Squatter sovereign., 1856-04-22
SHORT PATENT SERMONS.
T.
ON CHA STIT e..
By DOW, IN.

NV Brethren, be chaste till you're tempted,
While sober be wise nd discreet;
And humble your bodies by fasting,
AS Oft az you have nothing to eat.
MY-HEARERs-m world Ike this,
where almost every one is, knee-deep in
moral mud, il is hardly to Supposed thai
.unsuilied chastity can exist and yetthere
are numberless cases where only the bot.
toms of the petticoats and pantaioons of
purity have been furnished, while the main
fabric remains unspotted. These, howev-
er, are sufficient for the PRONUNCIATION and
propa gatron of SANDER; for, as my friend
Siakspear said. or might have said, g Be
thou as pure as ice, and as chaste as snow,
verify thou shalt not escape calumny," if a
suspicious spot, as big as thy thumb nail,
appear upon the fine linen Of thy virtue.
Another ofmy particular friends, Spenser,
says the only amaranthine flower o n earth
is virtue; but I think he is wrong. How
can sublunary virtue be an ever-biooming
flower. when Its blossoms are so frequently
trampled upon by the foot Of vice, and
crushed forever! Sometimes even the
breath Of suspicion causes ii 10 fade, with
er and blossom no more-and have known
it to droop ard die itself, untouched by
frosts, fingers, anything or anybody. Pom.
my friends, it is absurd to talk about ter
restriai virtue being unfading. II is jus,
as likely 10 fade as the roses upon the
cheek of that pretty young lady yonder, or
the sprigs upon my calico nighi-gown. l
can have hopes of It's Immortality only
when l see it blooming and putting forth
new buds at the door Of the tomb. Any
place this side Of there, wouldn't insure
it for two hours, any more than | would in
sure shirt against turning yellow in the
hands of certain yellow washerwoman.
But, as says my text, with little interpo-
lation, be as chasie as you een aEasil you
are tempted. To corrupt yourselves with
out cause or a reasonable inducement
admits of no excuse, and comes about as
near to the worst of deprarity as sundown
does TO sunset. You may think there is
no harm in the act. aid that you will es-
cape punishment; but as you push along
from day TO day, and dig out of one year
into another, you will begin to feel grad
ually increasing upon you severe but
just infliction. You can't take liberties
with Nature, and 60 it with rush while
you are young, without incurring its penal
ties in after time. You may think the
chances of your being punished so small
as net TO be worth minding; but let me
tell You that. although they look small,
they are sure TO open wide, like whiper-
Wills mouth. Blu, when you are strongly
tempted, my friends, and your chastity be-
comes thereby little injured, the. crime is
not SO great, and the forfeit much less but
should you resist temptation as long as yep
comfortably can, though it come with for
ty-woman twenty-man, or six-devil power.
Fight, wrestle, cIench. bite and pull hair
with the Tempter for good whiie-jus.
to have said, at least, that you resisted as
much as you could-and then yield. il you
must give in, fairly. honorably and inno-
Gently. Put the blame On the devil
serves him right: he is able to bear it all,
and as much more again from some body
else. can't say, however. that eensure
any one for falling into temptation. We
are all as liable 10 it as fish to bite at
bait with dangerous hook concealed
therein; and when consider how nu:ner-
Gus. fascinating and powerful are the temp
tations that beset US upon every side,
wonder most lnarvelously that SO many es-
cape as there do It is out of the pale OF
reason to suppose that any man is not
more or less tempted by gold, woman, rum,
tobacco, glory, fame, OF something else
calculated to coax him out of the plain path
that leads TO peace and happiness. Our
first pasenis were tempted, and they fell 10
rise no more-I also was tempted, and fell
likewise but il was only on my knees to
beg forgiveness, and feel as if had got
that when some of you are tempted you
will fall upon your backs, and lie there as
helpless as green turtle in front of a re-
fectory. Beware of temptation, at any
rate, be ehaste until You are tempted, and
as much longer as you conveniently can.
l shall not tell the girls particularly to be
chaste,~for know they are sufficiently
chased already.
Ny dear friends-the text also enjoins
you to be sober. Nest folks, know, are
the wisest when they are the soberest; and
yet have known many instances where
"a man has been the most cautious, keen