Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-01-28


graduation exercises of the class in the l.
o. G. T. Course of Study, Randolph, VT.
IConcluded from last week.
Let us see what we have done abroad.
We have sent missionaries to the heather,
yes, that is true, but that isn't all we
have sent; for where we have sent one
missionary, we have probably sent
thousand barrels of rum, so that on the
whole, we have done them more than
ten times as much evil as good. Do you
wonder that the heather do not love the
so.called Christian nations? 1t is no.
table fact that the Buddhist, and Ma
hometan, and the followers of Confu-
cious and Zoroaster are free from the
evil of intemperance. The following
punishment for drunkenness, inflicted by
a mob in Constantinople, will show how
sensible Mahometans are of the disgust
ing nature of the vice, and the light in
which they look upon Christianity in
consequence of its prevalence among
Christian professors. A drunken Mus
sulman was tied upon a lame mule, on
his head was placed European hat Ga
Christian hat) and behind him, back to
back, was tied dog--an animal greatly
abomlnated by them. After parading
through the street, stopping at every
fountain to sprinkle him with water and
mud, he was taken to the banks of the
Bosphorus, and in mockery of the Christ
ian rite of baptism was plunged into the
water with his innocent companion.
The hair of the dog was then shaved off
in the form of a cross, and the beard of
the Mussulman was removed with the
same razor; he was then twice plunged
into the Bosphorus, and his publication
was pronounced complete. Could any
act have been more humiliating to us?
During the last three years we have
read with horror of the terrible crimes
committed by the Turk in Armenia.
How our blood has boiled with indigna-
ton at his cruelty If it had been in
our power we would have drawn the
sword, and annihlated every Turk on
the face of the earth, and felt that we
were doing God and His cause a good
service; but every question has two
sides, and this is not an exception. By
reason of our eyes being turned out
ward, we see the faults of others only !;
suppose we look at ourselves from the
Turkish point of view. Here in our
own country King Alcohol has in num-
Der of murders and cruelty far outdone
the Turk; and were he a believer in
missions he might be disposed to
send us missionaries to teach US tenn
perance and sobriety, and money and
clothing for those who are hungry,
needy and homeless from the effects of
intemperance.
Now it is not pleasant for me to re-
late these tales of horror; but something
must be done to arouse the sleeping
conscience of our Christian people to a
sense of their danger and to the damage
that is being done.
But you say we have nothing of that
here in Vermont. Well, my friend, you
are mistaken. Vermont has more places
holding a revenue license to sell liquor
than we have churches and there is not
town in our state where its blighting
effects cannot be seen. You might plant
a church on every corner of every viii
lage and city in this land; you might
give it all the beauty and grace that an
architect can possibly devise; you may
furnish 1t with the best that money can
buy; you may get the best organ that
mechanic can produce; employ the best
musicians and singers to be had; employ
the most eloquent preacher that ever
stood in pulpit; and so long as you al
low one saloon to run in that city or
village it will degrade men faster than
the churches can reclaim them. AS
you not pray to God to revive his work
and pour his holy spirit into the hearts
of men, that the gospel of peace and
good will toward men may spread over
the whole earth and that His will be
done on earth as in heaven. Let us not
be deceived. God works by means, not
by witchcraft. He expects men and
women to cooperate with his power,
and be instruments in his hands to save
mankind from their sins. Strong drink
has defied and frustrated the labors of
the church of Christ to evangelze the
world, by keeping millions of souls
from listening to the message of the
gospels-glad tidings of great Joy, and
deliverance from the thraldom of sin and
death. The Christian church can hardly
be expected to accomplish its God-de-
signed mission while the liquor traffic is
allowed to exist; and may the time soon
come when all the moral and intellectual,
yes, and the physical forces if necessary,
shall be pitted in a war of determination
against this enemy of our church and
state; and the glorious old stars and
stripes shall wave triumphant over a
nation that shall be free from the most
CALLING chains that ever bound the
human race.