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Temperance

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Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 1, 1881

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 7, No. 45.

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Temperance.

RUMSELLERS LICENSED-FOR WHAT?

Licensed to make the strong man weak; Licensed to lay the wise man low; Licensed, a wife's fond heart to break, And make her children's tears to flow. Licensed to do thy neighbor harm; Licensed to kindle hate and strife; Licensed to nerve the robber's arm. Licensed to whet the murderer's knife. Licensed, thy neighbor's purse to drain, And rob him of his very last; Licensed to heat his feverish brain, Till madness crown thy work at last. Licensed, like spider for a fly, To spread thy nets for man, thy prey; To mock his struggles! suck him dry; Then cast the worthless hulk away. Licensed, where peace and quiet dwell, To bring disease, and want, and woe; Licensed to make this world a hell; And fit man for a hell below.
—New York Observer.