The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1881-02-25
Dr.. Crosby's Position.
sr Ksy. J. GREENE.

4 f.lI rlltEll IfI laarr tr.h
And SO the shadow must 20 back up.
on the dial. Total Abstinence is
founded upon deception and supported
mainly by falsebood: IL is, therefore,
foredoomed TO failure, and the mouth
of DR.. Crosby has spoken il. / -s.s,y
There is indeed, no occasion here tor
personalities and Misrepresentation /:
there never is; and the Examiner does
well to remind intemperate critics of
the duty of temperance in all things
Nevertheless, the position taken by
religious teacher upon the temperance
question cannot be matter of indiffer-
ence to his brethren; they are war
ranted in making au honest and ear
nest protest.
| lam puzzled also, to know what l'A
temperance man" means, when he says
that "the temperance question, like
every other question, will settle itself"
II this be true, then ministers and NOR.
al reformers are guilty of an enormous
imposition upon long-suffering
world. j supposed that we ministers
especially we're called of God to fight
against terrible tendency in human
nature toward a wicked and fatal solu-
ton, not only of the temperance ques-
ton, but OF every vital question of
Christian morality.
1t is time, indeed, that the mass of
learned nonsense about unfermented
wine should be dessicated to Its essen,
tial nothingness. But does it follow
that the moderate drinking of afty
years ago is the only alternative? /
trow not. Granting that Christ drank
fermented wine, and made 1t for others
to drink; and that Paul recommended
the same to Timothy, iths question 10,
What is duty to day2 In matters of
expediency duty is not q constant guam z
tity. "Prayerful study of the Scrip
lures and cultivation of conscisn-
tiouness" must be coupled withs can p
did survey Of existing conditions be-
fore duty can be determined. Ths
question Is, Would Christ drink wine
to-day, were he moving about among
rs as he did among the Jewsof the
1rst century? DO You answer, Yes2 stt
Take a parallel case. The Bible has
,ven less to say explicitly sgsinst
human slavery than against aintoxi- .
,ants. Yet few men not selfishly inter
sstsd have any doubt about the moral
character of slavery, or ofthe will OF
he risen Christ concerning it. To be
consistent, DR.. Crosby should insist on
he right to hold slaves, at least mode
.stely, without hinderance from &
Church or,State. Hould Christ advo-
ate human slavery, were he oh earth
o.dayf A thousand times not
Would he incur even the risk of being
,alled q wine bibberf I think not
lnd that because of the changed con- s
litions OF race, climate and social life. 8
"But he set the example, and did he
not foresee these changed conditionsF'
I es, yes, yes! And suppose he fore
Jaw the abuses of slavery. and perhaps
oreheard, tinkling across the centur- fa
es, the crack of the drivers lash. He
oreknew the iniquity of unrighteous
wars, OF modern politics, aud even of
our American "spoils system;" but on
All these momentous topics he was as
'licnt as the Sphihx. yet none the less do
VIC agree with Hosea Biglow that
Christ went agin war and pillage,"
sgaist -unrighteousness and all that
works unrighteousness.
''But the example" Very true; but
4 il was bis duty to set examples in So
,ial usage for the nineteenth century, il
was thousand fold more his duty to
after himself clearly upon the coming
ssucs that were to work the veal OF
woe of nations and OF races. THE let
ter killeth." Mighty questions are not
% be settled by assuming that Christ
would have done and said precisely the
'amc things, had he come in another
century and in some other cline. The
arguments OF anti-abstinence people
,re constantly implying this false pre-
mise: whatever is innocent at partic-
llar time or place is equally innocent
At al! times and in all places.
Politicians arc talking Of late years
about "the sleeping lion" in our ma
Iional constitution. Such silent
power is that classic passage for total
abstinence In Romans XIV. Wnen a
mau enters upon the consideration OF
the temperance question in the light OF
that chapter, and in tho spirit of the
Master, uninfuenccd by appetite or
passion, the road to abstinene Ia O short
one. The strength of the cause of Rb'
lies not in tho ''lying exege-
els" Of extremists, but In the numbers
of sober-minded men who look with
open eyes on the crime and misery OF
these days, and say with plying heart,
"An enemy hath done this" They
learn from statisticians that at least
four-fifths Of crimes against the person,
eighty per cent. of pauperism and .
large percentage of insanity are treaci-
BILE directly to the use of intoxicants.
They learn that even under the social
led failure" Of the prohibitory laws,
criminal convictions are diminishing
from fifty 10 seventy-fiye per cent.
They conclude, therefore, with reason,
that the arch enemy Of this generation
Is the liquor traffic; and they feel it a
duty TO labor and to pray that the bles-
sings of prohibition may be assured, IL
not to them, at least to their posterity.
The enemy is intemperance; but
moderate drinking is the primrose path
that entices the unwary within bis
reach. Every rumseller, every brew
er, every distiler the world around,
argues for moderate drinking
The Scotchman with his whls-
Ky, the English lsborer in the ale
house, the German with his tiffy
glasses of lager per day, are each aud
ali blatant for moderation. And now
appears DIR. Howard Crosby to shed
the lustre of his white name upon the
arguments of this Bacchanalian crew.
Perhaps il was "a brave thing;' bnt,
o my brothers, the pity of i'll
-lExaminer.
Waterford, y. Y, Jan. ~, 1881.
During the late war james Hntehih-