The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-08-14

4. " oipio SocictoS anu reiOrmHUOry lnhUlUu-
tions Of all sorts. He was very genial and
very generous and very lovable, and when.
ever he talked about this evil habit he would
say, II can stop any timen But he kept
going ON, going on, down, down, down. His
family would say, Il wish you would stop
why" he would reply, ~ can stop any
time il want ton After while he had
delirium tremens; he had it twice; and yet
a1ter that he said, II could stop at any time
II wanted TO-" He Is dead now. What
killed hint Ruml RUM And yet among
his last ut terances was, II can stop at any
time" He did not stop 1t, because he could
not stop it. o, there Ia q point in inebria-
ton beyond which, II man goes, he can
not stop.
One Of these victims said to a Christian
man: "Sir II were told that couldn't get
a drink until tomorrow night unless l had
all my fingers cut of, would say Bring
the hatchet and cut them of now" have
a dear friend in Philadelphia, whose nephew
came TO him one day. and when he was OK.
horted about his evil habit, said: ''Uncle,
Ican't give It up. II there stood cannon,
and 1t was load ed and glass Of wine sat
on the mouth Of that cannon, and l knew
that you would fire 1t of Just as / came up
and took the glass, would start, for must
have It," o, 1t is a sad thing for man to
wake up in this life and feel that he Is
captive. He says: II could have got rid
Of this once but can't now. might have
lived an honorable life and died Christian
death; but there Is no hope for me now;
there is no escape for me. Dead, but not
buried. am walking corpse. am an
apparition Of what was. am Gagged i'm
mortal, beating against the wires Of my
cage in this direction and in that direction;
beating against the cage until there is blood
on the wires and blood on my soul, yet not
able TO get out. Destroyed, withoutremedy.
go further, and say that the inebriate
suffers from the loss Of his usefulness. Do
you not recognize the fact that many Of
those who are now captives Of strong drink
only little while ago were foremost in the
churches and in reformatory institutionsl
Do you not know that sometimes they knelt
in the family circlel Do you not know that
they prayed in public, and some Of them
carried around the holy wine on sacra-
mental days! o, yes, they stood in the very
front rank, but they gradually fell away.
And now what do you suppose is the feeling
Of such man as that, when he thinks Of his
dishonored vows and the dishonored sacra-
ment-when he thinks Of what he might
have been and what he Is nowl Do such
men laugh and seem very merryl 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 the household. You would not
blame them at all II 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. He knows there is
He is there now!
Igo on and say tn at the inebriate suffers
from the losso physical health. The older
men In the congregation may remember
that some years ago DIR. Sewell went
through the country and electrified the peo-
| Pile by his lectures, in which he showed the
effects Of alcohol on the human stomach.
He had seven or eight diagrams by which
he showed the devastation of strong drink
upon the physical system. There were
thousands Of people that turned back from
the uScerous sketch swearing eternal absti-
nence from every thing that could mtoxi-
cate.
God only knows what the drunkard suf-
fers. Pain files on every nerve, and travels
every muscle, and gnaws every bone, and
burns with every fame, and stings with
every poison, and pulls at him with every
torture. Whatreptiles crawl over his creep
ing limbs What hends stand by his mid
night -pillowl What groans tear his ear
What horrors shiver through his soul Talk
Of the rack, talk Of the Inquisition, talk Of
the funeral pyre, talk Of the crushing Of the
Juggernaut-he feels them all at once.
Have you ever been in the ward Of the hos
pital where these inebriates are dying, the
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 making all
this noisem But IL is effectual only
for a moment, for as soon as the keeper
Is gone they begin again: 20, God
oh, Godi Help Helpl RUM Give me
ruml Helpl Take them OF mel Take
them of mel Take them of me! o,
God" And then they shrek, and they
rave, and they pluck out their hair
by handful, and bite their nails into the
quick, and then they groan and they shrek,
and they blaspheme, and they ask the keep
ers TO kill them. "Stab me. Smother me.
Strangle me. Take the devils on me-" o.
II is no fancy sketch. That thing gis goingon
In hospitals, aye, 1t is going on in some Of
the finest residences Of every neighborhood
on this continent IL went on last night
while you slept and tell you further that
this Is going 10 be the death some Of you
will die know It. / see 1t coming.
o, 10 there any thing that will 80 destroy
q man for this life and damn him for the
life that is 10 comet ! hate that strong
drfnE With ali tha concentrated aparoiaa