Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-05-01
Influence Of Total Abstinence.
BY REV. HENRY c. POTTER. u. D.

All the while the total abstinence move
ment, though grounded exclusively neither
upon any scientific nor any textual basis,
does draw its grandest and most persuasive
argument from what we find in the Word of
God for. when we open that Word, we find
there one supreme, central figure, who, what
ever may have been the gifts and graces of
patriarchs and prophets. apostles aud mar
tyrs, dwarfs and overshadows all the rest. 1t
is the figure of One who, looking forward
amid the thickening shadows of his earthly
ministry toward the deeper darkness and
treachery that gathered about its close, said
with the simple majesty of divine self-for
getfulness, No man taketh my life from
me. lag dorm of myself" 1t is the fig
ure of One toward whom the eyes of the
aged apostle to the Gentiles are turned, as
he writes in his letter to the Galatians
"The Son of God who gave himself for
me-" This is the figure that is central to
the New Testament and to all human his
tory ever since. He is simply longing and
striving to save men and to win them from
a life of selfshness aud sin to life of pur-
ity and love.
And this, as it is the spirit of his life and
his gospel, so is it the clue to the ministry
of his foremost apostle. We hear him say
in words that to my mind are the strongest
total abstinence argument that was ever
written: If meat make my brother to
Offend will eat no meat while the world
stands !" and we catch in them the echo
of that spirit of utter self-forgetfulness that
ennobled his whole life. | know that when
we use those words to-day, we are told
that they have no more to do with the ques-
ton of total abstinence than they have to do
with problem in Euclid. We are told
that the apostle is discussing the question of
meat offered to idols, and is making gem
erous concession to the unenlightened scruples
of a semi-pagan or semi-Judaized conscience.
Undoubtedly he is but the spirit which in
spires that concession is neither pagan nor
Jewish, but supremey Christian-nay
Christ-like 1t is the very spirit Of the
cross and | venture TO affirm that he who
would win others to come up upon the
ground OF total abstinence must live it and
illustrate it. Says the friend to whom you
go, asking him to come out and take his
place distinctly with those who abstain
"Why should abstain | have been
drinking glass, or two or three glasses OF
wine, at my table or at other peoples tables
for ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty years OF
my life Look at me is not my hand as
steady as yours, my eye as bright, my brain
as clear, my pulse as even ?"
Yes, unquestionably"
"Nery well, then, why should abstain ?
Is my wife drunkard Are my children
tpplers ?"
q No, thank God, they are not"
"Well, then, produce me some argument
from the Bible, from science, from the testi-
mony of the learned that shall inculcate
total abstinence"
"No; | will not do that. But | will pro-
duce an argument from your personal expe-
rierce Last week you accepted the hospi-
talites of a neighbor whose house, for the
evening was thronged with guests. Among
them was youth accustomed TO look TO you
as an example. Something in you had at.
tracted his admiration, " you were placed
at some prominent post where your example
came to be thing to be quoted In accord
ance with the detestable custom of our
modern society which sometimes permits
men and youths to herd together in a re-
freshment room after their mother and sis
ters have departed, this youth fingered with
Others of his own age, who proposed TO drink
champagne by tumblerfuls in the corner OF
the room. This young friend of yours had
manly and refined instincts, and he shrank
instinctively from a usage so boorish and
vulgar. He had other reasons, too, for let.
ting wine alone, lie had dishonored an-
cestry dragged down to ruin by ntemper-
ance. But in the moment of hesitation lie
caught your eye. Oh, if there had only been
in it one loving ray OF tender, pleading re-
monstrance; but you were holding up a
glass of old Madeira to the light, and listen
ing TO your host as he remarked, with a
whisper OF bland complacenoy, llabersham,
vintage of loii.'
"One glance was enough for your young
friend. If you could drink Madeira out OF
wine-glass, why should he not drink
champagne out of tumbler Well, he
did. | will not tell you the rest But when
you meet him next with bloodshot eye and
unstrung nerves, ask yourself whether YOU
glass of wine was worth-not what it cost
you, but what 1t cost your weaker brother
For this, AS ! conceive, is the gist of the
whole matter We cannot separate our
drinking customs, innocent as we may deem
them, and as they may be in themselves
from their influence upon those about u.s.
And If this be SO it is impossible to separate
this question of total abstinence from the
question of personal unselhshness. The
question is not what is permissible, what is
iustifable Z but what is Christ-like 7 Nay
even if man be not a Christian, the ques'
ton is not what is pleasant, or wholesome
or companionable but what is generous
what is unselfish, what is magnanimous I
The total abstinence movement must plant
itself supremely upon these considerations
and appeal from them confidently to the
nobler and better, aye, the diviner, side OF
human nature. Above all, to every one who
owns himself a disciple of the Master il
must appeal in that Masters name aud to that
Masters example. Bear ye one another.
burdens" writes st. Paul, sand 50 fulfill the
law of Christ" The law of Christ What
is that law but the law of life that loved
not itself, but gave itself for you and me 7