The Evening critic., 1882-04-21


has this occasion boen embraced? Many
christian men and women have done noble
work as individuals, but as organizations the
churchcs have for the most part laggcd far I'm
the rear. Long-hairod mon and short
haired women have too largely mOnopOltzed
the leadership Of the movement.
Good Christian People
point to their extravaganccs, their wastes,
their absurdties OF speech and action, and
beg TO be excused from marching through
coventry with such sorry lot. But thore is
that.
No objection can bo urged against popular
methods OF temperance work which does not
tell with equal effect against most kinds OF re-
yival cnort. We have callow cvangelists, who
can balance themselves with ono foot In the
air and the other on the top OF an altar rail for
ninety seconds by the watch, and who, In that
position, can pray and exhort at the ratio of
800 words minute We have some who can
pronounce a bonedlction and announce tho
sale OF their own photographs, cabinet size,
twenty-five cents copy at the door, all in one
breath. We have many who, because mon
have been saved by the foollshness of preach.
Ing, are careful always TO make their preach
ing superlatively foolish; but for all that we
do not give up revival work. Rather tho more
do we feel 1t our duty to take hold of thew
ana, redoeming II from extravagances and
sensationalism, give II n fresh and vigorous
push on tho line of common sense and rever.
cnt piety. 500, too,
Let tho Church take Hold
OF the temperance movement, wounded in the
house OF Its friends, give It her care and sue.
cor and send 1t forth anew to It's mission, i'm
bued with now spirit and glai to proclaim,
VIZ WA, gonetn ,, at'er me VINO Is greater than l.
Brethren, "this kind goeth not out but by
prayer and fasting !" The two have too often
been dissociated. Temperance advocates have
urged fasting as remedy-the Church has
recommended prayer; but they must go to-
%gether. % The prayer which does not
cast out this devil; the fasting which
Is not inspired and upheld by prayer
VIII achieve no lasting success. We must add
TO our prayers works, TO our faith temper
saith the Lord; "speak to thejpeople OF Israel
that they go forward" Such was Gods
Church to-day. The way to the promised
land, a land flowing, not with lager and rum,
but with milk and honey, lies there before
you yo,r oid Inc LORD Wi, be your rearguard that
but your wall of defense, on tho right hand
and on the left, shall be to you, as to Gods
people OF old, cold water.
The church temperance platform should In.
clude not only abstinence for the individual,
put Tor the State as well. Abstinence for the
State, being translated, is legal prohibition.
ties do not gainsay him. / am talking poll
tics, but 1 think I am talking religion too.
see no hope for the work in
Our Alleys and Slums
so long as the traffic in drink is legalized and
set up ct every corner. 1t has defeated us in
the past; 1t will in the future. BY the self
sacrificing efforts OF our nobte missionaries
and Bible women we have saved many, but do
we not truly designate them ''brands plucked
from the burningP"
Tho conflagration goes on, fresh victims are
engulfed and Its flames will scorch and its
smoke will pollute the heavens till our Christi
antty shall take the form of righteous law and
utterly quench 1t.
There was wisdom in the ARRANGEMENT of
the Second Commandment. "Thou shalt not
make any craven image" was written before
Ihou shalt not worship them." Let us
write on our statutes "Thou shalt not make
any Intoxicating drinks; thou shalt not sell
any such;" then only will our temperance
teaching be complete; then only Will 1t be en-
urely successful. But
The Church is Slow
TO lake positive ground on this question. 1t is
seeking 10 know its duty, not in the light of
nineteenth century and every day experience.
put In examples of the patriarchs and proof
days since the beverages they describe
are things of the past. What IL ancient
writer's did commend wine of their
day, which cheered the heart OF man? What
kinship can the brandies and whiskies of
these latter times claim with that kind of
liquor? Be sure, the prophets and poets Of
the Old Testament never sang the praises of
any such stun as we moderns are used to; be
sure, Paul had in mind a very different thing
from the decoctions served out from our
wholesale and retail groceries, or he would
have hesltated to advise Timothy to take eyen
little for his stomach's sake. He would
have deemed 1t heroic treatment. Sore has been
triumphant on the fields Of science, phIloso,
ply, political economy and experience, should
DO worsted here, which think you would suffer
most,
Total Abstinence or the Bible?
The dreadful, unspeakable evil Of the drink
business, the convincing evidence of practical
experience as to the value of this method,
added to the overwhelming verdict Of science,
nave 30 rooted and grounded many earnest
men in this principle that II persuaded that
the Bibles view is opposed to theirs, and a
reconsideration necessary, who will say that
on reconsideration of the exigencies of the
case and Of the reasonsson which their practice
rests, their total abstinence principles would
TO them, on ono OF the vital Issues
Oh the day, sealed book. But am persuaded
that the Bible is not against, but for absti-
nence. i, too, could quote prooftexts but
they are not my weapons. Slavery had its
pfous advocates, loaded and primed with
Scr1ptural quotations, which many an humble
christian, who knew the business to be all
wrong, could not answer. Mormonfsm can
hold Its own when the question of poiygamy is
TO be debated on Old Testament texts and the
lives of the patriarchs. Verify, the latter
killeth, but we know that there Is spirit In
the Bible which has throttled slavery In all
its strongholds. We know that 1t is the spirit
OF the teachings of Moses and Christ
which has stamped out polygamy In all Chris
tlap lands, and we know that, texts here or
texts there; because this Temperance reform
Is conceived in the spirit OF Christ, who
pleased not himself, and who made It his mis-
sion TO give sight to the blind, to cure the
to live again; because 1t is In harmony with
the Divine mind and purpose 1t will grow and
prosper, until men shall be ashamed TO quote
a text against 1t, and until the name OF in-
dulgence In that which intoxicates shall be a
Missing and reproach among all Christian
people.
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