The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1885-01-23

drunken, also
Who says this? The preacher, the
speaker. the moralist? No; the Lord God
Almighty gave the irreversible law. He
has also pronounced an irrevocable doom
the eternal fiat has gone forth-that ''no
drunkard can inherit the Kingdom of God. :,
Is the putting of the bottle to our neigh
bors lip a physical act merely the holding
it in our hands whilst he sips? Even if by
our indifference, want of proper attention
or regard, lack of interest or of zeal, or a
want of prayerful s~olicitude, it is i'll conse-
quence put to his lips then, "acoe be INTO
u.s."
As the rumseller i'll and of himself can
not legally perform this act, then it appears
that the names of twelve men OF good re-
pute, freeholders, that signed the dram
sellers petition to the court are back of it,
and are not only wholly responsible, but
have become his partners in the avocation
of selling rum for a living 1t is impossi-
BILE for him to possess any legal rights
whatever to ply such All unholy trade only
for the direct help we furnished by an
appeal over our WI signatures to the court
praying for the granting of this our petit
ton.
Is the business unholy?" As we APP
prehend the Word, there are three things
that God will not and cannot bless, namely ::
a gambling den, the brothel and a dram
shop. By virtue of the last, the two
former principally thrive. Is this sort of
reasoning logical? We want to be safe in
our conclusions.
Is there a christian minister, ora christian
man or woman in all the land who will
kneel at the sacred desk, or around the
family altar, and dare to invoke Gods
blessing on the business of the dramshop?
We do not believe one can be found. Then,
how can one of such religious profession
consistently assist one to engage in a bust
ness on which he cannot ask Gods bene-
diction? Now, we would most respectfully
ask who may these honorable petitioners
be?
We think we have established the senti-
ment that a christian is not one of them.
He does not believe the saloon enlarges the
boundaries of the church that one heart
will be made purer one soul saintlier a
spirit diviner or, one human being will
be converted to the truths of Christianity
through the instrumentality of rum-selling.
by their fruits we shall know them"
Like begets like
Why should a merchant be induced to
sign a rum-seller's petition? If on no
other grounds but that of ordinary bust
ness sagacity it would seem reasonable to
believe he would positively refuse to be a
party to the creation of that that would
directly divert spot cash from his own
drawer, especially when it is done at the
expense of back and stomach on one side
of the case, and the eternal ruin of body
and soul on tue other. The man who buys
an article of merchandise has something
to show for the investment, there has been
Il fair exchange of values. But the man
who has spent his money at the dramshop
has nothing in the world to show but a
diseased body, a perturbed spirit, a dis
contented mind. 1t is also too true that he
has a drunken headache, a bloodshot eye.
bloated visage, and a ragged coat, all
6ddges of the DRAMsHoP MUTUAL AssocIA-
TIoN. Neither has the money thus placed
benefited the wife and children in any man.
ner imaginable. Surely, no sane man oftrue
business habits or instinct would lend his
name or aid to such a contemplate craft.
VIII the retired man, the man of quiet
ease, aid in securing a rum-seller's license ?
Possibly. We know a man living in one OF
the beautiful mountain villages up among
the Alleghenies, where for years no licensed
barroom has disgraced it, who said he
thought just one dramshop ought to be
licensed that he never drank himself,
however. When asked if he didn't think
some boy would in some way be ruined in
consequence, his reply, though somewhat
e~vasive, was: Il have no boy"
Now" said his interlocutor, Twill you
be frank enough to tell me the name of
that neighbor against whom you have
us IL bS"'iJ hNblNu 40 w iNNSiSN
yourself on him by putting in the way of
his boy such a terrible instrument Of muir
der and eternal woe. 1t is impossible that
you can mean what you say Why, sir a
heather once said 4 am a man, and erery
nun Is my brother =" He could make no
reply.
But why pursue these inquiries further ?
1t would seem that the reprehensible prac-
tice or act of petitioning the court for such
a purpose has been fully set forth and
needs no further argument.
When asked to sign an application for
a rum-seller, think of the rage and ruin
your act would involve, of the lives you
are asked to wreck, of the crime and
cruelty your compliance would evoke, of
the homes your act would blight, of the
hearts it would desolate, of the reputation
it would stain and the character it would
blacken, of the loss of self-respect it would
bring-when asked to do this to please a
man, Miah Of these consequences.
f. T. SooTT.