"TEMPERANCE" AND "CHRISTIAN."
By W. N. G.
Evangelist Sam. Small says:— "Once it was honorable to be called a temperance man, but since the distillers, brewers, and doggery-keepers of the nation, in solemn conventions, have resolved that they are temperance men, I repudiate the name and declare myself a prohibitionist." To this the Union Signal adds:— "Many are the foes of the liquor traffic who feel the same way, and the number is growing larger every day. We should not feel satisfied with the word 'temperance' in the name of our white-ribbon organization, if it were not preceded by the word 'Christian.' We hardly think any liquor-men's convention . . . is likely to pledge official sympathy with 'Christian temperance.'" We ask, Why not? Hundreds of them are pillars in popular churches recognized as Christian; they are nearly all citizens, and many of them officials in what the Signal calls a "Christian nation." If they claim to be Christians, and are recognized as such in a general way by Christian temperance people; if they claim to be temperance men, and temperance men allow them the appellation by abandoning it themselves, why may they not claim to be "Christian temperance" men? It is impossible to keep the name of any good thing from being used by the evil one and his emissaries. "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light," therefore it is not surprising to see his satellites assuming the name and pretense of all that is good. And if Christian men and temperance men are going to retreat and abandon every name and position that may be assumed by fraudulent impostors, they will eventually be driven into a corner. The worst men in the world have been recognized as Christians, and the wickedest of deeds have been done in the name of Christianity; should Christians, therefore, abandon the name of Him by whom alone they may be saved? W. N. G.