Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-08-15

ketupts WANT OIL every pulcH u lHelf
faded dress and on every wrinkle of their
prematurely old codntenances, who
would have been IN churches to-day, and
as web clad as yen are, but for the fact
that rum destroyed their parents and
| drove them into the grave. Oh, rum!
thou foe of God, thou despoiler of homes,
thou recruiting officer Of the pit, abhor
theeI
WORST OF ALL HIS SOUL is LOST.
But my subject takes deeper tone,
and that is, that the inebriate suffers
from the loss of the soul. The Bible iu-
Inmates that in the future world, if we
are unforgiven here, our bad passions
and appetites, unrestrained, viii go
along with us and make our torment
there. So that 1 suppose when an in
ebriate wakes up in this lost world he
viii feel an infinite thirst clawing on
him. Now, down in the world, although
ne may have been very poor, he could
beg or he could steal five cents, with
which to get that which would Stake his
thirst for little while; but i'll eter-
nifty, where is the rum to come
from? Dives could not get enc
drop of water From what
chalice of eternal fire will the not
lips of the drnnkard drain his draught?
No one TO brew it. No one to mix it. No
one to pour it. No one to fetch It, Mil
lions of worlds then for the dregs which
the young man just now slung on the
sawdusted floor of the restaurant. Mil
lions of worlds now for the rind thrown
out from the punchbowl of an earthly
banquet. Dives cried for water. The
inebrIate cries for rum. Oh, the
deep, exhaustIng, exasperating, ever
Of Il nd in hal
Why, if a fiend came up to earth
for some Internal work in grog shop,
and should go back taking on it's wings
just one drop of that for which the inc
briate in the last world longs, what ex-
element it would make there! Put that
one drop from off the fiend s wing on the
tip of the tongue OF the destroyed 1nebri-
ate; let the liquid brightness just touch
it, let the drop be very small if it only
have III 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: ''That is rum! aha! that is rum -
and it would wake up the echoes of the
damned: ''GIve me rumi Give me rum!
Give me rumi' In the future world l
do not believe that 1t will be the absence
Of God that will make the drunkard IS
sorrow; do not believe that it will be
the absence of light; 1 do not believe
that it will be the absence of holiness; [
think 1t will be the absence of strong
drink. Oh! ''Iook not upon the wine
when it is red, when it moveth itself
Alright in the cup, for at the last, it
biteth like q serpent and it stingeth like
an adder. -
WORD TO THE VICTIMS.
But [ want, in CONCLUSION, to say one
thing personal. for I do not like q 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 l declared
that there was a point beyond which
man could not stop, I want to tell you
that while a man cannot stop in his own
strength, the Lord God by His grace can
help. him TO stop at any time. Years ago
1 was in a room in New York where there
were many men who had been re-
claimed from drunkenness. | heard their
testimony, and for the first time in my
life there flashed out truth l never I'M
derstood They said: 90 We were vic
TINS 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 US. | believe that the
time will soon come when the grace of
God will show its power here not only to
save man s soul, but his body, and re-
construct, purify, elevate and re-
deem it. I verify believe that. although
you feel graphing at the roots of
your tongues an almost OmnipOtent
thirst, if you will this moment give your
heart to God He will help you, by His
grace, to conquer. Try it. 1t is your
last chance. l have looked off upon the
desolation. Sitting under my ministry
there are people III awful peril from
strong drink and judging from ordinary
circumstances, there is not one chance in
FIVE thousand that they will get clear of
it. I see men in this congregation of
whom [ must pake1the remark that, if
they do not change their course, within
ten years they viii, as to their
bodies. lie down. IN, drunkaIds' graves;
and as to their souls. lie down in
drunkard s perditIon. l know that it is
an awful thing to say, but / can f help
saying It. On, beware! You have not
vet been captured. Beware! AS yes9pen
the door of your wine closet to-day may
that decanter flash out upon you, 'tBe-
and when you pour the beverage
into the glass, in the foam at the top, in
white letters, let there be spelled out to
your soul, "Beware! When the
books of judgment are open, and
10 900 600 drunkards come to
get their doom, want
you to bear witness that I, to-day, in the
fear of God, and in the love for your
soul, told you with all affection, and
with all kindness, to beware of that
which has already exerted its influence
upon your family, blowing out some of
It's Iights-a premonition of the black
ness of darkness forever. On, if you
could only hear this moment, In
with drunkard IS bones,
on the head of the
wine cask the Dead March of immor-
tai souls, methinks the very glance of a
wine cup would make you shudder, and
the color Of the liquor would make you
think of the blood OF the soul, and the |
foam on the top of the cup would remind |
you of the frOth on the maniac IS lip, and |
you would go home from this service and
kneel down and pray God, that rather |
than your children should become |
eaptives 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 call of the |
south wind the flowers would come up |
all over the grave-sweet prophecies of |