The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1888-04-27
TEMPERANCE READING.
THE SIN or DRUNKENNESS.

THE SIN OF DRUNKENNESS.
The Bible View rs to the Guilt Of the
Liquor Drinker-Appetite Not q Valid
Excuse-The Way to Exterpate the
Drinking Habit.
The guilt of the drunkard is not
recognized as it should be. In the old
times, when at almost every dinner
party men drank till they could no
longer sit in their chairs, such excess
was regarded only as Improper. !"
And the ordinary Temperance address
of the present day deals almost en-
tirely with the sin of the rum-seller;
seldom or never referring to the deep
guilt of the rum-drinker.
The Bible, however, treats drunken
ness not as misfortune, but as sin,
chasing it with adultery, ;. :.
hatred, murders and such
like;' while in another passage it
groups fornicators, thieves,
!. drunkards, -. extor-
TONERS. !" 1t teaches that while drunk
ards are to be pitied, it is only as the
dishonest and the 1icentious are to be
pitied. This is different from much
moral teaching at the present day.
The sale of liquor is sin only be-
cause the drinking of liquor is sin.
The rumseller is merely accessory to
the main crime; it is the rum buyer
whose is the principal guilt. If a
druggist should, for pay, consent to
compound a dose of poison wherewith
a murderer could take the life of his
victim. that Druggist should, of course,
be punished; but it is the man to
whom he sells the poison who would
be the principal criminal. So, while
the Bible pronounces woe on him
that giveth his neighbor drink, it be-
slows its heaviest and most frequent
condemnation on the one who drinks.
None too much is said in Temperance
meetings of the sins of the liquor
dealer, but, to follow the Bible, one
must set forth in still stronger terms
the guilt OF the liquor drinker.
In ex.enuation of the drunkard' 5
fault it is pleaded that his appetite is
powerful But SO is the appetite of the
icentions man. Now we do not re-
gard the adulterer's passions as an
excuse for his debasing himself and
bringing woe on others; no more can
the drunkard be excused on the plea
of appetite. The drunkard and the
adulterer are alike in their temptation
and alike in their guilt. If a icentious
man declared an intention to reform
it would be expressing it very mildly
to "hope" that he would not return
to his infamous course; so the drunkard
who has quit his cups should be told
that there will be no excuse whatever
for his returning to his former Grimm
al life. The drunkard, like the
adulterer, can turn from his foul ways.
All that is necessary is that he shall
come to care more for God and his own
better nature and his family than for
the qualification of his prevented
sensual desires. The Bible leaves no
more excuse for drunkenness than for
RIGHTEOUSNESS and if this Bible
doctrine were preached more faithful
ly there would be more real reform.
1t is sometimes said apologetically
of man: "Oh. he would not be bad
if he did not get drunk" But the
truth is that he would not get drunk
if he were not bad. 1t is not beng a
drunkard that makes man corrupt;
he would never become drunkard
were he not corrupt to begin with.
No man becomes adrunkard unless he
is bad man at the start rs no man
would become licentious man if he
had not an unsound moral nature to
begin with. The first time man be-
comes intoxicated, 1t may be by &C.
cident, so to speak. He may not have
known what would be the effect of
his drinking. But, if he is man Of
correct principle, he will stop horror
stricken with that first intoxication.
He will not 60 on and get drunk
again and again, and so become a
habitual drunkard, unless he lacks
moral principle to begin with. The
drunkard's appetite is no excuse for
him, for that appetite was not formed
inadvertently; it was created by slow
ly, and in deliberate disregard of all
the laws of right and decency.
The~way to extirpate drunkenness is
the way by which dishonesty and licen-
tiousness and other sins must be ex-
tirpated by the cultivation of a higher
moral nature. 1t is proper to have
special Temperance meetings as it
might sometimes be worth while to
have special Honesty meetings, SLAM
der meetings, and, as in some places
are held, Purity meetings. But, in
general, the most effective way is to
deal with all sins together and eradi-
cate them by teaching men to rever-
ence God and honor their own better
natures. 1t is hardly correct to say
that the church is doing nothing for
Temperance if no Temperance "cru-
sade," as such, is carried on. A min
lister may be preaching against dis
honesty though he says nothing about
that sin in particular, and so, though
it may contain no special mention of
drunkenness, every Gospel sermon is a
Temperance address, and a great deal
better one than many which have
been inflicted on unhappy commu-
mites.
We should suppress drinking saloons
by law as we should suppress houses
of rendezvous for thieves. But, to Sc
cure the rights of property, our prin-
cipal reliance must be not the civil
law, but the creation of moral senti-
ment and the training of individuals in
honesty; so our principal reliance in
the Temperance reform must be
"moral suasion'' and the training of
individuals to turn with adherence
from drunkenness as a sim We are