THE NO-LICENSE BATTLE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1265, 21 October 1911, Page 6

THE NO-LICENSE BATTLE.

"GOD-GIVEN ELOQUENCE." The Rev. W. J. Comrie, in opening the No-License battle proceedings tho other evening, said the opponents of Prohibi- I tion and No-License could produce no speakers who could speak from a knowledge of the facts from conviction and faith: who wore equipped with God-given eloquenco for the expression of their .views. (Applause.) Vide Dominion, October 19, 1911. Following aro two or three pieces of "God-given eloquence," taken from the platform and the religious press, opponents of Prohibition and No-License, than which nothing more telling on tho point has been spoken or ponucd:— Speaking from his pulpit, tho Rev. J. lloman reports the Rev. Dr. Rainsford to have said: "To drink is no sin: Jesus Christ drank. To keep a saloon is no sin. And any policy that claims the namo of Christ, or does not claim His name, that deals with the lvell-nigh universal taste of man for alcohol 011 the basis of law and order alone, cannot commend itself to the bost intelligence, and is doomed to fail." The Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby, of tho Presbyterian Church, says: "Prohibition is the greatest enemy to a much-needed reform." The Rev. R. S. Gray says: "There is no efficient Prohibition in America." The Rev. Carl Eissfeldt formulated this written declaration on behalf of tho Lutheran Church: "We cannot join hands with' the Prohibitionists, becauso their principle is wrong, in so far as they mix good use with misuse of things, that in themselves aro gifts of God. We regard this as a wrong principle, to prohibit 011 account of misuse the use, manufacture, and sale of anything that in itself is not bad." Aro not these splendid specimens of "God-given eloquence"? And thev go to demonstrate that truly good men—men who have not lost their reason over Prohibition and No-License as moral agencies —good Christian men, aye, and women, too, can as honestly denounce Prohibition, and striko out tho bottom lino in voting against No-License, and still bo good Christian men and women, true to their principles and their God. This writer has said in another place that "Prohibition and No-License are the molten calves the modern Aarons are exhibiting to a soul-starved world"; and he says, further, that it is bad for the clergymen themselves, and bad for the churches when the ministers of religion tains the pUttorm to extol the saving merits of these molten calves and convert their pulpits for tho time being into political hustings boxes. And he says this more in sorrow than in anger. The revorend chairman, following a notable example, exalted himself, and said: "I thank God I am not as other men. I have God-given eloquence." But tho other fellow cricd: "Give me grace to be like tho Master—a friend of publicans and sinners." *