El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-02-27
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Rev. Mr.. Moore's Sermon on "A
Drunken Feast"

Rev. Mr.. MOOre'S Sermon OF
Drunken Feast"
Last night at the Presbyterian
church the pastor, Rev. 81. w. Moore,
preached from the text: THAT night
was Belshazzar the king slain"
Daniel $50. The subject. ga drunken
feast.' He said in part:
My text echoes with clank1nR wine
glasses, rustling silks, sw eet music, the
eibbering of the reveller. Belshazzar
entertains the fashionable society OF
Babylon The feast ends in blood and
a fallen city. The feast is on! See the
diamonds blaze out from the fingers of
the mistresses. Clash the cymb balls!
Sweep the harp. Wine flows from lip
to lip. The king, wild with 1ntoxica-
ton, sends for the silver vessels cap
tured from the holy temple of Jerusa
lem. Think of it, what sacr1lege!
Drunken women shout, "Long live the
king Oh the debauchery! But bark!
The king grows white. His knees
smite together like those OF palsled
man. See! God writes with his fiery
finger on the wall, "Thy kingdom is
divided and given to the Modes and
drop on their knees and pray.
Drunken lords are sick with fear as
they watch the finger OF fire. Al
ready Cyrus army Is on the palace
steps. The soldiers enter. The
sword is plunged into the heart OF
lord, lady and king. Satins and silks
are soaked in blood. Babylon is
ahame. Oh, the erd of sin! Drop the
curtain. Babylon ia fallen. Babylon is
fallen.
Read the lesson of histOry-hear 1T:
The strength of a nation lies not in it's
wealth or conquests, or navies, or arm
les. but the morality and integrity OF
the people. Wiser men than see the
weaknesses of our great republic. The
concentration of wealth. the curse of
greed, the growth OF intemperance,
Corruption OF the ballot-box, all are
worms gnawing under the bark. When
three men can hold the cotton
crop of America till 100000 English
spindles stop and the light goes
out in thousands of English 'homes;
when one or two men can get together
and corner pork or wheat and dictate
to sovereign people what they shall
pay, then the point of shame has been
reached. Oh, how much we owe to the
good people of community. They are
the salt to stay the corruption. The
solution of the problem lies not so
much in change of parties in power.
nor in woman's suffrage or this or that,
but in q revival of Plymouth Rock
morality and back bone.
even dared to bring the holy vessels
captured from the Jewish temple into
his drunken feast. Some people seem
to go just so far as they can in defying
God. Back in Pennsylvania, near
where lived, some drunken jewellers
dared to celebrate in the back room of
q saloon. the Lords supper. After
the impious deed was done, one of the
men fell dead on the floor with pupils
distended, tongue palsied and limbs
rigid. In few hours he died in tor
ments. ''God is not mocked.' In
Hollister, Cal, some time ago MUIR
derer stood before Judge and jury and
said: "May God strike me dead if I
am guilty" The man, struck with a
down dead. "God is not mocked."
How easy it is for God to make the
stoutest sinner tremble. Sodom and
Gomorrah defied God and they both
were burnt to cinders in an avalanche
of fire. Pompeii was buried by lava
from the red hot throat of Vesuvius,
and after eighteen hundred years We
see her disentombed, and oh, the vice.
the shame, the God defying scenes of
that city. So Babyl on had gone toe
far. Her cup was full. God spoke and
the drunken feast was soon filed with
smoking blood aud Babylon fell. It
takes awful judgment sometimes to
open peoples eyes.
OBJ, the woes of dissipation! Ask rea-
son and hear the answer. 1t deadens
the conscience, destroys morality and
religious feelings and wrecks lives till
men find relief in suicide. 1t banishes
q man from society, till he feels the
sting. Insurance companies will not
insure an habitual drinker. Railroad
companies will not employ them.
Foot ballists, rowers, ell athletes say
let it alone Ask science. 1t makes
hob-nailed liver, fatty degeneration of
the kidneys, destroys the stomach,
cooks the brain. Ask the Bible and
hear the answer: "No drunkard shall
enter the kingdom of God"
General Booth says dying wife
once sent for her husband, "PrOmise
me, husband, two things" she said,
ssPromise me TO take good care of the