The Penn's Grove record., 1889-08-31

or q year ago; not now. Just ask him
to stop for q month. He knows he can
not, so he does not try.
I had a friend who for fifteen years
was going down under this evil habit.
He had large means. He had given
thousands Of dollars to Bible societies,
and reformatory institutions ofall sorts.
He was very genial, and very generous,
and very lovable, and whenever he talk
ed about this evil habit he would
say, 81 can stop any time" But he
kept going on, going on, down! down
down. His family would say, 'I wish
you would stopi' "Why," he would
reply, 81 can stop any time l want to-
After q while he had delirium tremens;
he had it twice; and yet after that he
said, 81 could stop at any time if
wanted to-" He Is pead now. What
killed him? Rum! Rum! And yet
among his last utterances was, 81 can
stop at any time" He did not stop it,
because he could not stopit. Oh, there
is a point in inebriation beyond which,
if a man goes, he cannot stop!
DEARER THAN LIFE.
One of these victims said to a Christ.
ian man, ''Sir, if / were told that ]
couldn't get a drink until tomorrow
night unless 1 bad all my fingers cut off,
/ would say, Bring the Ratchet and cut
them of now" / have a dear friend
in Philadelphia, whose nephew came to
him one day, and whenhe was exhorted
about his evil habit, said, Uncle, ]
can't give it up! Ii there stood a can.
non, and it was loaded, and a glass OF
Wine sat on the mouth of that cannon,
and 1 knew that you would fire it of
just as l came up and took the glass,
would start, for | must have it." Oh, il
is a sad thing for a man to wake up in
this life and feel that he is a captive.
He says: II could have got rid of this
once, but I can't now. I might have
lived an honorable life and died a
Christian death; but there is no hope for
me now; there is no escape for me.
Dead, but not buried. l am a walking
corpse. l I'M an apparition of what ]
n q L am a Gagged immortal, beat
ing 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 upon my soul, yet
not able to get out. Destroyed without
remedy.
1 go further, and say that the inebri-
ate suffers
LOSS OF USEFULNESS.
Do you not recognize the fact that
many of those who are now captives OF
strong drink, only a little while ago
we're foremost in the churches and in
the reformatory institutions? Do you
not know that sometimes they knelt in
the family circle? Do you not know
that they prayed in public, and some Of
them carried around the wine on sacra-
mental days? Oh yes!they stood In the
very front rank, but they gradually fell
away. And now what do you suppose
is the feeling of such a man as that,
when he thinks of his dishonored VOWS,
and the dishonored sacrament-when he
thinks of what he might have been, and
of what he is now? Do such men laugh
and seem very merry? All, there is,
down in the depths of their soul, a very
heavy weight. Do not wonder that
they sometimes see strange things, and
set very roughly in the household. You
would not blame them at all if you
knew what they snffer. DO not tell such
asthatthere is no future punishment. Dc
not tell him there is no such place as
hell. He knows there is! He is there
I go on, and say that the inebriate
suffers
Loss OF PHYSICAL HEALTH.
The older men in the congregation
may remember that some years ago DR..
Seve. went through this country, and
electrified the people by his lectures, in
which he showed the effects of alchoho,
on the human stomach. He had seven
or eight diagrams, by which he showed
the devastation Of strong drink upoI
the physical system. There were thous
ands OF people that turned back from
that ~ulcerous sketch, swearing eterna
abstinence from everything that could
intoxicate.
God only knows what the drunkarG
suffers! Pain fles on every nerve, and
travels every muscle, and knaws ever
hone, and burns with every fame, and
stings With every poison, and pulls a
him with every torture. What reptiles
crnsl over his creeping limbs! What
fepls stand by his midnight pillow.
What groans tear his ear! Whathorrors
shiyer fhrOugh his soul! Talk of the
rsck, talk of the Inquisition, talk of the
|9unsrai pyre, talk Of the crushing jug
gernsutl--he' feels them all at once
Have yeu ever been in the ward of the
hospital where these vinehriatesl are
|dymg, the stencil OF their wounds driv
ing back the attendants, their voices
sounding a through the night? NTht
keeper Games up, and i.Hush, nov
be. still Stop making all this noise!'
But it is effectual only for a moment,
for as soon as the keeper is gone, they
begin again: "Oh God! oh God Help
help! Rum! Give me rum! Help! Take
them off mel Take them offme! Take
them off me! Oh Godi" Aud then they
shrek, and they ravei and they pluck
out their ) hair by handfuls, 7 AM
they bite their nails into the quick, and
then they groan, and they shrek, and
they blaspheme, and they ask the keep
er to kill them. 'Stab me! Smother
me! Strange me! Take the devils of
mel" Oh, it is no fancy sketch. Thai
thing is going on in hospitals, aye, it il
going on in some of the finest residen
ces Of every neighborhood on this con
tinent. 1t went on last night while you
slept, and / tell you further, that thi'
is going to be the death that some Of
you will die. I know it! / see it com
ingl
pEspOILs THE HOME.
Oh, is there anything that will DIES
troy a man for this life. and damn hin
for the life that is to come? L hiatt
that strong drink! With all the con
centrated energies of my soul, Ihate it
Do you tell me that aman can be happy
when he knows that he is breaking his
wife's heart, and clothing his children
with rags? Why, there are on the streets
OF our cities to-day little children, bare
footed, uncomhesd, and u~nkenlpt; want
ON every patch of their faded dress, and
on every wrinkle Of their prematurely
old countensnces, who would have beer
in churches to-day, and as well clad al
you are, but for the fact that rum des
troyed their parents and drove then
into the grave. o rum, thou foe o.
God, thou despoiler Of homes, thou re
cruiting officer of the pit, l abhol
thee!
But my subject takes a deeper tone