Year: 1874

. body. No drunkardSsnall ever in
Merit the kingdom of God. This W,


acknowledge to be true, for the reas
on that it is decree of the Almighty


and He is God of truth, and canno


Lie.


I'VE acknowledge that drunkenness


is carrying its thousands annually te


drunkard's grave, ard still worse


than that, to drunkaras He'll and


how to prevent it, is e greas ques


9ion of the day.


"Alius" says, when The producer


sells his grain to the Distiller, fore
seeing, as he must, the almost newt
able consequences, be becomes in q
measure responsible for those coDse-
quences. Thus sayeth 'Alius.
Now let us see if thus sayeth the
Lord on this subject, and see if He
holds either the producer or maufac-
turer responsible for the evils of in
temperance.


Alcoholic drinks have been made
ever since Noah Ia man of God) got
the first grapes ready to press IF
God had not commanded Noah to
build an ark for the saving of him
self and family, the manufacture Of
intoxicating liquors might have been
numbered among the lost arts. But
God does nothing without purpose.
He knew when He preserved Noah,
Just what he would do. He also
knew when Hemade the''fruit and the
grain to grow, what they were com
posed of. If He had thought that
alcohol was not beneficial to the hu-
man race, He would not have placed
it where it is. But it is there, and
God intended everything for some
useful purpose; and the very first
thing that Noah did, in the way of
husbandry, (and I believe he was
Christian at that time) was to plant
vineyard, make wine, and get
drunk.





But we can't condemn the old man
for getting drunk this time, as sup
pose this was the first wine that he
had ever drank, and he did not know
it would make him drunk. Now do
not believe he committed any sin
by SO doing, for God had not forbid
den drunkenness at tb> time. But
he took warming from FMS, and we
never read of him being intoxicated
again.


But next comes Lot, (another
Christian) and he, too, gets drunk,
with the wine that some one had
made, (and it might have been some
of Noah's) but, after God had seen
all this; after He had seen the sin,
shame and disgrace that were con-
nected with these two cases of drunk
enness, He did not forbid the manu-
facture of wine, but He allowed it to
be made, all the time, during the
writing of the Old and New Testa-
ments. He knew that it would be
temptation to us, but He has said,
"He that overcometh, the same shall
be clothed in white rainent; and l
will not blot out his name out of the
book of life, but I will confess his
name before my Father, and before
his angels" He has created us free
moral agents, to act for ourselves.


He has plainly set forth in His holy
word all that He requires of us to do.
And He has made it so plain, that "a
wayfaring man, though fool, can
not err therein" He has told us, in
plain language, what we should do,
and what we should not do. He has
told us that we might use wine and
strong drink, if we used it in prop
er manner; but He has commanded
us to be temperate, not in drinking
wine and strong drink only, but to
be temperate in all things. While
He has commanded US to use wine
and strong drink, in a useful and
temperate way, BE has commanded
US not to get drunk, hence the pass
age quoted by "Alius, ""No drunkard
shall inherit the Kias3em of God.


And now we come to the question,
how shall we stop intemperance in our
land? I will answer by saying, him
that God holds accountable,s so should
we. Gods laws should be our laws. l
say, punish the drunkard Let him
know that when he gets drunk, he is
violating both the laws of God and of
his country, and he will have to give
on ooo0unt IN both


If man commits murder in your
midst you don't stop to inquire who
furnished him the weapon with
which he committed the crime. By
no means, but you will have him ar
rested and confined at once, for you
think him to be dangerous man to
the community. But if man gets
drunk, you say ''Poor fellowl What
a pityl He is a man of such fine tai
ents." Therefore you take pity on
him, and respect him, and let him as
sociate with your sons and daught-
ers Just because he is "smart and in
telligent. So much the worse. If
drunkards were men of little or no
oo,o,o fhau obo,7Jd ha ,,ifiad ond