Middletown transcript., 1916-11-11
IEss0N FOR NOVEMBER I2
WoRLps yTEMPERANcE SUNDAY

WORLDS ITEM MPERANcE. SUNDAY.
LESSON TEXT Romans H:1s-15:s,
sGoLDEN TEXTILE is not good to eat
flesh. nor to drink wine, nor to do any
thing whereby thy brother. stumbletll.-
Rom. h:21.
The early Christian church had two
outstanding problems, the question OF
the Sabbath days (two of them) and
the question of eating meat offered to
IDOLS This lesson suggests the solu-
ton of the latter. Our modern prob
lem of intoxicating liquors is very
much the same as this ancient one Of
the early Gentle Christians.
!. "Let US not therefore judge one
another" tYv. 13-15). There are GER
tain acts which are universally conced-
ed to be right and within the Christian
law of liberty. There are also other
acts which are as plainly prohibited.
There are large number Of acts which
lie in the region between these two,
and men ought to be careful how they
condemn one another for these latter
things. Where good and true men diff
fer, their acts, on the matter Of the
Sabbath (See Col. 2 :16), or on temper
anee, must be determined as being
unto the Lord, sincerely, Conscientious
ly. 1t is not for US to Judge ". 13),
literally, to pronounce judgment. They
have a right to their opinion and to
~, ~ -1sf1.,.41y ~ +Io,,oI,A ond cotton hY1f
wv. II, %, 23) IS for Paul or the
Christian, he must have a clear con-
science. He must have faith, and be
assured that he is right /; otherwise he
is condemned by God and by his own
conscience, and is not a sincere Chris
tian disciple. The word therefore" in
verse 13 points back to verse II, which
ought to be carefully pondered. AS we
have each to render our accounts to
God, we should stop judging one an
other. Food is a very proper thing,
and laws are also proper, yet love is
the ruling principle of the Christian
life.
We ought to have our liberty cur
tailed rather than have our souls lost.
If we magnify our liberty to the sacri-
fee Of our brothers soul we ''walk no
longer in love-" The demands Of
Christian love are more to the true
followers Of Christ than the permis-
sions of Christian liberty. The privi-
lege of eating and drinking while it
Injuries others, however harmless to
yourself, is not to be tolerated.
The word "stumbleth" here used
". 21) implies movable trap or snare,
literally any impediment placed in the
way so as to cause another to fall. We
must never forget that even weak
brother is "a brother for whom Christ
died."
II. "Let not your good be evil spoken
Of" (vv. 1929. The kingdom of God
is not meat and drink, but it is life
of righteousness, peace and joy in the
Holy Ghost. Our liberty is to be so
used that it shall not be evil spoken
of. The real proof that we are in the
kingdom Of God and that the kingdom
of God is in us is not found in our
scrupulousnesS or lack of it, in our eat
ing and drinking, but in the manifesta-
tions of righteousness in our lives, and
of having peace in our hearts (15 :13).
This peace must be manifested toward
our fellow men ". 10; Ch. 10 :18) and
being filed with ''joy in the Holy
Ghost The object of our pursuit is
to be the things which make for peace,
the things whereby we may fill one
another up, not the exploitation of
some pet hobby, for the kingdom of
God does not consist of riding hobbies.
In this matter of temperance reform
we all recognize that alcohol has many
uses besides that for drinking pur-
poses, and that there are various opin-
ions about drinking certain forms Of
1t, and various ways of advancing the
temperance cause, all of which are
honestly held by many good men, but
Christian patriotism demands that ev-
cry true-hearted man or woman, every
one who is loyal to his country, to hui
manity and to his God, should take
Paul's position, ~ That he will not
be stumbling block in the way Of the
weak and Of the young. (2) That he
will not do anything to destroy his
brother for whom Christ died. (3) That
he will deny himself anything for their
sake. (4) That his attitude will be
that Of love and not of selfshness,
This places temperance on high moral
plane, but the world is also beginning
to recognize that the temperance Ques-
ton Is alsosa economic one. The re-
cent developments in Europe, since the
war began, are tremendously signifi-
cant. AS someone has said, "Russia's
recent advance upon the eastern front
is really an advance of an army led
by General Abstinence, and not by
any particular military general. 1t is
not merely a question rs to whether a
thing is wrong in itself or whether you
viii hurt yourself by it; but the real
question is, @Will anyone be injured,
made to stumble, by doing what 1 am
doing?u This will settle the moderate
drink question, the tobacco question,
the dance question, card-playing ques-
tion, theater-going question, and a
thousand and one other questions.
It is wen to have faith, but it is
also well to have the love that does
not injure others by the exercise of
that faith. The question is, "Are you
perfectly sure this thing is right?"
III. "We then that are strong" us:
1-3). This section is in reality con-
tfr,rn44nn nf fihanter IL PanI is nnr-