Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1858-03-10
Good reason for Erc;tsmant

OOOU IcdSOu 1OT EXC1C6meQL. !
The Rev. DIR. Arnot, Of Glasgow. in sneak.
ing on the temperance question, admitted that
he was excited, and gave his reasons why he
should be. He said: People need not take
the trouble Of telling me | am excited on these
questions. / know hat / am, and | would
be ashamed before God and man If | were
not. There is more in the public houses of
Glasgow to stir the spirit of a minister, than
in all that Paul saw at Athens. In my min
istry | meet the horrid fruit of these whiskey
shops. / see men and women perishing in
these pitfalls. The number of the victims
is so great that it oVerwhelms one. Ny brain
is burning. My heart is breaking. The
church is asleep, and the world too, and they
are hugging each other. I am weary with
holding in. must cry. would rather be
counted singular In the judgment of men,
than be unfaithful in the Judgment of God"
1t is even so there is good reason for ex-
element upon this important subject, and
yet when one manifests a zeal in the cause,
and uses the means in his power to stay the
progress Of the evil, there are those in every
community ready to brand him as a fanatic,
if not a fool. This is frequently the only re-
compense he obtains for his labors and per-
haps this is one reason why a cause so worthy
has not more advocates. 1t is impossible for
a sober man to calmly review the whole SUBJ
ject and investigate the evils arising from the
use Of intoxicating liquors and the calamities
it visits upon the human family without be-
ing excited. His spirit may be stirred within
him when he sees SO many of his. kinsmen
and best friends cut down and consigned to a
hopeless grave; when he sees his fellow-men
Keeling and staggering, and cursing and fight
ing-bloated and disfgured wrecks of hu.
manity ripe for the grave; when he sees
mothers, sisters and widows weeping at the
graves of the loved and early dead when he
sees groups of orphan children shivering in
the coldAnd crying for bread, if he has the
heart of a man in his bosom, his spirit will
be stirred within him, and his excitement
upon the subject will be manifested by ear
nest efforts to stay the terrible tide that is
sweeping away the best affections of home
and its most cherished hopes.
1t is a little remarkable that the ministers
of the Gospel, as a class, do not manifest
more excitement and evince a deeper interest
upon this subject than they do. They are
~notignorant of the deadly effects of the plague.
They see how like the feeble dripping of
water upon the solid rock are gospel tidings
upon the hearts of men stepped in rum.-
Their eyes are not closed to the fact that their
efforts to establish "the kingdom of Christ
are counteracted by the influence of grog.
shops and drunkenness upon the community.
They know too well that the drunken, swear.
ing sinner is ever ready to scott at their his
tory of the life, the promises and the suffer
ings of the Holy One of Calvary. Verify, il
Paul were to appear in our midst with more
earnest speech than when standing in the
midst of Mars hill and crying, aye men o
Athens" he would reprove us for the abom
ination of drunkenness which we TOLERATE
and cultivate among us.
Obi for a fearless ministry to stand u
with undaunted front against this terribl
evil, and without shame declare their excite
ment upon this subject. These things OF
tanned, We might hope for a more speedy re
formation and an earlier radiance of the cart
from one of its most affective scourges.-
Heaven speed the day when both minister
and laymen shall not be ashamed to have
known that they are excited upon the ever
lasting ruin drunkenness involves, and re
joice in p~roclaiming the temperance gospel t
all men, choosing rather to be counted sir
gular in the judgement of men, than unfaitf
{ full in the judgement of Godr' *