The Penn's Grove record., 1899-05-05

from it," Oh, It is awful for a mar to
wake up n feel that he is a captive! l
hear him ~soliloquizing, saying: 81 might
have stopped three months ago, but l can't
stop now. Dead, but not buried; 1 am a
walking corpse. l am an apparition OF
what 1 once was. I am q 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 remedy" .9.
See the attendants stand back from that
ward in the hospital where the inebriates
are dying. They cannot stand 1t, IN
keepers come through 1t and say: Hush
up, nowl stop making this noisel Be
stilll You are disturbing all the other pa.
tients. Keep still nowl" Then the keepers
pass on, and after they get past then the
poor creatures wiring their hands and say:
10 Godl Help, helpi Give me rum, give
me rum! o God Helpl Take the devils
off of mel o God o Godl' And they
shrek and they blaspheme and they cry
for help and then they ask the keepers to
smother mel o Godi Help, help! RUM
Give me ruml o Godl Helpl" They tear
out their hair by the handful, and they
bite their nails into the quick This Is no
fancy picture. 1t is transporting in a hos.
pital at this moment. 1t went on last
night WQiIe you Slept, anu luOrb ludn tuhtj
that is the death some of you will die un-
less you stop. l see it coming. God help
you to stop before you go so far that you
cannot stop.
But 1t plaques a man also in the loss Of
home. l do not care how much he loves
his wife and children, II this habit gets the
mastery over him he will do the most out.
rageous things. If 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. | am speaking OF nc
abstraction. Is there anything so disas'
trous to n man for this life and for the life
to come? Do you tell me that a man can
be happy when he knows he Is breaking
his wffe's heart and clothing his children
with rags2 There are little children In the
streets to-day, barefooted, unkempt, I'M
combed, want written on every patch Of
their faded dress and on every wrinkle oil
their prematurely old countenance, who
would nave been In the house of God this
morning as well clad as you had it not
been tina strong drink drove their parents
down iuto perjury and then down into the
grave. Oh, rum, rum, thou despoiler o.
homes, thou foe of God, thou recruiting
officer of the pit, 1 hate theel
But my subject takes a deeper tone when
it tells YOU that the inebriate suffers the
loss of the soul. The Bible intimates that
if we go into the future world unforgiveI
the appetiteS and passions which wert
regnant here will torment us there. l sup.
pose when the inebriate 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 a drink that would
for little while slake his thirst, but in
eternity where will the rum come FRONT
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-
mandsl No one to brew it. No one to
mix it. No one to pour it. No one tc
fetch 1t. Millions Of worlds now for the
dregs 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 fiend from the lost world should come
up on a mission to u grogshop and, having
finished the mission in the grogshop, should
come back, taking IN the tip Of his wing
one drop of alcoholic beverage, what ex'
citement 1t would make all through the
world of the lost, and, If that one drop OF
alcoholic beverage should drop from tbs
wing Of the iend upon the tongue OF the
inebriate, how he would spring up and cry;
That's 1t! That's It'll Ruml Ruml That's
itl'' And all the oaverns OF the lost would
echo with the cry: "Give 1t to met Rum
RUM All, my friends, the inebriate's scr
row in the next world will not be the alb
sence of God or holiness or light; it will be
the absence Of run 'tLook not upon the
wine when it is red, when it moveth itself
Alright in the cup, for at the last 1t bitetH
like a serpent, and 1t stingeth like an ad'
der"
But 1 must not dwell on generalities; 1
must come to specifics. Are you astray?
II 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 cannot get back? Did l say a
few moments ago that a man might go to
a point in i%nebriation where he could not
stop? Yes, l said it, and l reiterate it.
But l want you also to understand that
while the man himself, OF his own strength,
cannot stop, God can stop any man.
You nave only to lay hold of the strong
arm of the Lord God Almighty. He can
stop you. Many summers ago l went
over to New York one Sabbath even
ing-our church not yet being open for
the autumnal services. / went into a
room in the Fourth Ward, New York,
where n religious service was being
held for reformed drunkards. and l
heard a revelation that night that | had
never heard before-nfteen OF .twenty men
standing up and giving testimony such as
l had never heard given. They not only
testified that their hearts had been changed
by the grace Of God, but that the grace OF
God had e~xtinguished their thirst. They
went on to say that they had reformed at
different times before, but Immediately
fallen, because they were doing the whole
work in their W strength. But as soon
as we gave our hearts to God, !" they said,
land the love OF the Lord Jesus Christ has
come into our soul the thirst has all gone.
We have no more disposition for strong
drink"
oh, ityou could only hear in%temperance
with drunkards' bones drumming on the
top of the wine cask the Dead March" Of
immortal souls, you would go home and
kneel dow and pray God that rather than
your children should ever become tho
victims OF this evil habit you might carry
them out to the cemetery and put them
down in the last slumber, waiting for the
flowers OF spring to come over the grave
sweet prophecies OF the resurrection. God
hath a balm for such n wound, but what
flower OF comfort ever grew on the blasted
baath 80 n 4 "a, n Eu r1fu oaprlaharg