[United States President William McKinley]
Look not upon the wine
That sparkles in its flow,
For death is slumbering there,
Beneath its ruddy glow.
No happiness it bringeth,
At last it only stingeth;
It biteth, and it wringeth,
The heart with bitter woe.
Lift up the tempted soul
Now fallen in despair,
Direct his thoughts above,
To God who heareth prayer.
His arm in mighty power
Can bid the demon cower,
And in temptation’s hour
Will prepare an escape.
F.E. Belden
“Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood,
and stablisheth a city by iniquity.” [Hab 2:12]
Many, who would hesitate to place liquor to a
neighbor‟s lips, will engage in the raising of
hops, grains, and grapes destined to the
distillery. In the light of the law of God,
Christians cannot conscientiously engage in the
manufacture of spirits for the marketplace. The
business of manufacturing and selling alcohol is
robbery. Every dollar they add to their gain has
brought a curse to the spender. It‟s through the
greed of gain and lust of appetite that the grains
and fruits given for our sustenance are converted
into poisons that bring misery and ruin. The
liquor seller deals out to his victims product
which corrupts and destroys mind, body and
soul. Like the mystic Babylon of the
Apocalypse, he is dealing in slaves. Fathers,
husbands, brothers, the stay and hope of the
nation, are steadily passing into the liquor
dealer‟s haunts, to be sent back wrecked and
ruined. In many a household, little children,
even in the helplessness of babyhood, are in
daily peril through the neglect and vileness of
drunken mothers. Even among the heathen, men
of intelligence protest against alcohol as a
deadly poison. The ungoverned passions of the
savage, stimulated by drink, drag him down to
degradation previously unknown, proving the
destruction of whole tribes.
Behind the liquor seller stands the mighty
destroyer and every art which hell can devise is
employed to draw human beings under his
power. To license the liquor traffic is to foster
it. It cannot exist nor thrive without the
patronage of each rising generation, a large
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The liquor interest is a power in the world. It
has on its side the combined strength of money,
habit and appetite. Men whose money has been
made in liquor traffic are members of churches
in good and regular standing. They give
liberally to the popular charities. But above the
tribunal of the church is the tribunal of God.
The money of the liquor dealer is stained with
blood and a curse rests upon it. The world and
the church may have approval for the man who
has gained wealth by degrading the human soul,
but the William Shakespeare writes, “O that
men should put an enemy in their mouths to
steal away their brains!”
“The liquor traffic is the most degrading and
ruinous of all human pursuits.”
LIQUOR SELLERS
Page
2.0 in 1922. Immediately after Prohibition
ended, the consumption shot right back up and if
anything is higher today. Prohibition‟s days are
over. What is the Christian to do? The world
looks to the church for guidance.