Where Is the Right of It?
By Neal Dow
SOME time ago I saw it proclaimed in the press, by authority of a prominent and influential clergyman, that he did not favor abstinence from alcoholic drinks, but, on the contrary, that he approved their habitual use. It seems to me there must be a right and a wrong as to this matter, and it ought not to be difficult to find. Some time ago, a stranger to me and I were the only occupants of a carriage on an English railway. The gentleman knew me; he was a rector of the English Church. He commenced a conversation brusquely by asking:— "Mr. Dow, do you (temperance people) hold that to drink a glass of wine is a sin for us?" "We say nothing of that; but this is our view: An intelligent man must know something of the sin, shame, crime, and horror, which in this country come from intemperance. He must know that intemperance comes from the drinking habits of society. He must know, also, that these are upheld and perpetrated by the example and influence of the better classes of the people. For a man who knows all this to lend the influence of his example to uphold the customs whence all this mischief comes, is a mortal sin. We hold it to be a primary Christian duty so to live that if all the world should follow our example no harm could come from it. If our example of total abstinence should be adopted by all the world, the sin, shame, crime, and infinite misery coming from intemperance would cease in a day, and the world would be relieved of nine-tenths of the wretchedness by which it is now cursed." The rector made no reply.—Hon. Neal Dow.