One of the leading lights and the temperance movement of some time ago was a man by the name of

Thomas Marshall who lived in Kentucky. Thomas Marshall was a man of extraordinary abilities. He had known

the ravages of alcoholism and he chose to turn against it. He was a gifted man with a very

sharp mind and a very strong will. Thomas Marshall became very well known throughout the state,

but he had one problem. He refused to surrender his life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

One day he was invited to address a temperance meeting in Broadway Tabernacle.

And he stood and he told the cheering crowd those words, where I offered the entire world for drinking a single glass of brandy,

I would turn it down in scorn and the crowd enthusiastically cheer.

And then he continued, he said, my friends, I beg of you, let this temperance movement be without religion.

I overcame alcoholism by the strength of my own will.

And by the strength of my will, I shall resist it for the rest of my days.

We do not need religion, he said.

Religion is for the weak.

Let us keep the temperance pledge through our own determination and keep religion where it belongs.

Thomas Marshall was an accomplished speaker.

He was well respected throughout the state of Kentucky.

Although he championed godlessness, and yet many people, even Christians, I admired him, respected him, and followed his example.

If there was anyone who could keep himself

cleansed from the desire for a drink, through sheer self-will, through sheer self-determination,

it was Thomas Marshall. And that way, of course, he would be a living contradiction to the

words of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 12.

But that's not where the story ends.

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