A Brave Divine

Tbe Hcv. C. H. Sinitii of Graiid Kapids i'rail before Baptist ministers' club the foltowlog paper, subsequently published a( the request of sucli citizcns as Julius Homemao, ). W. Stone, E S Pierce, J. T Holmes and others: Piohibition nevcr h is and never will prohlbit the sale or prevent the drinking of intox'cattnir liquors. It has fai'ed in every state in which it has been triiil is the only state in which it lias been f.iirly and fully tefted. The predomInent politie! piiriy favored it, and Neal Dow, tlie cliiff apostle of the systim, has urn lafied and contiolled the inoveincnt trom llie befftaiBg. It proliibition cannot protllbtt in lliat state, under the most favorable conditions, it cannot inywhere The official reords state tliat 1,803 liquor dealer pald tlie United State mwn ment taxes In 1886, or one to every 545 inhabitants Of these 1,166 paid a tax as retail spiriluous liquor dealers, and 100 as retail malt liquor dealers. In Bangor there are 140 open bars, and nu attempt is made to OD lOrce the law. In Portland the law isa dvad letter with 150 saloons in full blust eviivday. The Maine Farmer says: ''The prolubitory idt-a is (leader than ever, and Dobotly is anxious to resurrect the oorpae." The B mgor Whig says : "No attempt whatevcr is made to enforce the probibitory law in Baogor, nor do the people ol any sector party want it entorced Public opinión II decidedly oppost-d to its beinfj enfoioed." We have lacts froiu reliable sourees to show the law is not enforced to any large ex tem in Bliotle [land, Kans. is, Georgia, and lowa. It has been hut reeently enacied in these states, and it is not as easy to obtain liquors M in Maine, hut there is not a state in which it Iris been enacted where intoxicants cannot be obtained "on Ihe sly " at least, and expei ience and common u-e show that the law will grow h'ss rather than more strinjrent. Bilt in Malne, the old model prohibltion state, Dow says: " Intoxicatlon has not liem peiceptilily lessenid." That is enough in refeienee to its practicabüity and uut tl tlie frieodi of proliibition will wipe out these tacts they have no riffht to denounce old temperance men as tikinir sides with whisky dealere, hut must admit that a man can be a good teinperaiice man while oppi sing whai he believes has and will tai] . We are sorry. Could we see tlie least hope of destrojriue ttiis appalling evil or inteinperance hy law or that such n plan is sanctioned by the Uod of love mik) humanity, we would enter the ranks and woik fa.it litully till it should be destioyed. 'there is no evil with which this nation is corped preater tüan this, not ona whose puthway is strewu with so many victims Our younx men are perishin by the thousands. Those of the brifjhtest intellects are destioyed, and slill the ruin gOM on. It is more tlian terrible, yet thedeep guit of death is beilig lilleil l'ister tlian at any tonner time. SeeiuiiiKly, heil is moved froin beneath to meet lliein at their coming. Pi oliibition cannot prohibit the sale of intoxicatin liquors because it violates the fiindainental principie of iiulividu.il lito ei tv on whicli this Government is fouiided. The overmasteriiiif convietion of the people is that each one is a free man - free to pursue any calling, provided he does nol nterteie ir I til the rights of others. The law in all cases is designi'd to protect right, not prohibit wrong. God, not Ihe state, e. in say, Thou shalt not steal." The state, in protecting the rijflits of propei tv, can alflx such penalty lo the law as to prevent crime in many cases. Men are nol free to steal, because tstealiug is taking what belonifs to another. The liberty of the individual ends when he chooses to take, without permission, what dees not belong to him. When we do not viólate the rij;lit8 of otilen, every man may no as he pleases, buy, sell, and ifet pains as he chooses. Every man has the nicht to enngfl in any kind of business provided he does not viólate individual rights. It looks hard lor a new comer t set up bu.-ineswhere bis neiffhbor has long been successful, and do what he eiui by lair meana to supplant him, but who will ask tor a law to prohibit him froui doiug it? The principie that covers all such cases is this, auy man has the right to geil wood, coal, ilour or rum provided there is no injury done but bv the consent of the purObaaar. He has" the right to sell the most deadly polsons to any man, when it is so labeled, for no one could be injured but by the consent of the purchaser. Kiglits are protected, hut when not Invaded, even when the evil falla heavy on the individual, how is he to be prohibited Irom pursuing any calliug wil hout the viOlatloil of Individual liberty. Kvery man has the civil right to drink, when and whathe pleases: if not, wliy not But Intoxicatlon is a terrible evil. Tlwt is truc. So is eatmg too much, and eatin iiiiproper food and at Improper hnurs, but how shall these and kn.dred evils be prohibitedhy law ? Who will or can reOOjfni.e the justice of such a law If the inte may tlms regálate the life of the individual, all individual liberty is trampled out c.l'existcnce , .. Butitissaid that sellinji intOXlCaUng Hquon a erlrae. It is oerUinly au evil, bil hou ii crime? It is a wrong, but wbat nj.irvisdone by the mere Jjale ol intoxicantsy No one can beiujuredby the Mie alone. Injury, wrong and Crime comes of di unkenuees, but that is caused hy the voluntary et of the Jnkard. The existence of rum may tempt men to drink, but how are we to reacli that evil by law without creatlng a greater wrong? Is everything that tempt men to do wrong to bc put down by law? The ballroom, the theater, fMblODt, tlic decollette style of dress lead to Innumerable evils. Can they be put down bylaw? Is every moral evil a crime, tor the 000 mittlng of wliich we mayjusUy punish men, when the evil fulla on no one but himself? Lawi ugainst such acts h re of no forcc. They eau never have the sanction of jtisticennd cotninoii sense. There 8 no grip in them, henee they cannot bc en torced if enacted. The use of tobáceo is a very great evi!, but there can be no law enacted agalnst its use that can have the least force on individuals, for every man knows lic lias the rijtbt to UU it as he pieaaea, wben its use injures no one but liimself. So of all evil li-iliiis, overwork, laziness and all Irregularities of liabit the sale of intoxlcating liquors we have the same right to lefltlate against all siit. It is atked, If a man has the right to sell Intoxlcatlng liquors, provided the evil fallson him alone, what of those dependent on liim - his wife and children? In all such cases, no man has the right to inflict evil on anyone without his consent. If the wife, dependent on the busband, is injured by the cale of Intoxicating liquors, the law may protect her rights by prohibiting the sale to kim, A sense of justice will sustain such a law, and there will lic no Irouble in its execution. Yet it inay be isked if the wife may be thus protected, why may he not be restrained from making bad bargains, from speen latlng in wbeat and stocks, by whic i lic endangen the los? of his property and impoveri.shes his f,imily ? Where shall the line be drawn ? Vfao shall decide in referenoe to hls ability to conduct liis Hnancial affiire? In special cases lam are made to protect the rigbts of the wife, and our sense of justice sancüons them, and we are inclined to think the state has the right to restrain tbc rumseller from selling intoxicants to the hnsband as a drunkard when so doln the rtghts of the wife In his property are endangered. It may be urgaa, if the rlght of the wile may be protected by law, why not those of the state for the same reason? Hut the state, which is the .people, is not injured directly by a mim'sgetting druuk. Of course, taxes are increased by crime.cauaed by drunkenness, and the law punishes him for the crime he commlts, but how is the law to reach the cause of the crime unless we insiít that all sin muy be nrohibited by law ? No man's rights are invadt'd by his nelghbor's gettlng drank. It is nut such an evil that the state, in jn-tiee, oan interfere with nnless it has the right to interfere with all cvil to prohlbll men from Uoing that which will lead to overt acts of evil. We have progressed too far In rellnn and civiliz ition to interfere with sin and wrong unless the wrong interferes with our rights. The minister of the gospel may condemn sin and men for not subscribing the creed, but the day lias gone by when the state my seek to enforce the practico of viriih- and morulity by law. If the st:ite lias ttie right to say what and how much a man may drink t may regúlate all the duties of life. Because this principie is abhorrent to our sense of justice thfl prohibltory law eau never be enforced. We revolt against it from instinct. But it is said that if public sentiment would sanetion this law it will be snstained, but it will not be sanctioned and ouglit not to be, unless we are ready to give tip a governincnt of popular individual liborty for one of absolute niiniarchy that enf orces law by the Inqulsition and sel Is sins by the folio. For political reasons prohibition may become a part of onr constilntion, but no man can sanciion the principie on which t is Iriscd When the evil becomes so terrible as to arouse our indignation we lose sijrht of everything else, ate ready to put it down by any ineans. But it is not put down in that way. We glory m the zeal and good Intentions of men. but have no faith in tlieir wisdom. It is a mere craze, and who can wonder? It i an impulse that will soon pass away. It always has. It is not a convlction, and laws are not executed by a whoop and a yell, but if 8U9tained at all t is done from Instinct as are those of our boditt and of rravitutlon. They are natural and a part of our life, when better than a rope of saml. Our srovernment is not a mere compact, but a conviction. It is la our blood, aml in our life. In a political contet, to obtain votes, we may take oft" our hut and bow down to evil, sanction corruption. and wink at wrong, bilt wlicn 1 1 if time comes tor Botton, because the principies of our gorernrqent are In our blnod, Wrong will be put down, secession will be trampled out of existencc, and aii:irchists and all other enemies of our ii-iilutions will meet their just fate. Whyshould prohibition prohibit, when it is based alone on politics? It is a political party, and is and must be run as such. Think of ministers of the gospel ivlng up a frreat moral questlou to politie-.! They dare not trust the gospel to put down a ure ut moral evil, but resort tu a plan that is and bas been, and for all we cun see, will ue full of rottenness and corruption. They may as well trust to politics to put down sin and win men to ChrUt, It is for these reasons we look upon the prohibition movement as sure to prove an uttcr failure not only, but to work great injury in every department of life. ThelogiC of events is far stronger than good intentions. If we can prohiliit one evil by law, we eau another, so thnt it will be an easy because a natural and logical matter to sude into a üegradlng, slippery system of monarchial deluelon. It will only be for the people to deelde on what is evil, to abandon the great, grand principies tliat unilcrlie our iníiitutions, and leave 118 to be governed by mere sentiment and sweet sentiments ol the "sweet by-and-by," ut that, and drift, without chart or helm, at the mercy of fauatical, whinisical men - by a cIah of men full of self-eonceit, who, with I i 111 1 bibles and a thrology stlll more elastic, imagine tliemselves at the front of uil progress and reform. We know the advocates of prohibition ¦re sincere and honest men, but glncerlty will not prevent the logical result of any system whose fundamental principie i rsdiealiy wrong'. Be wto wwa t tres will reap tares n (he harvc.-t however good his Intcntion to Matter good seeil. Prohibition will not only fall to prohibitthe s:ile of intoxic mts, but put back the cause of tempel ince for gencrations. (ml bas made ampie provisión for the destructlon of all sin la thh worH, and the time will come, as the Lord lives.when the sccil of the roman shall brutoe th( si ipent's headi when the liltle stonc ent from the mountuin shall EfOW and lili the whole earth, and all its dlSCOrdant element! of life shall be made to harmonize with truth and love, hut it will not be done by force. Laws are made to protect rights as they are developed, not to fom men. Our conduct may be regulated by law, bnt the human heart cannot be reached nul puiilied but by another procesa. There is a way to stop che sale of Intoxloatlng llquori and diuïikenness. Providence lias not raised this fj-eneration to its present exalted condltlon to be dashed to pieeee on uny rock. Intemperance shall be destroyed. Drunkenness (hall be stopped, hut not by law. The tlffhter you hold an eel th; sooner it will slip through your lingers. If we do not want drunkards we must not beget tlieni. Tlie law of heredity has more to do with rearing drankardi tlian any other cause, and It is through these lavvs the evils ot intemperance must be reached and destroyed. 'Prnth and principies that live and grow, and ruide the people, are implanted in tho blood by an invisible hand. Pride of Itrnottrj and an ambltlon for a greater and grander class of men Is, at least, one thinff deinnided in secuiing a better civilizaron in which the present evlls of life ihall not be foiind, and man becomes a brother. But all these elements of life live in the moral atmosphere and are taken up by t lie absorbents of our n.iture and go to form eharacter. Klements grow; they are not huilt by turre as we build monumento. Virtue and honestv are elementa in life, and can no more be forced into exUtence, tlrui the growth of a child culi lie by planting its fcet in theground. Bnt this work is so slow; itisonlya tlieory and, like prohihition impracticable. What then cui be done? If we caiinot extermínate this evil at once, do the next best thing - restrain it. The saloons are the ircnl enre of the oommunity. It is Impracticable to prohlbH thenn, but we m tax Uiem - not all, but a inajority of theni - nat of exislence, until Wt' can COUtrol and regulute tlicin. 'l'ax tlieni heavily, and thi'ii s;iv I hev shall not sell on undays or to minors, and tliev will nof. Soco a plan will have tbe approval of tlie people, and will as readily be executed as any other law that is biiscil on t he convictions and common ititue of the people. lint il s ur;ed that the state, by taxin;' the fale f Intozlcant llqnora becomei a party tothe eil, and we have no rijflit to ihu Mnotloa evil. Common lenae and jood .iii'igiiK'iit teach m to take t li iiiir as they are and do the best we ran. If we caiinot drive our team in a straiirlit lloe thidufih a dense forest, we can wind around the trees until we can remove tliein and grade the roadon a straight line. God sanctioned evil in the sanie way w'vn he sanctioned poIyfFRUiy Rlld .-Invery. The rorld irow bitter by due and natural proLTess. It is not jerked into the perfect conditlon by modern fanática. wecanaot prohiblt vlee by law, but we can miike it pny the expenses of vire. Virtue uní] trutli and love do not need pólice or pooihouses. Why ask the virtuous to pay tor orine? Vice ti lis our jnlll with crlml'iall and almshouses witli the poor. Malee i pay 'or them. Xot oniy this hut high licensc will toree saloonkeepcrs to oranlze a plan to prevenl the vi ol at Ion of the law. Hlgh llcenne would bieak up everv low dan of vice vvheie ninetentlis of all the evils of drunkenness is gemrated.