Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1857-11-18
a0vga9ER le, 1887 - ,,z1-.l'z'1s

80 ZXr
admonitions, a stranger would think me but,
little, if any, better than amurderer. And
all because some yagabond or other may
possibly happen to shorten his days byl
drinking little of the indentical spirit
which passes through my hands.
Conscience. do me bare justice
when you say that have often reprovedI
you, and more earnest of late than for
merly did. But my remonstrances have
always been between YOU and me alone. Ii
| have charged you with the guilt of hur-
rying men to the grave and to hell, by this
vile traffic, it has not been upon the house
top. Icannot, it is true, help knowing how
it grieves your brethren, gratiies the enc
mics of religion, and excites the scorn OF
arunkar5s fhen.sslssS 80 seas ssl.rsfs!
covered with the fiery ssIe1fsnt; but ] speak
only in your own ear. To yourself have
wished to prove faithful monitor, though
l have sad misgivings, at times, even with
regard to that. You win bear me witness,
however, that | have sometimes trembled |
exceedingly, for fear that should be COM
PEELED, at last to carry the matter up by
Indictment to the tribunal of Eternal JUS
tice.
To avoid this dreadful necessity, let me
once more reason the case with you in few
words. You know perfectly well that ar
dent spirits kill its tens of thousand in the
United States every year; and there is no
more room to doubt that many of these
lives are destroyed by the very liquor
which you sell, than if you saw them stag
gering under it into the drunkard's grave.
How then can you possibly throw off blood
outlines, with the light which you now
enjoy In faithfulness to your soul, and
to Him whose viceregent | am, cannot
say less than this, especially if you persist
any longer in the horrible traffic.
| De0ter-Pardonm me, my dear Conscience,
if under the excitement of the moment, l
complained of your honest and continu-
ed importantly. Be assured, there is no
friend in the world with whom am so
desirous of maintaining good understand
ing as with yourself And for your relief
and satisfaction, now give you my solemn
pledge, that [ will close up this branch of
my business as soon as possible. Indeed,
have commenced the process already
My last consignments are less, by more
than one halt, than were those of the pre-
ceding year; and intend that, when an
other year comes about my books shall
speak still more decidedly in my favor
Conscience. resolutions would be
perfect satisfactory, if they were in the
present tense. But if it were wrong to sell
five hundred casks last year, how can it be
right to sell two hundred this year, and one
hundred next? If it is criminal to poison
forty men at one time, ho8 can it be inno-
cent to poison twenty at another IF you
may not throw hundred fire brands into
) the city, how will you prove that you may
throw one?
Dealer.-Very true, very true-but let
US waive this point for the present. 1t af-
, fects me very strangely.
2 Conscierce.-How long, then, will it take
r to dry up this fountain of death?
DeGter.-Don't call it so, beseech you
but | intend to be entirely out of the busi-
ness in two or three years, at fathest.
i Conscsence.-Two or three years! Can
f you, then, after all that has passed between
e us, persist two or three years longer in a
S contraband traffic? verify thought, that
when we had that long conference two OF
It three months ago, you resolved to close the
e concern at once and that, when we par
+ ted, had as good as your promise that you
IS would. Surely you cannot SO soon. have
II forgotten it.
" Dealer.-No; l remember that interview
e but too well-for | was never so unhappy
,e In my life. | did almost resolve, and NOR,
1T than half promise, as you say. But afte
Ut had time to geta little composed, | though
it you had pushed matters rather too far AM
% that | could convince you of it at prope
l. time. see, however, that the attemp
% would be fruitless. But, as [ am anxiou
o for compromise, let me ask whether, if
,e give away all the profits of this branch @
le business to the Bible Society, and othe
religious institutions, till can close it up
% you will not be satisfied?
II Conscsence.-Let me see. Five hundred
ofl dollars, or one hundred dollars, earned t,
N promote the cause of religion by selling
" poison J! By killing husbands, and fathers
d and brothers, and torturing poor womel
!. and children! 1t smells of blood-an,
d can God possibly accept of such an offer
h ing?
(. Deoler.-So then, it seems, must stoy
It. the sale at once, or entirely forfeit what lit
tie charity you have left.
St Conscience. must. Delay is dealt
ii death to the consumer at least; and hoy
* can you fatter yourself that it will NO
n prove your eternal death? Ny conviction
: are decisive, and be assured, deal thu
to plainly because l love you, and cannot bea
I to be your everlasting tormenter.
ne coNcLUDED NEXT WEEK.
Is. --.-