The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1884-03-28


ward from the past along the eternal
tracks Of heredity.
Understand, we are not portraying
the evils of intemperance. We aim
to show the moral status of an act
done in view of the light assumed to
exist. And if we have not right to
assume light enough possessed to tell
a man that he does pervert his judg-
ment, when he subverts it to a mo-
mentary or temporary Appetite; then
begone with our boosted utterance
about the intelligence of a land Of
pulpits, presses, platforms and
schools.
If these hav'nt combined to teach
us that one simple principle, and
grant us the right TO assume it known,
then has our civilization done little
more than to make us egotistical
fools. But should any say, the appe
tite is not momentary but regular,
permanent, then worse to indulge at
all in the face of the fact. As well
bare the breast to the March rains,
and in the dim twilight read the
death record of your relatives and
parents who went down with con-
sumption. On this premise, that
liquor drinking. as beverage, is the
sacrifice of forethought, we do not
hesitate to say that the moderate
drlnker who is moderate thinker, is
an immoderate sinner. To all such
we would cry halt. AS the minister
OF God, say to such repent, and
bring forth fruits meet for repent
ance. And say not within your
selves, "we have Noah and the Pa
triarchs-that we have the saints of
other ages to our fathers" For l
say unto you, that if they had the
light we have, they had repented in
sackcloth and ashes long ago.
IT'S SON etimes said of temperance
people they see nothing but the one
vice, intemperance, the one virtue,
abstinence. Many heated utterances
made would lead us so to think they
viewed it,
We take no such position. We put
the fact of drinking in no such narrow
and isolated attitude. But range it
side by side with every form of sin,
and would have it dealt with as any
other sin. 1t is one of the fruits of
the flesh and goes in with the enum-
Grated class written by Paul to the
Galatians, where he places adultery,
lasciviousness, wrath, murder, drunk
enness, and such like; every one Of
which roots itself in spirit of present,
immediate self qualification against
the self judgment and fore look of the
soul. There we place it.
We usually keep the mind on The
evils Of the drink habit, -and they are
seen as so great and SO black that at
times we forget that sin is blacker than
evil; that though evil may be wrought
by unthought,-sin must ever grow
from want Of heart. When we speak
of the evils Of strong drink,-though |
it is so great as to bewilder the
mind-we are not prepared to say we
admit it as the greatest evil of the
day, in causative sense-It is to us
a result from more potent evil, that
reeks filthy upward from a darker
abyss beneath. But when we speak of
it as sin, we cannot compare, cannot
contrast it with any other. 1t must
stand forth-in its naked, native,
blackness, crime against God.
1t is this view Of liquor drinking
which determines all views of the cor
rect method of dealing with it in ev-
cry phase, we would use every means
that prudence, Judgment, expediency
dictate, but with the results obtained |
never stop until sin has been broken
off by righteousness, and the sinner
is EMBODIED in the nature of God. |
You can see clearly then how we
cannot draw lines as of much moral
worth, zigzagging them around to
measure the degree OF sin by the
amount drank. We view it by the
same principle that our Lord taught
us to view another sin, when he made
the lusttul look to stand on par with
the Derfidious act