Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1893-09-05
CHRISTIANS AND THE Ii.
QUOR TRAFFIC.


Written for the y. o. Christian ADVOCATED
Editor Christian Advocate:
| was greatly gratified to see
you declare in leading editorial
in the Advocate of the Sth inst. i,
that "civil and political affairs
are coming more and more into
the domain of morals and thus
are laying a heavier weight upon
the Christian conscience; and
further, that "these questions
cannot be ignored by the Christ
ians of today, nor relegatcd again
to the domain of politics.
Foremost of these politico-
moral questions demanding settle
ment by the Christian citizens of
America is, by common consent,
the licensed beverage liquor traf-
fic. Only the other day, Bishop
Ireland, of the Catholic Church,
said at the Temperance Congress
in Chicago: : "The greatest enc
my to-day which religion has, is
,, intempcrance; not that it is the
sole evil, but it is at the root of
so many sins and other evils
| am a Baptist, but l care in
| finitely more for CHRISTIANITY
than | do for "CHURCHANITY, >
and | have been many times sur
prised and often saddened and hui
inflated, to see how widely the
professions of a majority of the
members of all our churches va
ry from their political acts and
ballots on this vital subject. At
the last General Conference of
the Nj. f. Church, South, held at
St. Louis in 1890, it was solemn
ly declared by that great body
that the Methodist Church is
EMPHATICALLY A PROHIBITION
CHURCH.; yet, sad to tell, in the
last Presidential campaign, we
witnessed the lamentable specta-
Gle of fully seven-tenths of the
voters of this /" PROHIBITION
CHURCH. Gncluding her preach
ers) in every State embraced in
the Conference, casting their bal
lots for the candidates of party
that was the avowed ally and
champion of the saloon. The po-
litical attitude and ballots of most
of the preachers and members of
my own church were just as
.shockingly out of harmony with
their church resolutions and indi-
vidual professions on this great
question.
An old colored preacher said
to an ebony brother who sat far
up in the "amen corner,' look
ed sanctimonious, and prayed
loud and long, and then robbed
his neighbors' hen-roosts on hi'
way home from church "Brud-
der Demas, desc hyar things
don't PARALYZE.
For men to profess to be Pro
hibitionists and Christians anG
then 90 straight ahead and give
their influence and votes for whis-
ky candidates and whisky parties,
"DON 7 PARALYZE. y
The worst feature about it all
is, this sort of conduct not only
hurts Prohibition, but discredits
Christianity itself, and shakes tht
confidence of thousands in the
sincerity of it's professors. hav,
been in touch a good deal during
the last II months with Missis
sissippi people of all classes, and
| have reason to know that the
attitude of many ministers-botf
Methodist and Baptist-durine
last falls campaign, was so utter
ly at variance with their churcl
resolutions and personal declara,
tions on the liquor question, il
will take them a long time if they
ever fully regain the confidence
they have forfeited in the esteem
Of thousands of good mon, to say
nothing of many other thousand;
of sinners who, while enjoying,
and in some instances profitins
by, such Inconsistency, were
among the first to observe it ane
privately discredit the preacher
and his religion.
Your note of warning, Mr.
Editor, is most timely. What
child's play, l had almost saiG
mockery, to be taking collection.
and importuning the sisters in the
churches to contribute their ''pir
money" to send the gospel to thu
heathen when. as a Christian ma