Temperance by Wm. Penniman

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 24, 1881

Temperance.

By Wm. Penniman

"A CALM VIEW OF THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION."

BY WM. PENNIMAN.

THIS is the subject of a lecture delivered in Tremont Temple, Boston, January 10, 1881, by Chancellor Howard Crosby, D. D., LL. D. We shall not attempt to review it, as it is too lengthy, but will only notice one or two points and give a few facts and quotations, which will overthrow his positions. This calm view of things is just what the devil wants. The prince of darkness likes to see the world rushing to destruction, and yet see those who profess to love God and Christianity, take a calm view of it. Take a calm view of the millions of drunkard's graves; don't shed a tear over the tens of thousands of widows and orphans; be calm when you hear the groans of the destitute and suffering, made such by king Alcohol! Be calm over the hundreds of millions of dollars which are spent to support the accursed liquor traffic!

Dr. Crosby goes so far as to say that our Saviour used intoxicating wine. He takes the position that wine that is not intoxicating, should not be called wine; in short, that wine is wine; and accuses the radicals of using a Solomonian sword, and dividing it, when the Bible does not. Probably Dr. C. thinks the "good" wine spoken of in the marriage feast of Cana of Galilee, had an extra fermentation. This must have been similar to that of which Solomon speaks, when he says: "Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." Does Dr. C. look upon Solomon as radical in his advice, and upon our Saviour as taking a calm view of the question in using a little? If no other wine was used in the world but such as was made of water by our Lord, no harm would be done. We might make a comparison of the good and bad wines of the Bible, but a word to the wise is sufficient.

Dr. C. says: "A second reason why I believe the plan of total abstinence will not be adopted by the people, is its unmanliness."

"Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon," lest the friends of the rum-seller rejoice; lest the army of temperate drinkers triumph. The Bible says, "Abstain (not indulge a little) from fleshly lusts which war against the soul." It is just as unnecessary to try to demonstrate to a reasonable being that the habitual use of ardent spirits (the desire for which constantly increases) is not a fleshly lust, as it is to attempt to prove that twice two does not make four. The boot seems to be on the wrong foot this time, as the "unmanliness" is on Dr. C.'s side of the question. That which unmans a man, makes him unmanly. Take the man who is so enslaved to appetite that he thinks he cannot reform. He is decidedly unmanly; especially when he falls into the gutter, and animals walk independently over him. Of course this D. D. is not in favor of giving the drunkard an over-dose; he would not do anything to kill him who is already dead (in trespasses and sins); but he ought to know that if the temperate drinker keeps on tippling, he, like the drunkard, will finally tip over; and that is quite as unmanly as the unmanliness of the total abstinence men.

Again he says: "The selling and drinking of wine (perhaps he likes a little himself) is certainly not a crime; . . . . but a total prohibition—the cardinal doctrine of the total abstinence people—at once brands wine drinking with theft, and violence." If a man in a drunken fit kills his wife, robs his neighbor, or burns a house, the law deals with him as a murderer, thief, etc. Yet, according to the Doctor's theology, the liquor selling, and the "wine drinking" are all right; whereas, the selling and drinking are the causes, and the murder, theft, etc., are but the effects. Who cannot see this? If it is right to make laws totally prohibiting murder, theft, and other kindred evils, why is it not right to make laws prohibiting the sale of that which is the cause of four-fifths, or of nine-tenths, of the evils which are cursing the world?

The Christian Herald of January 20, 1881, says: "A startling fact, disclosed by recently published statistics, suggests well-grounded apprehensions as to the permanence of our national prosperity. It appears that since 1870, the quantity of fermented liquors manufactured and consumed in this country, has more than doubled. Last year, the amount was nearly 414,000,000 gallons, or more than a quarter of a barrel for every man, woman, and child. The daily reports of our police courts show the dire evil this liquor is working on the people."

The New York Evening Post says "that in the year 1879 there was paid out for intoxicating drinks, by the people of Germany, the sum of $650,000,000; and by those of France, $580,000,000; of Great Britain, $750,000,000; and of the United States, $720,000,000; making the grand total of the world's bill for intoxicating liquors, $2,700,000,000.

The following will demonstrate the unsafety of Dr. Crosby's position: "A late number of the Princeton Review contains a lengthy article on the liquor traffic, presenting the subject solely from the stand-point of public polity, and as it contains the gist of the arguments used in Kansas during the discussion on the constitutional amendment, and which are being made use of in this State, its conclusions are of considerable interest to the public. The author bases the right of the State to enact prohibitory laws on its police power, three branches of which he considers: Police for the prevention of offenses, police of the public health, and police of charity. Under the first head he produces statistics to show that the consumption of intoxicating liquors produces crime. In 1837 and 1838 there were over 11,000 crimes of a certain character committed in Ireland, while in 1839 there were only 1,097, and in 1840, 172. The cause of this remarkable decrease was the temperance movement instituted by Father Matthew. The consumption of spirits fell from 12,000,000 gallons to 5,000,000, and the revenue derived from its sale decreased some $4,000,000. The number of prisoners confined in the Bridewell, at Dublin, fell in one year from 136 to 23, and 100 cells stood empty. The Smithfield Prison closed its doors. But there was no prohibitory law enacted, and everything drifted back to the old condition of things. The convictions for crime in the State of Maine, with a prohibitory law, in 1874 were 1 to every 1,689 of population, while in the State of New York, exclusive of New York City, without a prohibitory law, they were one to every 620. Crime diminished 75 per cent in the State of Connecticut, under the prohibitory law of 1854, and in 1873, upon the restoration of the license, it increased 50 per cent in a single year. Under the head of public health, he quotes life insurance statistics, to show that where in a given number of risks ten temperate persons die between the ages of 15 and 20, eighteen intemperate persons die; between the ages of 20 and 30, ten temperate and fifty-one intemperate, and between the ages of 30 and 40, ten temperate and forty intemperate persons die in a given number of risks. Life insurance tables show that a temperate person's chance of living is, at 20, 44.2 years; at 30, 36.5 years; at 40, 28.8 years. An intemperate person's chance of living is, at 20, 15.6 years; at 30, 13.8 years; at 40, 11.6 years. The average life of drunkards is 35 years, and the average life of non-users is 64 years. From this shortening of life by drinking, there is an annual loss to the country, through loss of labor alone, of $563,000,000. The connection between insanity and intemperance is demonstrated, and Dr. Hitchcock, President of the Michigan State Board of Health, is quoted as authority for the statement, that of the number of idiots in this country, 319,000 are made such by the use of alcohol, and 9,000 persons are annually made insane from the same cause.

"Under the third head, statistics are produced to show that the relation between intemperance and pauperism is that of cause and effect, and in a summing up of unusual power, the writer maintains that the prevention of the sale of intoxicating liquors is the removal of the chief cause of crime, the promotion of the public health, and the diminution of pauperism."