The Burke County news. [volume] (Morganton, N.C.) 1899-1901, 1899-05-19

home. 10 not care how -rch he loves
MS vile and children, If this habit gets the
mastery over him he Will do tn. most out
raSeous things. II need be. in order n &c,
strong drink. he would sell them all iuto
everlasting captivity. There are hundreds
ana thousands OF homes that have been
utterly blasted o. il. | am speaking Of no
abstraction. Is there ANYTHING so disas.
trous to a man for this life and for the life
10 come: Do you tell me that 4 man can
De happy when he knows he i breaking
ms wlies heart and clothing his children
with rags! There are little children in the
streets today, barefooted. unkenpt. IN
combed. want written on every patch OF
thelr faded dress and on every wrinkle Of
thelr p~rematurely Old countepance. who
would have been in the house OF God this
morning as we'll clad as you had il not
been that strong drink drove their parents
down into penury and then down into the
grave. Oh, rum, rum, thou despoiler OF
hones thou foe Of God, thou recruiting
officer Of the Dit, | hate thee,
But my subject takes a deeper tone when
l. tells you that the inebriate suffers the
loss of the soul. The Bible intimates that
II We go into the future world unforgiven
the appetites and passions which were
regnant here will torment Us there. l sup
pose when the inebriatc wakes up in the
lost world there will be an infinite thirst
clawine upon him. In this world be could
- PNAOaS 0AiLh. 1loNfNC pun Ac as
in this world, he could beg or he could
steal five cents to get a drink that would
for a little while slake his thirst, but in
eternity where will the rum come from?
Dives wanted one drop Of water. but could
lot get it. Where will the inebriate get
the draft lie SO much requires. so much de-
mands! No one to brew it. No one to
mix it. No one to pour it. No one TO
fetch it. Millions OF worlds now for the
dreSs that were thrown On the sawdusted
floor Of the restaurant. Millions Of worlds
now for the rind flung out from the punch
bowl OF an earthly banquet. Dives called
for water. The inebriate calls for rum.
If a ilend from the lost world should come
up on a mission to a grogshop and, having
finished the mission in the grogshop, should
come back, taking on the tip Of his wing
one drop of alcoholic beverage. what ex-
element it would make all through the
world of the lost, and, if that one drop Of
alcoholic beverage should drop from the
wing Of the fiend upon the tongue of the
inebriate, how be would spring up and cry:
That's it. That's it! Rum, RUM, That's
it,' And ali the cayerns of the lost would
echo with the err: Give it 90 NE. Rum!
RUM" All, M friends, the inebriat"'s sor-
row in the next world will not be the abb
seIce of God or holiness or light; it will be
the absence of rum. Look not upon the
viz when it is red, when it mOveth itself
Alright in the cup, for at the last it b.teth
like a serpent, and it stingeth like an ad-
der
But I must not dwell on generalities: I
must come to specifics. Are You astray!
If there is any sermon dislike, it is a ser
mon on generalities. want personalities.
Are you astray? Have you zone SO far you
think you anHot get back? Did 1 say a
few moments ago that a man might go to
q point in ineDriatiOn where he could not
stop? Yes, / said it, and l reiterate it.
But 1 want you also to understand that
while the man himself, Of his own strength,
cannot stop. God can stop any man.