The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-07-31
The American Revolution.
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By JOtN WAY.
once heard very good minister OF
the gospel say that he had heard his
father say that before the war it would
have been matter of as much aston.
|ishment to see man drunk as it would
have been to catch man stealing his
neighbor's sheep. Now, it is a fact
that before the war of the Revolution
|intemperance was an abominatiOn
scarcely known in this country, and
this war which is generally regarded
as the means of producing the greatest
of blessings, not only to our own coun-
try but also to other nations and peo-
pie, was the main cause and source OF
this dreadful civilian evil which has
hitherto baff1ed the untiring efforts OF
the wise and good to arrest its fright
full progress. Who that loves his coun-
try and mankind when he takes into
view the vast numbers that have gone
down to drunkard's grave, the amazing
agonies and wrongs that have fallen
with such crushing weight on moth
ers, wives and children, widows and
orphans, the soundless depths of mis-
cry and crime which the monster in
Temperance has produced in our coun-
try, whose desolating march is still on
ward, prostrating with giant, unpity-
ing arm, the youthful and the strong,
raining the direst misery and ruin
upon the quiet abodes of competence
and the stately dwellings of wealth,
sparing neither children in their inno-
cent helplessness nor virtuous women
in their youthful beauty, nor feeble
old age, who will not say. with mighty
emphasis, Gail the benefits that have
resulted from the war of the American
Revolution, be they few or many,
were purchased at far too costly a
price" :.
Perhaps some may ask how could
the war cause intemperance. I answer
that it is well known that the soldiers
after the war was over were fond OF
gathering the young around them and
telling marvellous stories about the
scenes and battles of the Revolution.
These soldiers were regarded by the
young with great respect and venera-
ton, and as the brave and war-beaten
soldiers INDUCED freely in the intoxi-
eating cup a0hich they first learned to
Jove IN the army, it soon became com
mon and respectable for all to drink
spirits, for who would presume to be
more wise or moral or exemplary than
the patriotic soldiers of the Revolu-
ton?
Another great evil that has arisin
from the war is the great increase OF
Sabbath breaking. Good men who
lived i'm the time of the war remarked
of that sin, eff such outrage against
God and religion is called in question,
the answer in almost every mans
mouth is ready, 1T is war times "
Truly has DR.. Beckwith said: ''The
Sabbath of New England has received
shock from the ReYolu tionary war
which only the millennium can ever
restore to the sanctity and moral power
it had in the days of our father's-the
Puritans."
Another very pernicious effect OF the
American Revolution is seen in the
great spread of infidelity in our coun-
| try. The French officers and soldiers
associated freely with our countrymen1,
and were regarded by them with much
affection and respect on account of their
assistance in the Revolutionary
War. 1t is very natural for men to
look with an extremely lenient for
bearance and charity upon the errone-
GUS religious faith and even the vicious
practices of those who generously render
them important aid in the time of their
lextremity. This is one of the weak
nesses of imperfect human nature ;
and more still to be deplored is the fact
that men are imperceptibly led not
only to excuse the vices of their
friends, but also to embrace their un-
sound principles and at last to adopt
their erroneous conduct. This was the
fact with many of the soldiers and
people of our country during the
American Revolutionary War.
Many took pride in following the
French in their principles and in con-
sequence of this the einfdel sentlmentsot
France were to q considerable extent
diffused among the American people.
Goodrich, the historian, friend of the
Revolution, says "The Revolution
brought with it great disadvantages to
religion in general. The atheistical
philosophy which had spread over
France, and which would involve the
whole subject of religion in the gloomy
mists of skepticism, which acknowledg-
es no distinction between right and
wrong, was thickly sown in the Amer
lean army by the French"
| Goodrich also says: ''Infidelity was
greatly extended by the writings OF
Paine. The gratitude which multi
tudes felt for the aid his pen had given
to our Revolution, contributed to i'm
part to him a peculiarly powerful in
lfiuence"
/ Ramsey, another historian, and a
supporter of the war, says, speaking
of the condition of the United States
after the war, "Their moral character
| is inferior to what it was formerly
So great is the change for the worse
that the friends of public order are loud.
ly called upon to exert their utmost abilj
ties in extirpating the vicious princi
piles and habits which have taken deer
root during the late convulsions."
Tracy, in his History of the Grea,
Awakening" referring to the Revolu'
ton and the extensive revival of relig'
ion in America previous to the war
|says: "With all the accession o.
strength that religion received from the
revival, it did but just stand the shock
and for q long time many of the pious
feared that everything holy would be
swept away
Does the Christian patriot sincerely
believe that the civil advantages gain
ed to our country by the Revolutiona'
ry War an adequate compensation for
the spread of infidel principles in oul
land resulting in the eternal moral
ruin of many who but for effect O
those principles might have lived tt
sparkle forever and ever in the Re