The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-02-25
LATEST FAIR HAVEN NEWS
REY. MIR, STONE ON MRS. NATIONS
 SALOON CRUSADE.
Features of His Discourse Last Evening at the Grand Avenue Baptist Church -- An Interesting sermon.

An Interesting Sermon.
 At the Grand avenue Baptist church, last
 evening, the pastor, Rev. E. W. Stone,
 spoke on Mrs Nations Saloon Crusade ''
 A large congregation listened with interest to the timely address. His text was Luke g. 55-56. He said in part: l wish to speak of Mrs. Nations saloon
 crusade this evening, not so much to hold
 up the cratic conduct Of this hansas Wo-
 man to condemnation, as to point It out as
 q symptom of q diseased publlc opinion pre-.
 yaliing ill some quarters Of our country, ana
 rapidly spreading to others, that eyll and
 wrong are to be put down and good and
 right cnthroned by force. Lynching, Is an
 other symptom ot this dread disease.
 In the staid, old, conservative east there
 are those who justify Mrs. Nations methods
 SD far as they result in good. To them, q
 The contagion Is spreading
 Kansas ls Il prohibition state. Liquor as
 beverage cannot be legally sold within i's
 borders. But those who administer the
 laws are not favorable to this moral legis-
 latioD. They have wInked at It's violation
 until joints or saloons have been opened
 in the cities of the state; Things have gone
 from bad to worse til Mrs. Nation started
 her crusade. Armed With axes and clubs
 she and her followers have marched to the
 saIoons not only destroying the liquors, but
 also as far as they could the buildings i'll
 which they were found. Ministers, business
 and professional men, students and women,
 have joined ill tAis crusade Ill one case at
 least murder has resulted.
 Last Monday Mrs. Nation issued state ment intended to define the position and justify the conduct of the crusaders. It Is u movement for the defense of the homes of
 Kansas, she claims. She calls for volun- teers of every color and cline, provided they are not whiskey drinkers, tobacco us CTS, nor SWearers. Nehemiah Is her model and his words to the rulers of Jerusalem to light Tor their homes, her motive. Non re- slstance Is the ''supineness or hell, delil- sion of the devil, that he may accomplish 4is work. Now he says the commahd or Jesus CD is the only safe way, resist the devil and he will flee kansas shall be free and men shall serve her who will re- ward her and punish evil.
 of this statement so Tar as IL seeks to justify her conduct and methods from the Scriptures, l have nothing to say. The fact Is that she Is woefully confused as to what the spirit of the Bible is. Even granting that hers Is the spirit of Nehemiah and Ell jah, In the light of the text an explicit con demnation of the spirit of Elijah Tor Christ's day and time, 1t could not be said to be the teaching of the Bible. TO Chris tian people Jesus Christ Is the spirit of the Bible and illustrates in Bis life, words and conduct, it's teachings.
 The Old Testament and the New are valu- able to us-they help us to understand Him and His Spirit. Everyone knows that much Is recorded both in the Old and New Testa- lnents of great and good men whom God used that does not reflect the spirit of Christ.
 It Is more than strange that intelligent Christian people are so slow to learn i this this and methods from Christ by appealing to he spirit and methods of these men. It Is simply q travesty upon James commando
 Resist the devil and he will flee from fo thnf nnAa nx md shotgun. Christ in His temptation in he wilderness shows how this is to be lone.
 The second thing I wish to say about Mrs. .onceiyes of Christ's doctrine of non-resist lnce which she describes as ''The supine- less of hell" There is no question that esus does teach non-resitsance. But non- Christian is to fold his hands. sit down nd patiently and silently suffer all wrong md injury He Is to be patient and silent nder wrong, but this is only half and the mallest half, at that. He IS to diligently nd vigorously use every ounce of Influence nd power he has to so affect the world hat these wrongs and injuries will not be | one him. By his vote--llfe words, deeds e is to seek to infuse into the community, | overnment and world, another spirit than | hat of wrong doing, the spirit of brother Ood. So that, while Christ does teach that l he Christian is to be patient and silent un- CT wrong, he also teaches that he must use | very energy to make that wrong impossi- t le. And he shows how this energy is to be < irected Patient and silent under wrong, e went about doing good, using all his en- rgy and power to so transform the world | hat wrong might not be done. So that ,hen we think of Christ's doctrine of non esistance, one must not forget His other octrine of intense activity to transform the rorId and prevent the occasion of silent, atient suffering of wrong. If these 600 len and women In Topeka who last Sunday 'ent joint-smashing, had used the same ell rgy as Christ illustrated and directed, lere might have been less seen about It in le newspapers. But the devil would hay. ad less standing ground in that city.
 As to the crusade itself, wish to say, rst, that what Kansas and New Haven eed most, is not women who are home- but women who are home mak- IS. This country needs mothers far more nan women agitators and warriors. Char ,ter is made in childhood. Mothers and lthers who give themselves to the serious lsiness of making their children into le real home defenders. It Is far easier to eep children out of saloons than It Is to at them out when once they have gotten to them. Moral fits, or spasms, will never
 Ike the place of neglected, serious and lid formation work in the foundation worK
 the formation period in the lives of the lildren of Kansas, or of any other com unity.
 | rong, with wrong. She is violating the W of Kansas In destroying property, Just much as the saloon keepers are. No per- anent good will ever result from two rOngS.
 Third: This crusade can but deaden the ghest moral sentiment of Kansas, the sole 'pendence of good government in our couu J. Acts of cruelty and barbarism blunt @ moral sensa in every Individual guilty of em, and renders him less sensitive to the fined and good, less susceptible to high oral influence, less moved by poor unsel- Il all that is best and noblest is stiied or ,stroyed. This is the life story of every rdened criminal And when the best peo- c of a community launch out on such q urse as this, God save the moral standard
 that community, Kansas may be tempo lcers will close up the illegal saloons, but en if this end is gained, ill the long run e will lose in the injurious effect of such it's and methods upon the moral sense of r best citizens. This principle is applicable to nations as alT as to individuals and communities. tlon is abroad that nation must put wn every wrong Ii other methods seem
 fail, by force of arms. The wrongs and il Ill Cuba must be rooted out by the \ my and navy of this country. This has CT been the worlds method, but 1t is use IS to attempt to justify it from the Scribe e as is so often loae.
 do not say that even a Christian state there is such Il thing, for the protection
 its citizens and pest interests and iu the oper discharge of it's great responsibility d duties to the world, may not as things W are, be forced to make war. do not y that Christian men should fail to heed cir country's call in such an hour. But |
 say in the spirit of Jesus Christ, that n ristian man should not applaud war as n