The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-06-10
WHY SHOULD WE TEACH
THE HEATHEN TEMPERANCE
paper Read by Mrs. z. C. Angel at
Union Meeting Of Lakeland Mis-
sionary Societies.)

sionary Societies.
The great evangelizing power in
the world today is the gospel Of Jesus
Christ, and while the gospel needs no
bolstering up, or any other addition
al force to make it effective, for 1t
is. and, it alone, is the power Of
God unto salvation" yet 1t behooves
us that we place no obstacle in its
pathway that it may have unrestrict-
ed force upon the hearts of men.
God desires that all men be saved
and yet it is possible for .men to
thwart the will Of God. 1t is this
power Unborn in the human soul
that causes loss and failure in the
activities of life; it Is this power
that retards the great reform move.
ments and the progress Of the Cos
pei in the hearts of men; 1t is this
power that checks the Unreasonable
force of the gospel among the
heather.
For many years we have been try
ing to enlist the great moral force
and teaching of the Bible upon the
side of temperance. The Bible is in
comparable, the most powerful NOR
all treatise in existence, and 1t Is per-
fectly natural that men and women
should seek its aid, especially in the
great flight against the liquor traf-
ic, but today we are forced to real
ize that we not only need the Bible
enlisted on tn side of temperance,
but we must have the temperance
forces pulling side by side with the
religious teacher and the missionary,
that the great obstacles to the spread
Of the gospel be removed.
The missionary in his or her work
have come to realize that the great
! obstacle in their work is not the in
efficiency of the gospel (for 1t is all
powerfully but that which Is the
stumbling block to the heather is the
rum traffic.
The w. c. T. U. and kindred
societies are organized to fight the
liquor business; a great field of &C
ltivity lies among the heather, so II
is BETTING that the missionary and
the w. G.. T. u. worker should
join hands in the great common
task-,the uplift of humanity, and
in order that the gospel may obtain
greater hold in the world, 1t Il
necessary that all forces should unite
and remove the greatest hindranct
to the free course Of the gospel and
the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men
No man is saved in this world ex
cept by an exercise of his will
: power. Rum, which is exported int
the same country and the same 10
cality where the missionary labors
9 destroys this will power and the ex
!, ercise thereof.
4 One Of the most awful effects o
! drink upon man is this destruction
o of will power-the very facult
), which the man needs to help him I
3, times OF temptation and to reform
e is destroyed by liquor. How very In
portant it is then that the heathe
should be taught temperance as we
70 as the gospel, that the reason an
N will power may not be weakene'
% which he must use before he can
N saved.
|, How pitiful is the spectacle of
missionary telling the good news
the heather, to find that the gosp
i'm made of no effect through the Il
strumentality OF drink, or Is hal
lp enough when the gospel has FIR
y course-to turn the heather In the
q ignorance from sin. idol worship al
re degradation, but when fellow ma
Dr. sends rum, which destroys body al
70 soul to the same heather, Is 1t al
a wonder that missionaries are hant
capped, the work retarded and peor
lose interest in missions? To I
Sc mind this is the greatest inconsil
d. ency of the times, that the sar
r Christian nation should send DO
as the Bible and rum to these ignora
lg heather people and often upon I
be same ship.
rs That the Christian nations of t
be world should stand for such cons
he tions-the one force undoing all t
he good that the other power might
IT is an unexplainable wonder and d
grace.
The rum traffic with Africa Is
he disgrace to the United States and
wv greatest barrier to missionary worl
is Bishop Newman went so far as
nm say that Africa, from any hum
he standpoint would be better of Wi
ed out the missionaries than with the
tly plus the rum.
he Said missionary, THE natl
a seem to regard the liquor traffic
lot one of the marks of Christianity a
ley have heard it said again and aga
ma so and so has become a Christian
red he has taken TO drinking" A nat
lat paper in India also says that IL
aid British government were to be sw
ing away from India, the chief relic
It. it's occupation would be the l.