West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1889-08-22

who are now captiyos Of strong drink only a
little While ago were foremost In the churches
and In retormatory institutional Do you
not know that sometimes they knelt ia tho
family clrclei Do you not know that they
prayed IN public, and some Of than carried
around the holy wine ON sacranoantal days,
On, yes they stood In the very front rank.
but they gradually fell away. And
now what do you suppose Is the feeling
SL s9eh man as that when
dishonorcd sacrament-when he thinks OF
what no might have been and OF what he Is
nowi Do such men laugh and seem very
merry Alb, there is, down In the depths OF
their soul, very heavy weight. Do not
wonder that they sometimes see strange
things, and act very roughly in the house
hold. You would not blame them at all IL
you knew what they suffer Do not tell such
as that there IS no future punishment Do
not tell him there Is no such place rs hell.
He knows there Is. Ho is there nowl
go ON, and say that tho inebriato suffers
from the loss OF physical health. Tho older
mon In the congregation may remember that
some years ago Dr. Sewell went through this
country and electrified tho people by his lee
lures, I'm which he showed the effects of alco-
hol ON tho human stomach. He had seven
or eight diagrams by which he showed the
devastation OF strong drink upon tho physi-
cal system. There wero thousands of people
that turned back from that ulcerous sketch
swearing eternal abstinence from everything
that could intoxicato.
God only knows what the drunkard SUI.
fers Pain files on every nerve, and travels
burns with every flame, and stings with
every poison, and pulls at him with every
torture. What reptiles crawl over his creep
ing limbs What flends stand by hia mid
mig pillow WpAJ groans tear bis earl
WHAT horrors shiver through his soul Talk
hA f0l nf NhA ,fafN f..s NoNl q
the funeral pyre, talk of the crushing jug
gernaut-he feels them all at once. Have
you ever been in tho ward of the hos
pital where these inebriates are dying,
the stencil of their wounds driving
back the attendants, their voices sounding
through the nightp The keeper comes up
and says: Hush, now, be still. Stop max
ing all this nosew But il Is cfTectual only for
moment, for 0s soon rs tho keeper is gone
they begin again: "Oh, God! oh, God Helpl
helpl Rum Give me rum Help Take
them of mol Take them off mel Take them
OF mel Oh, God" and then they shrek, and
they rave, and they pluck out their hair by
handsful, and bite their nails into tho quick,
and then they groan, and they shrek.
and they blaspheme, and they ask the keepers
TO Kill them. Stab me. Smother me-
Strangle me- Take the devils Off mew Oh.
it is no fancy sketch. That thing is going on
In hospitals, aye, it is going on In some of the
finest residences of every neighborhood on
this continent invent ON last night while YOU
slept, and tell you further that this is going
TO be the death that some of you will die, /
know it. j see il coming.
Again: the inebriate suffers through the
loss of his home. / do not care how much no
loves his wife and children IL this passion
for strong drink has mastered him, he will
do the most outrageous things, and if he
could not get drink i'm any other way, he
would sell his family into eternal bondage.
How many homes have been broken up i'm
that way, no one but God knows
Oh, is there anything that will so DESTROY
n man for this life and damn him for the life
that is to Gomez 1 hate that strong drink.
with all tho concentrated energies of NV
soul, hate it. Do you tell me that man
can be happy when he knows that he is
breaking his wifes heart aud clothing
his children with rags? Why, there
are on tae streets of our cities
today littlo children, barefooted I'M
comDed and unkempt; want on every patch
OF their faded dress and on every wrinkle of
their prematurely old countenances. who
would have been in churches to-day, and as
well clad as you are, but for the fact that
rum destroyed their parents and drove them
into tho grave. oh, rum! thou foe Of God,
t9ou destroyer OF homes, thou recruiting
officer OF the pit, / abhor thee!
But my subject takes a deeper tone
and that is, that the inebriate suffers
from the loss Of tho soul The Bible
lntmates that in the future world. if
we arc unforgiven here, our bad passions
ana appehtes, unrestrained, will go along
with us and make our torment there. So
that 1 suppose when an inebriate wakes up
IN this lost world he win feel nm in
Unite thirst clawing OH him. Now. down
IN the world, although he may have been
very poor he could beg or he could steal
i've cents with which to get that which
would Stake his thirst for a little while: but
IN eternity, where is the rum to CONS from?
Dives could not get one drop of winter. From
what chalice OF eternal fires will the hot lips
OK the drunkard drain his draught2 No one
20 prev ~ NO one to mix it. No ono to pour
then Tor the dregs which the young man
Just now slung on the saw-dusted
floor OF the restaurant Millions
OF worlds now for the rind
thrown out from the punch bowl Of
an earthly banquet. Dives cried for water.
Inc lnebriate cries for rum. Oh the deep.
exhausting, exssperating, everlasting thirst
OF the drunkaTd in hell Why, IL a Hend
came up TO earth for some Internal work i'm n
grog shop, and should go back taking ON lis
wing Just one drop Of that for which the
inebriate in the lost world longs. what ev
element 1t would make there. Put that one
drop from of the fiend's wing on the tin OF
the tongue OF the DESTROYED inebriatot Iet
the liquid brightness Just touch h
100 tho drop be very small III
~ Vl,iy huno IN IL the smack OF alcoholic
drink, let that drop just touch the lost inc
briats in the lost world, and he would spring
70 his feet and cry: THAT is rum aha that
ls rum p and IL would wake up tho echoes of
Ine damned: Give me ruml Give mo rum
Oiye me rumW In the future world I do
not believe that IL will DC tho absence OF God
that viii make the dTunkard's sorrow. do
not believe that IL will be the absence of
hght; do not believe that IL will be the an
sence OF holiness; ] think 1t will be the nh
ssnce Of strong drink OH look not uron
the vino when u Is red, when IL movetb a.
self Alright in the cup, for at the last Il bitoth
IKE serpent and IL stingeth like an adder
But want in conclusion 70 say one thing
personal, Tor do not like a sermon that has
no personalities in IT, Perhaps this las NOT
had thot fault already. / want 10 saw 10
those who are tho victims Of strong drink
that while / declare that there was n point
beyond which man could not stop, want
70 tell you that while n man cannot stop in
his own strength, the Lord God
by His grace, can help him to
stop ut any time Years ago / was in
a room In Now York whorO there were
many men who had been reclaimed from
drunkenness ] heard their testimony. and
TOT tho hrst time in my life there flashed out
q truth / never understood Thoy said. I'VE
were victims n stIOnR drink We tried 20
give u mp, but always failed. but aomehoyV.
since We gave our hearts to Christ He baa
taken caro- ~ u.s. I believe that the time
VIII soon come when the grace Of God win
snow its power here not only % save man's
soul, but Bats body, and reconstruct. purifv
elevate ond redeem it j verify believe that
although you feel graphing ct tho
roots or your tongues on almost omnipotept
thirst. il Won will tlta r54rr,e,.t 49, ---..-