The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-04-15
PRICE THREE CENTS.

liquor-d drinking. The man who is unwill-
ing to practice the divine law of love, 81
will drink no wine for my weak brothers
sake will not win many converts to the
law Of civil prohibition.
There is third fact not to be overlooked
The mighty movement now going forward
under the guidance of God aud good women
is essentially a religious movement. 1t
aims to persuade and prevent. Its weapons
are prayer to God, pledges of abstinence.
and peaceful persuasion of men not to drink
or buy or sell intoxicants. The very
principle of this glorious "Ohio movement"
is total abstinence. 1t Las already shut up
more tipping houses in two months than
our wisest laws Of prohibition have shut up
in ten years.
In the face Of such facts Unjust protest
against DR. Crosby's ill-timcd onslaught up.
on the advocates Of total abstinence. lie
compliments our "honcsty of purpose and
motives" but asserts plumply that we are
preaching II false gospel" and are Elm
creasng the drunkenness Of the land"
These are serious charges against such men
as his honored predecessor, Chancellor
Frelinghuysen against such civilians as
Lincoln, Wilson, Greeley, Buckingham,
and Dodge, and such divincs as Lyman
Becchcr, Moses Stuart, Bishop James, John
Hall, and Albert Barnes. He AYERS that
we preach false gospel because we hon
cstly diff.r from him in some of cur inter-
pretatons of Scripture. But the brother
who quotes the text, "I.et your moderation
be known unto all men," as an argument
against total abstinence from the bottle,
should be careful how he talks about ''false
gospel" The Gospel we preach is that it
is wisest and safest to abstain from every
species of evil. The Gospel we preach 10
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ragirr, if godly old Noah, when lie tam
per1d with wine, fell into debauch, you and
| had better not repeat the experiment. The
Gospel we preach is that we have no right
to pray 'lead us not into temptation" and
then wan only risk the most treacherous of
all tempters. The Gospel we preach is
that for the sake OF our brother who may
be ruined, we will not set an example that
is fraught with danger to others. Brother
Croshys analogy between using dumb-bels
and drinking intoXicants does not hold wa
ter. lie says, "liI exercise with dumb
bells fer five minutes a day and am thereby
strengthened in health, surely the man who
exercises with dumb-bels for two hours Il
day, and SO RUNS his constitution, does not
follow me MS an example" The cases are
not parallel.
If the use Of dumb-bells should be SO IN
herently fascinating, ensnaring, and en-
shaving that il should entrap thousands ev-
cry year into the utter ruin of health, char
actcr and lie, then even the example of
using them 'for five minutes" would be
uniustitiablc The man who drinks intox-
icating beverage stands on slippery places
Is it right for me to cndangCr myself by
going there Still more, is it right for me
to bcclon others there by my dangerous
example? This brings me to my eloquent
brothers position in regard to moderate
drinking. Having wisely denounced
the helnous sin OF drukenness,
and unwisely denounced total abstinence
as a false gospel and a failure, he is shut
up to the third and only alternative. That
alternative is the moderate use Of intoXca-
ting beverages. He holds that men have
Il right to drink intoXicants, but no man
has Il right to drink them to excess This
seems very plausible. But it is actually
the creed of nearly every man or woman
who ever set out from these premises. and
landed in the gutter or in the drunkard's
grave. Not single one OF them intended
to become Il drunkard Many of them
struggled to remain moderate drinkers I'M
til the appetite they had fostercd became
their tormcntor and destroyer. That emf
ncnt clergyman in- New Jersey who used
wine to preach more elegantly, afterwards
confessed that no one was SO astonishcd to
find him an incbrate AS he was himself
This delusion Of "moderaton" has slain
not only the dWalts but the giants. 1t has
left its awful blood-stan in the senate
chamber, the parliament house, and tie
pulpit. This treachcrOus quality inheres
in the very nature of an alcoholic stimu-
liant therefore Gods word pronounccs it "a
''mocker" and a decciver The cxcitabe
temperaments of our American people,
and our peculiar climate, make the popu-
lar drinks now in vogue especially dan
gerous. But if our moderation is TO be
known unto all men, pray let us know just
know what is moderation. Is it one
glass; Or two? Or five: There are
good people who make fools of them
selves on two glasses, while others
can carry level head under five
glasses Is everything moderation which
is inside the limit Of drunkenness Surely
not for thousands have burned up their
vitaS with strong wines and whisky who
never staggered in their lives Moderation
is an elastic word. 70 tell our nervously
rcXcitabe young American that they may
drink our popular drinks. if they are care
full to do SO in moderation. is about equiva-
lent to telling them that they may venture
into house infected with smallpox, if
they are careful TO come out with only n
rapids of Niagara, hut they must be sure
s. keep above Goat Island Bridge. Does NY
nobe-heartcd brother Crosby intend to Ell
courage drinking among our young
men: No, no; not for moment. But
he must remember that the devil always
likes to quote minister.
In conclusions | thank the learned Chan
cellor for his frankness of utterance, as !
have often thanked him for noble public
services. | thank him for his admission
that in the days of Christ the use of wines
was productive of fearful drunkenness.
thank him for his burning words against
the denominations of the dramshop. We
abstainers are ready TO join hands with
him in all feasible legislation against the
dramshops and we call upon him to JON
with MS in striking at the decanter, whether
found on a Christians table or on a bar
room counter
The real battle is not over six water
pots at Cana of Galilee, but over 10000
drinking dens in New York and Brooklyn
| 1t is a battle with the personal habits and
| social usages that feed these dcns with vie
tins. Let us seek not for petty victories
over each other, but the common toe Let
every gun that is so trained as to wound
only the friends Of morality and religion he
spiked. And let our pulpit-hatterics thun-
der along the whole line against the most
huge and horrible evil that curses our be
| loved land,
This church, need hardly tell you, has
never stunned 10 bear witness against the
sin and shame and sorrow Of the int0Xicat-
| ing cup We have never put a temperance
| pledge above the cross of calvary, but we
do make temperance part and parcel of
| the religion we proclaim and try to prac-
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