St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-04-19
ALCOHOL, KING OF POISONS.
Sermon by Rev. Herbert NJ. Andrews @
Peacham.


A sermon preached by Rev. Herbert
NJ. Andrews of Peacham for the WON
ans Christian Temperance Union of
that place has created considerable in
terest in that section because of his
clear and vigorous denunciation of AL
cohol as the king of poisOns and the
destroyer of the young. Liberal ex-
tracts from this sermon are published
herewith at the request of the Peach
am w. C. T. U.
| Mr.. Andrews took for his text, Ro-
mans, ISL , 3, owe then that are strong,
ought to bear the infirmities of the
weak, and not to please ourselves. For
even Christ pleased not Himself" The
first portion of the sermon was plea
for disintere sted benevolence, the I'M
selfish ordering of ones own life by the
rule of philanthropy, by this means to
supplant and gradually to exterminate
the worldly selfishness which has ever
yielded such bitter, poisonous fruit in
private and in national life. Instead
of standing upon the PROSTATE form OF
one crushed under the burdens of life,
the burdens are to be lifted by strong
er hands, the tOttering step to be
steadied, the despairing heart to be
comfOrted, men should "bear each
others burdens, and so fulfil the law
of Christ" All of the sermon bearing
on the temperance question follows:
The appetites and passions of the
body flourish on a selfish mans menu,
but the soul must have viands of a diff
ferent kind, and without benevolent
affections it will die of starvation, no
matter if it be surrounded with plenty.
What the saliva and gastric juice are
to the body in digesting and preparing
food for assimilation with blood and
bone and muscle, this to the soul is
the self-fOrgetful love of benevolence.
With this in the soul, food may be con
verified into spiritual nourishment, and
made to contribute to soul-growth.
But the dried and withered soul of
man who lives for self alone, has none
of these juices of life within him, and
he can no more obtain nourishment
from the privileges and experiences of
life, than can the dried mummy that
has lain two thousand years in the Sc
cret chambers of the pyramids. His
soul is dead, and it will take Almighty
power to raise him up to newness of
life.
Benevolence multiplies it's years by
the years which it has added to anoth
er life by its healing touch. BenevO
lence multiplies its JOY and comfort by
the joys and comforts which it has
brought into other hearts, while it di-
vides it's own SORROWS by the number
of grateful sympathizing hearts which
its own attractive qualities have gath
cred about itself. 1t pays to seek the
welfare of others, for thus our own
hearts will be wonderfully blessed, and
our own lives abundantly strengthened
and developed.
Another consideration which should
move us to life of disinterested be-
nevolence, is the fact that the curse
that embitters other hearts and homes
is contagious, and sooner or later will
strike the selfish heart.
There is God above, and the cry of
suffering humanity, unheeded by man
will cause God to mete out vengeance
regardless of it's effect upon the hither-
to Indifferent and selfish.
The Christians of this country should
have learned this lesson by the fiery
trial through which the nation has
passed. The cry of the oppressed was
heard by Jehovah of SabaOth, when
the ears of His people were dulled to
every thing save their own apparent
self-interest, and their hearts were
hardened by worldly maxims and
plausible sophistries. When Jehovah
had marshalled His hosts to battle, the
heart of the nation was wrung with
agony at the immense sacrifice of life
and treasure, it was compelled to make.
The breaking of chains wrought in the
FORCES of century's cruelty and OPP
preston, required superhuman effort,
and the birth thrOes of freedom have
left their mark upon every hamlet and
village in our land, and have darkened
with sorrow nearly every home. Let
us remember the lesson we have learn
ed, and forsake this selfish policy,
which has cost SO much to carry out,
and henceforth look to others homes
as well as our own, for the conditions
of lasting and substantial happiness
and peace. Let this little town, gem
med with crystal lakes, and threaded
by beautiful streams, and diversified
by hill and valley, shut in, in great
measure from the cOntagion of the
vices that are rotting out the life and
marring the beauty of the manhood
and womanhood of other communities,
and cankering their Christian life-let
this people remember that it would
take a wall higher and broader than
the famous Chinese wall, to effectually
keep out the infection from our homes.
The only way to thoroughly protect
our own homes is to interest ourselves
in staying the ravages of the evil in
all our land. The light of the gospel
of the Son of God, floods this cOmmu
nifty too fully to leave shadow of an
excuse for selfish Indifference in any
heart. The cry comes up to US from
homes of misery, poisoned in all the
fountains of domestic life by alcohol,
the king of poisons. The cry of bitter
anguish comes up to us from thousands
of children, upon whose bodies have
been entailed the fearful results of the
use of alcohol. You cannot fail to
hear the groans of despair that are
forced from the slaves of the demon
drink, by the scorpion lash of a deadly
You cannot be ignorant of
the fact that thousands of the best and
bravest of our land have listened to the
syren voice of the tempter, until the
insiduous poison has laid them in dis
honored drunkard's graves,-a curse to
themselves and curse to- the world,
and with the awful curse of God rest
ing upon them. You must be aware
of the fact that the jails and prisons
and penitentiaries, the aims houses