The Delaware herald., 1854-06-14
" MORAL SUASION." &"

MUcu has been id ami written, in the course
Of the temperance reform, about the power of
moral suas.on. There is Il power in its tear
and its tone. With kind words it appeals to the
better nIture and essays to win back the fallen
With gentle voice and look it knocks at the
heart oil the erring and points out Il better way.
Ii meets the prodlgal with tear ana says, ego
and sin no more" In u thousand forms 1t finds
| the human heart in its wanderings, and with a
| tear for its tullles points with smile of hope
! :ud forgiveness b3ck to honor and truth. The
proud spirit which would fling back with scorn
the hatred of world, would melt and sway like
! summer leaf at the gentle whispering of
words Of kindness.
Moral suusion has accomplished much in
winning men from their cups-more than
he penal enactments which drag the drunk
ard from q legGIized hell, to incarceration
or fine. 1t has saved many from the fang
(which glitters in the bubbles on the break
er's brim. Even from the midst of deepest
ruin, some word or kindly deed has brought
back the crring to virtue and duty. 1t is doing
much yet, and will never fail to do much while
there are hearts to love the drunkard and weep
over his ruin.
There some of our friends who avow their
readiness to rely solely upon the power of NOR
al stIasion for the removal of lntemperance. Ii
seems to US Il strange lntatuation. Prayers
. and tears, and appealing words, against an evi
|, mpregnabe in its cltadels of legislation, ant
u backed by the whole force OF the government
" Would the same friends content themselve
= with appealing to the incendiary and the mur
% derer To spare their homes AID their lives, an
= the torch and the knife at the same time com
+ miss oned TO do the internal work, and the han
4 that welded them protected by law? Wha
81 I,d for
W plecIing Of innocence or weakness, when /
censed, for price, TO drench the very heart
- in warm blood And world the incendarN
~ empowered to burn, and sustained by the 81
vi called respectable, in the light Of the klndlin
io fame, rencunce the desoahng business whc
y" he had purchased of government the right
a. engage IN!
Us God never designed that a wicked wor
y should be governed by moral suasion. He hin
VI self has put on record pena enactments again
sin-aganst vice and crime. Until human n
nI ture is utterly changed, moral suason, as sol
''u restraining power, will be lmpOtent. All Il
'rs blessed influences OF the Gospel, the iniuen
'uC Of home, friends, virtuous teachings, and q
Ms hopes of happiness and Heaven, as a mott
" power, Will restrain the vicious. Ali men a
,eo not susceptible of moral influences. If th
ih- were, the dust of oblivion might gather up
our statutes, and not crime should mar {
harmony of the universal brotherhood of mel
Those who deal in rum, are certainly the !;
class which should ever utter a word abe
moral suaslon, and claim that the temperan
/, reform should be carried forward upon that ba
W. alone. We could smile al the GOODNESS of {
+. idea but for its insulting wickedness Itcon
with bad grace in the teeth of facts, upol
record of more than twenty-five years du
ton. Here, as elsewhere moral suasion
and had its effect, and men, regardful of its ini
we ences, have yielded to the light of truth
thy abandoned wlckedness, And IN the hi
arm noon of our reform, right and revelation, in
arm business, ask the people to follow their dir
and tion in the matter, and continue a course VIII
lest up to this day they have utterly dsregarded
With Legislation against it, it requires
whole power of the temperance reform to X
its giant antagonist at bay, while in securlt
ID. lrevels upon all which comes within its clut
la Moral suasion knows not phase which it
'N not assumed in this great work. From bro
aitars where every domestic tie lay shvei
prayers have gone up where there was no
IS but Of Heaven. Gather them frem the ang
+ record, and a tempest Of prayers would sv
it's note Of accusing thunder An ocean
a. tears has dripped its bitter way over che
which bloom not again. Days and years
es.t, passed by, until ages of sorrow have accum
-, iI, ted in Judgment. Wherever the victims of
ariy -. 4 p I,,,,,d !, "A Asoa "a 49,, 4;
trife Wiors anu noa,e, ~
sarly IN ~ aa ~ ~ ~, h.,'s
lions svo' sHs - s.
The VIC au'nois ~ u 81 .e 49, VIZ apo at .n
et it Slueely, pus an 'oT W sne u1s 3
sr,a wife and mother, have presented to tha de
g. his cruel wickedness and their bitter wrong
- be rumseller is not ignorant or deaf
store knows the sweep Of the sngine IN his hnld
III IN He sees its effects, and while his own neigh
iope and kindred even, are .deiponized and inibr
: Is by the drug frora his hands, he sends theInIh
del;- 70 wound the innocent and the helpless =
from coin he drops into his. drawer, is the pgi'
s.ssnd the hunger, nakedness and degradation Of I
--and who never wrorlged hini Or hiss He know
beau enslayed appetite cannot turn a.say, an
rould feeds It 70 the death. He deliberately IN
Il iactures KIND husband and father into. .sI d