The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-02-16
THE Temperance CAUSE,
CONTINUED FROM FIRST PAGE.l

rent 1t for saloon purposes. mo, repiieu
the General, "let 1t rot first!"
But there is no demon OF them all m more en-; ~
Tins into the pit with himself, than the de-
mon of strong drink. shall attempt no de-
beyond the suggestivenesS Oh lne
picture of Gadara. Drunkenness Is surely
an ''unclean spirit" 1t absolutely pos
sesses" its victim. and demonizes him. he
is no longer his proper self. He cannot CON
troll his own powers. Let the blood on many
a wife's face, following the blow of him who
had been loving husband, testify. 1t rem
ders him homeless, vagabond, outcast, I'M
kempt, naked, loathsome. Always when ne
cradle . In. the pathetic language OF the
scripture, ''always, night and day, crying,
in his soul, though no man hear the cry. he
is often exceeding fierce, so that no man
may pass that way" And his violence is Of
ten against himself he Is crying ana cut,
men never wonder when he takes the leap OF
suicidal madness. And in all his miseries
they must share who are bound to him by
any human tie. Such is the work Of this de-
mon so familiar to us, alas! that we have
become Indifferent to It all ms Demon ;t
ubiquitous. No land. no hamlet, no home Is
safe from his approach. Nothing better
shows his remorseless avidity than the fiepd-
tsh leap he makes into every newly opened
uauitatiOu' Nc IOllOWS tU6 van OI S6ttlb-
ment, aye, the pioneer line Of remotest dis
covery, as the shadow follows the moving
form. He goes before the missionary and
the teacher. He opens about the first door
for custom wherever men gather. See his
work in our Alaskan possessions. A trader
visits st. Lawrence Island In that region.
trades rum for furs. The inhabitants go on
a debauch and fail to lay up winter stores.
And when summer comes, the unburied bod
les OF men, women and children tell the
story OF starvation. Look into newly opened
portions of Africa. Vast quantities Of intox-
icants are carried thither from the ports OF
Christendom-Boston being chief among
them. Boston. centre Of our glorious colo
NAL history proud city Of culture, the Am
erican Athens; the great centre of mission
airy zeal and Christian benevolence In the
land. Boston sent to Africa during five years
Ions OF rum, besides other liquors! The re-
suits of this wholesale importation are inev-
itably awful They are vividly depicted by
missionaries and travellers whose words
Ans what iGr tSe attitude %e Of the GOSPEL g nave
let me say the attitude of Christ Himself, to-
wards this demon of strong drink? Does
anybody doubt its utter hatefulness In His
sight? And does not his work of saving
men inclnde the casting out of this demon
There is no other salvation for the drunk
ard ar than pa h the exorclsm of his demon. He
Gadara. but he can be saved only
by the casting out of the. de-
mon from him. And this exorcism Christ
the drunkard from his bondage and his mis-
cry but in Christ the deliverer. And does
not Christ mean, also, to Danish this demon
from communities and from nations, as well
as from the Individual? Can His kingdom
OF righteousness and peace ever prevail until
nj 10 ha N
palmer proposition than this: Christ is OPP
posed to the drink demon and purposes his
destruction. And does 1t not follow, also,
that Christ bids His disciples hate and op-
pose this deadly enemy of man? And does
He not, as Of old. give them commission and
does not this mean, practically, that the
moral and spiritual power of Christian people
should be strenu0usly and steadily exerted
to this end? What practical thing has the
church to do in this world, l ask, IL this
be not part OF its business? But the exor-
cism Of this demon must include both the re-
demption of the individual from a bondage
already established and also the protection
of the community, so for as may be possible,
from his farther ravages. Thus 1t includes
both moral and legal measures; anything
tect the imperiled. So far as may be, this
devil ought to be banished from the commu-
nifty as well as cast out of the individual. And
this exorcism Is peculiarly the bounden duty
and high privilege of all Christian people. But
was in Christ's time. Gadara exists only in
few ruins, but the Gadarenes are not dead.
The exorcism of the Dirt K demon is opposed
today by the very powers that withsto0d Je-
sus and besought Him to depart out Of their
coasts. Il is the same old issue-men VS..
money. The devil never races so well as
when he has the dollar for running mate.
Sentimentally, all decent people lament the
misery of this horrible possession and wish
that its victims might be set free. But,
practically, such liberation may prove too
costly. The swine must be saved at all hax-
ards; for will they not bring hard cash in
the market? Surely 1t is a good deal to ask
Boston to give up that revenue of 81, 126, 1S7
which she receives in five years for rum ex-
ported ito Africa. simply because that rum
lets loose thousand devils there.
do not misrepresent the modern Gada-
Ienes nor exaggerate their conduct. Many
plaintive cry has come up from native rulers
begging the powers of Christendom to save
their people from these imported demons.
Cetewayo, ex-King Of the zulus, said; 1.-THE
sale of liquor will ruin the country" Chief
Kama testified "The white man must stop
giving us brandy II he would save u.s." Um-
Queke said: IF brandy is introduced we
shall lose everything we have" Seventy of
the head men of Idutywa united in declar-
ing, Brandy is fearfnlly bad thing; we
duced." King Malike, of the Niger region,
wrote to Bishop Crowther: Rum has ruined
our country; it has made our people mad.
For Gods sake help US. Do not leave our
country to be spoiled by rum" And what
these appeals9 It may be indicated in the
main by a few facts, The King of Madagas-
car was compelled by English officials to
permit the free importation Of rum. / would
give particulars were there time. The
Khedive Of Egypt declared himself power
count Of the I arreements Of Fur Um ac
Secretary Bayard refused In
1885 to join in an International protection of
the Pacific isles from the sale of arms and
strong drink. And the Congo Conference,
OF the appointed representatives of
Christian nations refused to lay hands on
reason may be inferred from the language of
a letter written by the Hamburg Chamber of
Commerce: Merchants of this place inter-
ested In the African trade, are of the opin-
ion that the limiting of this traffic Tin IL
quors) would be injurious to the develop
ment Of trade with those countries. ~ Well
might Canon Farrar cry, "The old rapacity
Of the slave trade has been followed by the
greedier and more runiOuS rapacity of the
drink seller. Our fathers tore from the neck
Of Africa yoke Of whips; we have subjected
said strikingly, "Africa concerns the H mi.
verse. The 10th century made man of the
negro lin the goth cen fury Europe will have
made world of Africa" But In view of
this fiendish importation of strong drink il
remains to be seen whether in the 10th Gem
fury Christendom will not make of the ne.
gro demon and of Africa hell. There are
several classes who oppose the exorcism of
the dring demon by legal means on suhstan-
stantially Gadarene grounds. Hs@T-l''17
First, there are those who are in.
duenced by the motive of a personal cash
profit. Such profit may be direct or indirect,
It may come from the actual sale of liquor.
from rentals connected with the traffic, from
business interests connected only indirectly
business connection with other people. It is
Easy to see why LIQUOR sellers oppose this
,x0rcism, whether they sell in low dives"
and dens or behind hotel bars. There is no
mystery In the opposition OF certain English
notable who hold shares in the great brew
,ries, the list including % ladies of title, &c
peers Of the House of Lords and 40 members
II the House of Commons. Direct personal
interest in the sale Of liquors Is more wide
spread than ever before because OF the for
nation of these great stock companies. 1t
would seem as though Satan had himself
suggested this plan for broadening the finan-
,ial basis of the liquor interest. 1t is esti-
mated that about $150. 900, 900 of such stock
and. When the brewing business of Guinness
Z Co., OF Dublin was put into stock COM
lany, there were 10000 applicants for shares.
The office Of Barring Bros, was besieged by
clamorous crowd, eager to invest. London
took dealers alone applied for ell 00O, 600 of
took and during one week the whole capi-
al of G5, 000,000 had been applied for 20 times