The Missionary by Stephen N. Haskell

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 6, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 30.

The Missionary.

By Stephen N. Haskell

Temperance Work in Australia.

THE temperance question in Australia is agitated more or less in each of the colonies. New South Wales and Victoria take the lead. There are the Sons of Temperance, and a society called the Rechabites. The Rechabites are teetotalers, and use no tobacco in any form. They are very earnest in their work and are respected by all classes.

A few days since, on the cars, we listened to an interesting conversation on this question. A man over sixty years of age, who evidently had his regular bitters, entered the compartment. Opposite him sat a younger man of about forty. They were soon engaged in conversation on the temperance question. The old gentleman was advised to sign the pledge. He objected, on the ground that liquor did not hurt him. He said he paid his bills and did unto others as he would that others should do unto him, therefore it was nobody's business.

"But," said No. 2, "it is somebody's business. Have you a family?" The old gentleman replied that he had. Said No. 2, "Look at me. I have never been able to do a hard day's work in my life. I have consulted the most eminent physicians. Invariably they tell me I must stop drinking, but when I inform them that I am a teetotaler, they at once tell me that I have inherited every symptom of a drunkard, and my children inherit the same from me. My father lived to be over sixty years old, and said that spirits never hurt him, but he died suddenly. The doctor said it was heart disease. Now, sir, don't you tell me that you are not injuring any one by drinking. I am ruined for life, and so are my children, and I know the second commandment is true, that the iniquity of the fathers is visited upon the children at least two generations." "Well," said the old man, "I can't get along without it." No. 2 replied, "Then you have lost your manhood, and ought to be ashamed of yourself, and the sooner you sign the pledge and become a man, the better." He urged him to attend the temperance meeting that night, but the old gentleman truthfully said that his clothing was not in a condition for him to attend. "Well," said No. 2, "come sign the pledge and attend the meeting, and I will buy you a new suit of clothes; for the Bible says that no drunkard shall enter the kingdom of God."

But the old gentleman soberly replied, "I say my prayers every night." No. 2 responded, "You can't pray enough to enter the kingdom, breaking God's commandments. No drunkard shall enter the kingdom of God, and prayers will never take you there unless you refrain from the intoxicating cup." This is but a sample of what can be heard in public places.

Last evening, June 16, some of our party attended an enthusiastic temperance meeting. About six hundred people were present. They appeared to be Rechabites. Speeches were made by different persons. They stated that a bill was soon to be introduced into parliament to remedy the evil of intemperance and to secure a better observance of Sunday. Thus we find that the same spirit that connects the terrible evil of intemperance with the enforcement of Sunday observance or of legalizing that child of papacy, which is so strong in America, also exists in Australia. There is a world-wide move to enforce Sunday observance by legal authority, and to give it moral power they connect it with one of the worst evils which exists.

We are stopping at the "Victoria Coffee House," and among the rules that are posted in each room, one is, "No intoxicating liquors are allowed on the company's premises." All rooms are let with this understanding.

S. N. H.