Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1877-05-19

ing to-day against tnlS appetlle. n
minister of the Gospel writes me, 81
was deposed by my church for drunken
ness; some of them had confidence In
me and they gathered together and
formed little church, and we worship
ed in ball; preached for them six or
eight weeks; / then came down to Bos
ton to buy hymn books; met with a
friend who asked me to dine, and
drank glass of wine, and for three
days l knew nothing, and now l am
ruined for time, and fear for eternity.
l have a letter from a minister OF the
Gospel who says this:
"My grandfather died of delirium
tremens, my mother died drunkard,
have inherited an appetite for liquor,
when I went into the ministry I sought
the hardest work I could get and went
as a Home Missionary, / am now bro
ken down, have covered my whole
life with prayer as with a garment, 1
have spent hundreds of dollars at Water
Cure establishments to wash this devil
out OF me, l have gone without animal
food for two years, yet tremble every
day on the awful verge ct the precipice
of indulgence" Now mark me. L
don't say that the grace of God cannot
take away every particular OF that ap-
petite, as the infinite power of God can
cure every disease, but what | want is
this, that no man shall GO away from
these meetings filled with the new SEN
sation that comes to changed man,
when the battle face to face comes he
is away from such influences as these,
and say, 81 have the grace of God III
my heart; l have no appetite now.
But let one of these men who have
been drunkards and who have abstained
for ten years, take one glass, and see if
he hasn't got the appetite there. Like
the slumbering fire of volcano, that
one glass will rise into fury, drenching
perhaps body and soul in the lava of
drunkenness. Now, then, if have any
grace in my heart; know that has been
taught in this Tabernacle; if have any
grace in my heart it prompts me to
pray, "Lead me not into temptations;
/ have His word for it shall never be
tempted more than | am able to bear,
for there is a way of escape for me from
every temptation, but if have such
views OF the grace of God that will in
duce me to say, 81 have so much grace
that can now walk into temptation
and that grace will save me from fall
ing" it is very doubtful to me whether
such man has the true idea Of the
grace of God. Therefore | say to re-
form men, Christian men, your hope is
in Jesus to keep yourselves unspotted.
Touch not, taste not, handle not, med
die not with it. Men may say to me
"have you this appetite?' l don't know,
and there is only one way in which |
can test it, and my daily prayer is "God
help ME to avoid the test" | can only
know whether l have it by testing it so
l shall die in blissful ignorance of that
fact. But although it is 80 years since
I signed the pledge, will not put to
my lips intoxicating wine at the COM
munion table. l have not and | never
will. (Applause.) have known cases
of fearful falling from the first swallow
because drunkenness is disease, and a
good Christian man said to me to-day
only, "Three weeks ago | had the most
awful struggle against my appetite"
and gentleman said to me, holding
me by the hand, the other night, "God
bless you, Mr.. Cough, l am fighting an
awful hard battle" l said, 'Do you
feel secure?" 'Secure in Jesus, Mr..
Cough" Oh, l tell you, ladies and
! gentlemen, that is the strength of the
movement to-day. From one end of
the land to the other do we hear Of
Christian temperance associations. Oh,
if in the Washingtoniau days men had
been as wise as God has helped them
to be now, what wonderful revolution
would have been effected then! 1t was
a great tidal wave that rose all over the
land, but there was an ignoring of
Christ. there was nothing to do with
religion, nothing to do with praying.
| used to go to places to speak and they
would say, "Mr. Cough, we have got a
lot of reformed men here and must not
have any politics or religion talked"
1t was so all over the country. And
what was the result? Washingtonian-
ism has utterly failed TO gather into the
harvest those who might have been
saved if it had not have been for the
reputation of everything savoring Of
religion and Christianity. Now to-day,
heslde these grand principles we look
into the future and see the light which
stands tip-toe upon the mountain-top
that shall usher in the day of triumph
bv and by.
Ladies and gentlemen, / shall detain
you but minute or two longer. Some
of Us remember when we fought hard
battle for temperance; some of US re-
member the riots in Faneuil Hall, when
the liquor sellers declared that we
should not occupy that platform, and for
three successive nights beat US on, put
their own Chairman in the meeting; we
remember very well when it was
reproach to be temperance man, and
temperance men were prosecuted. Now
it seems as i'll was going 10 say it
was becoming popular, but l don't like
that word popular Ibelieve the prin-
cipal is universal from Maine to Louisi-
ana, and from the Atlantic to the Pa
cifc slope, and it is because it was be-
gun in prayer, and it will end in thanks
giving. tApplause.) The women of