The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1878-03-23
THE RED RIBBON.
A Temperance Sermon by the Rev. w. r.
Crafts,

a Temperance Sermon by the Rev. w. r.
| Crafts.
The Rev W. F. Crafts delivered a sermon
last Sunday evening in Trinity NJ. E. Church,
Chicago, of which synopsis is here given.
The speaker took as his text Ezekiel vii. 90:
Make chain, for the land is full of bloody
crimes, and the city is full Of violence
Mr.. Crafts said that an ancient king called
in skilled artiticer and instructed him to
make chain. When the work was DONE the
king ordered that the chain should be doubled,
and when this behest was obeyed, the mechan-
ic was bound with the chain which he had
forged. So it was with the chain of intemper-
ance, which bound men withouthope. Begin
ming with cider, wine, and beer, the chain end
ed with brandy, gin, rum, and whisky. There
are $4,000 drunkards in this country The
knowledge that a young man drank created
dstrust in the minds OF men. Drinking men
reached the poor-h0use by building up the
house of the rum-seller. 1t might be stated :
Positive, rum; comparative, rags; superlative
ruin. Then came idiocy, and so per cent. Of
the idiots in this country were begotten by
drunkards Next followed insanity, and then
disease; all links in the chain of intemperance.
Medical science has declared that alcohol had
no place in the healthy system, and when a
man asked another to drink he ought to say,
"Will you have drink of epilepsy?'' or" Bar
keeper, give us two drinks of liquid death and
everlasting damnation" Senator Bucking.
ham, of Connecticut, said that he was afraid to
indulge in the social glass for fear he should
90 farther He did not wish to give his child
as n heritage that he had had drunken father.
A few years ago, when Il distillery took fire,
and the blazing liquor flowed in the gutter,
men went down on their knees in the street
ii
hats. The rum-shop and the brothel were near
ly related and drink led the rum-drinker to
fthe house of prostitution. Saloons were the
offices and headquarters of thieves and the
whole liquor trade was gigantic robbery
which had caused the hard times. 1t cost the
country IA billion and a half of dollars every
year for drink, including the 500, 600 600 spent
direct for whisky and the amount expended
for idiots and paupers caused by drink The
amount spent for drink in thirteen years would
pay the whole expenses Of the late War, both
! North and South Drink was poison. AlcO-
hol was an irritant poison, and it was shallow
ignorance to say that lager beer had any nu-
trtive properties. Liebig had said that as much
flour or meal as could lie upon the point of Il
tablc-knite contained as much nutrition as nine
quarts of the best Bavarian beer. Besides this,
| all drinks were adutcratcd with the yilcst
poisOns. These worked slowly upon the sys-
TEN, but were unerring in their action. The
man or woman who deliberately took this
poison was II suicide, and the young men Of 20
years who drank could only expect to live one
third as long as those who did mot do so. Drink
extracted from man all his truth and manhood
Judge Davis, of New York, had declared that
seven. ghths of the crimes involving violence
were the direct consequence Of rum. The Their
mometcr of winedrinking was the criminal
record. Murder was based on rum, and less
than 10 per cent of capital oticnses recorded in
this country lad any other origin. OF all the
murders in the whole land IS per cent. were
caused by drink. The one constant business
of the 1000 saloons in Chicago was to switch
youn- men off the track God wrote these
rumSc.lcrS downas murdcrcrS.
The remedy was temperance, total absti-
ncnC, from the acCursed thing. All liquor
scllcI, must be reckoned equally guilty. There
were 40 respectable saloons. Those so-called
led iNay young men, who finished up thcirca-
recr la dirty places on by streets. All alcohol
ic drinks were equally to be trowned down,
for, although beer was not so deadly in its ef,
feet us whisky, its consumption brought on the
desire for the more deadly poison. The wine
drinking countries OF Europe were full of
drunkards, and crime was the natural accom-
paniment thereof In Chicago there was one
| drinkingplace to every twenty voters.
Liquor-sellng ought to be separated as far
possible from connection with the public reyc-
nue. Even temperance people had advocated
the bcll-punch claiming that the liquOr-deal-
crs would be satisfied with it. Anything the
IliuuOrdealcrs were satisfied with ought TO be
rejected Judas wanted to increase his revenue,
and got the ready cash for the delivery of his
Savior In one town the results of keeping
open one saloon, from which Il liCcnsctce of
$50 was derived. were noted Ii cost the town
S9S12 for pauperS, prosecuting criminals and
the like all the product of this one saloon.
Only one law had proved practically success
full That was the law of prohibition, which
was the law of God In Maine there is not
one-twcntcth of the liquor used that was used
before the prohibitory laws were adopted. Every
Christian was bound to put himself on record
as IA pledged and cOvcnantcd friend of temper
ance. Pledges were the most common thing
in business life. and no man could object to
taking one The League for the Suppression
of the sale of Liquor To Minors was grand
thing, for unless man acquired the habit OF
drink before he was 81 wears old lac was cN-
tremcly unlikely ever To Cotract that habit.
The League had shut up a great many saloons,
and If the campaign was kept mp Onc-lhird of
the saloons in Chicago would have Ia shut up.
As resort for the young men driven out from
the saloons. the Good Templars, Sons Of Tenn
perancc and kindred organization, offered so
cial pleasures To occupy their time. Then
there was the prayermceing and tie home IN
iluenceS. The people Of Chicago should with
hold their patronage from every grocery where
! liquor was sold. The rci-gi5buu was no new
thing, for God told His people, the Jews, 10
wear fringcS upon their garment g- % symbol
OF the Kingdom of Heaven.