The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1840-02-08

sadly in the grave, is upon you. Ali t:.,.2
waters of heaven can never wash out ":
bloody, guilty stain. If it had been poss:'-
|ble, that you could have escaped from h.i-
man Justice, still the shade of your mur.
dered parent would have accompanied
your flight. Your imagination would have
constantly shadowed forth before you the
last scene of her life, when you rlotsd in
savage fury, and literally stamped her to
death. The shrek of death would have
ever sounded in your ears. Turn where
you might, the avenger of blood, in the
|goadings of your guilty conscience, would
be ever present with you. every one
who finds me will slay me-" would have
been the Cain-like foreboding of your guilt.
Life, with these terrors, is not worth pos
sesang but still, poor boon as it is, even
that is denied, justly denied to you JUS
tice, speedy justice. has overtaken you;
and after full trial, according to the forins
of law, you have been condemned, and
stand now at an earthly bar, to receive
the sentence of the law.
"ReAect, beseech you, upon your aw-
full condition; ponder deeply on the deed
of blood, for which you are to die: let
your whole past life pass in review
before you: and in the solitude and drea-
riness Of your prison house, let sorrow and
sadness be your companions, until you can
feel that you have passed from death unto
life.
eff it be true, that the purity of your
sister, was not safe from your brutal vio-
lence, what an awful thought does it pre-
sent7 Incest and matricide crimes, hor-
rible beyond all human conception, are up
on the head of one doomed in few brief
days to die. Well might you exclaim, " oh
that my head were waters, and mine eyes
a fountain of tears, that might weep day
and night" for the sins of my past life.
"Honor thy father and thy mother" is
the first commandment, with promise.
This you have disobeyed, fearfully DISC
beyed, and therefore all which remains to
you of earth, is punishment.
Prepare to meet God! You must die
upon the gallows: your crime admits not
of pardon, here below. But although hui
man pardon you may not expect: although
all the waters Of heaven, cannot wash you
clean from the bloody, guilty stain Of a mo-
thers murder, yet there is one with whom
there is pardon: in the house of David
there is fountain opened for sin and un-
cleanness, in which even you, the vilest of
the vile, may wash and be made clean.
Your Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the
son of the living God, came into the world,
lived q man Of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief, and died upon the cross, that
sinners might have everlasting life. To-
day, if you will hear his voice, he says
" come unto me, and / will give you rest"
None ever went to him, and were rejected!
You must however approach him with
penitence and faith: there must be god
y sorroE for sin: you must cease to do
evil, and learn to do well.
prayer, effectual, fervent prayer, may
|enlighten the darkness your prison-housc
with the bright answering light of pardon
and peace from God. Do not suppose you
cannot pray! You can at least do like the
poor publican, smite upon your breast, and
|cry, "God be merciful to me sinner"
Let not your ignorance of the scriptures
stand in your way. The holy men Of God,
the ministers of his son, are around you;
they will willingly come to your aid; they
will wrestle with you day and night, to
win for YOU pardon and peace.
"The dread sentence which am about
to pronounce, consigns your body to death;
but your soul, your immortal soul, is to live
for ever and ever, in glorious happiness, or
in everlasting misery, pain and woe. This
last alternative is far worse than the death
of the body. In it, the smoke of your tor
ment is to ascend forever and ever. Ihope
you will be penitent; and that God will yet
bless you, that his mercy will be kindly
vouchsafed to you, and that your exit Of
shame and punishment, from time, may
usher you into that blissful state, where
the wicked cease from troubling, and the
weary are at rest"