The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-22


proposed that the best way of saving
Mohammedans was to let them keep their
religion, but engraft upon IL some new
principles from Christianity, he perpe-
tratec an ecclesiastical Joke, at which no
man can laugh, who has ever seen the
tyranny and domestic wretchedness which
always appear where that religion gets
foothold. 1t has marched across CONT
nentS, and now proposes to set upits filthy
and accursed banner in America, and
what it has done for Turkey, it would
like to do for our nation. A religion that
brutally treats womanhood ought never
| to be fostered in our country. But there
never was religion so absurd or wicked
| that il did not get disciples, and there are
| enough fools in America to make large
| dlscipleship of Mohammedism. This cor
rupt religion has been making steady
progress for hundreds of years, and not
\ withStanding all the splendid work done
! by the Jessups, and the GOOdells, and the
| Blisses and the Van Dykes and the
| Posts and the Misses Bowens and the
! Misses ThompSons, and scores of other
men and women of whom the world was
not worthy, there it stands, the giant of
sin, MOhammedanlSm, with one foot on
the heart of woman, and the other on the
heart of Christ, while it mumbles from
| its minarets this stupendous blasphemy:
| God is great, and Mohammed is his
prophet" Let the Christian printing
presses at Beyrout and Constantinople
| keep on with their work, and the men
| and women of God in the mission fields
toll until the Lord crowns them, but
what we are all hoping for is something
| supernatural from the heavens, as yet I'M
| seen, something stretched down out of
the sides, something like an arm I'M
covered, the bare arm of the God Of ma
tions
There stands also the arch demon of
alcoholism. Its throne is white, and
made of bleached human skulls. On one
! side of that throne of skulls kneels in
obeisance and worship, democracy, and
on the other side republcanism, and the
| one that kisses the cancerous and gan
| grened foot of this despot the oftenest
| gets the most benedictions. There is a
Hudson River, an Ohio, a Mississippi Of
strong drink rolling through this nation,
| but as the rivers from which take my
| figure of speech empty into the Atlantic
Or the Gulf, this mightier food of sick
ness, and insanity and domestic ruin,
and crime, and bankruptcy, and woe,
! empties into the hearts, and the homes,
and the churches, and the time and the
eternity of multitude beyond all
statistics to number or describe. All ma
| tons are mauled and scarified with bale
| full stimulus, or killing narcotic. The
| pulque of Mexico, the cashew of Brazil,
| the hasheesh of Persia, the opium of Chi
| Russia, the soma Of India, the aguardiente
| of Mor0cco,' the arak of Ara bia, the mas
! tic of Syria, the raki of Turkey, the beer
| of Germany, the whisky of Scotland, the
ale of England, the all-drinks of America
are doing their best to stupefy, infame,
| dement, impoverish, brutalize and slay
| the human race Human power unless
reinforced from the heavens can never ex-
| tripate the evils l mention.
Much good has been accomplished by
| the heroism and fidelity Of Christian re-
formers but the fact remains that there
are more splendid men and magnificent
women this moment going over the Mag
ara abysm of inebriety than at any
time since the first grape was turned
into wine, and the first head of
rye began to soak in a brewery. When
people touch this subject they are apt to
| give statistics as to how many millions
are in drunkards' graves, or with quick
tread marching on toward them. The
| land Is full of talk of high tariff and
low tariff, but what about the highest of
| all tariffs in this country, the tariff of
nine hundred million dollars which rum
put upon the United States in 1891. for
that is what it cost US. You do not
tremble or turn pale when / say that.
| The fact is we have become hardened by
statistics and they make little impression.
But if some one could gather into one
mighty lake all the tears that have been
wrung out of orphanage and widowhood:
or into one organ diapason all the groans
that have been uttered by the suffering
victims of this holocaust; or into one
whirlwind all the signs of centuries of
| dissipation; or from the wicket of one
| immense prison have look upon us the
! glar1ng eyes of all those whom
strong drink has endungeoned
we might perhaps realize the appal-
ling desolation. But, no, no, the sight
would forever blast our vision; the sound
| would forever stun our souls. Go on with
your temperance literature; go on with
your temperance platforms; go on with
| your temperance laws But we are all
| hoping for something from above, and
while the bare arm of suffering, and the
bare arm of invalidism, and the bare arm
of poverty, and the bare arm of domestic
desolation, from which rum hath torn the
sleeve, are lifted up in beggary and sup
plication and despair, let the bare arm Of
God strike the brewerieS, and the LIQUOR
stores, and the corrupt politics, and the
license laws, and the whole inferno Of
grog-shops all around the world Down,
thou accursed bottle, from the throne !
Into the dust, thou king of the demiiohn |
Parched be thy lips, thou wine cup, with
fires that shall never be quenched!
Butt have no time to specify the mani
fold evils that challenge Christianity,
And think that l have seen in some
CHRISTMAS ana seen In some newSpa Der5,
and heard from some pulpits, a disheart-
eminent, as though Christianity were
so worsted that it is hardly worth while
to attempt to win this world for God
and that all Christian work would col
lapse, and that 1t is no use for you to
teach a Sabbath class, or distribute
tracts, or eXhort in prayer-meetings, or
preach in pulpit, as Satan is gaining
ground. To rebuke that pessimism, the
gospel of smash-up, preach this sermon,
showing that youare on the winning side.
Go ahead! Fight on What 1 want to
make out to-day is that our ammunition
is not exhausted; that all which has been
accomplished has been only the skirmish-
ing before the great Agmageddon: that
not more than one of the thousand foun-
tains of beauty in the kings park has be-
gun to play that not more than
one brigade of the innumerable hosts to
be marshalled by the Rider on the White
Horse has yet taken the field that what
God has done yet has been with arm folded
in flowing robe; but that the time is
coming when he will rise from his throne,
and throw off that robe, and come out of
the palaces of eternity, and come down
the stairs of heaven with all-conquering
step, and halt in the presence of expect
ant nations, and flashing his omniscient