The Dawson journal., 1883-04-12
The Church, WhislIey, and Pol
iticS.
Christian Index. !

Christian Index.
Mr.. EpIcoE If you object to this polt-
co-re!gious whiskey article, let it 60
to its own place Said a business man
some time ago: | have thought the
Method.sls, Bap.ists, and Presbyterians
were controlling the politics Of Georgia"
The sta ement made is not true:
but it is true that they could if
they would, exert a mighty influence for
good, and revolutionize the awful ndi-
ton in which, as a people, we find our
selves, No sir the Churches are not con-
trolling State politics. but politics and
whisliey are, to great extent, controlling
the Churches Of Georgia and Of this Unio'.
We're the politics Of this land under
healthful, scriptuIal, Church-infuence, the
the iniquitions Bonded Whigkey Biz of
which Gives wrote SO earnestly and point
ediy in a recent Issue of the Wesleyan,
would not have passed the Senate of the
United States. Had the politics of our
State been under the control of Methodist,
Baptists, and Presbyterians, the pe.iton
Of the good women Of Georgia to the State
Legislature would not have been denied
and the wishes Of 10000 Of the best peo-
| pie among us would not have been ignored
Irepeat, | hope that the three largest
Pr1stestanto Churches in the Empire State
Of the South are not responsible for some
Of the monstrous evils by which we find
ourselves confronted, and notably and
| perhaps greatest of all, the inexcusable,
accursed dabolical whiskey-trafiic bring
ing blight and poverty and sorrow, and
woe to ten thousand hearts and homes. If
this be Church rule, may God have mercy
on the Churches If this be the work Of
the devil and the world, let the Churches
rise i'll their might and in their God-given
right and crush ont this huge monster
that is marching with It's gigantic strides
over our lands and among our homes.
The Protestant Churches can put stop to
the whiskey business, if they will do it,
| Twill require determination and united
effort, but it can and ought to be done
Three things are needed: 1. A sound,
healthy sentiment in all the Churches on
this subject. The minister, in his pulpit
minstrations and elsewhere, can do much
towards creating and maintaining such a
sentiment. 2. y rigid enforcement of
Church discipline touching the manufac-
ture, sale, and drinking of ardent spirits.
3. Organized effort to defeat for all polit
ical4oflices from the lowest to the highest
men who are unsOund in theory or in prac-
tice in this question. In many instances
our public men (aw- -makers) )are immoral.
drunken sots with Office secured by Chi
canery, and treating in whiskey, ignorant
negroes and unsrupuIous white men.
The same and disgrace of the Churches
being controlled by this whiskey element
ought to be wiped out and at once. Why
don't every community in the State Of
Georgia organize foc a brave, manly, de-
tcrnined fight, in this year of grace 1888,
for the abolition of the iniquitous whiskey
measure that are cursing and running us as
a people, and disgracing our civilization,
and blasting the fairest portion of Gods
heritage and crushing out forever immor-
tai hopes This barter in human souls
ought to be stopped. A godly woman, in our
town, laments with tears in her eyes, the
destruction Of her son by the bars. But
sh3 has no redress. They sell on, and
ruin on and the broken-hearted widow
can only weep in secret over her disslpated
boy, and pray to the unseen one for grace
to help her bear till the "calamities be
oyerpast." Let the trumpet-basts be
heard through the length and breadth OF
land, giving no uncertain sound, that shall
marshall the hosts of the good to bate for
the true and the right