Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1875-11-10
Sunday Evening Temperance Meeting.

SUNDAY Evening temperance MeetluKs
At our last Sunday evening meeting we
had the encouragement of a full house. and
the Rev. J. F. Wright favored us with
very interesting address, to which the au-
dience listened with the closest attention.
Mr.. E. Snow, the chairman, called upon
Hon. Joseph Poland to open the meeting
with prayer, after which he introduced Mr..
Wright, whose address was substantially
as follows:
1t is very common for some who call
themselves temperance men to crltlclse
temperance men and measures. and they be-
come the more critical as measures promise
to be effectual. will commence my adj
dress by criticising the use of the words
8. tempted and tempters." The phrase is
often used as if the sellers of liquor were
to be denounced as tempters, par excellence
while drinkers were to be pitied as the
poor, weak, tempted. have no apology
to make for the sellers. Their traffic is IA
curse to themselves and their neighbOrs.
But why should l apologize for drinkers?
Were drunkards, with physical and men,
tai powers broken. the only ones meant by
the word. might readily find some pallia
ton for their excuses. They are diseased,
their will-power is impaired they are not
masters Of themselves, and are fit subjects
for Il physician care. But are those who
are called "moderate drinkers to be
treated to such leniency? / can not admit
! it.
NY reasons are : First. The moderate
drinker roluntartly adds one to the class
from which the drunkards of the next de-
cade will come,-addS one to the chances
that the next crop of inebriates will be
fully up to to the sad average of past years.
1t may be taken rs an axiom 1.-THE drunk
ards in any country at any period will DE
proportionate to the number of moderate
drinkers in the preceding period. No
drunkard begins with drunkenness. The
drunkard of to day was a moderate drinker
and the drunkard of ten years hence will
be the very man who to-day has - never
drank to excess"
Second. The moderate drinker rolunta-
rily encourages the practices of men who
deem themselves moderate drinkers but
are not. The seductions Of alcohol are SO
insiduous that men are in danger without
realizing it. Their friends fear for them
and are watching them with the greatest
anxiety. while they unconcernedly take
step by step the way that leads to drunk
enneSS.
Now it is not the sot in his degradation
who lures these on to destruction. He is
not an inviting object. 1t is the drinker
who retains his responsibility who en-.
snarcs. What the devil In horns and
hoofs finds impossible to do, he in broad
cloth, patent leather and kids finds easy OF
5 accomplishment.
: Third. The moderate irinkcr rolu,ata
, rily subtracts from his influence over the
fallen. He may want to help them but
he has little power to draw them to total
5 abstinence so long rs he abstains not him
/ self.
5 Fourth. The moderate drinker rolu'sta-
r'ily attempts to assume practical neutrali-
ty on one of the most momentous issues o.
e the age. He does not want to be a drunk
ard. nor stiymatiz-d rs 4 fanatic. says
Good Lord" feebly, and " Good devil
4 timidly. His efforts in behalf of temper
ance are like whispers TO the deaf man in
i. danger on the railroad track.
lie does not, after all, attain neutrality
: The moderate drinker sustains the rum
f seller in his ncf,rious work. The dealer
5 in liquor refers to him rs his patron, hi,
d endorscr lie does not point 10 the drunk
ard in his rags and wretchedness, and ask
e, community to uphold him, because this i:
4 the work of hi, hand,-but poi hts to the
= respectable Mr.. A, Judge b., and Deacon
c., and saws YOU need not try to bring the
= law to bear upon me when am supporte,
/ by such men rs these Were his traiil,
q clothed only in the mud-stained tatters o
e The drunkard, its hideousness would arOus,
. men to sweep it away, but dressed in the
: fine clothing Of the wealthy and the cult
waited. it is protected.
Now all this is done roluntarily by thu
!. moderate drinker. He is not diseased
o but in the full possession of his reason ant
= will power, and am asked to pity him a:
+ a poor object ofoTerpowerng temptation
cannot do it.
, | admit that the rumseller is in on,
sense the tempted. Tempted by his love o.
money to gain by what brings di>honor ant
:. death to his brother. But the moderate
+ drinker considers himself IN no danger a
l. he never drinks to excess. he is 4 temper
# ance man in the true sense of the word, h.
Il uses but not abuses this good gift of TIT
q world. He forgets that - wine is a mock
q err and knows nothing Of the anxiety o
his friends as he warns all against fanatl
4 ClSli anu SAYS y HISS 10 stS EtINi tt>
mile" | answer, yes a miss is well, if i
q is all a mis-. Has he forgotten that he i
n his brothers keeper and that no man liv
Y creasing the list from which the crop o
p drunkardS of the next ten years are t
come He has not missed corrupting so
Y ciety and sustaining practices from whicl
Y result enormous crimes and mi>cries. III
10 has not missed lesscning his influence 70
n good. He has not missed supporting b,
IS his responsibility the rumseller'
!. The moderate drnkcr says to me. ycl
II forget the broad aspects of the case. God
# plan is that by temptation we gain strength
Y and rise to heights otherwise impossible
5 Would YOU have me wear 4 life-preserveI
10 cultivate weakness. andnever fully dcvelo
j. my own strength My an>Hcr would be
;, | believe il. no development that obligc
It me to climb over the PROSTATE forms c
l., nv fcllowmen. There is no DANCE
lie if this temptation be removed bu
q there will be opportunities enough for Sc
4 discipline. The great temptation in thi
" us in everything e'se is, we seek our own
?. The highest self-culture is self-deniil.
Therefore. not for your own sake, bu
for the sake Of suffering humanity, 70
g Christ's sake. if you please. for lie ha
70 said - inasmuch rs We have done it unit
the least of these ye have done it unto me-,
: ask You that you come up to the pla
IS form of total abstinence. While there ar
ID some things uncertain. this principle
&C sure of the trucst and grandest results.
A short time since the Pope sent his Der
Is edicton to Il band of his children who In
ed adopted the principle of total abstinence
Y. There is One greater. higher than any PC
~ tentate Whose benediction waits upon a
ut who sacrifice self for the good of human
d. fty.
o. Miles Testimony Wanted.
a. They want il down in New York.
to the case Of Lillicnthall against the office
10 of the Ocean National Bank, which is
OF suit to recover the value of $50, 900 in s.
;s curities, stolen from the vaults of the ban
rs in 1869, and which is a re-trial on a reve
II col IF ;,Ir,nopt for nj, nv tho co,,rt