Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1880-05-25
A Temperance Sermon by Rev. G. L.
Cook.

| PROVERBS, XIII c., 50 v.-"At the last At
biteth like a serpent and stingeth ike an ad-
! DER"
MY BRETHREN We are dwelling
here in wilderness of sin. through
| whose dark shades tour adversary, the
devil, as roaring lion, walketh about
seeking whom he may devouY.' and
his snares are as many as various, and
Is aliuring as fiendish wisdom, urged
OF by malignant hatred to the souls of
men. could possibly devise. And so
mon would inevitably fall into the pit
duo fo them, were it not for the fact
that 90. I'd is loves and from the high
est heav. MS sounds tha alarm. THAT
thav NAV ~ecover themselves out of the
snare of tho devil. who are taken cap.
tive bv him al his will" Weare cailedd
nnon this mt Yning TO consider, for q
few moments. t.We of Satal's most en-
ticing snares. by which he yearly de
COWS thousands OF precious VouHs into
the thorny path, w. Nch leads to Woe, 20
sorrow, to content 0fls. 10 baopnng,
to wounds, to rednes y OF eyes, IN t1ls
world, and to wrath, evolTang name,
and eternal torments in the #ofid 70
come. Aaad this snare Is stroaag toflaaas.
The habit of drinking into -Ncaang liq-
uors is one so fearful in its CO.. ase4 qenees
that Jehovah saith .At the ias. W
biteth like serpent and stingttn hR@
an adder" And hence He says: "Look
not thou upon the wine when 1t Is req,
when it giveth his color in the cCp,
when it moveth itself Alright" Now
since He, whose trumpet gives no un-
certain sound, has spoken plainly aad
pointedly on this subject, let us lay
aside all prejudice, and every precon-
ceived potion, and subject our reason to
the authority of Gods word. And thus
'receive with meekness the engrafted
word, which is able to save your souls" /"
| In elucidation and enforcement of the
teaching of the text, will observe:
l. The evils which intoxicating bev-
erage brings upon men themselves in
this life.
2. The evils it brings upon their fami-
| lies.
8. The evils it brings upon their souls
in the world to come. All of which go
to show that at the last it biteth like a
serpent and stingeth like an adder"
l. The evils 1t brings upom men them
selves in this life. Now, there are men.
know, who will say that there is no
more harm in the mere act of taking
drink of liquor, if he does not drink to
excess, than there is in taking a drink
of water-an assertion which, pre-
sumo, few will deny. But let such a
one know, that God does not, even in
the text, forbid the looking upon wine,
because there is sin in the mere act of
looking, or even drinking, but because
of the fearful consequences Whach f0O
from 1t. "At the last it biteth like
serpent and stingeth like an adder"
And let him who thinks he has such
mastery over his appetites, that he can
control them at will, so rs never to
drink to excess, remember that thou
sands OF men, glorifying in their own
strength, and ''wise in their own con-
ceit," thought the very same thing,
whose bodies have long since been by
kind hands laid away in drunkard's
grave. "Take heed, lest, thinking ye
stand, ye fall" do not say that every
one who attempts to drink moderately
will eventually fill drunkard's grave,
or experience a drunkard's hell, for
many have, thank God, to the praise of
His grace, escaped this awful doom.
But when you contemplate the bleached
bones, strewn over the plain, where the
hostile armies met, dc you feel inclined
to engage in the deadly afIray, and face
the cannon's mouth, because, forsooth,
you are told that many thus engaged
have escaped the missiles of death? /
trow not. But what if the moderate
drinker does escape "the worm that
dieth not, and the fire that is not
quenched," he yet brings upon himself
in this life evils which "bite like a SER
pent and sting like an adder" Did you
ever notice how this truth is illustrated
in the lives of Noah and Lot, those il
lustrious men of God, record of whose
aims has been left for our admonitions,
but which, fear, many "wrest to their
,wa destruetions" Noah was "a preach.
er' OF Righteousness" man Of great
fa;, b, and one so favored of God as to
ha I Mether with his family, preserved
from fro SeatA, whan all the rest of man
h;nd Nv re destroyed from off the face
Of afph ,he )" ca til. Eut, doubtless, Noah was
a moderate drinker. temperate man.
h,v h ed been such all his life.
tnd ,oIso so Se 20. .pld say I never drink to
ercess ~ % can control my appetite.
1.-THE % heart is de,ceitful above all things,
who can klasw it ~ An evil hour is at