Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1883-07-19
TINE poou or TINE MAJORITY.

On last Sabbath afternoon friend said to
us: "if you really want to listen TO ser
mon once more before you die, in which
there IL no politics or whisky, but one drawn
from logical mind and filed with exalted
imagery and pure spiritual essence that
will lin you above the yexstions and per-
plexities Of this tired life and into commu.
trust In the goodness OF the All-Wise Faith
er Of us all, then 90 and hear DIR. Reyes At
the Presbyterian Church. for such sermon
he preached this morning." Being an hum
gered we did want 10, and we went. The
quiet opening prayer invoked benign infiu-
ences for the hearts Of the waiting multi
tude like unto the gentle winds which at
that peaceful hour was tanning the fevered
earth. and each waiting soul was soothed
into an assurance OF q coming blessing.
The text was, "be not partakers OF other
mems SINS" whereupon the doctor turned
himself loose in the most ultra, radical, rs
well as logical, prohibition sermons probs-
bly, ever delivered In the State. 1t was, of
course, from Calvinistic premises. or from the
faith which holds TO the doom OF the major.
ity. The spirit Of the discourse was hatred
TO all compromise. For awful pictures of
the ruin and horrors that cling to the life of
the rum-sellcr; for scathing condemnation
Of those who, in any manner, countenance
the trafbc for burning, blighting denun.
citation Of officers who fail 10 enforce the
law. and for terrible fates awaiting those
who profit by the trade, and for those who
are adorned In rich apparel and living In
luxurious homes bought by blood-money,
in comparison. Until q quarter past ten,
by town time, he allowed no place OF rest
for weary feet; even going back and hold
ing equally guilty the man who smiles upon
or socially countenances the lost wretches,
as well Ms he who is stirred by sympathy to
avert the calamity Of guilty brother. The
sad story Of that woman, all dressed in
white, who went out from luxurious home
with tears In her eyes and murdered her
three little innocent babes, because her
husband drank, was tragical, and while
that husband, who provided for that splen-
did homo, may have been equally guilty
with the saloon-keeper who sold him liquor,
the mother Of those dear innocent children
was, nevertheless, a crank and should have
been in nm insane asylum. And while the
doctor was tossing, we, who can't help our
selves from plying the unfortunate, igno-
rant and debased, headlong into an I'M
fathomable lake OF death and sulphurous
flames, and only because of that pity for
our erring brother, We thought Of what the
Saviour OF the world, in the hour of his
profoundest agony, said in mercy to the
pleading thief at his side. All my dear
doctor, little more OF that charity which
covereth a multitude of sins, charity for
weak and misled humanity. The great
heart OF the race is not totally depraved,
but throbs responsive TO the same emotions
that warns the christians heart with di-
viner touch. While we know that there
can be nothing said in defense Of that over
shadOwing evil Of civilization, and while
we know that intemperance is the DEVILS
veritable box Of direful ills, yet let us not
shut our eyes in despair, but look up, and
remember that this crying sin must give
way before the increasing light and grow
ing manhood OF the age.
Unfortunately, for us, we were not per-
mitted TO hear the two lectures given by
DIR. Reyes, but from his sermon Sunday
night he Is a man Of great mental force,
whose scathing powers Of denunciation, we
hope, are more attributable to his head than
to his heart.