The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-08-28
ret not able to get out. Destroyed, without

who are now captives Of strong drink only a
little while ago were foremostin the churches
and in reformatory institutions Do you
not know that sometimes they knelt In the
family circles Do you not know that they
prayed in public and some Of them carried
around the holy wine on sacramsntal days?
Oh, yes, they stood In the very front rank,
now what do you suppose is the feeling
of such man ns that when
he thinks Of his dishonored vows and the
dishonored sacrament-when he thinks Of
what he might have been and of what he is
now? Do such men laugh and seem very
merry? All, 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 tho house.
hold. You would not blame them at all if
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 as hell.
Heknows there is. He is there now
Igo on, and say that the inebriate suffers
from the less of physical health. The Older
men in the congregation may remember that
country and electrified the people by his lee
lures. in which he showed the effects of aIco-
hol on the human stomach. He had seven
or eight diagrams by which he showed tho
devastation of strong drink upon the physi-
cal system. There were thousands Of people
that turned back from that ulcerous sketch
swearing eternal abstinence from verything
that could into1icate. :.
God ouy knows what the drunkard suf-
fers Pain files on every nerve, and travels
every muscle, and gnaws every bone, and
burns with every flame, and stings with
every poison, and pulls at him with every
TI,,{r rny,ft1ac .ox.y1n
ing limbs What flends stand by bis mid
night pillowl What groans tear his earl
What Horrors shiver through his soull Talk
Of the rack, talk sf the Inquisition, talk Of
tho funeral pyre, talk OF the crushing :tug-
gernaut-he feels them all at once. Have
you ever been in the ward Of the hos
pital where these inebriates arc dying,
tho stencil Of their wounds driving
back the attendants, their voices sounding
through the night? The keeper comes up
and says: "Hush, now, be still. Stop max
ing all this noisep' But tits effectual only for
a moment, for as soon as the keeper is gone,
they begin again: "Oh, God! oh, Godl Help!
help! RumI Give me rum! Help! Take
them off me! Take them of mel Take them
of mel Oh, GodT' and then they shriek, and
handsful and bite their nails into the quick,
and then they groan, and they shrlek
and they blaspheane, and they ask the keepers
to kill them. Stab me. Smother me.
Strangle me. Take the devils Off mer' 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. It went 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. see it coming
Again: the inebriate suffers through the
loss Of his home. I do not care how much he
loves his wife and children, if this passion
for strong drink has mastered him, hO will
do the most outrageous things, and if he
could not get drink in any other way, he
How many homes have been broken up in
that way, no one but God knows.
Oh, Is there anything that will so destroy
a man for this life aud damn him for the life
that is to Gomez hate that strong drink.
With all the concentrated energies Of my
soul, hate it. Do you tell me that man
can be happy when he knows that he is
breaking hfs wife's heart and clothing
his children with rags? Why, there
are on the streets of our cities
to-day little children, barefooted, un.
combed 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
rum destroyed their parents and drove them
into tho grave. Oh, rum! thou foe Of God,
thou destroyer of homes, thou recruiting
officer Of tho pit, abhor thee! .. .
But my subject takes deeper tone,
and that is, that the inebriate suffers
from the loss of the soul. The Bible
intimates that in the future world, If
we are unforgiven here, our bad passions
and appetites, unrestrained, will go along
with us and make our torment there. So
that suppose when an inebriato wnkes up
in this lost world he will feel an In.
finite thirst clawing on him. Now, down
in the world, although he may have been
very poor, he could beg or he could steal
would slake his thirst for little while; but
in eternity, where is the rum to come from?
Dives could not get one drop of water. From
what cbalice Of eternal fires will the hot bps
of the drunkard drain his draught? No one
to brew It, No one to mix it. No one to pour
it. No one to fetch it. Millions of worlds
then for the dregs which the young man
just now slung on the saw-dusted
hoor of the restaurant. Millions
Of worlds now for the rind
thrown out from the punch bowl Of
an eatth1y banquet. Dives cried for water.
The ihebriate cries for rum. Oh, the deep,
exhausting, exasperating, everlasting thirst
of the drunkard in he'll! Why, if fend
grog shop, and should go back taking on its
wing Just one drop Of that for which the
inebriate in the lost world longs, what ex-
element it would make there. Put that one
drop from off the fend's wing ON the tip Of
the tongue Of the destroyed inebriate; let
the liquid brightness just touch it,
Let the drop be very small if
it only have in 1t the smack Of alcoholic
drink, let that drop just touch the lost inc
tGiate in the lost world, and he would spring
to his feet and cry: ''1hat is rumt ahal that
is rum" and it would wake up the echoes OF
the damned: "Give me ruml Give me ruml
Give me rumr' In the future world, do
not believe that it will be the absence Of God
that will make the drunkards sorTow; do
not believe that it will be the absence OF
light: do not believe that it will be tho ab-
sence of holiness; I think it will be the alb
sence of strong drink. Obi 'look not upon
the wine when it is red, when it moveth it
self Alright in the cup, for at the last, it biteth
like serpent and it stingeth like an adder"
But want in conclusion to say one thing
personal, for do not like sermon that has
no personalities in it. Perhaps this has not
had that fault already. Iwant to say to
those who are the victims Of strong drink.
that while declare that there WAS Q point
beyond which man could not stop want
to toll you that while a man cannot stop in
his own strength, the Lord God,
by His grace, can help. bin to
stop at any time. Years ago I was IN
a room in New York where there were
many men who had been reclaimed from
drunkenness. T heard their testimony, and
for the first time in my life there flashed out
a truth never understood. They said: I'VE
were victims Of strong drink. We tried to
give it up, but always failed; but somehow,