Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1911-10-27
I.RI;!!E ~! G
zAgk@545'lTlIl2(D1TI1S
G5EZA - D.
PRESENT is AGE or LAxlTY
Every Man is Inclined to Be lay
Unto Himself, and Thinks Most Of
"Having Good Time"

Christians believe that Christ tbok
human form and lived a human fife
in order to rescue men from that
which degraded them, and enable
them to develop their nobler solves
His work of salvation was to large
extent effected by putting beforelmen
the idea of life of self-controlA He
desired his disciples to recognize THAT
they also were sons of God, and to
live in obedience to the promptingAof
the divine element within them, and
thus to rescue themselves from the
lusts of the flesh and become true
men living the life of fruitful sons of
God. The man who is unable to con-
troll his appetites and passions is
slave and not a free man. A true
man must be master of himself. One
great object for which the church ex-
lists is for the discipline of life, by
helping men to strive for the mastery
of self, for temperance and self-oon-
troll in all things. We live in an age
of laXity, writes the dean of Worces-
ter, Eng, in the Temperance. Every
man is inclined to be a law unto him
self, and thinks most of doing as he
likes-'having a good time" as the
phrase goes. Drunkenness is a ma
tional vice. The obligation to worship
is largely neglected, and the idea of
Christianity as a disciplined life is
weakened.
Earnest-minded men in these days
have to face this condition of things,
and consider how men can be brought
to realize the necessity of temperance
in the scriptural sense of self7control
of living a disciplined life. How
can it be done? Not by taking men
out of the world. The ultimate fail
ure of many monastic attempts
teaches that. But if men moved by
the spirit of God, of self-deninl and
self-sacrifice, to combat any fife I'M
worthy of the sons of God, are to re-
main in the world, they need to be
banded together that they may have
the sustaining support and fellowship
and association of those who are like
minded. That is why it is in these
days societies are formed instead of
monasteries. Looking at the nation
as it is, we cannot, if we are honest,
fail to see that Of all the agencies de-
structive of selfdenial the greatest
is the habit Of drinking alcohol. In
taking it men intensity the powers of
the beast in themselves, and lessen
their powers Of resistance by weaken
ing the will OF all the physical
causes which produce moral defects,
the consumption of alcohol in any form
is the most widespread and disas-
trous. In all periods of history. and
among all races Of men where alcohol
in any form has been produced and
passed into consumption, it has had
the effect of capturing and subduing
mems wills, breaking down self-re-
straint, and producing physical and
moral degradation. Temperance re-
form lies at the bottom of all political.
social, and religious progress. Drink
is the curse Of the country; it de-
stroys the lives of one in twenty of
the population. The temperance move
ment is a religious movement. and de-
rlves its power from a strong faith in
God and the obligations of the sons
OF God, and in the belief that any.
thing which leads to self-comtrol and
discipline is furthering the purposes
OF God. The Rechabites believed in
self-denial and discipline. They had
ever been foremost in the fighting
ranks, and they had always combined
enthusiasm with practical wisdom
Let us thank God for what has been
accomplished, but let what has been
done be only an incentive to further
advance. And it must never be for.
gotten that Christian discipleship
involves the discipline of the whole
hfe-d1scipline and self-denial with re-
gard to other evils, other vices. other
weaknesses and tendencies of human
nature. Let us, therefore, associate
with Others who recognize the need of
self-dlscipline in other directions than
that of indulgence in drink.