Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-12-27

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divine order The divine order In this
world is to place good and evil before
men and give them their choice.
Why don't God kill the devil Is
often asked, There are several seasons.
The first is that 1t would put number
OF preachers out Of business. Billy
Sunday would not last minute. The
devil keeps him his Job and gets him
his money. God would take no pleas
ure In the Worship Of wooden Indians.
He has made us able to stand but free
to fall. He could accept no service
from man that was not offered freely.
He wants no man to worship him under
compulsion. Most Of the evil in this
world consists in the abuse Of good
things. Think 1t over. Is 1t not NJ a
fact? Freedom OF choice 10 the divine
order, and always has been the divine
order. GU cannot develope the
faculty of self control II you, do not
ALLOW the freedom OF choice, Frequently
we hear preachers say, and Billy Sun
day frequently said what glorious
thing 1t would be to bring up genera
ton OF young men In the city who had
never seen saloon What do you sup
pose would happen to that glorious
thing and that great blessing when
these young men happened to leave the
town in which they rere reared and
70 to some town where saloons exist?
What would become of them then?
Not having developed the faculty OF
self control they would be ready to
fall for a hundred things in addition
to drink. | want to tell You men de-
yeloped strength by the use of their
mu~ lies. Men become stronger NOR
ally through the exercise OF the free
dom of choice. What would happen
after few generations OF prohibition
in this country We would all be. a
race of weaklings.,
Prohibition is contrary to the d.
vine order. For instance st. Paul said
prohibition gave him some trouble.
and he writes. If righteousness comes
by the law. then Christ is dead in
VAIN The whole prohibition idea is
based on the theory that you can make
hen righteous by law or by force. and
III that is true as st. Paul says, Christ
died in vain.
ut is the fundamental principle of
the prohibition philosophy. Jesus
when he was on this earth attended a
wedding feast at Canaan. and some
times these wedding feasts lasted sew
Ieral days. The host always provided
what he considered enough wine to
last to the finish but on this occasion
he misjudged the capacity of his
quests. Before the feast ended the
wine gave out. There was plenty of
water on hand but no wine. They con-
sumed everything in sight. Can you
imagine finer opportunity for max
Ing prohibition speech? imagine
Billy Sunday present on an occasion
like that; drinking for nearly three
days wine, all gone. plenty of water
and the crowd clam oring for home
wine but Jesus did ntt make prohi-
bition speech. Had this prohibition
Idea been in harmony with the divine
order and had he approved its fund
amental philosophy, he would have
made speech. What die he do on
that occasion? Why he converted the
water into more wine No prohibition
list would have done such thing.
What proves conclusively and abso-
lutely that prohibition is contrary to
1.-THE divine order is the action OF Jesus
Christ in this case. You. know you
have fight on in this town. and a
petition is up.
IF you want liberty you can not
have prohibition. Prohibition is des-
potism. always has been and always
will be till the end OF time. No
preacher that pretends to represent
the church Of Jesus Christ and preach
the gospel can show single passage
In the bible worthy of3your considera-
ton and acceptance that is on the side
|of prohibition There are plenty Of
passages against. drunkenness, but not
one single passage in all the book
which upholds the prohibition idea.
There is difference between law and
Legislation. Legislation is anything
you find in the statute books. But law
Is the will of the people whether writ
ten in q book or not. Look up the old
blue laws of New England. They
gave them so much liberty under that
act that they had one section which
said: No man shall ride on the Sab
bath day or walk except reverently to
and from meeting. No woman shall
kiss her child on the Sabbath day
That is sample of legislation,
the same in kind that prohibit
tionists propose to you right here in
Ottumwa. 1t interferers with your liber-
ty and your right. It cannot be en-
forced. Law is the will Of the people.
Legislation which is contrary to the
law, has never been enforced any
where and never can be.
'In fact to enforce such law, you
would have to have one man stand
over another with a club, and. you
would need third to watch them
both. Prohibition Is not only contrary
to divine order, means destruction Of
human equality, is false In It's logic,
contrary to nature, opposed to reason,
but prohibition is an enemy Of labor.
Billy Sunday said when he was here
the other night that in the past twelve
years, the working men have spent
seventeen billion dollars for drink and
in the name Of every working man IT
America, l want to brand that state-
ment as lie. A rich man will spend
more in one night at the bar frequent
w than a working man will earn in