The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-01-12

mage to-day discusses quesCion 'na0
everybody sometime discusses. 1t is
one OF tremendous import. Shall we
have another chance? The text is
Ecclesiastes ii, 8, eff the tree falls
toward the south OF toward the north,
in the place where the tree falleth
there it shall be. .
There is a lowering hope in the
minds of vast multitude of people
that there will be an opportunity IN
the next world of correcting the mis-
takes of this; that however complete
a shipwreck we may make of our earth
" life it will be on beach up which
We may walk to a palace; that as the
defendant may lose his case in cir
cult court and appeal it and have 1t go
up to the supreme court or court OF
chancery and all the costs thrown
over on the other party, so man
NAV lose his case in this world, but in
the higher jurisdiction OF eternity
have the decision of the earthly case
set aside, all the costs remitted and
the defendant be triumphant forever.
The object Of my sermon is to show
YOU that common sense declares with
the text that such an expectation IS
chimerical. eff the tree fall toward
the south or toward the north there 1T
shall be. . There ere those who say
that if the impenitent and unforglven
man enters the next world and sees
the disaster, as 4 result of that disas-
ter he will turn, the distress the cause
Of his reformation, but we have H.,
900 instances all around about us OF
people who have done wrong and dis
aster suddenly came upon them. Bid
the disaster heal them? No; they
! went on.
There is a man flung of dissipations.
The doctor says to him, s'Now, my
friend, if you don't stop drinking and
don't stop this fast life you are living
YOU will die. E The patient thanks
the physician for his warning and
gets better. He begins to sit up, be-
gins to walk. around the room, begins
to 20 to business, and takes the same
round of grog shops where he got his
morning dram and his evening dram,
and the drains between. Down again.
Same doctor. Same physical anguish.
Same medical warning. But now the
sickness is more protracted, the liver
more obstinate, the stomach more IT.
risable, the digestive organs more re-
belEous. But still, under medical
skill. he gets better, goes forth, com
s,its the same sacrilege against his
physical health. Sometimes he wakes
up to see what he is doing, and he re-
alizes he is destroying his family. and
that his life is a perpetual perjury
against his marriage VOWS, and that
that broken-hearted woman is so diff
ferent from the roseate wife he mar
ried that her old schoolmates do not
recognize her on the street, and that
his sons are going out in life uDder
the taunt Of fathers drunkenness,
s and that his daughters are going out
in life under the scari6cation OF dis
reputable ancestry. His nerves are
all a-jangle. From crown Of head to
sole OF foot he is one aching. rasping,
crucifying, damning torture. Where
is he?
He is in hell on earth. Does it
stop him? All, no! After awhile de-
lirium tremens pours out upon his
pillow whole jungle Of Kissing rep
tiles. His screams horrify the neigh
bors as he dashes out of bed crying,
s.Takc these thing off me3' He is
drinking down the comfort OF MS
family. the education Of his children,
their prospects for this life and per-
haps their prospects for the life to
come. Pale and convalescent he sits
up. Physician says to him: Now
my good fellow, ! am going to have
7lain talk with you. If you ever
have an attack of this kind again you
will die. I cant save you, and all
the doctors in creation can t save
you
The patient gets up, starts out,
goes the same round of dissipation
and is down again, but this time med
icines do not touch his case. Consul
tations Of physicians say there is no
hope. Death ends the scene. That
process of inebriation and physical
suffering and medical warning and dis
solution is taking place within a
stone throw Of where you sit and IN
bhorhood of Christendom.