The Republican journal., 1912-03-21
The Harvest Time.
Views of Rev. w. P. Holman of Strong on
the Temperance Cause In Maine.

the Temperance Cause in Maine.
The harvest time is at hand. In Joel
3, IL, We read, "Put ye in the sickle, for
the harvest is ripe" Harvest time is
one OF interest and Joy. It is time OF
suppressed beauty through al nature,
when everything is giving up life. The
lovely coloring of the forest leaves is the
splendid resignation of all the green
things which are giving up their life; it
Pervades everything with suppressed
beauty.
And this is, time not only of sup
plants and leaves which have been grow
ing so steadily through the spring and
summer are now matured and ready for
the harvest.
Then, too, autumn is time of reward,
reward to the farmer for all the hard
work which he has put into the cultiva-
ton of the fields. All summer he has
been toiling, blowing, planting and hoe
ing, and now the autumn is his time of
reward. 1t is also time for reflection,
when he may look back over his sum-
mer's work and see if he has at all times
made the very best of the opportunities
which God has given him; if he has al
ways employed his time to advantage.
Let US notice something of the work of
this season of the year. Those to whom
Joel wrote in his admonition to put In
the sickle" were people of activity, peo-
pie who were about to start in upon
great undertaking which required for its
accomplishment hard work and great
deal of it.
NOTICE the nature Of the work of the
harvest. Its end is two-fold. 1t is a
work both of conservation and destruc-
ton. The grain is gathered and put in
to the storehouse for safe-keeping, that
it may support the people. Harvest,
then, reserves the grain for the susie
nance of the people. On the other hand,
the weeds and the tares which have be-
come mingled with the good grain are
singled out and destroyed. The work
then is destructive for those plants which
are of no use, but which rather crowd
out and weaken the good plants. Again,
harvest is not a continuous work which
we may engage in when we please. Ii
we delay it too long the winter is upon US
and we cannot harvest. Notice that Joel
sets limit for the work, for he says,
Thrust ye in the sickle, for the harvest
is ripe" Now, and now only, must we
engage in it. The farmer must harvest
when the grain is ripe, and so Joel real
lied that it was time for the harvest,
that the good might be garnered and the
wicked cast out.
The people of Joel's time were very
wicked, as he says in this third chapter,
and so it is time for the harvest. Has
not wickedness at the present day be-
come very great, and is not the nation
ripe for the harvest? When we look
about us, need we ask ourselves, lis the
wickedness of the people ripe for har-
vesting?' When we read of that wick
edness in every paper we pick up, need
we question ourselves about the time for
the harvest to begin? When we read in
criminal statistics that every criminal
who plans some horrible mu, der or other
crime can figure upon eleven chances Of
escape to one of conviction; when, in
spite of all the ardent temperance work
and all the stringent liquor laws, We read
that over billion dollars is spent in our
country every year for alcoholic liquors,
money worse than thrown away, and
when we see how widely the great di
vorce evil has spread, need we ask our
selves, SIS the harvest ripe"
The advice of Joel, when he says,
"Put we in the sickle, for the harvest is
AiPS, oPPiiSo w 10, w. w e Iluol Tame
the sickle and thrust it into the grain,
saved and the wicked receive a just ret
ribution.
And now let US determine what are the
means to be used in the gathering of the
harvest. First, we ought TO emphasize
the dignity of the common law more.
The law is the first instrument by which
the harvest is to be made, for it is the
first great check upon evil, and in the
home parents ought to emphasize the
dignity of the law more and to uphold it
at all times, unless it is directly opposed
to the law OF God, as, for instance, the
pro-slavery laws of olden tim, S.
We have often heard it said that we
have laws enough to restrain evil and
that the law is good enough if it were
only enforced. Take the terrible liquor
question for example. We know that
there are laws enough against this evil
to drive it from the land completely, if
those laws were only enforced. Here in
Maine we know that the law is such that
if it were enforced there would seldom
be single drunken man in the State. In
other States, where we have observed
conditions under license, we find that the
drink evil is rampant because of the in
efficiency of that law to even regulate
the traffic.
We have in our nation great force
which exerts an influence on all public
questions, and this force is what we call
public opinion. The condition of our So
ciety is such that officials will not en-
force the laws unless they are backed by
public opinion.
EsWhen we look back over the history of
the world, we see that in the middle ages
crime was unsurpassed, and that muir
der and robbery were licensed by the
governments. Is there any nation on the
earth today, do you think, that would
license mutderers and robbers? Yet the
liquor traffic, which is no better than
murder and robbery combined, is licensed.
| doubt if we have ever thought Of the
real meaning OF the proposition to Ii
cense the saloons. The liquor traffic is
now under the ban of the law and has no
standing before our courts, but it is pro-
posed to legalize it and to place in on the
same legal position as any legitimate,
useful and necessary branch of industry.
1t means that the liquor interests ask
that their business receive the full pro-
lection of the law and that the people
pay the bills.
1t is time for the good citizens of this
State to ''thrust in the sickle" and be
rid of this crime Of all crimes. l hope
that the Men and Religion movement has
come at the ripht time to arouse the neo-