Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-05-29
The New Temperance Movement.


1t will be found instructive reading The
speaker was Rev. DR.. Simms. pastor OF st.
Panl's On. E) Church.
The texts taken were the two passages,
Prov. XIII. 3 and 30, Look not thou upon
the wine when it is red, when it giyeth his
color in the cup, when 1t moyeth Itself
Alright. At the last it biteth like serpent
and stingeth like an adder :" and Habakkuk,
ii. Is, Woe unto him that giveth his neigh
Dor drink, that puttcst thy bottle to him,
and makest him drunken also, that thou
mayest look on their nakedness
Closing his Bible and speaking without
notes, the preacher said I'm the hrst pas
sage we find an earnest warning against
personal indulgence in the use oil intoxicat-
ing drink; at the last-and 10 now many
thousands of weak mortals has the last
comet biteth like serpent and stingeth
like an adder. In the second, how strong
is the warning that woe shall visit
him that holds the cup to neigh
boris lips. The terrible evil OF in-
temperance is abroad in our lana, and Its
work OF devastation is going on all around
us. Less than three months since, a move
ment in opposition to it, started up In the
central part of Ohio, in its small towns, and
country villages, among good and pious
women. We laughed at it, called it wild,
foolish. extravaganza; we said it was of such
a nature IT would soon kill itself. We said
those women, praying in the streets and
saloons, going into rumshOps, talking with
the dealers, beseeching, persuading them
to look upon the evils OF their work. placed
themselves in an unladylike position; that
it was immOdest, unwOmanly, and there
could not be any power for good IN such
movement. Look at it now, do you call it
weak? Ii has grown in influence, spreading
from east 80 west, and from north to
south; from the Atlantic TO the Pacific
shore, and from the Great Lakes
to the Gulf, exerting, everywhere, greater
power in our land than all the other tenn
perance movements in the last forty years.
II there is no power in this thing, why are
the wholesale and retail dealers, many OF
them. closing their shops. the dlstillers, IN
some places, giving up their business, and
Joining the 'women's crusade, a. we
tauntingly called it. Why. indeed, unless
it be that God is in the work.
have one thing to say tonight, which
| say with deep sorrow, with no feeling OF
anger or spite. but from a painful sense of
duty. Last sabbath morning a man OF
high standing in New York city, DR..
Howard Crosby, stood up in his pulpit and
defended and advocated moderate drinking.
That sermon has been published in the lead
ing papers, has spread all over our
land, and, As result OF 1t.
downward step to perdition will
be taken by thousands of young men.
Personally, | respect Howard Crosby. e.
TEEN him highly, believe him honest and
sincere, yet would rather paralysis should
strike this right arm, and that this tongue
.haraN in ui1o baf could
utter another word. than to have been DR..
crosby last Sabbath morning. lie said
drunkenness was a great crime. and no one
should be 50 hard on the drunkaTd, a the
moderate drinker. Let US consider the state
ment For years a man mas been a m0der-
ate drinker, and has been an honor 10 his
companions, but one day, hGtH Is stronger
than iriH, and he i drunk in your streets.
Now You must punish him, yCu whose ex-
ample and advice he followed. You stood up
in your pulpit and told him 1t was ali right.
lou dared to quote our Sayiour's example,
and advised him TO continue his moderate use
of the cup. and he obeyed you, but one day
he took one step too far, and you must pun
ISL him, yes, punish him severely. lie has
disgraced you, now lock him up. You
have tried that with others, but II did not
cure them now try 1t with him, but It
won't cure him. lie has fallen over the
precipice. now abandon him. Doesn't he
know that all those years of moderate
drinking have been undermining his will,
and pushing on to the verge OF that preci-
pice2 oh yes, but your hands, which has
tened his ruin, are the ones to punish him,
TO lock him up. Go and look through the
iron CRATES, at the convict in his prison
garb, and stir up in your heart feelings OF
resentment, anger, enmity, If you can,
cannot ! can only pity him, and what con-
fnemeut within prison walls Is to be com
pared with the bondage of Intemperance.
You sum up the cost of intoxicating drink,
"a if YOU could coin the hearts blood and
count 1t in doliars' 1t i a. nothing COM
pared with the suffering caused by 1t. Look
at the six hundred thousand newmade
graves every year. covering the victims OF
lntemperance, vet you know nothing OF the
evil. When you have been wife, and seen
him who promised to love and protect YOU
come home, a self-made IDIOT, a thing that
icds d man. bereft of ercrytaing manly, you
will know something about IT. When you
seek your only boy ut midnight and find
him in drunkenness and debauchery, take
him home to his mother and see her heart
break. Won will begin to feel the iron enter
ing your own home, and TO know some
>
no counterpart on earth like the crushing Of
heart that comes OF nfcmprdHce. Yet YOU
say you can drink without danger. How
many in your boat of moderate drinsing
have the mark of Cain? One out of every
ten goes overheard you curse him. and sail
moderately on. saying. I'VE read that no
drunkard shall inherit the kingdom OF
heaven" You say, | know some must
be lost, but II Is only one out OF ten.
am safe enough. We have been told that
a moderate use of the cup was evidence OF
degree of refinement never known beyond
the Alleghanys. where this new movement
sprung up, and that the dissipation and
drunkenness there were caused by the lack
Of it. | call up the noble army of men and
women who touch not. taste not, and han
die not the accused beverage, and defy
You to find drunkard among them. Who
ever heard oftOtal abstinence making a man
drunk? How many among YOUR troops OF
moderate drinkers will stand? You admit
one out of every ten must fall, but each says
that one may be my neighbor. but 1 am
safe; and you go on leading Others down
ward, by force Of example, and when the
pure and Christian women of our land band
together in the Ileaven-ordained work of
holding back from ruin those you are drag
cling down, You speak of them as immodest,
,nwomanly. You say their prayers are
+ none effect, but you cannot stop them,
God hears and will answer. Ii | |
believed lie would not listen TO the |
petitions of hearts crushed by the anguish |
intemperance brings, would never utter
another prayer, for it surely would be of no
use; there could be no power in prayer if |
the Almighty refused to answer these good |
and true women. They are ministers of God |
in this work of reform and the voice Of man |
cannot stay the tide. You ask me if in
dorse this movement What if | did not, it |
would sweep over my poor protest; and
what if | do | can only add little more |
influence on the side of right. God has |
endorsed il and that is enouch