Cast Out But Rescued.
I met a man in New York who was an earnest worker, and I asked him to
tell me his experience. He said he had been a drunkard for over twenty
years. His parents had forsaken him, and his wife had cast him off and
married some one else. He went into a lawyer's office in Poughkeepsie,
mad with drink. This lawyer proved a good Samaritan, and reasoned with
him, and told him he could be saved. The man scouted the idea. He said:
"I must be pretty low when my father and mother, my wife and kindred,
have cast me off, and there is no hope for me here or hereafter." But
this good Samaritan showed him how it was possible to secure salvation,
got him on his feet, got him on his beast, like the good Samaritan of
old, and guided his face toward Zion. And this man said to me: "I have
not drank a glass of liquor since." He is now leader of a young men's
meeting in New York. I asked him to come last Saturday night to
Northfield, my native town, where there are a good many drunkards,
thinking he might encourage them to seek salvation. He came and brought
a young man with him. They held a meeting, and it seemed as if the power
of God rested upon that meeting when these two men went on telling what
God had done for them--how He had destroyed the works of the devil in
their hearts, and brought peace and unalloyed happiness to their souls.
These grog shops here are the works of the devil--they are ruining men's
souls every hour. Let us fight against them, and let our prayers go up
in our battles. It may seem a very difficult thing for us, but it is a
very easy thing for God to convert rumsellers.
The Way of the Transgressor is Hard.
There was a man whom I knew who was an inveterate drinker. He had a wife
and children. He thought he could stop whenever he felt inclined, but he
went the ways of most moderate drinkers. I had not been gone more than
three years, and when I returned I found that that mother had gone down
to her grave with a broken heart, and that man was the murderer of the
wife of his bosom. Those children have all been taken away from him, and
he is now walking up and down those streets homeless. But four years ago
he had a beautiful and a happy home with his wife and children around
him. They are gone; probably he will never see them again. Perhaps he
has come in here to-night. If he has, I ask him: Is not the way of the
transgressor hard?
A Rum-Seller's Son Blows his Brains Out.
Look at that rum-seller. When we talk to him he laughs at us. He tells
you there is no hell, no future--there is no retribution. I've got one
man in my mind now who ruined nearly all the sons in his neighborhood.
Mothers and fathers went to him and begged him not to sell their
children liquor. He told them it was his business to sell liquor, and he
was going to sell liquor to everyone who came. The saloon was a blot
upon the place as dark as hell. But the man had a father's heart. He had
a son. He didn't worship God, but he worshiped that boy. He didn't
remember that whatsoever a man soweth so shall he reap. My friends, they
generally reap what they sow. It may not come soon, but the retribution
will come. If you ruin other men's sons some other man will ruin yours.
Bear in mind God is a God of equity; God is a God of justice. He is not
going to allow you to ruin men and then escape yourself. If we go
against his laws we suffer. Time rolled on and that young man became a
slave to drink, and his life became such a burden to him that he put a
revolver to his head and blew his brains out. The father lived a few
years, but his life was as bitter as gall, and then went down to his
grave in sorrow. Ah, my friends, it is hard to kick against the pricks.
A Distiller Interrogates Moody.
In Europe in a place where there was a good deal of whisky distilled,
one of the men in the business was a church member, and got a little
anxious in his conscience about his business. He came and asked me if I
thought that a man could not be an honest distiller. I said, You should
do whatever you do for the glory of God. If you can get down and pray
about a barrel of whisky, and say, for instance, when you sell it, "O
Lord God, let this whisky be blessed to the world," it is probably
honest.
The Most Hopeless Man in New York now a Sunday-School Superintendent.
A young man in one of our meetings in New York got up and thrilled the
audience with his experience. "I want to tell you," he said, "that nine
months ago a Christian came to my house and said he wanted me to become
a Christian. He talked to me kindly and encouragingly, pointing out the
error of my ways, and I become converted. I had been a hard drinker, but
since that time I have not touched a drop of liquor. If anyone had asked
who the most hopeless man in town was they would have pointed to me."
To-day this man is the superintendent of a Sabbath-school. Eleven years
ago, when I went to Boston, I had a cousin who wanted a little of my
experience. I gave him all the help I could, and he became a Christian.
He did not know how near death was to him: He wrote to his brother and
said: "I am very anxious to get your soul to Jesus." The letter somehow
went to another city, and lay from the 28th of February till the 28th of
March--just one month. He saw it was in his brother's handwriting, and
tore it open and read the above words. It struck a chord in his heart,
and was the means of converting him. And this was the Christian who led
this drunken man to Christ. This young man had a neighbor who had drank
for forty years, and he went to that neighbor and told him what God had
done for him, and the result was another conversion. I tell you these
things to encourage you to believe that the drunkard can be saved.
A Remarkable Case.
I may relate a little experience. In Philadelphia, at one of our
meetings, a drunken man rose up. Till that time I had no faith that a
drunken man could be converted. When any one approached he was generally
taken out. This man got up and shouted, "I want to be prayed for." The
friends who were with him tried to draw him away, but he shouted only
louder, and for three times he repeated the request. His call was
attended to and he was converted. God has power to convert a man even if
he is drunk.
"O Edward."
I remember going into a young converts' meeting in Philadelphia, where I
heard a story that thrilled my soul. A young man said he had been a
great drunkard. He had lost one situation after another; till finally he
came to the very dregs. He left Philadelphia, and went first to
Washington, and then to Baltimore. One night he came back to
Philadelphia. He had lost his key and could not get into his home. He
was afraid to go into the house while the people were stirring, so he
staid outside watching till all had retired. He knew that after that
there would be at least one who would hear him and come to the door. He
went to the door; he knocked; when he heard the footsteps of his mother.
"O Edward," said she, "I am so glad to see you." She did not reprove
him; did not rebuke him. He went up stairs and did not come down for two
days. When he came to, the servants were walking about the house very
softly--everything was quiet. They told him that his mother was at the
point of death. His brother was a physician, and he went to him and
asked him if it was so. "Yes, Ned," said he, "mother can't live." He
immediately went up stairs, and asked his mother's forgiveness, and
prayed to his mother's God to have mercy upon him. "And God," said he,
"my mother's God, heard my prayers," and the tears trickled down his
face and he said: "God has kept me straight these four years in the face
of all trials." O sinner, ask for His grace and might; do not turn Him
away.
Moody Asks a Few Questions.
Let me ask you a question. Do you think that those gamblers, thieves,
harlots, and drunkards who are trampling the ten commandments under
their feet, they who have never given any respect to God's Word or to
His instructions--do you think they will be swept into the kingdom of
heaven, against their will? Do you think those antedeluvians who were so
sinful that God could not let them live on the earth would be swept into
Paradise and Noah left to wade through the deluge? Do you think that
these people, too corrupt for earth, would go there? As I have said
before, an unregenerated man in heaven would make a hell of it. An
unregenerated man couldn't stay there. Why, some of you cannot wait an
hour here to listen to the Word of God. Before the hour expires you want
to go out. Some of you just wish it was over so that you could go and
get a drink in some of those saloons. I tell you, from the very depths
of my heart, I believe heaven would be a hell to an unregenerated man.
"I don't want to be here," he would say. My friends, heaven is a
prepared place for prepared people, and no one will ever see the kingdom
of God without being born of God.
The Drunken Father and his Praying Child.
I remember when out in Kansas, while holding a meeting, I saw a little
boy who came up to the window crying. I went to him and said: "My little
boy, what is your trouble?" "Why, Mr. Moody, my mother's dead, and my
father drinks, and they don't love me, and the Lord won't have anything
to do with me because I am a poor drunkard's boy." "You have got a wrong
idea, my boy, Jesus will love you and save you and your father too," and
I told him a story of a little boy in an Eastern city. The boy said his
father would never allow the canting hypocrites of Christians to come
into his house, and would never allow his child to go to Sunday-school.
A kind-hearted man got his little boy and brought him to Christ. When
Christ gets into a man's heart he cannot help but pray. This father had
been drinking one day and coming home he heard that boy praying. He went
to him and said: "I don't want you to pray any more. You've been along
with some of those Christians. If I catch you praying again I'll flog
you." But the boy was filled with God and he couldn't help praying. The
door of communication was opened between him and Christ, and his father
caught him praying again. He went to him. "Didn't I tell you never to
pray again? If I catch you at it once more you leave my house." He
thought he would stop him. One day the old tempter came upon the boy,
and he did something wrong and got flogged. When he got over his mad fit
he forgot the threats of his father and went to pray. His father had
been drinking more than usual, and coming in found the boy offering a
prayer. He caught the boy with a push and said, "Didn't I tell you never
to pray again? Leave this house. Get your things packed up and go." The
little fellow hadn't many things to get together--a drunkard's boy never
has, and went up to his mothers room. "Good-by, mother." "Where are you
going?" "I don't know where I'll go, but father says I cannot stay here
any longer; I've been praying again," he said. The mother knew it
wouldn't do to try to keep the boy when her husband had ordered him
away, so she drew him to her bosom and kissed him, and bid him good-by.
He went to his brothers and sisters and kissed them good-by. When he
came to the door his father was there and the little fellow reached out
his hand--"Good-by, father; as long as I live I will pray for you," and
left the house. He hadn't been gone many minutes when the father rushed
after him. "My boy, if that is religion, if it can drive you away from
father and mother and home; I want it." Yes, may be some little boy here
to-night has got a drinking father and mother. Lift your voice to
heaven, and the news will be carried up to heaven, "He prays."