Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1859-06-22
Original 4apsrs.
For the Spirit of the Age.
The Church and the Temperance Reform
BY INVALID.

That the evils arising from the use of In
toxicating liquors have been the most with
ering and remorseless of all the curses un-
der which the christian church has ever
groaned, is fact which even the most un-
compromising opponent Of the temperance
reform will not be so reckless as to attempt
to refute. Indeed it is truth which has
been too long admitted one of too fire.
quent remark and which too often calls
forth expressions Of regret, to admit now
of a shadow of doubt. The history of
the church for years, and l had almost
said for centuries past, has borne incontes-
tible evidence, that no other vice has
thrown so many obstructions in the path
Of progress, or torn from her embrace so
many Of her dearest and loveliest offspring.
Of all the cases which have incurred her
rebuke or discipline, it may be safely said
that by far the greater portion can be, di-
rectly or indirectly, traced to an indulgence
in the use Of ardent spirits. The same is
equally true of all the dissensions, the es-
arrangement, the discord and distrust which
have sprung up among her members, dis
tractlng their harmony and impairing their
usefulness. And of the apostates, backsli-
ders, those who after exhibiting the chris
tlan graces in all their loveliness, ana en-
joying the communion and confidence of
the church, have proven Fecreant to their
professions and again turned back ''to the
weak We 5T,s and ,SeggaTly elements of the world !"
that class, who, by partaking moderately
rs it is claimed, Of the Intoxicating bowl,
have unfortunately been unable to resist
the temptation to indulge to intoxication,
thus bringing odium upon themselves and
upon the church, and leaving no other al
ternative but to be cut off from her fellow
ship.
Nor has the merciless monster, alas !!
alas forborne to invade the very precincts
of Gods holy ministry, alluring many OF
its brightest ornaments from their exalted
station and then dragging them down
through all thehorror ofinfamy and shame
to fill, at last, drunkard's grave, and to
expiate the enormity of their crime in q
drunkard's hell. Well may it be said that
the robes Of christianity are died red with
the blood of the grape, and that its altar'
are soiled with the desecrating touch of it!
most malignant foe. -
With this fact ever staring her in the
face and crying aloud for redress, can 1
doubt be, for moment, entertained as t.
the path of duty which lies before her. II
my conception it is as clear as the sun il
the MONDAY. | can see no excuse fo
farther hesitation and delay. Every con
viction Of duty protests against furthe
temporizing. She is nursing in her bosom
deadly viper, which, every moment tina
she is stopping to consider or to count tn
cost is draining from ber her very hearts
blood. Let her determine to parley, t
compromise with this, her most relentle:
foe no longer, but to arise in all her MAZE
ty and strength, and with "Total Abst
nence" as her war cry to exert all her ell
ergies and power, to eject him from he
portals and to close them forever again
his entrance in any of his Protean shape
Let her firmly plant herself upon the un
quiyocal principle, that Alcohol, like q
other stimuants and poisons, should
used, as il was intended as a medicin
agent and as that alone that to partial
of it as beverage, is a perversion and
sin and that it is as paradoxical to spe;
of the temperate drinking of ardent spir
as Of temperate Swearing or Of temperate I
ing.
II is preposterous to attempt to excu
and to exculpate moderate drinking frc
the evils which have flown from the vi
of intemperance. That they owe TIL
origin TO the existence of the former,
course no one will deny and no ore is
\ deficient of sagacity as to suppose, that t
: church can rid herself Of the one, so 10
as she tolerates and virtually encouras
the other. Moderate drinking is the or,
fountain-head from which emanate all I
evils; and so long as it is permitted,
long will there be those, who, in avail
themselves of the privilege, will overle
the bounds Of moderation, (which, by
by, have not been very definitely define
and afterwards justify their excuses
boasting the sanction of the church
What excuse then can be offered for |
while deploring the existence Of ruin
vice, refuses to adopt simple yet effici
measure by which it can be promptly S
pressed within her limits
Among the avowed advocates of t
Abstinence, there is class who denou
temperance associations as usurping
legitimate functions of the church,
contends that her members, by attacl
themselves to such organizations, taC
admit her in-efficiency, and compror
her dignity by placing her upon
with humanity devised societies '