River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-07-07
WINE, WOMEN |
AND WAGES
By Rev. M. A. Matthews, d. D.
Pastor of First Presbyterian Church
Seattle, Wash. J

In calling to your attention the per-
picking problems included In the title
of this sermon, you are, no doubt,
willing to admit that it is impossible
to give an exhaustive review of the
underlying conditions and causes. Ii
we are successful in making you
think, arrive at a conclusion and form
a resolution, the sermon has accom-
plished it's purpose. In fact, it is not
the purpose of a sermon to relieve the
audience of mental exercise. Its best
work has been done when it creates
an appetite for Bible study, invest1-
CATION and honest thought; when it
provokes the auditors to think and
forces them to arrive at logical. sane.
spiritual conclusions.
The work of this pulpit has always
been done along that line. 1t does
not try to inject hypodermic doses OF
encyclopedia into the audience. 1t
leaves that work to superficial, al
legged students. If in this sermon you
can be provoked to think, to act and
to do your Christian duty, every one
will be satisfied.
Wine, women and wages have been,
since the catastrophe in the Garden OF
Eden, very obstreperous subjects. No
about them. In fact, one of them is
very elusive, and perhaps will never
be fully understood until she reaches
Paradise regained. The more elusive
The subject the mere fascinating the
study and the more exciting the pEr-
suit of knowledge.
These three problems are ever with
us, and will remain with us, and will
continue to be serious problems until
the end of the ages. Many ridiculous,
foolish and harmful solutions remain
unsolved. One is prone to think and
believe the time has arrived for seri-
GUS, sane, righteous efforts to be
made at remedying the conditions now
confronting us.
The harmful effects of Intoxicating
beverages have been apparent to stu
dents for the last 5000 years.
Drunkenness is crime against God,
against man, against society, against
no excuse for it. There is no logical
reason to sustain it. 1t has been tried
and condemned before every bar OF
justice, before public opinion and by
every thinking man who has ever
lived or who now lives.
Drunkenness must cease. If the
man who makes beast of himself
were the only one involved we might
become cold hearted and cruel enough
to say: LET him drink himself to
death, go to the dogs, and be de-
voured by the vultures." The man
who makes a beast of himself, who
destroys his life by strong drink, and
who wallows In the gutter, perhaps,
deserves no more consideration. How
ever, he is not the only one involved.
His family are to be considered, his
children are to be pitied, society is tc
be protected, and posterity is to be
prevented from inheriting his habits,
tendencies and diseases.
Many remedies have been tried for
drunkenness. The man who comes
into this world cursed by heredity,
with a tendency to drink, is to be
pitied. He ought to have every effort
made in his behalf that could pos
sibly prevent him from following his
inclinations to the drunkard's grave
and to the drunkard's cell. 1t is i'm.
possible for a man who dies a drunk.
ard to be saved. No drunkard who dies
a drunkard can inherit the kingdom OF
God or receive the blessings, joys and
citizenship of heaven. There are nc
drunkards in heaven. In order for a
drunkard to be saved he must turn
from his evil ways, give up his life
of sin, accept Jesus Christ as his per.
sonal Savior, be regenerated by the
Holy Spirit, and then he can be saved
in this life and from himself, his ap-
petites and his passions.
The man who deliberately contracts
the habit of drunkenness deserves
physical punishment, ostracism, and
the infliction of every pain that will
make him conscious of the wrong he
is perpetrating against his family and
society. There are men who deliber-
ately get drunk because they love the
effect, or because they desire to do
certain things which they believe VIA
be excused on account of drunken
ness.
The whipping post would perhaps
be effectual remedy for premeditated,
deliberate drunkenness. The man
who disregards his family and shows
contempt for society by deliberately
getting drunk ought to be stripped tc
the waist, tied to a public whipping
post, and given SO lashes on his naked
back once a week for six months. If
that remedy were applied, some of
your "genteel drunks," who are de-
stroying their families, dissipating
their property, insulting society and
damning young men would be immedi-
ately and effectually cured.
The idea of man getting drunk,
going home and insulting his family,
abusing his little, helpless wife, ter
rorizing and cursing his little chill
dren, is repugnant to every thought.
His poor, helpless wife and little chill