The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-07-04

~ lOole ITeacneu u SpeC1al SER
mon to Society.
The annual communion of the
members of the Catholic Total Alb
stinence Society of st. Johns Catho-
lie church took place last Sunday
morning at the $3.50 mass.
The musical program was very
classical and very much pleased the
unusually large congregation pres
ent. Miss Elizabeth Caufield presid-
ed at the organ, while Mr.. Frank
Duppius played the cello, with the
Misses Catherine and Mary Finnerty
singing two soprano-alto duet selec-
tions.
Father O'Toole preached special
| ly prepared sermon on the subject,
Total Abstinence from all Alcohol
ic Drinks is the Surest and Most
Efficacious Means to Fight Alcohol
ISM" In part he said There can
be no doubt but that God will re-
quire Of every man an account of his
life. The merit or demerit of his
acts go to make up that account, and
settle his everlasting destiny in the
next world.
Death will close mans account
when the Supreme Judge will say,
! Render an account of thy steward
ship, for thou canst be steward no
! longer. The balance will then be
struck, the sentence will be passed
salvation or damnation. The SEN
fenced soul will then fully realize
that after all there is right and
wrong in human actions" The
speaker gave the example of young
man setting out for Kelley Insti-
| tute to be cured of what he calls one
| 1-,,, -
human race-habitual drunkenness,
saying to his mother as she bids him
a loving goodbye, I'm going to
make a man of myself"
Make a man of himself! God had
done that when he created him
God made man a little lower than
the angels; man made himself, by
being a drunkard, lower than the
beasts. A drunkard is the lowest
form of creation.
Medical men of to-day agree that
alcohol is no help to health; that as
a beverage, it weakens rather than
strengthens; that stimulation is tenn
porary; that reaction must come,
and that reaction only too often
ends in death in delirium tremens,
during which the unfortunate man
is tormented by all the snakes and
devils of hell"
Archbishop Ireland once said:
"How often has the flush of indigna-
ton mantled my cheek as l heard
men, who made profession of loving
virtue and of leading their fellows
to virtue, discountenance in their
speeches or sermons the practice Of
total abstinence, which is for so
many the sole plank of salvation!
Oh, for the charity of st. Paul, who
exclaimed that he should eat no
meat and drink no wine when there
is danger of scandalizing brother!
Oh, for the charity of Cardinal Man
ming, who declared that he needed
the pledge, because his poor friend,
the London dock laborer, needed it.
J And Manning was loyal to the last
day of his life to charity and total
} abstinence"
The speaker paid a glowing trib-
ute to President Wilson and his wife,
! vice-presdent Marshall and his wife,
, Secretary of State Bryan and his
; wife, and Speaker of the House
= Clark and his wife, all publicly an
= nouncing to the world that they
would not serve wines or liquors at
any dinners or entertainments dur
ing their official life in Washington.
: And in the strongest emphasis as
, fitting climax, the priest exclaimed:
q challenge the world to put its
finger on the map of creation and
show us a better example than this
one at Washington! In May last the
Boy Scouts of Washington called in a
body on Mr.. Bryan to present to him
resolutions adopted by them COM
, mending the stand taken by him
against King Alcohol and his hosts"
: in refusing to serve wine at his din
y ners to ambassadors. Mr.. Bryan
said to the boys on that occasion: i
- learned when l was boy to be a
, total abstainer, and l have found
> that there is no use for alcohol af-
u ter one ceases to be a boy, and /
! you are grown for changing your
; habits of life on this subject"
, 81 shall feel that / have not lived
I entirely in vain if by abstaining from
!, Intoxicating liquors and beverages
:. have given any strength to any one
and helped him to resist temptation.
"If have been the means of help
ing just one boy I do not know how
much service / have rendered to the
q world through him, for we can new
er tell what boy can do. The pos
! sibilities of a boy are beyond the
y power of language to describe-es-
pecially an American boy"
:, At the evening services Father
= OToole had the Cadets renew their
= pledge, and, by way of setting them
. a good example, appealed to all the
9 men present to take the pledge
= granting to each adult the privilege
p of stating menally for how long he
70 pledged himself.
% Judging by the large number OF
men who stood up and repeated af
. ter the priest the words of the
- pledge, an astonishingly large mum
. ber freely gave their moral support
!. and good example to the Cadets and
- their cause of st. Johns church.