Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1850-08-30

gam, TO traInc In tnat Wnlcn Drlngs woe ana
desolation on man.
You may never have heard the great and
terrible God, laundering forth from Sinai's /
towering summit " Thou shalt haze no 9TH i
Gods before nte:" but there is great reason I
to fear, that the same eternal God, in thunder /
Ipealing tones will declare &c Depart ye cur
sed,"
| Could we stop here, and gaze on the liquor
dealers personal guilt, respecting this great
commandment, he might be viewed as sus-
tanning a less Objectionable relation to God,
and man But there is involved in his guilt,
the guilt of others. It is his daily business
to induce others, and aid them in becoming
guilty ofidolatry, in the most degraded forms.
Go to the grocery, and low grog shop, and
there behold the Temple of Idols. What
crowds of poor, miserably deluded deyotees,
Edegradingly prostrating themselves before the
shrine of Bacchus, while his high priest, the
liquor seller, dispenses the virtue of his God
head. How numerous are the sacrifices
brought and offered at his flaming shrine !;
houses and lands, men servants, and maid
servants; all of which pass into the hands of
his most tendeS hearted, and sympathetic high
priest These worshipers are often character
/. lLSu ny OuG ulUSb leIdClOOo Oof0L1On. 4AGH
affection for their idol God, is much superior
to that for their wives and children /; and
hence, at his command, theT are brought, and
laid in the dreary tomb at the foot ofhis throne,
over whom the high priest of God Baechus,
performs the last ceremony, and receives as a
2 Compensation, their winding sheet. IF they
are not sacrificed thus far, at his command
: they are cast off friendless and homeless, to
: wander amid the desert Of this world.
Not satisfied with the sacrifice so freely of
fered, and so eagerly received, the true disci-
] iple, with bloated countenance, trembling-step
: burning thirst, guilty conscience, dethroned
), reason, and in filthy and tattered garments
all the rewards Of faithful adherence to his be
y Y loved God, approaches the temple of sacrifice
: and places into the hands of the high prizes
! his ragged raiment, the last he has to offer
save himself: he looks around, and all i
Z gone; he is ready to be offered, and plunge
: the burning pool encircling the throne of Bac
= chus, and as he sinks beneath the fiery bill
y lows, Bacchantis sings in sorrowful tones hi
! funeral dirge,
a 'f Though the day of thy destiny is over
4. And the star Of thy fate hath declined,
"a Thy soft heart refused to discover
y The faults which so many could find;
!, ~ Though thy soul with my grief was acquainted
lie 1t shrunk not 10 share it with me,
b. And the love which my spirit hath painted
- It never hath found but in thee.'
re This is no fancy picture. The drunkard is
n slave to his own passions he seeks his hal
o. piness in the eradication of his sensual al
lot petites, and is consequently an idolater.-
m This is sustained by Paul declaration who's
ne end is destruction, whose God is their 6ells
ey whose glory is in their shame, who mind eartl
tie ly things The Rumseller tempts the poe
lat drunkard, and invites him to bow to his Go
lor of Rum.
We think that our position as it regards Il
oh - Apmmandment, has been sustained. O
eir guilty man, make not your boast of being
of a land of Bibles; of fGospel privileges. Spes
re- not of the darkness and degradation of tt
cir poor heather their condition is the result
ow ignorance, but your idolatrous condition is Il
iu- result of choice They would gladly hail Il
Tes light of Biblical truth, but you exclude it b
cause you loue darkness rather than Hght
remember, that unto whomsoever much is Ell
en-, of him much is required. 0 stop; a
led here no longer to vocation SO offensive
the sight of God. and SO destructive to Il
happiness of your fellow man.