The Penn's Grove record., 1897-06-04

could not get drink in any other way he
would sell his family into eternal bondage.
How any homes have been broken up in
that way no n but Goo knows. Oh, Is
there anything that will 80 destroy a man
for this life and damn him for the life that
Is to come? Do not tell me that q man can
be happy when he knows that he is break
ing HIS wife's heart and clothing his chill
dren with rags. Why, there are or the
roads and streets OF this land to-day little
children, b~arefooted, unwashed and IN.
kempt, want on every patch OF their faded
dress and on every wrinkle of their pre-
maturely old countenances, who would
have been in churches to-day and as well
clad as you are but for the fact that rum
destroyed their parents and drove them
into the grave. oh, rum thou foe OF God,
thou despoiler of homes, thou recruiting
officer of the pit, 1 hate thee.
But my subject takes a deeper tone, and
that Is that the unfortunate Of whom ]
speak suffers from the loss OF the soul. The
| Bible intimates that I'm the future world, IL
we are unforgiven here, our a passions
and appetites, unrestrained, will go nlong
with us n make our torment there, So
that, 1 suppose, when an inebriate wakes
up in that world he will feel a IN infinite
thirst consuming him. Now, down In this
world. although he may have been very
poor, he could beg or he could steal five
cents with which to get that which would
slake his thirst for o little while, but in
eternity where is the rum to come from2
Oh, the deep, exhausting, exasperating,
everlasting thirst Of the drunkard In hell
Why, IL o f1end came up to earth for some
internal work in a grogshop and should go
back taking on It's wing Just one drop OF
that for which the inebriate In the lost
world longs, what excitement would 1t
make therel Put that one drop from of
the fiend's wing on the tip Of the tongue OF
the destroyed inebriate, let the liquid
brightness just tonch it, let the drop be
very small, II 1t only have in it the smack
| of alcoholic drink; let that drop Just touch
the lost inebriate in the lost world, and he
would spring to his feet and cry: "That is
rum, ahal That is ruml',, And 1t would
wakeu up the echoes of the damned: "Give
me rumi Give me rum Give me ruml"
In the future world l do not believe that 1t
will be the absence OF God that will make
the drunkard's sorrow. l do not believe it
will be the absence Of light. 1 do not be-
lieve that 1t will be the absence of holiness.
l think 1t will be the absence of rum. oh,
Look not upon the wine when 1t is red,
when 1t moveth itself Alright in the cup, for
at the last it biteth like q serpent, and 1t
stingeth like an adder"
Iverily believe that although you feel
graphing at the roots of your tongues an
almost o%mnfpotent thirst, II you will give
your heart to Cox, he will help you by His
grace to conquer. Try 1t. 1t Is your last
chance. l have looked oft Upon the DESC
lation. Sitting next to you in our religious
assemblages there are q good many people
in awful peril, and judging from ordinary
circumstances there is not one chance in
five thousand that they will get clear Of 1t.
There are men In every congregation from
Sabbath to Sabbath OF whom l must make
the remark that II they do not change their
course within ten years they will, as to
their bodies, lie down In drunkards' graves,
and rs to their souls, lie down In a drunk.
ards perdItion. l kno that Is an awfu!
thing to say, but I eannot help saying 1t.
oh, beware! You lave not yet been cap
tured. Bewarei Whether the beverage be
poured In golden chalice or pewter mug in
the foam at the top, in white letters, let
there be spelled out to your soul. "Bewarel'
When the books of judgment are open, and
10, 000, 600 d~runkards come up to get their
doom, l want o to bear witness that l, in
the fear of God and In love for your soul,
told you, with all affection and with all
kindness, to beware of that which has
already exerted its influence upon your
family, blowing out some Of its light-a
p~remonition of the blaekness Of darkness
forever.
oh, II you could only hear intemperance
with drnnkards' bones drumming on the
head Of the liquor cask the dead march of
immortal souls, methinks the very glance
of a wine cup would make you shudder,
and the color OF the liquor would mako you
think of the blood Of the soul, and the foam
on the top Of the cup would remind you OF
the froth on the maqiac's lip, and you
would kneel down and pray God that,
rather than your children should become
captives Of this evil habit, you would like
to carry them out some bright spring day
to the cemetery and put them away to the
last sleep, until at the call OF the south
wind the flowers would come up all over
the ~grave-sweet prophecies Of the resur-
rection. God has a balm for such a wound,
but what hower'of comfort ever grew on q
drunkard's s~epulcher2