Milford chronicle., 1904-04-29

make men capable or nendlSn WOfk,
even to the death of a helpless mother
and her innocent babe.
Drink Destroys Spiritual Life.
Some people will tell you that men
drink to drown their sorrows. tell
you that when men drink they stain
their souls. No sooner is the drunk
ards poisonous draft taken into the
blood than the man seems to be pos
sessed with rabies and must go forth
to scatter death wherever he can. The
human being inoculated with the poi
son of intOXlcants seems to be endowed
with the power TO destroy spiritual and
often physical life. as was the inocu-
lated rabbit Of Australia to destroy the
physical life of beast. bird and man.
Many years ago an Australian colonist
was homesick for the sight of the Eng
lish rabbit. He had one of his friends
ship him a couple as pets to his faroT
southern home. Those rabbits escaped
from their master and began to breed.
Their progeny increased until they
We're almost as countless as the sdnd,
of the sea the Australian rabbit
plague destroyed the crops They lie
came as .rcat curse as is tie seven
teen year locust to the American farm
er They were numbered by the mil.
lion The Australian parliament was
bewilGered with the problem. a re
ward Of 100000 was offered for any
nj
to eNtcrmnate them. Wire fences were
built across that island continent. The
rabbits were hunted with guns and
dogs and entrapped everywhere. but
still their numbers grew. At length, as
a last resort. some rabbits We're caught
and inOculated with the fatal serum of
/ hydrophobia. Then Il greater danger
than before menaced these southern
colonists. These mad rabbits not only
bit other rabbits, but they bit dogs and
sheep and cattle. and even bit men and
women and children. So wien the
drunkard's blood is once inoculated
with the poison It seems to create in
its victim a mad passion to destroy life.
1t seems to make a man absolutely in
different how he might crush out the
heart Of his wife his child or his
friend. A man drinks to drown sor-
row? Oh. no. He drinks to crafty his
Unsuitable craving, reckless of the con-
sequences. though they may involve his
becoming recreant to his duty to the
helpless woman and the innocent chill
dren who are dependent on his eXer-
tions and have the strongest of all
claims on his loyalty, his truth and his
| honor.
Reddest of All Sins.
The drunkard's sins, without doubt,
must be classed among the reddest Of
| all scarlet sins. Now comes the prac-
tical question Will God cleanse the
drunkard's sins? When we say he is
loathsome, heartless, good for moth
| ing drunkard do we mean, There is
no hope for the drunkard" Some Of
/ US have such a lack of faith that we
/ do mean this; but God never meant
nor said it. purge me with hyssOp
| and | shall be clean; wash me, and
/ | shall be whittier than snow" is a di-
rect refutation of the charge that
Christ will not forgive the drunkards
sins. Oh, man, though by drunken
ness you have sold your home under
| the sheriff's hammer, though you have
wrecked your business and had your
/ eyes horrOy struck with the kaleidO-
! scope Of delirium tremens, yet there is
even pardon and peace for youl There
is the same message Of salvation and
rescue for you that there was for
Francis Murphy, or Cough, or Captain
! Barbour, or as there Is for the scores
and hundreds upon hundreds of re-
formed drunkards who every night
J are found testifying to the glorious
rescuing power of the gospel of Jesus
Christ Though your drunkards sins
. be as scarlet. they shall be as white
as Snow; though they be red like Grim
son, they shall be as wool"
An Appeal to Young Men.
Young man. you who today are hav-
ing your life's blood squeezed out Of
you by the upper and the neither mill
stones of a drunkard's sins. will you
not accept this salvation for your
emancipation from evil? Will you not
seek Christ as a refuge from the de-
struction of the drunkard which seems
to be going on everywhere? How gen
eral the drunkard's eternal overthrow
is few people stop to realize. Many
years ago these sardOnic lines fell into
my hands; let me read them to you;
There was an old decanter. and its mouth
was gaping wide;
The rosy wine had ebbed away and left
its crystal side,
/ And the wind went humming, humming-
UP and down the sides it few.
And through the reedlike. hollow neck tbs
widest notes IL blew.
| I placed It in the window. where the blast
was blowing free.
And fancied that its pale mouth sang the
queerest strains to me:
''They tell me- puny conquerors, the
plague has slain his ten,