The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-10-30
BITTER WAR ON iNTEMPERANCE
SOLDIERS FIGHTING THIS CURSE
GREATLY CHEERED.
Overwhelming in Volumed Cogency is
the Case Against Strong DRINK
If Saloons Disappear, the COun-
try Will Soon Be Evangelical.


try Will Soon Be Evangelizcd.
The case against strong drink is
overwhelming in volumed coGency.
1t is simply beyond belief that any
Christian man can say one word in
favor Of a beverage that poisons the
blood and ruins the soul. War can
not equal it's rayages. PeStilence can
not rival its statistics Of desolation.
1t stands alone as q record of sor-
row and shame.
The argument that should be final
with Christians is the plea of the
Apostle Paul. He said that if drink
ing wine should make even the weak
est brother offend he would drink no
more. To that argument there is no
answer. That is the argument OF
doing good for the sake of others.
Even if physiological and social ar
guments could be successfully at
tackled (and in my judgment that is
impossible), this apostolic argument
of sacrificing your own tastes and de-
sires, in order to help others, stands
infinitely beyond the range of any
assault that is either local or benef-
cent.
The drink traffic is the curse of the
country. Churches and Sunday
schools make but little impression by
their occasional labors, as compared
with the havoc wrought by the inces-
SAINT pestilence of the public house.
How any Christian can be a brewer
or distiller passes my comprehension.
When the lofty chimney of a distil-
lery was being finished an observer
said, How many persons would be
killed if that chimney were to fall?"
Whereupon a bystander replied, with
bitter truthfulness, at will kill many
more if it stands!" Was ever such a
paradox seen as that a brewers Chin
ney should stand within sight of a
church spire? That is the battle of
Christian countries. God and the
Devil are in eternal conflict.
l warn young men that drink will
destroy them. 1t muddles the brain;
it shakes the nerves; it paralyzes the
will; it stirs and maddens the worst
desires. Not one good word can be
spoken of drink. I leave persons over
fifty years Of age to determine what
stimulants they may suppose them
selves to require; but, speaking to
the young, 1 would plead with them
on every sacred ground to touch not.
taste not, handle not the unclean
thing. Death is in the cup. An
adder will sting the ~debauchee. The
young tippler will go from bad to
worse, until he ends by divesting
himself of every featrue of dignity
and in qualifying himself for the soli-
tude of outer darkness.
I have watched the drink foe In
his fatal advances; I have traced him
from exhilaration to intoxication,
from intoxication to madness, from
madness to He'll. One or two of the
finest men l have ever known have
been addicted to secret drinking.
Who can tell the misery of their
households? I have seen it, and
gladly l draw a thick veil over its
CHASTITY features. 1 have seen homes
broken up, families scattered, chill
dren orphaned, and the fairest social
prospects riven and blasted as II by
lightning, by this accursed and all
cursing drink. To me these are not
imaginations, but facts, and such
facts are arguments that carry away
all petty and self-regarding opposi-
ton.
Convert the young men to total
abstinence, and in n generation
England will be evangelical. When
the public house disappears, the
church will lift its roof toward q
cloudless sky.-Joseph Parker, D. D