LAST night I was in a sleepless state much of the time. Many representations passed before me. One was a scene in a council meeting where several were present. One man arose and began finding fault with one of his brethren. I looked at the speaker's garments, and saw that they were very undesirable.
Another person arose, and began to state his grievance against a fellow laborer. His garments were of another pattern, and they, too, were undesirable.
Still another, and yet another arose, and uttered words of accusation and condemnation regarding the course of others. Every one had some trouble to speak of, some fault to find with some one else.
All were presenting the defects of Christians who are trying to do something in our world; and they declared repeatedly that certain ones were neglecting this or that or the other thing, and so on.
There was no real order, no polite courtesy, in the meeting. In their anxiety to speak, some crowded in while others were still talking. Voices were raised, in an effort to make all hear above the din of confusion.
The dress of the speakers was unbecoming and grotesque. This, I was shown, was a representation of defective character.
When many had spoken, One of authority appeared, and repeated the words: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.”
O, how can Christians afford to speak words of criticism and fault-finding,—words that stir up the worst passions of the human heart? The talent of speech is too precious a gift to be abused in this way. Let us refrain from uttering any words that would stir up a spirit of antagonism or retaliation. When irritated, let us remain silent.
In this council meeting that I saw in the visions of the night, Christ himself was present. An expression of pain came over his countenance as one after another would come forward, with uncouth dress, to expatiate upon the faults of various members of the church.
Finally the heavenly Visitant arose. So intent were those present on criticizing their brethren, that it was with reluctance that they gave him opportunity to speak. He declared that the spirit of criticism, of judging one another, is a source of weakness in the church to-day. Things are spoken that should never find utterance. Every one who by word of mouth places an obstruction in the way of a fellow Christian, has an account to settle with God.
With earnest solemnity the Speaker declared: “The church is made up of many minds, each of whom has an individuality. I gave my life in order that men and women, by divine grace, might blend in revealing a perfect pattern of my character, while at the same time retaining their individuality. No one has the right to disparage the individuality of any other human mind, by uttering words of criticism and fault-finding and condemnation.”
These words he repeated with solemn earnestness; and then he turned and grasped a standard, and held it aloft. From this standard, in burning letters, clear and distinct, gleamed God's law. The Speaker declared: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.”
As the light from the uplifted standard flashed upon these men in council, they shrank from it as if it were a burning flame. Some prostrated themselves; some turned and went away.
As I looked upon the scene, the names of the fault-finders appeared before them, and opposite each name were written out the faults of the erring one. None were free from defects of character. In the light of the uplifted standard, all were guilty.
The churches have had light, great light. Infinite light and power are promised those who go forth in the name of the Master to do his bidding. While all do not labor in the same manner, or say the same things, yet the words of one will balance the words of another. In the midst of diversity there will be a beautiful harmony.
Let every one attend to his own individual case before God. Let every one confess his own sins with humility of mind. Let every one appropriate the rich promises of God's Word, and while working out his own salvation with fear and trembling, labor for the salvation of others as well.
“Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly; and worketh8righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor.”
All who love God supremely will love their neighbor as themselves. The keeping of the new commandment is to the believer a step heavenward. That which will give God's people the supremacy is obedience to the injunction, “These things I command you, that ye love one another.” “Neither pray I for these alone,” Christ said, “but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”
“These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”
Two Important Features in Teaching
By Stephen Nelson Haskell
S. N. HASKELL
The cause of God from the earliest times bears two characteristics. Every institution, every organization, that furthers the work of God on the earth has these two prominent features. When these are wanting, the work will fail of accomplishing the object it has in view. The institution that has these characteristics will be strictly religious and educational in its work. When God brought his people out of Egypt, they were to build a sanctuary that he might dwell among them. They were about a year in building it. It was built after the heavenly model. The building was educational, and was of great importance to Israel. It was to teach them that there was a personal God dwelling in a real place, and as sin had separated man from his Creator, the services and sacredness of the sanctuary were to educate man how to approach God. Sin was to be put away, for God was holy, and the sanctuary service taught men how to separate from sin; consequently the priests were teachers. They were to teach the people all the statutes of the Lord that had been given to Moses, and to put a difference between the holy and the profane, between the unclean and the clean. Lev. 10:8-11.
Instruction was given in regard to the following: their eating and drinking (Deut. 14:2, 3; Lev. 11:33-36); their garments, the material of which their garments were made (Deut. 22:11, 5); the seed they sowed in the field (verse 9); their manner of cultivating the soil (verse 10); building their houses (verse 8); their goings out and their comings in. Deut. 6:7. Their entire life was educational. The trades they followed and all they set their hands to contained lessons that pointed them to a life of holiness and to the Redeemer who would really take away the sins of the world. It has been Satan’s studied plan to break up this arrangement and separate the labor and work from the spiritual experience.
The medical profession has lost out of it the missionary spirit. It is a science of itself. It matters not in the eyes of the world whether a medical man has any regard for the religion of the Bible if he has passed certain examinations in that science. It is the same in the religious teaching; if a man has a certain theological training, and has passed certain examinations, he is educated, and can, if he chooses, be a minister,—a teacher of the people. When Israel was without a teaching priest, they suddenly relapsed into idolatry, and were without the true God or his law. Then the Lord taught them by trouble to turn unto him; for “nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.” 2 Chron. 15:3-7.
In the gospel of Christ is a resetting of all these principles. Every one of them centered in Christ. He became our example in all things. He was the greatest teacher that ever walked this earth. He was a foreign missionary sent from God to a planet that had severed its connection with the great continent of heaven. He was a home missionary; for he was born of humanity and took human nature with all its liability. He was a medical missionary; for he healed all manner of diseases wherever he went. He was an evangelist; for he brought salvation to every one who accepted him and followed in his steps. He was “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession.” Heb. 3:1. He taught the truth upon all these points in two ways,—first, by precept; second, by his life. It is a blending of all these principles that constitutes true religion.
There are lords many, and gods many. So there are many religions. They are seen in every community. Their adherents are found in every neighborhood. The Christian religion is after the pattern and model of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Christian physicians will exemplify their Founder. They will relieve the sick while preaching the word. “And he preached the word unto them. And they came unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.” Christ blended the healing of the sick one’s body and the forgiving of his sins. It was the same power that forgave the sins that healed the body. “Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (he saith to the sick of the palsy), . . . Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.” To acknowledge this and confess Christ, was to glorify God. “He rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to-day.” They said, “We never saw it on this fashion.” Mark 2:2-13; Luke 5:18-26.
Every physician ought to be a preacher after this heavenly model. Every true preacher or teacher in Israel ought to be a physician. This is in harmony with God’s method; but it would break up the present custom of society. It would revolutionize our medical schools. It would reform our preachers, and make health reformers of every one of them. When Christ sent forth his disciples, he said to them, “As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” This original commission given to the twelve was renewed to the seventy. Matt. 10:7-15; Luke 10:1-11. This commission was to continue to the end of the world.
This old, original commission is to be revived. Those who are Christ’s representatives are to blend these principles. They are to teach, and to preach, and to live the principles of health. Then Christ, through them, will heal the sick. So with our publishing houses, so with our schools, so with every institution to further the cause of God on the earth. Every principle of righteousness should be connected with them all. Many will say when this is the case, as they did in Christ’s day, “We never saw it on this fashion;” but it is God’s plan. God is even now at work in the world to bring about the accomplishment of his great purpose concerning man.
Oakland, Cal.
Ground of Hope, Courage, and Confidence
By Ole Andres Olsen
O. A. OLSEN
The special providences of God as manifested in this work have been most marked. From the very beginning the evidence of God's leading and guiding hand have been no less prominent than in the time of the children of Israel; but, like them, our faith has been at fault.
God came very near to Israel, giving them very definite instruction on all matters that pertained to their well-being. Had they believed and obeyed God, great blessings and prosperity would have come to them, and they in turn would have become a great blessing in the earth.
In like manner has the Lord wrought among this people. From the very beginning the spirit of prophecy has been connected with this work, and the value of the help and blessings that have come to us through these communications can never be fully estimated or appreciated. How often has the message of the Lord saved us in times of peril and confusion! Truly it has been as the still voice, saying, “This is the way,” when we in our human blindness would have gone astray. It has come in the way of counsel, instruction, encouragement, reproof,9warnings, and earnest admonitions. And all has come in the most opportune time; just when we would have taken a course that would have proved a personal injury to ourselves and a hindrance and detriment to the Lord's work. How often have we been saved from running into error, or from making moves that would have been subversive to the cause of God and our own best interests, the Lord alone knows.
Personally, I am more grateful than words can express for the blessings and benefits received through this instrumentality; not only for personal messages, but also for the blessed instruction that has come to us through the numerous writings of Sister White. And is it not a matter of great astonishment that a gift so helpful, and so rich in blessing, should be the object of so much opposition, even from those who believe in the gifts of the Spirit of God? Still, such is the case; not only in this present generation, but also in times past.
In the experience of Israel, it was Moses and Aaron, especially Moses, the very instrument that God was using to communicate his will and instruction to the people — yes, it was this very instrumentality that was blamed for the trouble that came upon them as a result of their own sins and murmurings. Not only were the common people guilty, but leading men, in high positions of trust, like Korah and those connected with him, men of renown, and famous in the congregation.
The same was also the case in the time of the prophets. Take Jeremiah for example. He lived in the time of a great crisis in Israel. The people of God, on account of their backslidings and apostasy, were about to go into captivity, and Jerusalem was to be destroyed. The Lord sent most faithful warnings to kings and princes, priests and people, but instead of repenting of their sins and correcting their wrong-doings, they turned and persecuted the prophet, and rejected the Lord's message. All this is written for our benefit, and comes to us as an admonition, that we fail not, as they, because of unbelief.
What has been called for in the past, and is still more needed in these last days of peril, is men like Caleb and Joshua, who wholly follow the Lord,—men of faith and courage,—men of abiding confidence in God,—men of discerning minds like Moses, who will count the reproach of Christ of greater value than the riches of Egypt,—men who can not be bribed by the flatteries of the evil one, nor discouraged by his threatenings; but who will be true to God, like the three worthies in the face of the burning oven, and like Daniel before the lions’ den. Through such men, now as then, the glory of God will be revealed, and the power of his salvation made known in all the earth.
Ours is a peculiarly interesting and solemn time. Satan has declared war upon the remnant that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. The last great battle is on, and the armies are marshaled for action. The foe is strong, but, thank God, there is no question as to the outcome. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed, and we are more than conquerors through him.
Now is the time to stand firm in the faith, and quit ourselves like men. We can not afford to compromise a hair’s breadth. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, that the things that can not be shaken may remain. The God that has led in this work from the very beginning is leading still, and he is leading on to victory.
Never was there a time when every point of truth and the testimony of the Holy Spirit was so firmly established as at the present time. It is most wonderful how the things presented through the spirit of prophecy are being fulfilled both in the church and in the world. My soul is greatly refreshed by dwelling on God’s wonderful providence as worked out among this people. How greatly, yet how faithfully he has dealt with us!
I repeat that never was the truth of the message more solidly entrenched, and the spirit of prophecy more strongly confirmed, and never was there a time when faith had a stronger foundation upon which to rest, than now. May the Lord help us all to stand with eyes anointed that we may see, and with faith like gold tried in the fire, and clothed in the robe of Christ’s righteousness, fortified against every device and deception of Satan and the world, ready for the coming and kingdom of our Lord and Redeemer, who is so soon to appear.
Sydney, Australia.
Why Labor for Colored People?
By Clarence Santée
CLARENCE SANTÉE
WE owe them a debt that God has laid upon us. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.” Matt. 28:19. “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Verse 20. It is plain that we are responsible for all that he has given us reaching them, and it is equally plain that they will be as accountable before God as we are for the way they treat the light God sends them. The Lord says he “hath made of one blood all nations of men . . . that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him.” Acts 17:26, 27.
If we ever reach these people, it must be now. Some have thought that the need for means was more urgent among the colored people in foreign fields than for carrying the truth among these people, but I believe this is not correct. There is no field in the world that presents more difficulties and more perplexing problems than our own Southern colored field presents. And any man who is acquainted with the conditions will say that they are rapidly becoming more complicated, and some places are great already closing up. In other fields a white man can labor beside the colored man and instruct him in his work. Here, we must reach him at arm’s length, and very carefully. The “color-line” is strongly drawn. The sensational reports that come before the public from time to time, are rapidly deepening this feeling. This makes the effort for their uplifting difficult, and sometimes dangerous; yet the work of giving them this message must be done.
While there are hardened, desperate characters among them, bright jewels are also found. God can not close his work while these are left outside. I fear that the opportunity for carrying on this work for this class will not long be ours. Then there is no place on the earth that should more deeply interest us, just now, and claim a greater part in our donations, than this field, so near, yet when considering its difficulties, so far off, and getting constantly farther. What we do must be done quickly. Brethren, take this to heart, and in the general donation assist us in hastening this work.
Keene, Tex.
Liberty Not License
By E. K. Slade
E. K. SLADE
As an excuse for a strange or questionable course this claim is often made: “O, we believe in religious liberty!” Some have seemed to feel that almost any course is justifiable under that heading, as if religious liberty gave license to almost any belief or practise, according to the conscience or caprice of the individual. Acting upon this idea, persons have not only disregarded and ignored the special truths that stand for10unity and harmony of action, but they have also lightly esteemed the rights and privileges of others. True religious liberty is altogether a different thing from this. It is true that there is to be an individuality in our Christian experience, and there are rights and privileges to be enjoyed by the individual that no power can usurp, and by the exercise of which no man or set of men will be in the least disturbed or wronged. The practise of such religious liberty will minister to the welfare of others rather than otherwise. There is no way in which we can construe religious liberty to mean such a thing as will admit of practises in religious matters that will ignore the rights of others, or that will have any tendency toward separation or disorganization.
The gifts that heaven has bestowed upon the church are to bring all to the unity of the faith. The greatest argument in all the world to present before unbelievers, by which they may know that we are followers of the Lord, is to permit them to see such a state of union in the church as the Saviour prayed for in his memorable prayer. I have seen persons disregard the most vital and essential principles of Christianity in exercising what they term their individuality and religious liberty. Most trifling points will be made much of to the ignoring of the great underlying principles of the message, the message and the unity of the church being set aside as of little importance.
There are those who have followed such a course to that extent that they have lost all confidence in the denomination and in the organization of the work, and their course tends only to separation and individual independence. They can see no good in the church and no need of organization. This is one of the most dangerous positions that one can possibly take. Nothing pleases the enemy better than for members of the church to take a position to say disparaging things of the church and bring in an element of disunion and separation. I am glad to say that I have been permitted to know of but few in our ranks who are taking such a course as this, but to see any one taking such a position only emphasizes the importance of our heeding the words, “Press together.”
We have no place for any sort of religious liberty that will allow any and every sort of belief and practise to come into the church and be freely fellowshiped. There are many things that are not to be fellowshiped in our churches. Let that idea that no one can be disfellowshipped from the church be forever abandoned, for it is not in harmony with the light the Lord has given us. Church officers and church-members everywhere should take a stronger and firmer stand for organization and discipline in the church. Some will say, “Are we not to let love govern in these matters, and be more lenient?” I would say in reply to such a question that there is no love in lax, loose ways in the matters of the church.
The nearer we follow the light the Lord has given relative to such things, the more fully will true love govern. When one intimates that organization is not necessary, or that this denomination is not the true church, but that there is a sort of invisible or imaginary church that is the true church, let it be remembered that this people called Seventh-day Adventists, notwithstanding their weaknesses and many mistakes, is the church of God in the earth. It is so recognized by all heavenly intelligences, and it is to stand as such in name and nature before all the world. The enemy will be pleased to have persons within the church pull off to one side and endeavor to advance the idea that the organization is faulty or unnecessary, and that it is proper to take an independent course, which is sure to bring in theories and practises that are decidedly wrong. As a people we need to be more loyal to organization, more proud of our denominational name, and more earnest in our endeavors to enter into that unity of faith and practise that will make the church a mighty instrument in the hands of God for finishing the great work that is committed to it at this time. Then will be enjoyed the greatest and truest liberty that it is possible for us to experience.
Holly, Mich.
Freedom’s Song
By N. W. Vincent
N. W. VINCENT
Dear Saviour, ’tis of thee,
Who died to make us free,
Of thee we sing.
We seek thy love-lit face,
We praise thy boundless grace;
From all thy wondrous ways
Our comforts spring.
Our Father and our God,
We own thy chast’ning rod,
Thy love and power.
We bow before thy name,
We sing thy glorious fame;
Help us thy truth proclaim
Each day, each hour.
God of the storm and calm,
Now be our shield from harm;
Thee we adore.
We hail thy blessed sway.
Help us thy Word obey;
Be with us night and day
Forevermore.
God of the land and sea,
Preserve thy children free;
All sin destroy;
Rule thou in every land,
Make known thy mighty hand.
We act at thy command,
In thy employ.
Caney, Kan.
A Contrast
By E. W. Webster
E. W. WEBSTER
CONTRASTS are not always pleasing, but are often very helpful. I want to make one or two, not as reproofs, but as lessons. I can do so best by quoting a few words from a private letter from a brother in a strong conference, but one not so strong as a number of others in the United States.
After speaking of money raised for certain conveniences in the home church that they had gotten along nicely without for nineteen years, and of the earnest efforts being made to preach the message in his State, this brother says, “I can not help thinking of the Testimony which says that the ground should not be worked over and over again and again. I can not help seeing the contrast between —— and South Carolina! The first-named conference has upward of a thousand believers, over seventeen thousand dollars tithes, and liberal offerings, a large number of ministers, Bible workers, canvassers, doctors, besides nurses and sanitariums, with only about four hundred thousand or five hundred thousand people to warn; while South Carolina has nearly three times the population, and scarcely any money or laborers or facilities, and only one hundred and twenty-five believers. It makes me feel like asking, Does the golden rule apply to conferences also?
“Yes, I am more interested in South Carolina than in any other field. . . . When I remember that it is about thirteen long years since we were first sent to South Carolina, I am astonished. At this rate how long will it take to warn that State? Now I do not mean to cast reflection on any laborer there.”
With only one hundred and twenty-five believers in the third angel’s message, including laborers and those still belonging to churches in other States; with four churches, seven workers—two ministers, one licentiate, three Bible workers, one general agent—and a few faithful canvassers, and less than twenty-five hundred dollars tithes and offerings,—only this in a population of over one million three hundred thousand, what a contrast appears!
We do not make the contrast to cast reflections, or as a reproof. We are glad for all the advantages the truth has in these older conferences. We are glad for the noble spirit manifested by nearly all these conferences in sending and supporting laborers in needy fields. But we wondered if this contrast might not be used by the Lord to attract the attention of our missionary conferences to one of the most needy fields of the world. We know that the true conditions existing in the Southern field are not known to the brethren of more favored and stronger conferences. Many things that would attract attention to this field can not be written. We are often cut off from the public use of very touching incidents which, if we could use them, would draw eyes and hearts this way. But, aside from communications similar to this, and ordinary reports of labor, our efforts to acquaint our people with, and interest them in, the work of the struggling Southland are confined to private correspondence with a few intimate friends.
We would be glad for the officers of conferences, and leading brethren, to write and make any inquiry they please about conditions and needs in South Carolina, after repeating over the question, “Does the golden rule apply to conferences also?” One good, faithful laborer supported here by a strong conference would be more to our small staff of workers than three or four supported at home would be to your staff, and would bring God’s blessing to both fields. Please write me. All final arrangements will be left with you and the General or union conferences.
Cowpens, S. C.
The Purpose of the Trial
How dark are the paths in which God's faithful ones are compelled to tread! How fierce the fires in which the pure gold of their principle is tested! But when the patient feet have plodded through the darkness, the glory is the brighter for the gloom, and the gold is burnished by the flame into a beauty unparalleled before. Not in caprice of power, nor lessening of love, does the Father permit the trial of the child; but we wrestle with the angel in the dark, that, with thews of iron, we may be the stronger at the breaking of the day.— At W. Morley Punshon.
Shun the Wine Cup
CHILDREN, do you see the wine
In the crystal goblet shine?
Be not tempted by its charm,
Children, shun it;
Touch it never,
Fight it ever.
Do you know what causeth woe
Bitter as the heart can know?
'Tis the selfsame ruby wine
Which would tempt that soul of thine.
Children, shun it;
Touch it never,
Fight it ever.
Never let it pass your lips;
Never even let the tips
Of your fingers touch the bowl;
Hate it from your inmost soul.
Truly shun it;
Touch it never,
Fight it ever.
Fight it! With God's help stand fast
Long as life or breath shall last;
Heart meet heart and hand join hand;
Hurl the demon from our land.
O, then shun it!
Touch it never,
Fight it ever.
— Selected.
A Mocker and a Waster
By C. M. S.
C. M. S.
FROM time to time we see statements in temperance journals, and in journals that are not special advocates of temperance, setting forth the great waste that comes to the nation each year from the use of intoxicants. We look at it in a general way, fail to comprehend the mighty amounts set before our eyes, and so fail to appreciate what the figures mean to the individual persons whose savings have been swallowed up in the mammoth totals.
For instance, we have in the United States some two hundred and forty thousand saloons, or about one saloon to every three hundred and fifty-four inhabitants. We spend about one billion two hundred million dollars annually for liquor.
That is the money outlay; but the real cost of the terrible depredation on the human race no figures can give. There is no formula for its expression. It means that nearly one and a quarter billion dollars have been turned out of the channels of legitimate use into the channel of abuse and waste. In hundreds of thousands of cases it means that the craving for liquor has been dulled for a few moments at the cost of the actual deprivation of food and clothing for those dependent upon the wages earned. It means in thousands upon thousands of cases that women who have placed the keeping of their lives and their little ones in the hands of one they loved, have had to stand and see that trust betrayed for the appeasing of an unnatural appetite. It means that children whose very birth is a legal lien upon the producing powers of the parents for their sustenance in many thousands of homes are sent ragged and breakfastless to school and hungry to bed year in and year out. It means that the laws which are for the guarding of life are in effect nullified by other laws which give to this breeder of crime the right to carry on its business at the expense of the peace and the lives of men, women, and children. It means the keeping of jails, State prisons, and asylums, and hospitals filled with men and women, who, but for the liquor business, would be filling the places designed for them in the affairs of the world. It means the outlay of millions of dollars every year in this country for the support of police, lawyers, courts, jails, prisons, and wardens.
And it means more than that. It means that every year thousands of young men and women are taught the way to the pit of death and perdition; that the light in the eyes of the soul is dulled, the hope in the breast of a multitude is chilled, and that the love for the things of God in the hearts of such ones is fast going out or has perished already. There is nothing good the traffic has ever done; there is nothing evil it has ever hesitated to do.
It has never stimulated a holy thought; but it has urged on the kingdom of darkness at a furious pace.
It has built no hospitals, established no foundling asylums or homes for the poor; but it has not hesitated to crowd the walls of all that have been established, as well as the jails, asylums, and penitentiaries, with the ripened fruit of its terrible planting.
It has lifted no burden of debt from the widow or fatherless; but it has pasted mortgages on millions of deeds, and hung the red flag of the auctioneer on the gate-post of many a drink-ruined home.
It has established no schools for the education of the young; but it has set the seal of imbecility on thousands of the unborn, and clothed the children of its victims in a garb of rags that has turned them into truants and tramps.
That is what it has done generally, and all know it. They read the figures and listen to the speeches, and forget the tragedies that it is enacting in millions of homes, each one with its terrible setting of blasted hopes and cruel heartaches. Never a home is established that is not built on hope and pleasant anticipation; but never a home has liquor entered that it has not torn hopes and heart-strings like a maddened bull. Once inside, it has never been satisfied until it has strewn the last timber of hope’s building upon the ground.
The individual deceives himself into the belief that he is enjoying, at little expense, a harmless pastime, which he can abandon at a moment’s notice. Never was there greater deception, and never a captor that continued so long to deceive so great a body of people at the same time.
In very many homes the husband comes to his family at the week’s end with every dollar of his wages squandered. The rent is past due, and the landlord obdurate; the grocery bills are unpaid, and the grocer will give no more credit; the children are too poorly clothed to attend church or school, and sometimes even to be seen upon the street; the very cheapest food is obtained, and the stomachs of the children cry for food, while their forms are emaciated and their eyes grow big with hunger. One does not have to draw upon fancy to conjure up a picture like this. There are no words that can paint the picture of such things as they actually exist in thousands upon thousands of homes in our own land.
“Wine Is a Mocker”
As a waster it has no equal; as a mocker it is beyond comparison. The holiest relations of life it handles with the most ruthless mockery. It laughs at domestic peace, and stirs up discord in its place. It promises the husband a pleasant evening with his friends, and then sends him home to abuse the best and most trusting friend he has. In the glow of the first glass it promises him temporal success; and then when it has wound its coils about him, it takes from him everything he did possess, and turns him and his family into the street. It promises him promotion in his occupation, and then takes from his hands the steadiness and skill that are necessary to enable him even to hold the position he has. It promises him fluency of speech; and then robs him of his brains, thickens his tongue, and gives him the speech of the lunatic. The army general needs it to “steady his nerves,” and he takes it, and loses the battle. The soldier needs it to brace him up for a dangerous duty; he takes it, forgets his duty, and is captured by the foe. The orator needs it to give him freedom of utterance; he takes it, and disgusts his audience. The financier needs it to help him consummate a deal; he takes it, and when the deal is consummated, his fortune is gone, and his friends desert him. The common man has needed it all his life as a stimulant; and while he imagined he was continually being stimulated to greater accomplishments, he was standing still and watching the procession12go past; and when he has looked back upon a life now nearly spent, he has found that he was farther back than when he started, and the grade of his path has been downward day by day. Every year nearly a hundred thousand persons can look back upon such a deceived and misspent life in this country alone; for that many new drunkards’ graves each year testify to the wasting and mockery of the demon of drink in the United States.
Because these things are terrible facts, no child should go out from under the parental roof until he has been thoroughly acquainted with the evils of drink. The girls should know it as well as the boys, and should be taught to shun the society of those who patronize the business.
The saloon jeopardizes every interest of the home. It can not live without sacrificing those interests. Souls are its victims, and it snatches them from rich and poor alike. There is no satiety to its appetite, no set boundary to its field of operation, no trust too holy for it to violate, no right too sacred for it to trample upon, no child so beautiful that it would hesitate to set the hot brand of ruin upon its forehead.
The Christian must ostracize it as the very embodiment of sin that it is. He can have no fellowship with it without being a part of it. He can not be guiltless before God if he fails to educate his children to look upon it as the leprosy of death and avoid it as they would the companionship of the evil one himself, whose advance agent and greatest reaper it is.