The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-03-11

be that these swollen hands are the ones
that used TO wander over my face when
rocking him TO sleep? Can it be that this
swollen brow is that once 50 rapturously
kissed? Poor boy how tired he does
look. / wonder who struck him that blow
across the temples? l wonder il he
uttered diving prayer2 Wake up, my
! son; don't you hear me? Wake up
Oh! he can't hear me. Dead dead! dead
/ %, Absalom. my son, my son. would God
| that had died for thee, o, Absalom, my
son, my SON."
am not much OF mathematician, and
| cannot estimate it; but is there any one
here quick enough at figures to estimate
how many mothers there are wait ny Tor
something TO be done? Ay, there are
many wives waiting for domestic rescue.
He promised something different from
that when, after the long acquaintance
and the careful scrutiny oil character, the
hand and the heart were offered and ac-
cepted What hell on earth woman
lives in who has r drunken husband! o
Death, how lovely thou art to her, and
how soft and warm thy skeleton hand
| The sepulcher at midnight in winter is a
| kings drawing-rOom compared with that
woman's home. Il is not so much the
blow on the heal that hurts az the blow
on the heart. The rum fend came 10 the
door OF that beautiful home and opened
the door and stood there, and said al
curse this dwelling with an unrelenting
cnrse. / curse that father into a
maniac, L curse that mother into a
pauper. l curse those sons into vaga-
bonds. / curse those daughters into
prohigacy. Cursed be bread-tray and
cradle. Cured be couch aud chair,
and family bible with record OF marriages
4
curse" Oh how many wives are there
waiting to see il something can not be
done to shake these frosts of the second
death off the orange blossoms. Yea, God
is waiting, the God who works through
human instumentalilies, waiting to see
whether this nation IL going to overth, ow
this evil; and if il refuse TO do so God
will wipe out the nation as he did Pho
nicia, as he did Rome, as he did Thebes,
as he did Babylon. Az, he is waiting to
see what the church of God will do. II
the church does not do it's work, then he
will wipe it out as he did the church of
Ephesus. church Of Thyat. ria, church
of Sar!is. The protestant and Roman
catholic churches today stand side by side
with an impotent look gazing on this evil,
which costs this country more than ST.
OOO,O0O,0O0 year to take care of the
100000 paupers, and $4,000 criminals,
and the 5000 idiots and TO bury the
$4,000 DRINKERS. Protagoras boosted that
out OF the sixty years OF his life forty
years he had spent in running youth but
this evil may make the more infamous
boast that ali It's life it has been ruining
bodies, minds and souls of the human
race.
Put on sour spectacle s and take can
die and examine the p atforms of the two
leading political parties of the country and
see what they are doing for the arrest of
this evil and for the overthrow OF this
abomination. Resolutions-oh yes reso-
lutiOns about mormonism II is safe to
attack that organized nastiness !, 900 miles
away. But not one resolution against
drunkenness. which would turn this en-
tire nation into one bestial Salt Lake City.
Resolutions against DO itical corruption,
but not one word about drunkenness,
which would rot this union from scalp to
heel. Resolutions about protection against
competition with foreign industries, but
not one word about protection OF family
and church and nation against the scald-
ing, blasting. all-consuming, damning
tariff OF strong drink put upon every finan-
cial, individual. spiritual, moral, national
interest.
Hook in another direction. The church
of-t5od ie-ttle gratrc,tet and most glorious
institution on earth. What has it in
solid phalanx accomplished for the over
throw OF drunkenness? Have its forces
| ever been marshaed? No, not i'm tn : di-
Tec;ion. Not long ago a great ecclesiasti-
cal court assembled in New York, and
resolutions arraigning strong drink were
offered and cler9ymen with strong drink
on their tables and strong drink in their
cellars defeated the resolutions by threat
ening speeches. They could not bear to
give up their own lusts. | tie this audi
ence what many of YOU may never have
thought of, that today-nOt in the millen-
ium, but today-the church holds the ba
ancc of power in America; and il Chris
tian eople-the men and the women who
profess 10 love the Lord Jesus Christ and
TO love purity and to be sworn enemies OF
all uncleaniiness, and debauchery, aud sin
it ali such would march side by side and
shoulder to shoulder this evil wou soon
be overthrown. Think Of 800, 900 churches
and Sundav-schools in Chrisiendom
marching shoulder 10 shoulder How
very short time it would take them to
pu, down this evil il all the churches of
God, transatlantic and cisatlantic, were
armed on this subject
Young men of America, pass over into
the army Of teetotalism. Whisky, Oh to
preserve corpses, ought never TO turn you
into q corpse. Tens OF thousands OF young
men have been dragged out OF respecta-
bility, and out of purity, ami out OF good
character, aud into darkness by the in
fernal stuff called strong drink. DO not
touch 1t Do not touch it,
In the front door of our church in
BROOKLYN. few summers ago, this scene
occurred Sabbath morning young man
was entering for divine worship. A friend
passing along the street said: Joe, come
along with me ] am going down TO Coney
Island, and we'll have a gay Sunday"
mo" replied Joe, II have started to GO
here to church and am going TO attend
service here" 80, Joe" his friend said,
you can go to church any timei The
day is bright, and we'll have a
splendid time" The temptation was
too great and the twain went to the
beach, spent the day in drunkenness and
riot The evening train started mp from
Brighton. The young men were on it
Joe, in his intOxication, when the train
was in speed, tried TO pass around from
one seat TO another and fell and was
crushed. Under the lantern, as Joe lay
bleeding his life away on the grass, he
said to his compartment John, that was
a bad business, your taking me away f. ON
church: it was very bad business. You
ought not to have done that, John. /
want you to tell the boys tomorrow when
YOU see them that rum and Sabbath