The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-06-30

man can be happy when ne KNOWS tneG Ne Is
breaking his wi!e's heart and clothing his chill
dreu with rags. All! there a,e thousands OF
children to day on the streets of the city and or
the roads of the country. unkempt, uucombed
and uncareG for. Want written on every
patch of their garments and on every wrinkle
Of their prematrrrly old face. They would
have been in the house Of God and as well
clad as any of you but for the fact that their
fathers were druukards They went down
and took their families with them. as they
always do. There is not an asSemblage in
the United States to-day in which there
are not women who are fighting the battle
for bread alone. The man who promised
fidelity, the man who was ordained as the
head Of the household is destroying himself
and DESTROYING all those dependent upon him.
Oh Rum, thou foe Of God, thou despoiler of
the human race, thou recruiting officer OF
hell, hate thee.
tell You that it desrofls-this evil deSpoilS the
soul. The Bible indicates again and again
that if our hearts be unchanged and we 20
into the other world unregenerate, our evil
appetites and passions go with us and there
torment U.S. In this world the man could
borrow or steal five cents to get that which
slaked his thirst for q little while, but IN
eternity. where is the rum to come from!
Dives wanted drop Of water. The j lnebrlate to
from! Who will brew it' Who will mix it!
Who will fetch it? Millions of worlds now for
the dregs which the young man slung out on
the sawdusted floor of the restaurant. Mil
lions of worlds now for tbe' rind pitched out
from the punch bowl of the earthly banquet.
Dives wanted water. The inebriate wants
rum II spirit from the lost world should
come up for some work in a grogshop and
then 60 back, taking one drop on his infer
md bot
fiend's wing could be put on the tip Of the
tongue Of the lost inebriate, however small
the drop, if it only have the smack Of alco-
holic liquor, TINT one drop on the inebriare's
tongue would make him cry: AHA! ana!
that is rum!'' 1t would wake up all the
echoes Of the damned, as they cry: Give
me rum! give Inc rumm l do not think the
sorrow Of the inebriate in the next world will
be the absence of God or the absence OF
the absence of rum. I say it to the working
classes of America, and l say it tc oil bust
ness classes, to all these merchants, to all
these men whether they toll for living with
brain, OF hand, or feet, you ought to quit
your strong drink, have nothing to do with
it. "Look not upon the wine when it Is red,
when it moveth itself Alright in the cup, for
at the last il biteth like a serpent, and it
stingeth like an adder" Oh, think it is about
had seven or eight years in Ohio. when thirty
women went at and cleared all the gropshops
out of town Of thousand inhabitants
thirty women surcharged with the Holy
Ghost, their only weapons prayer and song,
and many grogshop was closed as they
came up, the owners saying: NOW, don t
come here and pray and sing, We'll close up" ="
If thirty women surcharged with the Holy
Ghost could clear out rum from a
village of a thousand inhabitants, three
thousand consecrated women Of Brooklyn
in the strength Of Almighty God banding to-
gether and going forth, could in six months
clear out at least three fourths Of the e;rog-
shops, and if The three thousand should band
together, and they'had no other leader, l, q
minister of the most high God, would offer
my services, end I would come out in front
come on with your prayers and your songs
and your Christian entreaties, cone on!
Some of you will take this left
wing of the enemy, and others Of you will
take the right wing Of the enemy. For.
ward! the Lord OF Hosts is with u.s. the God
of Jacob is our refuge. Down with the
dramsnops, down with the grogshops. Jap
plause) Alb, my friends, rather than your
applause, let it be your prayers to Almighty
God that this beloved city. the pride of our resi-
dence, may have the awful curse OF strong
drink lifted. Not waiting for those mouths Of
hell, the groyshops. to be closed, start you
on your duty for if said few moments ago
that there was q point beyond which if a
man went he could not stop, l have to tell
you that the Lord God Almighty by His
grace can help any m an to stop. I was over
in one of the meetings in New York where
there was large number Of reformed drunk
ards, and I had revelation made to me
there that I never before understood,
Tbo Of RI fa-trpoov IF twnntv or
thirty people was this: I'VE were the vic
tins Of strong drink. We tried to quit. We
could not. Wemade failure. We belonged
to all sorts Of societies and we tried to get
over the habit, but we always failed But
after while we found God and gave our
hearts to Him. We have been greatly
changed. Not only have our hearts
been changed, but our bodies have
been changed. We don't feel the thirst any
more We don't have the temptation"
Not only can the grace Of Christ change
the heart, but it can recuperate and
change the body, and though to-day
you feel at the roots Of your tongue the crav-
ings Of a mighty thirst, call on God and He
will rescue you. You cannot do it your
SELF He can. He can. And il you have
only began to go astray. II it IS
matter Of luxury to you: when the liquor
pours into the cup, whether it be golden
chalice or pewter mug, ! want you, on men,
to read in the foam OH til ton Of the cup in
white,t letters ths word, "Beware!' But
go right on as some Of you are going and
in ten years you will as to Your body lie down
in drunkard's grave, and as to your immor-
tai soul YOU will lie down in drunkards 8
hell. It is an awful thing to say, but AMI
compelled to say it. Oh, when the books Of
Judgment are opened, and ten million drunk
ards come up to get their 1om, l want you
TO testify that this day, in all kindness and
love and plainness,I warned you to beware OF
the influences which have already reached
your home and are putting out some of its
lights, a premon;tion Of darkness for
ever. Oh, that to-day you might hear
intemperauce with drunkards' bones on the
top of the liquor cask drumming the dead
march Of immortal souls. And tn IN the slght
Of q wine glass would make you shudder,
and then the color Of the liquor would re-
mind you Of the blood Of the slain, and the
foam on the cup would make you think OF
the froth ctr the man:ac's lip, and you would
60 home from this service to kneel down
and pray Almighty God that rather than
YOUR children should become victims OF such
a habit you might carry them out to the
cemetery and put them down to the last
Sleep until all over their grave would come
the flowerS--sweet prophecies OF the resur
rection. God hath balm for such wound
but tell me, tell me, tell me, what flower o.
comfort syer grew on the blasted heath OF
drunkard's sepulchre!