The Portland daily press., 1897-10-11
NEAL DOW AND NEHEMIAH
The Prohibition Leader Compared with
the Hebrew Prophet.

At the Second Advent church YES or
day, Rev. DIR. Woodward preached unon
"Neal Dow, the Nehemiah of this Cen
tury"
Thus saith the Lord. Cursed is tho
man that trusteth in man, and makets.
flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth
from the Lord. !" jeremiah II: 5.
I cannot remember the time when did
not look east from my home in New
York. and think of Neal Dow, the man
who had done what no other man ever
did, put the liquor traffic under the ban
of law. doubt if l accorded to the mem.
ory of Washington the respect and vener-
alton felt for him.. And now as man,
understand still better the mighty in
fiuence which went forth from him on
the side of right, and gladly stand among
the thousands who today do honor to his
introducing such theme into the pulpit,
for the fact of men being lost, and need
ing salvation indicates the specific work
of the pulpit through all time. And only
because 1 believe there are valuable les
sons for US all to learn from this grand
life, and from comparison of it with a
great Bible character, do l bring this
subject before you today, l will say
nothing of his acts, nor in his praise, for
Others have done that better than / can,
but I speak only in the line indicated
General Dow, to my mind bears strik-
ing resemblance to the prophet ruler,
Nehemiah, whose work was so far reach
ing in its effects on ancient Israel. Look
for moment at Nehemiah. He was in
high position in the Persian court, but
his heart turned away from his surround
ings with an intense longing for the re-
establishment of the Hebrew Common
wealth; and, with courage, persisten ce
and faith in God, he made it possible for
| Isreal to be nation again, and be ready
for the coming Messiah. But this part of
his work, the most prom inent in our
estimate of him, was not SO important
and necessary as what he did when he
became a reformer of abuses which crept
in after the period of national restoration.
Internal danger is harder to meet than
that from outside and also requires
more courage. Outside pressure often
strengthens character, or cements a
nation together; internal corruption is
far greater peril. AS the victor over
IsraeTs foes Nehemiah was undoubtedly
popular, but as q reformer, thatrwas quite
another thing. We honor Wash ngton.i
the father Of his country, and L ncoln as
its savior; but we are apt to turn from
the man who stirs up things at home,
tries to correct abuses in the state and
thus perhaps, ssinterferes with the bust
nesa' which is based on wrong doing.
Nehemiah found abuses in the matter
of exacting usury from their own breth-
rem, in Sabbath breaking, and in the
mixed marriages then common. He boldly
attacked these abuses, each sure to lead
to national disintegration and decay, and
the effect of his action is seen among that
people today. So Neal Dow found the
entire nation asleep regarding the evils
resulting from strong drink, and like
Nehemiah, he went forth and aroused
public sentiment, and then crystalized
that sentiment into statute law. His
work here is matter of record, and the
nation breathes freer today because of his
burning words. He came to us in the
spirit and power of Nehemiah, prophet
of God as truly as was. the Hebrew ssruler.
10 effect the needed change, he needed
intense convictions, an all-absorbing pur-
pose, unbounded courage. and unwaver-
ing trust in God. Otherw Sc he would
have failed. AS it is, he accomplish ed
what might once have seemed an impos-
sibility.
But there is another side to all this.
In Nehemiah's case, though he caused
those reforms to become permanent, ~o.
II we look closely, we shall see that in all
these points the letter was preserved,
while the spirit was forgotten. The Jews
have ceased to exact usury of their
brethren, but have forgotten the wider
brotherhood Of mankind. They have
ceased to be Sabbath breakers. but Christ
long ago accused them of neglecting the
weightier matters of the law. Their aban-