Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-12-20
O. o nj m mnitati0ns.
Grog Selling Christians r.
FOR THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE.

p
in her communion, and retains in full
fellowship, one who sells liquor to drunk q
ards on the sabbath-would you think / =
was quizzing you, or trying to play upon :
your credulity? Astounding as the thought
may seem, and incredible as it may appe'r,
| it is even so; yes, / grieEe to say, 1t IS
even so. We have, in our eye at this
moment, church, not hundred miles :
distant. that does tolerate aud hold in fell
4leskship.a a nasorious character, whose least
crime, perhaps, is that Sf sellSA Ar
land that too on the holy sabbath) to de-
graded, debased and worthless men and
women And what is most wonderful to
tell, these facts are we'll known, both to
the church of which he is a member, and
their good Pastor know noO, your sur
prise is great You are perfectly amazed
and thunderstruck with the statement;-
and imagine hear you exclaim, good
heavens! is it possible these things are
so? Why, what sort of church can that
be, and of what kind Of christians COM
posed Just lend me your editorial ear,
and [ will whisper into it privately, (but
you mustn't speak it out, for they are
rather ashamed of it.) A large portion of
that church are Sons of Temperance! or
rather are called Sons of Temperance, who
sit quietly by, and say nothing. Never
raise their voices Cat least SO they can be
heard) against the outrage, the disgrace
brought upon the church by this good man
who sells grog. In justice to them, how
ever, we will say, this man was not grog-
seller when he first united with the church
he became one soon after, (which does Mt
mend the matter at all, believe.) The
church demonstrated little, and sent a
deputation to him once, requesting him to
quit the business, and there it ended, so
far as the church was concerned but the
grog-shop went on, and is still going on in
full blast, carrying its christian keeper
down, down, down to the lowests depths
of --!!
I will just here relate little circum-
stance connected with this business, by
way of showing how much this grog-mem
Der cares for the church of which he is q
part, and for the deeply mortified feelings
of his Pastor. A short time ago the Pas
tor visited him at his house, and tarried al
night Early Aext morning, the whiskey
shop man entered the room where slept tht
PREACHER. and told him, ne couldn't g,
with him to church that morning, Git wa
the regular monthly preaching day) anc
he must excuse him, as there was to be
, horse race in the vicinity of his establish
ment, and as it was probable there woulc
5 be right smart of people about, he could n
4 be absent from the store as he likes t
have his low groggery called. From whicl
, the preacher inferred that, he wished to b
there to deal out the poison to his fellow
g men, as it was likely they would wan
i sump'n to drink after the race was over
e and perhaps before too. 1t plainly show
e that, this whiskey- selling church membe
II had rather be at horse race, among
/; crowd of wicked violators of Gods law, Q
y at his sink hole, dealing out the dar
Il waters of hell to his associates, than to b
If attending the meetings of the church, {
4 which he is member. But birds of
y feather will flock together, and no dout
g he felt more in his place behind the whi
y key-stinking counter, selling bald-face an
!, rot gut, than he would, had he been
ar the church listening to the preaching
e. the word.
I'd Forbearance, by the church in this cas-
nr is no longer a virtue, They have waite
$; to see if he would not give up the unhol
ly traffic in blood but alas he loves Il
Id God; the thirty pieces of silver mo
n, than the bleeding cause Of Christ. Al
IT, now there is but one course for the abus
of church in this matter; and why she do
not pursue that course at once, is myst
ry, dare say, to many who are cogniza
he of these facts. To clear herself of t
sh charge of sustaining the grog business, s
on must rid her communion of all rum-selle
aye, and ram drinkers too, and no long
IN retain in her fellowship those who, by tn
sh' wicked practices, cause the way of tru
yer to be evil spoken Of
ne God Almighty, in His matchless pur
me and wisdom, has pronounced a a0oe agail
as this whole rum business; and His Gu
ole and hot displeasure rest upon all who
low it. Woe be unto him that putt,
ost his bottle to his neighbour and Woe
bte unto them that rise up early that they n
per go to seek strong d.ink' Rum and rel
res ion cannot go hand in hand. How
be two walk together except they be agrees
ne says the Bible. These do not agree, Il
never can agree. There is no union,
pa affinity between them. They are as "
,ets asunder as light and darkness, as hell
null heaven. How then, we ask, and with "
'me sort of consistency can rum seller @
um rum drinker pretend to hold members
rop in any christian church on earth
pee seems to me that such man must have
audacity and the hypocrisy Of the very
the devil himself. Just think of it. A !
ever to stand behind his grog board, and
the the quart pot and brandy bottle all day
the Saturday, until late Saturday night,
on Sunday morning, Gust because it is
tomary, | suppose) go to church, and
was long face and sancti6ed countena
inst take seat well up near the FAnaen cor
the and try to look as innocent and harm
court as if he never had put a three-cent tic
liant, of nasty whiskey out of the back doc
the his shop on Sunday in his life. Wh
u in seems to US, the man would feel so n
exile SO ashamed and guilty, that he woul
able off and hide himself from the gaze of C
tian folks, to repent in sackloth and as