The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1908-03-16
Rev. Stewart
tcontInuee from Pags FIve.l

any one in the county since am here,
and yet whislsey has never ceased to
be sold and all OF you present know
who sell It. At the same time I have
in these 10 years been the witness Of
more exhibition OF intemperance than
1 ever witnessed in the 81 years
spent In France where the very name
OF, prohibition is unknown. The fail
ure of prohibition to prohibit is not
altogether the only reason why l
could not Join the movement. Whilst
do not wish to cast blame on the
whole Prohibitlonist party, yet I have
waited in vain for an authoritative re-
Duke issued from that party against
too many of It's members who advocate
and publish the world views which
consistent Christian is bound to re-
ject.
No Christian. for instance, can ac-
cept the view of those who claim that
any creature is bad in itself, or the
creature of the evil one. God alone
has made all things that are and with
out Him was made nothing that was
made. There are not two Creators;
there Is but one God. Not only are all
things made by God, but all things
made by God are good, viz: Good in
themselves and rejecting the good
ness. of their Maker-good OF course
for the purpose for which He intended
them. Iron, for instance, is good in
itself; we can hardly conceive civili-
cation without but criminals use 1t
in wrong manner All poIsons. from
the venom OF the asp to the subtle en-
anations of the upas. were created for
a good purpose, although said purpose
may not yet have been discovered by
man; It is among those polsons and
that amongst the most dangerous
of them such as strychnine, aconite,
mercury. that physicians have found
some of their most efTcacious rene
dies. Alcohol Is no doubt poison like
morphine or chlofal, but II those poi
sons are wrongly used by the wicked
man, they were intended by their Gre
ator to be beniacent to mankind. Vow
to say that whiskey or wine is ere
AZURE of the devil is n rank heresay
which the church has condemned cen
turtles ago in the days OF the AIenich.
ces.
Another wrong idea advanced by
not few Prohibitionists. an idea to
be rejected by all Christians who
claim to practice charity-ls the too
frequent assertion that whoever does
not choose to practice total abstinence
from intoxicants is sinful and violates
the virtue of temperance. It would be
ijust as logical to declare that whoever
4 does not choose to. practice celibacy
violates the virtue OF chastity. The
proper use OF wine is not and cannot
be sinful. our Divine Lord himself u.s.
ed 1t and His apostle recommended it.
You Will say that wine contains alco-
4 hol and that admitted that alcohol
Is a poison. Yes, alcohol in Its pure
form is a poison; yet in its diluted
form 1t becomes healthful and bene-
fetal drink. Both coffee and tea con-
talns also polsons no less dangerous
than alcohol, yet they are not so far
under the ProhIbitionIst ban. Milk
and water themselves contain too fire.
quently deadly germs. such as the
germs OF consumption, typhoid fever
and the rest. They often become more
dangerous to human health than spir-
itous drinks. Since such is the case.
what shall we do? 1 have already told
you that for 81 years lived in a coun-
try where wine is the drink of the peo-
pie, at least in the central and south
ern provinces. Drunkenness is almost
unheard of in those regions: drunken
ness is not a prevalent vice in France
except In some Of those sections to
which wine has to be imported. In
those northern provinces wine be-
comes dearer and at the same time
more liable to suffer adulteraton at
the hands OF INSCRIPTIONS merchants.
In my rambles over our sun-lit hills OF
West Virginia how often have stop
ped and wondered and said to myself:
Obi when vii Those beautiful hills be
covered with rutilant vineyards2 Wild
nature itself invites man to plant
/ -, no,,i,,o, ay,ar,-yhara UUhau that