The seven trumpets, or, A sure way to take and utterly destroy the city of intemperance THE SEVEN TRUMPETS; Or, A Sure Way to Take and Utterly Destroy ' The City of Intemperance. Sobrii estote ct Vigilate. (1 Pet., v.) Be sober and watch. Edited by the VERY REV. THOMAS HEYDEN. . The means employed by heaven to accomplish its divine designs, are as sirm pie as they are effectual. The Man-God prostrated His assailants by a word, “ Whom seek ye? They answered Him : Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith to them : I am He. As soon as Jesus said to them, I am He, they went back- ward and fell to the ground.” (John, ch. 18.) On the Word of the Lord, the Priests under Josue were ordered to attack and take the infidel city of Jeri- cho; and how? not by bows and arrows and battering rams, or warlike instru- ments, but by obeying God’s word. “ Ye shall go about the city seven times, and the Priests shall sound the seven trumpets which are used in the jubilee. . . So all the people making a shout, and the trumpets sounding, when the voice and the sound thundered in the ears of the multitude, the walls forthwith* fell down. . . and they took the city.” (Josue, ch. vi.) It was not the trum- pet’s sound, but the fiat, the word of God, that pulled down the walls of the Canaanite wicked city of Jericho, and it is the same word, trumpet-like, that is to sound forth and effect the destruction of a yet more formidable fortress. The Seven Trumpets sounding against the walls of Intemperance, so widely and firmly constructed by Satan and his coadjujtors whereby to fortify his city, may be understood to be seven voices or utterances from the word of God, powerful enough, through His grace and our co-operation, to demolish all its strongholds and fortifications. 1. The first trumpet is that declaration of the Law in Deuteron., 21 ch., thundering against those sons who are given to drink and dissipation, and who set at naught the admonitions of parents, pastors and friends. “If a man have a stubborn and unruly son, who will not hear the commandments of his father and mother, and, being corrected, slighteth obedience, they shall take him to the ancients of his city, and to the gate of judgment, and shall say to them : This, our son, is rebellious and stubborn ; he will not hearken to our voice ; he is a glutton and a drunkard. The people of the city shall stone him, and he shall die, that ye may take away the evil from amongst you, and all Israel hear- r\ cApee 4fd PI " . 2 ing it, may be afraid.” Though this severity of the Old Law is tempered by the mildness of the New, yet it should operate as a stimulus to parents to strictly watch over their children and correct them with a holy rigor “ in the Lord.” 2. The second trumpet is the voice of the Lord, through His prophets. Hear first the prophet, Habacue, 2 ch. : “Wo to him that giveth drink to his friend, and presenteth his gaul and maketh him drink.” Hear in the next place, Jeremiah, 25th ch. : “For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel. . . . They shall drink and be troubled and be mad, because of the sword I shall send amongst them, . . . to make them a desolation, and an astonish- ment, and a hissing, and a curse, as at this day.” Hear Isaias, ch. v : “ Wo to you who are mighty to drink and stout men at drunkenness. Wo to you who rise early in the morning to follow drunkenness and drink till evening to b* inflamed with wine. And behold joy and gladness— eating flesh and drinking wine; let us eat and drink, for to morrow we shall die. And the voice of the Lord of Hosts was revealed to my ear : Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you till you die, saith the Lord of Hosts.” 3. The third trumpet is the voice of the Lord in the Book of Proverbs, ch. 23d : “ Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings who con- tribute flesh to eat; because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together, shall be consumed. Who hath wo? Whose father hath wo? Who hath contentions? Who falleth into pits? Who hath wounds without cause ? Who hath redness of eyes ? Surely they that pass their time in wine and ' study to drink off their cups.” How powerfully and loudly does not this voice proclaim the chief evils of Intemperance. First we are asked, “ Who hath wo ?” Intemperance brings wo, both to the inebriate himself and to his parents and friends, that is, pain, grief, mortification, shame and sorrow, and is the fertile cause pf untold miseries. Secondly, we are asked, “Who hath contentions ?” Inebriety occasions quarrels, contention's, animosities; for. these happen ofiener in drinking than any other time, to the serious injury of our neighbors honor and character; and hence frequently arises the obligation of restoring the good name of our neighbor. Thirdly, it is asked, “Who falls into pits?” This question intimates the various impediments and accidents on the drunkard’s path—obstacles on which he frequently and fatally stumbles—pits, precipices, rivers, railroads, machinery, to the evident danger of loss of life or limb. They lorm the burthen of newspaper casualties every day. “Who hath wounds without cause?” Not only are there wordy fights among hard drinkers, but from words they come to blows—the pistol and the bowie-knife are called into play, and if there be no other weapon at hand, the chairs, the tumb’ers, the bottles, fly thickly about. Immoderate drinking arouses anger, spreads ruin, and frequently, in the confusion, the true author of the mischief escapes, thus leading on the person of the sot, as it were, “Wounds without cause,” or which cannot be traced up to the real cause. We may, in fine, understand all these circumstances in a spiritual sense also. By the Scriptural “ Wo,”may be signified the eternal malediction and condem- nation to which the inebriate pledges his own soul, and in which, most assuredly, will be involved all those parents who do not, by example and admonition, efficaciously correct their dissipated children. By “ Pits,” may be meant the many and various vices into which, as into so many sloughs, inebriety precipi- tates its hapless victims. By “ Wounds,” mayjbe understood the deadly stings pf guilt—the many mortal sins to which this iniquity of intemperance renders its votaries obnoxious. By “ redness of eyes,” may be intimated the dullness and blindness of the eyes of the heart; for this darkness so clouds the mind of the inebriate that he sees nothing, as regards the salvation of his soul and his immortal interests. 4. The fourth trumpet is the evangelical voice that rings out in St. Luke, 21st ch. : “ Take heed to yourselves, lest perhaps your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and that day shall come 3 Opon you* suddenly. For, as a snare, it will come upon ihe whole earih.” • Hear also St. Matt., 24th ch. : u For, as in the days of Noah, before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage even till the flood come and took them ali away, so" also will be the coming of the Son of Man,” • 5. The fifth trumpet is the Apostolic voice so often resounding against intem- perance. Hear St. Paul to the Romans, 13th ch. : “ It is now the hour to awake from sleep. As in the day, let us walk becomingly ; not in banquetings and drunkenness , but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Hear him to the Co- rinth., 6th ch. : “ Be not deceived, neither fornicators nor thieves, nor the cove- tous, nor drunkards , shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Hear him, lastly, to the Galat., 5th ch. : “ The works of the flesh are manifest—tincleanness, enmi- ties, contentions, drunkenness , revelings—of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold—that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God.” 6. The sixth trumpet is the voice of one’s own conscience. Remorse of conscience is at last awakened in the career of intemperance, and pierces the inmost soul of the inebriate. “The worm that dieth hot, already begins its work of gnawing and biting. Look not upon the wine when it is yellow — when the color thereof shineth in the cup; it goeth in pleasantly, but in ilie end it biteth as the serpent and spreadeth poison as the baselisk.” (Prov , 23d ch.) That is, wine, like other liquors, presents a double attraction, a two-fold temp- tation in its beautiful color and delicate flavor. Wherefore, the wiseman admonishes us, to turn away our eyes from it—not to be caught and conquered by its charms, but to turn our thoughts at once on its sad consequences, its bitter fruits, its dreadful end, when immoderately indulged in; and remember, tnat afl % confirmed drunkards were at first moderate drinkers. Wherefore, “ it spreadeth poison as the serpent,” and this poison corrodes conscience, which, at length, ceases not to cry out to us, “ What fruit, therefore, have you in thoee things of which you are now ashamed. For the end of them is death.” (Rom., 7th ch.) > 7. The seventh trumpet is the voice of divine judgment threatening the intemperate with everlasting weeping. “Awake ye that are drunk and weep ; and mourn all ye that take delight in sweet wine; for it is cut otfl in your mouth.” (Joel, ch. 1st.) Remember the cry of the rich glutton and drunkard from his bed of pain — “ Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in watar, to cool my tongue , for I am tormented in this flame” (Luke, 16th ch.) A boon which he shall never receive. Thus the entire Scripture, Old and New, is filled with awful utterances ,and terrible voices that resound against the accursed walls of intemperance, raised up in Satan’s city by him and the miserable followers of Alcohol. conclusion! “Awake ye that are drunk and weep” whilst you have time, if you wish to avoid eternal weeping. Let the divine voice of God^s word resound in your ears, so as to stimulate you to break the fatal spell and sleep that overspreads your soul. And what says this voice to you? “Awake and weep.” Is this the time for sleep, when the danger of eternal death is impending over you? “Awake,” and shaking off this frightful lethargy—open your eyes and behold the sword of God’s wrath unsheathed—ready to punish your life of drunken- ness and all the crimes committed in your drunkenness. That sword is already suspended over you by a single hair, and menacing you with a sudden and un- provided death. Where is the reason—the intellect, the judgment which God has given you, if you neglect to guard against ruin so irremediable because 4 eternal? “Awake ” and meditate upon the countless evils which intemper- ance brings along in its train, and which are ready to falLupon your head. And having considered seriously all these truths, endeavor to appease the wrath of God—change your miserable life into a better one—into one of sobriety and piety. Beseech the Divine Majesty to pardon the criminal indulgences of your past life.—Ask—attract by humility and repentance this grace. For Christ says, “ Without me you can do nothing.’’ (John 15th.) For temperate or any good you cannot be, without grace which is always received by prayer and the sacraments. Have you any faith at all in the future judgment where before a most severe tribunal you will have to give a strict account of your entire life? Are you a Christian? if so, why live like an Atheist, a Sardanapalus or an Epicurus? Why thus waste the very prime of life in sinful gratifications, as if there were no immortal life after this dying life is over. Where is your belief in the soul’s immortality, if drinking iniquity like water, “ you have received your soul in vain.” What excuse will you give to the Judge for so many examples of in- temperance—for such squandering of goods entrusted to you by the Master—for so many graces and calls—lor so many domestic quarrels, pangs, miseries by which, in your inebriety, you have desolated your family, your wife and children. What shall I say of your blasphemies and oaths—your scandals, contentions, injuries to your neighbor—all occasioned by your intemperance. “Awake, then, ye that are drunk.” - Cast aside the profound stupor which clouds your intellect, and closes your eyes to the yawning fathomless gulf at your feet. Represent to yourselves, in all their stern reality, the awful rigors of the last judgment, where there can be no mercy shewn to the drunkard by the Judge who Himself descended on earth—became incarnate to teach both temperance and every virtue—fasting forty days and forty nights in the desert, without tast- ing a particle of human food—and drenched, in his Passion, with viuegar and gaul, to expiate our excesses in drinking. Repent—Reform—atone lor your past career of intemperance, by a life of godliness and sobriety.—Utter before God’s altar the solemn promise—the salutary resolve of temperance. Keep it with God’s grace, and it will keep you. “If you wish, says a celebrated author, to keep mind clear and body healthy, abstain from all fermented drinks. Do lions and cart horses drink ale? It is a mere habit. If you have good nourishing food, you can do very well without ale.” Sampson who made the Philistines to quake, With purest water us’d his thirst to slake. A cup of water and a spear, Eay at the head of Saul, who knew no fear. Young David, who, the proud Goliath slew, At Bethlehem’s fountain drank and mighty grew. The seer Elijah, for his drink partook Of chrystal water from the running brook. Precursor John, who, men for Christ prepar’d On locust, honey, and sweet water fared. Saints and sages all o’er creation wide, On. aqueous beverage liv’d and thriv’d. And senseless, wretched, we must poison drink, And soul and body in perdition sink. Dash, Drunkard, from thy lips the fatal bowl, And thus preserve thy frame and reason whole. Come back, come back to God—to peace untold, And drink and do, as did the wise of old. Substance of a discourse delivered by the Rev. Thomas Heyden, at St. Patrick’s Church, !Newry, before the Total Abstinence Societies of Holliday s- burgh and Newry, on the 18th of October, 1841, being the anniversary of the 6 V Temperance Reform in that region. After the Rev. James Bradley, the venerable pastor had offered up the Holy Sacrifice, in thanksgiving to the Almighty, from whom comes Temperance with every good gift, the Rev. Mr. Heyden preached from the following words : “ And this day shall be for a memorial to you, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord in your genera- tions with an everlasting observance.”—Exod.—xii, 14. The Reverend Speaker opened his discourse by some allusions to the history of God’s peculiar people, the Israelites, which is ever interesting and instructive to the Christian who reads and recognizes in that history the type of his own dispen- sation—the shadow and image of the events and happenings under the new covenant; ‘ f For all things happened to them in figures.” If we are to view the slavery to which the Israelites were devoted in Egypt, as figurative of the sad slavery which vice and, sin inflict upon the human race, we are to see in the deliverance of that people under Moses, a strong type of the salvation from sin and hell, accomplished by our Saviour in the Red Sea, of his blood on the cross. The Reverend Gentleman went on to show the worse than Egyptian servitude to which the vice of intemperance in particular had doomed its hap- less subjects—the long night of degradation and misery with which it over- spread a wide portion of the earth—“ But the Lord hath heard the groaning of his people” If at all times there may be adduced numbers of instances of ine- briates reformed, and intemperance diminished by the ordinary channels of God’s grace, yet at no time, on such a large scale , has this destructive vice been so powerfully assailed and stript ot its spoils and conquests, as in our times. The preacher here alluded to the splendid mission and labors of Father Matihew, by whose apostleship and guidance Five Millions Five Hundred Thousand have been brought from more than Egyptian bondage! The ministry of this great and good man, no one can question, was designed by the Almighty for the special and speedy emancipation of a mighty portion of the human family from the slavery of intemperance. It is to his example, under God, that we owe our happy awakening to the iniquity of this dreadful scourge; and it is wise and salutary to commemorate the thrice blessed morn, when were first knocked off the fetters of despotism which this monstrous vice had forged for yourselves and your children—“ this day should be for a memorial to you, and you should keep it as a feast to the Lord in your generations, with a perpetual observance.” The preacher then showed the evils of intemperance in a three- fold relation to God, whom it outrages by extinguishing reason and thus blot- ting out his glorious image—To society, which it desolates by the baneful examples it exhibits to the young and susceptible—to the intemperate man him- self, whom it ruins. The drunkard’s poverty-stricken abode was described — the wretchedness brought on himself, wife and children, depicted: Those funds that were to make that home happy and smiling, and to provide comforts and conveniences for his family, and education for his offspring, all, all went to purchase the poisonous liquor. Were you, said the Reverend Speaker, to accompany me through the gloomy cells of those receptacles of transgressors, the penitentiaries and prisons of the States, at every step you would gather frightful evidence of the bitter fruits and evils that spring from the use of intoxi- cating drinks. In one penitentiary alone of an Eastern State, there have been one hundred and sixty-nine inmates. Of this multitude, one hundred and eight were intemperate—of the same number, seventy-eight sold ardent. spirits ! In- temperance, said the Reverend Gentleman, is a murderer ! Seven-eighths of the atrocious murders that are perpetrated in the United States, are fairly ascribable to excitement from maddening spirits. An illustration was given in a recent horrible murder and suicide committed in the State of Connecticut by an unfortunate man under the influence of ardent spirits. The wretch, mad- dened by the destructive drink, imbued his hands first in the blood of an hon- ored and useful member of society, and afterwards despatched himself. Man 6 is no longer the same being under alchoiic influences that he was before. The most amiable and the kindliest dispositions become fiend-like. All that is fero- cious and vicious in him, triumphs unrestrained. Matter masters mind—the slave its lord. Intemperance is a robber : It makes the rich poor indeed, and it plunders the poor man of the last cent of his hard-earned wages. It is a well ascertained fact, that nations addicted to the pernicious use of liquors, expend more in the purchase of them than would be necessary to keep their starving population in bread. Great Britain has expended annually Fifty Millions Sterling for intoxicating drinks, and Twenty-five Millions for Bread ! Twelve Millions go for gin alone! Thus it takes double the sum for poison as for the staff of life. The same is true of families as well as of nations. The drunkard could maintain himself and family in bread stufls for what he squanders on the deleterious drug. Intemperance is the most despotic of tyrants. Language cannot describe the tyranny it exerts over its prostrate slaves. It is true, we do not hear the clanking of the inebriate’s chains, but in the sight of God and reason, he carries about him the fetters of a slavery far more degrading than ever pressed to the earth Africa’s hapless sons. These ill-fated children may be bound only in body—their souls may soar aloft to commune with their God,*and enjoy the treedom “ wherewith Christ hath made them free But the drunkard is the veriest bond slave in soul and body. No bondage comparable to that of alcohol. It has kept under its iron sway whole nations and cities. The condi- tion of the city of London in 1736, affords a melancholy instance of its subjuga- ting power. From Parliamentary records, it appears that at that period there were in that city 20,000 houses and shops in which spirituous liqnors were sold. There were 12,000 gin-sellers and 3,007 ale-houses. In 1833, there were taken up in a state of drunkenness, and brought before the Magistrates, 7,535 males and 3,853 females. The number discharged by the Police, when sober, was, for 1833, 10,733 males and 7,754 females—total, 29,880, or 81 per diem ! ! Where, it might be aksed, "was this city—in what distant pagan land? It was in en- lightened England, which gloried in living in the full blaze of Gospel light, and in sending innumerable copies of the Bible afar to the poor benighted heathen ! ! W ho can advocate the source of so much sin and sorrow? You are called upon by the force of your example to put down the cause of unnum- bered and unutterable woes. The Reverend Preacher specially appealed to the temperate to help in rescuing their fellow-men from the direst scourge that can oppress mankind. Let no one be so self-seeking, so cold and callous, as to say, “ I am temperate, I know how to moderate myself in the use of inebriating liquors.” If all the temperate had thus thought and acted in the beginning of this movement, would any of the good that has been done been effecied ? The countless drunkards that have been reclaimed would be still wallowing in their turpitude. It was the temperate that begun the good work, and it is the tem- perate that must consummate it. God makes use of the example of the temper- ate to save the intemperate. Heaven employs the simplest and most unthought of means to effect its mighty purposes. Who would ever imagine that twelve poor fishermen, with no other arms than humility and the cross, would have been employed and succeed in converting the world? Had some philosopher been consulted, he would have said, send Platos, send Demosthenes, send Ciceros ! In like manner it never would have occurred to the carnal man that the examples of the temperate by total abstinence from intoxicating drinks were to save the intemperate. What need have they to give up the use of what they do not abuse ? Thus would man reason if left to his own propensities. The simplicity of the medium, and its sovereign efficacy, attests its heavejfily origin. “ Thy right hand, O Lord, is magnified in strength : Thy right hand, O Lord, hath slain the enemy.” (Exod. xv.) Shall any one say that total abstinence is not necessary for him, and therefore he cannot respond to our call ? Are we to do nothing for our neighbor but what is also necessary for us? Do we wish to be tried on this plea before the judgment seat of Christ? How such disciples will fare there, we may learn by considering how many 1 7 things HE did, which were not necessary for Him, but most necessary for us. It was not necessary for Him to be born, to suffer, and to die for man, but most necessary for us. It was not necessary for Him to fast and to fray , but most necessary for our example. Can we be called followers of Him if we are resolved to do for our neighbor nothing that is unnecessary for us ? How con- trary to the sentiments and practice of the Apostle, who exhorts us to be “ imitators of him, as he is of Christ.” He hesitates not to declare that if by his total abstinence from meat a brother could be saved, freely would he make the sacrifice. “ Wherefore if meat scandalize my brother, I will never eat flesh, lest I should scandalize my brother.” (1 Cor., viii.) In the infancy of the Church, the question was agitated whether it was lawful to eat of meats offered to idols ? It was decided that Christians might partake of them without sin — that an idol was nothing—and all things were clean to the clean : But there were some scrupulous souls, whose tender consciences forbade them to partake of such meats, and were scandalized at beholding others eating them. It was to spare these weak brethren, that St. Paul used the strong expression related : “ Ml things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient.” ‘ Let no one seek his own, but that which is for the welfare of another,” were the golden and govern- ing principles of the Apostle, and they must be ours. The very arguments and words which he uses to inculcate total abstinence from meats on account of his infirm brethren, may be employed to refute the objections of those who wish to keep aloof from the heroic self-denial of the pledge. We are at liberty to drink moderately , say some; and they may be told, “take heed, less perhaps your lib- erty become a stumbling block to the weak. (1 Cor., 9.) We have knowledge that it »is no harm to drink, but not to excess—“And through thy knowledge shall thy weak brother perish,for whom Christ died ” To thousands the use of liquors is inseparable from the abuse. Because you are strong and will not fall into excess, do you conclude that “ your weak brother” may not perish, where you will escape? But how many do perish from any contact whatever with intoxicating drink, which you might prevent—which all might prevent, if all would ask themselves with St. Paul—“and through thy knowledge shall thy weak brother perish for whom Christ died.” Upon whom eventually falls the injury? If you wounded your brother alone, doubtless your guilt would be great enough ; but what the Apostle adds, infinitely aggravates it: “ Now wh^n you sin against the brethren and wound their weak consciences, YOU SIN AGAINST CHRIST.” After a variety of arguments, of which we can give but a feeble outline the Rev. Gentleman urged the splendid rew ards reserved for those who co-operate with the Saviour in ransoming immortal souls purchased by him at so dear a rate. If that divine Redeemer has promised such magnifi- cent retribution to those who feed the hungry, clothe the naked—(mere bodily works)—how inconceivably great must be the remuneration which he is to bestow on those who, by their good example, labor to raise the priceless soul, debased and degraded by intemperance—whose high and holy aim and lofty charity has for its object, not the relief of only dust and ashes, but reluming and brightening up of thosefaded and tarnished images of Deity—still his images, though so sadly disfigured, as scarcely sufficient to indicate “whose imagesji^ inscriptions they are.” The rewards that are to compensate and to crown eter- nally spiritual works of mercy, must infinitely surpass those that await corporal works of charity, even as the undying soul excels the corruptible case, the fleshy prison in which it is immured. Yes, they who turn many to righteousness shall shine as stars in the firmament—and he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his ways, shall save Ids soul from death, and cover & multitude of sins.” (Dan. 12, James v.) • After the discourse, which lasted one hour and a half, the pledge was admin- istered to upwards of forty persons, many of whom had been considered irie- coverably lost to temperance. Sixty had been enrolled the preceding day. 8 0 I 2> o o We close this Tract with the following sound and salutary obeservations of t he author of “ The Lives of the Saints the venerable Alban Butler. “ Abstinence is a virtue retrenching and moderating the quality of our food through a spirit of temperance. Thus, entirely to abstain from wine may be a temperance agreeable to God, and a means to make our souls better disposed to receive wisdom and virtue. ‘I thought in my heart/ said Solomon, * to withdraw my flesh from wine, that I might transfer my mind to wisdom and shun folly.’ (Eccles., 2d ch.) The Holy Ghost commends the obedience of the Rechabites to the precept of their father, Jonadab, never to touch wine. (Jer., ch. 25.) Daniel, with his companions, abstained from wine. (Dan., 1 and 10.) So did John the Baptist, by the instinct of the Holy Spirit. (Luke, 1st ch., 150. Timothy observed this rule, so as to oblige St. Paul, to order him a little moderation, on account of his sickness and weak stomach. Euse- bius relates the same authority of St. James of Jerusalem, and of the first Christians under St. Mark. St. Augustin commends it as the practice of many bishops, priests and religious in his time. St. Jerom, in his letter to Eustochium, says : ‘ If I have any credit to give advice, if my experience can be believed, I, in the first place, admonish and conjure that the spouse of Christ fly all wine as a poison.’ Indeed, the heathen Romans allowed no young persons under thirty to drink wine, as it is an incentive of the passions. A,nd St. - Clemens of Alexandria advises to drink water, and fly wine as the threats of a fire, adding : ‘ Let young persons of either sex be particularly abstemious, for it is no way ,proper to allow wine to that boiling age, which is to add fire to fire, from which raging desires and burning passions are enkindled.’ ” {Vide Butler’s Meditations.) Baltimore Printed by Joh>* Murphy £ Co., Printers to the P«.pe, and to the Archbishop of Baltimore.