The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-10-22
HE DRINK QUESTION
REV. DR.. TALMAGE breaches ON
THE THREE TAVERNS.

He DISCUSSES the Designations of the Day
and Eulogizes the Great Reformers OF
the Past and Present-Tribute to Neal
Dow.
copyright. 1897, by American Press Asso-
citation.
WASHINGTON, Oct FIN a unique
way DR.. Talmage here discusses the dis
sipations of the day and eulogizes the
great reformers of the past and present
His text is Acts xviii, 10, "They came
to meet us as far as April forum and
the three taverns.
Seventeen miles south of Rome there
was village of unfortunate name A
tavern is place of entertainment, and
in our time part of the entertainment
is a provision of intoxicants. One such
place you would think would have been
enough for that Italian village No!
There were three of them, with doors
open for entertainment and obfuscation.
The world has never lacked stimulating
drinks. You remember the condition of
Noah on one occasion, and of Abigail S
husband, Nabal, and the story of Bel
shazzar' S feast, and Benhaded and the
new wine in old bottles, and whole
paragraphs on prohibition enactment
thousands OF years before Neal Dow
was born, and no doubt there were
whole shelves of infammatory liquid
in those hotels which gave the name to
the village where Paul's friends came
to meet him-namely, the Three Tav-
erns In vain search ancient geogra-
ply for some satisfying account Of that
village. Two roads came from the sea-
coast to that place, the one from Actium
and the other from Puteoli, the last
road being the one which Paul travelled.
There were no doubt in that village
houses of merchandise and mechanics
shops and professional offices, but moth
ing is known of them. All we know of
that villagers that it had a profusion
of inns-the three taverns. Paul did
not choose any one Of these taverns as
the place to meet his friends. He GER
tainly was very abstemious, but they
made the selection. He had enlarged |
about keeping the body under, though |
once he prescribed for young theologic-
al student stimulating cordial for a
stomachic disorder, but he told him to
take only small dose-"a little wine
for thy stomach s sake"
The Three Taverns.
One of the worst things about these
three taverns was that they had espe-
cial temptation for those who had Just
come ashore People who had just land
ed at Actium or Puteoli were soon
tempted by these three hotels which
were only little way up from the beach.
Those who are disordered of the sea (for
it is physical disorganizer), instead OF
waiting for the gradual return of phys
ical eqpipoise, are apt to take artificial
means to brace up. OF the 1000, 900
sailors now on the sea, how few of them
coming ashore will escape the three tay-
erns! After surviving hurricanes, cy-
clones, icebergs, collisions, many of
them are wrecked in harbor. | warrant
that if a calculation were made of the
number of sailors lost at
sea and lost ashore those drowned by
the crimson wave of dissipation would
An outnumber those drowned by the
'alt water.
Alas, that the large ma ority of those
Who go down to the sea in ships should
nave twice to pass the three taverns- ,
namely, before they go out and after
hey come in! That fact was what
aroused Father Taylor, the great sailors ,,
Of nn Gni1
5on, and at public meeting at Charles :
town, he said, 'All the machinery of ,
The drunkard making, soul destroying !
business is in perfect running order,
rom the low grog holes ON the docks
Hept open to ruin my poor sailor boys ,
TO the great establishments in Still ,
House square, and when we ask men
what is to be done about it they say, ,
You can't help L., and yet there is ,
Bunker Hill, and you say you can't :
stop it, and up there are Lexington and !
Concord. We might answer Father
raylor's remark by saying, 1.-The trou-
Die is not that we can't stop it, but ,
hat we won t stop it. " We must have 4,
more generations slain before the world
" III iuAAJ NdhO uP w OA1O N'AA' AhAO |
which tempted the travellers of old who
,ame up from the seaports of Actium
md Puteoli is now the ruin of seafaring
men as they come up from the coasts of
Ill the continents-namely, the three
averns. In the autumn, about this /
ime, in the year 1887, the steamship
Home went out from New York for I
charleston. There were about 100 pas
'engers some of them widely known.
some of them had been summering at t
he northern watering places, and they {
we're ON their way south, all expectant |
# hearty greeting by their friends on t
he wharfs of Charleston. But little l
more than two days out the ship struck l
the rocks A lifeboat was launched, but '
'ank with all its passengers. A mother
vas seen standing on the deck of the l
teamer with her child in her arms. A {
wave wrenched the child from the 0
Mothers arms and rolled it into the sea, {
md the mother leaped after it. t
The sailors rushed to the bar of the G
.oot dronk tboYocalxyac 1r,,rly