The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-12
DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
aY rAE REv. FRANk- pg wITT rAlMAeE, D. D.

BY THE REV. FRANK
 Chicago. September 2s.-In this discourse the preacher summons all good people to unite iri a movement against the great and growing national evil of strong drink The text is Proverbs xxiii., 9. At the last t biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder'
 My father has now been dead about six months. Since his demise I have re- eeived scores of letters from many parts of this country asking me to define my position on the temperance question. Only yesterday a strong. earnest plea came from one of the New England states which went something like this i: Your fathers voice always rang trr=- in his hatred of the wine cup. Will you not come to our aid and help the thousands of mothers who have drunken sons and the wives who have drunken husbands fight this relentless enemy of God and the home2' It Is in answer to these let ters that shall state my belief and posi- tion upon the temperance question. But I speak with broader purpose than mer- ly to gratify curiosity. I want every man. woman and child who hates the saloon and who Is conseerated for a combined combat against this arch hend of the centuries to look upon me as a brother and a comrade. I pledge myself as the colleague of every foe of the in toxicating cup. At every opportunity, with voice and pen. will thrust at this serpentine monster. It shall be my aim, az 1t should be the aim of every one of Gods minister's to rally, with all the in fiuences at his command, the enemy of this hitherto invincible and unconquered foe to the human race. May God grant us to live to see the day when the fangs of this mighty monster shall have been extracted and when its head shall have been crushed and it's vile carcass dismem- bered under the advancing noofs Of the white chargers of the gospel army
 The evil of intoxication is universal curse. It's long, slimy, twisting coils spread over every land and are visible ir every walk of life There Is hardly g man or woman sitting before me who has not at least one near relative who has been cursed by the fatal bite of this crawling, insidious enemy. Perhaps that near relative was father, mother an uncle an aunt. a brother, sister, a wife, husband or a child. Alas, many of us can say we have not only had one but many near relatives and friends who have gone down into drunkards graves after they have lived the hopeless and humanly helpless. degraded earthly ex- istence of the drunkard. Even as 1 am preparing this sermon news Is published that a man who has filled high places in the service of his country, who bore A name honored in our history, has lost his life in a brawl in which he would never have been involved if he had not indulged in intoxicating drink.
 The Warning of Solomon.
 Solomon compared the sin of intoxica- ton to the writhings and twistings of a serpent and to the stingfng of an adder because at that time poisonous serpents were everywhere. Every thicket was filled with a constellation of their gleam- ing eyes. Every desert was the home of the puff adder, lying half buried In the sand Every swamp was the retreat or the water viper Every hillside had for the traveller a warning hiss or rattle Even unto this day many of the countries of the east are over run with poisonous reptiles. In India alone over 10000 in- habitants annually die from poisonous snake bites
 The deadly serpents can multiply all most Indefinitely in the wild, undevel- oped region of a virgin soil HumDoloA the celebrated German scientist, gave this discription of one of his travels IT the savannas of Esquibo, in Guiana, saw the most wonderful and terrible ol spectacles. We were ten men on horse- back, two of whom took the lead In or der to sound the passages. while l pre- fevred to skirt the green forest. One oi the black men who formed the vanguard returned at full gallop and said to me, Come here, sir, and see serpents in a pile He pointed out to me something elevated in the middle of the savannas which appeared like a pile of arms. One of my companions said: This must be one of those assemblages or serpents which heap themselves on each other after violent tempest. l have heard ol such. but have never seen any. Let us he cautious and not go too near Wher we were within twenty paces of It. the terror of our horses prevented our nearer approach, to which, however. none Of us was inclined Suddenly, the pyramio mass became agitated. Frightful misses issued from it. Thousands of serpents rolled spirally on each other. They sho' their hideous heads out Of the circles presenting their fiery eyes at us. then thought what could be the design Of this ,,,r,ero,s assemblage I concluded that tbia snAcies of serpent dreaded some colossal enemy and they united them selves after having seen this enemy, In order to attack or resist 1t In the mass so today the serpents of the wine cup attack singly or en masse. They are evervwhere and find their prey in all ranks of society. The widespread curse of the wine cup was very strikingly com nared to the fatal serpents Of the Solo- nonie era, which were almost every where But, unlike the serpents which have almost disappeared before our ad- yancing civilization, the trails of the ad- ders of intoxication are even more multi t,dinous now than ever before.
 serpents Everywhere.
 The serpents of intoxication have in- creased so rapidly that they are now in- numerable We hear their hiss in almost every legislative hall. We see their eyes cleaning out of almost every palace We find them lying under the orange blossoms of the marriage altar, as vel as in the detention hospitals for the pa tients who have their rooms filled with coiling serpents of delirium tremens We find many of our statesmen paralyzed by the glance of the adder's eyes, as a poor, little frightened sparrow might tremble and crouch until she falls into the open mouth of the blacgsnake which has charmed her. We find that even a few of the ministers who fill the pulpits of the gospel of Jesus Christ are terror ized by the sight of the serpent of in- toxication, because the rich brewer may be the president of the board Of trustees or the wealthy distiller's family may be the largest contributors to the financial support of the church. The curse of sin
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