Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1854-08-02
MARTINsBURG. VA WEDNESDAY MORNING, AUGUST !, 1851


nance chooses his scores from the places Of
dobauchery and crime, and farDiliarizos the
reader with characters, sentiments and events
that should be known asly to the police
Licontious scenes and obscene imagery arc
rnblush!ngly introduced and the imagina-
ton polluted BY sugge ions and descriptions
revolving to TIE pure iuhears. @Pablic poi.
soncrs" was the title lag since justly given
to writer's Of this class. Il was lately testi-
fed in open conrt, by tIR father Of one whose
guilty course has brought ruin upon herself,
disgrace upon her family, and death upon
her lover, that all wa oceasioned By his
daughter reading the in.surc works Of Eugene
Sue and Bulvcr. TO lid to such q hcllish
charm, is like the voluntary sacrifice Of ones
body and soul on the lfankard's altar
Mental deliTium tremeui IS as sure a conse-
quenco Of habitual iassaicaiion from such
reading, as is that asf4. disease tho certain
end of the inebriate. Beware ofitl
Beware ofinGdel books, and Of all writings
which ridicule the Bible You will meet
them, with more or less guard ed syowal of
their object, in the newspaper, the tract and
the volume. Infdelity s system Of mega
tons it IS nothing believes notling-docs
nothing good. Beware Of it in whatever
form it approaches you, as you value tempo
raj happiness and prosperity, the peace Of So
ciety and eternal woll-boiDg. No man enters
eternity IN infdol.
Beware q books Of war, piracy, and muir
der. The first thought Of crime has been
suggested BY such books. The murderer of
Lord William Russell confessed on the seat.
fold, that the reading of ono such book led
him to the commission of his crime. An
other who was executed for piracy, was in
stigated to his course by book Of piratieal
tales. The state-prisons are filed with GRIM
-inals who were melted to crime by similar
means They stimulate The love Of adven-
turous daring, cultivate the baser passions,
and promt to deeds Of infamy, Away with
them
| Do you still need to be persuaded to be-
ware of the poison that would paralyze your
conscience, enervate your intellect, pervert
your judgement, dcprave your life and per-
haps ruin your soul
Beware Of bad books, because il you, and
others like you, viii let them alone, they will
soon cease to be published. Every such
book you buy encourages the guilty publisher
to make another. Thus you not only endan-
ger your own morals, but pay premium on
the means Of running others.
Beware, because your example is contagi-
gous. Your child, your servant, your neigh
Dor, may be led TO read what will be inju-
rious for time and eternity; or not to ''touch
the uncloan thing" as your example may
prompt.
Beware, because good books are plenty
and cheap and it is folly TO feed on chat or
poison when substantial, heal thful food may
as well be obtained Beware of bad books,
because they waste your time. Slime is
money y it is moro--is is eternity You
live in a sober, redeemed world, and it is
worse than folly to frittor away The period
of probation in mere amusement. God did
not bring us into being, and sustain that be-
ing-the Rcdocmor did not shed his blood a
ransom for our sins-the Holy Spirit has not
bestowed upon us the book divine, that We
might fit from flower to flower like Tie but
terGy, ncglocting all the ends Of rational and
immortal being and &c to the judgement
mere triaers.
Beware of bad books, because principles
imlibod and images gathered from them will
abide in the memory and imagination forever.
The mind once polluted is never freed from
its corruption unles5 by an act Of
boundless grace, through the power Of the
Spirit of God
Beware of them, because they are one Of
the most fruitful sources Of eternal destruc-
ton They are read in solitude. Their raw
ages are eternal Foundations Of morality
are undermined. The fatal arrow is fixed in
the soul, while the victim only sees the gild-
ed feather that guides its certain aim. He
is lost, and decends to he'll more intolera-
bic, from contrast with the scenes Of fau-
cied bliss with which the heart was filed by
the vile, though gifted destroyer. The pre-
cious book Of life was given to show you how
you might secure the enrolcment of your
name among the saints ia light; but you
choose the book Of death, with present fasci-
nations of a corrupt press, and the surest
means ofsecurng dreadful doom. Ifyour
epitaph we're truly written, the passor-by in
- graveyard would read,
eli ACQUIRED A TASTE FOR READ
ING Rad BOOKS, DIED WITHOUT HOPE, AND