The Worthington advance., 1892-03-31
TEMPERANCE NOTES.
4 DANGEROUS PttfLoIsopt,Y. III Z ~

Ino OrunHafO. $& everyone Selee navln&s
lot or part in the matter, except the.
principal party, s. blamed. Vhatever
degree Of guilt attacheAto others-ends
we would not lightly Paas over thatsofs
the mau who is given to treating and
urges drink upon other mem sbe-ss
lieve that letting the culprit, 60 scot
free is great damage to the cause of
temperance. He is represented as q
weakling falling into the tolls of
stronger and more designing ~charac-,
ters. 1t is true he is a aweakling. much
the same as every other man is weak
ling who INDUCES in any kind of vice
and gets to. loving it or always has
loved it. Some call thief, or one of q
certain class of thieves who steal
oftener than others and do not give up
the habit, kleptomaniac-a.s soft term
invented to palliate the love Of theft, a
designation of distinction accorded not
to the person who steals once but to
one who keeps on stealing all he
can. Some unfortunate & constitu-
tional trait, g some inherited
quality, some defect of brain, some &C.
cident of education, something Of some
sort other than a mans own fault, de-
pravity or self-indulgence, is assigned
rs the reason for thieving or sensuali-
ty or inebriety. This is the gist of
the dangerous moral philosophy which
is becoming only too popular, and
more especially SO as regards the ques-
ton of temperance. We have only to
make = more extensive application of
the principle to show its folly and
falsity. If the rum thirsty is innocent.
why not the blood thirsty? A theory
that would so destroy the foundations
Of morality cannot avail to further
sobriety. The glutton or the sensualist
nay use it in his favor if the sot may,
nd SO may all evil livers They sin
because they want to sin, because they
have the disposition or somebody
tempts them. No; let the man who
gets drunk and abuses his family lie
known as reprobate, not merely be-
cause he abuses his family but because
he gets drunk, and let his drunkenness
be not excused. Have him know that
he is held accountable, and there is
something done towards his reforma-
tion by letting him see himself as
others see him. At least he is not en-
couraged to drink again. But sup
pose he attends lecture on
temperance in which everybody
is blamed hut himself; the man
ufacturer, the dealer, the treater,
the inanimate apple tree and perhaps
his poor wife for not making home SO
attractive that he could not leave it OF
an evening (and, perchance, how could
she?) and he laughs in his sleeve and
says, like the sot in Solomon's time:
II will seek it yet again" No! no!
The soul that sinneth, it shall die -
The devil could invent no more in.
genious device for increasing the mum.
Der of his victims than to make op.
ponents of particular sin excuse the
sinner for committing it. If poor
John, who staggers home, were not SC
much pitied for his weakness he might
get little more strength by being
treated as man of responsibility who
has done a contemplate thing by
darkening the lives of his children and
burdening the heart and hands of his
wife, bringing shame and sorrow where
he should give joy. We do not say he
invites sno pity. Every sinner does.
But that he is sinner is fact not tC
be denied 1t is the main fact in the
case. Let him know it. All the evil
to himself and others comes out of it.
Say to him, then, friend or wife: "How
can you do this great wickedness and
sin against God?' Conscience may be
reached and the sinner ask himself
''How can I do this great wickedness
and sin against God?" Then there is
hope.-Dr. F. w. Bartlett, in Tenn