第76章 MORE CRUSADES.(10)

On his last discharge was admitted into Prison Gate Brigade Home,where he stayed about five months and became truly saved.Although his health was completely shattered from the effects of his sinful life,he steadfastly resisted all temptations to drink,and kept true to God.

Through advertising in the War Cry,he found his lost son and daughter,who are delighted with the wonderful change in their father.They have become regular attendants at our meetings in the Temperance Hall.

He now keeps a coffee-stall,is doing well,and properly saved.

G.A.,72,spent 23years in gaol,last sentence two years for burglary;was a drunkard,gambler,and swearer.Met on his discharge by the Prison Gate Brigade,admitted into Home,where he remained four months,and became truly saved.He is living a consistent,godly life,and is in employment.

C.D.,aged 64,opium-smoker,gambler,blackguard,separated from wife and family,and eventually landed in gaol,was met on his discharge and admitted into Prison Gate Brigade Home,was saved,and is now restored to his wife and family,and giving satisfaction in his employment.

S.T.was an idle,loafing,thieving,swearing,disreputable young man,who lived,when out of gaol,with the low prostitutes of Little Bourke Street.Was taken in hand by our Prison Gate Brigade Officers,who got him saved,then found him work.After a few months he expressed a desire to work for God,and although a cripple,and having to use a crutch,such was his earnestness that he was accepted and has done good service as an Army officer.His testimony is good and his life consistent.He is,indeed,a marvel of Divine grace.

M.J.,a young man holding a high position in England,got into a fast set;thought a change to the Colonies would be to his advantage.

Started for Australia with #200odd,of which he spent a good portion on board ship in drink,soon dissipated the balance on landing,and woke up one morning to find himself in gaol,with delirium tremens on him,no money,his luggage lost,and without a friend on the whole continent.On his discharge he entered our Prison Gate Home,became converted,and is now occupying a responsible position in a Colonial Bank.

B.C.,a man of good birth,education,and position;drank himself out of home and friends and into gaol on leaving which he came to our Home;was saved,exhibiting by an earnest and truly consistent life the depth of his conversion,being made instrumental while with us in the salvation of many who,like himself,had come to utter destitution and crime through drink.He is now in a first-class situation,getting #300a year,wife and family restored,the possessor of a happy home,and the love of God shed abroad in it.

I do not produce these samples,which are but a few,taken at random from the many,for the purpose of boasting.The power which has wrought these miracles is not in me nor in my Officers;it is power which comes down from above.But I think I may fairly point to these cases,in which our instrumentality has been blessed,to the plucking of these brands from the burning,as affording some justification for the plea to be enabled to go on with this work on a much more extended scale.If any other organisation,religious or secular,can show similar trophies as the result of such limited operations as ours have hitherto been among the criminal population,I am willing to give place to them.All that I want is to have the work done.

SECTION 4.--EFFECTUAL DELIVERANCE FOR THE DRUNKARD.

The number,misery,and hopeless condition of the slaves of strong drink,of both sexes,have been already dealt with at considerable length.

We have seen that there are in Great Britain one million of men and women,or thereabouts,completely under the domination of this cruel appetite.The utter helplessness of Society to deal with the drunkard has been proved again and again,and confessed on all hands by those who have had experience on the subject.As we have before said,the general feeling of all those who have tried their hands at this kind of business is one of despair.They think the present race of drunkards must be left to perish,that every species of effort having proved vain,the energies expended in the endeavour to rescue the parents will be laid out to greater advantages upon the children.

There is a great deal of truth in all this.Our own efforts have been successful in a very remarkable degree.Some of the bravest,most devoted,and successful workers in our ranks are men and women who were once the most abject slaves of the intoxicating cup.Instances of this have been given already.We might multiply them by thousands.

Still,when compared with the ghastly array which the drunken army presents to-day,those rescued are comparatively few.The great reason for this is the simple fact that the vast majority of those addicted to the cup are its veritable slaves.No amount of reasoning,or earthly or religious considerations,can have any effect upon a man who is so completely under the mastery of this passion that he cannot break away from it,although he sees the most terrible consequences staring him in the face.

The drunkard promises and vows,but promises and vows in vain.

Occasionally he will put forth frantic efforts to deliver himself,but only to fall again in the presence of the opportunity.

The insatiable crave controls him.He cannot get away from it.

It compels him to drink,whether he will or not,and,unless delivered by an Almighty hand,he will drink himself into a drunkard's grave and a drunkard's hell.

Our annals team with successful rescues effected from the ranks of the drunken army.The following will not only be examples of this,but will tend to illustrate the strength and madness of the passion which masters the slave to strong drink.