The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-10-17
THE NATIONS CURSE.
An Eloquent Discourse on the Curse
Of Drunkenness.
Rev. I Dewitt Talmage Portrays to 3
Helena (MOnt.) Congregation the
Terrible effects of the Sin
of Drunkenness.

ennes the Nations Curse" His text was:
Who slew all thesei-II Kings, x, 10.
see long row of baskets coming up
toward the palace of King Jehu. am
somewhat inquisitive to find out what is
in the baskets. l look in and l 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 morn
ing the King comes out, and he looks
upon the bleeding, CHASTITY heads of the
massacred Princes. Looking on either
side the gate, he cries out, with ringing
emphasis: "Who slew all these?"
We have, my friends, lived to see o
more fearful massacre. There is no use
of my taking you time in trying to give
you statistics about the devastation and
ruin and death which strong drink has
wrought in this country. Statistics do
not seem to mean any thing. We ara so
hardened 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 impress
sion on the public mind. Suffice is to say
that intemperance has slain an innumer-
able company of prinees-the children 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 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 desolation
I am almost frantic with he scene, while
| cry cut:
"Who slew all these?"
1 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 licensure, the wom-
en- 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 indif-
ference on this subject-they slew all
these.
propose in this discourse to tell you
what l think are the sorrows and the
doom of the drunkard, so that you to
whom / speak may not come to the tor
ment. Some one says: "You had better
let those subjects alone" Why, my
brethren, we would be glad to let them
alone if they would let us alone; but
when l have IN my pocket now four re-
quests saying: pray for my husband,
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 1t is willing
to let Us alone; but when it stands block
ing 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.
/ think the subject has been kept back
very much by the merriment people make
over those slain by strong drink. ! used
to be very merry over these things, hav-
ing keen sense of the Iudicrous. There
was something very grotesque in the gait
of a drunkard. 1t is not so now; for
saw in one of the streets of Philadelphia
a sight that changed the whole subject to
me. There was 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 l happened to be
very near tho door where he went init
was the door of his fathers house. Tsaw
him go upstairs. heard him shouting,
hooting and disappearing. 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 see man
walking through the street, reeling, the
comedy is all gone, and it is tragedy of
tears and groans and heartbreaks. Never
make any fun around me about the gro
tesqueness of a drunkard. Alas for his
home!
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 haired Of men and all the as
saults of devils can not destroy a mans
good name If he really maintains his in
tegrity. If a man is Industrious and
pure and 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" and il
can be proved, then what EMPLOYER
wants him for a workman? What store
wants him for clerk? What church
wants him for a member? Who will trust
himg What dying man would appoint
him his executor? He may have been
forty years in building up his reputation
lit goes down. Letters of recommended
lion, the backing up of business firms, a
brilliant ancestry can not save him. The
world SHES off. Why? 1t is whispered
all through the community: "He drinks;
he drinks.o
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. Y on are now achiev-
Ing 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 eve
or by any unnatural flush of your cheek.
You can not 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.
Another loss which the inebriate suf-
fers is that of self-respect. just as soon
as man wakes up and finds that he is
the captive of strong drink he feels de-
meaned. do not care how reckless he