REV CHARLES GARRETT AND HIS TEETOTOLISM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6502, 3 June 1899, Page 6

REV CHARLES GARRETT AND HIS TEETOTOLISM.

I signed the pledge of total abstinence , in 1840, after hearing a lecture on the subject by the late John Cassell. I have, therefore, tried it for more than thirty years, and I most gladly give my experience as to its effects. In ; the first place, it has greatly benefited .by .health. " From .childhood I have been delicate,, and yet for years I have been able to .work seven- days in the week. I -travel -from one end of the country to { the * other, and have all sorts of irregularity of diet and hours of rest. My brain is" taxed with a large amount of writing, . speaking and' preaching, and yet I generally begin, my, Sabbath without any exhaustion. . Indeed,. I .believe that my teetotalism has enabled me to get through an amount of work that would have crushed me if I had taken stimulants. In addition to improved health, total abstinence has given me influence which I could not have had without it. Much has been said about the alienation of .the working classes from the Christian Church. I have, however, found . total abstinence to be a bridge by which I could reach them. And, thank <God ! I have known it to be a bridge by which, hundreds, of them have come over to us. In one of my circuits I took pains to ascertain as fully as possible the spiritual history of the members, and found more than seventy men who had once been intemperate, but who had been reclaimed by total abstinence, and had then united themselves to the Church, and they were notoriously amongst the most zealous and generous members of that church. I have also found that my influence upon those who move in. a higher circle has been beneficial. In almost every circuit in which I have travelled I have found- some who were standing in slippery places, whom I have been enabled to restrain, and I have been cheered many times by hearing mothers and wives say, " Thank God,, you are an abstainer! I have hope now that my son, or my husband, will .be saved." And I thankfully record -that ;in many cases their hopes have been realised. I have noticed! also that many, .of my ..friends, who have-not become abstainers, have- become much more cautious, in ..the use of intoxicating liquors through my . abstinence. No drunkard has been able to make my glass of wine an . excuse for his'; while those who have been trying to conquer the habit of drinking have been strengthened and encouraged by my example.' I will, therefore, sum up my experience as to the effects of teetotalisrn by saving it has been a blessing to me, and has made me a blessing to others.