The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1914-04-28
THE DRUNKARD'S FUNERAL
Contributed by W. G. T. U.

Contributed
The following, which VIC publisI
bv reouest. is a funeral sermon deliV
orod Inv Rev. G. R. Williams at Oak
land Nd. in 1911. 1t has been pub
Iisbed quite extensively, and is
classic worthy of your notice. 1t 1ol
lows: ,o,,,u,
oil mower of description. 1t is no
, business as a minister to apollo
n,yo for the mistakes of the deac
e,an whose body lies in this casket.
AS 3 tree falls it must lie
Onr limitations are such, and We
soo tbrough a glass darkly, so that Ii
is not always possible to tell how the
tree falls. ...,o.
is customary to exalt the virtues
If the dead and to minimize their
fonlts while we exalt the faults OF
tho living and minimize their virtues
God would have us do justice to both
tho dead and the living. we VINO
.no living demand justice if we are
the object of criticism. Our demands
ora NOT so imperative if some one
o1so &c the object. Certainly if the
male Inns before us could speak we
.o,Id boar q mild demand for simple
justice.
ca 7 endeavor TO approach the TASK
before me, which is by no means
pleasant one, with a sense of justice
IN both living and dead. A man VINO
himself must stand before the judg-
ment bar of God to give an account
Of the deeds done in the body sure
" cannot afford to do on an occasion
like this anything that would embar-
rass him in the great day. The funer-
al talk cannot be delivered without
taking into account the living as well
as the dead.
First, Clyde Liller, the man. II Is
needless to say his sun has gone
down while yet it is day. When he
should have been at his best, in the
prime of manhood's powers, the sup
porter and defender of his family
taking his place as citizen IN a
great republic, bearing his share OF
life's burdens, suddenly the light
went out and the spirit went back
to the God who gave it,
Clyde Liller, when at himself, was
a generous, large-hearted man. His
wife has said more than once to the
speaker that when Clyde was sober
one could not wish for a better nus
band. a better father" But when
whiskey goes in the man goes out.
Social life in America is such that
the man with a weakness for alcohol
has a tremendous battle to fight, and
in most instances is the loser. At
some time in his life, | know not
when. he tasted the poison and later
found the scripture true-'At last 1T
biteth like a serpent and stingeth
like an adder" The habit once con-
tracted, its effects felt, his will power
weakened, it got beyond his control
until the finished product, the legltI-
mate fruit of the American saloon,
lies a helpless, pitiable corpse before
US. A woman has been made a Wild
ow, three children made orphans, be-
cause liquor traffic pays revenue, and
some men will sell it regardless of
the widows cry and the orphan S
wall
Some one is saying, He ought to
have left it alone when he saw he
could not control it." Oh, yes; how
easy to say that and how little it
means. That strong man who boasts
he can take it or let it alone usually
takes it, and sooner or later becomes
a hopeless wreck himself. Another
says, Let whiskey alone and it will
let you alone" This is another as
sertion as false as satan himself.
These innocent children let it alone,
but it did not let them alone. The
heart-broken widow let it alone, but
it did not, it would not, let her alone.
Either directly or indirectly this hor-
rible monster, the liquor traffic, has
his satanic clutches around the throat
of every man, woman and child In
our fair land.
want to say here that to my