The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-01-06
DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON
Winter, and How to Meet It.

T~EXT:-"Pray ye that your flight be
not in the winter" st. Matthew, xiv,
~.
The inhabitants Of all ancient city were
here told that they must flee for their lives.
Such flight would be painful even in the
flush of s%pringtime, but superlatively az
gravating III cold weather; aud SO the Lord
Jesus gives the advice Of the text: "Pray
We have had a few shrill, sharp blasts al
ready, forerunners of whole regiments Of
storms and tempests. No ons here needs to
be told that We are in The opening gates
Of the winter. This season is not
only a test of ones physical endurance,
but in our great cities is a test OF moral char
acter. A vast number Of PEOPLE have by one
forever. Seated in our homes on some stormy
night, the winds bowling outside, we imagine
the sbipl in helplessly driven on the coast;
but any winter night, If our ears were good
enough, we could hear the crash Of q thou
sand moral shlpwrecks. There are many
people who come to our city Oil the first OF
September who will be blasted by the first Of
March. At this season of the year tompta'
tions are especially rampant. Now that the
long winter evenings nave come there are
many who will employ them in high pursaits,i in
intelligent socialities, in Christian work, in
the strengthening and ennobling of moral
character, and this winter, to many Of you.
will be the brightest and the best in all of
your lives, and in anticipation l congratu-
late you. But to others 1t may not have such
effect, and l charge you, my beloved, look
out where you spend your winter nights.
In the first place, 1 have to remark that at
this season of the year evil allurements are
especially busy. There is not very much
temptation for a mai to plunge in on a hot
night amid blazing gaslights, and to breathe
the fetid air Of an assemblage; but in the
cold nights Satan gathers a great
harvest. At such times the casinos
ara in full blast. At such times
the grogshops in enc night make moro than
in four or five nights in summer At such
times the play bills of low places of enter
tainment seem especially attractive, and the
acting is especially impressive, and the ap.
pause especially bew.tching. Many a man
who has kept right all the rest Of the year
will be capsiZed now, and thoughla last autumn
he came from the country and there was lus-
tire in the eyes and there were roses IN the
cheek and elasticity in the step, by the time
the spring hour has come you will pass him
in the street and say to your friend: whats
the matter with that man! how differently he
looks from what he looked in September"
Slain Of one winters dissipation. At this time
of the year there are many parties. II we
rightly employ them, and they are OF the
right kind, they enlarge our societies, allow
us to make important ecquaintances, build
us up in our moralsan help us in O thousand
ways. / can hardly think Of anything better
than a good neighborhcod. But there are
come besoiled in character. There ara those
who by the springtime will ba broken down
in health, and though ut the opening of the
season their prospects were bright, at the
close of the season they will be in the hands
of the doctors, or sleeping in the cemetery.
The certificate Of death will be made out,
and the physician, to save the feelings OF the
family, will call the disease by a Latin name.
The doctor knows and everybody else knows
they died Of too many parties. Away with
all these wine-drlnking convivialities. How
dare you, the father OF a family, tempt the
appetites of the young people? Perhaps at
the entertainment, to save the feelings OF the
minister, or some other weak temperance
man, you have the decanter in the side room,
and only q few people are invited there to
partake, but it is easy enough to know when
you come out, by the glare of your eye and
the stencil OF your breath, that you have
cuse themselves and say after late suppers it
is necessary to take some SORT OF stimulanu
to aid digestion. My pain opinion is
that if you have no more s~elf-control
than to stuff yourself until your digestive
organs refuse their Office, you had better not
call yourself q man, butclass yourself among
the beasts that perish. At this season OF the
year the Young Mems Christian as: ociations
of the land send out circulars asking the pas
tors to speak a word on this subject, and SO
l sound in your ear the words Of the Lord
God Almighty: "Woe unto him that putteth
the bottle to his neighbours lips" Rejoice
that you AVE come to the glad winter months
that remind you of the times when in your
childhood you wero shone on by the face Of
father, mother, brothers, sisters, some Of
them alas! no more to greet you with "Happy
New Year." or q merry Christmas" But
again and again have We seen on New Years
day the sons of some. of the best families
drunk, and young men have excused chem
selves by the fact that the wine cup has been
offered by the ladies'; and again and again it
has been found but that a Iady's hand has
kindled the young mans thirst for. strong
drink, and long a ter all the attractions Of
the holiday have passed that same
woman crouchel i'll her rags and
her desolation and her woe, under
the upliited hand Of the drunken mon
cup OH New Years day. If we want to
go to ruin let US 60 alone, and
not take others with us. Can we
not sacrifi q our feelings if need be? When
the good ship London went down. the captain
was told he might escare in one Of the life
boats. "No," lie sal !, "IIl 20 down with the
passengers" All the world %applaudei his
heroism. And can we not sacritice our tastes
and our appetites for the rescue Of othersa
Surely, it is not a very great sacrifice. Oh,
mix not with the innocent beverage Of the
holiday feast the adder, the poisons of adderS.
Mix not with the white sugar Of the cup the
c.,o~- ~ chic ou,f,1 1orrocv Nor NOT the
clatter of the cutlery Of a festal occasion
with the clank Of a madman's chain.
Pass down the street and look into the pawn
brokers' window. Elegant watch, elegant
furs, elegant flute, elegant shoes, elegant
scarf, elegant books, elegant mementos. You
sometimes see peop!ewith pleased countenance
looking into such a window. When l. look
into O. pawnbroker's window it seems to me
as if l had looked into the window of bell!
10 whom did that watch belong9 To a
drunkard. To whom did those furs belong!
To a d%runkard's wife. To whom did those
shoes belong? TO a drunkard's child. take
the three brazen balls at the doorway OF a
pawnbroker's shop and I clang them to-
gether, sounding the knell of the
%drunkard's soul. A pawnbroker's shop
is only one Of the eddies in the great
torrent of municipal drunkenness. "Oh,"
says someone, II don't p%atronize such things;
l have destroyed no young man oy sucI III
fuences; I only take ale and it will take a
very great amount of ale to intoxicate."
Yes, but I tell this assemblage there is not q
drunkard in Brooklyn or New York that did
not begin with ale. Three X's-I do not
know What they mean. Three KS on the
brewers dray, three KS on the door of the
gin shop, three KS on tho side Of the bottle:
Three KS. I asked a man. He could not
tell mo. l asked another man what is the
meaning of the three KS. He could not tell
me. Then I made up my mind hat the
three KS were an allegory. and that
thew meant thirty heartbreaks,