.JUNE 1. 1915 



467 



A. I. Root 



OUE MOME 



Editor 



Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he 

 should defy the armies of the living Q-od? — I. Sam. 

 17:-J(i.. 



Tliou conie&t to nio with a sword and with a spear 

 and with a shield; but I come to thee in tlie name 

 of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, 

 whom thou hast defied . . . that all the earth may 

 know that there is a God in Israel. — I. Sam. 17: 

 45, 4G. 



Therefore the children of Israel could not stand 

 before their enemies, but turned their backs before 

 their enemies, because they were accursed. And the 

 Lord said, Neither will t be with you any more, 

 except ye destroy the accursed thing from among 

 you . — Josh u a 7:12. 



I suppose most of our readers are fa- 

 miliar with this (in some respects) strange 

 story told in the seventh chapter of Joshua. 

 Under Joshua's administration the children 

 of Israel were successful in their battles. 

 I do not know but success bad made them 

 over-contident ; but all of a sudden they 

 failed. They were astonished and alarmed, 

 and everybody was wondering what the 

 cause of the trouble was. Their defeat was 

 so disastrous we are told " Joshua rent his 

 clothes and fell to the earth upon his face 

 before the ark of the Lord, he and the 

 elders of Israel, and put dust upon their 

 heads." For once in his life Joshua seems 

 to have complained. He says, " Would to 

 God we had been content to dwell on the 

 other side of Jordan." He urges, in his 

 desperate prayer, that the inhabitants of 

 the land would hear of it, and adds, "What 

 wilt thou do unto thy gi'eat name?" But 

 Jehovah rebuked him, and he arose. He 

 says, "Wherefore liest thou upon thy face'?" 

 Our text tells us the cause of their disas- 

 trous defeat. 1 suppose you know the out- 

 come. There was just one man in the crowd 

 who coveted a fine Babylonish garment, two 

 hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of 

 gold. Little did he think his greedy and 

 foolish act was going to bring death and 

 defeat to the whole army. Joshua, like a 

 good general, had the culprit held up before 

 the people, and he was punished as the Lord 

 commanded, together with hi.-; sons and 

 daughters. 



Why do I bring this story in here ? Let me 

 tell you. Ever since the organization of the 

 Anti-saloon League I have been wondering 

 and inquiring in my mind why we should 

 be thus defeated by the powers of evil. 

 Whv should the earnest and fervent prayers 

 of God's people, of the W. C. T. U., of the 

 mothers of our land, of the great and good 

 men of our land, of our college professors, 

 the teachers in our religious institutions, 

 again and again be put to naught? For the 

 past forty years or more I have told you of 

 how the Lord has heard and answered pray- 



er in i)ersonal work. Again and again has 

 lielp come when I have been in tight places 

 or crowded into a corner when there seemed 

 no outlet. But when I have prayed that 

 (he Goliah of intemperance might be put 

 down in the dust there seemed to be no 

 answer. Men, women, and children — inno- 

 cent women and children — who were in no 

 way to blame, seemed doomed to suffer, not 

 only for food and clothing, but for lack of 

 education and everything else, and yet we 

 were powerless. The enemy jeered at us, 

 •and they laughed us to scorn. They said in 

 derision, "Did you with your feAV thousands 

 think you could put us out with our millions 

 — not only millions in money, but with the 

 leading men of the nation right under our 

 thumb?" 



Perhaps that is a little hard and severe; 

 but, dear brother, is it not true that the 

 leaders in politics, even up to the President 

 of the United States, did not dare to put a 

 hand on the liquor-traffic? For years and 

 years past our presidents, one after another, 

 in their presidential messages have failed 

 to recognize or suggest a remedy for the 

 giant curse that is keeping down not only 

 the American people but the whole wide 

 world. Even I myself have been tempted at 

 times to doubt the statement in holy writ 

 that " there is a God in Israel." Why do 

 we get answers to our prayers in everything 

 except in regard to the liquor-traffic? Well, 

 dear friends, of late I have been thinking it 

 over, and I believe I have found the Achan, 

 the " troubler of Israel," with his wedge of 

 gold; and not only that, but the eyes of the 

 world seem now to be centering on this 

 Achan and his wedge of gold. I think I 

 can point him out a Little plainer by making 

 an extract from a pamphlet just put into 

 my hands, entitled " The Liquor-traffic ; its 

 Evils and Cure."* I wish every reader of 

 Gleanings would send for this pamphlet. 

 It is about the plainest and clearest show- 

 ing-up of the liquor-traffic I ever got hold 

 of. Here is the extract I make from it: 



The saloon is defended for the revenue it brings 

 to the national government, and no doubt many sin- 

 cerely believe it to be advantageous to the govern- 

 ment. This is palpably untrue. The liquor revenue 

 law was enacted under the administration of Abra- 

 ham Lincoln as a war measure, and signed by him 

 with the distinct understanding that it would be 

 repealed as soon as the exigency that seemed to jus- 

 tify it had passed. It was my privilege to hear this 

 statement confirmed by Major J. B. Merwin, of 

 Middlefield, Ct., who was present when Mr. Lincoln 

 signed the bill. 



* The above pamphlet is published by A. I. Trues- 

 dell, 101 West Wood St., Youngstown, O., at 50 cts. 

 per .30 copies, or, say, 5 cts. for one copy. 



