The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-05-02

ment in the lust of uncleanness"-not at
all of friends of justice and good order
and when he meant by speoking eca quite
a different thing from telling the truth
in just criticism, as has been done by wise.
Christian men in all the ages from John
the Baptist, Chrysostom, Luther and
John Knox, to the true men of our own
time
10. Have you been silenccd by any
thin rebuke that you were 'per-
sonal'' in your reference to wrong
! doing? As if there could be
any criticism without reference to
persons, any wrong-doing without wrong
doors; as if the commandments, Nathan's
sermon to David Christs preaching to
Scribes and Pharisees were not "pcr-
sonal if anything; and as if you did
not understand, without trying, that for
hidden personalities refer to matters al
together different, G. G., sneering refer
ences to matters for which the person as
sailed is not sponsible-stature, com
plcXion, parentage, etc.-or to conduct
wholly irrelevant to the point that may
be under discussion?
IA. Have you violated the clear pre-
cepts of scripture, like the second pas
sage of our text and others similar,
which command you IN hace no fellowship
acth tile uatruittW acorkS IF darhness, bW
rother ,eprore them; forgetting that 81
icnce is fellowship?
How many of us must answer some or
all of these questions in the atfirmat;ve2
! If we must say yes" we thereby con
fess to some degree of responsibility for
the sad fact that our rulers are not "A ter
ror to cvil works, with all the resulting sin
and shame.
do not think that, in general we suf-
ticiently appreciate our personal response
bility. The heather moralist, Seneca said
truly; Gle who fails to prevent a sin,
having the power to do so, sanctions its
commission" No one of us has done
his duty until he puts all lis strength into
opposition to the great crime and woe of
his age.
When ready to do that, our next ques-
ton will receive careful and candid at
tcntion. viz
Third, What tile remedy far tile uholesale
riolWi0B Of lalo in orr county?
larry moment for few preliminary
thoughts.
/. Let all our minds be free from any
idea that the principle of prohibition,
backed by force, is new or unsound. 1t
is as old and authorized as the Ten Com
mandments. The statute books of every
civilized State are full of prohibition.
Besides high crimes which the State pro
hibits, not because they are sins against
God, but because they destroy the State,
there is long list referring to single
! III, -,
manner with sins against the Decaloguc
war against the public safety and we'll
being. made long list the other day
from our statutes. Scattered all through
in leading letters YVES
THOU SHALT NOT
In the line of business you are forbidden
to conduct lottericS-t make or sell bur-
glars instruments-to sell adulterattd or
watered milk-to expose poison upon
your lands, save for the destruction of
noXious insects-to sell diseased, cor
rupted or unwholeSomc provisions-to
bride in any way any official, auditor,
juror. arbitrator or referee. The State
takes away your money, your liberty or
your life and the civilized world and
Gods laws unite in sanctioning the act,
provided you so assail society that such
penalty is plainly dictated by the law of
preservation. Now, can any man
deny the right or duty of the State to
prohibit diseased drinks as well As dis
eased meats alcohol, the criminals aid
and reliance, rs well as the burglars
jimmy and iack-screwl Surely, that
power which if the public veal de-
mand, may say, "Thou shalt die, -
may use any lesser power of saying,
"Thou shalt not.
,. We must also recall another funda-
mental principal of social life. In order
To the ceIy eristeHce Of aociety Hae must be
mony curtaiimeats Of mdicaiuM Wrty.
Alone in a boat out in mid
ocean, you may do what YOU
the crowded ship, The buster of the
iquor-.eagues of our land about per
sonal liberty is simply ridiculous, in the
light of any true social science No
member of society can claim liberty to
work mischief to others: if he does he
must expect denial as forcible as may be
necessary for the general safety.
3. Our inquiry must also take into
clear account the help of law to moral
suasion; in fact, its ndispe"~tbleaess.
And here | cannot do better than
quote the words of one deservedly held
in high esteem by all good men in this
valley-Rev. ii. ID. Kitchell, ID. d., one
of the former reycrcd presidents of our
college. In prize essay upon the sup
preston of the liquor traffic, worth its
weight in gold, referring to the prohibi-
tory law, he says: Let it be kept in
view that this special and strenuous
movement against the traffic implies no
abandonment of other long tried and APP
proved methods of advancing this cause.
We do not look to legislation as substi-
tute for moral means. We desire it
simply to remove impcdiments
of a nature too gross to feel persuasion or
derive conviction from anything short of
a statute. TO our work, the great work
after all, of winning to the side of virtue
all who have conscience and heart, we do
but add the task of legally restraining
those who have neither. Let our onset