Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-06-01
~ H,s uost confldential friend saws,


He goes on further and further. He can
not stop. will prove 1t. He loves him
self, and he knows nevertheless that strong
drink Is depicting him In body, mind and
soul. He knows he is going down; that he
! has less self control, less equipoise OF tenn
per, than he used to. Why does he not
stop? Because he cannot stop. will prove
it by going still further. He loves his
wife and children. He secs that his
habits are bringing disgrace upon his home.
and disgrace his children. He sees all this,
and he loves them. Why does he not stop2
He cannot stop.
Oh, my young friends, want to tell you
that there is point in inebriation beyond
which II man go he cannot stop! But
sometimes man will be more frank than
that. A victim OF strong drink said to a
reformer: sit is impossible for me to
stop. 1 realizeit. But IL you should tell
me couldn't have drink until to-mor-
row night unless had all my fingers cut
off, would say, Bring on the hatchet and
In Philadelphia whose nephew came to him
and was talking about his trouble and con-
fessed 1t. He confessed he could not stop.
My friend said, "You must stop" He.said:
~ can't stop. If there stood cannon,
and it was loaded, and there was u glass
OF wine in the mouth OF the cannon, and
1 knew you would fire 1t off II
I approached, I would start to get that
glass of wine. l must hav7 1t. | can't
get rid Of this habit. l It get away
from It," Oh, 1t is awfu or man to
wake up and feel that he IA captive
hear him soliloquizing, 81 .ng: II might
have stopped three month"; go, but can't
stop now. Dead, but no. buried; am
walking corpse. l am an apparition OF
what once was. am Gagged immortal
and my soul beats against the wires Of my
cage on this side and beats against the
wires of my cage on the other side until
there is blood on the wires and blood on
the soul, but | can't get out. Destroyed
without remedyi''
See the attendants stand back from that
ward in the hospital where the inebriates
are dying. They cannot stand it. The
keepers come through it and say: Hush
up. now! Stop making this noise! Be
still You are disturbing all the other pa
tients. Keep still nowl" Then the keepers
pass on. and after they get past then the
80 God Help, help! Give me rum, give
me ruml o God! Help! Take the devils
off of me! o God! God' And they
shrek and they blaspheme and they cry
for help and then they ask the keepers to
slay them, saying: "Stab me, strangle me,
Give me rum! o Godl Help!" They tear
out their hair by the handful, and they
bite their nails into the quick. This is no
fancy picture. 1t ic transpiring in hos
pital at this moment. 1t went on last
night while you slept, and more than that,
that is the death some of you will die un-
less you stop. see 1t coming. God help
you to stop before you go so far that you
cannot stop.
But it plaques a man also in the loss Of
home. 1 do not care how much he loves
his wife and children, il this habit gets the
mastery oyer him he will do the most out
rageouS things. II need be, in order to get
strong drink, he would sell them all into
everlasting captivity. There are hundreds
| and thousands OF homes that have been
utterly blasted Of it. I am speaking of NO
abstraction. Is there anything so disas-
trous to man for this life and for the life
| to come? Do you tell me that man can
be happy when he knows he Is breaking
his wife's heart and clothing his children
with rags? There are little children in the
streets to-day, barefooted, unkempt. un-
combed, want written on every patch OF
their faded dress and on every wrinkle OF
their prematurely old countenance, who
would have been in the house of God this
morning as well clad as you had it not
been that strong drink drove their parents
down into penury and then down into the
grave. Oh, rum, rum, thou despoiler Of
homes, thou foe of God, thou recruiting
officer of the pit, hate thee
But my subject takes n deeper tone when
1t tells you that the inebriate suffers the
loss of the soul. The Bible intmates that
If we go into the future world unforgiven
the appetites and passions which were
regnant here will torment US there. l sup
pose when the inebrate wakes up in the
lost world there will be an infinite thirst
clawing upon him. In this world he could
get strong drink. However poor he was
in this world, he could beg or he could
steal five cents to get drink that would
for little while sake his thirst, but in
eternity where will the rum come from?
Dives wanted one drop of water. but could
not get it. Where will the inebriate get
the draft he so much requires, so much de-
mandsi No one to brew it. No one to
mix it. No one to pour it. No one to
dregs that were thrown on the sawdusted
| floor Of the restaurant. Millions OF worlds
now for the rnd flung out from the punch
bowl OF an earthly banquet. Dives called
for water. The inebriate calls for rum.
II flend from the lost world should come
finished the mission in the grogshop, should
come back, taking on the tip of his wing
one drop OF alcoholic beverage. what ex-
citement it would make all through the
world of the lost, and, If that one drop Of
alcoholic beverage should drop from the
inebriate, how he would spring up and cry:
"That's It! That's it! Rum Rumi That's
it!' And all the caverns OF the lost would
echo with the cry: "Give 1t to me! Rum
Ruml' All, my friends, the inebrate's sor-
row in the next world will not be the abb
sence of God or holiness or light; it will be
the absence of rum. "Look not upon the
wine when 1t is red, when 1t moveth itself
Alright in the cup, for at the last 1t biteth
like serpent, and 1t stingeth like an adj
der"
But I must not dwell on generalities; I
must come to specifics. Are you astray?
If there is any sermon dislike, it is SER
mon on generalities. / want personalities.
Are you astray? Have you gone so far you
think you cannot get backp Did l say
few moments ago that a man might go to
a point in inebriation where he could not
stop? Yes, 1 said 1t, and I reiterate it.
But want you also to understand that
while the man himself, Of his own strength,
cannot stop, God can stop any man.
You have only to lay hold of the strong
| arm OF the Lord God Almighty. He can
stop you. Many summers ago 1 went
over to New York one Sabbath even
ing-our church not yet being open for
the autumnal services. I went into a
room in the Fourth Ward, New York,
where a religious service was being
held for reformed drunkards, and I
heard a revelation that night that l had
never hen rd befOre-nftaan Orstwant m an