Newspapers / The North Carolina Prohibitionist … / Aug. 13, 1886, edition 1 / Page 1
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3 II3TC u!CAL CC L i- Gnttt K!f "Jf-m 'if'irtn rf1 r " "" ? rs".' -si..: J ;:- -Sjf llQlillliigillip A ,i V CUH& .TO PARTY; ' C13 BCNtMNE. ' Cling to party, cling to party V- Be tlLe iajTre good or H i wJsTeverlet tl&1arty :pff:;s f3Wr6ng it w:bei'!bften 't;?:''::Cvi e.'&SPat yoiupartjf ne'er decr ' ! ' -, , -: Riglit and -wrong will often . mingle . r 5i Oi must triumpii bv andiri Flv Cling Wt4jtjllng to: partyslS: iTa TUougli it kd tlielland iwitli,oeV ? i ? f Issues changing; ta increasing, partjr ' :-Tet must y ad changes kno":i.-XVr;-,JVottfox Wmi6r,Tote for devil," r' - v If the partr nominatei 4 ' : r; : This the rule and-this the nrecrt S f Cff 'lightened Christian etates? i:pVf "VVbfe's your freedom, boated freedom ; . Men of thought, and men :of mind? . f y Wly..O ho ly Ciod p(reajBuos-- Q:" 'if' ws we.bejto thee unkind 'i;,' 'iVi'-'C r J". J slaves to ancient custom :)i; Why refuse to work lorsright? '.'V v Voting if not neX ftZW ''' v... 'Si ; . Af r THE "BntTiE THE KINO OF " J Text: rsalm xix, a'The-statntea 'of the X6rd are rights" 4 - . y T " . :f v, :', & S. ' ; ' Old books go out of date: -When Cney i; tv ere written they disciwad . questions " whieli "wero being disenssedj . they i ; truclc at wrongs which ; had long" ago ceasod r advocated institutions which excite not bux interest, Were ,fthej booksof history. the facts have been ,athea;e4 from the imperfect mass, beifl : ter clkssifiekK and " more lucidly' pre! : sented. 'Were tliey' books oepoetry; ' lUey were - ullciiVA;i,cu i jiki n uv if-j- thotogies wluch have t gone . tipv from . - ' the face of the earth like mista at snn ' rise. Were they books of morals, "civ ilization will not sit at the feet of bar barism, neither do we want Sappho, Pythagoras, and Tolly to teach ' us iuoralM. What do tha masses1-jf the f people care now for the . pathos of Simonides, or ; the sarcasm : of Menan der, or the gracefulness of Philemon, or the wit of Aristophanes? liven the old books we have left,' with . a f ew ex- ' ceptions, have but very little effect upon our tinges.- Books are human ; they have a time to be "boni; they are fondled, they grow in strength, they, have a mid - die lifet usefulness, then comes -,)ld age, they totter and' they die. 7 Many v 5 of the national libraries are merely the ; ; cemeteries of -dead books. Some of .them lived flagitious : liyes fcand? died mission, some went into the - asiies through inquisitorial fires Some found their funeral pile in . sacked and -plnn dered cities. Some were, neglected and s died as foundlings -at the door of sci ence. Some expirfd in' the author's - study, others in the' publisher's hands. . Ever and anon there comes" into -your . possession an old book, its author for- gotten - and . its usefulness done, and - with leathern lips it seems . to say : 'I wish I were deadi ".Monuments" have been raised, oyer poets ' and- philanthro pists. Would that ; some ; tall; shaft might be erected in honor of the world's buried, books. The world's authors would make - pilgrimage thereto, and; poetry, and literature, aud science, and religion would consecrate it with their " tears. -?;0t$3 f H , J ". . ..Not so wilh'thQ one wbt started in' the world's infancy. It grew. under theocracy and monarchy. It withstood . storms of fire. It grew under prophet's - mantle and under the fisherman's coat --y of the apostles: in Pome: and Ephesus . , and Jerusalem .and Patmos. .Tyranny ' issued edicts against it, and infidelity '.--.' ' put out the tongue, and. Mohammedan- " : 'I ism from its mosques -hurled -its ' anathemas, but the old Bible still lived. ' f It crossed the British channel and was '' greeted by Wiekliffe and James I, - It crossed the 'Atlantic and '-struck Ply-, h mouth Bock, until like that of -Horeh. it .' gushed with blessedness.1 Churches it : nd asylums have -gathered Nail, along v; its way, ringing their bells and stretch :, , y: ing out their', hands of 'blessing, and every Sabbath there are'1,0,000 heralds : ' ,1 of the cros with ' their hands on this i i open," grana, iree, oia s jaigiisn t jji Die. " ? Bnt it will not., have accomplished its J ; , " , mission until it has claimed the icy . . "mountains of Greenland; - nntil it has J gone Over the granite ? clii&i of China; ' nntil.it has thrown jits glcr amid the "i -v; Australian mine;'untii ithas" scattered . x; -i- ; its gems amotig ! the: diamond districts , f of Brazil, - and all - thrones , ishall be gathered into one thrce' ' and - all . crowns by the fires of revolution shall ;.,;'';'''-bo: melted into one crown, and the v'-.... books 'shall at the i very gate of 'heaven have waved in the ransomod empires, ,h' 'liot until then will this glorious Bible ;tK have accomplished its mission. . 4 ; , 111 carrving out, then,, the idea of my ;text -"The statutes of the Ijord -are - v j rightI shall "-show, you that the Bi- ble ia right in authentication,1 that it is i ; ; right in style, that .it - is right in doo- trine, that it is right in its effects. i' , 1. Can you doubt the authenticity of t i ; the Scriptures? There is not so much ' evidence, that Walter' Scott wrote fThe : Ijady of the Xke;" Jladfi'7 so much cvi v den co that Shakespeare wrote ''Ham ' let;" net so much evidence , that " John : i JMiltonwr Paradise Ijost;" as there r,:'is evidence that the Lord God Al mighty ,r by the hands of the prophets, evangelists, I and apostles, wrotex thi r-book,.:";"- ' v ' .-h : Suppose a book now to be written :v'. which came in conflict . with - A great : inany things,; and was written by bad "5 ? ;men or impostors, hpw. long, would ;V 'v such :d book, stand? J$ wpuld be scouted f. j hy every body;And4Ia;if that Bible ; : ; had been an -imposition, for-! if ' it had I - not been nrritteh the men who said " they wrote' it; if.it had been a mereicol lectioii of ' falsehoods, do you not sup pose that it would iavts been immedi ately reacted by- the people? K Job,i and Isaiah, and ; Jeremiah, : &nd PauL and-Peter; and John - were Impostors they would liav been scouted by gene rations and nations. If , that book has come down through fires of ; centuries without a' scar' it 4: is because there is nothing in it destructible. ; How sear have taev f .come - to , destroying . the Bible? When they began their oppo sition there were two orthree thousand copies of it. NoV: there . are two hun dred millions- as far as I can calculate. The Bibltf truths, 7 notwithstanding all the opposition, have gone into all lan guages- into the philosophic v Greek, theJlowing Italian - the ' graceful " Ger man, the -passionate . French the- f pic turesque Indian, C and the "exhatistless Anglo-Saxon. 1 Under the painter's pen il the birth and the crucifixion- and the resurrection '. clow m ihe walls of palaces, or tinder . the' engraver's knife speak from the mantle of the mountain cabin; while toheii touched by ' the sculptor's chisel, start, up into preach- rnsr aoosuedM. iand ascending : tnartyrs, Now, do you not 8urpose,'rif that book had been an itdpositioa and a falsehood it would haver gone down under these Ceaseless fires o opposition? f a I V CFurther: sunoosa that there, was a great pestilience going over thd earth, and " hundreds, of thousanaa oi men were dvini? of that pestilace, and some one should nna a meouciue inai cureu 10,000 people would not everybody 4o- knowledsre that ' that must be a 'rood fmedicine? Whv, some one would say : "Do you "deny it? There nave Deen 10,000 people cured by- it"C I simply state the fact that there have been hun dreds of thousands of . Christian men and women who' Say they have, felt the truthfulness of iha book and its power in their, souls. , j It has , cured; them, of the worst leprosy that; ever came down on our earth, namely, "the i. leprosy-' of sin; and if I can," point you to multi tudes, who say, thy have felt, the power of that cure, re you not reasonable enongh td acknowledge thel fact : thAt tli ere must be some power,, in the medi "f.e cine? Will you take ..the evidence of ons of ' patients who" have been cured, or. will you . take the evidence of the skeptic who stands aloof ' and con fesses that he never took the medicine? The Bible intimates thaf. there ,was & city .called Petra, built ort of solid rock. Infidelitv scoffed at i4-' 'Where is your city of etra?" ' Buekhardi and Laborde went . forth in - thieiXi explor ations, and they came upon that very city. The mountains stand around like giants guardlngftbb tomb where' the city is buried. They .find & street in that - city : six' inilfes "long, "where once flashed 1 imperial :pomp, nd which echoed - with ; the laughter ; of light hearted mirth on its way to tie theater. On; temples fashioned "Out" of colored stones iome of; which - have "blushed into the crimson", of the rose, -and some of which have paled into the whiteness oi vne uiyHiye on - coxuxan, ana peui The Bible -says that Sodom and Gomorrah were i destroyed by fire and brimstone.' "AbsnrecL,'' infidels year after jyeart dv'it i4 positiyety.abf surd th&r-they could haie been de stroyed by brimstoaie. '.1Tliere is noth ing in - the elements to cause such a shower of death' as that. LieuL Xiyneh I think Ihe "was ,the first man "whJ went ottt on thel 'discovery, but he has been followed by many others Lieut. Lynch went .out . in exploration - and came to the Dead sea, which, -by a con vulsion of nature, has overflown ;the place where the cities once stood. ' He sank his , fathoming . line' and brought up from the bottom of the pead '.sea great masses of f sulphur, remnants of that very tempest that' swept .Sodom and Gomorrah toruin. Who was right, the Bibld that announced the destruc tion of those cities or the skeptics who for ages scoffed at it? ; - The Bible says there was a city called Nineveh and that' it was three days journey around, it, and that it should be destroyed by fire and water. s "Ab sured," cries but hundreds of voices for many years-; "no such a . city.was ever built that it would take three days' journey to go around. Besides, it could not be 'destroyed ' by fire and water; they are antagonistic elements." t But Layard, Botta, and Keith go out, and by their 'explorations " they? find that city of Nineveh, and- they tell uns that by their own:, experiment it is' three days' journey around, according to the old estimate of a days journey; 1 and ; that it was literally i destroyed by5; fire and water two antagonastio elements a part of the citv havincr been inun- Fdated by the river Tigris (the brick ma terial in those times being dried - clay' instead of burned), while in other parts! they find the remains of the fire in heaps of charcoal ..that ' have beetl exca vated, '.andfin the calcined slabs of gyp sum. Who was right,, the Bible or infi delity ? v i . .- J-.-.-Moses intimated that they had vine yards, in , Egypt. ; .t'Absured," cried hundreds of voices; -you can'!, raise grapes in Egypt pr if yon can, it is a very great exception that you ; can raise them. " But the traveler goes down, and in the underground vaults of EiUthya he finds painted on the wall all the process' of tending the vines and treading out the grapes. It is all there, familiarly sketched by people who evi dently knew all about it and saw it all aoou' them every oay;- and in, those undergrotind vaults there are - vases still incrusted with the settlings of the wine Y6u er .the vine did raw in Egypt, whether it grows there now Or not, - r:'Jl ' j; ;;:'':v,i. t Thus von sed that, while God wrote the Bible, at the same time H wrote this commentary, that "the itatntea of the Lord are right," on leaves of rock and shell! bou4d inelasps of '.metaland lying ; on i niQuntain tables , and. in the jeweled vase of the sea,.; In authenticity and in genuineness the statutes' of the Lord are right: ' p- v. t II. Again : The Bible X is right In style. 0 1 know there are;: a great many people who think it r is -merely a col lection of genelogical.. tables and dry facts. That is because they do not know how to read the book." . You take up the most interesting novel that was ever written, and if you commence at lit . .. i a it. - ... . i a Huwuruuuuw i-uy uu u- morrow at the three hun'dreth and tlie next day at the first page, ' how much sense or interest woma you ; go xrom it? .Yet that is the " very ? process . to which the Bible is subjected every day. An " angel from heaven, r I ' reading -'-the Bible: in' that way, : could not under- stand The JLjibie, like all other pal aces, has a door by which to enter, and a door by which to go out. Genesis is the door to go , m. 4 and !Berelatioa the door to go-ottt,,!.! wmii ;; These epistles of Paul the apostle are merely letters written,; folded tup, and sent by postmen to the different church es. I)o you read other letters the way Jou read Paul letters? wuppose you get a business letterirand? you know that in it there are, important financial propositions, do you read the last page first, and idhen ' one line of the third page, and another of the second, and another of the first? ! JMo.i. ,xou oegin with;"dear sir and end with fyouxa truly," .XNow ; nre is letter written from the-throne of God to our, lost world; it is full of magnificent hopes and propositions, and. we dip in here and there, and. we know nothing about it. Besides that, people read the Bible when they cannot do anything else. ' It is a dark day, ana they donot feel "well, and they, do not go to business, and, after lounging about a bit, they, pick up the Bible their mind refuses to en? joy the truth, r Or they t eome home weary from the store or shop, and they ieei, u mey uo not bt, n is a ami book: While the Bible is . to be read on stormy; days and, while jour head aches, it is also, to te reaa in the sun shine and when your nerves like harp strings, ' thrum the song ox health. While your .vision is clear, walk in this paradise of truth, and, 'while your men tal appetite is good, pluck- these, clus ters of grace. L j . . '-i- 1 am fascinated with, the conciseness of this book, f Every word is packed full of truth. ; Everv sentence is double barreled. Every paragraph is like an old banyan tree with a hundred roots and a hundred branches; . It isa great arch : pull out one. 6,tvce and it all comes down. There Yiu iuvot Kmi) n pearl divef who coud gather up one- nau oi cne zeasurea in anr Terse. John Halsebach, of Vienna, for twenty-one years every Sabbath expour ded to' his congregation tne' nret cbfpter of ' tha book of Jsaiahr. and. i yet lid bot get uirougn witm it, iine-t:nth8 pf all the good literature of this age is merely the uioie uuuteo. . .: Goethe, the admirrd f of all skeptics. had the wall of highousei at) Weimar covered witn religious ? maps and pic tures. MHton's 'Paradise Lost" is part of the Bible in-blank t verse. Tasso's "Jerusalem ; ifelivered" ii borrowed from the Bible. Spenser's writing are imitations of the parables. JohBun yansaw in a'dream only what St John had seo before ; .in Apocalyptic vision. Macaalay crowns his' most gigantic sec iencea 1 with Scripture ouotatioiia. Through Addison's . VSpectator" there glances in and out the stream that broke from the throne of God clear as crystal.' Walter Scott's best i charac ters ,are Bible I men and women under flifferent names, ; as Meg Merrilies, the Witch of Endor. Shakespeare a. Lady Macbeth v was Jezebel. ; Hobbes stole from this castle of ; truth the weapons with which the afterwards assaulted it. Lord Byron caught he rtfggedness and majeetyef his style, from the - prophe cies. ( This writings of Pope are satur ated with Isaiah; and he finds his most successful theme in the. Messiah. The poets. Thomson; and . Johnson dip their pens in the style of the inspfin unentaisi J"i nomas uariyie a only splendid ' distortion, of Ezekiel; and wandering through the lanes and parks of this imperial domain of Bible truth, I find all the great American, English, German, Spanish, Italian poets, paint ers, orators, and rehetoricians. . Wher 5s there in the -world of poetic description anything like Job's champ ings neighing, pawing, : lightning footed; thunder-necked war horse? Dryden'sy MUton's, Cooper's . tempests are very tame compared with David's storm that wrecks the , mountains of Lebanon and shivers the wilderaess of Kadish. Why; it seems as if to the feet of these Bible writers mountains brought all their gems, and the seas all their pearls, and' the gardens all their frankincense, and the J spring all its blossoms, and, the harvests all - their wealth, and' heaven all its grandeur, and eternity all its stupendous realities, ' and that since then poets,' and orators, and rhetoricians have been drinking from exhausted fountains and - search ing for diamonda in . a realm ; utterly rifled and ransacked.'" - i r - This book is iho hiY6 of all sweet ness. It is the armory of all well tempered weapons. . ' It is the tower containing the crown jewels' of the uni verse. It is the lamp that kindles all othe? lights, i It i the home ot all, majesties and splendors,: U the mar-3 riasre ring that unites tho celestial and the terrestrial while all the clustering white-robed denizens of the sky hover- This s book-it is i tha f wreath " into which are twisted all garlands. , It is the ,: song into' which, are. struck all harmonies. . It is the river int which are poured all ; thai great tides of. - hal lelujah, s It is the firmament in which suna and moons and stars and constel lations and universe : and eternities wheel and, blazej and triumph. Where s the -young man a aoul witn anyi music in It that is not ! stirred 7 with Jacob's lament I or Nahnm's dirge, or Habakkuk's t dithyramMe, j or Papra march of the .resurrection,; or Johna anthem where- the elders, with i doX1- ology h their faces; respond to, .the trinmpet blast of the .archangel as he stands with one foot on; the sea and the other foot on the land, swe&nngby him that liveth forever and ever fhafc time shall bo no longer? : - ' , ," '. v ' ; -' I m. Uq amaised8 at the ; vriety oi thiabobk-CMind yotu ,noti eontradic tion or collision, but variety. Just as in the song yon have the basso and alto and soprano and tesor-i-they "are not in collision with eachZther, but come ia to make ur the . harmony so it is in this book : there are different parts of this trreat song of redemption. - The prophet comes and takes one part, and the ' prtriarvht another i bar ' andrtho evangelist another ;4part "and ft ithe aposUes.another part, and yet they all come into ;tho" .grand harmony --"the song of .Mosee and the Lanib. J If lod had inspired men of thet same teinpu meat to write thiaf book it might' have been monotonous ; i but' David, f nd Isaiah, and Peter, and, Job,, and. Eze kiel, and Paul, v and John were men of different temperaiiients, and so,: when God inspired them to write they wrote ia their own style. '-..HJVi :i . God prepaaed the itpX for all classes o people. k or instance, little children would readthe Bible,! and God 'knew that, so he allowed Matthew and Luke! to Write sweet stories about Chrstwith the doctors of .-the law; ' and Christ at the welLj ; and Christ" at the cross "so thai, any little e!iild. can understand thejkrriThett God ! knew; that the' aged people would "want l to read the book. 8o he, allows -ol.ooUiv:6mpA(ftl' world of wisdom iii' that ) book of Pro verbs. God, knew that , the 'historian would Want td read : it,, and so he al lows Moses to give the plain statement of the I'eotateuclu: uod knew that the poet. would want to. read it and so he allows Jot to pieturoi the heavens as a curtain, and Isaiah ithe ; mountains as weighed in a balance and " the waters as held in the hollow , of the ' Omnipo tent hand; and God' .touched 'David until; in the latter part "of- the Psalms, he gathered a great ; choir standing in galleries above each: other beasts andj men w ' the first, gallery: above them-. hills and mountains: above . them, fire and hail and tempest; above them sun and moon and stars of light; and on the highest ; gallery, arrays the ; hosts of angels, and then, standing before:; this trreat eboir; reaching r from" the depths of earth to the heights! of heaven, liken the leader of a great orchestra, he lifts his hands, crying: ' 'Praise he Lord; le evervtning that Hath wreath, praise ye the Lord, - and all earthly - creatures lh their song, and mountains with their waging cedars, and - tempests in their thunder and rattling hail, and stars on all their trembling harps ; of light, and angels 03 ' their thrones, respond in mafimificent aCJdaim": "Praise ye the Lord; let everything that vhath breath, nraisft th Ird " 5 h ' ' '.? 1 ' ' - God knew that the tpWsiife aSd Com plaining world wquhl want, to read it, and so he inspires Jeremian to .write: 'Qh,. that my- head were waters and mine eyes fountains of tears,V f God knew that the lovers' of the wild, the romantid, and the strange would want to read iL no, he lets t Ezekiel,. write of mysterious rolls, and winged creatures, and flying wheels of fire. God prepared it for. allzones for the ; Art the Artie and the4 tropic, as well as for the 'temperate zone. Coldblooded Greenlanders would find much : to interest them, s and the tanned inhabitant at the equator would find his passionate nature boil with the vehemence ' of heavenly1 truth The Arabiaa. wouldl read i it "on -his drome dary, and .. that r the; Laplander, on the swift sled, and' the herdsman of Hol land guarding the cattle in the grass, and .the Swiss girl reclining amid A. pine-. crags. ,' i4i when I see that the Bible is suited in style, exactlv suited. to all ages,-' to" all conditions, to all lands, I cannot help repeating the con clusion bf-my text: 4 'The statutes of the Lorf are right ' ' " IU. I renmrfc again, the Bible . is right us its aocTrmes. Aian, a sinner; Christ, a Saviour- the two doctrines. Man must come - down his pride his selfrighteousnesit; liis ; wozidliness; Christ, the ahnointed, must go up. , rlf it had not been; for the setting forth of the atonement rltoses would , never have described the creation, prophets would not havft .predicted; appostles would not have preached. It seems to me as if Jesus in the Bible were stand ing on a' platform a v great amphi theater J as if the prophets were behind hint throwirigUght forward on i His sacred person ttuatt as" if the apostles and evangelists' stod before Him, like footlights throwing; up their light into His blessed countenance, and then as if all the earth and heaven were the ap plaudincr auditorv. The Bible sneaks of Pisgah, and Carmel, and Sinai but makes .all mountains bow - down to Calvary. The floeka led over the Judean hills were emblema .' of - "the lamb of God that taketh away: the sins i of the world, und tbe- lion leaping out , of its lair ,was, an emblem . of ?Hhe Konj of Judah's tribe. I will in my next breath recite to youho most wonderful sen? tence ever written: fThis isa faith ful saying and worthy, of ll acceptation that Christ Jestis came into the world to save sinners -No wonder that when Jesus was bom in Bethlehem heaven sympathized with earth, and 4 wave of joy dashed clear over the battlements and dripped upon the shepherds in the words ' folory.to God In the highests and on earth tieace,4 good will toward men." I my next sentence every word weighs a ton: 1 'God so loved the world that He "gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have ? everlasting life." Show me any other .book with such" a doctrine, so high, go decpV ao vast,"1 m Again i; The BiUe ia right in its effeota,' , I do not care where you jput the Bible, t just suits the placeV ;Yott put it in the hand of a inan seriously concerned about his souL I see people often giving to the serious soul this and that. Tok. It may be very ' weu, - but there? is hd book: like, the: Bible. ; He reads the commandments and pleads to the indictment, 'Guttty,V He "takes up R the Paalmfl of David , and ay s s They tastdeacribe my .feelings:" - He flies to ffood works: Paul starts. him ont of that by the announcement:' A man back in his discouragement; the Bible starts him np with the sentences! "ite memher - Lot a wife, . . ' "Grieve not the Spirit" v Elee the wrath to come," The the man in despair begins tci cry out: "What shall I' do? where; shall 1 gor Vand a roice reaohea him, v saying ; 'tCoroe unto me all ye who are weary and heavy laden'and I wm give you rest.", rv.ft;"4v:;K:ft'4-K'r-S.i " Take this Bible and place it in 'j the hands of men in trouble. . Is there any body here in trouble? Ah. I might bet ter ask are there any here ho have never been in'itrouble? ; Put this Bible in the hands of the troubloL . You find that a some of the" best berries crow on the sharpest torus, . so some of the sweetest consolations, of Cthtr Gospel grow oti the most stmirinitr affliction..- You thought that death, had grasped yonr child. Uhao! ' It was only the Heavenly Shepherd '' taking a lamb out of the old. i ! Chriet ; bent over you as you held .the child in your :.lap, and," putting His arms gently around thef lifc tlo orie,?saidt Of ucb is the kingdom of heavers" 4, .-l:, Put the Bible in the school Palsied! be the hand that would take the' Bibl from the coueg and tha schools Edui cate only fa: mans head and vou make uu intuitu. "wiucaie: oniy a man s heart and y ott make him a fanatic. EJ txcata both: together '"..and ' you have the noblest work; of- God, An . educated mind without moral principle in a shito withont ' a (helm, a; rushing railroad train, wathout"ihrke ;or rwersing rod to control the speed. -Pnl the Bible in the family. There iff lies on thfc table, an nnbmited powcrU Polypamr;:9nd unscriptural 'divorcOi are prohibited. .r&rents are kind and faithful children pobte and obedient. - Domestic sorrows lessened by. being divided, jovs increas- vki. uyv otuug muitipuea, v u latnsrt f mother! taie down that long-neglected rsible and ; read it yourselves. and ; let your children read it! , , . Put the Bible on the rail train and on shipboard. ' till all Parts of this and all other lands shall have its ilium iination. This hour there rises the yell of neamen wersnip ana in tne laco of this day's sun smokes the bloods of human saenfise. . Give them the Bible. Un bind that, wife from the funeral pyre for no other sacrifice is need 'since the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.,.. .? - I am preaching: this' sermon . because there are so many who would bave:you believe that the Bible is an outlandish book; and obsolete. ". It in fresher anil more intense thari'any book that yes terday come out of the great publishing nouses. ; iuajten your fruiae m lite anil your pillow, in death. ; , After the. battle of Richmond a dead soldier was found with his hand' lving on an open Bible. The summer insects had eaten the flesh from. the hands; but the skeleton finger lay xon these wordsc lea,. though.X.walk through the; val- ley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou .art with me; .Thy' rod and Tliy staff they, comfort me."' YesJ this book will become iu your, last days when vou turn awav from ' other books a solace for your souL Perhaps the one . e-ivnr vnn on -von r : wl t i n or day. its cover' now worn out. arid its leaf faded with - age; l bhtvits bright promises will flash upon, the open gates of .heaven.-., -jir. , . . - , -. - How precious is the Bqok. di vino, - - ; , 1 1 By inspiration given? ' ' ? Bright as a Lvmp its doctrines shine, . - I o guide our Souls to heaven. -. . ,. "This lamp, through all the tedious night Of life, shall guide our way. Till we behold the elearer fight ' -: ' Of an eternal day." , i . LATEST EVOLUTIONS OF THE TEMPEBAKCE REFORM. The poison habits of a nation can be cured by an appeal to. the inteU lect through , reason, to the heart through sympathy," and to he consci ence through the motives of ; religion. But the ; , traffic in those poisons can be best controlled by law. Under a Republican form of' government a new movement - eo radical - in its character and pervasive2 in its scope as prohibition, without a party: back of it, committed'by its very birth and being to secure and : to 'enforce that law, Will be at 'first k. but partially: efficient and at last a failure. For the history of parties is but the 4 hisT tory.ot great ; retormatory, measures after the evolution of those measures has reached the plane of legislation. Parties are like "whirlwinds, made up 6f a few , individual atoms - at first ; but if the breath of - God ' moves t that ascending -spiral, it will , ere long draw in the multitude. Parties are like men. r They have their.; weak childhood, . their generous '' . youth, masterly -manhood, vand decrepit .-. old age, chiefly occupied with memories of the past. Parties are like armies, recruited man; by man, to defend a cause concerning which all of ? them think alike: drilled, disciplined, and having brave, trusty, anji veteran leadership" Others men? bemoaned the sorry case. 'of... Ireland. ' Orators cried out in tonea impassioned, and poets Bang, about the harp' that once through Tara's halls . its sweetest music poured but Charles Stewart Parnell; crystalled Ground himself the Irish party,"orthe "Parnellites." England was eompelled to listen, and to-day Ireland, is on the high-road fto "Home Rule." ; Minorities - are the greatest and most heroic ' powers on earth.L They are humanity van as .its fbilorn hope. guard as well Anybody can hurrah with the crowd, ' ' . mi " ' k-i i. JLl' or run aiier me nre-engine, out wneu men stand up almost alone for a great principle, -it is because they - have iron in ;their , blood, granite ' in ; the back-bone and overmastering "confi dence .in truth.' A few seriousminded students at Oxford organized them selves .into whaf was derisively - nick named ri'hQ Holy Club but tlTcv stood firm ; ;they : ralliedothers 'to iHeif a3eniaiUplie4tbei nation; aioiolayvj the-"! ox uvuiu Mja:iieypoatrois .xnimons etJ iuej-aojaia, ana inenjinw qf Charles are: chorottiuxidjtW, greatest? Chnrcli;0f the century ' .'?The rlreaktri & waves t! sbid o?i' a s ; stern? nnd rwfc-njidTa wlj a- Runted,; niiu'oritj . &oghf. ireeooja to vwprsjUip4 ;God; ? j Fewer t?1 tffierc their.' -home Y''bfltJ' tne' colony which was mother fo this'Re pubHc with itsty .aiillion souls.-' V t 'Mm6rities.are patientfand forbear ipgJ,"Xutnet was grieted tp theTietu;$ at thought of leaving the Church ; he loved but when Tetzel : persisied in licensing sinthat the Popo might get gainand .build . a temple to Jehovah , Luther and , his,t minority rebelled. ;? W esley.could.not bear" the thought 11 6t a 1 secession Tfiom 5 the English ,Church,Vand besought -the . -. v. i ; -, . --m i . ' Bishop of, London to send a: prelate to America, .wno shoutd, .look ..after ,"the people- called Methodists, - But when the "haughty -bishop refused ; to do this;- Wesley rebelled and1 autho rized tlie ' ordination': ' of, 4 Francis Asbury, under f. whom the new' de nomination: set up for itself! q Indeed, it is fair ' to say- that minorities ar the ' Protestants of each new age, with their .earnest ftflere j stand? 1 can: do no. .ether;"' God help et Amen"; ';xu:: Xz-i .-.In, the i beginning. tthey' do-bnt excitp the contempt. of the successful and the derision of the weakl v. First bulk, then brains, this ,ia eyplution's order. 5-tThe going puir of : parties that are.bjg rather tha.n. grfat,, to-make roool for one smaJi but, fU of germi- nant life, is a silent illustration of thOi-inevitabjev lawNevir-tiie 3hewj nti i jffl5B,t holds the. balance of power; and by - ihdirectionKteB-r-wtthout deliberate intention, drives from the' field the. Laodicean ? party which would nntTT-lei;us more justly say which, could not-take up , the vital issue Df the' Jiour, i Next, -the , new party born out of that a vital .assue, gains the key to the citadel 'of govern ment, enthronea its principles in law and law-enforcer j allies them to, the ambitions as i well as the aspirations of the epoch, and climbs to ! the acme of power.:; In'this evolution of the temperance movement the Prohibition party has but Teaehedand that withr in 'a twelve-month, the, balancerofr power -stage. 1 'pf its gro wthy Almost without exception, , the, :experta and specialists of, the Tempeaance, Re form are eitherj actively engaged in the paTty unovement or else they , are its earnest sympathizers. . I ; do; not here speak of professional or business men, who, no matter 'how much they believe "in the ' temperance cause ' or have iven it of their substance, have accorded to its ' orily the interrupted attention possible td men 'who are absorbed in the -duties of a . pastor, a journalist o a' money-maker. 'ffBnt I speak of such leaders5 as Neal'DoW, John ' Bi-' Gongh, Oeorge' W. ' ' Bain and other men;and women 'who have, as their life-work? dedicated the -best thought of their brains and the most steady devotion Qf their hearts' to the great cause. ' What . they think are of far more value ihari rthe thought- off any other class who can' possibly be summoned ) to the withess-boX If we want an opinion on ' ; electricityjl we shaH bes wise enough to confess our own status as non-experts. - arid ask one - of Thomas 1 Edison ; .- if; we wan tan opinion on music, we shall consul t' "-Theodore Thomas : ; if on suppression " of impure literature, Anthony Comstock;on prison reform, Major Brockway. But when it is a qnestion of temperance : wort, what a crop of non-experts and belated re formers Epring5 up on' 'every side, with their high-license palliative, or their non-partisan'' specific In spite of their objections reason holds and always will, that experts and - specia lists may best be 'trusted in an emer gencyi r- The -5ommori people hear them gladly,' and. are 'rapidly being convinced, convicted,r pledged to the progressiTe phases 'of the ' movement. ' Perhaps the most frequent question of ood and bright men and w,omen, sincere friends' of -the temperance reform", but not (hitherto ;at 4 least) active workers therein, is this : .VThv do the1 temperance " people' seek- "to organize a separate political' party ? The children of this world are wiser than the children of light" ' The iwjuor men do not form a party they . -towjtl::hy;do'not the tern- ; prance men ianifest equal . shrewd- i . neJPThia is" Bupposed to le the toansweranle 'argument of confer- ., yaKyes; tiic crucial question in T,ho'se presence pro"essiYes will be silenced. Bat '11100; my mind it ia the flimsiest ' objection among all , that tife adduced, ,dttiit ccnH" f ; urged at all prove tiioee who pxi v.1 J forwr4, howeter clear on other scoC ieets,:ti'be? rihg clrom' 'obliquity;-V: -r'-JX. . - ; 01 mental vision here.- - In the first place, the liquor traffic haa two par ties already bidding for its patronage. Yhy should take , the trouble to - organize a xnirar liiiougii is as good as a feast. V' . , 1 ' ' But there is a far aore - conaliisive reasonl", 'The liquor power seeks negation rather than affirmation. All it asks is to be let alone. : It is not a swiffc-moving engine, but a boulder on the track. . There is not in its mature the wherewithal out of which a party could be made. "Picture it, thinkr of it- for r instance, ' out on - dress parade in a ; campaign : proces- tion I . See the , sewers .of society swept-of -tiieir .garbage to furnish n forth .its t personnel. Behold the, walking beer-barrel, tha person ified whiskey-jug; the leering debauchee ! , Note the transparencies : "Here's a health to Tom and Jerry 1'. "Long live Rum and Brandy, Gin and Beer !". . "We serve under King Alcohol and General Grog Vr ' fGambrinus is our candidate., -Lori may he wave!'" Up , witly ihe3 Saloon, down with, the Home V .Why, the ; curses of manhood would roar into a cyclone against the party of the liqu or traffic," and thetears of women furnish the' SalV, Riyer'V lip' which' Jtwonld gpeediiy'v, paddle its' shipwrecked cause The' liquor-traffic form' a party ! i 'Politics is bad enough to-day, and the '-unclean element in its vortex gtiTges 'forth from the . saloon; but its fra$rari&j i in sweet as - Heaven compared with. : tne pGi -u parvy that would be presented to fbV, the devotees of alcohol. a burcrlar comes into court and, asks. the privilege of being , tried ;fwhen r a K band of of house-burners ; set . about ; forming1 a "society,' " counterfeiters flirjg;their banner to the breeze in an "Alliance," the "liquor .-dealers of America will proceed to form a party. -T-But when the temperance people take account of tock they hare the material out of which a gTeat party Can be. built For they antagonize an evil which produces more .misery than "war pestilence and famine air combined,' by a good- the greatest for "which noble'' hearts have even .-, striven they fight" for - nniverfial " liberly from a' thralldom the 'most accufsed.'v They alone -can put the tariff question on iti. trne basis ; for . not "over-production," but under (on gumpiion is the evil that must betrem- ; edied. .Set free 'the 'nine -humdred millions a year that goe3 to waste in the alc?h6l trade, and: every legiti mate' industry: will feel : the impetus , and etery home the comfort of this just redistribution.' ' Theirs alone is the true 'reconstruction policy. A , non-partisan temperance society is not theTBupreme need of the hour but a non-sectional temperance p.arty is. The blue .and gray uniform of the past are to be superseded by the puWwhite uniform of the new party; "For God and , Home" and Kative . Land," which shall move forward in a brotherhood unequalled since the days of Washington Theold names and war-cries under- which we were divided can never marshal ns united. Mason, and Dixon's line will be blot- ted out of the heart as well as off the map, and a really reunited States be ours only under the flag of that party which rallies to. the watchword of an . outlawed saloon land a " protected ome. , As. this new army moves to its place at the front on the great , battle-field orreform, behold it glit- tering ensigns: "Delenda est Car-', tiiago" in fhe "new version" .reads : fThe liquor-traffic must be destroy d"i C The sword of the Lord and of Gideon" ; "No Korth, no South ; our rallying cry is horns, sweet home." Behold their leadership ; true, vaKant and loyal hearts, who- have borne and labored and had. , patience y clear . headsymnmuddfedasalasl aaethoss of most political chiefs nowadays, , by ;fumes of strong drink and of nicotine ; behold their weapons, argu- - ' ' "j - . . . ' i Cmdinufdon 4 Tinge. s- k t 'i. I f !
The North Carolina Prohibitionist (Bush Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 13, 1886, edition 1
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