Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-12-28
Words for the Hour on Temperance.

nlshes not only httIng occasion Tor frest
protest against offering intoxIcants upon
New Years Day, but for a birds eye glance
at some of the present aspects of the TEN
perance reform, The pernicious custom oi
setting out wine, punch, etc, before visitors
on the birthday of the year deserves no quar-
ter from pulpit or press. 1t is fragrant sin
against social morality, and without shadow
of excuse. Hospitality does not require in
toxicating beverages, as long as ample sup
plies of coffee, lemonade, and other harm
less drinks can be so easily provided Many
young me n takes mis- fatal first glass OF
wine on New Years Day. Many another has
had his incipient appetite for alcoholics con-
firmed by the temptations held out by female
hands. 1t is not too strong an affirmation
to say that the woman who deliberately offers
an intoxicating glass to a man deserves to
suffer the woes of drunkard's wife or a
drunkards mother. Nor is it too much to
say that no one has right to ask Gods
blessing on his home while he makes that
home place of perilous temptation to un-
wary feet and to those which easily ''stum-
BILE " We may take it for granted that those
| who have the good sense to introduce The h.
| dependent into their houses have sense
enough to keep Intoxicating liquors out of
them.
| 2. During the year now closing consider
able discussion has arisen over the question
whether spiritual conversion can take away
entirely the physical appetite for strong
drink The position that change of heart
does often produce this physical effect has
been stoutly affirmed at some of Mr.. Moody's
temperance meetings and elsewhere. That
sporadic cases of this kind have serer occur
red We are not prepared to deny but surely
they cannot be frequent enough to establish
such an extraordinary hypothesis. The ap-
petite for alcoholic stimulants is a bodily
craving. often amounting to a confirmed dis
ease. Sometimes it is hereditary some
times it is produced aud deeply-seated by
/ long indulgence in stimulants. Certain
1 bodily tissues become affected by drink, and
so affected that they inevitably thirst for
more drink. Now, that the supernatural
grace of God may give a man the power to
resist the cravings of physical appetite is
in accordance with the Bible and with hui
man experience. The enemy is not oDlitera-
ted. He is conquered and kept under This
is the glory of divine grace that 1t ''giveth
us the victory" not over foes which have no
existence, but over those which have ter
rible vitality. When Paul struck hard blows
| " hteI uHhti MS IhN Sl1hl ulpVtlAeS, NE
was not fighting n man of straw. John b.
Gough-in q late address in Lafayette-avenue
! Church. Brookyn-affirmed most distinctly
his utter disbelief in the new theory that a
| spiritual conversion has any such physical
| effect as to obiterate the appetite for liquor.
| There is no better authority than his, after
thirty-fve years OF wide observation and
severe personal experience. His own appe-
tite for drink is only tiger chained up by
vigilance and the Divine strength.
Every theory is dangerous one which
leads people into the delusion that they can
safely tamper with intoxicants. The worst
thing about alcohol is its internal subtety.
1t can deceive the very elect. Thousands of
Christians have fallen by its sorcery. l knew
an otherwise excellent churchmember who
was often so overcome by his wine-bottle that
he could not conduct his family worship in
telligibly. A man who had been apparently
converted from inebriety has often exhorted
and prayed in my own ehurch-meetings. and
has then been tracked to the drim-shop, on
his way home from the service A very large
number of those who have signed the total
abstinence pledge in Mr.. Murphy's mass
meetings have already gone back TO their
cups. All such facts and we could multi
| ply them indefinitely only confirm the Bible
truth that strong drink lis a mocker. and
whosoever once puts himself under its power
discovers that it bites like serpent and
stings like an adder. We do not deny that
many inebriates have been soundly convert
ed we have the names ofsuch on our church.
| roll to-day But every such man should
write on the palm of his hand cannot
| trust God TOO much, and I cGanOt trust myself
| too little. The vast majority of persons,
male or female. who ever become drunkards
| An.xyt last 10 tha lFt1rn nlynr
| This is one OF the most overwhelming and
unanswerable arguments in favor OF entire
abstinence from the ensnaring glass. Is 1t
not about time to stop quarrelIing about dis
| puted Bible-teNts and to rest this moral re-
form upon the basis of common sense and
Christian philanthropy. | dare not drink
| for my own sake ] ought not to drink for my
neighbor's sake. This is total abstinence
platform strong enough and broad enough
tor all to stand upon.
| 3. Female inebrity is on the Increase.
J When women are once enslayed by liquor or
| opium they are even more difficult cases To
reform than men. Among the occupants
of tenement-houses and i'll the by. street,
female drunkenness is appalling. Baillie
Lewis testities before parliamentary COM
mission that in Edinburgh the principal fac
tor of intemperance among females Is the
| HcenSeu grocer ; suop "ihit II true VI
Edinburgh and Glasgow is equally true Of
New York and Brooklyn. The great mass of
drinking women with the exception OF pros
titues) procure their drains at the grocery.
This fact gives fresh emphasis to the wisdom
of the efforts now being made by DR.. Cros-
by's Society, by the State League, and by
the BROOKLYN s'Brotherhood' to break up the
corner drinkinp-dens And the further We
push this matter the more hideously illogical
and suicidal it seems for the civil authorities
to license tippling- house OF any kind or un-
der any circumstances But the refusal TO
license or to allow tirpling- houses OF all
grades means practical prohibition. So
that DR.. crosby and his co-workers will soon
find themselves confronted with the ques-
ton Are we ready for that
The last twelve-month has Witnessed de-
cided progress of agitation and discussion
among the thoughtful classes i'll Great Brit
ain. The Church OF England Temperance
Society numbers among its supporters the
Bishops of Oxford, Exeter, and several more
of its influential leaders. The brilliant Can
on Tarrar (author of the Life of Christi Is
delivering radical teetotal sermons in West
Minister Abbey Basil Wilberforce is agita-
ting Britain with as much eloqueuce for total
abstinence as his celebrated grandfather did
tor Negro emancipation. These two clergy
men are the most popular orators in the Es-
tablished Church. The British reformers are
far more thorough, scientific, and statistical
in their phianthropic movements than we
are. They have great faith in parliamentary
| commissions.
Before tine present Committee of the
House of Lords a very interesting series OF
answers has lately been rendered by Sir Viii
liam Gull, the eminent physician OF Guy :
Hospital. Sir William agrees with DR.. Rich
ardson and Sir Henry Thompson III drnounc-
ing the too free use of alcoholic medicines.
He testites that he treats fever patients with
out alcoholic stimulants that the use oi
wine ales, and brandy by overworked people
is useless and dangerous and that III re
! gard to intellectual labor all such drinks are
positively hurtful Even the moderate use
of alcoholic drinks he pronounces to be iniu-
| rious to the nerve-tissues and deleterlous TO
health. In reply to the question OF the
Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Penrhyn,
he boldly said that there Is a great deal OF
injury done to health by the habitual USc Of
| ripeS even in so-called moderate quantities.
This is rather radical doctrine to be heard in
aristocratic quarters. He denies that alco-
holic beverages either improve the intellect,
or impart strength, or add nourishment or
supply warmth to the body. He makes II
| proper ulstlnctlOn between neat anu tHt
feeling of heat" Sir William closed by AL
yocating the immediate abandonment ct in
toxicating beverages on the same principle
that he would the prompt abandonment of
| polsons.
When such wholesome teachings are heard
from such influential quarters. 1t Is time that
American physicians began to reconsider
their practice of freely using and recon-
mending alcoholic tones. Some of them do
| give the weight of their influence in opposi-
tion to such tonics hut 1t is still an unde-
niable fact that an immense amount of drunk
enness is produced by the use of wines and
Bourbon as restoratiyes. Alcohol covers mp
II great deal but it cures very little In
medicine, AS IN the social circle, wine is a
mocker. Whose is deceived thereby Is not
wise" A Happy New Year" would it be If
it banshed the decanter from every house IN
our land y. !. hdtpsHdfHL
II LII -, l.