The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1874-04-27
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TEMPERANCE.

sunday Aftern0on-.Addrs OF
Prof. Penaleion, Of HethaDy Col
lego.
Washington Hall Was crowded yes
terdsy afternoon, but not go completely
jsmmed with people as the Sunday
have been heretofore. After
the usual devotional exercises, :
...l PROF. w.,K. PENDLEroN,
President OF Bethany College, was in
troduced and addressed the meeting.
He said: ,d%rE frE r." --~ 'at.
, l appear before you, more to show
you that l stand with you, head and
heart inshis great work, than in the
hope that I shalIabe able to add any
thing new or convincing to the already
protracted and exhaustive discussions
with which you have been favored. /
gladly share with you IN whatever of
labor, Of encouragement, or OF obloquy
NAV meet you in your work. and re-
joice with you in every signal Of euc-
cess. ..fS. r-E-s- e.. 49,. .'
As the Savior said ofthe poor, "They
are always with you" So Of the intens.
perate, they are always with US, in eve
RI sgs and CLINE. Antedeluvians, Mo-
ah, Lot, illustrious heads OF races, have
been victims, and fountains Of trans
'mitted cures to poeterity. Why, then,
this sudden outburst of enthusiasm
agsinst IN old aud q chronic vice, nor
NAL to society and heavy with the death
mould Of millenniums ? The moral
world is like the physical. Disturban.
ces are cumulative Insessible at first,
they grow until the equilibrium is over'
come and only a revolution can restore
il. Storms aud tempests are the pow
ers OF peacein both the physical and
the moral Universe. A single poor
man; ora poor family, or the poor OF
a city. in the ordinary . movements OF
providence, are easily provided for, but
a famine comes, q whole land is desc
late, wide districts, States and nations
:of men and women are in hunger, and
cities are moved, Legislatures are ex-
cited, the President over-steps his con-
stitutional authority and the lsrgess Of
the nation is disbursed in rations to
feed the fsmishiDg.
As 10 famine 90 is pestilence. Or
binary disease 10 left to ordinary man
sgement, extraordinary wakes up
the moral forces, as in a revolution.
And is not intemperapce a disease,
growing, deep-seated, waiting, already
snawing at the vitsfs and consuming
as a pestilence In the graphic pic
tnre of providential chastisements, war,
famine and pestilence are the trinity
of furies thai are cent forth to be q
purge to the world. We have had war
have had, are having famine and
pestilence, the famine OF capital,
the famine Of bread, the
pestilence OF moral corruption and
the pestilence Of sensual degradation. l
trust that the thunders OF revolution
are beginning to sound the doom OF
both. I look upon this temperance
movement as one of the fiery signs,
flashing s.tbe lightning from the east
to the west, as a token Of the purifying
storm brewing in the moral heavens.
God direct the shaft and let it fall to
purify and not destroy!
That intemperance is pestilence
that walketh in darkness and wasteth
at MONDAY, ! need not take time to
demonstrate. 1t is the one pervasive
evil, which is the fruitful fountain oil
all others. A political evil, an eco
nomical evil, a social evil, domestic
evil, a personal evil. Its frightful,
blighting power in any one OF these
fields OF our lie were themes enough
for more time than ! can presume to
take to-day. l beseech you, consider
them take time and let the mighty ar
gument grow upon you until its fatal
conclusion shall haunt your moral ma.
ture and give you no rest, night nor
day, till you have risen up to purge the
land of it. To the ministry and
men and women of faith who
support, the ministry. to the
church of Christ, let me say, it is the
great hindrance to religion-it' fosters
infidelity and epslaves the spirit to the
flesh.
. No wonder, then, that the statesman,
the philanthropist, the christian men
and women are roueed up in a way new
and strange, to repress the common
enemy. At fret the movement must
be an impulse, a revulsion OF moral
feeling, but it must come under wise
guidance if 1t shall result in any last
ing and general good. As it is political
and social, it is to be met by legislation
and public sentiment; as it is personal
and religious it is 10 be approached
through kindness and cooperative
sympathy of brotherly love and prayer.
A word as to these, not by way Of dis
question, but in suggestion .,
lst May we leg'slatef l cay yes.
We do legislate, the traffic in liquor lie
already subject to specis' legislation,
the principle is conceded. We may
legislate, we do legislate. I'd. The right
to legislate is founded in the eternal
principle OF self preservation. We can
do that which is required by the duty
of self defence, Sd. II is warranted by
parallel cases. In time OF war we
seize upon private property. We put
restrictions upon personal freedom, we
levy taxes, &C., upon private capital.
In time OF pestileuce of other forms. we
Interfere. The cholera fills us with
horror, and our city councils will shut
saloons, enter private houses, enforce
sanitary regulations. dictate what sball
be bought and sold in the market. We
impose, alec, peculiar restrictions upon
other ,polsons, why not on this. ..
0nght We to lrgislate : 1 say yes. l
need not argue the question in gener-
al way. because We have legislated, and
90 far as laws 70 on this subject, I may