THE EVILS OF INTEMPERANCE.

Western Star, Issue 143, 3 June 1876, Page 6

THE EVILS OF INTEMPERANCE.

—o — On Sunday evening lasi, Mr Stewart (who has been officiating at the Riverton Presbyterian Church during the absence of the Rev. C. £!. Ross) delivered an eloquent and interesting discourse on the above subject, a condensed report of which we append : Isaiah iY., 2.—“ Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread ?” The words of this text refer to all the various sources of gratification, which, as apart from Christ, the fount of every true blessing, can never afford a lasting delight or support to the spiritual nature of man. Christ is the true bread from Heaven ; whatever is expended of the great and valuable money of life and time and opportunity in other sendee than His leads to spiritual destitution —nay, in many cases, entails also physical want. Christ is the bread of life. Well might the prophet exclaim, marking the eagerness •with which men turn from Him towards all transitory illusory objects of happiness on earth, “ Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread !•’

By request, the subject of intemperance was taken np. It was not sought to limit the general application of the text, if the attention were turned wholly to the drinking customs prevalent in society; but if any were conscious «f “ spending money for that which is not bread" in another f.lmn this special sin of indulgence in intoxicants, the appeal was as much to them as to the drunkard, to turn and be satisfied —for here, and here only, would true satisfaction be found —with the bread of life.

g -.lntemperance —or, to call it by its plain title, drunkenness —is the bane of our social life. To it may be attributed almost all the; brutality, the ignorance, the misery, and the crime of the great “ lapsed masses.” To it may be traced the origin of almost all those scandals and vices which disgrace the higher orders of society. It is no exaggeration to say that, as a whole, drunkenness and its concomitant evils form the greatest curse of social life, fetter its energies, impede its progress, counteract its tendency toward the noble and the honourable and the good, and accelerate its approach to the vortex of inevitable destruction. Drunkenness is more than a vice, more than a mere violation of the laws of personal being—it is a crime } and as suck should be ruthlessly stamped out by every legitimate instrument which can be brought to bear on it by society, and that in self-preservation. Wherefore it may well be asked, does society spend and allow to be spent money for that which is not bread — for that which not only does not tend te the support and extension of its rights and privileges, but snaps their foundations and threatens them with overthrow.

The extent to which intemperance prevails is unimaginable. There is no class which is exempt from its ravages—no circle that has not known its degrading influence. Happy arc those families which have not felt the shame of being associated with the name of drunkard ; happy, thrice happy! But alas, how low in nu.nb.r! It is scarcely credible ihat in the British realms a sum equal to more than cue half the entire British revenue annually expended on intoxicants —yet so it is. It is h arfcrend’ug if it be t h —and it is only coo true —that tens of thousands are annually hurried into eternity through the direct and indirect effects of drinking. Would it bo possible to use language too strong in the denunciation of the intemperance of our limes in the light of facts stupendous as these, but which can he proved by the reliable evidence of statistics ? Would exaggeration be possible in the representation of this terrible social scourge of intemperance 2 Wherefore, it may be asked, is so much wealth, so much of all that is valuable, expended in the purchase of that which is emphatically “ not bread,” but

destruction ? We cannot estimate the amount of good which might be done with that wealth, and by those lives which are sacrificed on ;Eacchus’ shrine ; but, be it much or little, it is alike for ever lost in the whirling eddy of unnatural and sinful indulgence. Would *rpdook at the personal effects of intemperance? What a sight meets our gaze! The gaols are crowded with criminals, the'poor-houses with paupers, the streets with beggars, the cemeteries with dead—all, all springing as results from indulgence in this vicious habit as a prime cause. A noble manhood —a pure womanhood —are blasted and withered by it: ignoble indulgence and shameless effrontery take their place. Personally, intemperance is folly—it is madness—it is suicide: physically, morally, intellectually, spiritually suicide. Do not the bloated countenance, the palsied hand, the iuert frame of the habitual drunkard denote a suicidal infatuation ? Is not the continual indulgence the tomb of every ■virtue, the destroyer of every pure affection of the heart? Does it not give to premature decay the mental powers ? And most terrible thought of all, does it not destroy every spiritual hope ? for that no drunkard shall enter into the kingdom of heaven is the universal testimony of the inspired word. Since these are its effects to the inebriate, why does he continue to spend money for that which is not bread? and why do those who are the moderate drinkers hover infatuated on the brink of an abyss so profound, merely to indulge in that which is in all cases a luxury, in most cases a danger, and in many, very many, an unpitying destroyer? Relatively, too, as well as personally, drunkenness is productive of great evil. Pamily discord and family shame, public disgrace and private disrespect, in which the ionocent feel- themselves involved as well as the guilty, are some of its fruits. Poor evidence does that mail give of his love towards those connected with him, when, for the sake of his own vicious ■ indulgences he is unwilling to sacrifice an unnatural appetite for their comfort and happiness! Neither for the maintaining of family love, of general respect, nor of personal life and happiness is indulgence necessary. Wherefore, then, do ye spend money for that which is not bread ? Many opinions-are held as to tfao means which should be used for the eradicating of this socialbane of intemperance. Some, with regard, to its removal from the lower s!return of society, advocate extended sanitary reforms; others a more general culture and education? and others the preaching of the gospel. All these s have their legitimate place and their legitimate power, and are in no case to be depreciated. But they cannot absolve the legislature from its duty to deal with the question. Government exists to promote the happiness of the people —drinking does not contribute to that happiness; should not Government, therefore, not regulate but abolish that which is opposed to the aims of its existence. By a principle already admitted- in British legislation, places of temptation to public immorality should not be permitted to he open.

Are public-houses conducive to the public morality? or are they not far otherwise ? The closinar of them might not cure the inebriate, —might even for a time encourage illicit traffic in spintons liquors,—but it would prevent the growth of the class of chronic drunkards, and ultimately, in consequence, tend towards the maintenance of public temperance and morals. Is it not pitiful to plead that the revenue of the country would suffer by the closing of these dons of temptation ? As if the dignity of the British crown, and the majesty of the British Constitution, and the administration of British law, could not be supported hut by the vices of the British people ! The Church also might do much to restrain and eradicate intemperance. By a more frequent declaration from the pulpit of the damning effects of vicious indulgence, and by a more decided tone and action on the part of the ministers of the Q-ospel, and the people, with regard to the whole question of temperance, much good might be wrought; many might be saved from the virtual suicide of drunkenness. It is to be deplored that the Church hae so often given an uncertain sound as to the true path to pursue — it were well if now she took a decided stand on the true Christian platform, on the doctrines of Charity, Liberty, and Temperance. But the grand means for the eradication of the evil is in personal action, influence, and example. The Bible leaves to the Christian a noble lilaerty in the matter of the use of intoxicants. It- is for each Christian to decide how that liberty shall be used. Used it must be for the glory of God. It cannot be derogatory to His glory to abstain entirely from what is merely permitted, and not enjoined—-it may bo so to furnish, even in appearance, a pretext for the vicious and intemperate indulgence of others, less, restrained by divine grace, do not reason, and a true charity, therefore, call upon the Christian to abstain, to take np his Cross, and exercise a noble self-denial, following in the footsteps of the Son of God, who denied Himself in all things that we might be saved. Let no one think that the influence of his example is inappreciable —let each decide how far his abstinence would be glorifying to God as before God and his own conscience. The result cannot be awanting in good—nay, even in great and noble effects.

Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread ? O that all men were hungering after the bread of life! that all were thirsting for the draughts of bliss drawn from the fountain of the water of life! O that all men would make Christ their all in all! Then no longer would it be necessary to ask any to be temperate, any to abstain —the law of love and charity would reign and the experience ef eternal joy begin. “ Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”