The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-12
RUM THE NATIONS CURSE
TALMAGB breaches ON THE HOR-
RORs OF DRUNKENNESS.


Drink The Road to Heaven Blocked
by Them-5ome Of the Sufrsrings of
the Drunkard.
HELENA, NJ. T., Aug. 1.-THE Rev. I.
Dewitt Talmage, d. d., preached here to-
day to vast congregation. Taking for his
| text, who Stew all thesen ii. Kings x.
TO-, he preached a powerful discourse on
drunkenness the Nations Curse" He
SAID:
see a long row Of baskets coming UP to-
ward the palace Of King Jehu. am some-
what inquisitive to find out what is in the
| baskets. | look in aud find the CORY heads
of seventy slain princes. As the baskets
arrive at the gate of the palace, the heads
are thrown into two heaps. one on either
! side the gate. In tho morning tie king
| comes out, and he looks upon the bleeding.
| ghastly heads of the massacred princes
Looking on either side the gate, he cries
out, with a ringing emphasis, "Who slew
! all thesem
We have my friends, lived to see 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 80 hardened under
sand m re men are slain, or fifty thousand
less men are slain, seems to make no posi-
| tive impression on the public mind Suffice
1t to say, that intemperancs has slain an
| lnnumerable company of princes-the
! children Of Gods royal family; and at the
| < tte of every neighborhood there are two
| heaps of the slain; and at ths 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 are two heaps of the slain.
| When | look upon the des llation, / am
| almost frantic with the scene. while 1 cry
| out, who slew all thesew | can answer
that question in half a minute. The min
| listers of Christ who have given no warning.
| the courts OF law that have offered the
| iicenSure, the women who give strong
| drink on Ne Years day, the fathers and
| mothers who have rum on the sideboard,
| the hundreds Of thousands of christian men
and wo en- in the land who are stolid in
| their Indifference on this subject-they slew
| all these!
! propose in this discourse to tell you
| what i think are the sorrOws and the doom
| OF the drunkard, 50 that you TO whom |
| speak may not come to the torment
| Some one says: "Y Ou ad better let those
| subjects alouen Why my brethren, we
would be glad to let them alone if they
! would let us alone; but when | have in my
| pocket now four requests saying, "Pfay for
| my husband, pray for my son, pray for my
| brother, pray for my frie I'd, VINO is the
captive of strong drink" / reply, we are
| ready to let tnat question alone when
u IS willing to let us alone; but when it
| stands blocking up the way TO heaven, and
| keepi multtudes away from Chris and
heaven, | dare II u be ilent, lest the Lord
| require their blood at my hands
| think the subject has been kept back
very much by the merfiment people make
| over those slai by str0ng drink. | used to
| he very merry over these thing, having a
keen sense Of the ludcrous There was
| something very grotesque in the gait Of a
| drunka d. 1t IS not 50 nov; for | saw in
| one Of the streets Of Philadelphia a sight
| that changed the whole subject to me.
| There was a young ma being led home.
! He was worry much intoxicated-he was
| raving with intoxication. Two young men
were leading him along. The BOYS hooted
| in the street, me laughed, women sneered;
| ut | happoned to b3 very near the
door 4" here hN went init. was the door OF
| his fathers house / saw him go up stairs.
| heard him shouting hooti < and BIAS
| pheming. He had lost his hat. and the
| merriment craased with the mob until he
came up to the door, and as tine door was
| opened his mother came out When [
| heard her cry that took all the comedy
| away from the scene Since that TINA
when | sec n man walking through the
street, reeling, the comedy is all gone, and
| it is a tragedy Of tears and groans and
heartbreaks. Never make a y fun around
me about the grotesqueness Of drunkard.
| Alas for his home
The fl st suffering Of the drunkard is in
| the loss of his good name. God has so ar
ranged it that no ma 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 mantai IS his integrity. If "a man is
| industrious, aud pure, and christian, God
| looks after him. Although he NAV
| be bJmbarded for twenty or thirty years.
his Integrity IS yer lost and his good
n tme is never sacrificed. No force on earth
or in hell can capture such a Gibraltar.
| But when it is said of a man, "He drinks,n
| and it can be proved, then what EN- lover
wants him for a workman What store wants
| him for a clerks WbaJ nurch wants him
| for member? Who will trust hi u Whit
| dying man would appoint him his executor2
| He may have been forty years in building
uu his repu ation-it g es down. Letters
| of recommendation, the backing up of busi-
ness firms, b illiant ancestry can not save
| him. The world SHES off, Why? Il is
| whispered all through the community, "He
| dri ks; he dri s." That blasts him. When
man loses his reputation 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
sobriety. Do not create any suspicion by
! going 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, ALI
| is gone.
| Another loss which the inebriate suffers
is that of self respect just as soon as a
man wakes up and find; that he is the cap
! tive of strong drink he feels demeaned.
do not care how reckless he acts. He may
J." don't care;" he does care. He can.
! not look pure man in the eye, unless it is
with positive force of resolution. Three
| fourths Of his nature is destroyed; his self
respect gone; he says things he would not
otherwise say; he does things he would not
| otherwise do, When maa 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 bin hand and
| foot, and shorn his locks, and put out his
| eyes, and are making him grind in the mill
| of great horror. lie cannot stop. will
| prove it. he knows that his course is bring
nd !