Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1857-11-11
Have you sprinkled the lintels of vour
door7

AAS LAAtC1b VI V00T
door?
BAsTNG an opinion upon the careless uncon-
Germ manifested by very many people unon
the subject of Temperance, one would be led
to the conclusion that they certainly felt eve
ry way secure, that their families were also
secure, from the fatal blow of the arch DIES.
troyer. If they even had remote idea of
danger, they certainly would show a little
zeal in the Advancement of a cause DESIGNED
to stay the progress of a mammoth curse
whose blight is liable to fall in the circle
of every household. They must surely be
quite certain that they and theirs are person
ally secure, and, wrapping themselves in a
staunch web of s~elfishness, they resolve to lie
in an inactive state while others around them
are being stricken down to a depth lower than
the star of Hope ever sends a ray, and to
sleep on like sluggards while the iron shod
w%hirldwind is roaring its triumphant shout
on every hand,
Have you an infallible assurance that this
blasting curse shall never fall on your own
hearthstone? Have you sprinkled the lintels
of your door with hyssop, dipped in some
magic charm, or some sacred water, or con-
secrated, blood that the destroying angel, see
ing this token of your faith, shall pass on and
leave you with none dead in your house p
While the frst-born in thousands of homes
are falling, and while a mourning wall begins
|, to break upon your drowsy ear like that
= which once stirred the midnight silence of the
, land of the Nile, do you still feel no throb of
9 concern tapping against the bolted door of
; your heart, and do you still fold your hands
! on your breast saying, God! me and
6 mine are safe from the destroyer? 2"
Dreamer your poor, little, boasting fortress
of personal security is built of broken reeds!
IS One airy wave from the strong bosom of the
rushing whirlwind would sweep it away. A
re tap from the death-rod of the destroying an
IN gel would crush it to the earth. You are not
safe, neither you, your sons, nor your daugh-
., tiers. Let US tell you why.
You may be one of those who drink a little,
~ but you never were known to be intoxicated.
se You determine to reserve to yourself this pre-
rogative. You will be a free man and not
IN cucumber yourself with theobligations of any
ip- formal pledge. Just so hundreds have said
use before you, and by imperceptible degrees
es. the vice grew upon them until their being seen
are drunk on the highway aroused no sentiment
of shame in their bosoms. You mag wind
airy up your career more fortunate and honorable
than they, but the chances are against you
You may remind us that you are not a mar
nd &c H. -, -,ooI
pre- intellectual man and can command your mora
!; as and intellectual ability Just as you please. 9th
'eao er men have thought they were intellectual g
VI ants, andhave thought of those things precise
DRY ly as you are now thinking, have died drunk
Vler ards and been buried without disturbing an
loes ,,nar4o;as ofoor+b +bon o oommon doc
plebian. You are not safe.
e0 a Your sons are not safe. They obserV
vent your unconcern upon this great subjective
nave are their guide-they cannot think you al
'een wrong, and they viii do pretty much afte
your manner of doing, and think after you
IS OF manner of thinking. They may fall into tn
,ect, custom of drinking a little in a social uo,
and before they are aware that there really
FLAG danger in the habit, they will find that til
# to accursed thing has so strong a hold upon til
, os appetite that no effort of theirs can put
aside. And thus it will come upon you
able your first born will go down to an early an
c 70 dishonorahle grave and your youngest an
best loved may meet with a worse fate thai
not the elder-he may die in a drunken fit fro
and the hand of a murderer, or commit the no
rla oeeo hlmsen upon the person OF yol
nlea- neighbor. Your sons are not safe.
Ral- Your daughters are not safe. They ma
lnce; = eui0 u 'io OWL ou' 'ney =
in danger. You may have done much to a
complish them and increase their charms an
graces. You have no power of looking IN
body the future and what their lot in life shall /
,ount They are to become wives and are ignorar
liver as to whether they will be happy or miser
see BILE. The grave may close over you and ID
ed may not see it, but your well loved chi
me- even that little happy cherub girl playing I
anv your knee, may yet be that most unhapI
# his being on earth-G drunkdrds Wife! o.
over truth, your daughters are in great danger.
indis- Wealth, position and intellectual capaei
i'd we are no security from the ravages of the cdl
fit by of intemperance. The destroying angel
ur as the rum devil Is on the wing; and thou
you sprinkle the lintels of your door "
hyssop dipped in the blood of the 8
= M choice of your focks, yet that will not i
vent his coming within your home; he d
come as he has already come to thousal
and thousands ofother homes, and left the d.
lghi it, haa;n+oha anot;ono1 u.;1 1;Lo +b., -
pitals; 80 tho silence at m;dninobt how 49,
: BAD last great curse of Israel's God fell upon
e; all &c a. Nil :
aiskey
heads
DARK DoDGTNG -FyerybOdy has heard