West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1885-10-14
WESTVIRGINIA FREEMAN
A Methodist Layman on MethO
dist Bishops.
MR.. T, R. CARsKADoN TALKS THRO'
THE VOICE.


your able reply in The Voice to
Bishop neutrality-suspicious. advice
to us Methodists, [ am favored by
Republican auti-Prohibition jour-
nal with an installment of the same
kind of political science from Bish-
op Bowman. What L wish partic-
ularly to call the attention of these
new fedged politicians to, is that
they are directly at variance with
the intelligent leaders of the party
in whose interest they throw them
selves into the political arena.
The New York Tribune wrote in
1882 as follows:
"The curse of alcohol is a blight
and scourge more degrading and
debasing than the curse of slavery
or polygamy. Have the leaders of
the Republican party the foresight
to see the danger ahead? Have
they the courage to meet the ire
pressible issue, or will they wait to
be wrecked and ruined, like the
old Wing party?"
Now, when exactly what. was
predicted by these astute politi-
clans is being done by Christian
citizens in leaving these old parties,
we find these good men, but blind
politicians, throwing themselves
across the track to be trampled
under foot, and in the future regret
their great mistake. What do
these distinguished divlnes mean
by opposing the formation of a par
ty on this great issue? What use
have we for any party save that
given by the founder of the Tribune
in 1854, ito give effect to enlight-
ened public sentiment? Will
these good brethren inform us who
have placed them on the watch
towers of the great church they rep
resent, whether or not there is an
"enlightened public sentiment" on
this temperance question after one
hundred gears agitation? Will
they inform us where we can find
any but the Prohibition party with
which we may act and help destroy
the great curse of the rum traffic I?
| may be fanatic, but God knows
| am ashamed of their action as
bishops of the grand church which,
like tender mother, has nurtured
me for third of a century.
What if John Wesley had refus-
ed to "embody and give effect to en-
lighteneds spiritual power Through
the Methodist Church, and had re-
fused to form a new party out of
the half dozen enthusiasts who met
from time to time to pray?
| am glad we have at least one
bishop (Fosterl who has the wis
dom to declare that "the church of
to-day must take to it's heart
the duty of combining and massimg
its forces against that gigantic
atrocity, that diabolical conspiracy,
that nameles5 monstrum horrendun,
of Christian civilization that moth
ers nine-tenths of the woes and sor-
rows which blight and curse our
modern age, the traffic in intoxi-
CdAto, WdICu ILLUS lGS uSlOl ullGJ
under forms of law" Will these
two anti-third- party bishops in
form us how the friends of temper
ance in the two old whisky-rid-
den parties are going to combine
and mass, while they remain just
where the rum papers say there is
no danger to their nefarious traffic,
that is, in the Republican and
Democratic parties? | believe it
was that grand old philosopher Of
the Tribune who said, Nothing
succeeded like success, and the anx.
ious friends of temperance have
concluded that nothing combines
like combination, and they are at
it with all their might.
While these good brethren are
opposing the only practical mode
OF Kidding the country of this great
evil, listen to the earnest, faithful
utterances of Bishop Spaulding
of the Catholic Church: "The
peoples enemy is liquor, and their
curse the saloon. Let us support
those men who oppose this evil.
Join the ranks of the new crusade