Daily American telegraph., 1851-12-29
COVENANT WITH THE EYES.

81, COVENANT WITH THE EYES.
The eye is a most beautiful and exquisitely
constructed organ--the inlet of all our percep-
tons of beauty, color, symmetry, and many
others, to which we owe pleasing sensations
1t is the avenue by which enters most Of our
knowledge of external things and great por-
ton Of our enjoyment Who that has looked
| at the heavens, the work of Gods hand, the
moon and stars which he has ordained 2 and
experienced the emotions which these shining,
moving orbs are fitted to awaken, would part
with an organ which was the medium of such
revelations to his mind, Of objects transcend
emily brilliant in themselves, and speaking EN-
| phatically of uncreated glory? e.a, .rl ,
| Who, that has looked on {. the human face
divine" whether it be the awe-inspiring visage
of the veteran servant of Christ or the freshness
and beauty Of youth and especially the loved
countenanccs of the domestic circle, from the
infant to the matron, would voluntarily part
with his eyes, or have them sealed against the
entrance of light unless the alternative were
voluntary rebellion against God And yet the
eyes may prove the occasion of sin. Hence
Job "made covenant with his eyes"
| And SO must every one who would maintain
his innocence. There are times when their use
must be controlled-objects upon which they
must not fasten themselves-they must not be
allowed to gaze; or they will become the in
lets of sin the most polluting of deeds the most
bloody and cruel
Of all human organs, the eye is the most
active and quick in its motions. 1t cannot but
see instantaneousy whatever comes within the
scope of its vision. The first glance which it
takes of an object does not necessarily involve
any sin. David, while walking on the roof of
his palace, saw a beautiful object This first
| sight may have been without blameworthiness:
but he continued to look he looked intently
ne gazed, and while gazing, criminal desire was
| kindled in his heart, which at length burned
within him to an ungovernable intensity. The
qualification of that desire brought pollution
upon his soul, inflicted a grievous wrong an
rrcparable wrong upon others and after un-
successful attempts to cover up the iniquity, he
proceeded to plan and take measures to execute
foul murder on one of his most faithful and
| patriotic subjects. What melancholy conse-
quences of forbidden look Had he made a
covenant with his eyes had he bound them by
an imperative injunction, had he resolutely
turned away from the object which he suffered
to fascinate his senses, he might have escaped
this dreadful guilt and the consequent misery
| the anguish of remorse, and the bitterness of
SorIow, as when he prayed, /" Deliver me from
blood outlines, 0 God y and might have used
the language of a later penitent:
These eyes, which once abused tho light,
| Now lift to Thee their watery sight,
| And weep silent food
But there are other susceptibilities, than the
one just indicated, which are liable to be ex-
cited to dangerous pitch, by an abuse OF the
eye, and lead to consequences hardly less tragi-
cal, as they are certainly equally fatal Achan
discovered among the spoils of war wedge of
gold, and a Babylonian garment, perhaps rs
valuable. There may have been nothing sin
fu in the first discovery But he should in
stantly have been guarded against all desire to
appropriate them, as this had been solemnly
forbidden by God. Yet he looked till he began
| to covet; and coyetousncss soon became too
strong for his moral power to resist he suf
fered it to overpower his sense of moral obliga-
ton, and brought defeat upon Israel, death up
on himself and extermination upon his house
| And such use Of the eyes has led to null
titude of robberies in our own times An in
dividual has seen another make deposite Of
money or draw money from its place Of de-
posite or restore well-flled wallet to his
pocket and felt wish to get hold of it. and
the wish soon ripened into the purpose to make
the attempt; and having gone thus far, he
sticks at nothing to effect his purpose, though
it be the destruction of life and the desolation
of a family
It is thus young burglars and thieves are
often made. Neglectng the school and all
regular employment they infest the streets, pry
into shops and stores, see things which they
covet and allow their imaginations to dwell on
them, till they become absorbed with the
| thought of gaining possession, and vainly hope
to escape detection, and the infamy and dreary
punishment which is to follow Children
| should ra,,,nYn har tLic md ba cautious ,rl
either shut their eyes or turn them away, if
they cannot look upon things without covetng
them, or if they find in themselves the feeblest
desire to obtain them without rendering an
equivalent. Very expressive is that saying of
the wise man, "What the eye seeth, the heart
lusteth after"
| And how much Of the envy, which corrodes
the breasts of the young---and the older like
wise-comes through the same medium! And
SO Of the multitude of evil passions and habits.
| The wise mans prohibition :" Look not upon
the wine when it is red us nearly as appli-
cable to an indefinite number Of objects Let
every one, then, "makc covenant with his
eyesn-Chrstia,l Mirror
With the exception of Nicholas of Russia, there
is not crowned head in Europe with sufhciency
of brains to earn living at any other business
The most Of them are so stepped in vice and
| enuui that they have no taste for anything more
than adultery and opera dancers
/ The South Carolina Legislature adjourned g'7f
| de on the 10th inst.
| On the 18th inst, the corner stone of the new
State House, at Columbia, s. G., was laid With
appropriate ceremonies