Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1863-03-13
A stirring Temperance Lecture.

The "Paulist Fathers of New York have
Just published their second annual series of dis
courses delivered at the Church of st. Paul the
Apostle, (Catholic,) in that city, which, while
enforcing the faith and doctrines of their church
contain much that is eminently practical.
Below we give extracts from a discourse on the
+" Sins and Misery of the Drunkard," which, in
respect to the directness and force with which
it deals with popular evil, might well become
model for all preachers. The speaker says:
NV brethren, If Iwere to ask you, what is the
crying sin of our time, what would you answer
but--drunkness i'll bid you tell me from
what source flow the miseries aud evils untold
with which we are afflicted; the heart rt-sickening
abandonment to vice, the total degradation of
public and private morality what resopnse
would you make but--drunkenness. Standing
on the brink of eternity and gazing at the un-
happy throng which crowds the door of ever
lasting perdtion, were to interrogate those lost
souls What hath brought you hither? the
despairing answer from an immense number
would be prolonged cry of remorse "drunk-
enness; for the love of drink We have lost God
| foreverl
| say that il is an iniquity, a great sin. 1t is
astonishing how easily one allows himself to be
deceived about the gravity of a vice, when that
vice is common. Looking around them, and OBJ
serving what a vast multitude are given to the
detestible vice of drunkenness and how the
chief promoters of it form SO large part of the
wealthy, and so-called respectable class of socie-
ty; men gradually blind their moral sense to the
Nervousness of the sin, and soon cometo regard
it as a sort Of natural weakness, more to be pit
led than blamed, and its degrading folly to be
rather source oflaughter than cause for tears
| What is thus easily excused in others, they The
more easily excuse themselves; the intoxicating
glass is raised to their lips, and they set out
amid the smiles and encouragements of friends
(while angels weep) on the road of the drunk
erd to hell. srtfc aae
Temperance is not only counseled, but is a
positive precept the soul which voluntarily
breaks that precept commits mortal sin, deliber-
ately renounces God, and has surely lost heaven
and deserved the fire OF hell as a murderer and
an adulterer.
Drunkenness is a sin, then; it is more, it is q
| hydra headed sin. sin against nature, sin
against religion and society, and sin against
/ God
The drunkard sins against Nature. God made
him man, that he may act like man, but he
drops his manhood and adopts the habits of the
irrational brutes. He roars like tiger; he ca
pers like monkey; be wallows in the mud like
a swine. Behold the miserable wretch, stag.
gering along the street; stupidity written on his
mon of anger and hatred in possession of his
soul, pouring out broken curses and plasphe.
mics, imagining everything and everybody hi:
enemy ;quarrelling and fighting with his bes
friends. What sort Of an animal is this He is
drunk on tigers rum, and he is tiger anC
worse. Alas for the hour in which he reaches
his home. The poor wife sees wild beast com
ing home to her, and not the kind man she mar
ried. Now with loud oaths and horrible impre'
cations he storms about the house, breaking the
furniture, smashing the doors and windows, anC
alarming the whole neighborhood. See the poo
children how they cover and hide away il
mortal fear from the presence of the being o
whom nature would bid them never to be afraid
Fathers drunk again, let's run away" they
whisper in terror to one another. The witetriel
to soothe him, perhaps, with kind words, anC
what is her return? Hang your heads viii
shame We men born of woman, and sucked a
her breasts, and ye angels veil your faces, les
We witness the heavy blow aud the brutal kick
oh was it for this she sacrificed all to follow
him Was it thus he promised to love, homo
and cherish her ? All he has sinned agains
himself he has degraded his own manhood; h
has changed his exalted nature into the nature
of avid beast His reason gone, he was as un
conscious Of the baseness ofhs act as he wa
reckless Of its consequences. Stamping abou
r the room, he sayagely asserts his own superior
ity. "He will not be dictated to by any living be
ing, man or woman" He wants TO know if h'
is master of his own house Presently hi
glaring eye meets the prostrate form OF his onc'
loved wife, pale and motionless. What make
him start back terror-strickenf Blood blood
Aye there is blood upon the floor, and before
I he can collect his wandering mind, there is {
noise outside the officers of justice enter; he II
seized and manacled, led off to the prison dock
found guilty Of willful murder; aud then-hii
body to the hangman and his soul to hell,
There is another. Watch him, if the sigh
does not stricken you. Are those the antics off
/. human being Is that the language of thu
: Christian, or the conversation ofthe merchant O.
mechanic, or of the man of labor and industry
What sort of animal is he now He is druni
Q on monkeys rum his antics and grimaces ar
d those Of a monkey and his vile talk is beneatl
r the honest cbaitering of baboon. He is mon
a key 10 allintents aud purposes, laughing stoe
I for the whole street. picture OF shame Mt
: bringR blush TO every check
Drunkenness is a sin against the family. Th
family is asacred institution, sanctihed and en-