The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-03-28
Sermon to Moderate Drinkers.

The understanding that the Rev. DR..
Charles Herr, pastor OF the First PresDy-
terian Church In Emory street, Jersey City,.
would make some allusion In recent ser
mon to the Jersey City Clubs cafe attracted
q large attendance to the church. He had
charged the cafe with being largely re-
sponsible for the death OF William J. NC
Iiroy. The charge was made while Dr.
Herr was conducting Mr. McIlroy's funeral,
in the presence OF number OF club mem
bers. Prominent members OF the CLUB de-
nounced DR.. Herr's statements as un-
founded and in exceedingly bad taste, and
Ii was expected that DR.. Herr would make
some reply. he made no direct attack On
the club or cafe, but preached temper
ance sermon, in which he condemned the
practice Of moderate drinking:
"When It was believed, ;" said ne, "toa'
alcohol was food, that when taken 10 rea.
sonable quantities it aided digestion and
did good, temperance might properly be
understood as the use OF 1t in moderat1ont
Now that scientific investigation has shown
that alcohol Is a drug like strychnine. and
has the same effect, temperance can only
mean total abstinence. Inasmuch az physi-
clans and scientists agree in declaring that
alcohol is injurious to the human system:
except It be in minute medicinal doses ana
for specific purposes, there Is NO alterna.
d
as a rule OF bis life the duty fabs olute ab'
stinence from #. The ehurchs appeals on
the ground mat the bodyis the temple OF
!. the Holy Ghost. tWhateyer Is injurious tG
the BODY impasrssthe 19htal activity, In,
lures the physical strength and Is sin.
"Who araSfhey that sustain the hnt
grocery. the&lded saloon, the sumptuoue
cafe? Not tlic poor or the humble or those
: addicted 10 thebriation, but the respecta.
al Qnd1fQlont
our country Without them the trafhe
would lose what It has gained. This Is the
degree in which Christians, by the mod
crate use OF alcoholic stimulants, contri'
butte an impediment in the way OF temper.
ance reform, an obstacle In the path Oh
heroic, self-sacrifcing workers for the res
cue OF the lost. The church appeals on the
ground that the moderate drinking Gus
toms Of society are the influences that drag
men down. It isn't the inebriate, the,
maudlin drunkard who induces anybody to
use liquor. The sight OF his grovelllng
body and idiotic conduct alarms and dis
gusts. Icis the moderate use Of alcohol
I as a beverage under conditions OF respecta-
bility that constitutes the temptation 80
powerful with young men and brings for
ward ever fresh streams OF manhood to
plunge oyer the Niagara OF vlce."-New
York Sun.
Liquor DrInking q Cause OF Poverty.
LIQUOR drinking as a cause OF poverty
Il was the subject discussed by the Rev. Mad
ison @. Peters at the special services held
in the Ninth Regiment Armory, New York
City, recently. DR.. Peters said that the.
temperance question, not asa moral, So
clal or religious problem, but as money
question, would Mt some time become the
burning question OF the day. He quoted
Statistics to show that the money spent
for LIQUOR exceeded the amount necessary
for the maintenance OF the National Cow
ernment more than three times. All the
proposed labor legislation would not i'm
prove the condition Of the laborinG classes
us long as they expended wages in sup
porting the two hundred and thirty-fve
thousand saloonkeepers OF the country.
Open mills and open mints would not do as
much in abolishing poverty as closed sa-
looms. It had been stated by the late Jo-
seph Medill, who had closely studied the
question, that had the money spent by the
laboring classes during the last ten years
for drink been expended for railroad stock
the wnge.earners OF the country would
own every mile Of railroad in the land:
while II it had been invested in buildings
every working man would now be the cwn-
ar Of his own house.