Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-08-21

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 the
grave. Oh rum! thou foe of God, thou de-
spoller OF homes, thou recruiting officer of
the pit, abhor thee!
But my subject takes deeper tone, and
that is, that the lnebriate suffers from the
loss of the SOUL The Bible intimates that
in the future world, if we are unforpiyen
here, our bad passions and appetites. 1nre.
strained, will go along with us and make
our torment there. So that suppose when
an inebriate wakes up in this lost world he
will feel an infinite thirst clawing on him.
Now, down in the world, although he NAV
have been very poor, he could beg or he
could steal five cents with which to get that
which would slake his thirst for a little
while; but in eternity, where is the rum to
come fronp Dives could not get one drop
OF water. From what chalice of eternal
fires will the hot lips of the drunkard drain
bis dranght? 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 floor of the restaurant.
Millions OF worlds now for the rind thrown
out from the punch bowl of an earthly ban.
quet. Dives cried for water. The inebri-
ate cries for rum. Oh, the deep, exhaust
Jog, exasperatipg, everlasting thirst of the
drunkard in hell! Why, if fiend came up
to earth for some internal work in a grog
shop, and should go back taking on its wing
Just one drop of that for which the inebri-
ate in the lost world longs, what excitement
it would make there Put that one drop
from off the fisnd'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 it the smack
of alcoholic drink, let that drop just touch
the lost inebriate in the lost world, and he
would spring to his feet and cry: s'That
is rum! ahal that is ruml'' and it would
wake up the echoes of the damned: stGive
me rum! Give me rum! Give me rump'
In the future world l do not believe that it
will be the absence of God that will make
the drunkard's sorrow;I do not believe that
it will be the absence of light; I do no. be-
lieve that it will be the absence of holiness;
think it will be the absence of strong
drink. Oh! "look not upon the wine when
it is red, when it moveth itself Alright in the
cup, for at the last it bteth like a serpent
and it stingeth like an adder"
But I want in conclusion to say one thing
personal, for l do not like sermon that
has no personalities in it. Perhaps this
has not had that fault already. 1 want to
say to those who are the victims of strong
drink, that while declare that there was a
point beyond which man could not stop, /
want to tell you that while man cannot
stop in his own strength, the Lord God, by
His grace, can help him to stop at any time.
Years ago was in room in New York
where there were maLy men who had been
reclaimed from drunkenness. Iheard their
testimony, aud for the first time in my life
there flashed out truth / never under.
stood. They said: "We were victims of
strong drink. We tried to give it up, bui
always failed; but somehow, since we gave
our hearts to Christ, he has taken care of
u.s." l believe that the time will soon come
when the grace of God will show it's power
here not only to save mans soul, but bis
body, and reconstruct, purify, elevate and
redeem it. verify believe that, although
you feel graphing at the roots of youl
tongue an almost omnipotent thirst, if you
will this moment give your heart to God be
will help you, by his grace, to conquer. Try
it. 1t is your last chance. l have looked
off upon the dssolation. Sitting under my
ministry there arc people in awful peri
from strong drink, and, judging from or
binary circumstances, there is cot one
chance in five thousand that they will Gel
cieai of it. | see men in this congregation
of whom I must make the remark that, i
they do not change their course, within ter
years they will, as to their bodies, lie dowr
in druukards' graves; and as to their souls
lie down in drunkard's perdition. know
that it is an awful thing to say, but cam
help saying it. Oh, beware! You have no
been captured. Beware! AS ye open ths
door of your wine closet to-day, may tina
decanter flash out upon you, Beware! ant
when you pour the beverage into the glass
| in the foam on the top, in white letters, lie
there be spelled out to your soul. "Be
warep' When the books of Judgment ar,
| open, and ten million drunkards come ul
| to get their doom, want you to bear wit
ness that to-day, in the fear of God, ant
in the love for your soul, told you with al
kindness, to beware of that which has al
ready exerted it's influence upon your fami
ly, blowing out some of its lights-a pre-
monition of the blackness of darkness for
ever. Oh, if you could only hear, this mo
ment, IntempsIance. with drunkard'
bones, drumming on the head OF the win
cask the Dead March of immortal souls
methinks the very glance of a wine cul
would make you shudder, and the color o
the liquor would make you think of tn
blood of the soul, and the foam on the to-
of the cup would remind you of the frotl
on the maniac's lip, and you would g
home from this service and kneel down ant
pray God that, rather than your children
should become captiyes of this evil habit
you would like to carry them out som
bright spring day to the cemetery and pu
them away to the last sleep, until at tn
call of the south wind the flowers woult
come up all over the grave-sweet prophe
cies of the resurrection. God has balm
for sucn a wound; but what flower of com
fort ever grew on the blasted heath OF
drunkard's sepulchre?
| For the SPECTATOR.