Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-04-07

holy state unto which God calls them. Bu
how shall this be done? Can the hypOcrit
seek to lead another to keep the messag
which requireth truth in the inward parts
with any hope of success? Is dishones
man likely to make headway against theft
by rebuking it? If we come with the mes
sage of Gods will. and seek to penetrate
therewith the human will, must not oul
wills first have yielded to it and be led BY
its inspiration
Where the human intellect is pOwerless
one human will may be strong to work upon
another. 1t has been said of the Earl OF
Chatham, that there was something great
er IN the man than ever appeared IN the
orator. 1t has been said of Schiller. that
his influence over the German nation was
not so much from what he did, as from
what he was. TIE old Greeks used to say
OF Demothenes, that it was net his argu-
ment, but he himself, who swayed them.
| And this is true, more or less obviously
OF every man. 1t is not by books nor by
preeepts, that we become educated, but by
men and women, by living, personal con-
tact, with living souls. The secret. silent
forces. out of which character springs,
come from character. 1t is not what men
say to US, but what they do and are, by
I
Thus 1t Is, that in order to apply the Cos
pei to intemperance, we must first be tenn
perate ourselves; and in order to convey
ehectuallY this message Of Gods will. We
must do it with the unequivocal evidence
that il carries with it also the full accord of
our wills. Ii will not do for US to treat
this matter in any hypocritical way, open
ly condemnIng that In which wesecretly in
dulge
| venture to say, that this evil has an eve
which can look through all such guises, and
a strength which can bid defiance to every
such attack. For. as already said, vice doe,
not yield to argument. lntemperanee Is
not put to flight by differences. Virtue,
character, life, the personal will, is in the
last resort the all-constrainingimOtive but
We cannot endOw anOther's will with the
sovereignty and freedom. which We lack.
And unless our personal will be itself reg
nant over our own appetltes and desires. all
our efforts to free another will leave him
still a slave. In other words, the effort Of
SO-cGlied temperate or 80 moderdte' drinkers
10 iead the Incorporate and imm0derafe 10 re-
form. lriH not reldI at all, tut ciH only
strengthen the ha5itS against irhich tbey con-
tend.
do not care. at this point, to discuss
this question Of fact, which Is open to every
observation. You know il TO Be a fact. that
man given to the use of wine, though he
may call himself temperate. moderate, and
all that cannot 20, with any hope of sue
cess, to lead a man who cannot afford his
wine, to give up his whiskey, or his ale or
his beer.
| do not inquire, now, whether this is
wrong OF a right condition of things; but
that it is the actual fact viii not, | think,
be denied You cannot become an instru
ment to reform the intemperate through
moral and religious influences, Unless you
yourself occupy the platform of total alb
stinenee. Your argument against intem-
perance Is neutraliZed at once, and your
moral power over the drunkard destroyed,
Just as soon as it Is known that you make
use in a small degreei of that whose large
degree you find so reprehensible. The mo-
ment you admit that it is a question of de-
grees, you have admitted all that the most
immoderate drinker could desire, where
with to Justify himself. For who is to Judge
about degrees here? And who Is to hold
back the man who has taken the first step
upon this dangerous road, from taking also
the last?
The argument about the use of thing
and its abuse i very easy but Is quite too
subtle, or. rather | should say too shdll0r,
10 apply to the case in hand. Did ever a
man who uses strong drink himself sue
ceed in reforming another who was given to
its abuse? Who are the temperance advo-
cates.-the men foremost and most efficient
in this reform? Do they come from the
ranks of the moderate drinkers Do they
belong among the fashionable and habltual
users of wine2
know not whether there are men en-
gagged in this movement, men who honestly
desire Its success, who are not men of total
abstinence; but, il there are such, do they
avow their own practices? Do they not, as
a rule, prefer TO conceal them? Is it not
the instructive feeling in every heart, that
there Is real Inconsistency. which makes
it impossible for man to work efectuslly
against intemperance. unless hisow habits
are unequiyocal on this point? And if this
be true, submit that the whole question Is
settled. about the Christians duty of total
abstinence settled, too, irreversibly, on
the platform of this society.
TO be Concluded.