Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-03-15
rmE DRUNKARp,s GRAVE.

What dark and loathsome place No
ray Of hope pierces its dense gloom. The
goodly minister must not, dare not, repeat
Of sepulcher that tonchingly beautiful pas
sage in the burial service: We commit the
body Of this, our departed brother, dust 20
dust and ashes to ashes, in sure and certain
hope of a glorious resurrection from the
dead at the last day Hone for the drum
kard in death Alas there is none In
spiration inscribed upon his death tablet, IN
letters Of fire, No drunkard shall inherit
the kingdom Of heaven Despair eternal
sits euthroned upon the drunkard's $ grave,
and an utterancs Of awful truthfulness, pro-
claims its undisputed right to hold the pris-
oner as his lawful pray until he shall awake
10 everlasting shame and contempt, to re-
ceive his final DOOM Every clod, as it falls
upon the coffin lid, declares with terrible
significance, the bopeleSsness of the lost
man.
While kindred shed their tears of anguish,
and friends perform their last act OF kind
ness, how terrific the th0u lr that demons
are holding a festival Of meriment Over an
other soul plunged by the maddening cup
into perditiou' fiery depths
Imagine if you can, all the drunkards
who have from the first transgTeSsions until
now been brought by some invisible power
into one place. How vast the multitude !.
How immense the mound Of debased hU-
mauity What a c0mminging Of the great
and small, the wise and the ignorant, the
civilized and the rude, the rich and the poor,
the honorable and the iguoblel As you gaze
upon this mountain pile, this comminghng
of nations, of divers sects, Of all classes, you
see written upon every brow, by the pen Of
an outraged divinity, DIED WITHOUT
HOPE.
1t matters not how brave, or learned, or
rich, or generous, or noble, or eloquent, or
influential that drunkard was in his day,
the shroud Of despair covers him.
The drunkard's 5 grave is the very citadel
Of eternal hopelessness. What bolts and
bars and chains are here And all the more
fearful because they were forged by the mis-
cradle victim as he went forth in his day,
under the sunlight Of heaven. 1t Is of no
consequence to him now when or where he
hyed-whether in a palace or a Wigwam-
upon throne or IN serfdOm-in luxury or
in poverty-at home or In a foreign land !;
the result is essentially the same His life
was spent IN digging n grave, which to him
is the home Of despair.
Strange that the living will not take war
/ ming, but they will not. How many in this
very town, and all over the land, are every
night engaged IN forging the chains that viii
ultimately bind them in this grave of ruin.
| With many, the business for this terrible
/ consummation is we'll nigh done. 4 few
more glasses from the poisonous flood and
all l. over. The final stagger made, and
then the hoary headed sinner falls in the pit
of gloom he has dug for himself o, if he
would listen to the voi-e of reason and re-
pent before he makes the Gual plunge in the
/ place where repentance comes not
But what is still worse, as these old vete-
ran drunkards die off, there is no lack OF
others to take their place What legion
of young men have already entered the
pathway leading to the drundards S prison
I house. o, could we peak to them, one and
all, we would plead with them in accents OF
! burning love to pause before they take an
other step. Another glass-anoIher spree
another bacchanaliau feast, and il may be
too late BY the yearnings ot a mother S
bosom; By the first love to her TO whom
you have given the nuptial pledge; by the
( obligations of your manhood by the res
! pect you bear to yourself; by the compass
sion Of a Saviour heart, and the wrath of
an offended God, we besccch You to go no
further in the downward way Shun the
rcvelry Of the dram-shop aud the glee of the
festive board as you would the scorpion 5
bite. Remembef young man, that every
liquor h0tel-eyery drinking saloon every
dram shop Of every sort, is the gateway TO
the druukard hopeless destiny. To every
one who INDUCES in the cup that intoxi-
Gates, we would in all affection address the
solemn warning Of the prophet Turn yc,
turn ye from your evil ways for Why will yc
die 2'f