Grappling with the Monster; Or, the Curse and the Cure of Strong DrinkArthur, T. S. (Timothy Shay)
Religion
Grappling with the Monster; Or, the Curse and the Cure of Strong Drink
Arthur, T. S. (Timothy Shay)
Temperance
Writing to Mr. Samuel P. Godwin, President of the Franklin Home, an old
inmate, five years after his reformation, says: "I received your kind
letter and recognized in it the challenge of the ever-watchful sentinel,
'How goes the night, brother?' I answer back, 'All is well.' I am
delighted to hear of the continued success of 'my second mother,' the
Home, and the Association, my brothers; and I thank God, who is
encouraging you all in your efforts for fallen men, by showing you the
ripening fruits of your labor--efforts and labors that are inspired by a
love of God that enables you to see in every fallen man the soul made
like unto _His_ own image. The Home and all its workers, its principles,
the endless and untiring efforts made, challenge the wonder and
admiration of every Christian heart. Its grand results will admit of but
one explanation, that 'It is God's work.' We, the reclaimed, can never
give expression to the grateful emotions of our hearts. We can only let
our lives be its best eulogy. We hope to vindicate in the future, as we
have in the past, (by adhering to its principles) the great Christian
truth, the grace of God is all-powerful, all-saving. _Oh! what has not
the Home done for us all!_ It sought us amid temptations, misery and
sorrow, and took us into its warm and fond embrace, clearing away the
debris that intemperance and misfortune had piled up, tearing down all
false theories of disease and seizing our convictions. It reached down
into our hearts by its admirable practical mode of imparting its
principles, impressing all its lessons with the examples of living,
active men, who, through its aid, accepting its teachings and practicing
them, have become reformed men--in a word, conquerors of self. By its
love, fostering care and ever-watchful solicitude for us, it has
awakened the lessons of love and faith learned at a dear mother's knee
in childhood, which, if forgotten for a time, were never entirely dead,
and required but just such an influence to warm them into life. It
enables me to say to you now, at the end of five years, I have been a
total abstinence man for that time, and by and with the help of God, I
will die that."
But enough has been educed to show the importance of this and other
"Homes" for the recovery of inebriates, and to direct public attention
to their great value. Those already established should be liberally
sustained by the communities in which they are located, and similar
institutions should be organised and put in operation in all the larger
cities of the Union. Thousands of outcast, helpless, perishing men, who,
but for the fatal habits they have acquired, would be good and useful
citizens, might, if this were done, be every year restored to
themselves, their families and to society. If we cannot, as yet, stay
the curse that is upon our land, let us do all in our power to heal what
has been hurt, and to restore what has been lost.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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