Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1864-05-13
WHOLE NUMBER 437.

it this family might have enjoyed and
communicated. Go through a neighbor-
hood or town in this way, count up all
the misery which follows in the train Of
intoxicating liquor, and you will be ready
10 ask, can the regions Of eternal death
send forth any thing more deadly P
Wherever he goes the same cry may be
heard-lamentation, and mourning, and
wo; and whatever things are pure, or
lovely, or venerable, or of good report.
fall before it. These are its effects. Can
any man deny that "the OK is wont to
push with bis horn 2"
II. Has this been testified to the o,on-
er? or are the makers and vendors a.
ware of its efects2 The effects are
manifest, and they have eyes, ears and
understanding as well as others.
Will he say that he is not responsible,
and like Cain ask, sam ! my brothers
keeper ?" The OK was wont to push with
his horn, and he knew it and for little
paltry grin he let him loose, and God
will support his law by holding him res
ponsible for the consequences.
But common excuse is, that "yery
little of our manufacture is used in the
neighborhood; we send it off," And are
its effects any less deadly? In this way
you avoid seeing the effects, and poison
strangers instead of neighbors. What
would you say TO man who traded in
clothes infected with the smallpox or
cholera, and who would say by the way
of apology, that he sent them of, he did
not sell any in the neighborhood p! Good
man be is willing to send diseases and
death all abroad! but he is too kind
hearted to expose his neighbors. Would
you rot say to him, "you may send them
off. The eye of God goes with them,
and all the misery which they cause will
be charged to you." So we say to the
man who sends off his intoxicating IL
quor.
"But if do not make it or traffic in
it, somebody else will" What sin or
crime can not be excused in this way P
| know Of plot to rob my neighbor !;
if do not plumber him somebody else
will. Is il privilege to bear the re-
sponsibility of sending abroad peStilence
and misery, and death ? sour cause is
going down." said Judas, ''and price is
set upon the head of our Master, and il
| do not betray him somebody else will.
And why may not / as well pocket tho
money as another?"
Says another, II wish it was banished
from the earth. But then what can l
do?" What can you do? You can keep
one man clear; you can wash your hands
of this wretched business. And if you
are not willing to do that, very little re-
lance can be placed on your good wishes.
The days of ignorance on this subject
have passed by; every man acts with
his eyes open.
Look at the shop and company of the
retailer. There he stands in the midst
Of dissipation, surrounded by the most
degraded and filthy Of human beings, in
the last stages Of earthly wretchedness.
His business is to kindIe strife, to encour-
age profanity, to excite every evil pas
sion, to destroy all salutary fears, to re-
move every restraint, and to produce
recklessness that regards neither God
nor man. And how often in the provi-
dence of God is be given over to drink
his own poison, and to become the most
wretched of his wretched company
Who can be hold an instance of this kind
without feeling that God is just. "He
sank down into the pit which he made, in.
the net which he hid is his own foot taken
Another will say, 81 neither make nor
traffic in il" But you drink it OCCASION
ally. As far as your influence supports
it and gives it currency, SO far are you
partaker of its evil deeds. If you lend
your influence to make the path of ruin
respectable, or will not help to afIix dis
grace to the path, God will not hold you
guiltless. You can not innoeently stand
aside and do nothing.
A deadly poison is circulating over the
land. Its victims are of every class; and
however wide the difference in fortune,
education, intellect, it brings them to the
same dead level An effort has been
made to stay the plague, and a success
SURPRISING all expectation has crowned
the effort. Still the plague RACES to an
immense extent. What will every good
citizen do Will be not clear his house.
his shop, bis premises of iii Will he
not take every precaution to defend him
self against it, and use his influence and
his exeriions TO diminish its circulation
and thus diminish human misery? IF