Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-10-12 00:00:00

ALCOHOL;

OR, THE
MINOR CURSE OF F„NGLAND.
BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF A SERIES OF 'AcontlasEs DELIVERED IN
CONNECTION waft ST. MARY'S TOT &L AunINENCE SOCIETY,
KIRRDAT.x.

DEDICATF,O TO 'PRE
REV. C. E. TITITRTON, B.A„ PRESIDENT,

LIVERPOOL WORKIXG MAN.

bottle to hurt an.Ct makeet him drunken."—llab3,k. 15.
" Woe unto him, that giNeth Ms neighbour drink, that puttest thy

t Continued front Bth Octo-6er.]

CHAPTER V.
EVILS OF DRUNKENNESS ON RELIGION.

If religion was inconsistent with true politeness, or prejudicial to
real happiness, I should be axtremely iuj udicious in introducing or
attempting to exh.bit the injury dote to it by drunkenness, but as it
is the grand ornament of our nature, and a source of the sublimest
joy, it cannot, then, be regarded as unworthy the countenance
And protection of the most accomplished; it seems to me to be as
much supei for to all low and forbidding singolarities, its the " Heavens
are higher thou the earth ;" indeed, it is described by one who
learned its theory in the regions of Farad se, and who displayed its
efficacy in his own most ex smplary conversation, and described it in
this incomparable language—" The kingdom of Gad is not meat and
drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost."
How benign and inviting—hew honourable and advantageous, then,
is religion. What is there in the amusements of the gay, the gin shop,
the theatre, the hop, or the horse race ? Way, all that wealth ever
can purchase, that grandeur can bestow, are somewhat like bubbles,
which, when viewed, are emptiness—wee-a grasped, are nothing ;
whereas, the comforts, the benadti, and the hopes of religion are at
once supremely excellent, and infinitely durable, suited to the dignity
of the rational soul, large as its faculties, and immortal as its being.
Sad and miserable must be the condition of the drunkard; gloomy
and uncom'ortable must be the circumatances of those wisom intoxi-
cating drinks compel to withdraw themselyee from the sanctifying
and exalting influence of the religion of Christ. Indeed, the evils of
drunkenness, however appalling, however painful acid distressing,
are trifles, light as the air, apart from the tremendous, the terrible
thought, that the " drunkard will not inherit the Kingdom of God," as
declare 3 in Holy Writ. Fearful reflection, when it is contemplated in
connection with the fact of government returns, shoeing that upwards
of 12,000 inquests are annually held in the United Kingdom on per-
sons killed through drunkenness. The loss of 12,00$ individuals
every year is of itself sufficient to shock reflection, for it is irreperable.
But it is not tke greatest loss that can be sustained—the loss of 12,000
immortal souls is far, very far, more important. The value of ione
soul to that soul itself is not to be equalled by all things In existence,
combined, whether celestial or terrestial; hence it is that the former
loss, though irreperable and too distressing to think upon, sinks into
a secondary reality. How many more are shut out from Heaven
through drunkenness, who may not positively die in a state of intool.
cation, is b-yond my province to give judgment, but I shall adduce
facts to show th it Heaven is dispollel of its rights, and, if possible,
dimin shed in its bliss through drunkenness, to a vary great extent.
If, however, our opp ,nente should soy that no direct scripture
authority can be adduced in defence of total abstinence, we mainta'n
that the erinciple, apart from expediency, seems to be involved in
two memorable passages :—As it regards man's own interest and duty,
in the precept of our Lord, to pluck out the right eye, or cat off the
right hand or foot, if it cause to offend ; and as it regards our duty to
our neighbour in the declaration of the inspired ripest! a St. Paul.
It is good neither to eat flesh ner to drink wine, nor anything
whereby thy brother stumbles, or is offended, or is made we ik,"
Rom. 14-21; and in addition to there being many eminent characters
mentioned in the Word of God who were total abstainers, we see
everywhere that, in propertioa to its prevalence, drankenness
deteriorates the moral character of the people, and it %sin be my
business to prove that it is the chief outward obstruction to the
progress of the gospel ; Lke Peter and John, who stood in the
council and boldly declared wh t theyhed seen and heard, so do total
abstaining Christians boldly declare what they have seen ant heard
of the evils of drunkeoness ; and, further, that as no tree is withered
by the frost of the polar regions, or by the searching winds of the
Arabian Desert. so would there be no withered blighted drunkards,
and mlaerabla familie , through drunkenness, if alcholic drinks were
prohibited.
el hers the vice of drunkenness has obtained possession of the
father of a family, he neglects the moral, religions and mental in-
Istraclion of his children. This is the first thing neglected. If the
father, when sober, has been in the habit of attending to it, he now
however neglects it, he now becomes heedless of it, his depravity
rendering him utterly careless of their well-being. Besides, the
twopences required for the school are ceasiderei. entranehme .ts on
his indulgences, inasmuch as each twopence will purchase for him
one pint of fourpenny, and is of far greater importance to the
drunkard than the edacaton ofhis chldren. One Monday in ornina I was
told by a woman weeping, in the neighbourhood of London-roal,that her
husband came home drunk the previous night (Sunday) at 12 o'clock,
having spent all their money, and that sic could not, therefore send
the children to school. Ia order that children may go to the Sabbath
t school, it is necessary that they go decently clad ; not only is that again
considered an .ntrenchment on his indulgences, but what drunkard,
allow me to ask, possesses that feeling to see his chi dren on the
Sabbath morning in that state of neatness And cleanliness the disci-
pline of the Sabbath school enjoins.
On my easy the other Sabbe h afternoon to oppose that vile sect
the Mormons, who process to adchass the iahabitan's of this and every
other town in England, on the principles of the gospel of Christ,
while they are influenced by the ungodly principles of the Book of
Mormon, which is simaly the chimera's of a disordered brain, per-
verted by Jot Smith, ao American imooster, for purpos s of delesion
and plunder, I saw some bays playing LI Wiliam Henry-street, the
largest I ad iresse I thus:—" How is it you are not at the Sabbath
scho A instead of wasting the Lord's day, as you are doing ?" His
reply was this :—" I have no clothes, sir," pointing to his ragged
trowsers and tattered j acaet ; " these are all I have, or I would go,
sir." I continued my interrogatorie asking him how it was that he
had no better. My father drinks, sir, amid spends his wages at the

public-house, and mother cannot afford to buy me any with t'm
money she gets by washing. The National Temperance Chronicle,
No. 25, page 21, stales that a woman, in answer to a question of a
temperance missionary, said we were very comfortable before my
knsband began drinking; yes, added a little boy who was listening to
the conversation, I used to go to Sunday sch )01 when my father
broaeht his wages home to mother. instead of taking them to the
public-house on Saturday night, but new I have not any clothes to go
in, or I would like to go—l like gong to the Sunday school, I learn
good things there. Thus are the drunkard's ch ldrea prevented
attaining the means of religious instruc ion, through the father's
v;cions habit of drunkenness, and thus they grow up in profanity and
vice. Need we wor.der at so mach juveni e delinquency, when the
children of drunkards are co-opened. as it were, to spend the .Fabbath
in sin thta.ulh th drunkenness of their fathers.
The 3rd repel of the National Temperance Society, page 3, gives
the following case of wretchedness through drunkenness :—" Dreak
make. us a very unhappy family, said the wife of a drunkard ; my
husband spends the money in drink that ought to make us comfort-
able. We cm sot afford to send our children to school, or even
purchase a bliele. I istead of attending a place of worship on the
Lord's day, our house is more like hell than anything else.
The same report states that another temperance missionary
visited 11,371 families in London, comp. Isla; 56,853 persons.
17,000 of these never heard or read tie scriptures, and were as
ignorant of them as of the statute book ; nay, mach m n•e so, for it
was to be feared that many of them we-n better acquainted with
the laws of the realm, having bean frequently punished by then ; for
this, 17,000 spent the Sabbath in desecrating it by drunkenness and
other vice. Thus there was that appalling amount of heathenism in
the very midst ad the melroeolie of Christian Endlan 1, In the midst of
temples, sanctuaries, and christiaa online tees. Yes, In the very
plane where m llions of the sacred Sc iptares hare been shipped t o
the Hineoe, the African, and trim s,t, to all the benighted parts of
the earth. It was not b :cause these 17,003 were without the means
of procuring the Bible; no, it .vas their drunkenness. Intemperance
extineuishel all moral and religious principles; it creales a disregard
of all truth, indifference to °ducat on and religion, insensibility to
shame, and entails indescribable degradation. In leoi, tee report o
this missionary was so appalling, as not on'y to be qiesti sued by
Colonel Sykes, chairman of the East India Co npany, D Grey, and
F G. P. Neils° ~ Eeq., bat they determined upon testing its accuracy
by personal inspection, and therefore these philanthroaic gentlemen
accompanled the missionary, and in their homane lab curs, found in
one roan, 17 feat by 13 feet, 23 perso ss of five families. The room
was without a single bed, and no furniture, excepting an old stool, an
old table, and one chair; there ware some shavings in one corner of
the room, which composed the restieg plane of the lath -rs, mother
and children, of these five families, and thus these Chr stian and
benevolent g mtlemen mare than affirmed the report of the mission •
ary. Who need, therefore, be aetealshed at the zeal and perse-
verance of tail abstainers in so'l&ing the drunk trd to give up his
drunkenness. They do not belong to these that mock the circum-
stances of the poor drunkard, No; when they speak, it it in love;
when they soliclt, it is in the sincerity of their souls. Without a single
tai .t, total abstinence sympathises with all the conditions of the
drunkard. Hence the language of the total abstainers is," come with
us and we will do you good."
(To be continued)

At LVWI3 & CO .vll PANT'S, Ranelagh-street.
BOYS are CLOTHED frown the Ages of Six to Twenty Year

It seems that the national jealousy of Wales has been
aroused by the omission, accidental or otherwise, of all
mention of the principality in the proclamation recently
published commanding a public fast throughout England
a id Ireland.

At LEWIS & COMPANY'S, Ranelagh-street.
BOYS are CLOJIIEDirom the Ages of Six to Twenty Years.