The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-01-04
WINTERS wILEs.
Subject of the Latest Sermon by
DR.. Talmage.
The Frosty Season Full of Temptations-It
Ii Not Only a Test of Physical En-
durance but of Moral
character.

ject of the latest sermon preached in
Washington by Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage. The text will be found in Titus
iii, 10: 81 have determined there to
winter. Following is the m
Paul was not independent of he sea-
sons. He sent for his overcoat to Troas
on a memorable occasion. And now
in the text he is making arrangements
for the approaching cold weather, and
makes an appointment with Titus to
meet him at Necopolis, saying: u
have determined there to winter"
Well, this Is the eighth dayof Deem
Der, and the second Sabbath of winter.
We have had a few shrill, sharp blasts
already, f~orerunners of whole regi-
ments of storms and tempests- No
one here needs to be told that we
are in the opening gates of the win
ter. This season is not only a test
of ones physical endurance, but
in our great cities is a test of
moral character. A vast number of
people have by one winter of dissipa-
ton been destroyed, and forever.
Seated in our homes on some stormy
night, the winds bowling outside, we
imagine the shipping helplessly driven
on the coast, but any winter night, if
our ears were good enough, we could
hear the crash of a thousand moral
shlpwrecks. There are many people
who come to the cities on the LIST of
September who will be blasted by the
lst of March. At this eason of the
year, temptations are especially ram
pant. Now that the long winter even
inRs have come, there are many who
will employ them in high pursuits, in
Intelligent socialities, in Christian
work. in the strengthening and en-
nobling of moral character, and this
winter to many of you will be the
brightest and best Of all your lives.
and Ia anticipation Congratulate you.
But to others 1t may not have that
effect. and / charge you, my beloved.
look out where you spend your winter
nights
Il the first place, / have to remark
that at this. season of the year evil
allurements are especially busy. There
Is not very much temptation for a man
to plunge in ON q hot night amid blaz-
ing gaslights, and to breathe the fetid
air Of an assemblage, but in the cold
nights Satan gathers q great harvest
1 At such times the casinos are in full
blast. At such times, the grogshopsi In
one night make more than in four or
Ave nights In summer. At such times
the playbflis of low places of enter
tainment seem especially attractive,
and the acting is especially impress
sive, and the applause especially be-
witching. Many q man who has kept
right all the rest of the year will be
| capsiEed now, and though last autumn
he came from the country and there
was luster IN the y and there were
| roses in the cheek and elasticity in b
step, by the time the spring hour has
come you will pass him In the street
and say to your friend: Whats the
| matter with that man? How differ
| eptly he looks from what he looked
last September" Slain of one winters
dissipation. At this time of the year
| there are many entertainments II we
rightly employ them, and they are of
the right kind, they enlarge u So
cialities, aiiow us to make important
acquaintance, build us up in our o
ais and help us in a Thousand ways I
can scarcely think Of anything better
than good neighborhocd. But there
are those entertainments from which
others will come besoiled in character.
There are those who by the spring
time will be broken down in health,
and though at the opening of the sea-
son their prospects were bright, at the
close Of the season they will be in the
hands OF the doctors, or sleeping IN
the cemetery.
Men sometimes excuse themselves
and say. after late suppers it is neces-
sary to take some sort of stimulant to
aid digestion. My plain opinion is that
il you have no more self-control than
to stuff yourself until your digestive or
gans refuse their Office, you had better
not call yourself q man, but class your
self among the beasts that perish. AT
this season OF n year The Young
Mems Christian associations OF n
land send ont circulars asking the pas
tors to speak a word on this subject.
and so I sound in your ear the words
OF tn LORD dod Aimignby: woe unto
him that putteth the bottle to has
neighbor's lips" Rejoice that yon
have come to the glad winter months
fhat remind Won of the times when In
vorr childhood you were shone on by
the face of father, mother, brothers,
sisters. some of them, alasi no more to
meet YOU with sHappy New Year."
or M MERRY Christmas But
again and again have we seen on New
Years daysthe sonS OF the best fami-
lies drunk, and young men have ex-
cused themselves by the fact that the
wine cup has bean offered by the
ladies'; and again and again IL has
been found out that q lady's hand has
kindled the young mans thirst for
strong drink, and long after all the at
fractions OF the holiday have passed
that same woman crouches in her rags,
and her de~solation. and her woe I'M
der the uplifted hand of he drunken
monster to whom she had passed h
fascinating. cup on New Years day.
II we want to Ro to ruin let us go
alone, and not take otheyC, with is.
Can we not sacrifice our feelings if
need be?
When the good ship London went
down h captain was o that he
might escape in one of the lifeboats-
mo" he replied, iii go down with
the passengers" All h world ape
plauded his heroism. And can we not
sacrifice our tastes and our appetites
for the rescue OF others? Surely 1t Is
not a very great sacrifice. oh, mix not
with the innocent beverage OF the nell
day the poison OF addersi MIX not