The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-04-16
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOLE STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE WIGS OF INTeMPERANcE.
The Rev. James u. Dunn, DID, Gencrn,
Secretary of tho National Temperance
Society. shoya why 1t is tho Duty Of
Absiaiucrs TO Slrn the p1cdre


Society. shoys why 1t is the Duty OF
Absiainors TO sign the Pledge.
Look at the matter. All good things
among men rest upon pledges.
The church is a pledged company; each
minister took solemn promises in ordina
ton, Each member, in pubic profession
OF Christ, took solemn vows before God
and men. And at the communion those
vows are reaflirmed. There is not a re.
newed soul on earth that has not passed n
solemn pledge to be the Lord's-inwarily
or openly. or both. Let it be borne in
mind that God imposes in His word and
Hi. ordinances pledges upon His people,
and has always done it. lie would not
trust His cause without the pledge.
Marriage. that bulwarli OF social purity
and morality. rests upon the pledge. 1t
could not last without it,
Government rests on the pledge Not
the highest officer in the land will be trust.
ed unless he is pledged. The people exact
an oath from him. The President of the
United States. in taking office. is com.
PEELED to say, 81 do soemnly swear" etc.
And not less is every Senator and Repre-.
sentative. and official OF whatever grade. a
pledged man.
Law rests on the pledge. In all our
courts. the Judges, attorneys and jurors are
pledged men And each witness has to
Law his hand on the Bible and take an
oath to testify the truth. Moreover. each
state. county. municipal or town officer.
high or low. in assuming his functions is
compelled bv law to take the prescribed
oath. And the custom is not objected to.
And yet we hear men say, Il don't believe
in pledging."
Business, too, rests on the pledge. Tho
notes and other written and oral agree
ments which men pass between themselves
are simply pledges. And without these,
business could not be prosecuted
Now, if in the matters referred to the
pledge is regarded as indispensable. how
can 1t be esteemed lightly in the matter of
temperance? And if men do not hesitate
TO take IT IN the cases mentioned. why
should they refuse to pledge themselves in
respect to. the use Of strong drinks?
1t stonds thus: The pledge. as we have
seen; is an inherent and essential condition
to all the success. nay. to the very exist
ence' OF both the Church and the State. 1t
is absolutely necessary to all the protective
potency Of law. to all established forms of
social order, TO all virtue between the
sexes. to the perpetuity OF the family. to
the prevalence OF all the morality and supe.
rlor excellence and purity. and to every va.
ried phase OF Christian civilization De.
stroy the pledge in every form. and you de-
strov what is the only salvation of the
weak in human society. and the only reia.
bic safeguard OF the strong.
The history of the world is full of exam.
pies OF the utility Of pledges. No great ref
ormatlon was ever vet accomplished. apart
from combination. but combination always
imnlies some bond of union.
What. then, Is the abstinence pledge
ns 1t u called. but simDle promise that
for the time being we shall abstain from
the use OF intoxicating liquors?" 1t is a
misraI;e to suppose that we are abstainers
because VIC are pledged; we are pledged be.
ha NIL iz
not the cause. but the effect of our absti-
nencc. We have come to the conviction
lnat it j. prudent bv our duty to abstain,
and is there any harm in putting that con.
vlcti0n on record?
The pledge is our testimony against drink
ing customs. If two men are in partner
ship, it has been said, it is not enough if
one Of them wish to retire from the con-
cern chat he should do so--he must also adj
vertlse out of the company, else he will
continue responsible for the debts of the
firm, in the eve of the law and it is reason
Tble and Just that it should be so. because
the pubic may credit the firm on the sup
Dosition that he is still a partner, and
therefore. to free himself from legal re-
snonsibilty. he must make known the fact
OF his being no longer partner, by his ad-
vertising out.
So, likewise, in regard to the drinking
customs. Every person in the habit Of
usllV Intoxicating liquors, however mOuer-
atelv. has been a partner in the drinking
system of his country. and his fellow men
have been induced to give it credit for
virtues which it does not possess on the
ground OF his connection with it. so that
when he becomes on abstainer it is not
sumciert to relieve him from all moral re.
sDonsihilty for the evils resulting to So
cIetv from that system with which he has
ceased to have connection. but lie must
proclaim to the world the fact that he has
done so. and by signing the pledge he pro-
Claims to the world that he no longer
shares in the guilt of intemperance pro-
duced by the drinking system. and will be
no longer responsible for the evil which
such systems may infiict upon society. In
Other words, he advertises out.
Upon how lofty 4 platform. then. do
those stand who are pledged temperance
men and women in any community They
are not weak and puerile, but. on the con-
trarv, they are the true, the heroic. the
strong. in the noblest sense. They have
come mp in good company. They only are
consistent in pedging themselves to total
and parDetrol abstinence: they act in keep
ing with the truest philosophy and the
most established and universally practiced
ger.ral prir"iples,
We say, then To Ill workers in the ten,-
ncronce reform. while you insist or prohi-
bitior ard ply moral suasion, and circu-
p'edge Return to the old ideas and the
cd inftrumentalities. Drunkenness is ter
rib,v prevalent. Its victims are alarming
" on the increase. But former genera
tion was we'll nigh saved. How? Temper
ance was preached in the pulpit, in the lee.
ture room. in the family. in the school
room, on the wayside. by papers. books.
TRAITS and lecturers. and Mt the same time
children and men and women by thousands
upo1 thousands, signed the teetotal pledge.
ard bv it were kept from falling back to
that he believed that one in four OF the
mutitudes who formerly signed the pledge
kent it,
We say. then. restore the pledge! Re.
store the pledge II is a mighty help.
Keen tho Gag flying and the lamp Of God
bright.
AMI mv word for thine IL shnll end in