The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-05-12

w ndL SIOIG Wd1AAS ALAh SAAASL
of God wants him for a member? What
diving man wants him for an executor?
He drinksi" I stand before hundreds
of Young men-and / a 1t not in fat
tery-splendid young men who have
their reputation as their only capital.
Your father gave you a 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, hut he has surrounded you with
Christian influences and a good MEM
Dry of the past. Now, young man, un-
der God you are with your own right
arm to achieve your fortune, and as
FOUR reputation is your only capital do
not bring upon it suspicion by going in
and out OF liquor establishments or by
an odor Of your breath or by any glare
OF your eye or by n unnatural flush
on your cheeks. You lose your reputa-
ton and you loSe your capital
THE EJEBRIATE'S DEGRADATION.
The inebriate suffers also in the fact
that he loses his self respect, and when
you destroy a mans self respect there
is not much left Of him Then a man
will do things he would not do other
wise, he will say things he would not
say otherwise. The fact is, that man
cannot stop or he would stop now. He
is bound hand and foot by the Philis-
illC a1o AANy o. w.
and put his eyes out and made him
grind in the mill Of a great horror. AZ
ter he is three-fourths gone in this
slavery the first thing he will be anx-
ious to impress you with is that he can
stop at any time he wants to. His fam
lily become alarmed in regard to him,
and they say: Now, do stop this. At
ter awhile it will get the mastery Of
you" "Oh, MOI he says 81 a stop at
any time. I a stop now. I can stop
tomorrow" His most confidential
friends say: why, I'm afraid you are
losing your balance with hat habit.
You are going a little further h you
a afford to go. You had better STOP"
ooh, MOI" he says. Il a stop at any
ther and further. He cannot stop. I will
prove it. He loves himself, 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 temper, than he used to. Why does
he not stop? Because he cannot stop.
I will prove it by going still further.
He loves his wife and children. He
sees that his habits are bringing dis
grace upon his home. The probabilities
are they will ruin his wife and dis
grace his children. He sees all this, and
he loves them. Why does he not stop?
He cannot stop.
I had a very dear friend, generous to
a fault. He had given thousands and
tens of thousands of dollars to Bible So
~cieties, tract societies, missionary soci-
cites, asylums for the poor, the halt,
the lame, the blind, the imbecile. I do
not believe for 20 years anybody asked
him for a dollar, $50 or 500 for char
ity but he gave it. I never heard of
anybody asking him for help but he
gave it. But he was under the power of
strong drink, and he went on down,
down, down. His family implored him,
saying: You are going too far in that
habit. You had better stop" He re-
piled: II can stop any time. I am my
own master. I a STOP" He went on
down, down. His friends advised Ink
cautioned him. He said: Don't be-
afraid of me. I ann my wi master. I
can stop now. I know what I am DO
ing" He went on down until he had
h delfrium tremens. On down until
he had h delirium tremens twice. At
ter the second time the doctor said: eff
you ever I'VE an attack like this again,
you will die. You had better STOP" He
said: Il can stop any time. I can stop
now" He went on down. He is dead.
What slew him? Rum, rum! Among
the last things he said was that he
could stop n time. He could not stop.
POWER OF THE RUM DRAGON.
Oh, my young friends, 1 want to tell
you that there is a point in inebriation
beyond which if a man go he cannot
stop! But sometimes a man will be
more frank han that. A victim of
strong drink said to a reformer: "It is
impossible for me to stop. I realize it.
But If you should tell me I coudn
have a drink until tomorrow might I'M
less l had all my fingers cut off, I
would say, Bring the hatchet and cut
them off," I had a very dear friend
in Philadelphia whose nephew came
to him and was talking about his
trouble and confessed it. He confessed
You must STOP" He, said: II can't
stop. If there stood a cannon, and it
was loaded, and there was a glass of
wine on the mouth of the cannon, and
1 knew you would fire it off if 1 APP
preached, 1 would start to get that
glass of wine. I must have it. I can't
get rid of this habit. I can't get away
from it." Oh, it is awful for a mar to
wake VI and feel that he is a captive!
I hear him soliloquizing, saying: ct
might have stopped three months ago,
but I can't stop now. Dead, but not
buried; I am a walking corpse. I am
an apparition of what I once was. I
am a Gagged immortal and my soul beats
against the wires of my cage on his
side and beats against the wires Of
my cage on h other side, until there
is blood on the wires and blood ON the
soul, but 1 can't get out Destroyed
without remedy"
Again, h man suffers from the loss
of usefulness. Do you know some of the
men who have fallen into the ditch
were n in the front rank in churches
and in the front rank in reformatory
institutions? Do o know they once
knelt at the family altar and once ar
ried the chalice of the holy communion
on sacramental days? Do you know
they once stood in the pulpit and
preached the gospel of the Son of God?
We Will not forget the scene witnessed
! some years 81 in my Brooklyn church
when a man rose in the midst of the
audience, stepped into the aisle and
walked up and down.. Everybody saw
That he was intoxicated. The ushers
led him out, and his poor wife took his
hat and overcoat and followed him to
the door. Who was he? He had once
been a mighty minister of the gospel Of
Jesus Christ in a sister denomination.
had often preached in this very city.
What slew him? Strong drink, On,
What must be the feeling Of a man who
1 To dnr+ rOx-oJ as- -oai%x f1r az,