The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1883-07-11


were all out and stretching il long line
as far as the eye could reach on the sea,
and the evening sun was shining on their
brown sails, it was as beautiful as any
thing | ever saw. Mr.. Beamish liked to
see it. And often he would come in from
his Office in the afternoon and say to me,
Matilda he always called me Matilda
put on your bonnet and come down to
the harbor and see the boats going out
to sea-
DWELL, one day we were standing at the
very end of the harbor. And noticed
that Mr. Beamish was very much troubled
that day. And when the last boat was
fairly out, he turned to me and said,
There will be bad news tomorrow morn
ing from these boats. Did you not see
that nearly all the men were under drink?
And every boat has wbiskev on board
And it was just as he said. The drinking
went on all night. And the boats on the
east coast drove against the boats of the
west. Many of them lost their nets. And
one boat was capsized and six men per-
ished. And there was great trouble in
the town next morning.
at was that very morning Mr.. Beam
ish said to me Matilda, if we were to
begin teetotal society in Cullossie,
would you take the pledge p l am ready,
L said, to take the pledge to-day. And
we will ask the children to Join with US.
well, Matilda, said he, it is Gods
work, and we will ask him to prosper it.
And we prayed for blessing; and God
has blessed it, for there is not drop of
whiskey goes out from Cullossie now with
the boats. The fishermen are nearly all
teetotalers. But that's an old story now"
"You had good deal of opposition at
first. Mrs. Beamish ?" said ii.
Yiss, it was so the Blacks opposed
us-that was the bankers family-and
the doctor opposed us. And at first the
greatest enemy was my own cousin, the
parish minister that was the Rev. Peter
Davidson. Peter was very good man,
and fine preacher; but he was tied up
round and round by his conscience. 1t
was very troublesome conscience, his
1t would not let him do one good thing, if
he had never done it before. And he got
to be very angry with me.
" Matilda he said to me one day,
You stand on wrong foundation alto.
gether in this teetotal. The Lord is
against you. He came eating and drink
ing. He was not teetotaler like John
the Baptist. No. Every creature of
God was good in his sight. And my
conscience will not allow me to be differ
ent from my Lord
lowell, Peter / said, | think if the
Lord had lived in Cullossie, and seen the
lriY, b 10 thoc Gal,
ermen, he would have been teetotaler.'
&c Do not speak that way said he.
You have no warrant in Scripture for it.
We are to be saved by faith not by works.
And it is the gospel that is Gods power
unto salvation, not teetotalism.'
He was both vexed and angry. But for
all that he was a good man, my cousin,
and one of the best preachers in the north.
"But after all, Mrs. Beamish, he Joined
your society,"" l said.
Yiss, it was 80, and will tell you how
that came about. 1t was the sacrament
in the parish church, and Mr. Davidson
was preaching the sermon. mind the
day well. He took for his text that day
the words in the first Epistle of John
Hereby perceive we the love of God, be-
cause he laid down his life for u.s. 1t
was beautiful sermon. As | said, he
was good preacher. And he preached
the gospel. But when he was done with
his sermon, and had to make his applica.
tions, l saw that he was in trouble. The
applications of this said he, must be
drawn from the next clause. And this is
what it says. 1t says, " We ought to lay
down our lives for the brethren" Now
there must be ways in which we can and
ought to lay down our lives for brethren
We have to sacrifice ourselves in these
ways as they are opened up to US. We
have to lay down our life, if by so doing
we can save their souls And lust there
he told me afterward, but l saw his
face getting red at the time-just there
and then the whole principle of Christian
abstinence flashed in upon him in mo.
ment. And although he did not name il
that day, he was an abstainer from that
day, and he became the president of ouI
society.
6" Yes, Matilda, he said to me, lit was
L who was wrong, and not you. Alb
stinence, if it can help in saving the lost
is part of the life our Lord laid down
for u.s.
"Yiss, you may we'll say that, Mr.. H
1t was great catch when we got the
minister on our side. 1t was like fire to
an engine. 1t was life to the cause. And
he made speech at the first meeting he
was in the chair, which did the cause q
great deal of good.
"'I am but a new convert he said
and have no right to be in this honor,
able place. But since the kindness OF
them who better deserve to be in it has
placed me here, will say that am a real
convert, and in good cause it is better to
be late than never
"' am aware he said, that many of
my friends think that and those around
me are out of our senses. Also that we
have parted with good manners. They
call us fools and pretentious people, and
presumptuous, and hypocritical and other
names as bad as these. But some day
maybe, they'll change their song. Tee
totalers are neither hypocrites, nor Phari
sees, nor fools. They do not differ from
their neighbors in anything human. II
you tickle them, they will laugh; if you
prick them, they will cry. They are just
Cullossie people with little more sense
than they had before. They have the
sense not to touch nor to taste the drink
that intoxicates. And do not think that
we have not considered the relation
OF our teetotalism to the gospel. We
know better than to do that. And we