Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-02-23
REV. GEO. F. DEGEN
Speaks on Temperance VS.. the Pro-
hibitory Law at Episcopal Church.

The. Rev. Geo. F. Degen spoke at ST.
Marks church, last night, on Temper
ance VS.. the Prohibitory Law de
took for his text 1 Cor. ix:25: Every
man that striveth for the mastery is
temperate in all things" and Rom.
kill: Let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers; the powers that be
are ordained of God
He said in substance: 1T is a famil-
lar saving that no question is finally
settled until it IS settled right. Great
moral questions can find right set
Element only in the principles olaid
down in Holy Scripture. Men are often
so distressed by physical suffering that
they take what seems to be the quick
est means of relief, although the result
may leave them worse eff than before.
A child with frost-bitten fingers rushes
to the fire. but the result is only pain
and perhaps the loss of the fingers.
Men are often so irritated by evils In
the community that they take what
seems to be the quickest and most
drastic methods to cure them, but they
do not prove effective because not bas-
ed upon right principles. To remove
them by building uD moral character
seems too slow process, since it does
not relieve the immediate dire necessi-
ty, but it is the only sure and lasting
cure.
The good people who have been ap-
palled BIZ the evils of the widespread
sin of intemperance started right by
calling themselves the advocates of
temperance. They soon found tenn
perance-which is the scriptural reme-
dy for these evils-too slow for them,
and rushed madly into universal pro-
hibition. All natural appetites are Civ
en- of God. and intended to be used, but
used in moderation, that they may
minister to the highest physical, men,
tai and spiritual development of the
man. A prohibitory law will never be
successful because it violates a nat
ural right.
Temperance, total abstinence and
prohibition are three entirely different
things. The first is the normal and
right use of God-given appetites; the
second is a voluntary holding back
from things which man has found
injurious to him; the third-which has
no moral effects whatever-is compul-
sorv disuse of that which many a man
knows himself quite capable of using
without intemperance or injury. All
men are not drunkardS or gluttonS,
and men who are honestly striving for
the mastery of themselves along the
lines laid down by St. Paul feel the
prohbitory law to be an insult to their
manhood
THE prohibitory law in Maine has
led to far worse evils than were ever
wrought by drunkenness. The genera
ton which has grown up under it is al
most wholly irreligious, because they
have seen this law openly laughed at
by these who should have held it in
most respect, and they have long since
ceased to believe in the honesty of their
religious teachers.
Terrible as have been the evils and
misery caused by drunkenness, it We're
better far that every fifth family
should be a family of drunkards than
that every man. woman and child
should be hypocrite and liar.
There is only one remedy for the dis
tressing state of things that confronts
us in Maine, today, and that is rigid
enforcement of the law as 1t stands on
the statute books. 1t may be bad
law. as think it is; but the only way
to wake people up to the consciousness
of this fact is to enforce It. Law
stands as the representative of Gods
authority on earth, and 1t is of the
utmost Importance that as such it
should be respected. The powers that
be are ordained of God Let every
good citizen, whether a believer in pro-
hibition or not. labor to secure it's en-
forcement so LONG as it remains the
law of the State And let every Chris
tian remember that as a Christian he
is sworn to strive all his life long for
the mastery of self. and to that end
learn to exercise temperance in all