The weekly intelligencer., 1900-10-20

uccuriumtu 10 ush nlctelukn tcAuIt AC
partook Of food. and In that blessing
they always dedicated the food 20 the
gods. So that IL Daniel had taken this
food he would have broken the law
which forbade the taking OF food dedi-
Gated to idols. He chose pulse. II was
a miracle that he did not dwindle
away. There is nothing in pulse. such
q poor herb. 10 make a man rudy and
healthful. Some people talk as though
that were a kind Of diet which would
make a msn swar;hy and competent 10
do the duties OF this life. That Is
not the lesson al all, nut for pos
itive miracle Daniel would have dwin-
died away. and when God for his self
denial puts upon him this benedietion
He puts a benediction upon all Chris
tian sobriety. would not have you
class your preacher among those who
would put unnecessary restraint upon
lawful appetites. There are those In
this day who dispute the grant which
God gave 10 man for animal food, and
they make a religion Of their hunger as
the Pharisees expected Heaven for
their fasting Daniel did not always
live on pulse. he was not Grahamite;
he was not a vegetarian. He went
through that self-denial because the
food offered him was idolatrous food.
When see God filling the earth with
all varieties OF food, have not much
confidence in the teaching Of those who
would put us on severe regimen. They
are parents who. with wrong theory
in this respect, deny their children all
harmless Injuries and without suffi-
cient inquiry send them out TO board
ing schools where their intellects are
cultivated to the disadvantage of their
starved bodies, so that from many a
boarding school class Of 20 will grad
uate. 10 Of them ghosts. Now, when
I | see the three angels eating the calf
which Abraham slew and when l find
Christ eating broiled fish even after His
resurrection. come TO the conclusion
that the theories Of the vegetarian are
not from a religious standpoint wen
founded.
But. oh, how many temptations 10
dissipation With so many things 10
tempt the appetite. how many tempta-
tions to gIuttonyl With so many spark.
ling beverages, how much temptation
TO drunkennessl Could bring before
you this morning the mothers and the
wives and the sisters who have wept
at the graves of the inebriate, your
soul would be oyerpowered with the
spectacle. Could show you the
manly forms robbed Of their beauty,
the eye fiashings quenched in the wine
cup. the ruddy cheek from which rum
has wormed the rose. your soul would
recoil with horror. and you would rise
up and cry: "Begons, thou dream Of
hen!"
Charles Lamb who made all the
world laugh at his humor, and then
afterward made all the world weep at
his fate. who outwitted everybody
and was at last outwitted OF his own
appetites. wrote thus; "The waters
have gone over met but out Of the
depths, could be heard. would cry
out TO all those who have set foot in
the perilons flood Could the youth
TO whom the flavor of the first wine
is delicious as the opening scenes Of
his life. or the entering upon some
newly discovered paradise-could he
look into my desolation and be made
to understand what q dreary thing
It is when a man shall feel himself go
ing down a precipice with open eyes
and passive will: to see his destruc-
ton and have no power TO stop 1t,
yet feel it all the way emanating
from himself; 10 see all godliness
empty out of him, and yet not able to
forget the time when 1t was other
wise; to bear about the piteous spec
tacle Of his own ruin-could he see
my feverish eye, feverish with last
nights drinking and feverishly look
, ing for to-nigbt's repetition Of that
folly--could he but feel the body OF
the death out of which I cry hourly
with feeble outcry TO be delivered,
il were enough to make him dash the
. sparkling beverage TO the earth in all
the pride Of It's mantling temptation. .
: Are you fond of pictures? Hereis
one drawn by Solomon: "Who hath
. woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath
contentious? Who hath babbling?
r Who hath wounds without cause ?
E They that tarry long at the wine;
| they that go TO seek mixed wine.
I Look not thou, upon the wine when
t II is red, when II moveth itself Alright
= in the cup. At the last It biteth like
! serpent and stingeth like an ad-
: der"
; "Do you know what you are do
S ing?" said a mother who had broken
I into a restaurant. the door locked
{ against her. her son inside. She came
! up to the counter and saw the man
e Of the restaurant mingling the intOx.
I ieating cup for her own son. She said
: to the man behind the counter: dc
+ you know what you are doing2"
}. NO" said he, II don't" Says she;
b "You are fattening graveyards,"
Y My subject also impresses me with
E the beauty Of youthful character re.
J naming ineorrupt away from home
y II Daniel had plunged into every wick
; edness Of the city Of Babylon, the old
: folks at home would never have
heard Of IL. II he had gone through
= all the rounds Of iniquity, II would
e have cast no shadow on his early home
q There were no telegraphs; there wer,
e no railroads. But Daniel knew that
8 Gods eye was on him. That wal
= enough. There are young men no, &c
a good away from home as at home
b Frederick tending his fathers sheer
+ among the hills or ihrsshing rye In tn,
e barn 10 different perhaps from Fred
n eriek on the stock exchange. Instead
2 of the retiring disposition there Is bold
e effrontery; instead Of an obliging spirii
8 there is perhaps oppressive selfshnesst
!. instead Of open handed charity there II
e tight-hsted stinginess; instead Of rea
E sonable hours there is midnight rsyel
c J speak to many young men on thiI
n matier--you who may have left youl
4 fathers house and others who, though
: still under the parental roof, are look
: Ing forward 10 the time when you will
90 forth TO conflict, alone In this word
. with its temptations and rs SORROWS
and when you will build up your owl
character Oh that the God Of DAME
! might be with you In Babylonl
4 ! think the most thrilling passag,
? Of young mans life is when b
a leaves home TO make his fortune. Tn
novelty and the romance Of the thin
! may keep him from any keen sorrow
!. but the old people who have seen thl
destruction Of 80 many who stariet