Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-08-01
TABERNACLE PULPIT.
SERMON ON 1NTEMPERANCE BY
DIR. TALMAGE.
"It Is My Sons Coat; am Evil Beast Hath
Deyourcd Him" The Text Vivid shape
of the Evil Beast of Drunkenness That
DESTROYS Souls.

BROOKLYN. July 27.-Dr. Talmage's SER
mon to-day was devoted 10 the curse of in
temperance. With the hand of u master he
drew in vivid colors the appalling tragedies
which this remorsrless demon has perpe-
tratcd. His text was Gen. xxxvii, SO: 1T
is nv sons coat: an evil beast hath de-
youred him."
Joseph's brethren dipped their brothers
coat in goats blood, and then brought the
dabbled garment to their father. cheating
him with the idea that a ferocious animal
had slain him, and thus hiding their infa-
nous behavior. But there is no deception
about that which we hold up to your obscr-
walton to-day. A monster such as never
ranged African thicket OF Hndostan
Jungle hath tracked this land,
the continent with the man
gled carcasses of whole generations, and
there are tens of thousands of fathers and
mothers who coul hold up the ga.mcnts of
their slain boy. truthfully. cXclaiming, 1T is
my sons coat . an evil beast hath de-
climes been a tendency to the improper use
of stimulants! Noah, as if Disguised with
the prevalence of water in his time, took to
strong drink. BY this vice Alexander the
Conqueror was conquered. The Ro-
mans at their feasts fell off their seats with
intoxication. Four hundred millions of our
race are opium eaters. India. Turkey and
China have groaned with the desolation. and
by it have been quenched such lights as Hal
ley and De Quincy. One hundredimillions
are the victims Of the betel nut, which has
specially blasted the East Indies. Three
hundred millions chew hashish. and Persia.
Brazil and Africa suffer the deliriim. The
Tartars employ murowa. the Mexlcans the
agave, the people mt Guarapo an intoAieat-
ing quality taken from sugar cane, while a
are the disciples of alcohol. To it they bow.
Under it they are trampled. In its trenches
they fall. On its CHASTITY holocaust they
burn. Could the muster roll of this great
army be called, and they could come up
from the dead. what eye could endure the
rocking. fostering putrefaction AMI beastli-
ness? What heart could endure the groan
ofagony?
Drunkenness. Does it not Jingle the
burglars key? Does it not whet the assas-
sins knife? Does it not cock the highway
mans pistol? Does it not wave the in
cendiary's torch? Has it not Sent the
physician reeling into the sick rdom, II
the minister with his tongue thici into the
pulpit? Did not an exquisite poet. fromthe
very top of his fame. fall a gibbering sot
into the gutter on his way to be married to
one of the fairest daughters Of New En-
gland, and at the very hour the bride was
decking herself for the altar, and did he not
die of delirium tremens, almost unattended,
in a hospital? Tamerlane asked for one
hundred and sixty thousand skulls with
WHICH 10 Dullu pyramid 10 his own nonoI.
He got the skulls and built the pyramid.
But if the bones OF all those Who have
fallen as a prey to.dissipation coulh be piled
up it would make a vaster pyramid.
Who will grid himself for the journey and
try with me to scale this mountain of the
casses to find still other peaks far above,
mountain above mountain white with
the bleached bones of drunkards.l
The Sabbath has been sacrificed to the
rum traffic. To many of our people the
best day of the week is the worst, Bakers
bath. 1t is dangerous to have loaves of
bread going out on Sunday. The shoe store
is closed; severe penalty will attack the
man who sells boots on the Sabbath. But
down with the window shutters of the
grog-shops! Our laws shall confet particu-
lar honor upon the rum traffckers. All
other trades must stand aside Tor these.
Let our citizens who have disgraded them
selves by trading in clothing and hosiery
and hardware and lumber and coal take off
ticular honor, 1t is unsafe for any other
class of men to be allowed license for. Sun
day work. But swing out your signs, oh We
traffckers in the peace OF families and in
the souls of immortal men! Let the corks
NY. and the beer foam. and the rum go tear
ing down the half consumed throat of the
inebriate. God does not see! Does He?
Judgment will never come! Will it?
do not know but that Colds determined
to let drunkenness triumph. and the hus-
bands and sons of thousands of our best
families be destroyed by this vice.in order
that our people. amazed and indignant,
may rise up and demand the determination
OF this municipal crime. There is a way of
driving down the hoops of a barrel SO tight
that they break. We have in this country
by a tax on whisky. You might as well try
to regulate the Asiatic cholera or the small
poX by taxation. The men who distil liquors
are for the most part INSCRIPTIONS. and
the higher the tax the more indueement to
illicit distillation.
Oh! the folly of trying to restrain an evil
by government tariff! Ii every gallon OF
whisky made, ii every flask of wine pro-
duced. should be taxed Il thousand dollars
1t would not be enough to pay for the tears
1t has wrung from theieyes of widows and
orphans. nor for the blood it has dashed on
the Christian church. nor for the catastro-
phe Of. the millions it has destroyed for
ever.
I sketch two houses in this street. The
hrst is bright as home can be. The father
comes at nightfall, and the children run out
to meet him. Luxuriant evening meal.
GRADUATION and sympathy and laughter.
Music in the parlor. Fine pictures on the
wall. Costly books on the stand. Well
clad household. Plenty of everything to
make home happy.
LouSe INC second: PlanO sold yesterday
by the sheriff. Wifc's furs at pawnbroker's
shop. Clock gone. Daughters jewelry
sold to get flour. Carpets gone of the
floor. Daughters in faded and patched
dresses. Wife sewing for the stores. Lit
tic child with al ugly wound on her face,
struck in an angry blow. Deep shadow OF
wretc hedness falling in every room. Door
pen rings. Little children lidc. laugh
tn:s turn pale. vii. holds her breath.
laundering step in the hall. Door opens.
flend; brandishing his fist. cries, Out.
out! What are you doing here?"
Did | call this house the second? No: il
is the same house. Rum transformed it.
Rum embruted the man. Rum sold the
shawl. Rum tore up the carpets. Rum
SEook his fist. Rum dcsolated the hearth.
k9m changed that paradise into u hell!
l sketch two men that you know very
We'll. The first graduated from one of oul
literary institutions. His father. mother
brothers and sisters were present to sec
MN graduate. They heard the applaudine
numbers that greeted his speech. They
saw the degree conferred and the diploma
given. He never looked SO we'll. Every.
pody said: What Il noble brow! What /,
me eye! What graceful manners! What
brilliant prospects," All the world opens
before him and cries, "Hurrah! hurrah!"
Man the second lies in the station house
me doctor has Just been sent for to bind uI
me gasllcs received in a fight. His hair Is
matted, and makes him look like a wilC
beist. His lip is bloody and cut. Who is