Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1873-08-27
Sunday Evening Temperance Meeting.

sunday Evening Temperance Meeting.
A good audience was present at the meeting
last Sabbath evening, Mr., Mahlou Taplin oc.
cupying the chair.
Alter the usual preliminary exercises he in
troduced Mr. James II. Kellogg, Of Troy, N.
Y, who spoke substantially as follows: In
early childhood, in the New England village Of
his nativity, the children used to sing Of the
Temperance work as a warfare, and of its ad-
herents as an army pressing on to victory
The figure, ! think, is well chosen. In.
temperance is the Goliath Of sins, very
Moloch Of iniqnity Unaided the contest would
well be called difficult, IL not hazardous and
doubtful but, with the rudy shepherd boy 10
the valley Of Elah, we may say to this Goliath
Of the giants of evil, "thou CONTEST unto US
with sword, and with spear, and with a
shield, but we come unto thee in the name Of
the Lord Of hosts, the God of the armies Of
Israel, whom thou hast defed." This is a
common cause against a common enemy. The
foul breath OF the rum monster taints the
Winooski, and poisons the atmosphere Of our
beautiful and noble valley of the Hudson.
His cruel hand is upon all the nation, from the
Atlantic to the Pacifc from the ST. Lawrence
to the Gulf Thousands upon thousands are
pressing daily, hourly. onward to dishonored
graves, aud had we bell large enough, and
could we swing it high enough, its mournful
dirge would sound in every ear for all the days
and months Of each succeeding period Of time,
toling the solemn kncll Of ruined hopes, Of blast
edprvspects and Of lost sonls. The speaker had
himself, in the course Of limited experience
in business, seen scores Of men turned out Of
place for drunkenness weeping women and
children pleading for their restoration, young
mon staggering in drunkenness through the
streets, into boarding houses and hotels, and
multitudes Of others upon whom this fell
destroyer Of foul rum had set his seal Of shame
lie bad come to feel with the poet
Toll mo hate the bowl
Hate IL feeble word
loathe, abhor, my very soul
with strong disgust is stirred
Wheneor think or hear, or tell
OF the dark beverage Of heK"
lie urged in the first place, the high duty Of
apure and lofty personal example of temper
ance. This must be followed by n cheerful
subscribing to the pledge OF total abstinence.
Pledges are powerful, and, when made in writ
ing, they are better than promises of the mouth
or resolutions Of the mind God himself con
descended to offer visible pledge, the first re.
corded in inspiration, when he placed the rain
bow in the heavens, which, OF eachappearancc,
should remind him of the covenant which he |
would remember The oriental, when he dip |
ped his hand in ink and impressed il upon the |
parchment, gave a token Of good faith which |
he held to be inviolable. Our forefathers, in |
the Hall of independence, subscribed to the |
immortal document Of freedom, by which they |
pledged " their lives, their fortunes and their |
sacred honor" The Church, the State, all in
terest4 and institutions Of society, are bound |
together ndsustained by the power of pledges |
A second duty is to educate the people thor
oughly as TO the nature and dangers of alco- |
holio drinks, and the needs Of the temperance
cause. Let our Sunday and Day schools be
supplied with books and tracts and papers, and |
our homes with all suitable reading, and let
the subject be agitated thoroughly, steadily
and everywhere in the community. Again,
the aid Of the press should be invoked. 1t !
should he the willing conservator of this cause |
Of purity and righteousness In the " sharp
teeth Of the types " temperance truth should |
be caught up and waited as on the wings Of
the wind, to the uttermost parts of the earth
IL ~ r. 4
devoted to the dissemination of pure principles
and all lofty and noble truths.
But the chief dependence for success, under
God, Is the church. The speaker believed
with Vice President Henry Wilson. that - The
church mus take up The matter. IL must be.
come one ofthe hiring issues Of the moral ,oar-
fare IN which she IS engaged" And, said the
speaker, | believe, with an eloquent clergy
man, that were the church to take hold of
temperance in earnest q in five years society
wonld he revolntionized nm this quooton.'
He quoted from various eminent clergymen,
one of whom said " the specific work and objects
Of the temperance reform may be reckoned
among the legitimate concerns of the church
of our day. The failure in carrying any great
moral reform points naturally to the great
for mans good on the earth
ard the appeal of men in despair Of other
means TO the church is not more u compliment
tual performance of its duty" Said another,
(Rev. @. d. Fcss, d. D., of the Methodist
Episcopal church, ~ =" The cause of temperance
is the cause of suffering humanity and of God.
Those men, therefore, ought prominently to
be its advocates who are specially set apart to
advance the glory Of God by preaching good
tidings TO fallen man" And another, (Rev.
John w. Mears d. d. With weary sense
of the ncliiciency of all merely human means
af inv inn ba he fbf ola a
ness, the heaven-darng crime, and the fright
ful waste of intemperance, the orders and So
ceties and pul lie men and press Of the land
are turning TO the church. With her is the
residue of the spirit. The church
Gods chosen instrument for mans regenera.
ton, must take order to meet the emergency /
She is come 10 the kingdom for such time as
this Woe untohe il help arises from another
quarter, and If the unbclieving world can
strengthen itself in the opinion that man can
get rid Of his worst evils in spite of the ndif-
ference or open opposition of blind and con
sentative cnurch' Tho speaker referred to
the wonderful prosperity of such cl urches and /
ministers As had manfuly espoused the cause
of temperance, and instanced particularly Rev.
DR.. Cuyler's, Presbyterian, of Brooklyn, the
largest in that communion, and st. Georges
Episcopal Montreal. Both have church tenn
perance societies. In the latter the member
ship is about seven hundred, who subscribe to
this simple and beautiful pledge =" | promise,
by Gods help, to abstain from all intoxicating
liquors as beverage, for Chrst's sake The
Very Rev. VIM Bond, ID. D., Dean of Mon
treal. rector of the parish is President of the
Society Through his efforts about three
fourtbs Of the Episcopal clergy in the diocese
have been induced to take the total abstinence
platform, Or at least, that proportion of them,
including the few before so inclined, have
taken the Deans position, The speaker CON
cluded with encouraging words, pronouncng
the temperance cause a success and not fail. |
ure, and commencing the work of the ladies
organization.
Remarks were then made by Mr.. Brown and |
Rev. Mr.. Spencer, of the NJ II. church, urging |
to aggressive effort in the cause. The latter
intimated his purpose, in consonance with the
rules of his church, TO initiate vigorous inca
sures for temperance work in his own congre-
CATION, and approved heartily the suggestion
that it should be adopted by all the religious
societies. and means used to put all our churches
heartily unon the side of this preat and glOri. |