will  only  permit  me  to  give  one  or 
two.  A  sailor  said  to  an  earnest  laborer  in  the  Lord's  vineyard  : 
"When  I  came  to  God's  house  at  first,  and  began  to  see  that 
things  were  wrong  with  me,  I  determined  I  would  try  to  be  a 
Christian.  I  prayed  earnestly  that  God  would  make  me  his  child, 
and  help  me  to  live  as  a  Christian  should.  But  I  did  not  give  up 
the  drink,  and  I  found  that,  somehow  or  other,  drink  and  relig- 
ion did  not  agree.  Then  I  thought  I  would  try  another  tack. 
I  gave  up  the  drink,  and  directly  after  I  found  peace  with  God  ; 
and  I  now  find  that  abstinence  and  Christianity  work  well  to- 
gether." A  distinguished  minister  said  to  Prof.  Miller,  of  Edin- 
boro :  "I  have  never  been  other  than  an  occasional  moderate 
drinker,  but  I  confess  that  I  have  often  felt  even  that  indulgence 
to  indispose  me  for  religious  services.  I  now  very  clearly  see  my 
duty  in  this  matter.  Henceforth  I  am  free  from  the  drinking 
usages  of  society — an  abstainer." 

This  experience  is  strictly  in  accord  with  the  position  the 
apostle  took  when  he  set  being  "drunk  with  wine"  over  against 
being  "filled  with  the  Spirit."  The  one  excludes  the  other.  The 
two  species  of  influence  are  antagonistic.  As  the  tendency  to- 
ward one  increases,  the  tendency  toward  the  other  must  decrease. 
No  wonder  that  a  certain  church  office-bearer  remarked  :  "  It  is 
a  rule  with  me  never  to  engage  in  any  religious  duty  after  I  have 
been  drinking."  This  statement  was  made  in  answer  to  the  in- 
quiry, whether  he  had  engaged  in  family  worship  after  returning 
home  from  a  social  gathering  where  wine  was.  one  of  the  enter- 
tainments provided  for  the  occasion. 

A  certain  minister  spoke  to  a  person  who  came"  to  him  in; 
great  distress  about  his  soul's  salvation.  The  minister  remarked, 
"You  have  been  brought  up  under  Methodist  influences,^haven't 
you  V  "  Yes,"  he  replied.  "  In  early  life  my  mother'took  me 
to  God's  house.  I  have  generally  been  there  on  the  Sabbath, 
and" — looking  at  the  minister  with  an  expression  that  bespoke 


f>  ADD]  tz:i?ep.a>-ce. 

the  reality  of  his  words — ' '  hundreds  of  times  have  I  trembled  and 
as   I  have  listened  to  sermons,  and  have  resolved  that  I 
would  be  a  child  of  it  the  first  glass  of  wine  I  took  when 

I  got  home  swe~::  those  resolutions  away." 

This  experience  holds  good  of  thousands  and  tens  of  thous 
who  go  to  the  he  use  of  worship  on  the  Sabbath.  The  gla- 
two  of  liquor  after  their  return  home  washes  away  the  impres- 
sion, by  nau  ::rizing  and  deadening  their  spiritual  convictions — 
and,  I  fear,  in  many  cases,  leaves  them  further  from  God  than 
they  were  before  they  heard  the  sermon  that  impressed  them. 
The  sacrilegious  priest  to  whom  Richard  Baxter  went  when  he 
was  laboring  under  religious  conviction  folly  understood  this. 
Baxter  asked  him  what  he  must  do  to  remove  the  heavy  load  of 
guilt  which  was  approaching  him.  The  priest  replied, 
"Drink  beer  and  smoke  tobacco!'1  Yes.  my  friends,  depend 
upon  it,  there  is  no  more  effectual  way  to  deaden  religious  con- 
quench  the  work  of  the  Spirit  upon  the  heart  of 
man  than  to  drink  beer  and  ::  smoke     ihewtoba:  nally. 

Tie  governor  of  Canterbury  jail  said  in  1867:  "The  num- 
ber of  prisoners  who  have  been  committed  to  prisons  with  w] 
I  have  been  connected  during  the  last  fifl  yes  rs  amount 
22,  KM).  Amoug  them  I  have  :  m  e  in  contact  with  ministers  of 
the  gospel — numbers  of  persons  who  were  once  members  of 
churches,  as  also  children  of  pious  parents,  but  I  never  met  with  a 
prise'  %  tribal  abstainer."     What  a  significant  fact  is  this 

for  Christian  ministers  and  professors  of  religion  to  ponder  over ! 

These,  then,  are  a  few  illustrations  of  what  I  mean  by  strong 
drink  being  a  hindrance  to  the  spread  of  the  gospel  here  in  our 
midst,  where  the  land  a  nth  churches  and  ministers. 

The  use  of  and  traffic  in  drink  are  ;..  gi  saf  hindrances  to  the 
spread  of  the  gospel  abroad.  As  I  look  out  on  the  world,  I 
ruber  that  our  divine  Master,  in  his  great  sacrifice,  made 
full  provision  for  all  mankind.  I  remember  also,  that,  hav- 
ing made  provision  for  the  salvation  of  all,  he,  with  his  last 
words,  laid  upon  his  Church  the  responsibility  of  sending  the 
glad  tidings  to  all  lands  and  to  all  people.  T;.rv  were  not  to 
z  an  island  un visited,  nor  a  human  being  unwarned.     They 


ADDRESS    ON   TEMPERANCE.  •  7 

were  to  say  of  nobody,  "  He  is  too  low  down  to  be  raised  up,"  or 
"  He  is  too  filthy  to  be  cleansed,"  or  "  He  is  too  rebellious  to  be 
subdued."  The  command  was  clear  and  distinct:  "Go  ye  into 
all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature."  Have 
ive  obeyed  it  f  If  you  look  over  the  world,  you  will  see  a  few  mis- 
sion-stations shining  like  fireflies  at  midnight,  and  a  few  islands 
bright  with  the  smiles  of  God,  but  the  rest  lying  in  wickedness. 
I  ask,  WJiy  is  this  f  Is  it  that  there  is  some  political  barrier 
which  prevents  us  from  reaching  these  countries  ?  We  used  to 
hear  at  missionary  meetings  the  prayer  that  God  would  open 
the  door  to  the  heathen.  We  don't  hear  that  prayer  now,  for 
the  doors  are  thrown  wide  open.  God  has  opened  the  doors 
more  quickly  than  we  have  been  prepared  to  enter  them. 
Though  ,more  than  eighteen  hundred  years  have  passed  since  the 
Redeemer  made  his  great  provision,  and  commanded  us  to  carry 
the  glad  tidings  to  all;  and  though  in  all  lands  people  are 
crying,  "  Men  and  brethren,  what  must  we  do  to  be  saved?"  how 
is  it,  that  midnight  darkness  still  rests  ■  upon  most  of  Jhe 
human  family  ?  Is  it  that  we  do  not  distinctly  perceive  our 
duty  ?  Certainly  not.  Go  to  those  who  are  best  acquainted  with 
these  things,  and  ask  them  for  an  explanation.  Their  answer 
will  be,  that  their  efforts  are  frustrated  by  the  "  fire-water f> 
which  has  followed  in  the  train  of  Europeans  and  Americans. 
It  is  a  strange  and  startling  fact,  that  where  Christianity  and 
civilization  have  made  most  progress,  the  vice  of  intemperance 
and  kindred  evils  are  also  most  prevalent.  In  many  heathen 
lands  drunkenness  is  unknown,  and  the  inhabitants  become  ac- 
quainted with  it  only  through  their  intercourse  with  Christendom 
and  so-called  Christian  civilization.  A  Persian  missionary  in- 
forms us,  that  if  a  Mohammedan  is  seen  drunk  it  is  a  common 
remark  that  he  has  become  a  Christian.  A  native  of  India, 
applying  for  a  situation,  was  asked  if  he  were  a  Christian. 
Having  replied  in  the  negative,  he  was  further  asked,  Why  not? 
He  answered  :  "  I  see  that  Christians  get  drunk  ;  I  know  that 
Christians  commit  adultery ;  I  hear  Christians  swear,  and  I  am 
not  like  that."  It  is  therefore  manifest,  that  great  injury  is  in- 
flicted on  the  cause  of  missions  to  the  heathen  by  the  prejudice 


8  •       •  ADDRESS    ON    TEMPERANCE. 

thus  raised  in  their  minds  against  a  religion,  with  the  profession 
of  which  they  see  so  much  evil  associated. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  Christian  being  the  more  civilized, 
and,  in  many  cases,  the  dominant  race,  the  natives  naturally 
imitate  the  example  set  before  them,  and  learn  to  use  strong 
drink.  Archdeacon  Jeffries  declared,  after  thirty-one  years 
experience  in  India,  that  "For  one  really  converted  Chris- 
tian as  the  fruit  of  missionary  labor,  the  drinking  practices 
of  the  English  have  made  one  thousand  drunkards.  This  is  a 
sad  thought,  but  it  is  the  solemn  truth.  If  the  English  were 
driven  out  of  India  to-morrow,  the  chief  trace  of  their  having 
been  there  would  be  the  number  of  drunkards  left  behind." 
An  eminent  representative  of  the  Hindoo  race  recently  re- 
marked at  a  meeting  in  London:  "What  was  India  thirty  or 
forty  years  ago,  and  what  is  she  to-day  ?  The  wailings  and  the 
cries  of  widows  and  orphans  at  this  moment,  methinks,  fill  the 
wThole  horizon  of  India.  The  whole  atmosphere  of  India  seems 
to  be  rending  with  the  cries  of  poor  helpless  widows  and 
orphans,  who,  oftentimes,  go  the  length  of  cursing  the  British 
Government  for  having  introduced  this  great  curse  of  drink 
among  them." 

Thus  it  is  that  strong  drink  has  neutralized  the  efforts  of  our 
Christian  ministers  abroad,  and  brought  great  discredit  upon  the 
name  of  our  divine  Lord  and  Master.  Christians,  through 
drink,  have  become  a  by-word  and  reproach  among  the  heathen. 
The  heathen  do  not,  and  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  they 
should,  understand  the  distinction  between  those  who  are  Chris- 
tians in  name  only,  and  those  who  are  so  in  reality.  They  are 
all  heathen,  we  are  all  Christians — as  they  judge  ;  and  so,  when 
the  vices  are  carried  abroad  and  paraded  'before  them,  they  nat- 
urally associate  them  with  our  religion  ;  just  as  we  associate  their 
vices  with  their  religion. 

What  Christian-professing  England  has  done  to  the  far-off  in- 
habitants of  India,  Christian-professing  America  is  doing  to  the 
American  Indian. 

It  is,  therefore,  very  evident  that  there  is  no  visible  enemy 
that  comes  up  so  boldly,  attacks  so  successfully,  and  hinders  so 


ADDRESS   ON    TEMPERANCE.  9 

unceasingly  the*  Church's  work  a?  the  use  of  and  traffic  in  si 
drink.  >At  home  we  find  it  sadly  weakening  the  Chinch's 
strength,  stealing  away  her  members,  hardening  many  hearts, 
making  the  gospel  of  none  effect,  seducing  the  young,  keeping 
thousauds  beyond  the  reach  of  Christian  influence,  and  creating 
a  threatening  ma-s  of  the  most  hardened  heathenism  and  cor- 
ruption in  the  very  midst  of  our  brightest  and  most  active 
Christianity.  Abroad,  in  regions  alike  far  remote  from  us  and 
from  each  other,  we  find  similar  results.  The  missionary  has  to 
contend,  not  only  against  the  natural  foes  of  the  gospel  which 
he  finds  in  possession  of  the  heathen  field,  but  against  their  pow- 
erful ally,  strong  drink,  which  professing  Christians,  actuated  by 
the  greed  of  gain,  send  forth  also  to  the  field  of  his  labors. 

Have  these  facts  no  voice  for  Christian  people,  and  for  the 
Christian  Church  at  large?  How  comes  it  that  whenever  we 
send  the  gospel  to  Africa,  the  South  Seas,  among  the  Indians, 
or  elsewhere,  strong  drink  and  its  attendant  evils  are  likewise 
sent  ?  Until  our  oivn  drinking  customs  and  our  own  drink  traffic  are 
overcome  and  abandoned  at  home,  they  can  not  be  abolished  abroad  1 1 

This  brings  me  to  the  second  point  of  my  purpose,  viz :  That 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  Christian  Church  to  sweep  away  this  arch  enemy 
of  God's  righteousness. 

Do  I  hear  some  of  my  Christian  friends  saying,  "  O!  that  it 
were  possible  !"?  My  friends,  the  Church  will  never  be  able  to 
cast  mountains  into  the  depths  of  the  sea  till  she  is  strong  in 
faith.  ISTo  !  The  great  Master  said  :  "  If  ye  have  faith,  ye  shall 
say  to  this  mountain,  Be  thou  removed,  and  cast  into  the  depths 
of  the  sea ;  "  and  faith  in  regard  to  this  evil  must  be  as  strong 
as  that,  or  we  never  shall  succeed.  You  ask  me,  then,  "Can 
this  mountain  be  removed?"  I  reply  :  The  voice  of  the  Lord 
saith,  "Every  valley  shall  be  exalted,  and  every  mountain  and 
hill  shall  be  made  low,  and  the  crooked  shall  be  made  straight, 
and  the  rough  places  plain."  Some  of  you  may  not  take  part  in 
this  glorious  work  through  unbelief,  but  if  you  don't  touch  this 
evil,  somebody  else  will ;  and  if  you  don't  enter  upon  your  work 
in  this  time,  the  time  of  your  visitation,  then  God  will  raise  up 


10  ADDRESS    ON   TEMPERANCE. 

others  who  will  be  more  worthy  of  him.  You  may  delay  his 
work,  but  you  can  not  prevent  it.  "  Every  valley  shall  be  ex- 
alted, and  every  mountain  and  hill  shall  be  made  low,  and  the 
crooked  places  shall  be  made  straight,  and  the  rough  places  plain." 
Here,  then,  is  our  grand  foothold.  God  has  decreed  that  these 
mountains  of  evil  and  sin  shall  perish.  Now,  I  turn  to  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  and  I  call  upon  her  to  respond  to  the  voice  of  her 
great  Master,  and  give  herself  to  the  work  that  is  put  before  her. 

First,  let  me  say,  unhesitatingly,  that  the  Church  can  remove 
this  mountain  of  which  I  am  now  specially  speaking.  Look  at 
her  merely  on  her  human  side,  and  you  will  perceive  that  she  is 
the  mightiest  organization  in  existence.  Let  the  Church  decree 
that  any  evil  in  this  land  shall  perish,  and  who  can  preserve  it? 
Look  at  her  power  as  a  teacher;  are  not  the  children  of  our 
country  in  her  hands?  Is  there  a  village  or  hamlet  where  her 
teaching  is  not  heard  ?  Let  her,  then,  denounce  this  great  cause 
of  evil,  and  her  voice  will  be  listened  to,  and  obeyed  ! 

Then  look  at  the  political  power  which  she  possesses.  Is  there 
an  election  in  which  the  Christian  Church  can  not  turn  the  bal- 
ance ?  We  know  there  is  not !  There  is  not  a  district  in  this 
broad  land  in  which  she  can  not  decide  who  shall  be  the  repre- 
sentatives. Let  her,  then,  be  loyal  to  her  great  Master,  and 
she  will  speak  to  Congress  and  to  the  various  State  Legislatures 
in  such  terms  that,  before  another  decade  passes,  this  accursed 
traffic  will  be  doomed. " 

That  is  the  human  side  of  the  Church ;  but  there  is  the 
divine  side.  Regarded  simply  as  a  human  agency,  she  is  mighty ; 
but  with  her  divine  character  and  commission,  she  is  more  than 
mighty — for  "  God  is  in  the  midst  of  her,  and  he  shall  help 
her."  She  has  not  only  the  ordinary  power  which  men  have, 
but  she  has  omnipotence  at  her  command.  She  can  not  only 
influence  Congress  and  State  Legislatures,  but  she  can  "move 
the  arm  that  moves  the  world."  Let  her  stand  up  in  her  strength, 
and  she  can  not  only  wrestle  with  flesh  and  blood,  but  with 
principalities  and  powers ;  and  when  she  puts  forth  her  strength 
her  enemies  must  succumb.  Let  her,  then,  arise  and  decree  the 
end  of  this  evil,  and  in  our  own  day  that  end  shall  come. 


ADDRESS   ON  TEMPERANCE.  11 

The  Church  must  do  this  if  she  would  hold  her  own.  There 
is  no  neutrality  in  this  warfare.  If  we  are  not  assailing  strong 
drink,  it  is  assailing  us.  Look  into  the  Church,  and  everywhere 
you  will  find  "Rachel  weeping  for  her  children  because  they  are 
not;"  numbers  who  were  in  the  front  of  the  fight  falling  into 
the  rear ;  many  who  once  occupied  high  places  in  the  Church 
falling  away  through  this  terrible  evil. 

We  have  seen  men  prominent  in  the  Church,  at  whose  feet 
many  have' sat  in  bygone  days,  dragged  down  by  strong  drink, 
till,  with  blackened  face,  they  have  stood  up  in  the  drinking  sa- 
loon, and  there  muttered  out  sermons  amidst  the  laughter,  and 
jeers,  and  mockery  of  those  by  whom  they  were  surrounded. 
O,  yes !  if  the  Church  is  not  attacking  the  drink,  the  drink  is 
attacking  the  Church.  The  Church  must  attack  the  drink  if  she 
would  keep  her  own.  The  tide  of  evil  is  surging  around  us.  It 
is  sweeping  away  our  friends  and  kin.  The  Church  must,  if  she 
tvoidd  please  her  Master.  Selfish  considerations  are  not  to  be  en- 
tertained in  this  warfare.  "Whatsoever  ye  do,"  that  is  the 
command,  "  whether  ye  eat  or  drink,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God." 
Our  great  business  is  to  do  his  will. 

It  sometimes  seems  to  me  that  many  people  join  the  Church 
who  have  very  erroneous  notions  as  to  what  is  meant  by  church 
fellowship.  There  are  many  who  seem  to  think  that  the  Church 
is  a  beautiful  banqueting  house,  inta  which  they  may  enter,  and 
Yvhere  they  may  sit,  and  sing,  and  dream  themselves  away  into 
everlasting  bliss.  This  is  a  great  mistake.  The  Church  is  an 
army — the  army  of  the  living  God,  and  the  moment  a  person  hears 
the  voice  of  the  Holy  Spirit  saying,  "Thy  sins,  which  are  many, 
are  forgiven  thee,"  he  hears  the  sa*me  voice  saying,  "Now  de- 
stroy the  works  of  the  devil;  try  to  make  earth  like  heaven, 
and  every  man  godlike."  "Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to 
do,  do  it  with  thy  might,"  The  soldier,  remember,  is  bound  to 
war  against  every  enemy  of  the  commonwealth.  And  so  it  is 
with  the  soldiers  of  Christ.     I  may  not  pick  and  choose. 

Some  of  my  friends  say  :  "  O  !  we  can't  assault  that  enemy ; 
we  are  very  busy  with  ignorance  or  heathenism."  All  right! 
fight  away  with  these  ;  but  remember  this,  that  when  a  man 


12  ADDRESS    OX   TEMPERANCE. 

enlists,  he  doesn't  bargain  that  he  will  fight  certain  foes  only. 
There  is  no  understanding  that  he  will  not  fight  the  French,  the 
German,  the  English,  or  the  Mexican.  Imagine  that  war  was 
declared  with  any  of  these  nations,  and  a  certain  regiment  were 
to  say :  "  We  didn't  enlist  to  fight  against  that  enemy  ! "  The 
is  absurd  !  The  soldier  enlists  to  fight  against  every  enemy 
of  his  government.  The  soldier  of  the  cross  enlists  in  the  same 
way.  He  is  bound  to  fight  against  everything  that  injures  man, 
or  offends  God.  He  must.  The  command  has  gone  forth,  and  he 
will  not  be  found  faithful  if  he  attempts  to  shirk  his  duty  in  assail- 
ing any  and  all  the  powers  of  darkness,  as  they  present  themselves. 

Some  present  may  ask,  How  are  we  to  proceed  ?  I  answer  : 
First,  if  you  want  to  battle  with  intemperance,  you  must  do  it 
by  your  own  personal  total  abstinence  from  the  drink.  Nothing 
short  of  this  will  do.  You  may  preach  from  the  pulpit,  or 
speak  from  the  platform,  and  you  may  form  your  organizations,, 
but  if  you  don't  abstain  yourselves  you  never  will  succeed. 

A  Christian  minister  and  his  curates  in  the  town  of  Shrews- 
bury, England,  failed  to  impress  the  masses  with  the  gospel,  de- 
spite the  entire  force  of  their  ecclesiastical  machinery.  His 
wife  takes  up  the  cause  of  her  blessed  Master ;  and,  Bible  in 
hand,  goes  down  to  the  work — hating  total  abstinence,  and  with 
no  love  for  abstainers.  She  soon  finds,  however,  that  abstinence 
on  the  part  of  the  people  is.  essential  to  her  success.  Open  to 
the  teachings  of  experience,  she  impresses  its  practice  upon 
them.  A  certain  measure  of  good  follows ;  but  soon  it  becomes 
apparent  that  her  own  example  and  companionship  are  required 
in  this  matter ;  and,  though  going  against  her  original  convic- 
tions, generously  she  yields  %o  the  demand.  The  good  work 
then  thrives  apace.  All  prejudice  and  prepossession  give  way. 
Self-denial  is  rewarded  by  success  ;  and  we  find  this  noble  woman 
— a  convert  to  total  abstinence  through  her  own  personal  exper- 
ience of  its  working — at  length  expressing  herself  thus :  "1 
could  no  more  now  be  a  Christian  and  not  a  total  abstainer,  than  1 
could  be  a  Christian  and  a  drunkard"  Her  converts,  not  only  to 
sobriety  but  to  Christianity,  she  counts  by  hundreds.  And  her 
husband  thankfully  acknowledges,  in  great  singleness  of  heart, 


ADDRESS    ON    TEMPERANCE.  13 

"  You  have  solved,  a  problem  which  I  have  been  years  trying  to  make 
out — hofr  to  get  hold  oftfo  >/"  tlio  people" 

We  may  talk,  and  work,  and  legislate  till  doomsday;  but  un- 
less we  pass  a  law  upon  our  own  lips,  depend  upon  it  the  enemy 
will  hold  us  in  derision.  What  do  the  Scriptures  tell  us?  "  Ye 
are  the  light  of  the  world."  You  can  not  ignore  this.  You 
are  Christ's  representatives  to  those  who  know  you.  You, 
my  brothers  or  sisters,  if  you  go  into  a  house,  or  company,  are 
Christ's  representatives  there.  There  are  children  at  the  table 
with  you. '  They  ask  :  "  Is  it  right  to  drink?  "  and  they  look 
to  you  for  the  answer.  Actions  speak  louder  than  words.  You 
sometimes  say  you  would  not  lift  up  your  finger  against  the 
total  abstinence  movement,  but  it  has  been  well  said,  that  every 
time  you  take  a  glass  of  wine  or  beer  you  lift  up  five  fingers. 
Your  example  will  be  in  favor  of  drinking.  Actions,  I  say 
again,  speak  louder  than  words. 

It  does  no  good  for  me  to  denounce  drink  with  my  lips  if  I  do 
not  denounce  it  in  my  practice.  My  life  will  always  be  more 
influential  than  my  words. 

There  are  not  only  the  children  to  be  preserved,  but  the  fallen 
to  be  raised.  Here,  too,  your  example  will  be  mighty  for  good 
or  evil.  Will  you  not  avoid  strong  drink  for  the  sake  of  those 
who  are  suffering? — who  have  been  made,  as  it  were,  moral 
paralytics  by  the  use  of  strong  drink,  and  who  can  not  fight  the 
battle  for  themselves?  We  Christians  are  those  to  whom  their 
eyes  are  turned  for  help.  They  say  :  "If  he  would  only  have 
water  instead  of  wine ;  if  he  would  only  stand  by  my  side  and 
help  me,  I  would  thank  him  here,  and  bless  him  hereafter." 
Will  you  not  do  it?  Will  you  pass  by  on  the  other  side,  and 
leave  them  to  perish  ?  O,  surely  not !  Love  to  God  and  suf- 
fering humanity  forbids  it.  You  will  come  to  their  aid,  at  least 
so  far  as  your  example  is  concerned  ;  and  in  that  example  these 
weak,  heavily  stricken  ones  will  find  a  harbor  of  refuge. 

Personal  abstinence  is  first,  then,  in  the  removal  of  this  great 
stumbling  block  out  of  the  way  of  the  gospel.  But  what  next? 
The  entire  prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic  by  law !  Do  what  you 
will — form  your  juvenile  temperance  bands,  establish  your  va- 


14  ADDRESS   ON   TEMPERANCE. 

rious  temperance  societies  and  orders,  preach  your  sermons,  em- 
ploy your  most  talented  lecturers,  circulate  your  temperance 
tracts  by  the  million,  but  as  long  as  we  have  a  business  licensed 
by  law  to  produce  drunkenness,  vice,  and  crime  in  our  midst, 
the  evil  will  continue.  You  all  remember  that  most  interesting 
sketch  in  the  "  Pilgrim's  Progress"  of  the  Interpreter's  house. 
Christian  went  into  a  room  where  a  fire  was  burning,  and  there 
were  men  pouring  water  upon  it.  But  it  was  of  no  use,  for  the 
fire  still  burned,  in  spite  of  the  water  poured  upon  it.  Christian 
wondered,  as  well  he  might,  at  this  singular  phenomenon.  At 
length,  his  guide  led  him  round  to  the  other  side,  and  showed 
him  somebody  behind  pouring  oil  upon  the  fire,  which  had  more 
effect  in  feeding  the  flame  than  the  water  had  in  extinguishing 
it.  That  is  a  true  description  of  the  traffic  in  strong  drink. 
We  have  the  fire  among  us.  Our  children  and  our  national 
welfare  are  being  consumed  by  it.  Some  of  us,  for  lo !  these 
many  years,  have  been  trying  to  extinguish  it.  We  have  used 
the  pulpit,  the  press,  and  the  platform,  and  yet  this  fire  has 
burned  the  fiercer,  and  now  we  have  gone  behind  and  found 
150,000  persons  licensed  by  law  to  perpetuate  this  gigantic  curse 
in  our  midst.  Shall  we  continue  to  tolerate  this  great  iniquity  ? 
Or  will  not  the  Christian  Church  rise  in  her  might,  and,  as  one 
grand  unit,  declare  that  thus  far  shalt  thou  come,  but  here  shall 
thy  waves  of  destruction  and  sin  be  stayed  ? 

They  tell  us  they  are  licensed  by  Government.  We  say  no 
government  has  a  right  to  license  men  to  tempt  and  ruin  our  children 
temporally  and  spiritually.  Don't  prate  to  us  about  rights  and 
vested  interests.  We  have  children  at  home.  Who  will  protect 
them  from  these  150,000  saloonkeepers,  the  direct  tendency  of 
whose  trade  is  to  blight  and  curse  them  here  and  hereafter?  In 
the  name  of  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  America  we  demand  the 
prohibition  of  this  accursed  traffic.  We  must  have  it !  Christian 
people,  will  you  help  us  ?  If  nothing  else  will  arouse  you  to 
political  action,  with  special  reference  to  this  great  wrong,  look 
at  and  think  of  your  children.  You  may  be  strong,  but  they 
are  weak.  Look  at  the  many  victims  around  you  who  are  pow- 
erless against  this  arch  tempter  and  destroyer.     If  human  sacra- 


ADDRESS   ON   TEMPERANCE.  15 

fices  were  rife  m  our  beloved  country ;  if  certain  places  were  set 
aside  as  shambles,  where  victims  by  hundreds  were  laid  on  the 
gory  altars  of  a  cruel  god,  you  would  hate,  would  you  not,  with 
a  perfect  hatred,  the  bolted  door  and  the  grated  window  of  that 
horrid  place?  You  are  not  human,  much  less  Christian,  if  your 
heart  does  not  burn  within  you  for  the  removal  of  the  grog- 
shop, which  has  destroyed  more  lives  than  all  the  sacrificial 
altars  of  heathendom.  Yes !  I  say  it  deliberately,  after  carefully 
weighing  my  words,  that  the  dramshops  of  our  land  are  such 
slaughterhouses  as  displeasing  to  God,  and  as  murderous  to 
man.  Hecatombs  of  human  victims  are  yearly  sacrificed  there. 
Not  offered  in  sacrifice  to  an  idol,  you  say  ?  No  !  It  would  be 
some  palliation  of  the  sin  if  they  were.  The  blind  heathen 
thought  that  thereby  they  did  God  service;  but  these  modern 
murderers  have  not  superstition  as  an  excuse.  TJiey  do  it  for 
filthy  lucre's  sake.  Men,  our  own  flesh  and  blood,  are  lured, 
drugged,  and  burned  to  death  in  these  dens,  that  other  men  may 
make  money  by  the  process.  I  have  sometimes  stood  on  the 
pavement,  and  looked  in  at  the  open  door.  I  have  seen  almost 
naked,  haggard  parents,  men  and  women,  standing  at  the  coun- 
ter. They  stood  there  yesterday,  and  the  day  before.  They 
are  known  as  customers. 

It  is  also  known  that  what  they  buy  and  drink  there  is  eating 
out  their  body's  life,  and  bringing  wrath  upon  their  souls ;  is 
breaking  the  hearts  of  their  parents,  or  casting  children,  diseased, 
ignorant,  and  profligate,  upon  society.  Behind  the  counter  the 
dealer  stands,  accredited  and  licensed  by  the  laws  of  our  land. 
He  has  stripped  his  coat,  and  is  working  in  his  shirt  sleeves. 
He  is  dealing  out  the  means  and  material  of  ruin  to  his  brother 
man,  and  taking  his  money  in.  My  friends,  I  can  not  be  cool. 
My  head  burns  and  my  heart  throbs  !  That  man,  stripped,  and 
laboring,  and  perspiring  there,  appears  to  me  Moloch's  high 
priest  slaughtering  the  sacrifices.  I  confess  it — I  never  can  pass 
the  saloon  with  coolness.  I  hate — God  is  my  witness — I  hate 
the  burnished  counter,  and  glittering  brass,  and  glaring  light, 
and  painted  window — all  the  accessories  of  the  crime — the  gar- 
ments of  the  idol — I  hate  them,  for  they  are  spotted  with  the 


16  ADDRESS    OX    TEMPERANCE. 

>d  of  men.     In  compassion,  alike  for  the  seller  and  the  buyer, 
for  the  publican  and  the  drunkard,  I  plead  that  an  arrest; 
be  laid  by  the  mighty  hand  of  the  nation  upon  this  cruel,  mur- 
derous, wicked,  law-authorized  traffic. 

Shall  we  Christians  be  anxious  about  the  heathen  afar  off.  and 
md  nidio  >ut  the  sufferers  at  home?     Re 

idolatry,  and    lest  if  y       :an  ;  but  in  God's  na: 

the  intemperance  of  America,  and  sweep  it  away.     The  licensed 
saloon  is  the  great  propagator  of  this  evil.     Shut  the  saloon  by 
rly  prohibit  it,  and  the  great  fountain  of  iniquity  will 
be  dost 

or  the  proper 
sverj    Christian   voter   resolve,   deliberately  and 
prayerfully,  as  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God,  that   he  will 
jte  at  all  coming  elections  for  such  men  only  as  are 
known  to  be  earnestly  in  fav  liquor  traffic, 

and  from  that  moment  it  will  be  doomed.     Christian  voters  did 
this  in  regard  to  si  id  thereby  inaugurated  a  movement 

which  shook  that  great  wrong  to  its  cent  :  the  Chi: 

be  equally  faithful  in  regard  to  the  accursed  traffic  in 

will   ultimate  plish,   through  the  help  of 

G  d,  one  of  the  great,  1  revolu- 

.he  world  has  ever  exp 

Th  ,  not  till  the  grogshop  is  closed, 

ae  o;  y  ::v     :.;    lesti : ye  ' .  lted, 

untain  and  hill  be  made  low;    and  the  cr 
be  made  straight,  and  the  rough  places  plain  ;  and  the  glory 
vealed,  and  all  flesh  shall  see  it  together  : 
for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  :