world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.' And again: 'Take
heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a
stumbling-block to them that are weak.'"

"How does that apply to Mr. Elliott?"

"There are more than one or two young men in the group that
surrounds him who need a better example than he is now setting. They
need repression in the matter of wine-drinking, not encouragement--a
good example of abstinence in their minister, and not enticement to
drink through his exhibition of liberty. Do you think that I, church
member though I am not, could stand as Mr. Elliott is now standing,
glass in hand, gayly talking to young Ellis Whitford, who rarely
goes to a party without--poor weak young man!--drinking too much,
and so leading him on in the way of destruction instead of seeking
in eager haste to draw him back? No sir! It is no light thing, as I
regard it, to put a stumbling-block in another's way or to lead the
weak or unwary into temptation."

"Perhaps you are right about it," was the answer, "and I must
confess that, though not a temperance man myself, I never feel quite
comfortable about it when I see clergymen taking wine freely at
public dinners and private parties. It is not a good example, to say
the least of it; and if there is a class of men in the community to
whom we have some right to look for a good example, it is the class
chosen and set apart to the work of saving human souls."