Great Evangelists and Temperance

White Ribbon, Volume 18, Issue 8, 1 September 1946, Page 3

Great Evangelists and Temperance

By VICTORIA GRIGG, M.A

No. 2 DR. LYMAN BEECHER

From early days in the colonisation of America ships brought abundance of liquor to the new country; and sometimes drink was the chief feature of the cargoes. During the struggle for the W ar of Independence, however, the foreign trade of the American Colonies was almost entirely cut off. This stopped the supply of the material for rum from the West Indies, as well as imports of wine from Spain. The result was the establishment of distilleries all over the land. We find them a similar situation to our food problems of today. The waste of grain resulting from so much distilling at the time threatened to cause famine; and, at the same time, overindulgence in liquor was widespread, and was denounced already by George Washington.

Protests came from Methodists and Quakers. We find a Quaker, Anthony Beueznet, publishing a pamphlet in 1774 entitled “The Mighty Destroyed Displayed, In Some Account of the Dreadful Havoc made by the Mistaken Use, as well as the Abuse, of Distilled Spirituous Liquors." A great doctor, who set a pattern for medical men today, took up the challenge eleven years after BenezmM’s pamphlet. He was Dr. Benjamin Rush, an earnest Christian, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, who published in 17X5 his famous essay on “The Effects of Ardent Spirits on the Human Mind and Body."

TTis great learning, stainless character and unfaltering words commanded the attention of the best thought of the day, the pamphlet being printed in newspapers and magazines in America and England, and also constantly reprinted for thirty years. He had been Surgeon-general for the Navy of Pennsylvania, and later Physiciangeneral of the entire Continental forces; and as such his words carried great weight with the general public. In 1788 he published an address to Ministers of the Gospel on “Morals." In this he set out “The mischievous effects of spirituous liquors," and vigorously called on the clergy to “preach against, not the abuse of them, hut their use altogether," except in sickness; when, he said, “they are better applied to the outside of the body than the inside." He personally contacted the Methodists, Catholics, Presbyterians, and other Church bodies As late as 1811 we find him as energetic as ever in the fight. What a lot the Temperance Cause owes to this great medical man of God.

Elisha Succeeds Elijah The mantle of this great Elijah fell on a most worthy Elisha, who acknowledged his indebtedness to Dr. Rush. He was Dr. Lvman Beecher. In dramatic words which bring thoughts of the prophet Jeremiah to us he tells the story of Ins espousal of the Temperance Cause. “There were some Indians in my parish of the Montauk tribe, though not belonging to my congregation. . . . My spirit was greatly stirred by the treatment of the Indians by some unprincipled persons, especially their selling them rum. There was a grogseller in our neighbourhood who drank himself and corrupted others. He would go down with his barrel of whisky to the Indians and get them tipsy and bring them in debt: he would get all their corn and bring it back in bis wagon; : n fact, lie stripped them. Then in winter, they must go twenty miles to buy their own corn; and pack it home on their own shoulders, or starve. Oh. it was horrible. It burned and burned in my rrrnd: and I swore a deep oath to God that it should not be so. ... I talked to my deacons about it, and with my people, and raised public feeling. I read Rush on intemperance; and the ‘Christian Observer’ contained accounts of efforts in London to repress immorality, drunkenness and Sabbath-breaking. All this fermented in my mind, and while I was in Last Hampton, I blocked out and preached a sermon that I afterwards re-wrote and published in the ‘Reformation of Morals’.’’

I his was the beginning of the work of Dr. Lyman Beecher. His six sermons on Intemperance were published in 1827, and ran through five editions in twelve months. They succeeded Dr. Rush’s pamphlets as the standard Temperance publications of the times. Other Temperance preachers came to the fore; and through their efforts Temperance organisations of all kinds were promoted. I wish 1 had space to say more of these great pioneers of Temperance.

Dr. Lyman Beecher was not only a great preacher, but a great tat her, who inspired his family to take up the causes so dear to his heart —the fight against drink and slavery. It was to Dr. BcecheU' daughter. Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, that Abraham Lincoln said, concerning the Civil War, “Are you the little woman who caused this great war?" It was to Dr. Beecher’s son, Henry Ward Beecher, that Abraham Lincoln came one night in

secret during the Civil War, wanting prayerful help, which he received, to enable him to take up his heavy task with renewed vigour. The other day at a Temperance meeting we w?re asked to go back to our Churches and to enthuse our ministers. \\ hat thoughts came to my mind of that great man of God who said the words I have quoted above: It burned and burned in my mind, and I swore a deep oath to God that it should not be so. I talked to my deacons alxnit it, and with my people, and raised public feeling.” But can we leave it all to our ministers? Is it not the job of each one of us to “talk a.>out it and raise public feeling”? Anthony Benzenet and Dr. Rush were used to stir up the hearts of many ministers of many denominations. They had consecrated interest and enthusiasm for the cause they espoused. In a similar way, it is in the pover of each one of us to speak in clear and definite words against the evil about us. There is too great a tendency tor us to feel that we arc in a minority. Dr. Beecher faced an evil that was heavily entrenched in the homes of the people. The battle is a spiritual one. Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil, and appointed the Church to carry on His work. May we face it with greater effort, backed by more effective prayer.