The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1900-03-23

society?''
| The merchant trembled. and his lips
| quivered at mention of his son, but he
| replied:
Il cannot do what you want, Mr..
| Strong, but you can count on my SYM
pathy if you make the fight" Philip
finally went away, his soul tossed on a
| wave of mountain proportions and
| growing more and more crested with
| foam and wrath as the first Sunday of
the month drew near and he realized
| that the battle was one that he must
wage single handed in town of 5O,-
600 people.
| He was not so destitute of support as
he thought. There were many mothers
hearts in Milton that had ached and
prayed in agony long years that the AL
mighty would come with his power
and sweep the curse away. But Philip
had not been long enough in Milton to
| know the entire sentiment of the peo-
pie. He had so far touched only the
church through its representative pull
pits and few of the leading business
men, and the result had been almost to
convince him that very little help
could be expected from the public gen.
orally. He was appalled, to find out
what a trem sa1ous hold the whisky
men had on the business and politics
of the place. 1t was a revelation to
him of their power. The whole thing
seemed to hiln like travesty of free
government and terrible commen-
tary ON the boasted Christianity of the
century.
So when he walked into the pulpit
the first Sunday of the month he felt
his message burning in his heart and
on his lips as never before. 1t seemed
beyond all question that if Christ was
pastor of Calvary church he would
speak out in plain denunciatiOn of the
whisky power. And so after the open
ing part of the service, Philip rose to
speak, facing an immense audience
that overfowed the galleries and in
vaded the choir and even sat upon the
pulpit platform. Such a crowd had
never been seen in Calvary church be-
fore.
Philip had not announced his sub
ject, but there was an expectation on
the part of many that he was going to
denOunce the saloon. In the two
months that he had been preaching in
Milton he had attracted great atten-
ton. His audience this morning rep
resented great many different kinds
of people. Some came out of curiosi
ty. Others came because the crowd
was going that way. So it happened
that Philip faced a truly representative
audience of Milton people. AS his eye
swept over the house he saw four Of
the six members of his church who
were up for Office at the coming cleo
ton in two weeks.
For an hour Philip spoke as he had
. never spoken in all his life before.
His subject, the cause it represented,
the immense audience, the entire occa-
sion caught him up in a genuine burst
of eloquent fury, and his sermon swept
through the house like a prairie fire
driven by a high gale. At the close
he spoke of the power of the church
compared with the saloon and showed
l how easily it could win the victory
against any kind of evil if it were only
united and determined.
"Men and women of Milton, fathers,
!. mothers and citizens" he said, this
I evil is one which cannot be driven out
i unless the Christian people of this
. place unite to condemn it and fight it
I regardless of results. 1t is too firmly
established. 1t has it's clutch on busi-
ness, the municipal life, and even the
church itself. 1t is a fact that the
J churches in Milton have been afraid to
l take the right stand in this matter.
: Members of the churches have become
involved in the terrible ENHANCEMENT
: of the long established rum power, I'M
d til today you witness a condition of
| affairs which ought to stir the right
eous Indignation of every citizen and
= father. What is it you are enduring
= An institution which blasts with Its
poisonous breath every soul that en-
ters it, which ruins young manhood,
which kills more citizens in times of
u peace than the most bloody war ever
=" slew in times of revolution; an institu-
ton that is established the open
and declared purpose of getting money
from the people by the sale of stuff
= that creates criminals; an institution
e that robs the honest workingman OF
his savings and looks with Indifference
. on the tears of the wife, the sObs OF
u the mother; an institution that never
II gives one cent of it's enormous wealth
y to build churches. colleges or homes
l. for the needy; an institution that has
the brand of the murderer, the harlot
the gambler burned into it with q
l. brand of the DEVILS own forging in the
e furnace of his hottest hell. This institu
ton SO rules and governs this town OF
e Milton today that honest citizens trem
e BILE before it, business men dare not Op
pose it for fear of losing money, churcf
r members fawn before it in order t.
r gain place in politics, and ministers o.
/. the gospel confront it's hideOus infiu
i ence and say nothing! 1t is high time
h we faced this monster of iniQuity an(
II drove it out of the stronghold it ha:
e occupied SO long.
is Il wish you could have gone with me
n- this past week and witnessed some O
lr the sights l have seen. No! 1 retrac
f, that statement 1 would not wish tina
u. any father or mother had had the
1T heartacha that l have felt as / con