The Indianapolis journal., 1885-09-24

The Third Evening of the Temperance Cen
tennial Celebration at Roberts Park.


celebration at Roberts Park Church last night
was interesting in the extreme The addresses
were all good, and the singing was quite pleas
ing. Rev. R. V. Hunter made the first address on
Preachers and Temperance" He said that
ministers who confne themselves to religious
subjects merely, do only one half the work re-
quired of them. They mast reach further than
this, and include practical ethics in their work.
The pulpit must preach the doctrine of self
preservation, which includes the gospel of tenn
perance. If alcoholic beverages are destructive
to health, the preacher must inveigh against
their use as it is his duty to do all he to pre-
servo the lives Of the people If the minister
would have the people living in comfortable
homes and enjoying the luxuries of life, he must
combat that which tends to destroy these com
forts. In proportion as rum governs the world
the liberties Of the people are abridged. The
duty Of the preacher is to build up society,
which means hostility to the liquor traffic. The
$50 saloon keepers Of indianapolis are law
breakers and the pulpit must lift up its voice
and hand against them. If the minister has no
right to attack the liquor traffic, he has no right
by the same reasoning, to preach against vice OF
any sort The speaker referred to Howard
Crosby, the eminent divine opposed to prohibi-
tion and total abstinence, as member of the
pulpit who is inconsistent with the spirit of the
Master and the teachings of the Scripture, who
is responsible for much intemperance and an
example for evil Temperance. continued the
speaker ought to be taught systematically and
thoroughly in the Sunday school. church and
prayer meeting. The trouble with many minis
ters is that they either tipple themselves, care
nothing for the evil of intemperance, or cannot
have the reform movement carried on to suit
their own peculiar views. Such preach
ers throw their influence on the other
side. The true preacher will not
avoid q conflict with the liquor dealers,
He will even step into politics and fight rum
reform. The preacher who feels the pulse of his
congregation, and then adapts his temperance
views in accordance with the popular feeling,
is a coward and has no right to preach the word
of God.
Rev. J. A. Rondthaler next spoke of ITEM
perance and the Individual" He said that the
past is full of encouragement for temperance
reformers. Already the reform has taken root,
and is being advocated in the school-room, the
workshop, and in public places. The liquor
traffic is doomed to die, how or when it is not
known, but the logic of the past teaches that
some day prohibition will be firmly established
in the law of the land. The speaker said
that the advocates of prohibition and high
license must cease to fight among themselves, as
they both are in the right, differing only in
their methods of hampering the evil. Prohibi-
tion has the same future before it that anti
slavery the reformation once had, and it
needs only another Lincoln or Luther to
become installed in the laws of the country.
The speaker then took the part Of DR.. Crosby in
claiming that if the present liquor laws were en-
forced the progress of temperance would be suf
fciently encouraging for the present. He also
spoke in favor of high license, and cited the ex-
ample Of Kansas City, which, with its 81, 600 Ii
cense law, is far better off than indianapolis.
The duty of the individual is TO make his tenn
perauce views known, and Ito work fearlessly
in the of reform, regardless of the cries of
fanatic, crank and enthusiast"
The last address was made by Mr. E. w.
Halford who spoke on the subject, 1.-THE Rela-
tion of the Press to Temperance Reform" otter
which DR.. Jeffery. the president of the meeting.
spoke briefly, and expressed himself in favor
Of compelling the patrons of liquor to pay the
taxes to support the jails, poor-houses and other
offsprines of the saloon.
Mrs Lodie Reed, just before the meeting
closed, stepped upon the platform and corrected
popular error. saying that the centennial cele-
bration was not being conducted by the Womans
Christian Temperance Union, rs many supposed,
but by committee of one from each of the
church denominations and temperance organi-
cations. She said the explanation was due to
the Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
which could not indorse the views of high
license expressed by one of the speakers during
the evening