Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1881-08-24

might otherwise have been saved
know the pledge is not much insisted
upon now. At the beginning of the tem.
perance reform, it was held as a chief reli.
ance. TO day. but few refOrmers make il
prominent. and very generally young men
and others refuse TO sign it.
Is not this a change for the worse. l
think it is decidedly, and am prepared
to put in an earnest protest against this
progress backward"
Look at the matter All good things
among men rest upon pledges
The church is pledged company; each
m mister took solemn promises in ordina-
tion Each member, in public profess
sion of Christ, took solemn VOWS before
God and men. And at the communion,
those vows are reaffirmed There is not
renewed soul on earth that has not passed
a solemn pledge to be the Lords; inward
y or openly, or both. Let it be borne in
mind, that God imposes, in His word and
His ordinances, pledges upon His people,
and has always done it. He would not
trust His cause without the pledge.
And how professed Christian can con
sistehtly say, Il don't believe in pledginp
myself, is not easily seen. He is already
Pi0u5V'' AAp llO uIOlt DlHlS ulluSbll Ill
promising not to drink, than he has
previously. of choice, bound bimself in
attaching himself to God and His people.
nm MN'~risge, rs9, that hulwark of social purity
tuu nolallly' .0nt- ~.>~- - nlah- 1.
could not last without it. Do away with
those solemn VOWS taken in matrimony-
vows, let it be observed, which only death
can dissolve and the marriage institution
would he of no avail whatever. What
inconsistency, then, for young mtn,
perhaps expecting soon to stand at the
hymeneal altar, to say, "Oh! no; won't
promise. don't believe in pledging ones
selfn'
Government rests on the pledge. Not
the highest officer in the land will be
trusted unless he is pledged. The people
exact an oath from him. The president
of the United States, in taking office, is
compelled to say, | do soemnly swear"
etc And not less is every senator and
representative, and official of whatever
grade, pledged man.
Law rests on the pledge. In all our
courts, the judges, attorneys and Jurors
are pledged men. Aud each witness has
to lay his hand on the Bible, and take an
oath to testify the truth. Moreover, each
state, county, municipal, or town officer,
high or low, in assuming his functions, is
compelled by law to take the precribed
oath and the custom is not objected to.
And yet we hear men say, 81 don't believe
in pledgingm
Business, too, rests on the pledge. The
notes and other written and oral agree
ments which men pass between themselves
are simply pledges And without these,
business could not be prosecuted.
Now. if in the matters referred to the
pledge is regarded as indispensable, how
can it be esteemed lightly in the matter of
temperance? And if men do not hesitate
to take it in the cases mentioned, why
should they refuse to pohgo thonI selves
in respect to the use of strong drinks9
1t stands thus: The pledge as we have
seen, is an inherent and essential condition
to all the success, nay, to the very exist
ence, of both the church and the state. It
lsabsolutely necessary to all the protective
potency of law. to all established forms of
social order, to all virtue between the
sexes, to the perpetuity of the family, to
the prevalence of all mortality and superb
or excellence and purity, and to every
varied phase of Christian civilization.
Destroy the pledge in every form, and you
destroy what is the only salvation of the
weak in human society, and the only
reliable safeguard of the strong.
Upon how lofty platform, then, do
those stand who are the pledged temper
ance men and women in any community!
They are not week and puerile; but, on
the contrary. they are the true, the heroic.
the strong, in the nOblest sense. They
have come up in good company. They
only are consistent in pledging themselves
to total and perpetual abstinence; they
act in keeping with the truest philosophy
and the most established and universally
practiced general principles.
The above considerations do away with
any possible objections to the use of the
temperance pledge 1t is said MANY
would break the obligations iflhe young
and the old, and all classes could be
prevailed upon to sign it. We answer,
pledges of any kind are all the while
being broken; but shall we therefore
dispense with them9 In the main, we
will say, they are kept; and on the whole.
they are of vast advantage. So here: all
should keep their pledge, and most do
keep it; and the point is, to guard in every
way against its being broken.
We saw. then. to all workers in the
temperance reform. while Won insist on
prohibitions. and pIv moral suasion and
circulate intellioence advocate and nse
the pledge! Return to the old IDEAS and
the old instrumentalities Drunkenness
is terribly prevalent, Its vi1tims ara
on the increase Rut a former
generation was well.nioh saved, Howp
Temperance was preached. in the nnlpit.
in the leeture.room. in the family. in The
scbool.room. on the wnvside, by naners,
hooks, tracts. and Lecturers: and at the
same time. children ami mon and women
bv thousands nnon thousands. sicned tho
teetotaI nledoe and hv if we're kent from
f,lino hack to old maths Mr. Gongb
lately told the writer that he believed hat
one in four of the multitudes who former.
lv signed the pledoe kent it.
We saw, then. Restore the pledoe, re.
store the nledoei II is n migbtv helm
"keap the eav eytnv and tb. lom1 Of aoI hrt,n+
And my word for thine, it shall end in The right' :"
And we say O all not strictly temperate.
and not pledged to this, stop in time!
do we say this to every young
man. The brilliant but diSsipated Charles
T - ,,,h tbue ,uroto, uI houo eoor a ,,-;,A