Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-02 00:00:00

ALCOHOL; -

OR, THE
MINOR CURSE OF EINIGLAN D.
BEING THE SUBSTANCE OP A SERIES OF ADDRESSES DELIVERED IN
CONNECTION WITH ST. SIARY'S TOTAL ABSTINENCE SOCIETY,

KIS KDALE.

DEDICITED TO THE
REV. C. E. TIT fERTON, 8.A,, PRESIDENT,

TA
LIVERPOOL WORKING MAN.

" Woo unto him that givoth his neighbour drink, that puttest th
bottle to him and makest him droaken."—fiabak. ii. 15.

[Continued from 27th November.]

CHAPT ER VIII.
ADVANTAGES OF TOTAL ♦BSTINENCE DEBONSTZATBD AND

£NFOACZP•

When a general has won some important victory, or an admiral
has destroyed the enemies' Beet, every company reiounds with their
achievements, every toagno is the trumpet of their fame; and what
Briton is not ansious to perpetuate the fame of the hero of innumer-
able victories—a Welliagton or a Neissa ? And why should we not
celebrate, with equal delight an J ardour, the glorious triumphs and
victories of total abstinence principles over that invader of our land,
that destroyer of all good—alcohol ? which is slaughtering 3 i3OJO
Britons annually, and bringing desolation, wretchedness, and ruin in
Its train.

When the victorious commander is oar cordial friend—when he
has professed the tenderest love, doae us the most signal good, and
promised 1:19 a perpetual enjoyment of his favoars—it will be impos-
sible to neglect suzh an illustrious and generous person. His name
mast be engravea on our hearts, mast slide insensibly into our
tcnzues, and boas music to our ears.

Is not this all true, and hi the inset pre-eminent d -gree, with regard
to total abstinence ? Can greater kindness be exercised, or greater
love conceived, than the deliverance of the poor degraded drunkard
from the soul destroying, moral blighting, prospect blasting, family
raining, and peace destroying influence of intoxicating drinks ? Can
benefits more desirable be granted than total ens tinence, accompanied
by pea .e, healih, happiness, and plenty ? When we consider Ilse
victories total abstinence principles have achieved, the blessings that
follow their adoption, Is it not strange that those delightful and
ennobling principles have not more of our attention, that they do not
continually hang upon oar accents, that oar tongues do not dwell
more ripen their innumereble advantages? And, besides, they ought to
stir us to bequeath to thefutare, priacnele3thst will create in tee minds
of those to follow us feelings of gratitude and reverence in connection
with the past, from the fact of things being male ready to their
hands for their comfort and happiness. It was semethiag for the
children of Israel, when they came into Canaan, to enter into the
enjoyment of wells which they had not digged, and vineyards which
they had not planted, and houses which they had not built : and how
glorious a prerogative for the next generation to enter upon the
ieheriteace of the era of the universal reign of the elevating and
ennobling principles of total abstinence. Surely this lofiy imagine-
tioa is saMcient to aronao the tenderest sympathy and sentiments for
the degraded drunkard. But, perhaps to the young no idea is more
remote than that he will over become a drunkard, and the thought of
his sobriety bum; endangered by even attending th 3 pubiie-house never
mars, wiiiist,aS he becomes familiar with tavern scenes and enamoured
of the company he there mingies with, and the liquor he drinks, his
moral ♦iews become relaxed, and thus he goes on until he is himself
at a loss to decide whether he has not himself stepped over the line,
Venturing still further, he finds himself for the first time undeniably
drank. Now a pernicious precedent is establish .d, and serves in
time of future temptation. He says, well, I have been worse for
liquor once, and many people are aware of it, and if taking a glass or
two more on this occasion should make me so again, I shall not be
much worse ; and thus, by degrees, he abandons all respect for
temperance, and tho disgusting crime of draakeimees gradually comes
upon him, and at last he glories in his elle:fie.

Netwithstanding this great truth, and instead of landing the tom •
perance movement, many have derided, and still deride, the efort to
prevent the evils of drunkenness, by pledging children to total
abet nentia principles, on the ground of weal of comprehens,on of
moral obligation. Train up a child, however, in the way ha should
go, aud if a little pains be taken, or a little laeoar be bestowed iu
Informing him why he is so trained, he will, ore long, sho v that
.he
fully understands the morality of the matter. Many circumstances
might be adduced to show the self respect excited in the young by the
pledge of total abstinence, and which demonstrate that the moral
obligation is comprehended. For instance, my two eldest sons, one
24 and the ether 20 years oh age, were eorly pledged to total abstinence,
and, as they grew ia years, their convictions strengthened that it is
an evil thing to drink intoxicating drinks : that conviction will, I
trust, abide and deepen as they increase in years. My youngest boy,
aged 11, is also pledged, and already evinces some knowledge of the
evils of drunkenness—far being with me one day when we passed
a cart with a puncheon of rum in it, he said, " I wish that tub would
fall out aud burst, for it is likely to do mach mischief." A drunkard
in America once asked two boys to take his ram jug to the store, and
tell the storekeeper to send him half a gallon of ram; but they
refused, saying they were pledged total abstainers, and therefore dare
not touch the jag. " Well, but," said the man, " I don't want yen to
taste." " That may be," replied the boys, "but we ma,t not handle
it, and therefore we cannot do it, we will do anything we can for you,
but we cannot handle your rum jug." This manifestation of com-
prehension of moral obligation by these two boys, led the men to adopt
total abstinence principles.

Seca instances as these might be multiplied to any extent, were it
,neceesary to show that children, by being early pledged total
abstainers, may be inspired w.th self respect, cansiog them to look
upon drunkenness as an evil thi❑g, and their minds fortified against
temptation. Children practically educated to shun intemperance as
4 low sensual TIC 3, will naturally have a greater restraint against
every other species of sensuality and immoral actions of all kinds ;
and thus they will grow up better citizens for having the principles o
total abstinence made part of their educational training.
When the drunken father is reclaimed by th 3 agency of tot al
abstinence principles, his children are soon better clad. C. Walter
Bamford, the reclaimed dog fighti !g drunkard, said, " 1 used to clothe
the publicans' children with my wages, and leave mine ignorant and
In rags; but, thank Go 1, it is not so now. I feel it is my duty to see
that they are educated and comfortably clad." Their knees and
elbows, which were formerly very conspicuous, are now concealed,
and the child begins to look beyond the range he did in his rags ; his
head is raised, and there is as air to f self could .ace in the little
fellow's cheerful countenance, and he begins to see that there was
meanness in many a thing he did, when his father was a drunkard,
and he a little ragged urchin. He i 3 n 3 10 iger like the untamed colt
running about the streets, disturbing his nfi ;labours mnl picking up
vicious habits every step, but may be seen, neat and clean, oa his way
to school,

Dr. Bennett, in an address delivered in 1833 to Sunday ichool
teachers, said, "if you spread among children a love for total absti-
nence principle,, and total .ibstinencs tiozieties, you take away from
clic. market the raw material out of which drna'rards aro m :do. Tho
old drunkard, must dis off, it is difficult to Slid them; it is yours to
see th it the young do not supply their places."

The moral history of a drunkard, which faltfully reveal,d the
interior movements of his mind, and laid open the secr, t causes which
ciAitribui:cd to :twin and determine his character, might enlArge a❑d
enlighten the views of a philosopher, I admit, but dialmit as it may
appear to Dr. Bennett, and every other Christian philanthropist, yet
the change in the conduct of reclaimed drunkards affords the most
subs„antial evidence of the moral good resulting from the adoption of
total abstinence principles.

Thousands of instances might be adducod which abundantly testi),
that the v,ry worst drunkards ics,y be reclaimed.
There were two men residing at Ormskirk, who were so addicted to
drunkenness and fighting, that they have declared to me, whenever
they went any distance from home they coniidered it very cxtra:rdi•
nary if they returned without getting drunk and ft4liting. One of
these drunkards might bs seen, nearly every market day, drank and
creating quarrels; his little woman, as Matthias used to call his wife,
carrying his coat, and quite as ready to act tho second as the husband
was to fight. These two mon, however, losinz reclaimed by the
elevating agency of total abstinence prig :pies, and units 1 in church
communion, I have often heard plead at the throne of gra.i9 fur the
reclamation of poor drunkards. The wife above alladel •to also
became a member of the same Christian community as her husband,
and died very happy. The two men are still living, and doing all in
their power to diffuse the principles of total abstinence and reclaim
drunkards.

Who does not remember David Taylor, the Liverpool and Fylde
carrier, proverbial for drinking and swearing, a terror to every village
he passed through, yet this drunken reprobate was reclliated, and by
the blessing of sobriety and the power of the Gospel, became as
celebrated for his devotedness to Gad, and his triumph int death
afforded evidence that, however degraded the drankird, he may b:
reclaimed by sobriety and the grace of God.
The following testimony illustrates, in a striking manner, the
advantages of to al abstinence :—" Imagine a small man, .53 years of
age, with spectacles on nose, his head bald, in robust health, a colonel
of the midtia, and a collector of customs at the port of Kingsville ; a
magistrate, a commissioner of the Qua nu's Bench, a notary putdi.:,
witha healthy and loving wife, three sons—aged 22, 17, and 14
—and on 3 daughter, 19, and you thee have your former -ippreatice
his family, his positions, occupation, and whereabouts.

I need not tell you that in order to attain this position, I ha 1 to keep
an nnimpeachable character, haring been for 25 years past a right
teetotaller.."

I may add the influence total abstinence principles hal upon Her
Majesty's peclar, at Balmoral :—" A grea: drnakard in the Highlands
of Invernessshire was led to attend a lectern on temperance. lie
was induced to become a member of a temperance society. For
months the craving of his appetite for strong drink was excessive, but
true to his resolution, he set his face like flint against temptation.
The marsh of his heart being thus drained of one poison, he next
received the seed of the word into its soil. It was hid there until
quickened by the Sun of Ri;hteonsness, and nourished by the rains
and dews of the Spirit, when it brought forth fruit in Christian life
and character. Having no settled occupation, he yet could not be
idle, and having, by the help of a few friends, managed to stock a
little box with trinkets and other cheap ware, he set out as a pedlar.
In the coarse of his peregrinations, he found himself at Balmoral, and

BOYS' CLOTHING' MADE WITH GREAT TASTE, at LEWIS mid
CO/LITANY'S, Ruelash-street-