Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-11-21
PICTURES DRINK EVIL
REV. THOMAS F. BURKE DELIv-
ERs ADDRESS,

Rev. Thomas F. Burke, Paulist father
Of New York city, who has been conduct
ing mission for men and women at the
Church of the Sacred Heart, Mount Pleas
ant, delivered a temperance sermon last
night. The church was crowded with
men. Father Burke said in part:
What is 1t that makes drunkenness
such a sin? In what does its malignity
consist? How comes it that the excess
sive use. that Is to say, the abuse of what
are Gods gifts has connected with it a
degradation 80 low and consequences so
lasting? In the first place there Is no
sin which SO directly strikes and degrades
the man as drunkenness. Let man COM
nit any other sin he will, he still retains
his reason and his self-control. unless
he gives himself up to the sin of drunk
enness. 1t humans man. 1t attacks the
reasor;.it dethrores the spiritual powers;
it rpbs man of the crown of pre-eminence
placed upon his brow by God himself;
it makes of him a creature not contem-
plated by God; a very caricature of man.
Where is there. a trace or vestige Of
the divine or even of the human in the
wild rage, the senseless look, the idiotic
speech of the drunkard? He walks
among us as self-made mailman or fool,
a 1oathing and a disgust, menace and
danger, shame and disgrace, fo- often
times must he be called by the sacred
name of father or husband, brother or
son. Drink takes from man that spark
of intelligence which distinguishes him
from all other creatures on earth, that
which, makes him a man.
Body and Soul.
Closely allied with mans SOUL as its
instrument and consort, is the body. Fear
fully and wonderfully made by the hand
OF God. our bodies are notable for their
skill and endurance. for their grace and
beauty and their promise of glory here
after. How does drunkenness affect the
bouy? 1t takes the hue of health from
the cheek: it takes the skill from the
hand; the strength from the arm: the
elastic vigor from the step; it affects the
whole nervous system and stills the finer
fbers in death. 1t makes of the body a
physical wreck and ruin: the sooner to
become food for the worms and to enrich
the rankness of the graveyard.
No man stands alone. We are all bound
by ties to others that beget obligations,
the fulfillment of which should be our
greatest pride here anu the promise of our
greatest glory hereafter. The drtnkard is
a father, or a husband. or son: he
should be provider for his family, he
should be an example to his children.
Therefore the seven walls of misery are
often poured forth upon the innocent and
the helpless
1--WE see the sad story of this sin writ
ten in the unwomanly rags, in the sad
and pinched faces of children, in prema-
turely Odd and diseased children; we see
the history of this sin eny6lazoned to the
world in the daily papers. in xhe records
Of police courts, historical of the deepest
sin and crime and tragedy. The drunkard
sets up a religion of his own. The key
to the Christian religion is the command
ment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy
self When we read Of those religions
that cursed the earth before the coming
of Christ. and the pages tell us of the HUI
man sacrifice, the heart stands still and
the blood runs cold"