Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-06-01
DIR. TALMAGTS SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: "The Plague of Alcohol'-The
Drunkard's Woe Depicted in Strong
Colors-Rum's Mission is to Destroy
All Good-A Call to Christians.


All Good-A Call to Christians.
TEXT: "And there shall be a great cry
throughout all the land of Egypt."-Ex-
odus xi., g.
This was the worst OF the ten plaques.
The destroying angel at midnight tapped
his wing over the land, and there was one
mourning and woe through all Egypt.
That destroying angel has fed the earth,
but far worse has come. He sweeps
through these cities. 1t is the destroying
angel of strong drink. Far worse devasta-
tion wrought by this second than by the
first. The calamity In America worse than
the calamity in Egypt Thousands OF the
slain, millions Of the slain. No arithmetic
can calculate their number.
Once upon time four fiends met in the
lost world They resolved that the people
OF our earth were too happy, and these
four INTERVALS cnme forth to our earth on
embassy of mischief. The one fend said,
.'I'll take charge Of the vineyards" An
other said, ON take charge OF the grain
fields" Another said, ''I'll take charge of
the dairy" Another said, "Ill take charge
of the music" The four fiends met in the
great Sahara desert, with skeleton fingers
clutehed each other in handshake of fldel-
ity kissed each other goodby with lip of
blue flame and parted on their mission.
The flend of the vineyard came in one
bright morning amid the grapes and sat
down ON n root of twisted grapevine In
sheer encouragement. The fend knew
not how to damage the vineyard, or,
through 1t, how to damage the world.
The grapes were so ripe and beautiful
and luscious. They bewitched the air with
their sweetness. There seemed to be SO
much health in every bunch, and while
the flend sat there in utter Indignation
and disappointment he clutehed cluster
and squeezed it in perfect spite, and, 10!
his hand was red with the blood of the
vineyard. and the fiend said: "That re-
minds me of the blood of broken hearts.
I'll strip the vineyard, and I'll squeeze out
all the juice of the grapes, and I'll allow
the juices of the grapes to stand until they
rot and I'll call the process fermenta-
ton" And there was great vat pre-
pared, and people came with their cups
and their pitchers, and they dipped up the
blood Of the grapes, and they drank and
drank and went away drinking, and they
drank until they fell in long lines of death,
so that when the fiend of the vineyard
wanted to return to his rome in the pit
he stepped from carcass to carcass and
walked down amid a great causeway of
the dead
Then the second flend came into the
granfeld. He waded chin deep amid the
barley and the rye. He heard all the grain
talking about bread and prosperous hus-
bandry and thrifty homes. He thrust his
long arms into the grainfleld, and he pulled
,
and he made beneath it great fres-fires
lighted with spark from his own heart
and there were a grinding and a mashing
and stencil, and the people came with their
bottles, and they dipped up the fiery liquid
and they drank, and they blasphemed, and
they staggered and they fought, and they
rioted, and they murdered, and the fend of
the pit, the fieDd Of the grainfleld was so
pleased with their behavior that he changed
his residence from the pit to n whisky bar
zI l. k.,@ h.
bunghole laughing In high merriment at
the thought that out OF anything so harm
less as the grain of the field he might turn
this world into a seeming pandemonium.
The tiend of the dairy saw the cows COM
ing home from the pasture field, full I'D
dered and as the maid milked he said "I'll
soon spoil all that mess, Ill add to it
brandy, sugar and nutmeg, and I'll stir it
into a milk punch, and children will drink
it and some Of the temperance people will
drink it, and if can do them more harm
III give them headache, and then I'll
hand them over to the more vigorous fiends
of the satanic delegation And then the
fiend of the dairy leaped upon the shelf
and danced until the long row of shining
milkpans almost quaked.
The flend of the music entered grog-
shop, and there were but few customers.
Finding few customers, he swept the cir
cult OF the city, and he gathered up the
musical instruments and after nightfall he
marshaled n band, and the trombones
blew and the cymbals clapped and the
drums beat and the bugles called and the
people crowded in, and they swung around
in merry dance, each one with wiDeglass
in his hand, and the dance became wilder
and stronger and rougher, natil the room
shook and the glasses cracked and the floor
broke and the crowd dropped into hell
Then the four fiends-the fiend of the
vineyard and Of the grainfleld and of the
dairy and Of the music hall-went back to
tIeir home, and they held high carnival
because their work had been SO we'll DONE
and satan rose from his throne and an
nounced that there VAS no danger of the
earth's redemption SO long as these four
fleDds could pay such tax to the diabolic.
And then all the demons and all the sprites
and all the fiends filled their glasses and
clicked them and cried: "Let US drink
drink to the everlasting prosperity of the
liquor traf1lcl Here's to woe and darkness
and murder and DEATH Drink Drink"
But whether by allegory or by appalling
statistic this subject is presented you know
as well as that 1t is impossible to exag-
gerate the evils of strong drink. plague!
A plagued In the first place the inebriate
suffers from the loss Of good name. God
has so arranged 1t that no man loses his
reputation except by his own act. The
world may assault man, and all the
powers OF darkness may assault him-they
cannot capture him so long as his heart Is
pure and his life is pure. All the powers
of earth and hell cannot take that Gibral-
tar. If a man is right, all the lombard
ment of the world for 5, 10, 90, 40 years
will only strengthen him in his position.
So that all you have to do is to keep
yourself right. Never mind the world. Let
it say what it will. 1t can do you no
damage. But as soon as it is whispered,
"He drinks" and it can be proved, he
begins to go down. What clerk can get
position with such a reputation? What
store wants him? What church of God
wants him for memberp What dying man
wants him for an executor? "He drinks!'
/ stand before hundreds of young men
and 1 say it not in flattery-splendid young
men who have their reputation as their
only capital. Your father gave you good
education, or as good an education as he
could afford to give you. He started you
in city life. He could furnish you no
means, but he has surrounded you with
Christian influences and a good memory of
the past. Now. young man, under God you
Ne with your own right arm to achieve
your fortune, and as your reputation is
your only capital do not bring upon 1t sus-
picion by going in and out of liquor estab-
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