Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1861-09-18
Come Over And Help Us"

1he truth is irresistibly forced upon our
mind, that without the united, hearty %.
operation of the christian church with tho
temperance cause, our efforts must be
greatly clogged, our measurs of succoss
diminished and final and complete victoru
ae'ayed to far off period in the future
Ihat lntemperance should be upheld bv
cer'sf'd" people is one of those sinouIar
phenomena for which it is difficult to ar.
count oul however strange it may appear
! is nevertheless true. We do NOT ask
the church to tell the people that # ;s
wrong to get drunk, even the liouor. .sallor
lost as be is to all the finer fceIinos Of hu'
manlty, will denouEce drunkenness and
When bereft of means to buy his intornal
nquld Will II kick the poor penniless Victim
OF ms traffic from his door. We are not
content that the grog-selIer and the
cnurch shall appear to occupy the same DO
cards 81 Fb6seGfnes bscG6fin}eess ta
drunkenness. That period is in the main
too late. The system of the victim has
become saturated with alcoholic stimuants
the physical organs SO enfeebled as to
seek for instead of being able to resist the
encroachments which liquor makes upon
every fibre and nerve of the systematic
finer feelings Of the heart have been blur
red and blotted outof existence and the
power to do good has become every hour
more feeble, whilst the corrupted and per-
perverted desires of the individual upon
the inclined plane Of ruin, steamed up to
the highest point by alcohol, is oriven at a
ruinous speed to the depot Of destruction
the drunkards grave.
The poiut, then, to which we ask the at
tention of the church, ministers and lay
men, is where the evil commences-socia
drinking. If we can get their aid upor
this subject, at this point, we have no fea
of the spread of intemperance or the fur
ther increase of drunkenness. If so-eallet
moderate drinking is the parent of Inc
briety-instead of looping off the branch
es which bear no fruit but drunkenness
why may we not dig deep down beneat
the tree and hurl it, root and branch, ou
of our midst Why, instead of toyin
with this great evil, do we not resolutel
determine to cut down this Upas to soci;
happiness-this enemy to christianity
this giant foe to God and man There
but one excuse. For common sense backe
by divine law thunders into our ears col
! tinually the Nervousness of the sin whle
we are permitting, by our countenance
i social drinking, to grow up in our comm
. nity. We know where the evil lies
. know its root and feel that united, dete
, mined blow would forever screen US fro
: this evil; but worshipping the fashio
. and CUSTOMS or s.---.s-fA-sAt- the allie!
;. anee we owe to the court of Heaven, a
= = thus virtually, for the lack OF nerve to p
: claim the right, content ourselves vi
: abusing the poor drunkard OF other ecu
ly foolish things.
With the united church in favor OF
tai abstinence, bereft of the memhershlI
those drones in the hive of christian
a LIQUOR sellers, who have no right to
= name Of christians, and with mlnis
On who will, Paul-like, preach OF righte'
10 m ness. temperance and Judgment to co
- the Felixes of the rum traffic will be u
70 tremble as the hand of the mini
oh unrolls the horrors and woes which
tbo rum-trafic has poured upon humanlt
- Then. moderate drinking, unsustalnet
T the patronage Of the responsible profs
you of religion, will shrink from the eau
hill excess will discard the occasional dl
and the cause being removed, drunken
{ Of will cease.
ain With plan SO simple in itself, SO
fine of execution, will not every christian
,i6- be willing to make the experiment
commence the work at his own home
tant his own family. If so, We will rece
had mighty impetus to our cause, and this
nple year Of great rejoicing among the
for of God otherwise, continue as 20
directly or indirectly aiding IN the !,
nam of intemperance, and the church wii
inyi- slowly on, the temperance cause De
here ded and thousands of our fellow mel
: de- into the drunkard's grave.