A philanthropist, going up to the counter of a grog-shop, as the
proprietor was mixing a drink for a toper standing at the counter,
said to the proprietor, "Can you tell me what your business is good
for?" The proprietor, with an infernal laugh, said, "_It fattens
graveyards!_"

God knows better than you do yourself the number of drinks you have
poured out. You keep a list; but a more accurate list has been kept
than yours. You may call it Burgundy, Bourbon, Cognac, Heidsick, Hock;
God calls it strong drink. Whether you sell it in low oyster cellar or
behind the polished counter of first-class hotel, the divine curse is
upon you. I tell you plainly that you will meet your customers one day
when there will be no counter between you. When your work is done on
earth, and you enter the reward of your business, all the souls of
the men whom you have destroyed will crowd around you and pour their
bitterness into your cup. They will show you their wounds and say,
"You made them;" and point to their unquenchable thirst, and say, "You
kindled it;" and rattle their chain and say, "You forged it." Then
their united groans will smite your ears; and with the hands out of
which you once picked the sixpences and the dimes, they will push you
off the verge of great precipices; while, rolling up from beneath, and
breaking among the crags of death, will thunder:

"_Woe to him that giveth his neighbor drink!_"

THE HOUSE OF BLACKNESS OF DARKNESS.

Men like to hear the frailties and faults of others chastised. With
what blandness and placidity they sit and hear the religious teacher
excoriate the ambition of Ahab, the treachery of Judas, the treason
of Athaliah, and the wickedness of the Amalekites. Indeed, I have
sometimes felt sorry for the Amalekites, for in all ages, and on all
occasions, they are smitten, denounced, and pursued. They have had
their full share of censure and excoriation. It is high time that
in our addresses in pulpits, and in domestic circles, we turn our
attention to the driving out of these worse Amalekites which are
swarming in society to-day, thicker than in the olden time. The
ancient Amalekites lived for one or two hundred years; but these
are not weakened after a thousand years. Those traversed only a few
leagues of land; these stalk the earth and ford the sea. Those had
each a sword or spear; these fight with a million swords, and strike
with a million stings, and smite with a million catastrophes.