Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-08-20
ELOQUENT WORDS.
Ar'""eaeof Farrar on the Drink nur'

ArchdeacoY Farrar on the Drink Burden
fnd Total Abstinence.
Archdeasbn Farrar was lately given q re-
ception blythe Synod's Temperance Com
mittee of tie Presbyterian Church of En-
gland, attended bya large number of the
leading minister's and laymen of the Pres
byterian Church. and others, in the lower
room of Exeter Hall, London. We quote
from his dloquent address upon the occasion
the following:
Il know no burden SO heavy as that
caused by drink, or no passion so terrible.
Honest md Industrious poverty is rarelyin-
tolerabls but when poverty becomes pau
perism, when poverty results from drink,
then it PRODUCES, as I can testify from ex-
perien9 amongst the poor, o cause of hor-
rors Which cannot be equaled, I believe.
anywhere except in the worst condition of
tningssthat We can imagine. Seeing and
knowing that to be the case, I feel that
anything one can do to diminish that
curse must be a source of benefit to man
kind. l will ask you to dismiss two
notio1s which l find are extremely preva-
lent ~ regards total abstinence. One is that
they aAe all Pharisees, and the other is that
they a1e all Manicheans. As far as the first of
those charges is concerned, I always
thought that the Phar;see was one who
Thought in himself that he was righteous
land Condemned others. Certainly the
Pharisees in the time of our Lord were not
total ab%stainers, and most certainly the
total abstainers of that age were not Phari-
sees. There is a certain Pharisaism in the
human heart, but l can speak, not for my
self only, but I am certain for thousands
of total abstainers, that while we have
thought it to be, for one reason or another,
our individual duty to take the pledge, we
do not judge others, we do not dream of
condemnlng others, nor any moment of our
lives do We, because Of total abstinence,
consider thatwe are ever to on infinitesimal
degree superior to our brethren who have
not thought it their duty to abstain. [Hear,
hear!] Then as to The notion that we are
Manicheans. one would like to ask whether
the prophet Samuel Or John the Baptist
were total abstainers. They were Nazar-
ites-total abstainers. Is it necessary be-
cause one does not take a particular kind
of food and drink one is therefore baliev-
ing in the inherent existence of evil in
matter? The charge seems entirely
absurd, and l would ask you to dismiss it.
Surprising I were to refuse to partake of
pate de foie gras, should I be believing in
the inherent evil in matter, and guilty Of a
Manichaan heresy? Let us take q common
sense view of the matter. Alcohol has been
since the days of Noah a curse and a scourge
to q large number of mankind, andwe know
that it is perfectly easy and possible for
every person to save himself from that
danger. We all know that there are many
evils in this world which are not preventa-
BILE, but while human nature continues to
be what it is these evils will always exist;
but there is n most dreadful and most
colossal evil which is perfectly remedial
and perfectly ~preventable? That evil is
etfectual remedy for all who choose to try
it lis the remedy Of total abstinence.
[Cheers. It seems to me to be our duty,
whether we are abstainers or not, to see
what means we can use to put an end tc
the present state of things. We are living,
undoubtedly, in times of very great danger
If'you put your ear to the ground you will
hear far more loudly than would nave beer
heard a few years ago the sort of low tones
of the ground-swell in the great depths O
the ocean of humanity, which, depend upo,
it, forbodes q storm which will soon cove
the whole surface with heaving waves
Socialistic ideas are getting an extraordi.
nary hold upon the masses of the people
Many of them are being driven onward by s
sort Of blind envy and o sort Of blint
misery to revolutionary notions which
materially shake to the foundation the
most sacred order which is now constituted
in society. The people are, practically, a
this day our masters. We have given then
votes, they are the arbiters of our d~estinies
IHear, hear. Now, I am not afraid of
great, wise, and understanding people, bu
q people which is liable to be ruined by thil
temptation to drunkenness seems to me tc
be q people that will always be at the
mercy of the agitator, and that atheism
and immortality will be liable to worl
among them side by side with these greai
socialistic notions. I believe that England
sober would be England free. [Cheers.
I believe that England drunken will BIZ
England enslaved to the most terrible Of
masters. An old Latin saying runs thus
that, although we extend our dominion
from shore to shore, if we are under the
domination of low desires, if we are no
masters of ourselves and our own appetitet
and cravings, we are under the sway Of
cruel and injurious laws [Cheers.I ]
believe that that is essentially the case in
England, and therefore it is the duty Of
everybody who desires to be a patriot tc
deliver the mass of the people frem that
temptation. Judge Henry, in his interest.
ing account of the struggles of the Ameri
can colonies against our dominion, in ITS
tells a story of q soldier who was wounded
in a battle near Quebec. A shell from the
fort took off the mans leg. He was carried
to the house of an English gentleman, and
there the lady of the house treatedh him will
the utmost kindness and brought him q disl
of tea. The refreshing, fragrant beverage wal
extremely tempting to a man lying, as he
was. in his agony. He said, No, ma'am, ]
will not touch it; it is the ruin of my coun.
try In those days tea was regarded by
every true Yankee as being the cause Of
the war, and they would not take the bev.
erage which put the money into the pockets
Of their oppressors. We pay a tax to thu
monarch alcohol of gl37, 900. 900 a year
I believe il we could get rid Of that tax i
would tend to the wealth of England, no
only in the modern sense, which means ma
terial wealth, but in the old words in which
we believe in 1.-THE commonwealth ant
moral veal of the nation. [Cheers.
think you will believe that taat poor SER
geant showed the spirit of true patriotism
and if you can estimate how intinitesima
was the harm doae to America by tea il
those days and compare it with the gigantic
misery which is produced by alcohol il
these days and has been ever since, and il
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