Church Action on Temperance [pp. 595-632]

Church Action
touched with deep compassion at the sight of the multitude of
unhappy slaves to drunkenness, and must and will ask himself
the question,'Can I do anything to stem this torrent of evil?'
And if we go further, and call ourselves Christian philanthropists, then we are bound to be guided by the spirit of Him who
said —,'A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one
another as I have loved you.' This love demands of us that we
look steadily into the sin and sorrow of our fellow-men, and
consider by what way and means we can come to their relief.
First of all, we must set them a good example of renunciation,
and not ourselves touch a drop of brandy, or any other spirituous
liquor, rum, liqueurs, etc., or even punch. If any are prepared,
also, to give up wine and beer with the teetotallers, I, of course,
shall have nothing to say-against it. I am not prepared, however, to urge as a universal rule and duty abstinence from all
intoxicating beverages, though I do demand of every Christian
philanthropist, not only for the sake of his own physical and
moral, temporal and eternal welfare, but also especially for the
sake of the influence which he must desire to exert upon his
intemperate fellow-men, the most conscientious moderation in
their use. But one Christian calls this legality, and, in the
name of Christian liberty, he will not be deprived of his daily
glass of liqueurs out of the familiar corner-cupboard. Let
me ask, in return, is this Christian self-denial? Does not the
freest of all Christians, the Apostle Paul, say:'It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy
brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak?'
The following extract from a paper on "Temperance," read
before the same body by the Rev. John Rodgers, M.A., London, in behalf of total abstinence from all that can intoxicate,
puts it exclusively on the same Apostolic ground of expediency
guided by Christian love, wholly disclaiming all pretence of
the intrinsic sinfulness of the mere use of these beverages:
"It is calculated that 60,000 of our fellow-creatures die
drunkards every year in our country. We want to save some
of those that are hurrying to a drunkard's grave and the awful
realities that lie beyond, and to prevent others from filling in
the ranks as they are thinned by death. We believe this to be
a complete specific in each case:-Abstain from these drinks
598
[OCTOBER,