WHAT THE CLERGY ARE SAYING

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXII, Issue 5726, 29 January 1876, Page 2 (Supplement)

WHAT THE CLERGY ARE SAYING

L'uidiwl JUnmm', at a public meeting m Holton, l.ancashne, O, tober 13- 1 ' Let it nevei be said that Me me '■>"'." L [ between the woikmg nun and what is c ' l " ul their rational enjoyments. — and I will tell \ >> i wliy. It is to the working men themsolvis that we appeal; we appeal to them in a double way. We appeal to them thrombi all the abstinence and tempeianeo association, in t!ie country to enlist them in one yio.it movement — to put down not only diuukenness, but the facilities and the multiplied legalised temptations to drunkenness ; and, ' also, nc aie endeavouiing t<> otgamse iho w<n king men oi Iji^I md t< >Lrotlit i in tin gi oat league ot tho I nitcd Alhainc l<'i (In-, vei y puiposo, and the nieasuio that no .uc denning to obtain fiom Pailiamcnt is thib : that the l.ite-payeis of England and also a gi cat part of the woi king men of ! ngl.ind shall ha\c a decisive vote whether 01 not thov desire public-houses to be establish* d in the midst ot them. Now, having cleaied away these objections m the outset, 1 am | bound to siv tlieie is not a woid m thai u- . solution too stiong. Not only the deirrnda- ' tion of men, but the degradation of women, and the degradation of clnldien- bo\& and gnls — the wieck ot homes, and not only among the woi king-men of England and | their Families, but in evciy class in England. And I thai go upon the middle classes hahiis of excess, and I charge even on the highest classes habits of a most selfish indulgence, visited otten justly, by the most afflicting evamplcs of drunkenness, blighting and wi eckmg the noblest, purest, and most refined chai actors, and the happiness of the highest homes And therefoie let it not for one moment bo said that the work wo aie . engaged in is duected incicly at one (.lass; it is directed ag.unst intempciancc wIimcsoe\ei it is touiul, and dneittd mvauablv at all those legalised facilities of excess which aic spiead o\er the face of this c aim try. And now, mi, 1 remember the other day t after a meeting of the United Kingdom | Alliance in London, there was a leading | aiticlem a payer of great name and note, , which I w ill not specify, asking why did not j the ministers of leligion who took part in that meeting -and I was one of them — why j 1 di<l they not e\eit their icligious and pastoial lnllueiice to put down diunkenness? , This icsolution makes an answer to that { question It is meie moekeiy to ask us to , put dow u diuulienne-s by moial and religions means, when the ki^latine facilitates the muHiplu aiioii of the incitements t<» intcmpeianeeon evei\, side You might as well call up<ui me as the captain of a ship, and say, " W lr> don't you pump the water out when it 1-, sinking" — when you arc scuttling the ship m e\ci\ diieetum. If you will cut ofl the supply of temptation, 1 w ill be bound bj the help of Ood to c meit diunkards — , but until \oului\c taken off this pcrpet'ial supply of into\icating d.'iik, we can nc.er cultivate the lields. You ha\e submoiged | them, and if ever we leelaun oncpoition jou ' immediately begin to lmild upon it a gin , palace oi some temptation to drink. The othei day, wheie a benevolent man had established a sailois' homo, I was told there ( weie 200 places of dunk lound about it. | IFo.v, tlu n, can we contend again->t these ' legalised and multiplied facilities and temptt.vtii.ns to mtoxieition 9 This is my answer ' to the bland olijuigation of tho-e who tell us j the ministeis ot leligion aic not doing then pai t Lot the legislature do its part and we j will answer for the rest. And now, what is I the prut that we ask the legislatuie to do 9 If w c \\ ei e to ask the lcgislatui e to put dow n diunkciine-s, I think we should veiy pistly be answeied, " It is beyond the power of all legislation," and no men have been so loud in \ telling us " You cannot make men sober by Act of Parliament." We have never asked it; j we have only said, " Don't you tempt men , to be diunkaids by Act of Parliament" j Now, fair play is an English virtue. We won't attempt to obtain an Act of Parliament ! to piomote any such viituous sobriety, if you ' will promise us to l cpeal all Acts of Parliament that have the effect of multiplying I diunkards. What is it we propose '! We don't ask Pailiament to arm the magistrates witli greater powers and with summary authouU, and wo will tell you why. The ' magibtiates have been aimed with power evei since Edwaid VT., and they have never put diunkenuess down You may arm them ' with as much powci as j on like, but 1 believe those poweis will not be e\eicised. ! I will not enter into the leasons of my belief. Pcilmps you will say if the police weie more vigilant it would be better. Anybody who ' knows what the action of the police is knows perfectly well that the evil against which we | are contending can never be put down by the police What is it then that we ask ? We | ask that the people themselves may be able i to put it dow n We do not .ink Parliament to do tli't which for -"'"> mm)- ]p-t it has not only Ik i n unable to do, bi.l i, n -hown little disposit'ou to do. We do'i'i ask that sumin ii v powers shoul 1 be gu'en to any riiithnritu but \ e ask that tlio people of I'nglind , nuy b > enabled by a legal vote to protect theniMh^s from hav i.i'j public-houses forced upon them whether they will or not. We -.ly, You !ia\p been tiying with magistrates and p'lbce long enough, a.ul you have not saio- J i ceded ; well, let us try ! We simply ask to j havoatual. It seems to me that Sir W. ' Liwson's Permissive 1UU is, «. it is ctH<-\1 in iho second resolution, a just measure, :i wise measure, and a model ate measure, f think it is a inst measure for this reason. The people ( who suffer most are the working men a-id then f innlie--, and therefore it is just to t>ive them the p>wer to protect thciiischt's. ' Eveiy nob man can by some action— cithur ! by purchi"c or by iniliuiice over those who , control theso matters — jleai his neighbour- j hood even if the public-houses be not on Ins piopeily, ntlcsistm the mnpntyofoascs ; but t\>o honest-, sober working-men raw hue the public-houses put down between their dwellni'; , tainting the while atmosph' i u nnd fi • neighbourhood in which they 1-vc, and hue no power whatsoever to clear away that nuisance. I therefore ask that by ,i popul u- voto the poor man shall have by ii','ht ol law that self protection which the i ieh lias by i lght of property. I say, then, it is .1 |iist measure, and L say also it is a wise one — a wise one because it is the only way m wlueh a in 'isurc of this kind can possibly bebiou.dit into effect. Now, bir, wo have been. I iiiust say, not a little tried in our teinpei. We have been met on cither side Ivy men who have said that tho Permissive Bilhsfalse legislation— and thatall permissive legisl itiou is bad. When wo say " introduce some stc n «ent measure," then they say "it is impossible to introdnce a coercive measure." Well, it can only be either permissive or coercive, and I am afraid there is a comspiKU} between these two sides, and that they wish for no bill at all. Some say, " for goodness sake don't have a Permissive Tiill — it n very unsound legislation." Others say, " Don't frame a coercive hill — it would pioduce a revolt" — and between the two wo aie to have nothing At the time when the Tinted Kingdom Alliance was iiist established, I will say without hesitation tho intellect of Tngland did not know the honors and the abomination j caused by tho tiafhc in intoxicatimr diink — and I will k peat what 1 have " lid befoie, and I feel it <lue is x public dee! n ition — uul I i'in confident that many who arc heie to night »• in verify it in their own past expenence though 1 had been for years engaged in the dimes of a minister of religion and bellow d that 1 knew what was the Btatf of thpeople ot England, an I what weic their temptations in the matter of intoxication, T dcelup with all simplicity that nevci till the -\ I* ir 1S(!">, when c ome who sit behind me now, whose faces T had never seen bet ore, came to me at their own icqucst in London and laid befoio me the evidence of the subject, and induced me to purchase and to study two folio volumes of evidence taken before Mi. Yillicis's committee in the yc us 1854 55 I never knew myself the woildof horroi , the woi Id of death by w Inch we .ire surrounded. 1 had no conception until that time what weie the ramifications of this enormous traffic in drink. I never knew 1 what w is the multitude of centres created by it all ovei our countiy and in all groat masses of our population, and what was the aggiPL'.ition of vice, misery, debasement, and degradation which hovoicd around about every one of these centres, from the greatest

(.) tin 1. ls{ I II \>'l liul Ul\ '"Hi ( pi lull i I th.it multitudinous M.ioil ot f\il. 11 "i <l '>''- \)\\\ u.il. lu-.im* \ , disL-i-i, .nul n inn ■ >' ev i\ '■mt tun, able to tin' oik hou'l tin Oil" '.Jll Mil,' llL-l(l, Mil-ill M|lllMI]l(Wll I'll tin eaith; I iihmh t'u> .il.iw of mtoxK at.ir.; dunks, when l>\ . sso.m i> t'u l)i an ot nun reels ami the will ot ui.in i- imstradv, lie inotonly nnile c-ip.ibh'i.f .ill cnine tint tin heait of man can conceive oi lust .ift« i, Imt is piompted, impelled, and indued to its commission. 1 bi'ho,«\ mi, tluio ,no .n iHi tudos of men, hono.n iMi-. high miniloil, and cultivated Englishmen mc\ny class ot life am l upon utlm bide of tlio House <>' Commons, tliiie are men in our legi-latuio wlio .in- to tin, d.iy what I acknowledge I was myselt till the year 1SG."». But I am confident th.it mhco the United Kingdom Alliance has boen acting upon the intelligence of these three kingdoms -there has been spread on evuy side the Knowledge <> f the true aUto of tlu-so tacts, which, until its estabhs.lunj.it were never known. I ask, wh.it gam have wo made? I answer we ha\e made this gain: We are rousing up the intellect of England to look at the fact,), and know their full magnitude and multiplicity. 1 go further. It w one thing to get the tiuth into a man's bram : but you must do moie than this— you must drive it home into the light of his conscience, .md, 1 b-lirve we have been doing this. T s,i} -,0, because it is ten years since I li iv e known and taken some 3light part in th.s work. 1 hope we are beginning to rouse the conscience of tho country. I am com inced m e arc, and I will tell you why, because 1 observe two things, n much larger admission of the truth of our statement, and a great iiurense of sharpness in those who aie conscious that we are opposing them The Port Laureate has said, "A little )> \ of loiiMii'iice made him sour ;" ,in<l uli' ii ! [> ii i\.- tint nu'iv ft>'c E;oing sour I bcbc\ e th a .i pice o! conscience has given them a twinge And there .ue many newspapcis w'lu< h 1 will not nune — for T have no donbt th.it m m> ot them will be down upon me like t'u' t< eth of a harrow before long, I in most L'in istian spirit forgive them all that they mtei d to wnte, and I will put it down to thai little spice of conscience which happily vo have act into activity. But I don't tin. lie we h i\e done our woik yet. It is one thing to got into a man's brainy juulit is so >u tliii' ' more to get in to his conscience ; but we must !-o'\ g-t into his will -and until we can really li.o-c the Mill of tho Vailiamcnt wo shall nevti get the IVi missive Bill. I t.tist in (!od ti...t ill th..si> who .n~e engaged on fio Kuuiiix.- of tho \lli.uicc will never s!.u-keii ih«-M tl.oiN, th.iL we, every man of in, owing to our divmc Master the leckoning which wo shall give of the years we have spent in this world will work to the end. No man can devote himself to n nobler woik, only one ovceptcd :— it is the work which redeems the body and the brain, and after tho bi.i"i tho moral power and the inn il hfo, aul all who depend upon tint in\", from the cuiso of intoxication, and in doin« this he that so labours promotes the eternal salvation of his fellow-men through the precious blood of our common Lord to whom 1 "w e must give an account. I Rev. J. A. J.uncs— " I do most earnestly entreat you to abb tain fiom all intoxicating liquors, You do nob need them for health, j and to take them for gratification is the I germ of inebriety."