The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-03-13
SERMON.
INTEMPBRANOE.*



ness of man. 1t has existed from
time immemorial. History tells us
that more than four thousand years
ago, long before the birth of Christ,
away back in the wonderland of
Egypt, the cradle of our civilization,
in the land of the Pharoahs and on
the shores of the Nile, alcohol was
first introduced by the gods in the
form of wine. When we pass from
the fathomless abyss of Egypt to the
classic land of old Greece, the same
significant fact confronts us. Here,
among the poets and philosophers,
statesmen and historians, do we find
Dionysius introducing wine and in
structing the people in the fermenta-
ton of the grape. So, too, if we would
visit the shores of far away India,
from whose fertile plains have sprung
nearly all of the civilized nations of
the globe, we learn, in our journey
ings through the corridors of history,
that wine came down from the skies
and was choice gift from the gods.
With such far-reachlng facts as
those in mind, can we wonder that
incompetence has followed the ever
widening stream of civilization and
become familiar theme for preach
ers and teachers, for poets and scien-
lists, for politicians and statesmen,
as we'll as for the general public in
ali ages. | may not hope, therefore,
to spin the fibre nor weave the web of
a discourse that will contain any
thoughts new or unfamiliar. Yet it
is the solemn duty of every pulpit to
stir up the minds of the people by
way of remembrance, because the
wine traffic is the worst enemy of our
race 1t has confronted mankind in
every age and every nation. It has
been interviewer and closely related
to the long and dreary pilgrimage of
man on earth.
The Incorporate man divests him
self of his rational and moral nature.
He casts aside his self-consciousnes
and self command. He brings upon
himself frenzy, remorse and often
times insanity. He sins against the
divine principle within his own soul
which distinguishes man from beast,
and this dethroning of reason and
dwarfing of conscience constitutes
the browning vice of intemperance;
all other effects are light compared
with the inward ruin of reason and
conscience.
The bloated co lntenance of the
drunkard, the palsied and trembling
nerves and the aching brow, which
follow the midnight revel, are only
the outward manifestations of the
inward disease. His scanty board,
his broken hearted wife and his rag
ged children, are merely the conse
quences of the inner vice. They are
the divine warnings to man, telling
him of the destroyer's work in the
human soul. 1t is not uncommon to
hear temperance reformers urging
the financial consideration as the
highest incentive to action. They
tell us we must keep this man or that
man from drunkenness to save him
from being a burden to the county.
The motive is good as far as it goes.
But if you would visit the poor houses
and the insane asylums of our land
and there witness the mental degra
dation and the spiritual slavery which
is sure to exist, then you behold
ruin in Gods defaced image which
makes the cost of his support as
nothing, compared with the slavery
of the mans soul.
Ancient mythology tells us that
many centuries ago, when Greece was
what we now are, the first nation on
the globe, there was great monster
who troubled the land annually and
demanded of the people fourteen in
nocent little children each year, seven
boys and seven girls. Those he used
to devour for his own pleasure. And
every year when the time came for
sending the little ones away to the
monster what scene of sorrow there
was. How the parents cried and
how the friends and relatives mourned
as the children went on board the
great ship. that carried those victims
to the Grecian monster to be de-
voured. But we have real monster
here in free America and we are not
disturbed by his ravages. His work
does not end with the destruction of
fourteen victims. He has already
destroyed millions of the noblest
men and women in our land. He
weakens our Government and our
legislation. He curses our institu-
tions, both secular and religious. He
carries blightand mildew everywhere,
and JOY and gladness nowhere. He