By David Paulson, M.D., Supt. Hinsdale (Ill.) Sanitarium
THERE were consumed in this country last year a little more than twenty gallons of liquor for each man, woman, and child, consequently the man who used my quota in addition to his own drank forty gallons, or enough to fill an ordinary sized bath tub. As there are millions who drink no liquor, therefore there is an equal number of millions who actually drank this double portion.
Endeavor to conceive for one moment what it must mean to filter thru the human system this enormous amount of intoxicating liquor in the course of a single year!
Doctor Kraepelin, the great German investigator, has recently shown that as small a quantity as one-third of an ounce of alcohol will produce paralyzing influences on the mind and body that may be measured by instruments of precision.
In this same connection let us not forget that our boys in this land smoked enough cigarettes so that if they had been laid end to end they would have reached around the world twice and then from San Francisco to New York and back again. But if we are to reach anywhere near the bottom of this bottomless pit of curses, we must take into consideration the fact that we used last year a ton of morphin and a million pounds of opium, or about twice as much for each man, woman, and child as they used per capita over in China.
Much has been said about the patent medicine delusion, yet much more needs to be said. It has been estimated that with the exception of beer there was used, before the present agitation began, more alcohol in the form of patent medicines than was used in all other forms of liquors put together.
It is a vital point that the patent medicines have been largely used by the women of our land. With the fathers receiving their liquor from the saloons and the mothers getting theirs from the drug-store, is it any wonder that it was found by an official investigation that one-third of Chicago's school children were suffering from some form of nervous disorder, and that a similar investigation revealed the fact that two-thirds of New York's school children were in need of a physician's care?
Have you not often asked yourself, What is the underlying cause of all this? Intemperance, in an altogether unnatural manner, attempts to supply a real need. Paul said, "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." Eph. 5:18.
Humanity craves an inspiration from without itself as much as it craves food to supply its hunger or water to supply its thirst. The man who has never responded to that gracious invitation, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest," but who partakes of a highly seasoned diet, fiery spices, and rich flesh foods, or who overeats of even wholesome foods, thereby irritates and starves his nervous system and poisons his brain, and his whole nature instinctively cries out for the relief which the intoxicating cup temporarily supplies.
So the temperance reformer who closes the saloon but who makes no effort to introduce the slave of the liquor habit to the uplifting, restful, and exhilarating influences of God's Spirit, nor even takes pains to instruct him how to live so as not to create a thirst for liquor, has certainly performed but a small part of the work that should be done.
The man who has personally become acquainted with that glorious inspiration that4comes into every man's life who has really learned to pray, pities the man who tries in vain to get a miserable substitute for this from liquor. "Be not drunk with wine, . . . but be filled with the Spirit."
It was the late Mrs. Henry, the noted W. C. T. U. evangelist and writer, who said that "alcohol is the devil's substitute for the Spirit of God."
The most serious thing is that while the devil's agents are constantly at work, God's professed followers recommend the Spirit of God with so little perseverance and enthusiasm that few become personally acquainted with Him.
Nevertheless there are at present many omens of encouragement. Prohibition is sweeping some sections of the country like wild-fire, and the saloons are being voted out of existence, but unless this is followed not only by the Gospel of right thinking but also by the Gospel of right living, the demand for artificial stimulants will remain, and sooner or later we shall be back in deeper bondage than ever before. It is he whom the Son sets free who not only is free, but remains free, so the only permanent remedy for the curse of intemperance is the satisfying influence of Gospel temperance.
Will you do your best to establish that, first in your own life, then in your family, and then in your community? You will find that not only God will cooperate with you in this effort, but in almost any neighborhood there will be a few of those noble men and women who have always been the salt of the earth who will take hold with you.
Get the boys together and explain to them what David Starr Jordan, the president of Leland Stanford University, has so well said, that the cigaret smoker has no after life; that he is like a wormy apple that falls off before the harvest. Convince the boys that the cigaret smoker is of no use in this world and that unless he repents and becomes converted there will be no place for him in the world to come.
Get these boys to sign the anti-cigare<|page_break|>t pledge. It will help to fortify them in an evil hour. There is helpful literature on this subject which we will be glad to place in your hands.
Endeavor to organize a temperance society in your neighborhood. Get signers to the temperance pledge. At regular intervals try to have a temperance rally. Procure suitable literature and get different ones to take part in presenting some features of this great subject.
Above all things emphasize the importance of each one being a missionary for some one else. A mighty work along these lines is yet to be done. Do not wait until somebody else has become interested, but try to interest others.
You may discover that you will have to row up stream, but what does that matter if by and by the Master shall say to you, "Well done, good and faithful servant," and the Lord will never say that to any one as a mere compliment. He will only say it to those whom He has helped to do good.
You may be a member of the church in good and regular standing and be thanking the Lord that you are not as other men, but if you have never responded to the promptings of the Spirit of God to help in breaking the shackles that bind your neighbor, and have not helped to lift the burden from his shoulders by introducing him to the Burden-Bearer, and have not done your best to put joy on the faces that are now marked with sorrow, anguish, and distress, be assured, no matter how much you have prided yourself on your good standing in the church, the Master will by and by say to you, "I never knew you."
He whose feet will finally tread the streets of gold will not only have been good in this world, but he will have, under the mighty inspiration of the Spirit of God, done good. Where stand you?
