Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-12-21
MEN ON THE ROADTORUIN
TALNIAGE POINTS OUT THE PIT
FALLS IN YOUTHS PATH.

pathY of the Ola for the KOung-Life's 3
Fair Tree Never FrOstbitteR.
BROOKLYN, n. Y, Dec. 20.-After
preaching and lecturing in fifteen cities
OF the Union, the Rev. T. De Witt Tai
mage, ID. D., has returned to Brooklyn.
He occupied his pulpit to-day when
! Brooklyn Tabernacle was crowded, many
being unable to find seats. The subject
| of DIR Talmage's sermon was, "The
| Winter, and How to Meet It." His text
was taken from Matthew xiv, 20: "Pray
ye that your flight be not in the winter"
| Following is the sermon in full:
| The inhabitants of the old cities were
here told that they would have to fly for
| their lives. Such flight would be pain
| full, even in the flush OF spnng time, but
superlatively aggravating il in cold
weather; therefore they were told to pray
| that their flight be not in the winter.
| There is something in the winter season
that not only tests our physical endur-
| ance but, especially in the city, tries our
moral character. 1t is the winter months
that ruin morally and forever many of
| our Young men. We sit in the house on
a winters night, and hear the storm ra-
| ging on the outside and imagine the help
less crafts driven on the coast; but II our
any winter night hear the crash Of hun
dred moral shipwrecks.
! Many who came last september to town
| by the first of March will have been blasted.
1t only takes one winter To ruin a young
man. When the long winter evenings
| have come many Of our young men will
| improve them IN forming more intimate
/ acquaintance with books, contracting
| higher social friendships and strengthen
! ft,er al uha oata Rttfv ,ofo
with all. l will show you before ! get
| through that at this season OF the year
| temptations are especially rampant, and
my counsel is. look out how you spend
| your winter nights!
/ remark first, that there is no season
| OF the year in which vicious allurements
are so active. In warm weather places
Of dissipation win their tamest tri-
umphs. People do not feel like going in
the hot nights of summer among the
| blazing gaslights or breathing the fetld
air of assemblRges. The receipts OF most
| gTOg shops in a December night are three
/ times what they are in any night in July
| or August. / doubt not there are larger
| audiences in the Casinos in winter than
In the summer weather. lniquity plies
more profitable trade. December, Janu-
airy and February are harvest months for
! the devil, The play-bills Of the low enter
tainments then are more charming, the
acting Is more exquisite, the enthusiasm
OF the spectators more bewitching. Many
| young man who makes out to keep right
the rest of the year capsizes now. When
he came TO town in the autumn his eyes
were bright, his cheek rosy, his step
elastic; but before spring, as you pass him,
! you will say to your friend: ''What is the
matter with that young manP The fact
is that one winter Of dissipation has done
| the work of ruin.
This is the season for parties, and If
they are of the right kind our social ma
ture is improved and our spirits are
cheered up. But many of them are not OF
the right kind, and our young people,
night after night, are kept in the whirl Of
unhealthy excitement until their strength
| fails, and their spirits are broken down
and their taste for ordinary life corrupted ;
and by the time the spring weather comes
they are in the DOCTORS hands or sleeping
| in the cemetery. The certificate OF their
| death is made out, aud the physician, out
| Of regard for the family, calls the disease
by some Latin name, when the truth Is
that they died OF too many parties.
Away with these wine-drinking conviY-
ialities. How dare you, the father of a
household, trihe with the appetites of our
young peopieH Perhaps out Of regard for
the minister or some other weak temper
ance man you have the decanter in a side
room, where, after refreshments, only a
select few are invited; and you come
back with glare in your eye and stencil
in your breath that show that you have
been out serving the devil.
The excuse which Christian men often
give for this is that it is necessary after
such late eating by some sort of stimulant
TO help digestion. My plain opinion is
that il man has no more control over
his appetite than to stuff himself until his
| digestive organs refuse 10 do their office,
ae ought not to call himself man, but
| rather 10 class himself among the beasts
that perish. | take the words OF the Lord
| Almighty, and cry: "WOe 10 him that
| Uutteth the bottle to his neighbOr's lips Z"
Young man, take it as the counsel of a
friend when bid you be cautious where
you spend your winter evenings. Thank
God that YOU have lived to see the glad
winter days in which your childhood was
made cheerful by the faces OF fathers and
mothers, brothers and sisters, some OF
whom. alasl will never again wish you a
"H8ppy New Year, or "a Merry Christ
mas"
Letno one tempt you out OF your sobri-
city. have seen respectable young men
OF the hest families drunk on New Year 5
day. The excuse they gave for the in
ebriatiOn vas that the ladies insisted on
their taking IT, There have been in.
stances where the delicate hand Of woman
hath kndled young mans taste for
! strong drink, who, after many years,
when the attractions Of tnat holiday scene
were an forgotten, orOuched in her rags
! and her desOlatiOn and her woe under tine
| upiifted hand Of the drunken monster
who, on that Christmas morning SO lOBg
ago, took the glass from her hand. And
20 the woman stands on the abuiment OF
the bridge on the moonlight night, won
lering II down under the water there is
not some quicI place for broken heart.
She takes one wild leap-and all Is over!
Oh, mingle not with the harmless bey-
| erage OF your festive scene this poison Of
addprsl Mix not with the white sugar 0l
the cup the suow uf this awful leprOsy
Mar not the clatter OF cutlery At the h0li-
day ieast, with the clink OF madman's
chain
: op and look into the window OF that
wnbrokei's shop. Elegant furs. Ele-
gant watches. Elegant fcaria. Elegant
flutes. People stand with pleased look
gazing at these things; but look with "a
shudder as though had eoen into q win
dow OF hell. Whose elegant watch was
that2 IL was "a drunkards. Whose
lursg They belonged 10 a drunkard's
wife. Whose nute' Whose shoes
Whose scarfg They belonged 10 drunk
ARDS child. n could ! would take the
tnree brazen balls hanging a. the door
way, and clang them together until they
tolled The awful kncll OF the drunkard's
soul The pawnbrOker's shop ~ only one