St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-12-17
ALCOHOL MUST Be OVERTH
Bitter Denunciation Of Traffic in Human
Misery.
REFORMED BY A MIRACLE.
An Enthusiastic Audience Fills the
Grand Opera House to Boom the
Temperance Cause.

ton thus freely extended was freely
accepted, the auditorium flied to over
flowing, though the gallery was not
yety literally patronized. 1t was an
earnest, practical meeting, composed of
a sober class of people. They were not
the sort to be met with in the saloons !;
they were undoubtedly all, or nearly so.
Temperance ref0rmerS from conviction
or feeling. and, as matter
of course, attended, to have the
teHets of their faith invigorated
by the burning oratory certain
to be forthcoming. State Auditor
Braden, Deputy State Secretary Stock
enstrOm, Secretary Tallmadge, of the
chamber Of commerce, and other proml-
nent citizens were among the audience,
who warmly applauded the Outspoken
declarations of the speakers. 1t. Rev.
NJ. n. Gilbert, d. D., presided, and
upon his right sat Hon. John q. Wool
ley. of Minneapolis. The last-named
gentleman was the lion of the meeting,
his address occupying fully half of the
proceedings. Rev. S. q. Smith. of the
Peoples church; Rev. Robert f. Mac
Laren, of the Central Presbyterian
church; Hon. Samuel G. Briggs, and j.
l., Beach, of Minneapolis, were also
SEATED ON THE STAGE.
A choir. with James Swift as pre-
centOr and Prof. w. A. Wheaton as
pianist, also occupied part of the plat
form. Good singing and good speaking
had been promised by the Gospel Tenn
perance people, and both were fully re-
deemed. The opening exercises were
slightly prolonged by the introduction
of DR.. Smith and Rev. r. T. MacLaren
the former read the parable of the
prOdigal son, ana the latter duplicated
divine blessing upon those assembled
and the words TO be spoken. SHOWERS
Of Blessing" were sweetly caroled by
the choir. and the meeting assumed
business-lilke air.
Bishop Gilbert made an excellent
president, and his opening address was
brief, but to the point. He explained
that tor several years past IT had been
the custom Of the association to have an
annual meeting, from which might flow
out the streams or the influences which
should accomplish the work the union
had in hand. The members of the UNI
ion were doing quiet, persistent and
Christ-ike work. the usefulness and he
cessity of which had been thoroughly
demonstrated and needed no apology.
Hon. John G. Woolley. tall, squarely
built, and bloodless face, thoroughly
riveted the attention Of every one in the
opening sentences Of his address. II
am glad to meet the people of st. Paul
this afternoon" he said, land to meet
them here, above ALL under conditions
like these. | have been III this opera
house great many times; | never
WAS HERE SOBER BEFORE,
and so am enjoying the spectacle as we'll
as the experience of taking part in
meeting of this sort. About sixteen
months ago | stumbled out of Mime
apOliS saloon broken. ruined, helpless
man, without any friends that | knew
of, except my own wife; without any
God in the world, without any place that
| could call my home, and without any
prospects whatever but utter darkness"
Mr. Woelley stated how he had
tried diligently and persistently to over
come an awful appetite for drink, and
how all his efforts failed until ne threw
himself "boldly at the feet of the Lord
Jesus and cried to him, Save me- He
heard me and did save; and when the
great light broke upon me | asked the
question which ST. Paul asked when he
was converted, Lord, what wilt Thou
have me TO do?' and | am going about
from place to place as He leads me, tell
ing every man what | know of the
power of God TO save man from drink,
and saving him from all SIM" With
these words by way of an Introduction
Mr.. Woolley announced that his sub
sequent remarks would be based on
the text: Wine is a mocker."
Thereupon he entered into a long
disQuSitiOn upon alcohol, and intro
duced some brilliant passages of rhet-
,.f. A lall ,T.ls In anfI
land alcohol will take the home: alec
holiZe business, and, SOoneror later,
it will take the business; alcoholic a
church, and the baptismal font of it
will dry up, and instead of being
temple of the living God, it will be-
come
TOMB OF THE DEAD CHRIST:
alcoholic a preacher, and all the
warmth of his Christianity will be gone,
and instead of miniStering as the priest
in the temple of the living God he will
become but mere frog buried in the
tombs of the abandoned temple; alco-
holiZe a woman, and from the lofty
pedestal of her womanly purity she will
totter, if she does not fall. The
greatest ally of the seducer is wine
or alcohol. Alcoholic the wine of
the holy communion, and to
some man, struggling and fighting
against it, as have struggled, it will
prove to be no emblem OF the blood of
the Lord Christ, but the devils blood.
In fact. it will prove to be no memorial
to remind him Of the life and death of
the Lord Jesus until lie shall come
again, but it will be TO that man the
death of all hope of any Saviour. Alec
hoize political party. and all its 10y
atty and vitality will wane; alcoholic
a nation, and it will swing back, demon
allied, into barbariSm. Look at the rec
ords, men who love your country, ana
you will find that
THE LIQUOR POWER Is GROWING.
Remember that it can grow only by
consuming the vitality of every plant,
shrub, tree, fruit and flower of what we
call our civilization Mr.. Woolley
spoke of the marriage bonds alcohol had
broken, the great disSoivent it had been
o. dutiful affections and how il brought
cut the base nature OF human beings.
"Alcohol is the incarnate curse of the
Scripture: He that is filthy, let him
be filthy STILL" There are 100000 men
and women who die yearly from the
effects of drunkenness. "a ma has TO
suffer to understand what deviliSh
thing drink is in this country. Ii l
could lift the cover over this city at
midnight and let you look down into
the secrets of the homes made unhappy
by the saloons, you would swear by all the
manhood that there was in you that
you would take no food or sleep until
the last saloon, distillery and brewery
in st. Paul was smoking ruin aud the
saloonkeeper fugative at hot rate
from an outraged community" APP
plause.l Mr.. Woolley urged them to
look to this question OF the saloon, Ito
find out what injury this devilish thing
is doing men and women and the homes
of this country. | believe even now it
has taken up its way back to hell, from
whence it sprung and whittier it must
90 This comfy has gone without