Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1857-05-13
ORIGINAL PAPERS.
For the Spirit of the Age
Sermon Delivered at Mt. Airy, N. c..

TOT the oplrlb OF the age
Sermon Delivered at Mt. Airy, N. G.
Ny DEAR FRIENDS Il do not wish to
excite any laughter by the sermon which
am about to try to preach. have nev-
er preached sermon myself from the text
which have chosen, have never heard
q sermon preached from it, nor have ever
read sermon on it, but on reading over
my Bible the thought occurred to me that
l could frame discourse from it, and |
hope l shall have your serious and prayer
ful attention while make the attempt
You will find the words Of our choice, by
referring to the 18th verse of the 9Th chap
ter of the second Book of Kings, and latter
clause "What is thy servant dog, that
ne should do this great thingp
1t seems that Hazeal, who went unto
Elisha the prophet to ask concerning the
Kings health, was told by the prophet that
he himself should commit great evil to-
ward the children Of Israel; that he should
burn up their strongholds, slay their young
men with the sword, and destroy their fe-
males in delicate health; and in reply,
thinking, no doubt, that he was far from
it, he said '.Is thy servant dog, that he
should do this great thing p
Go tell that young man, when he first
learns to put guild of tobacco in his
mouth, that he shall become slave to the
habit Of chawing tho miserable weed that
the amber shall run down from the corners
of his mouth that he will spit all on his
clean, nice, white, starched shirt 6oosons
that he will squirt great puddle of the
filthy juice on the church floor or on the
floor Of this female academy, where the
young ladies that come here to morrow
with their nice, clean coats will get them
all dabbled round the tail with the noisome
filth he has spurted out from his mouth
and will he not say to you, "is thy servant
poor dog, that he should do this thing"
Go tell that young man when he sits
down to tho card table with the ladies, to
that innocent amusement called PLAYING
whist, that Is will go on from whist to
eucre, from eucre to seven up, from seven
up to three up, from three up to poker,
from poker to bluff, from bluff to dealing
faro, and that with his mark ed cards, his
foul packs, his stacked cards and his extra
jacks and aces he will win, almost steal
tho money of the young men and green
horns who may happen to have little of
their daddy's or employers cash in their
hands, and having swindled them of all
their living drive them into despair, and
then entice them TO become partners with
themselves in guilt; and he will say to
you "is thy servant poor, mean dog, that
he should do these things"
Go tell that young man when he first
sips the sparkling wine, perhaps from the
glass filed by the gentle hand of his own
sweetheart, that he shall become drunk
ard with unsteady hand and blood shot
eyes that he will forsake his business,
spend his property, reduce himself and
family to want and misery, or, like one
that we have all heard of, shall 60 to the
store and buy him a cowhide and take it
home and there whip the delicate wife of
his bosom until great scars remain, and
then turn his children out, homeless, pen
niless, unprotected and uncared for upon
the cold charity Of the world; would he
not say to you els thy servant poor, mean,
lame dog, that he should do this thing"
Go tell that young man whose father
rakcs up all the spare change he can raise,
whose mother and sisters give up their
comforts and even necessaries cheerfully,
that he may have the benefits of education,
when he is about to start off from home to
school, that he will become careless and
negligent; that he will saunter about pre-
tending to be sick that he will sit in
Prathers porch and whittle sticks of Sunday
mornings instead of going to Sabbath
School; that he will walk by the house of
God during service and look on the other
side; that when the examination comes
on, to keep people from finding out how
little he knows, will make some excuse to
quit school and would he not say to you
'is thy servant a poor, mean, lame, bob
tailed Cog, that he should do this thing"
Go tell that boy when he sits beside his
mothers knee on the Sabbath day, and
reads his bible lesson, that he shall one
day forget all her precepts, and depart from
the path she babe him 20 in that he
should go on from walking in the woods on
Sunday to look, as did the basket maker,
for white oak sapplings to make split wood
out OF, to take his hatchet with him to mark
the trees, and from that to cutting down
the trees, and from that to splitting the
timber up, and from that to running the
splits; and finally until he would pay no
regard whatever to the Sabbath day; would
ne not say-''is thy servant poor, mean,
lame, oob-tailed crap cared dog, that he
should do this thing"
TO tell that young man when he first
begins TO show some attention to the ladies'
that he will go, and for mere amusement
be viii win the afFections of sor0e con