Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-08-15
The Terrible Devastation that
Strong Drink Has Wrought.
When Man Loses His Reputation for
SObriety He had Just as Well be
at the Bottom of the Sea.
Drink is the Foe of God, the DespoiIer of
Homes and the Recruiting officer of the
Devil and the Army Of He'll.
''wHo SLEW ALL THEsE?''
Special to the Gazette.

mere to-day 10 vast COuSTeBdLIoHs
Taking for his text, 'eWho slew all
these2'' II Kings, X, 10, he preached a
powerful discourse on q Drunkenness the
Nation s Curse. - He said:
1 see long row of baskets coming up
steward the palace of King Jehu. I am
somewhat inquisitiye to find out what is
IN the baskets. [ look in and ! find the
CORY heads of seventy slain princes. AS
the baskets arrive at the gate of the pal
ace the heads are thrown into two heaps,
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 he cries out with a ringing emphasis,
''Who slew all these?'
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 hardened under these statistics that
the fact shat 90 900 more men are slain or
so 600 less men are slain seems to make
no positive impression on the public
mind Suffice il to say that intempeT-
ance has slain an innumeTable company
of princes, the children Of God IS royal
family: and at the gate of every neigh
boThood there are two heaps of the slain;
and at the door of the household there
are two heaps of the slain; and at
the 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 two heaps of the slain. When l
look upon the desolation l am almost
frantic with the scene, while l cry out,
"fWho slew all these?'' l can answer
that question in half a minute. The
ministers of Christ who have given no
warning the courts of law that have Of
fered 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 thou
sands Of Christian men and women in the
land who are stolid in their Indifference
on this subiect-they slew all these!
THE SORROWS AND THE DOOM OF THE
DRUNKARD.
propose in this discourse to tell you
what I think are the sorrows and the
doom of the drun1ard, so that you 10
whom I speak may not come to the tor
ment
Some one says, ''You had better let
those subjects alone. - Why, my breth-
ren, 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 husband, pray for
my son, pray for my brother, pray for
my friend, who is the captive of strong
, drink, I reply, we are ready to let that
JinestI62 alone when 1t is willing TO let us
alone; but when it stands blocking up
q T,r-
tudes 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 meTrImeRt people |
make over those slain by strQbg drink. I
used to be very merry over these things,
having keen sense of the ludicrOus
There was something very gTOtesqUe in |
the gait of a drunkard. Its not so now; |
Tor I saw IN one Of the streets of Phila- |
delphia sight that changed the whole |
subject to me. There was young man |
being led home. He was very much in |
toXieated-he was Taving with intoxica- |
ton. Two young men were leading |
him along. The boys hoOted in the |
street, men laughed, women sneered; |
but happened to be very near the door |
where he went int was the door Of his |
father s house. I saw him go upstairs.
/ heard him shouting, hooting and BIAS
pheming. He had lost his hat, and the
meTriment increased with the mob until |
he came up to the door, and as the door
was opened his mother came out. When |
1 heard her cry that took all the comedy
away from the scene. Since that time,
when / see a man walking through the !
street, reeling, the comedy is all gone,
and il is q tragedy of tears and groans
and heartbreaks. Never make any fun
around me about the grotesqueness of a
dTunkard. Alas for his home!
HIS GOOD NAME 8IELTs 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 except through his own act.
All the hatred Of men and all the assaults
Of devils cannot destroy a mans good
name, If he really maintains his integ-
Tty. If q man is industrious and pure
and Christian, God looks after him. AL
though he may be bombarded for twenty
or thirty years, his integrity is never lost
ana his good name is never sacrificed.
No force on earth or in hell
can capture such a Gibraltar. But
when il is said of a man, ''He drinks,
and it can be proved, then what
employer wants him for workman? what
store wants him for q clerk! what church
wants him for member? who viii trust
him? 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 of. Why?
Ii IS whispered all through the commun-
lty: He drinks; he drinks. - That blasts
MIN. When man loses his reputation
for sobriety, he might rs 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 own sobriety. Do not
create any suspicion by going in and out
of immoral places, OF by any odOT of your
breath, OF by any glare Of your eye, or
by any unnatural flush of your cheek
You cannot afford to do it, for your good
na1ne is your only capital, and when that
is blasted with the reputation OF taking
strong drink, all is gone.
TTr F2EcpF-fvrc rTrsFsE-1 7. N-o -Topr-