The Penn's Grove record., 1889-08-31
DIR. TALMAGE's SERMON:



"wbo slew all these,n IL KING lo:lO.
1 SEE a long row ofbaskets coming up
toward the palace Of King Jehu. am
somewhat inquisitive to find out what
is in the baskets. look in, and l n
the CORY heads of seventy slain princes.
As the baskets arrive 81 The gate OF b
palace, the heads are thrown into two
heaps, one on either side the gate. In
the morning the King zones ont n
he looks upon the bleeding, CHASTITY
heads of the massacred princes. Look
ing on either side the gate, he cries out,
'fWho slew all these?""
We have, my friends, lived to see q
more
FEARFUL MASSACRE.
There is no use in my taking your time
in trying to give you statistics about
the devastation and ruin and the death
which strong drink has wrought in this
country. Statistics do not eeem 70 mean
anything. We are so hardened under
these statistics that the fact that fifty
thousand more men are slain, or fifty
thousand less men are slain, seems TO
make no positive impression on the
public mind. Suffice II to say that in
temperance has SLAIN an innumerable
company Of princes-the children OF
Gods royal family; and at the gate OF
every neighborhood there are two heaps
of the slam; and at the; door Of the
household there are two heaps Of the
slain; and at the door of the Legislative
hall there are two heaps of the slain;
and at the door Of the university there
are two heaps of the slain; and at the
gate of this nation there are two heaps
of the slain. When ] look upon the
desolation I am almost frantic with the
scene, while I cry out WHO slew all
these?' I csn answer that question in
half a minute. The ministers Of Christ,
who have given no warning, the courts
of law that have offered the h%censure,
the women who give strong drink on
New Years day, the fathers and moth
ers who hrve rum on the sideboard, the
hundreds of thousands of Christian men
and women in the land who are stolid in
their Indifference on this subject
THEY SLEW ALL rHEsEl
propose in this discourse to tell you
what l think are the sorrows and the
doom of the drunkard, so that you, to
whom I speak, may not come to the
torment. Some n says: "You had
better let those subjects Alone" Why,
my brethren, we would be glad to let
them alone if they would let us alone;
but when 1 have in my pocket o four
requests, saying, "Pray for my hus-
band" ":Pray for my son." "Pray for
my brother, ""Pray for m~yfriend, who
is the captive of strong drink" I reply,
we are willing to let that question alone
when it is willing to let us alone; bnt
when it stands blocking up the way to
heaven, and keeping multitudes away
from Christ, I dare not be silent, lest
the Lord require their blood at my
hands. @g
1 think the subject has been Kept
back by
TIL INCREMENT PEOPLE MAKE
over those slam by strong drink. /
used to be very merry over those things,
having a keen sense of the ludicrous.
There was something very grotesque in
the gait of the drunkard. II ie not SO
now, for l saw in one Of the streets of
Philadelphia q sight that changed the
whole subject to me. There was ayoung
man being led home. He was very
much intoxicated-he was raving with
intoxication. Two young men BIC
leading him along. The boys ho0ted
him in the street, men laughed, women
sneered, but l happened to be very
near the door where he went init was
the door of his fathers house. / saw
him go upstairs. I heard him shout
ing, Rooting and disappearing. He had
! lost his hat, and the merriment increas-
u:.L A. ,,oh ,,p%,1 ha NV kofkha
door, and a the door was opened his
mother came out. When i heard her
cry, that took all the comedy away from
the scene. Since that time, when / see
a man walking through the street reel
ing, the comedy is all gone, and ii is q
tragedy of tears and groans and heart
breaks. Never make any fun around
me about the grotesqueness Of q drunk
ard! Alas for his home!
THE DRUNKARD's LossEss
The first suffering Of the drunkard is
in theJoss of his good name. God has
so arranged it that no man eve loses
his good name except through his own
act. All the hatred of men, and all the
assaults of devils, cannotdestroy . mans
good name, if he really maintains his
integrity. If q man is industrious and
pure and Christian, God looks after
him. Although he may be bombarded
for twenty or thirty years, his integrity
is never lost and his goodname is never
sacrificed. No force on earth " in hell
can capture such Gibraltar. But when
II is said of a man, 'He drinks" and it
can be proved, then what employer
wants him for q workman? what store
wants him for q clerk? what church
wants him for q member? who will trust
him? what dying man would appoint
him his executor? He may have been
forty years in building up his reputa-
tion-it goes down. Letters Of recon-
mendation, the backing up Of business
firms, q brilliant ancestry, cannot save
| him. Why? 1t is whispered all through
the community, "He drinks! he drinks"
That blasts him.
When a man loses his reputation for
sobriety he might as well be at the
bottom of the sea. There are mem here
who have their good name as their only
capital. You are now achieving your
own livelihood, under God, by your own
right arm. Now look out thattltsre is
no doubt of your sobriety. Do not
create any Suspicion ny BoinS IN u
out of immoral places, or by any odor
Of your breath, or by any glareSef your
eve, or by any unnatural Hush Of your
cheek, You cannot afford 10 do it, for
your good name is your only capital,
and when that is blasted with the repu-
tation of taking strong drink, all is
gone.
suffers is that Of self respect. just as
soon as a man wakes up and finds that
he is the captive Of strong drink, he
feels demeaned. l do mot care how
| reckless he acts. He may say, 81 don't
care" he does care. Ha cannot look q
pure man in the eye, unless it is with
positive force of resolution. Three
fourths of his nature is destroyed. His
sELF-REsPEcr GONE,
he SAYS things he would not otherwise
say; he does things he would not other
wise do. When a man is nine-tenths
gone with strong drink, the first thing
he wants TO do is TO persuade you that
be can stop any time he wants tosA He
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