The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-08-21
swearing eternal abstinence from every
thing that could intoxicate.

with every poison and pulls at him with
every torture. What reptiles crawl over
his creeping limbs What fiends stand by
his midnight pillow! What groans tear
his ear What horrors shiver through
his SOUL Talk of the rack, talk of the in
QUESTION, talk of the funeral pyre, talk OF
the crushing juggernaut-he feels them
all at once. Have you ever been IN the
ward of the hospital where these inebri-
ates are diving. the stencil of their wounds
driving back the attendants, their voices
sounding through the night? The keeper
comes up and says, FLUSH, now, be still.
Stop making all this noise?" But it is ef-
fectual only for a moment, for as soon as
the keeper is gone they begin again: "Oh,
God! oh, Cod Helpi help! RUM Give
me ruml Help Take them off mel
Take them off me! Take them off me-
Oh, Godp And then they shrek and
they rave and they pluck out their hair by
handfuls and bite their nails into the
quick, and then they groan and they
shrek and they blaspheme and they ask
the keepers to kill them. "Stab me.
Smother me. Strangle me. Take the
devils off me-" Oh, it is no fancy sketch.
That thing is going on in hospitals; aye,
it is going on in some OF the finest resi-
dences of every neighborhood on this con-
tinent. 1t went on last night while you
slept, and | tell you further that this is go
ing to be the death that some of you will
die. / know it. / see it coming.
Oh, is there anything that will so de-
stroy a man for this life and damn him for
the life that is to come? l hate that
strong drink. With all the concentrated
energies of my soul hate it. Do you tell
me that man 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, barefooted, I'M
washed, and unkempt want on every
patch of their faded dress and on every
wrinkle OF their prematurely old counte-
nances, who would have been in churches
to-day, and as well clad as you 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
| thee
But my subject takes deeper tone, and
| that is that the inebriate suffers from the
| loss of the soul. The bible intimates that
| in the future world, if we are unforgiven
here, our bad passions and appetites, I'M
restrained, will 90 along with us and make
our torment there. So that | suppose
| when an inebriate wakes up in this lost
world he will feel an infinite thirst claw
/ ing on him. Now, down in the world, al
/ though he NAV have been very poor, he
could beg or he could steal cents with
| which to get that which would Stake his
thirst for a little while; but in eternity
/ where is the rum to come from? Dives
could not get one drop of water. From
what chalice of eternal fires will the hot
lips OF the drunkard drain his draught?
| No one to brew it. No one to mix it. No
one to pour it. No one 10 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 punch-bowl of an earthly
| banquet. Dives cried for water The in
ebriate cries for rum. Oh, the deep, ex-
| haustive, eXasperating, everlasting thirst
| of the drunkard in hell Why, if n fiend
came up to earth for some internal work
| in a grog-shop and should go back taking
on its wing Just one drop of that for which
the inebriate in the lost world longs, what
excitement it would make there Put
that one drop from off the fiend's wing on
the tip of the tongue OF the destroyed inc
briate; let the liquid brightness just touch
| IL, let the drop be very small If it only
| have in il the smack of alcoholic drink, let
that drop Just touch the lost inebriate in
| the lost world, and he would spring 10 his
| feet and cry: THAT is ruml aha that is
rum ~ and il would wake up the echoes of
the damned: "Give me rum Give me
rum Give me ruml" In the future
world do not believe that it will be the
absence OF God that will make the drunk
ard's sorrow; do not believe that il will
be the absence Of light; | do not believe
that il will be the absence of holiness; |
| think it will be absence of strong drink.
| Oh, Took not upon the wine when il is
red, when II moveth itself Alright in the
cup for at the last il biteth like a serpent
and it stingeth like an adder
But I want, in conclusion, 10 say one
| thing personal, for / do not like n sermon
that has no personalities in IT, Perhaps
this has not had that fault already. /
want 10 say 10 those who are the victims
of strong drink that while declare that
there was a point beyond which n man
could not stop, I want 10 tell you that
while n man cannot stop in his own
strength the Lord God, by His grace, can
help him 10 stop at any time. Years ago
l was in n room in New York where there
were many men who had been reclaimed
| from drunkenness | heard their testi-
mony and for the first time in my life
| there flashed out n truth / never under
stood They said eve were victims OF
strong drink. We tried 10 give il mp, but
always failed; but somehow, since we
gave our hearts 10 Christ, lie has taken
care OF US" | believe that the time will
soon come when the grace Of God will
show its power here, not only 10 save
mans soul, but his body. and reconstruct,
| purify. elevate and redeem il. / verify
! believe that although you feel graphing
M the roots OF your tongues an almost ON
| nipotent thirst, If you will this moment
/ give your heart 10 God He will help you
| by His grace 10 conquer. Try IT, II is
your last chance. have looked off upon
the desolation. Sitting under my minis
try there are people in awful peril from
strong drink and judging from ordinary
circumstances there is not one chance in
5000 that they will get clear of it, see
men in this congregation OF whom / must
make the remark that il they do not
change their course, within ten years they
will, as to their bodies, lie down in drunk
ards graves; and so as 10 their souls, lie
| down in drunkards' perdtion. j know
that il is an awful thing to say, but can't
help saying it. Oh bewarel You have
not yet been captured. Beware As We
| open the door OF your wine closet to-day,
may that decanter flash out upon you
Beware And when you pour the bev-
erage into the glass, in the foam at the top
| in white letters let there be spelled out TO
4 L