The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-08-28
SLAIN BY STRONG DRINK.
A Sermon on Drunkenness by Rev.
T. Dewitt Talmage, D. D.

1u0 SOrrOWs, suu0rln8 ana DOOM OF tuo
Drunkard--How Reputation, self-Re-
spect and Health are Lost Through
Intemperance- God Only Can
Save the Drunkard.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage preached re-
Gently to large congregation at Helena,
Mont, taking for his text, "Who Slew All
Thesep II. Kings, K, 10. He preached q
powerful discourse on drunkenness the
Nations Curse" He said:
! see long row of baskets coming up TO-
ward the palace Of King Jehu. l am some
what inquisitive to find out what is in the
baskets. ! look in and l find the CORY heads
of seventy slain princes. As the baskets ar
rive az the gate of the palace, the heads are
thrown into twoheaps, one on either side the
gate. In the morning the King comes out,
and he looks upon the bleeding, CHASTITY
heads of the massacred princes. Looking on
either side the gate, he cries out, with ring
ing emphasis ''Who slew all these!"
We have, my friends, lived to see more
fearful massacre There is no use of my
taking your time in trying to give statistics
about the devastation, and ruin, and death
which strong drink has wrought in this
country Statistics do not seem to mean
any thing. 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 it to
say, that intemperance has slain an innumer-
able company of princes-the children OF
Gods royal family; and at the gate OF
every neighborhood there are two heaps OF
the slain; and at the door of the household
there are two heaps of the slain; and atthe
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 l am almost frantic with the
scene, while l cry out: "Who slew all
theses" can answer that question in half
minute. The ministers Of Christ who
have given no warning, the courts OF law
that have offered the licensure the women
who give strong drink on New Years day,
the fathers and mothers who have rum on
the sideboard, the hundreds of thousands OF
Christian men and women in the land who
are stolid in their indiffere nee on this sub
ject-they slew all these!
I propose in this discourse to tell you
what think are the sorrows and the doom
of the drunkard, SO that you to whom
speak may not come to the torment.
Some one says: "You had better letthose
subjects alone" Why, my brethren, we
would be glad to let them alone If they
would let us alone; but when have in my
pocket now four requests saying: "Pray
for my husband, pray for my son, pray for
my brother, pray for m friend, who is the
captive of strong drink" reply, we are
ready to let that question alone when it is
ready to let us alone; but when it stands
blocking up the way to Heaven, and keep
ing multitudes away from Christ and
Heaven, dare not be silent, lest the Lord
require their blood at my hands.
think the subject has been kept back
very much by the merriment people make
be very merry over these things, having a
keen sense Of the ludicrous. There was
something very grotesQue in the gait Of a
drunkard. It is not so now; for saw in one
of the streets Of Philadelphia sight that
changed the whole subject to me. There
was yonng man being led home. He was
very much intoxicated was raving with
intoxication. Two young men were leading
him along. The boys hooted in the street,
men laughed, women sneered; but / hap
pened to be very near the door where he
went init was the door Of his fathers
house. saw him 60 up stairs heard him
shouting, hootlng and disappearing. He had
lost his hat, and the merriment increased
with the mob until he came up to the door,
and as the door was opened his mother came
out. When heard her cry that took all
the comedy away from the scene. Since
that time, when see man walking through
the street reeling, the comedy is all gone,
and 1t is tragedy of tears and groans and
heartbreaks. Never make any fun around
me about the grotesqueness of drunkard.
Alas for his home!
The first suffering Of the dru nkard is in
the loss of his good name. God has so ar
ranged it that no man ever loses his good
name except through his own act All the
hatred of men and allthe assaults of devils
can not des troy mans good name, If he
really maintains his integrity. lfaman is in
dustrious 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 good name is never sacri-
feed No force on earth or in hell can cap
ture such Gibraltar. But when it is said
of q man, HE drinks" and it can be proved,
then what employer wants him for a work.
manl What store wants him for clerk
What church wants him for q members
Who will trust himl Whatdying man would
appoint him his executorl He may have
been forty years in building up his reputa.
tion-it goes down. Letters of recommends
ton, the backing up of business firms, a
brilliant ancestry can not save him. The
world SHES off, Why's 1t is whispered all
through the community, HE drinks; he
drinks" That blasts him. When a man
loses his reputationfor sobriety he might as
we'll be at the bottom of the sea. There are
men 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 that there is nc
doubt Of your sobriety. Do not create any
suspicious by going in and out Of immoral
places, or bv any odor Of your breath, or by
any glare of your eye, or by any unnatural
flush of your cheek. You can not afford tc
do it, for your good name is your only CAPT
tai, and when that is blasted with the repu
tation of taking strong drink, all is gone.
Another loss which the inebriate suffer.
is that of self-respect Just as soon as g
man wakes up and finds that he is captive Of
strong drink he feels demeaned. / do not
care how reckless he acts. He may say, 81
don't care;" he does care. He can not lool
apure man in the eye, unless it is with pos
tive force of resolution. Three-fourths Of
his nature is destroyed; his self-respect
gone; he says things he would not other
wise say; he does things he would not 9th
erwise do. When man is nine tenths gon,
with strong drink, the first thing he want
To do Ia to nersuade YOU he can stup any tim