The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-10-28
Prohibition and it's Advocacy from an
Opposition Point of View.
lContinued ftom paqe 81

oDAbN3 DOlh u JhC llilEAJ ~ OAlCllOh W
sale of ardent spirits that Honolulu
although a seaport of great resort, is
not a community addicted to intern
perance. There is independent testi-
mony to the same effect. Mr.. J. w.
Stevens of New York (see G,zette of
oath May, 1892 found US "a remarkable
sober people, and it is one of the rarest
occurrences IN the world to see u tipsy
person on the streets
Again, And we all agree too that
drunkenness should be suppressed" So,
if possible should be lying, SANDER,
trickery, jobbery or any other vulgar
vice daily practised by myriads more of
men than those who are addicted to
drunkenness. But who is to carry out
the necessary operation ? Who is to
cast the first stone Who is to be the
%eXOrcist ? Why the gentleman himself
like another David undertakes TO slav
the giant. His enthusiasm knows no
bounds. Only ne does not appear to re
cOgnise the proper weapons for effectlng
his purpose. If in the stronges terms
he eXhort and enjoin the practice of
temperance, every one will wish him God
speed; but the attempt to remove it
from the catalogue of virtues, and to
substitute i'll its place prohibition as the
suppressor of drunkenness, will provoke
different treatment. Suppression is un-
derstood a. the writer to mean the
roofing out or humiliation of any thing
by the Intervention Of force or power.
But there are few men of mind outside
the circle of his own admiring associates
and followers who would tolerate the
undermining Of their liberty even in the
face of protestations that the effort was
made in the cause of virtue.
Every one knows and agrees that
drunkenness is Il great and deplorable
evil, and that, whenever, interfering
with the rights of others it should be
punished. 1t is every mans duty to
abstain from it. to discountenance it,
and to prevent it from spreading by
every lawful means. Beyond this no
man can lawfully go. he gentleman
thinks that to do this it is necessary "tO
use every legitimate means to obtain
and enforce "a law prohibiting the sale
of liquors." That is, as others under
stand the matter, to use every legiti-
mate means to accomplish an unlawful
purpose.
Who gave the gentleman or any num-
Der of men the right to dictate what his
brother shall eat or drink? Whence
would he derive his power? All power
comes from God, and is to be welded
with reverence, discretion and even
handed Justice. The abuse of power or
of intellectual attachments is criminal
and must be accounted for. Does the
gentleman believe in his Bible ? Does
he find the power bestowed on him
there ? In the same chapter from which
he tool his text he will find verse 10:
But why dos't thou judge thy brother q?
For we shall all stand before the judg-
ment seat of Christ? II. So then everyone
of us shall give account of himself to God.
13-Let us not therefore Judge one
another any more bat judge this
rather, that no man put Il stumbling
block or occasion to fall in his brothers
way. III know and am persuaded by
the Lord Jesus that there is nothing IN
clean of itself; but to him that esteem
eth anything to be u%ncIean to him it is
unclean."
Now, if anyone consider fermenteI
liquors u%nclean, by all means let him
abstain from them; but let him not
endeavor forcibly to put a stumbling
block in the way of his brother who be-
lieves them to be clean.
We know that temperance is incul-
-"tei throughout both the Old and New