The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1881-06-30
WHOLE NO. 1878.

lived an honorable and worthy life. ]
believe nothing short of the love OF
Christ could have reached him. And
was he not worth saving? Shall not
the Church feel her responsibility and
use her power?
A majority of the churches, doubt
less, now use unfermented wine at the
communion table. As Christ was not
above saving the lowest, so his follow
ers have come to be unwilling to put
temptation in the way OF the hum
blest.
And, now, is there need for tenn
perance work in our Sunday-schools?
With this country spending yearly
S735, ,000,O 900 for drink (six times what
it spends for education); drinking up
the value of all the books in the
Libraries of the land in less than two
months; the total amount used yearly
for both home and foreign missions,
estimated at $5,000,000, in less than
three days; it is clear that all possible
means must be used for reform.
Were the seven million children now
in our Sunday-schools pledged to total
abstinence and then taught regularly
the precepts of the Bible about man
being his brothers keeper, we should
have reformation in generation.
It easy to say, IF children are
taught the Bible, they will not go
astray"; but have they been taught
the whole Bible? Rev. James Smith
says, from reports obtained from the
principal prisons of Great Britain, it
was shown that, of the 10,361 inmates,
6,572 had been in Sunday-school, and
almost uniformly Intoxicating liquor
was the cause of their ruin. What
if they had been taught in those
Sunday-schools that these drinks ruin
both body and soul? -
Children rarely forget, less often
than adults, and they are usually
earnest and sincere. A young man
has just graduated with honor from
Harvard College who was respected
for his manly position on temperance.
| said to his sister, the wife of a min
lister: "How was A. so strong?" mo
wonder" she replied. HE signed the
total-abstinence pledge in Mothers
Bible. when he was boy, and he has
kept it." was told only yesterday
by young man that he should have
used wine in college but for his
pledge
A pledge is no new thing. Joining
the Church is pledge to live an up
right life. Marriage is pledge of
fidelity No man enters public life
without pledging himself to the state
to faithfully perform his duties.
Business tranactions are a series of
pledges. We pledge money to build
churches. Life is one long chain OF
obligations, usually self-imposed.
What if some violate their pledges?
Some men fail to meet notes; but the
world does not, therefore, cease to do
business with notes. Do not have a
pledge for mon tn or year. We do
not take children into the Church for
a brief time, and then, if they like it,
let them remain. We teach them the
nature of the promise and then bind
them for a lifetime. Ii it be right
to desist for a year, it is right and best
as long as one lives. Some complain
of badges and banners for the chill
dren. Do we not have professions
and banners for our Sunday-schools,
and why are they any worse for tenn
perance? | see no way so effective
for the reaching Of children as through
a quarterly lesson on temperance in the
Lesson Series. Most of
US are very thankful for the vacant
Sunday, and regret that the commit
tee did not give us two temperance
lessons, at least. 1t is said that some
classes Of our people may not like to
hear total abstinence sentiments.
Some classes do not like our keeping
the Sabbath holy; but shall we, there
fore, cease to speak earnestly against
Sabbath desecration? We rejoice
that temperance was made one of the
topics in the Week of prayer, and
what we pray about, in that we soon
become deeply interested. This year
at all the large gatherings, either of
churches or Sunday-schools, | believe
not one has omitted the temperance
cause. Were it not for the fact that
Christians are everywhere waking up
to their duty and privilege in this
matter, the future would look dark
for America. As in the days of Con-
the Cross is in the sky and
In hoe SignO ginces. ......
Boston, Mass.