The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1884-10-24


improper and wrong. The name of
the merchant is a noble name that of
Spectator is ignoble. The merchant
and agriculturist should combine against
the gamblers In that which the one
produces for and the other transports
to the mouths Of laboring millions.
Fortunately the production of grain is
SO large that such attempts, as a rule.
only react upon the transgressor.
Spectators, as rule, only rob each
other, and their alleged buying and sell
ing of grain is but pleasant fiction for
betting on the future state of the market.
The tendency is the same, however.
and the motive of the individual is lust
as bad. Our standing in the sight Of
God is determined not by the results of
our actions He overrules our actions
for his own wise ends, and prevents much
of the mischief which we devise-but it
is measured by what we intend to do.
Not our deeds so much as our purposes
are the fruit by which we are Judged, and
by which we shall stand OF fall hereafter.
Thus does religion penetrate-thus
should mans relations to his Maker
guide and control his business. And to
one who could read with the divine in
sight, every page ofhis ledger would show
whether self or God was uppermost in
each transaction whether righteousness
or iniquity was his controlling motive :;
whether his life were godly or goddess.
For business, fit be business Legitimate
business, and not speculation-can and
must be guided by religion. And the
motto of the business man THANK God
we have many such in this broad land,
and their number is daily increasingly is
this-would it were written at the head
of every page of every day-book and
ledger throughout the land" What doth
He require of thee, o man, but to do
Justice, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God"
| have alluded thus far to the perver-
sion of only one of the great blessings
which the Almighty has conferred upon
us. The food which He brings out ofthe
earth for our comfort and nourishment
men abuse and make of it an instrument
to crafty their covetousness.
The other-the wine that maketh clad
the heart of man--is even more com
monty abused, being made to minister
to the baser-the physical passions of
mankind, at once to crafty the appetite
and to stimulate the lower nature.
Is man depressed or in trouble In
stead of facing and bearing his trouble
like man, he becomes coward, and
seeks by inordinate use of wine to put
them out of his sight. Is he reckless in
his forgetfulness or defiance of his Maker:
he resorts to Incorporate use of wine
Has he, when reduced to the lowest
plane on which he can stand and yet be
human, determined to commit some
specially atrocious crime, which even he
is himself ashamed to look squarely in
the face? he nerves himself for the
foul deed by strong drink, until he be-
comes more demon than human, thai
he may with less conjunction do a
demons work.
Nay, worse than all these. man seeks
it for its own sake purposel y uses it in
temperately-deliberately abuses it fol
the sake OF the effect which it produces
when so abused. And because with
habitual abuse the body becomes some
what accustomed to it and yields less
readily, he increases the already exces-
sive use that he may lose none of the
wild delirium, until finally his money is
gone his family-those whom God en-
trusted him with for his comfort end fol
salvation, those to whom he should have
| been a protecting wall against the adver
sites OF the world-seeking protection
from him rather than flying to him fol
refuge; his body and mind wreck, his
will power gone, he sinks into dishon
ored grave, and men are thankful for his
taking away.
The sin of drunkenness is in MANY re
spects greater than the sin of covetous.
ness. 1t is wide-reaching in its effects
upon others it is more debasing in its
effects upon the sinner, and there is
more crime and Wickedness directly
traceable to it.
| While the former has turned com.
merce into mutual robbery, this has
turned men into beasts. While the for
mer has expatriated and made outcasts
1
ornaments of society and the pride Of
the circles in which they formerly
moved, the latter has filled our jaiIs and
prisons with criminals, our poor houses
with paupers, and thousands of once
happy homes with misery. Ifhundreds
of communities have been shocked. and
hundreds of religious societies have been
scandalized by the fall OF trusted and
honored member because of covetous-
ness, thousands of happy brides have be-
come old and worn while still in their
| youth, thousands of mothers have gone
| to the grave bowed with sorrow and
bent with shame, hundreds of thous-
ands OF children have grown up in ignor-
ance and filth, and become the outcasts
and criminals of society, because of
drunkenness.
But it is needless to enlarge upon the
evils which have been wrong Int upon So
clety by these two heinous sins. More
than any others they are the curse of
this day and of this nation. They are
the two sins which are most tempting to
manhood; the avenues which lead to
them are most attractive and alluring to
youth. fear it is much the fashion to
ignore the beginnings of covetousness
both in ourselves and in our children.
But it is no less dangerous to the soul
than intemperance, and should be as
promptly checked. If parents were as
alive to the one as to the other the child
would be reprimanded for "plaving
marbles for keeps" as quickly and as
sharply as for slipping wine or entering a
saloon.
Society recognizes these twin evils as
more than any others threatening our
very existence at this time. If gambling
and drunkenness could be abolished, the
millennium would be near at hand. And
the great problem for generations has
been, and it is daily growing a greater,
how to lessen them how to save our
young men from ruin ;. how to save our
selves from disaster.
Unthinking souls. looking only at the
evil and not looking for the cause.
clamor for prohibition. Prohibit, they
say, the manufacture of all intoxicants.
and drunkenness will cease. The RENE |
dy is vain. As well say abolish the At |