The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1905-10-13
VIC T. U.COLUMN.
CONDUCTED BY MRS. Nj. L. HOBBS.
Holds Christians Responsible Prob bi'
lion the Test.

The sgirit Of commerclallsm
i nermeatng every institution
III This age. and not even the
church has escaped from It's
bGghtening influence, until IN
hundreds and thousands of
churches over our land, worth IS
estimated on the dollar rather
than Righteousness So terrible
has been the affect of this spirit,
lhat the increase in membership
Of the various churches in Amer
lea barely keeps pace with the in
crease in population, so that IN
spite Of the immense amounts of
money expended and the thou
sands of preachers and laborers
over this land, the church is
practically at a standstill. We
forget the words of Holy Writ
Not by might nor by power, but
bv my spirit saith the Lord. " and
"Ye shall have power when the
Holy Hhost comes upon you y
The Holy Ghost will come upon
nothing that is unclean. The
church today is plastered all over
with completely in the liquor
traffic, and until we clear our
selves at the ballot box of this
completely, we cannot ask for the
power of the Holy Ghost. do
not say one word about winning;
do not stop for one moment to
discuss the question of ultimate
triumph. but | say that each in
dividual must clear himself Of
completely in the sin of the liquor
traffic at the ballot-box before we
can hope for the power of the
Holy Ghost on an aroused church.
1t is a fact that the net increase
in church membership each year
in the United States is about one
for every preacher in this coun-
try. 1t is also a fact that the
preachers and churches that are
being blessed with wonderful
power are those that are true
and straight on this question
There might be few exceptions,
but they only prove the rule. /
might stand before you tonight
and give you example after eX-
ample of churches whose pastors
and whose membership have
stood true and square on the
question of the legalized liquor
traffic that have been blessed
with wonderful power from God
will cite this one. A few years
ago the Church of the Nazarene
was founded in Los Angeles,
California. Few in number,
scomed. scoffed and sneered at.
they began worship in the small
lest kind of building. The
question of prohibition was made
test of fellowship, and no man
could become a member of that
church without voting the Prohi-
bltlon Party ticket. The church
has grown until its membership
numbers thousands, and its pros
perity has been wonderful. The
supreme need of the hour is a
clean testimony from the indi-
Vldual Christian, in business, in
church and in politics Too often
our testimony changes with the
weather. The unholy alliance of
pastors, deacons and Christian
men with bummers, boozers,
brewers. distillers and dirty poll
texans is doing more to kill Chris
tlanlty today than anything else
There cannot be one standard
OF right fol Sunday and another
Tor Tuesday. What you are
when you stand in the church of
God on Sunday you are when you
stand in the polling-booth on
tuesday. You cannot climb to
the heights of God on Sunday
and decend to the level of the
bar-room on Tuesday II the dis
lance is too far to travel in that
length of time. II is this COM
plicity of Christian voters that
gives the saloon its power today
Ihe liquor tra&c is Independent
lhey care not for party | have
IN my possession a copy of the
resolutions adopted by the Retail
Liquor Dealers Assertion OF
America, in which the declaration
Il made that, laying aside al
political preferences, the liquor
interests of this country will sup.
port for any o&ce only those mer
VINO are pledged to give their
support to the liquor business =
congressman and senators know
that this resolution means what
u says, and that the saloon mar
", wlll live up to it at the ballot-box
ms Illustration of what / say is
peiore us today with respect tc