Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1912-03-20
CHRISTIAN EaDEaVOR.
Prayer Meeting Topic For Week Be-
ainnina March "a. 1912.

H. iii. Edited by sherman II. boyte'
ID. D.
Habakkuk was sent to tell Judah
what they were to suffer at. the hands
of the Chaldeans as punishment for
their sins. peril they did not at all
appreciate. The overthrow Of a nation
often comes from an unexpected quar-
ter and grows out of something which
IS underestimated as source of dan
ger.
One Of the greatest enemies threat
ening our nation is the saloon. Yet
many defend the liquor traffic, claim
ing that 1t is an aid to prosperity and
chat 1t stimulates business. There are
certain kinds of business it increases.
1t necessitates large police force,
longer terms of court, with more work
FOR jurymen; larger jaiis and peniten-
tiaries, with more keepers, and helps
more than anything else to I'LL our
almshouses and insane asylums. What
such misguided defenders of the saloon
need is TO follow the prophets exam
pie.
Habakkuk is informed because be
goes to God for enlightenment l win
stand upon my watch AS Waterman
goes to the top of mountain or some
other high place that he may get an
outlook so the prophet seeks fellowship
with God to hear what he will say
unto me. The secret place of prayer
and fellowship with God is the very
best watchtower any person can find.
The revelation God makes to those
who truly seek it is so clear and i'm
pressive that he may run that readeth
it, He who reads IL will be impelled
to act at once. The proud viii not be
influenced by it, but the just shall live
by his faith.
/. One ally of the saloon is appetite
yea, also because he transgresseth by
wine More exact in the revised YER
sion, and, moreover, wine is PREACHER
Gus. The saloon deceives its victim;
otherwise it would not drag so many
down to a drunkard's grave and
drunkard's hell.
10 sNdlNEL1 htIhI Az sAA Jul
great nation that has not been made
directly or indirectly to suffer because
of the righteousness of strong drink.
Wine is so deceptive that thousands of
our young men seem blind and deaf to
the multiplied warnings from the fate
of others. No one knows what appe-
tites lie dormant within. needing only
a little stimulus to arouse them in all
their fury.
2. Another ally is love of money.
Nothing but the expectation of large
profits ever induces thoughtful people
to seek license to run a saloon. 1t Is
a business that is no longer considered
respectable, and there are very dis
agreeable experiences connected with
it. But that desire for gain which stim-
ulated the Chaldeans In their cruel con-
quests will lead some people to do al
most anything. Woe to him that in
creaseth that which is not his, Woe to
him that coveteth an evil covetousness
to his house that he may set his nest
On high!
r. 3, Another ally to the saloon is the
corrupt politician and the political ma
chine Woe to him that buildeth a
town with blood and establisheth a city
by iniquity! There is no combination
more easily effected than an alliance
between men who desire political pow
err for what they can get out of 1t and
the men in the saloon business who de-
sire laws framed in the interests of the
liquor traffic even when they profess to
be made ito restrain and regulate" the
sale of intoxicating drink.
Those who make study of the high
license laws in those states where such
laws exist soon discover that there are
many regulations and provisions en-
countered in any attempt to enforce
their restrictions which seem to have
been devised with the sole purpose of
making any proper enforcement of the
law as difficult as possible.
When in addition TO these allies men,
toned we remember that there are sins
and sinful practices too vile to name
which are, all of them, more or less d.
rectly connected with the liquor traffic
we can see how great is the need for
men like Habakkuk to warn our nation
and call US to such repentance as will
result in the suppression Of the awful
curse-this scourge of our modern civ
ilization.