The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1890-07-18
The Duty orthe Hour.

What shall we do with the saloon? We
have cried tears enough to float a frigate
over the maj that has stumbled out of the
saloon; and We turn to the question, What
do you propose to do NTH the saloon out
of which the man s~tumbled-and that is
the question before the American people
today. Not the d%runkard, bat the drunk
ard-maker; not the drunkard's home, but
the saloon, is tho question that every one
of us is meeting, because we find ont that
tho saloon is the boulder on the track, and
the reason why we do not succeed.
Then another question swiftly follows,
that if the saloon is the thing in the way,
then that must be the thing to be struck.
The next question is, where shall we go to
strike it, Now. brethren. shall we go to
the prayer-meeting? Well, the saloon is
not in the prayer-meeting; if it was, there
are a good many men in this country that
wouldn't find it, for they do not go them
selves. Is it in the realm of scientific in
struction? Scarcely, Is it in the realm of
the reformed mems meetings? No, Where
is the saloon, then, that we may strike it
this supreme hindrance, this boulder on
the track? When we come to look carefully
into this question We find out that the
saloon is IN politics, leaning up against
the solid bulwarks of State and national
law. Talk about the saloon being a moral
question, Brethren, there is not a shred of
morality within a million miles of the
saloon. 1t is political inside and political
outside; it is political upside and down.
side; it is political or the Republican and
on the Democratic side, and it is political
clear through. And any man whose re-
ligion is so sublime, so ethereal, so thin, so
heavenly, that he cannot carry it out
where it is needed, INTO the political realm
in these days, and speak for his country
there from the heights of conscience, the
heights of prayer, and the heights of his
Christian living; he had better be gently
chloroformed and sent to heaven, for he
is of no use here.
Where is the entrenchment of the saloon
to-day? In the wrong attitude Of govern
ment toward it. Wherever our flag floats
to-day, it says with the saloon tucked
away under its folds. "You can stay here
by law" and the United States of America
holds for twenty-five dollars the golden
key that unlocks the sluiee-ways of death
to the feet of our children. Men call it
revenue. Where stands the saloon? 1t is
e~ntrenched in a wrong attitude Of govern
ment that makes it at home in the midst
of our civil Institutions. What is the cry
of our reform to-day? The same old cry.
The men and women stando on the heights
of better thinking and they ring down into
the hearts Of our people the old cry, "You
can't make legally and govcrnmentally
right the thing that is morally wrong"
Already tl,e conscientious believe; already
the thoughtful pause to listen. The hour
is at the dor when awakened citizenship
and awakened conscience shall elevate
prohibition in STATE and nation to the
throne of successful majorities, and this
evil will go down. There is not a thing
possible to humanity but what this intel
ligent republic with the aid of God AL
mighty can do; and | tell you the morning
light breaks over our hill-tops and the
hour of our deliverance is near. What,
then, is our duty? To stand in our place
and do the thing that God would have us
do from the heights Of conscience. God
don't need any political party, but He does
need men, Men! Men! Men too clean to
compromise, too strong to swerve, too
noble to be badgered out of their rights;
men no dare to stand as Elijah did, alone,
if it is necessary. God don't need the Re-
publican party; He don't need the DEM
ocratic party; He don't need the Prohibi-
ton party; He needs men that will do His
will, and that is all that Is needed at this
hour AIRS. Nary Z, Lathrdp.