THE DRUNKARD'S FUNERAL SERMON, THE SUBSTANCE OF AN ADDRESS BEFORE AN ANNUAL UNION TEMPERANCE MEETING. BY A CLERGYMAN OF MASSACHUSETTS. WOBURN: PUBLISHED BY J. V. PIERCE. 1840. Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1840, by in the Clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts. THE DRUNKARD'S FUNERAL SERMON. We need not apprise this assembly, that the subject of Temperance has become very familiar, nor that the method of public lectures upon it, is becoming somewhat uninteresting. And yet, it is hardly safe to venture from the beaten track. We are so generally prone to pronounce every deviation of this character 'original, or odd,' that the usefulness of such performances must be, to some extent at least, doubtful. Of the two diffi culties that of pursuing the hacknied course, or being thought eccentricI, from a habit of pleasing myself perhaps, rather than the expectation of receiving the approbation of others, choose the latter; and, hence, my aim, in the effort of this occasion will be, at comparative originality. These hints may have awakened the curiosity of the hearer, to anticipate the path which the speaker is about to take :-Will he not furnish a catalogue of the constituent properties of alcohol, by a chymical analysis?— comment upon the nature and degree of its poison ?-portray the long train of diseases, loathsomeness, and distress, which its use as a beverage is certain to entail upon the human constitution? -calculate the yearly amount that is worse than lost in its production ?— together with all the legitimate andso-forths' in the case? The fluency with which these questions are proposed, clearly indicates the course of our public speakers upon the theme now in hand; and also that your minds have not been sparingly instructed in these individual topics. Hence, should your speaker, on the present occasion, practise 'total abstinence' relative to these branches of the main subject, he will not be sensible of any neglect in administering to your wants. Since I was first apprised of your expectations of this service at my hands, by the officers of this body, my determination has been, to preach a travagantly odd! Were we not invited here to a Temperance meeting? |