The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-05-16
Church Pro Temperance No, IA
Plea for Consistency.
"a Plea for Consistency
Norfolk, Va. MAY IL, 1905

Norfolk, Va. May 10, 1896.
Editor OF The yirginian:
The p;oper thing 10 do is to begin No.
2 Just where No. 1 ended on the subject
before us 10 show the absurdity OF the
proposition that Christian is duty
bound to fall In with the Prohibition
party in It's Reform march. because,
forsooth. II carries so much temperance
virtue with 1t. that the church man needs
1t to attain the acme Of Christian per-
lection Look here! Consistency is a
Jewel. Verify while there are a tho,,s-
and-and-one things In this sinful world
over which Christ might weep should he
come to Norfolk. and In which, doubt
less he would have the sympathy of
thousands Of good men ana women who
are ready to stopthelr ears to tempe. a nee
songs devoted to office-seeking, yet Il Is
safe to say he would not modify the
eternal principles of his righteous King
dom TO accommodate what unbalanced
ceasoS and religious fanaticism demand
to-day to correct the evil In the world
He and his followers would preach the
same gospel of repentance. faith and
temperance, which maddened Herodias.
made Felix tremble and almost per-
suaded agtippa. This IL the gospel
which means more temperance than re-
form by Prohibition-tempera that
applies to eating as well as to drinking:
to thinking and feeling as well as 10
these, and not only to those but also
to speaking and writing and dealing
with offenders and enemies. Is II tenn
perance to class all outside of q certain
party as being opposed to law and or
der? Is 1t temperance TO caricature in
heinous cartoons the men whose deeds
II is the purpose OF the party 10 correct?
is ii temperance to use the daily paper
10 SOW seeds OF party venom, race preju-
dice and defamation of men nil over the
city and country. and particularly ito
make speciality OF this on The Lords
Day? Is 1t reform to put a good man
out of office and put In another who
is to be displaced In turn, and 40 on
none proving to be better than the frs;
II as good? Is II Temperament reform no
dag women, whose places and practice
are known for confirmed bad character.
as spectacle for gaze, rebuke and pen
atty before the public and the courts
and TO send them back no better than
when they came? And they afford oc-
casions before north for the repetI-
ton OF this whole wretched routine.
We'll may the prayer be offe, ed daily.
when the court calls to order. God save
the Commonwealth" and well nigh. the
prayer be daily offered. God save tho
church temperance political part y." for
all tha1 endorse such temperance-reform
as this. The writing on the wall Is
''TEkEL, thu art weighed in the ba-
lance and art found wanting" But
they say. 1--WE need a great revival or
the subject of temperance to arouse the
people 20 their duty.
We are in great danger Of being swal-
lowed up soul and body by King Alcohol
Accordingly evangelistc lecturers and
singers ara engaged from abroad for
the purpose OF singing the people into
their sense OF duty and knowledge how
TO vote. Do they know that a revival
brought In on Surglng wave of sen
sation and enthusiasm will subside when
that wave recedes TO It's place? Is there
not enough OF intelligence and music
and eloauence and virtue and other ia
Isn't In the city to be used for its rescue ?
In olden times God conditioned the
sparing of the city not on ahe numbe,
of good people that might be imported,
but on the number of righteous to be
found In Sodom.
Are there any righteous in Norfolk /?
Where, then, is consistency?
EUREKA