Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-04-07
The Only Safety.

Now, | say to every abstainer, be you
Christian or not, let the drink alone. Total
abstinence is your safety. Are there no
men ruined who had the grace of God in
their hearts ? win you dare to say that
every deposed minister never had The grace
of God in his heart Will you tell me that
the wife of minister who spent eight years
in China, teaching Chinese women Chris.
tianity, as a devoted Christian, and then came
home and delivered lectures to ladies on the
wants of the women of China, to raise
money, not for herself, but for them-will
you tell me she had no grace in her heart
And yet she died drunk in the American
Mission House, Hanover street, Boston, and
the servant in the next room heard her cry
"Ob, Christ, have mercy on me Oh, God,
for Jesus sake, save me |" But she died
drunk, and the bottle of brandy by her side
was only one-third full, though she had
brought it in full. may be getting on del
icate topics, but have had no deal with
facts, not theories. have had to deal with
men and their experiences | knew man
in whose pulpit | spoke in 1913. Dr. Eddy
told me that he was the most eloquent min
lister, in many respects that he ever heard.
lie was the pastor of very fashionable
church. The night | spoke he was to offer
prayer. He was very much intoxicated.
DR.. Skinner asked me if | would testify in
the case. They were going to depose this
man for drunkenness. | said, "No, ! will
give no testimony whatever" Still he was
deposed, and / know that this doctor of di-
vinity, who had preached the gospel to thou
sands for twenty-eight years, stood in low
dram shop, with his face blackened, and a
number of degraded and dissolute men jeer-
ing him, as he stood there and preached
some of his old sermons on whiskey to stave
off delirium tremens. Oh, Christian tip.
piers, beware Christian dram drinkers
beware The thing itself is a moral evil
caused by physical agency. | could give
you fact after fact. Look at the wrecks of
uen to be seen on every hand. Oh young
men, wish | could lift the curtain that
conceals from your view the secrets of this
charnel house. A man about forty years of
age, | suppose, graduate of Edinburgh
University, came to me and showed me his
diploma as a physician. He was quite a
fluent lnguist and very cultivated gentle
man, but the mark was upon him. | was
with him some time, and when he left me
he said to me, 81 am very much obliged TO
YOU, Mr. Cough, for your kindness to me.
You have told me the truth, but it's no use.
There's no hope for me. win you shake
hands with me? Pm a lost laddie-good-
bye" How many "laddies" are there ;
lost, lost A living man lost-yes. It's an
| awful sight to see living man lost man,
and there are such. knelt at the family
| altar with doctor of divinity in New Eng
land in 1852, and heard him pray He
| was the pastor of large church. To-day
| he is drunkard, and employed as hostler
| in stable in Boston. When MIR. Moody
| hr1I;pot hic ,,aaf,nuc ~ ua Hani1ad In
| go and see him and do something for him.
| What was the result--"Go away from me.
| You know who am. You know what | am.
| You know what have been. Go away from
me. The doctor prescribed 1t for me to save
| my life, but he has damned my soul-go
| away from me- Then what shall We do :?
Our principle of total abstinence is simple
| method. 1t is so simpls What we want
| is that men and women should adopt it..
| We ask you, then, to adopt this principle,
not only for your own sake, but for others,
Oh these men need help. They know that
| the bitter appetite is there like the smoul-
dering ovens of volcano ready to be reused
| by the first dram drunk. Don't tamper with
| he appetite. Don't think, if you have alb
| stained for ten or more years, that you can
| drink little moderately. | remember read
ing of gentleman who had pet tiger. The
tiger was in his study one day, and the gen
ileman's hand was hanging over the chair.
The tiger was licking his hand, and on the
gentleman attempting to remove it, the ami
NAL, with a low growl and snarl, fixed its
claws in the gentleman's arm. The tiger
stood with its ears thrown back, its tail
stretched, and was evidently preparing for
the fatal spring. The gentleman, keeping
his eyes fixed upon the tiger, rang the bell
and ordered the servant to bring the pistol,
with which he shot the tiger dead. lie then
looked at his hand and observed blood upon
it, the sight and smell of which had aroused
the tigers dormant nature. So it is with
the appetite for drink, which is ever ready,
like the tiger, to make the fatal spring when
yer it is tempered with.-John B. Cough,