Milford chronicle., 1889-08-16
THE CURSE OF THE NATION
DR.. TALMAeE IN HIS SERMON SAYS
IT IS DRUNKENNESS.

His Text II Kings Z, IOi "Who Slew All
Theseg'-A More Fearful Massacre Is
Now Going on, He Says, Than in the
Old Days.
HELENA, NJ T., Aug. 1.-THE Rev. T.
Do Witt Talmage, D. D., preached here to-
day to a vast congregation. Taking for his
text, "Who slew all theseF" II Kings K, 10, he
preached a powerful discourse on Drunken
ness the Nations Curse He said:
/ see a long row Of baskets coming up
toward the palace Of King Jehu. l am some
what inquisitive to find out what is in the
baskets look in and find the CORY heads
of seventy slain princes As the baskets ar
rive at the gate Of the palace the heads are
thrown into two heaps, one on either side the
gate In the morning the king comes outand
he looks upon the bleeding, CHASTITY heads Of
tie massacred princes Looking on either
side be cries out, with a ringing emphasis,
"Who slew all theseP'
We have, my friends, lived to see a more
fearful massacre There is no use Of my
taking your time in trying to give you
statistics about the devastation and ruin
and the death which strong drink has
wrought in this country, Statistics do not
seem to mean anything. We are so hard
ened 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. Suf-
fee it TO say that intemperance has slain an
innumerable company Of princes, the chill
dren Of Gods royal family; and at the gate
Of every neighborhood there are two heaps
Of the slain; and at the door Of the house
hold there are two heaps Of the slain; and at
IL - L.
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 l look upon the
desolation l am almost frantic with the
scene, while / cry out, "Who slew all
thesep can answer that question in half a
minute. The ministers of Christ who have
given no warning, the courts Of law that
have offered the hcensure, 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 indifference on this subject
they slew all thesel
THE SORROWS AND THE DOOM OF THE DRUNK
ARD.
l 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 let those
subjects alonen Why, my brethren, we
would be glad to LET them alone if they would
let us alone but when I have in my pocket
now four requests saying, "Pray for my hus-
band, pray for my son, pray for my brother,
pray for my friend, who is the captive Of
strong drink" reply, we are ready to let
that question alone when it is willing to let
us alone; but when it stands blocking up the
way to heaven, and keeping multitudes away
from Christ and heaven, dare not be silent,
lest the Lord require their blood at my hands.
l think the subject has been kept back very
much by the merriment people make over
those slain by strong drink. l used to be
very merry over these things, having keen
sense of the ludicrous. There was something
very grotesque in the gait of drunkard It
is not so now; for l saw in one of the streets of
Philadelphia a sight that changed the whole
subject to me. There was a young man being
led home. He was very much intoxicated
he was raving with intoxication. Two young
men were leading him along The boys hooted
in the street, men laughed, women sneered;
but 1 happened to be very near the door
where he went init was the door of his ia
theirs house. l saw him go up stairs.
heard him shouting, hooting and blasphem-
ing. 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 l see a man
walking through the street, Keeling, the COM
ely is all gone, and it is a tragedy of tears
and groans and heartbreakS Never make
any fun around me about the grotesqueness
of drunkard. Alas for his homel
HIS GOOD NAME MELTs AWAY.
The first suffering Of the drunkard is in the
loss of his good name. God has so arranged
it that no man ever loses his good name ex-
cept through his own act. All the hatred Of
men and all the assaults of devils cannot de-
stroy a mans good name, if he really main
tains his integrity. If a man is industrious
and pure aud 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 sacrificed. No
force on earth or in hell can capture such
Gibraltar. But when it is said of a man,
"He drinks, F" and it can be proved, then what
employer wants him for workman what
store wants him for clerkl what church
wants him for a memberl who will trust hint
what dying man would appoint him his
executor He may have been forty
years in building up his reputation-it
goes down Letters of recommendation,
the backing up of business firms, brilliant
ancestry cannot save him The world SHES
off Whyl It is whispered all through the
community; she drinks; he drinksn That
blasts him. When a man loses his reputa-
ton for sobriety, he might as well 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 no doubt of your so-
briefly. Do not create any suspicion by go
ing in and out Of immoral places or by any
Odor of your breath, or by any glare of your
eye, or by any unnatural flush Of your cheek.
You cannot afford to do it, for your good
name is your only capital, and when that is
blasted with the reputation Of taking strong
drink, all is gone.
HE RESPECTS HIMSELF NO MORE.
Another loss which the inebriate suffers is
that of self respect Just as soon as a man
wakes up and finds that he is the captive Of
strong drink, he feels demeaned. do not
care how reckless he acts. He may say, Il
don't care;" he does care. He cannot look a
pure man in the eye, unless it is with positive
force Of resolution. Three-tourths OF his ma
ture is destroyed; his self respect gone; he
says things he would not otherwise say; he
does things he would not otherwise do. When
man is nine-tenths gone with strong drink,
the first thing he wants to do IS to persuade
you that he can stop any time he wants to.
He cannot The Philistines have bound him
hand and foot, and shorn his locks and put
out his eyes, and are making him grind in the
min Of a great horror. He cannot stop.
will prove it. He knows that his course is
bringing disgrace and ruin upon him
self. He loves himself. II he could
stop he would. he knows his course
is bringing ruin upon his family. He loves
them. He would stop if he could He can.
not Perhaps be could three months or
year ago; not now. Just ask him to stop for
a month. He cannot; be knows he cannot,
50 he does not try. had a friend who for
fifteen years was going down under this evil