Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-05-28

t;seJ II themselves, and faithfully recommended
Z 10 others. The agriculturist has excluded ar
dent spirit from his farm, and the mechanic from
his work shop; the press has groaned under the
weight Of arguments, and entreaties, and warn
ings, without number;religious sOcites have made
temperance an essential condition to membership;
the pulpit has Illuminated ITS aanthemas, g. III the
EN- phathic words, and by the authority Of Holy
Writ.has denounceda ''woe to him that is mighty
to drink wine, and ssto him that giveh his neigh
Dor drink;'' and has demonstrated from the ora
cles of God. that "drunkards shall not inherit
eternal life, but are doomed to certain and never
ending misery. Yet, notwithstanding this for
nida6le array Of opposition, the foul demon IN
temperance has cont nued to stalk in triumph
throughout the land, and wherever he appears,
his course is marked by the poverty and misery.
the disease and death, which invariably follow In
his train; while the groans and curses OF his ina-
tuated victims mingle in horrible dIscord with
the wailing of the widow and the orphan. AS we'll
might we have hoped successfully to oppose
disciplined and well furnished host, with force
of scattered and irregular troops, as to triumph IN
the cause Of temperance, while this mode OF war
fare continued. But the instant its friends be-
gan 10 unite in societies, the march Of their ruth
less enemy was arrested; he speedily commenced
cidedly retrograde. Although the experiment
has not been in fair operation for morethan three
short wears, vast amount of benefit has been ell
fected; and if the divine blessing be continued,
as it has already been voachsafed, ultimate and
ertire success may with moral certainty be anti.
ciprted. And when we contemplate the blessed
and glorious results that have been witnessed
ven in so brief period; results, the expectation
of which, three years since, would have been
deemed chimerical by the most sanguine advocate
of temperance: are we not compelled to believe,
that the contrivers Of this scheme were directed
to it by no human wisdom; that no arm of flesh
has struck the decisive blow; but that to Him
alone, who is infinite in wisdom as in power,
must all the glory be ascribed? Who then will
longer oppose a plan, in its origin so evidently
divines Who that does so, may not, IN that day
when all secrets snail be made manifest, be found
| to have been fighting against God!
! Permit us to add, that in this scene OF proba-
ton, we are not at liberty to remain idle specta-
tors of the contest that is necessarily urged be-
| tween the powers of darkness & the kingdom OF
God. :. He that is not with me is against me- -
| are the words of our Almighty Redeemer; and
| the Improbable servant who merely buries the
talent entrusted to his care. will be as surely if
not as sorely punisheda he that wastes it in RIO
tous excess. Has the cause of satan any more
powerful champion than the vice Of intemperance
which deadens every kind and amiabe emotion;
Supplies the understanding below the level of the
brute; steels the conscience against every rei-
gious impression; carries b!asphemy and obsccni.
ty, and rapine, and murder, into every corner Of
the land; and within these United States alone,
annually consigns its $4,000 human victims to
the drunkard's grave? Is there any mode in
which we can more pro6tably employ each our
several talents, than in extirpating an evil so
prominently pernicous; and are the trifing in
conve niences consequent upon pledgeto entire
abstinence, for one moment to interfere with so
paramount an obligation? If the contest now
waging against this destroying spirit, that is sap
ping the very foundations of our national pros
perity, be destined to eventuate in success, this
unquestionably is the weapon through whose in
strumentality the victory will be secured.