Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1886-03-08
SERMON ON TEMPERANCE.
The Pastor Of the Presbyterian Church
on the Temperance Quession.

perance. Rev. Robert III. Williams
pastor of the Presbyterian Church
said The position we have reached
10 this Temperance reform has been
reached through toll, through PRAYER.
through anxiety and tears. The
wretchedness of the druukard's home.
and the pleadings Of broken hearted
women, and the cries of the helpless.
starving children have moved you
people Of Annapolis to ask and vote
for this law, which has been Q benefit
and might be greater benefit for
years to come to your homes and your
city.
Shall we 90 back, voluntarily 90
back TO the position we held before,
or worse one, and from which we
prayed and voted to be delivered.
merely because that law has been
broken !!
But you tell me that there is more
drinking now than there was before
the adoption Of the law. | have
been told that there are as many as
dozen or fifteen clubs in this city =
Before the Local Option law went
into effect. there were about forty
saloons, or three times as many az
the number Of clubs, all OF which did
a thriving business, from early morn
until late at night.
Before the law went into effect.
drunken men on the streets were an
every day occurrence. Now, except
on holidays, it 10 rare sight. The
reports that come to me about the
amount OF liquor sold and the number
of drunken men on the streets, baye
been inclined TO think were somewhat
exaggerated.
This great evil be said was like the
root OF certain obnoxious weeds that
annoy the farmer and gardener so
much. 1t stretches out far and wide
on the surface aud way down deep
into the soil. The husbandman digs
and cuts away at it with pick aud
hoe, and thinks be has conquered it,
when oil Of q sudden it appears in
another place And so it is with
this great evil of intemperance. 1t
has been dug at and cut at by the
temperance people and the church
for years, and when they think they
have conquered it. it appears again
aud the only thing to eradicate it is
to keep At it. Reforms are not wrought
10 day or year-it sometimes takes
centuries It took over 200 years to
bring about the reform of the chris
tion religion. All genuine reforms
require . long time 10 their progress.
and the greater the evil the harder it
is to overcome.
What we need is relief from the
illegal mode by which liquor is fur
nisbed through the clubs that have
beeu formed. If this relief canDof be
found, except by an appeal to the
Legislature, we are in favor of an
appeal for that purpose.
We do not cant a repeal of the Lo-
cal Option Law, or resubmission OF
it 70 the vote of the people. And If
by invoking the aid of the Legisla-
ture we put iD peril the law, We think
that We would rather ''bear the Ills
we have than fy to others that We
knnw not of" In other words, we
Ihiuk, from the light we pow have,
that We would rather have the Local
Option law with its possible evasions,
than be returned TO our old condition,
from which we labored and voted TO
get free.
Let temperance people unite in
their efforts to secure the benefits
which we had hoped this law would
bring, and cut of. as far as possible,
every opportunity and pretext Tor the
evasion of the law. This great re-
form is advancing, and We cannot
say one word to delay it ia its coursey
but feel that we should do all we cay
to help II onward.
We are authoritatively informed
there are to-day Ia this city ana vicinity
over 10 clubs that are licensed by fhe
government to dispense liquor, hating
in the aggregate = membership OF 1,1O2
II ED. CAPITAL.