The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-07-04
ARcHDEAcos rARnAE on TOTAL ABSTINENCE.

ARcHDEAcos FARRAE on TOTAL ABSTINENCE.
Archdeacon Farrar. writing OF total absti-
nence In the British Workman. says:
IT was not O total abstainer till after I was
forty years old, because the deslrability OF
setting the example had never been brought
home to me. But from the day that be-
came one, the total abstention from alcohol
ic liquor hos never given me the smallest
trouble, nor caused me the least regret nor
would It cause any real trouble to any
healthy man, who has always been moderate
and temperate, and had never fatally per.
suaded himself that drink was necessity to
him. There are some 10000 prisoners In
England and from the day that they enter
prison no alcohol is allowed them. DO they
suffer In consequence? On the contrary,
they improve in health.
THE case, admit. Is very difficult with
drunkards, and with all who have been born
with hereditary craving for drink. Absti-
nence is not so easy for those who; even
without intoxlcation, have long been aceus-
toned to take drink In larger quantities than
is good for them. I do not deny that the
resolute determination to give up drink al
together may cause such men a serious strug-
gle; but ~ the effort may be mitigated by
q wise and moderate use OF tea, coffee, and
very hot water, slipping when the craving be-
comes strong: and (2) by keeping away
from every incentive and temptation to
drink. Further. the effort will become easier
every week that II is continued. And let me
point out that, whether the task be difficult
or not, these are the very men for whom the
effort Is matter Of the most elementary
necessity. OF the most initial safety. If
it gives workingman no trou-
BILE whatever to be an absta1ner,
then the desirability OF setting much
needed example to others. and OF helping to
deliver his country from an intoierable
curse, ought, think, to weigh with him.
If, on the other hand, it cost him great
trouble, ifhe finds that he has an ugly and
increasing fondness for alcohol. then he may
be the very man for whom abstinence IS most
essential. TO him 1t is safeguard from a
peril which may utterly destroy his happi-
ness here, and may endan8er the safety Of
his soul hereafter. To reclaim even an hab-
itual drunkard, though difficult, Is not i'm
possible. In spite OF the difficulty. the fact
that confirmed drunkards-such as John
Cough, the great temperance orator, once
was-can be, and have been snatched like
brands from the burning. even after they
have been seized by that awful disease OF
deIirum trenens, which stands, like Gods
executioner, in the path Of so many Il drunk
ard shows that a man cannot be so far gone
as to be beyond the possibility Of rescue even
at the eleventh hour. 1t is lar easier for
man to save himself (through Gods grace)
by total abstinence, when he has not habttu-
ally, still more when he has but rarely. sunk
into the shameful helplessness Of actual in
toxication. But the more difficult 1t is for
any man to achievehis deliyerance, the more
obviously imperative is it upon him. for the
sake OF his country, for the sake Of his or
der. for his own sake, for the sake OF his
wife and family, for the sake Of children yet
unborn. Any trouble which the effort may
cause him is ten-thousandfold less trying
than the awful and immeasurable retribution
which may come upon him by areckless con-
tinuance in that which, after all, is nothing
higher than sensual indulgence harmless,
perhaps, II not abused, but In no sense
harmless If it tends to become ruin and q
snare"