The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1889-08-22

that il to Conner / hats that strone drnk. |
With oil the concentrated energies oiny soul
/ hate IL. Do not tell me that q man can be-
happy whom be knows that he ID breaking his
wifeSs heart and clothing his children with
rags? Why, there are on the streets OF our
cities today little children, ~barefooted, nm
washed, and unkempt want on every patchof
their prematureIy old c~cuntenances, who
would have been in churches today, and as
well clad as you are, but for the fact that rum
destroyed their parents and drove them into
the grave. Oh, RUM thou foe of God, b o
despoiler Of homes, thou recruiting officer OF
the pit, / abhor theel
But my subject takes o deeper tone, and
that isthat the inebriate suffers from theloss
of the soul. The bible intimates that in the
future world, if VIZ are unforgiven here, our
bad passions and appetites, unrestrained
will go along with Us and make our torment
there. So that I suppose whom an inebriate
wakes 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 s cents
with which to get that which would slake his
thirst for a little while; but in eternity where
is the rum to come from? Dives could not
get one drop of water. From what chalice
Of eternal fires will the hot lips of the drunk
ard drain his draught2 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 tie sawdusted floor of the restau.
rant. Millions Of worlds now for the
rind thrown out from the punch-bowl off
an earthly banquet. Dives cried for water.
The inebriate cries for rum. Oh, the deep,
exhaustive. exasperating, everlasting thirst
of the drunkard in HE'LL Why, if al iend came
up to earth for somo Internal workin agrog-
shop and should go back taking on it's wing
would make there. Put that one drop from
off the aend'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 il it only have in it the smack of alco-
holic drink, let that drop just touch the lost
spring to his feet and cry: "That is ruml
ahal that is ruml" and it would wake up the
echoes OF the damned: "Give me rum! Give
me UNI! Give me rum!" In the future world
l do not believe that it will be the absence of
God that will make the d~runkard's sorrow;
I do not believe that it will be the absence of
light; I do not believe that 1t will be the alb
! sence of strong dring. Oh, "look not upon
the wine when it is red, when it moveth itself
Alright in the cup, for at the last it biteth like
a serpent and it stingeth like IN adder"
But I var in conclusion to say one thing
personal, for I do not like q sermon that has
no personalities in it. Perhaps this has
those who are victims of strong drink that
while I declare that there was q point be-
| yond which a man could not stop, I want to
tell you hat while q man can not stop in
his w strength the Lord God, by his grace,
can help him 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. I heard their testimony and
for the first time in my life there flashed out
q truth I never understood. They said: "We
were victims of strong drink. We tried to
give it up, but always failed; but somehow,
since We gave our hearts to Christ, he has
taken care of u.s." I believe that the time
show it's power here not only to save mans
soul but his body, and reconstruct, purify,
elevate, and redeem it. I verify believe that,
although you feel graphing at the roots oil
your tongues an almost omnipotent thirst,
it you will this moment give
you by his grace to conquer. Try it. 1t Is
your last chance. I have looked of upont the
desolation. Sitting under my ministry there
are people in awful peril from strong drink,
and judging from ordinary circumstance
there is not one chance in 5000 THAI they
will get clear of it. I see men in this congre-
cation Of whom I must make the remark
II OANAV AA SAVy Wv AOIk6O UACAA Soul60S "1UA~
in ten years they will, as to their bodies, lie
down in drunkard's graves, and as to their
souls, lie down in q drunkards' perdition. !
know that it is an awful thing to say, but
can't help saying it. Oh, bewarel You have
not yet been captured. 'Bewarel As We open
the door of your wine closet today, may
that decanter fash out upon you "Bewarel"
And when you pour the beverage into the
glass, in the foam at the top in white letters
let there bespelled out to your whole soul,
"BewareI' When the books of Judgment are
open and 10, 100000 drunkards come up to
get their doom I want you to
bear witness that I to-day, in the fear
of God and in the low for your
soul, told you with all affection, and with all
kindness, to beware ofthat which has already
ing out some ofits lights-a premontion OF
the blackness ofdarkness forever. Oh, if you
could only hear this moment Intemperance
with ~drunkards' bones drumming on the
head of the wine-cask the lead march of i'm.
mortal souls, methinks the very glance of q
wine-cup would make you shudder and the
color of the liquor would make you think OF
the soul, n the foam on the top of the cup
would remind you of the froth on the mani.
ac's lip, and you would 60 home from this
service and kneel down and pray God that
rather than your children should become
captives of this evil habit you would like to
carry them out some bright spring day to
the cemetery and put them away to the last
sleep, until at the coll of the south wind the
flowers would come up all over the grave
sweet prophecies of the resurrection. God
has q bnlm for such awound; but what flower
of comfort ever grew on tho blasted heath o
q ~drunkards sepulcher?