The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1849-11-22
Short Patent Ser mon.
BY DOW, JR.
TExT.-My friends | earnestly beseech,
You all TO practice whatI preach.

You all TO practice what preach.
My HearerS:-It should matter not TO
you whether practice what preach or
not, so long as the medicine that | admin
ister 20 your sin-sick souls is free from
poison, and calculated to have a salutarv
effect Good and wholesome advice should
never be rejected even though it comes
from thief on the gallows; and I fatter
myself that, with all my mutual abomina-
tions, | am no worse than condemned
culprit. | don't want you to DO as do,
but as SAY, and difficulties like deep
fogs at distance, would disappear as you
approach them. Don't watch your preach
er's movements from day to day, nor dog
his diurnnal tracks along the serpentine
walks of morality. know that | often
lose my way IN labyrinth of error-and,
no doubt sometimes guilty of somnambu-
lie derelictions from the true path of virtue
NOT unfrequently become entangled bv
briars where expected to have found moth
ing but beds of f1owers-and now and then
find myself up to my shirt collar in a mud
hole. But there can be no earthly reason
my friends, why you should follow my
footsteps IN all my wayward wanderings
When you see me go astray, be warned
by the dangers and difficulties that be-
sought me, and pursue the right path
When you behold me in the pul pit, clad
IN the garments of grace and sanctity, with
face as long as petition to Congress,
and heart heaving with the pillows of
desire for your temporal and spiritual well
fare, lose, l pray you, all sight of the man
of flesh; and listen to the preacher of truth
and morality. You are the sheep-I am
| the sleeps head; lie. the head of the sheep.
Perhaps you think that all | care for is the
wool, and let your carcasses go to the dogs
or to the devil; but, oh, my little flock
you greatly mistake my disposition. |
want to feed you with the salt of salvation
-tn m you into the green pastures of pure
and heavenly pleasure-let you ramble
along the fowery dales of delight-lie
down beneath the cooling shades of con-
tentment-drink from the refreshing foun-
tains of hope-and shelter you from the
bleak winds that blow IN Iife's wintry
season. This is my pride, my ambition,
my end; and don't care a counterfeit cop
per whether you cry bah at my efforts
or come forward and. d..lick my hand in graf
itude.
My dear friends: the grand aim of my
preaching IS to make you all happy. AS
Grandfather Whitehead says, | wish |
could make the whole world happy. If
[ could only bind you together in the
bonds of perpetual love and friendship, l
would end my labors in peace, and sink
to rest as calmly and gloriousy as sets
the golden-circed autumnal sun. | want
to do away with all this jarring, jostling,
pickering, ,backbiting, envying and quarrel
ling, with which this world is so easily
infested. There is room enough in the
thoro' fares ofthe world for US all to pass
without sticking our elbows into each 9TH
er's ribs, and space enough for us each 20
occupy without trespassing upon the
rights and privileges of our neighbor.-
Oh! | long for the time to come when
universal peace and harmony shall pre-
vail among the children Of earth-natlons
| as well as individuals shall be Joined to-
| geth er by the sIken cord of affection
when swords shall be beaten into sheep
| shears, and muskets into mouse traps. 1t
would give me unbounded Joy to see the
Oldest country now in the face Jehovah's
| toad stool extending its broad arms like a
| kind father, and all the nations OF the
earth atfectionately y huddling together in
its parental embraces. That's the sort OF
universal love, harmony and union, that
want TO see brought about; and don't care
whether you consider Texas as tin-kettie
yet to be tied to the tail of territory or moi
so long as you entertain a friendly feeling
towards that and every other country on
the face of the globe.
My hearers: i! has been said OF old that
it is much easier to preach than to practice
let me tell you it is no easy matter to
preach If you don't think so as broth
er once remarked, should like to see you
get up and try it. The case Is with me
can't bear 70 have my sentiments leaked
out in driblets-they must come out with
grand rush, or not at all. My bosom
oftentimes becomes so flooded with feel
ings as to sweep all my ideas into tn,
thorax before they have time to be trans
formed into words, when they get wedgel
together-completeiy damned up for mo
ment. Then breakage takes place, anC
down goes perfect deluge of homely elo
quence, which, by right ought to wasi
every old grease-spot of sin from you
systems. But you don't seem to apPre
ciate me and my sermons IN Propel
manner 1t is true that you look sad