The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-05-05
A TALK FOR TEMPERANCE.
BY REV. G. H. DEERE.
(Riverside, Cali

The first article of my creed is Total
Abstinence, and has been that ever
since have known anything. However
the debate may issue concerning the
possibility of moderate use, and the ad-
vantages of moderate use, we still hold,
on high Christian grounds, tie position
Of Total Abstinence. The Christian
law out Of which all Christian morals
grow is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbOr
as thyself," and every principle that
grows out of that either is OF will be-
come Christian law of duty. The
thought is exceedingly simple. Sup
pose that there are nine who can use it,
even advantageously, with moderation.
Here is one who cannot, and who, using
it at all, sinks into what we need not
describe, the life of the drunkaId, lead
ing to the drunkard's s death, through
track of desolation such as makes the
heart sick to contemplate. Now we
say the duty of those who can use to
advantage even if such there be, is
plain enough. These brothers who
cannot ought to be regarded, and if our
stopping the use, and influencing them
to stop, can save them, we have saved
our brothers, and the law of love com
mands it.
We do know that the evils of intoXi-
cation are terrible in the extreme. We
would like for little time to run along
the lines Of history, and add to our
common stock of knowledge of those
evils, by showing you what disasters
have come to the world that seem mys-
terious, that seem unaccountable under
any known action of the elements of
human nature, except that the actors,
to speak plainly, were drunk. Out Of
intoxication has come much of the con-
fusion, the errors and the disasters
that desolate all the past. So as a
Christian we feel bound totally to
abstain, for the sake of the neighbOr,
and as you come to love your neighbor
as yourself, you will be willing even to
sacrifice something for his good. If
you feel that it is good thing for you,
it may not be good thing for your
boy, your reighbor, or your friend, and
you will say, II will not be responsible
for his downfall. I can live without
the drink, and 1 will for his sake, if
not for my own" That argument will
keep. 1t has its roots in the central
practical requirements of the Christian
religion, and lies in the line Of the
moral efforts of all Christendom, bring
ing in the higher Christian civilization.
Now, if the evils of intoxicatiOn be
so great that man will abstain for his
neighbOr's sake, what shall we say of
those who feed this appetite and min
lister to it? They belong to that class
of whom Jesus spake when he said, sit
must needs be that offenses come, but
woe to that man by whom they come.
Temptation is needful; we are trained
by resisting and overcoming it. But
woe to that man by whom it comes
s'Better that a milestone were hanged
about his neck and he cast into the
sea-"
That he is a tempter and occasion of
stumbling becomes conspicuous if you
imagine his beginning the business of
the day with prayer for its success.
The merchant, on coming into his store
in the morning, might call his clerks
and employees together and say, ''let us
pray for success to-day in our work."
and he prays that they may be honest,
deal rightly with everybody, in a broth
erly fraternal spirit, and do all the good
possible while making profits. He can
do that, because he feels that his is q
legitimate place in society; he is doing
something that needs to be done, in the
distribution of the wholesome produc-
tions Of the earth and its industries.
Take now a saloon keeper; he comes
into his place of business, calls his
boys about him and says, Let us pray
that we may have large custom to-day
and that we may flourish" Why, the
very thought of it is shocking Let
him pray for the things which he
knows his traffic produces and he would
soon think that his business had better
be stopped. 1t would fill him with
such a sense of the wrong that he is do
ing to the children of that God to
whom he prays, that he would stop it.
Now if we could convert him and make
him pray, it would be a cure. But
what shall we do Here he is; does
not care anything about religion. What
shall we do with him? Shall we, be-
cause we cannot stay the drinking,
license him? Or shall we pronounce
his business a nuisance ?
This is the local question of the
hour. While the closing of saloons and
the shutting up of all these visible
sources of supply does not stop the
traffic, yet it is made disreputable
where you have to stink into by-plaees
to find it. If it were a choice between
the dark holes, the secret, hidden
places, and an open corner, with glass
windows, everything free to the view,
we should say let us have the license.