St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-01-03
Legal Prohibition.
by JOSEPH ;. VAN DYKE, d. d.

Is needed 10 stay acCunluldtlHB VNiiS -
beginning to become apparent to near
" all rejecting persons. Evils exist,
this is universally conceded. When,
as in some cities, there is one dram
shop to every one hundred and twenty
five persons, it is evident that there
are evils which call loudly for remedy.
When the taxes, which result either
directly or indirectly from the sale OF
intoNicants, are oppressive TO the great
industries OF the nation, there Is no use
in ignoring the fact that some remedial
agency is needed. viii a license law
meet the demands of the case We
think not.
Nor will moral suasiOn effectually
remedy the evils. 1t has produced en-
couraging results. 1t has elevated
public opinion. 1t has awakened the
conscience of the church. No one Is
disposed to condemn it, OF to discon-
Time it's employment. Is it an agency
adapted, when unaided 10y law, to sc
cure complete relief from the evils un-
der which society is groaningi No.
Drinkers, as well as vendors, need
something more potent than linguistic
pcrsuasiveS Some of them are not
likely to he permanently reformed till
the places of temptation are closed.
They may determine to discontinue
drinking, but with leSalized vendors
coming money from broken vows, 1t
is impossible that a majority of drink
ers should conquer the appetite. Will
power is too feeble The hope of flu
turc good i ohscurcd 10y the desire for
present qualification.
Nor is it worth our while to conceal
the fact that the cause of temperance
is seriously weakened by conceding
that moral suasion is the only agency
at our command. We thereby give
currency to the opinion that drunkard-
making is not wrong, though it is a
little mexpcdicnt. Please desist.
Those who regard this as the only
legitimate agency would do well to
reflect whether it might not he well
to repeal all laws against crime, and
organize society into II cOaXing fra
tcrnity. When "A man finds his safe
cmpticd of Government bonds 10y a
neighhor, let him set to work and coax
the thief not to appropriate his "Bland
dollars also. If on returning from his
business he discovers his wife muir
drrcd hy the coachman, let him cry
over him, pray with him, sing for him
and implore him to spare the hel pless
children.
Nor will religion, unaided by law,
effect the needed remedy. The only
hope of the drunkard, it may he, is a
genuine conversion. Is this any reason
why society should 90 on manufacture
ing drunkards Have we who are
cnvironcd by temptation, whose pur-
pose for good, unassisted by divine
grace, is rs feeble as the pulse OF
EIackel's primeval moneron, have we
that our duty to the victims of iiniebrie-
ty terminates in presenting them an
enrasculatcd Gospel, all love and ne
justice, all hope and with no element
of fear, all pious persuasion and with
none of that manly common sense
which invokcs the strong arm of the
law in closing the doorways through
which millions are fastening to a
drunkard's rayless doom Those who
believe that Christians are under the
highest conceivable obligation to en-
ploy every legitimate agency in rescu-
ing humanity will he slow To imagine
that they may not employ legal prohi-
bitiou much less that they are guilt
less III permitting the legal sanction of
an organized system of crime which is
placing barriers between the souls of
men and the cross of Christ. TO con
denim legal measures and maintain that
all hope centres in religion is to as
sumo that God never designed that law
should Ice Il terror to cvil-doers that
he iustiiieS us i'll imagining he will re-
ward our COwardicc as citizens by be
slowing more power upon us as Chris
tianS that whilst we are lending
encourages us to the task of re-
forming the army of drunkards
which is daily increased because hu-
man law has not closed the places
where temptations abound. If we be
lirve that nothing but the grace of God
can reclaim the drunkard, then as
surcdly society ought to Toe caution,
about permitting an evil whose victims
IT is P"werleSs in retaining.
Necessary legal prohibition is also
Just. Society has the right to protect
itself. Druggists who compound and
dispose of pOisons under the name of
healing remedies, may he punished.
Society has an unquestioned right to
remove beyond the city limits, any
business which cmdangcrs the public
health. 1t has the right to protect the
mail bags from becoming vehicles for
the transmission of obscene literature.
1t has the right to destroy my home if
II has reasonable grounds for believing
that lay :" doing it can stay the conha-
grafton. The dies of the cOunterfeiter
may hc destroyed, and his business ru-
med, even though his family is beg
CARED. Has society, then, no right to
interdict the sale of intoxicants as bev-