Intemperance and Prohibition

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 10, 1913

Intemperance and Prohibition

A GREAT crisis is upon the human family. A mighty struggle is taking place between good and evil, light and darkness, truth and error. Great evils are threatening the welfare of the state, the stability of society, the integrity of the church, and the purity of the home.

The Chief Evil

Among these great enemies of the human family intemperance stands chief and foremost. Indeed, when we come to trace out the sources of crime and learn their fountainhead and inspiration, we find that a large per cent of all the crime committed has come from the use of alcoholic drinks. Intemperance stands as the father of vice, the promoter of prostitution, the creator of poverty and sickness. Millions of dollars which should go for clothing and bread are spent in the saloons and dram-shops.

The Means Employed

And it is amazing to consider the means and avenues which are in vogue at the present time to create and foster an appetite for alcoholic drinks. In some form and in some degree this poison enters into many of the light drinks sold in the restaurants and drug stores. It is found mixed with candy and confectionery. It is contained in scores of patent medicines, many of which are bought for the stimulating, exhilarating effect produced by alcoholic mixture. Its presence may be detected in the punch-bowl of the social gathering, and oftentimes in the church communion service.

A Grave Responsibility

By these and thousands of other ways there is being insidiously created and cultivated in the human family a love for alcoholic liquors. This condition of things throws upon the leaders of society a grave responsibility. Upon them rests the burden of raising a warning cry against this great moral leprosy which is making such inroads upon the well-being of the nation. But too often they stand either indifferent to the situation or nerveless and hesitating in meeting bravely the crisis. Sellers and dispensers of this body-and-soul-destroying liquor are sometimes found among the most honored members of our church congregations. Oftentimes they are liberal patrons of the church, and this accounts for their standing in the church community.

“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord. . . . When ye come to appear before me, Who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations. . . . When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: Yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: Your hands are full of blood.”

The church of God is recreant to its duty when it retains in its membership the dispensers or users of strong drink.

Our Duty

We who sense these dangers should set ourselves with earnestness and resolution to meet and turn back the great wave of intemperance which is sweeping over the land. Let us arouse and do our duty, and strike against this great moral evil as against every other form of crime, even though loss of prestige and of patronage may be entailed upon our personal interests in consequence.

Principles, Not Men

It is not against dealers in alcoholic drinks as individuals that we war. Our opposition is against principles, not men;

against crime, not criminals. Indeed, we would help the liquor dealer, help him to engage in a better business, help him to hand down to his children a more honorable means of livelihood and support.

Where to Stand

Let every man who loves truth and sobriety, who takes pleasure in the purity of his home and in the prosperity of his fellows, throw his influence against the great evil of intemperance. No man has a right to murder or kill his fellows, and no man has a right to tempt his fellows to indulge in that which will fire their blood, and lead them to commit these crimes. By so doing, they become aiders and abettors of the crimes that are committed.

Arousing Public Sentiment

The duty of every loyal citizen is plain. He should not stand by indifferently while his weaker brother is being swept into the great maelstrom of intemperance. By influence and example, by precept, education, and exhortation, by voice and pen and vote, he should do all in his power to rescue those whose feet are set in the downward road, and check and eliminate from the community the evil influences which are dragging men down to the depths of misery and destruction. Let public sentiment be aroused. Let a great temperance army be created, and let the saloon, the brothel, the gambling den, and every kindred evil be banished from our midst. And let them be banished not for one day in the week, but for seven days; not for one year, but for every year, and for all time, and forevermore. Who will hear the voice of duty and respond to the call?

“If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it?” And what shalt thou say when he shall punish thee?