St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1886-04-08
A TEMPERANCE ADDRESS.
BY REV. ID. II. ADAMS.

Delivered in Good Templars' hall, st. Johnsbur!
before the annual meeting of the District UnoI
Feb. ID, 1861
| am set again to grind in the TEN
berance "mill." / hope as you listel
10 me you will not "make sport" a
he Phiistines did i'm the days of Sam
ION.
The man who, now or hereafter, rise,
b advocate the cause of temperance
bust at the very outset humble him
Elf out of all cOnceit of originality
ind be content as Il cleaner after CLEAN
RS, to say things that have been al
eady said and perhaps better said
NJ on have heard the lawyer, now hear
be minister. A minister should carry
ID dark lantern. | make war on rum
Because rum makes war on me. King
bsus and King Alcohol cannot reign
the same heart at the same time
5 Christian minister | oppose
s rink, because drink opposes me. The
york | try to do, it undOes. Where
he ram shops are the great centres OF
Extraction, there the churches are de-
serted. My charge against the rum
raflic now is, that it is an obstacle to
he spread of the Gospel ; nay, it is an
Enemy which assaiIs the Gospel, and
whose success would drive it from the
World. The chains that rum FORCES
re the strongest and most CALLING ever
listened on the human body or the hu-
ban soul. The best friends that tenn
perance has to-day are ministers of the
Gospel, and of course they are the
worst foes of the liquor traffic. Said
pne of the leading divines and scholars
III 10 oflI
The whiskey-pOwer will never have
mother day of peace in this world.
will be fought in every community
f every nation until it is put down.
+ may hold on long time, but in the
bng run it must go as everything else
ust go that antagOniZes Christ and
Dis law of love" | think it is so. |
el in my Utmost soul that sometime,
Perhaps sooner than we think, the
ause of temperance will triumph, for
q Is the cause of God.
| am no lawyer, yet | want to act
he part of lawyer a little while here
his afternoon. / want to put two or
2ilree witnesses on the stand and take
heir sworn testimony in regard to the
bature of intOxicants, whether it is
best to drink them or not, and what
fleet they have on those who do drink
hem. If were to call human wit
esses upon the stand | could get any
lumber of opinions, endorsing any
lumber or order of theories. There
s re plenty of advocates for the use of
rsenic who declare it to be essential
10 the highest civilization. Some take
Enough every day to kill several men
bnaccustomed to its use. But these
re only individual opinions, and are
Orth next to nothing. | want facts,
Ot guesses in regard to the nature of
um. After II hundred men have
GUESSED at the weight of a stone, ac-
Ording to their ignorance or wisdom,
Weakness or strength, put it in the
Gale and you silence every one of
hem. Never ask IA man who has the
hakcs, or who has got out of them in
o u fever, what is the temperature.
look mt the thermometer. And when
man says of wine, beer or cider, 81
Ike it, it does me good, | could not get
long without it," tell him that what
e thinks is of very little consequence.
There is way that seemeth right
ntO II man but the ends thereof are
he ways of death"
My first witness is Common Sense.
{ you were looking for confidential
lerk, and two young men presented
themselves, in all respects equal, eX-
fept that one of them was accustomed |
o indulge gently in drinking, and the
pther was not at all accustomed to it, |
Fou would not hesitate in your choice.
Even if YOU did not scruple at putting
.vine on you own table, you would take
he young man that was temperate.
Slany man who is vicious, wants his
. wife to he pure and many a man who
Kinks will not allow his clerks to
rink. If young men are addicted to
ven mild indulgence i'm drinking
habits, it is prejudicial to their good
ame and to their chances of success in
life.
Drinking habits take hold upon the
Whole framework of Il mans prOsperi
y. They bring one into society, and
Introduce him to customs which are
constantly a levy and IA tax upon him.
hey place him in position where he
3 subjected to II great many eXpendi
ures which, under other circumstan
fes, he might avoid. They who come
together for drinking purposes are
teldom persons who are careful to en-
BihOCA IhCii Way liltiC ny llGClc, anu
step by step, up to II strong and safe
:nanhoOd. Out of the circle where
Thinking is carried on for purposes of
pleasure there open, day after day,
hundreds of doors that never open
Without IA fee; and a young man who
|orms the habit of drinking takes on
IN expense that wastes his patrimOny,
] md will continually keep him down.
No, drinking is not according to
tommon sense. l can we'll understand
bow Il man may, on his death bed, look
back upon his career in life, and say,
II am sorry that | ever touched the
fup :" but cannot understand how
bny man can, on his death bed, look
back and say, 81 am sorry that have
been abstemious of the cup" Tenn
'perance will do you no harm; in
thousand ways, it will do you good.
Even occasional drinking will do you
20 good and entire abstinence will do
EOu no harm. There is abundant rea-
BON and common sense in Il temperate
fife. Ii is the right side, the manly
kide, the patriotic side.
| love To see young man with Il
noble carriage, and with blooming
health. | cannot bear to see young
'men, that have every reason for build
'lng upa noble manhood, walking with
rliscOlOred face and an unwhOlsome skin,
(which are the sure signs of intemper-
|ance. Perhaps there is nothing more
than for young man to
present himself n miserable wreck of
what he might have been, to the state
|and the age in which he lives and
perhaps there is nothing more credita-
bile to young man than To present
himself to the state and To the age in
(which he lives monument of health
sand vigOr and manliness. Temperance
brings YOU to this higher and nobler