The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-07-02

WASHINGTON, June 30.-A delicate and
difficult duty is by DR.. Talmage in this
discourse urged upon all, and especially
upon those given to quick temper; text,
Ephesians iv, &c, "Be ye angry and sin
not"
Equipose Of temper, kindness, patience,
forbearance, are extolled by most of the
radiant pens Of inspiration, but my text
contains that which at first sight is
startling. A certain kind Of anger is ap-
proyed-aye, we are commanded to in
dulge in it. The most Of US have no need
to cultivate high temper, and how often
we say things and do things under at
fronted impulse which we are sorry for
when perhaps it is too late to make eff
fective apology! Why, then, should the
apostle Paul dip his pen in the ink horn
and trace upon parchment, afterward to
be printed upon paper for all ages, the in
junction, "Be ye angry and sin notT"
My text commends a wholesome indig-
nation. 1t discriminates between the Of
Tense and the offender, the sin and the
sinner, the crime and the criminal.
To illustrates: Alcoholism has ruined
more fortunes, blasted more homes, de-
stroyed more souls, than any evil that l
think Of. It pours a river of poison and
fire through the nations. Millions nav
died because Of it, and millions are dying
now, and others will die. Intemperance
is an old sin. The great Cyrus, writing
TO the Lacedemonians of himself, boast
ed of many of his qualities. among 9TH
ers, that he could drink and bear more
wine than his distinguished brother.
Louis y and Alexander the Great died
drunk. The parliament of Edinburgh in
1861 is called in history 1.-The drunken
parliament" Hugh Miller, first stone
mason and afterwGrd a world renowned
geologist, writes OF the drinking habits of
was laid, they drank. When the walls
were leyeled for laying the joists, they
drank. When the building was finished,
they drank. When an apprentice Joined,
they drank" In the eighteenth century
the giver of ar entertainment boasted
that none Of the guests went away sober.
Noah, the first ship captain, was wreck
ed-not in the ark, for that was safely
landed-but he was wrecked with strong
drink. Every man or woman rightly con-
structed will blush with indignation at
the national and international and hemi-
spheric and planetary curse. 1t is good
to be aroused against it. You come out
Of that condition a better man or a better
woman. Be We angry at that abomina-
ton, and the more anger the more ex-
altation to character. But that aroused
feeling becomes sinful when it extends to
the victim of his great evil. Drunken
ness you are to hate with a vivid hatred;
but the drunkard you are to pity, to help
to extricate.
Frustrated by Alcoholism.
Just take into consideration that there
are men and women who once were as
upright as yourself who have been pros
trated by alcoholism. Perhaps it came of
a physicians prescription for the relief of
pain, a recurrence of the pain calling for
a continuance Of the remedy; perhaps the
grandfather was an inebriate and the
temptation to inebriety, leaping over a
generation, has swooped on this unfortu-
nate: perhaps it was under an attempt to
drown trouble that the benumbing and
narcotic liquid was sought after; perhaps
it was a very gradual claiming of the
man with the beverage which was
thought to be a servant, when one day it
announced itself master. Be humble now.
and admit hat there is a strong probable
ity that under the same circumstances
you yourself might have been captured.
The two appropriate emotions for you to
allow are indignation at the intodcant
which enthralled and sympathy for the
victim. Try to get the sufferer out Of his
present environment; recommend any
hygienic relief hat you know of and.
above all, implore the divine rescue for
the struggle in which so many of the no.
blest and grandest have been worsted.
n - - z-f "
philippics about what the man ought to
have been and ought to have done. While
your cheek fushes with wrath at the foe
that has brought the ruin. let your eye be
moistened with tears of pity for the suf.
ferer. In that way you will have full
filled the Injunction OF the text. BE We
angry and sin not"
There is another evil the adherence
Of which you are all called 10. and il is
on the increase-the gambling practice.
Recent developments show that much OF
this devastation is heing wrought in la
dies parlors. 1t is an evil which some
times is as polite and gracious as il is
harmful. Indeed. there never were so
many people trying TO get money without
earning il. Blu it is a haggard trans.
erosion that comes down To us from the
past. bliGhting all its way.
/ have seen in the archives Of the ma
ton in this national capital a large book
in which one of the early presidents of
the United States kept an account in his
own handwriting OF gains and losses at
playing CARLSON one page the gains and
on the other the losses, and there are
many pages In other days many Of ma
tional reputati"a went from the halls OF
congress and TIE senate chamber to spend
the night in Notorious gambling saloons.
One Of the ablest men of the centuries,
Charles Fox. got ready for his speech
against 'The Petition Of the Clergy" by
spending % hours at the gaming table.
lrving's life of Oliver Goldsmith says that
the great poet lGst $50, all his earnings,
in a short tour 10 see the world. Gibbon,
the author of The Decline and Fall OF
the Roman Empire" came to his OWL
decline and fall through gaming practices
and in a letter in 1916 said: II have un'
done myself. and it is to no purpose to
conceal from you my abominable madness
and folly. / have never lost so much in