CHRISTIAN LIBERTY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1194, 1 August 1911, Page 2

CHRISTIAN LIBERTY.

REPLY TO ARCHDEACON HARPER. A mteiing of Ilio Brooklyn No-I.icenso wan bold in the Methodist Church last night, Dr. Couzons occupying the ohair. The Her. Ji. 0. Blamii-os, in thn coiiivp of hi? nddrcs?, examined an nrticlo ruiitiiinod in yesterday's Dominion, giving a rupoi'l of ii sermon on "Christian l.iliprl.v." After rarofully stating that his cxiuuiiiiitioii was carried on wholly on iinporsomil ground*, ho referred to Iho criticism made of the. movement, which aims al promoting moral and social reform by the aid of legislative enactments. 'J'ho speaker contended that, such e-iiacl-liißnls hiul their true place, lor laws were llib expression of principle..?, and in.stancod tho legislation that lfd to slave emancipation as an illustration. The object of a law which made people sober might not have that goal as its direct aim; it was an indirect result; and the movement that had been criticised sought rather to raise-tho moral foundations of the community, to better the environment, and improve the health of tho people. Emphasis was laid upon the formation of character in connection with Hie moral base of society. No individual character was formed in isolation. Xo man lived to himself: he was the produce of the forces of environment as well as individual will, and tho higher tho standard of moral life in the community, and the healthier the environment the finer tho opportunity for a perfect development of individual character. The argument that to abolish drink, and remove tho temptation would create a great many weaklings was further examined. "Am I a weakling in character?" asked tho speaker, "because the early environment of my lifo and my training was such that drink has never been a temptation to mo? I occupy as an individual the position in regard to liquor that would be occupied by the community were the temptations removed in this direction, and I want my brothers who are ensnared and ruined by liquor to enjoy the advantages I inherited—not, in my case, from the community, but from a good home. If wo argue tliat opportunity for temptation produces strength of character, by an overcoming of temptation, would it be wise to multiply the opportunities, so that gamblingdens, liquor-bars, and houses of ill-famo were found in all directions? What strong characters we should form by so doing, if that argument be well-founded!" To improve the health of the community was one object of the criticised movement, and the doctors were on their side. He was glad there was a doctor in tho chair. Medical science has shown that alcohol was a poison which paralysed tho brain-cells in the inverse order of their development. The most highly-organised cells wero the last developed: tho highest functions came last in the process, and alcohol was dnnjerons because it attacked the highest in order and last in development first of all, and the first in development were the last to bo attacked. A man could bo attacked in the nervecentres which wero exercised in inhibition ■and self-control, in moral life and thought life, before he was drunk in such a way that he was made to see double, and stagger along the street, and the words of the Apostle. "Know ye not that your bodies avc the temples of the Holy Ghost." combined with Sir Victor Horsley's statement that "It is impossible to say that any given minimal amount of alcohol is harmless to the tissues," made a union of authority in tho theological and medical worlds which forced him to the conclusion that alcohol was an evil to be fought tooth and nail, till its extermination, except under n doctor's control, should be brought about.