Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-08-13


to secure homes Of their own, to leave the
crowded cities, TO gain by labor and ec9no-
NV competence for themselves and their
| families; YOU must lay the ak to the root Oh
the evil, first teaching them to shun the
saloon which il swallowing up their earn
ings.
bearing before municipal courts, nillng
municipal jails and reformatories, strike us Us
with horror. Well they may. Let us tei
The truth-the world is telling IL Tor US;
but the world tells il for our shame, while
we will tell it that the world may no longer
be able to tell il. Irish names, douoly
more than our due proportion VIII allow,
are inscribed ON our court registers Wnas
a shame for the old racel What dis
grace to religion! We could ae-
fend them, Eif comparisons can deieno;
The most shocking sins OF the iaha
are absent from Irish homes. Weighed be-.
/ fore God. in scales of perfect justice, these
Irish crimes are often light and pardona6ie
before crimes of more favored classes VINO
are never dragged into court Butwhat OF
This in the public mind2 Who will explain :
as we do or see as we dor The shame re-
mains. Have you studied the causes
of these crimes? have tried to study
them, and in large cities nave
questioned judges and police officers, ana
here is the fact: Ninety per cent at least
of ali Irish crimes are traceable directly or
indirectly to drink. The power OF rum TO
produce crime, great among all elements oil
the population, attains special proportions
among the Irish. AS things are, we appear
far more criminal than we should be. sup
press rum and no other element compares
with us in freedom from crime.
Your remedy, my brethren, is total aosti-
hence. / have full faith in the remedy.
and to insure the complete regeneration OF
our people l am certain we need but 10
multiply your societies and maintain their
efficiency.
You pledge yourselves to abstain wholly
from the use of intoxicating drinks, ana
You labor to induce others to initiate your
example. Certainly total abstinence as de-
fined and practiced in your associations Is
in itself most worthy and laudable work.
Strange as it may seem, there are men from
whom better knowledge and better sense
were to be expected who seek, more Oh
course by Misrepresentation and convert
sheer than by argument, to disparage total
abstinence. They dislike 1t for themselves,
and as a consequence they dislike II In
Others. We do not say that the moderate
use of intoxicating liquor is in itself wrong
and sinful; we are no Manicheans. We do
not propose to take from others against
their will their right, allowed them by
nature and natures God, to use within le-
Ultimate bounds wine, beer, or whisky.
But neither do we acknowledge NJ resting
on ourselves an obligation to use these IL
ouors, and we claim the GodgiYen right to
abstain as our own free choice fr)m such
use.
We do not say that total abstainers are
holier than others. This were unpardon,
able pride and objectionable sillin sss; God
alone Judges Of individual holiness. But
we do say, as all abstract principle, that to-
tai abstinence practiced through super
natural motive is high act OF virtue most
agreeable to God, and most deser"edly OF
reward at his hands, The motive may be
charity for ones self; we dread the sin OF
intemperance and that we may the more
certainly escape it, we resolve to shun even
its remote approaches. With this motive
total abstinence becomes the perfection, the
heroic form of temperance, as the evan
gelical counsels are the heroic forms OF
chastity, obedience to Gods will, and
detachment from earthly goods. The
motive of total abstinence again may
be modification or self.denial, virtue so
salutary, so necessary for the Christian life,
so earnestly recommended to us by the
Savior in word and example. 1t may, too,
be charity for the neighbor. Some there
are who practically can not use intoxicat-
ing liquor without being carried to excess.
Our example of total abstinence may lead
him to total abstinence, and We will have
saved his soul. Total abstinence is neces-
sary for our brethren for us il will be an
act of heroic charity. The practice of total
abstinence through the motives / have
named is undoubtedly, according, to all
Catholic theology, more meritorious act
than the using of intoxicating liquors sim
ply because their use is not prohibited
fntemperance We condemn, temperance We
allow, total abstinence we commend. In
regard to the latter, ~ have no command
ment of the Lord, but give counsel"
1.-THE word of God" says, very abruptly,
Bishop Elder, does speak of wine as the
gift of God, as benefit just as it declares
marriage to be Gods own institution; but
in the same way that it declares virginity
to be still holier than marriage, so does it
praise as special friends of God all those
who for Gods sake, renounce all use OF
wine and of all intoxicating drink" The
Rechabites said 1--WE will not drink wine
because Jonadab the son of Rechab, our
father commanded US, saying: You shall
drink no wine, neither you nor your chill
dren forever" And God rewarded them:
''Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God OF
Israel There shall not be wanting
a man of the race OF Jonadab, the son of
Rechab, standing before me forever"
| Aaron and his sons were commanded by the
Lord to abstain from wine and all other in
| toxicating drinks whenever they were to
| enter into the tabernacle of the testimony.
| 1t was one of the conditions Of the marvel.
Gus strength God gave to Sampson that his
mother was to abstain from wine and strong
drink. In the words of our blessed Savior,
no greater man had ever appeared on earth
than John Baptist and OF all the holy prac-
tees of his life the only one marked out by
| the angel of God was total abstinence from
intoxicating drink. He shall be great before
| the Lord, and shall drink no wine nor
strong drink, and he shall be filled with the
Holy Ghost, even from his mothers
womb" st. Timothy was total abstainer.
Only when his strength through his evan
gelical labors was failing, did he consent,
| at the command of his MASTER st. Paul, to
take "a little wine" And the great apostle
of the nations himself marked out the car
dinal principle upon which total abstinence
for the sake of our brethren is commended.
at is good" he writes to the RomaEs, mot
! 10 eat flesh and not to drink wine nor any
thing whereby .hy brother is offended, or
scandalized or made weak"
But what of the efficacy of total absti-
1 snenceRs a remedy for prevailing intemper-
nDest4 The tens of thousands whom you
Jfsdfe the practice of total abstinence are
1 ss4ve2, A total abstinence society is the
III k.~1.<.p. uitbin the winds are still. the sea