Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-08-21

really maintains his integrity. If 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
it can be proved, then what employer wants
him for workman? What store wants him
for clerk? what church wants him for a
member? who will 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 busi-
ness firms, brilliant ancestry cannot save
him. The world SHES off. Why? 1t is
whispered all through the community, 'He
drinks; he drinks" That blasts him. When
a man loses his reputation for sobriety be
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 nc doubt Of your sobriety.s Do not
create any suspicion by going in and out OF
immoral places, or by any odor of your
breath, or by my 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, aud when that is
blasted with the reputation of taking strong
drink all is gone.
Another loss which the iuebriate suffers
is that of self-respect. Just as soon as a
man wakes up and finds that he is the cap
tive of strong drink, he feels demeaned /
do not care how reckless he acts. He may
say, 81 don't carer' he does care. He can
not look pure man in the rye, 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 be would not
otherwise do. When man is nine-tenths
gone with strong drink, the first thing be
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 mill
of a great horror. He cannot stop. will
prove it. He knows that his course is
bringing disgrace and ruin upon himself.
He loves himself. 1fhe could stop he would.
He knows his course is bringing ruin upon
his family. He loves them. He would stop
if he could. He cannot. Perhaps he could
three months or year ago; not now. Just
he knows he cannot, so he does not try. l
down under this evil habit. He had large
means. He had given thousands of dollars
to Bible societies and reformatory institu-
tions of all sorts. He was very genial and
very generous and very lovable, and when,
ever he talked about this evil habit he
would say, 81 can stop any time" But be
kept, going on, going on, down, down. His
family would say, 81 wishyou would stop"
"Why," he would reply, 81 can stop any
time if l want to-" After while he had
delirium tremens; he had it twice; and yet
after that he said, 81 could stop at any
time if wanted to.'' He Is dead now.
What killed him? Rum Rum! And yet
among his last utterances was, 81 can stop
at any time.n He did not stop it, because
he could not stop it. Oh, there is point
in inebriation beyond which, if man goes,
he cannot stop!
One of these victims said to a Christian
man, "Sir, if I were told that couldn't
get drink until to- morrow night unless
had all my fingers cut off, l would say,
Bring the hatchet and cut them off now.'''
have dear friend in Philadelphia whose
nephew came to him one day, and when he
was exhorted about his evil habit, sale
"Uucle, can't give it up. If there stoot
a cannon, and it was loaded, and glass o.
wine sat on the mouth Of that cannon, anC
knew that you would fire it off just as
came up and took the glass, I would start
for must have it." Oh, it is a sad thing
for man to wake up in this life and fee
that he is a captive. He says: 81 coult
have got rid of this once, but can't now
l might have lived an honorable life ant
died Christian death; but there is no hops
for me now; there is no escape for me
Dead, but not buried. l am walking
corpse. 1 am an apparition of what ouc'
was I am Gagged immortal, beating
against the wires of my cage in this direc
ton and in that direction; beating agains
the cage until there is blood on the wires
aud blood upon my soul, yet not able to ge
out, Destroyed, without remedyp'
| 1 90 further, and say that the inebriat,
suffers from the loss of his usefulness. D;
you not recognize the fact that many o
those who are now captives of strong drinl
only little while ago were foremost in thu
churches and in refermatory institutions
! Do YOU not know that sometimes they knel
in the family circle? Do you not know tina
they prayed in public, and some of then
carried around the holy wine on sacrament
al days? Oh yes, they stood in the yer.
front rank, but they gradually fell away
Aud now what do you suppose Is the feel
ing of such man as that, when he think
of his dishonored VOWS and the dishonore,
Isacrament-when he thinks OF what b
might have been and OF what he is now
Do such men laugh and seem very merry
Ah, there is, down in the depths of thei
soul, very heavy weight. Do not wonde
that they sometimes see strange things, an,
act very roughly in the household. Yol
would not blame them at all if you knew
what they suffer. Do not tell ouch as thes
that there is 10 future punishment. d
not tell him there is no such place as hell
He knows there is. He is there now.
I 90 on, and say that the inebriate suffer
from the loss of physical health. The olde
men in the congregation may remembe
that some years ago DR.. Sewell wen
through this country and electrified the peo
pie by his lectures, in which he showed th
effects of alcohol on the human stomach
He had seven or eight diagrams by whlcl
he showed the devastation of strong drinl
upon the physical system. There wer'
thousands of people that turned back iron
that ulcerous sketch swearing eternal alb
stinence from everything that could intoxl
cate.
God only knows what the drunkard suf
fers. PaiIf files on every nerve, and travel
every muscle, and gnaws every bone, ant
burns with every flame, and stings will
every poison. and pulls at him with ever.
torture. What reptiles crawl over his creep
ing limbs What fiends stand by his mid
night pillow! What groans tear his ear
What horrors shiver through his soul! Tall
of the rack, talk of the Inquisition, talk o
the funeral pyre. talk of the crushing jug
gernaut-he feels them all at once. Hav
you ever been in the ward of the hospita
where these inebriates are dying, the stencl
of their wounds driving back the attend
ants, their voices sounding through th
night? The keeper comes up and says
sHush, now, be still. Stop making all thi
noise!" But it is effectual only for MON
ent, for as soon as the keeper is gone the.
begin again: "Oh, God! on, God! Help
help! Rum! Give me rum! Help! TAX
them off me! Take them off me! TAX
them off mel Oh, God" And then the.