A REMINISCENCE
18 The Rev John Parker, one of th< a> veteran teetotalers at Reading, has re >g ceotly published m the " Berwlckahln re News" some " Reminiscences of a Ok " Minister," Id which he aays : — q "It was passing strange that with al ' my horror of drankenncßa and th< drunkard, Intensified by every new phast 38 of excess m individuals and families am '° communities, and all my admiration o Naziritoß and Rechabitea, and the nobl< jj example of the Apostle Pan!, who *oulc not eat flesh or drink wine wero he by b< I doing to make his brother to tfiand y together with the deepening convictloi 16 that neither the classics, nor logic, noi of mathematics, nor moral, nor natara m philosophy, nor even diviuity per se, ooul< k . prevent anyone from acquiring a thlrs for Btrong drink, that up til' ta« auturar of 1831. the idea of total abstinence bi ® the only physical curse for drunkenneai '" never occurred to me. Tha, moderate übi > n of stimulants did not appear m ita tra< ig light, leading as it did multitudes to th< r. chambera of eternal death. Wnen at tbi a j Divinity Hall, m Glasgow, under tH< j 0 celebrated Rev Dr John Dick, I wenl . to take a walk one evening, and saw crowdi 1 of carters m working attire entering intc J * a parish obarch, whose name and looalitj ly I have entirely forgotten. I was conir strained to acoompany them. It was 8 3r temperanoe meetlig, and a Dundee oartei |( j soon arrested the attention of his unique audience. Having suffered himself from over indulgence, he ea»ily found his way to the heart and the life, aud the purse d of the bearers. Every eye was fixed i. upon him, as with masterly speech he c described m their own vernacular the woe and the sorrow, and babblings and wounds, without cause, of the drunkard. He next 6 dwelt upon the inutility of intoxicants, B and their iueffioienoy to impart physical a strength to fit them for (heir work. \x * When your horses,' he Bald, • feint and t grow we»ry. do you think that the applicatton of the whup,' suiting, with a giant's hand, the aotiuu to the word, ' imparts 9 one particle or »trength to the jided 1 steeds,' produced profound silence, fc followed by vooiferous cheers. The effect f was overpowering. He was pleading tbe 5 cauie of temperance and inculcated t moderation, ana saoceaded ; bat it occurred to ma then and there that if abstinence from one olaas of stimulants " was a safe expedient, to oast the whole i overboard was safer still. If I did not I ory out with a loud voice : ' I have found > it, I have fonnd It I ' I went from that , meeting a personal abstainer, determined to nail my colors to the mast, and hence- ' forth deolare perpetual war against ' intoxicating drinks, by whatever name : they were known. For five montha I attemp ed to make proselytes of fellowatudentfl, rolationa, and friends, bat with- , out success. At a temperanoe meeting, however, held m the debtor'd room of the old prison, Greenlaw, Berwickshire, the j late Mr Glazy Eooloa, m. an able address, convinced the majority present, that the moderation pledge should be adopted. I was allowed, however, to state ray conviction, and the meeting, out of deference to the young student, though pure water had made him mad, allowed tbe long pledge, as it ia called, to bo annexed to the other, and those who ohoae to adopt it to prefix an asterisk to their names. As secretary to the newly-formed society, I had frequent opportunities at publio meetings to explain and enforce total abstinence. The committee being frequently called upon to deal with lapsed members, soon changed their views of the moderation pledge, and oame to the conclusion that total abstinence was the only expedient to reclaim the drunkard, and prevent m others tha formation of intemperate habit?, and instead of the Temperance), it became the Greenlaw (Berwickshire) Total Abstinerca Society, A thousand and-one reminiscences are at hand of the difficulties with which its early members had to oontend ; the dreadful aooumulation of victims of strong drink during these fifty-five years ; tbe happy homes which total abstinenoe called into existence ; the noble band of advocates who went through the length and breadth of the land ail aglow with the importance, necessity, and extension, , of the cause espoused ; and the pabllca- E tions which the press of the United \ Kingdom cent forth into every n«rt of i the wprW, i J
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Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1693, 22 October 1887, Page 2
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765A REMINISCENCE Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1693, 22 October 1887, Page 2
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