Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-10-02


CHESS heart Of an lnhuman monster.
In order to drink drunkard Is willing
practically to go to any extreme. lie
Is ready to let wife and children starvc.
l have known two drunkards who
were willing to sell their own flesh and
blood into q life Of crime in order that
they might get liquor with which TO
satisfy their diabolical thirst. These
two drunkards were not men of the
lowest social rank They were mon
who were born in is good antilles as
yours or mine. But why continue in
this strain? Is there any need OF nv
longer describing how the serpent of
ntoxication can destroy a mans love
for his wife and his chlldrenl No. in
the rags of the factories we sec It; in
the scandals Of the divorce courts we
read 1t; in the horrors of the reforma.
tory schools we can prove 1t. Let VIZ
pass on in our indictment of this coll
ing serpent Of the wine cup.
The Solomonic sorpentine evil de-
stroys mans soul as well as the TEN
poral usefulness OF his brain and tie
loving power Of his heart This is not
a pleasant subject to touch. 1t Is not
pleasant because many Of US have had
friends, dear friends, who have met or
are today on the way to meet drunk
ards doom. But, ny Brother, we must
be true to the living as well as to the
dead. If you had a loved one who
was contemplating the commission Of
heinous crime what would you do?
Why. you would go to that friend and
say: Brother, II you do this you will
have to pass many years in Jail. If
you allow your angry passions to rise
and commit murder, you will have to
sit in the ELECTRIC chair or stand under
the hangman's moose. That is the law.
That is the law which has been car
ried ont In many instances in the past
and will be carried out in many in
stances in the future"
Now, my friends, what is the divine
punishment that will be meted out to
all who have been slain by the sting
of the Solomonic adder? Let me read
part of just one verse from the divine
criminal code. Shall the drunkard iu-
herit heaven What says the epistle
Of First Corinthians? "Be not deceived
neither idolaters, adulterers nor thieves
nor drunkards shall inherit the king
dom of God" There is no need -
reading further. That simple Pauline
sentence covers the whole ground. II
seems to harmonic with the Iceland
er's idea Of hell, which is to be great
ice palace, the walls of which are co...
cred with huge mass OF swaying.
swinging serpents. Their forkcl
tongues and kissing throats converge
to a common center, where the con
demned of God crouch and tremhir
and weep. Shall we not fight this SCR
pent of intozication, which may apply
be compared to the Icela nders Satanic
serpents in the palace of the Inferno?
Shall we not, one and all. fight the SER
penis of intoxication, which can and
do destroy happiness the other side Of
the grave as well as that of the life
which is on this side?
The Drunkard's Curse.
The Solomonic evil cannot only de.
stroy a fathers or a mothers tenn
poral and eternal life, but II ruins
their children also, because the drunk
ards evil habit Is Unbeatable. The
drunkard's curse. which rests upon the
| parents life, can be transmitted by
| the law OF blood into the veins OF the
fathers children and bis children's
children. Every physician Is ready to
testify that 1t is far easier for
drunkards son to become drunkard
than for child whose parents have
never been cursed by the sting OF the
70 fol od nF nj
brother, as the Mohammedan mothers
look upon the serpent as sacred and
allow the venomous cobra to crawl in
to their cradles and sting their LITTLE
ones to death, you, II you are addicted
TO the curse Of drink, are not only de-
stroying your own souls. but you are
also destroying the immortal lives OF
the unborn generation. BY looking up
on the wine cup when IL is red you
are preparing the way TO look into the
bloodshot eyes and to listen to the
disappearing tongues Of your children 5
children, who shall meet you at the
Judgment seat OF Christ to arraigu you
as the cause of their evil inheritance
and to curse you and to curse the day
you were born.
But my subject Is vast. I must fore
go much OF what l would like TO say
IN arraigning this serpentine monster
and pass on to briefly discuss the
means with which, by the grace Of
God, we can destroy it. And in this
discussion | shall not touch on the
power of the ballot box. That is a
theme in itself.
The sure antidote for the poison Of
the adder OF intox,cation must be
found for Christians, frst and lsst and
all the time, in the blood Of Jesus
Christ. 1t is right to use human agen-
cies for the cure OF inebriety, but be-
lieve human agencies will always fail
unless they are blessed by the divine
poverty the power of the Holy
Ghost As pastor and preacher and
temperance worker | have personally
tried 10 aid in the rescue OF many
drHnkards. l have helped send some
to the reformatory Institutions. / hava
taken them into my own home and
bought them medicines from the drug
stores. | am free TO confess that all
these human agencies failed except
when those victims OF strong drink
have thrown themselves into the arms
OF God and chung to Jesus Christ as