The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1874-04-17
Incorporate Temperance Agitators.


Incorporate Temperance AgitatOrs.
st. Paul, in his instructions 10 the
Romans, and through them, to all Chris
tians, advises them mot to be more wise
than il behooveth to be wise, but 10 be
wise unto sobriety." Rom. xii, 3.
The undersigned takes this occasion to
answer the numerous applications made
to him for sympathy and cooperation
in the crusade against intemperance.
He does not now, for the first time,
express publicly his sympathy with the
object, If not with the means adopted BY
the crusaders, or his readiness to coop
crate with every Legitimate and wise ef.
fort for the suppression Of intemperarce.
Scarcely has he ever had the spiritual
care Of a congregation, az priest, or
bishop, without warning' those who
heard him, of the temporal and eternal
evils resulting from excess. In sermons
and pastoral letters ne has insisted on
the necessity and exhorted to the OBJ
servance of holy temperance, going 50
far in one of those letters, many years
ago, as to express the wish that not one
of his flock were a low, disreputable
saloon-keeper. For ten years he prac-
ticed total abstinence, hoping by exam
pie, to induce those whom his words
reached not, to shun the vice that Rads
to every other vice. He is even now to-
tally abstinent. This he considers pret-
ty good. But he can not go to the ex-
cess suggested by some Of the lady
league. He cannot instruct or preach
that it is a sin for day laborer who has
to carry the hod, on a broiling hot day
in July or August, up a steep ladder TO
the third or fourth story Of a building,
10 restore his exhausted strength by
glass or two Of beer This he would
consider cruel. If the toiler has the
physical endurance and the will to do
without the beverage, in the name Of
God let him do it. And if he can not
take this refreshment without drinking
to excess, let him abstain altogether, or
quit the hard work, or die--for il Is so
better than to be a drunkard.
Again, the Archbishop cannot ask
clergyman TO blaspheme the Divine
Author Of our religion by asking Him
why He made wine at Cana, in Galilee,
to recreate guests at a wedding2 Why
He instituted the Eucharist, the Lords
Supper, partly in wine Of which He
commanded the Apostles to drink? Why
Jebovah's Holy Spirit teaches us in the
Bible that God made swine 10 cheer the
heart Of mani" Psalms ciii, 13. And
the vine to ask why il should desert its
"wine that cheereth God and men,"
[Judges tx, 23.1 Why did the dying pa
| triarch, under the influence of Divine
inspiration, wish his son abundance Of
wine?" Why, again, docs the Holy
Ghost tell us that it IS "hurtful always
to drink water, or wine, but to mix them
is pleasant, or sometimes 10 drink one
and sometimes the otheE' 2 Mech, last
verse of the Old Testament
But God, they object, did not make
the wine. We have shown that lie did
make it. Neither did He make the
bread, except in the miracle Of the
loaves in the desert. But he made the
grape and the wheat, from which wine
and bread are made, the ore by a pro-
cess not much simpler than the other
Catholics, then, go to the Bible, and they
understand it. And with the Blessed
Book before them we can not with bell,
book and candle, with praying and
psalm sing in the mud, excommunicate
those who drink, or those who dispense
the liquid which God has made to be
used with moderation and Thanksgiving.
This, then, is the verdict Of the Word
Of God: Use, do not abuse, and If you
can not use without abusing, use not at
all
/ Some few years past, three or four Pro
testant clergymen called on the Arch
bishop to ask his cooperation in an at
tempt TO abate the nuisance Of the grog-
shops. lie told them that when there
was the question Of the licensing, abso
lutte prohibiting Of the sale Of inebriat
ing liquors, he earnestly recommended
the imposing Of as heavy fine, or IL
cense, on the venders Of such liquid rs
they could bear, and inexorably to close,
! by all the penalties known to the law,
those vile bar-rpoms where bad liquor
is sold to minors, drunkards, men or wo-
men, who are now the pests Of the com
munity, a disgrace to their families, and
teaching BY word and example the broad
way to perdition. This he conceived
would be the most effcctual check 10 the
evil we deplore. 1t would diminish,
perhaps, by two thousand the three
thousand "spiraccnla ditis, those crater=
Of hell, by which our city is in peril Of
combustion; and il would pay the city
much if not all the expense Of the
Work house and other institutions which
honest and sober citizens are now shame
fully taxed to support.
All which is respectfully submitted 20
all whom il may concern.
I J. b. PURCELL,
Archbishop Of Cincinnati.
Brigham Young it is said is looking for