Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1859-08-10
For the Spirit of the Age.
There is Death in the Pot"

Several years ago, on q calm, clear Sabbath
morning, | walked out two miles from the
mountain village of B, to a small log
church, situated in a pleasant grove of lofty
oaks, to hear a sermon from an old "~expoun-
der" who had been ''crying aloud in the will
derness," for thirty or forty years. l had
heard him preach many times before, and at
the same place yet lacking the gravity of
worshiper, | would rarely remember the text
longer than he would be readiug it. But at
this particular time / was startled-not by
the eloquence or p%rofundity of the preacher,
but by the oddly othis text, which was from
2ndKings, 4: 40-"TRere is death in the pot"
He did not give his discourse a Temperance
turn" as would be expected at the present
time for at that place and in those days it
would have been Infringing upon the liber-
ties of the people," and particularly upon the
sGnctSty ofsome ofthe members of the church,
who were in the habit of tasting where 'there
is death in the pot"
Such, however, was not the disposition of
the venerable 'watchman'-to declaim a.
gainst intemperance; had it been, he could
have had a forcible illustration on the sub
jeet by pointing to the untimely death
of one of his neighbor young men-one of
those sad tragedies so frequent where there
is death in the pot" This young man was
the son of an old man, who had one of those
pots with tails" set up at the base of a hill,
where he, even from his cradle, had learned
to love the poison which kills body and soul.
He started from the village one evening in a
fit of intoxication, and had gone but a few
PAGES past the church, of which l write.
when his horse became manageable, and
threw his rider against a tree, and fractured
bis skull, leaving the brains upon the tree
When he started from the village he swore
lie intended to ride his horse to hell that
night.
How truly were his words fulfilled! He
had found death in the pot!" But then the
horrors of such a death? So frightful, so
disgraceful and eternal! Now, the preacher
was a witness: he helped to move the man
gled body from its 'broad death bed" but as
a "watchman on the walls of Zion, he blew
f not his trumpet :" 'his blood will / require
| at the watchman's hands,"
e / said l was startled by the oddly of the
text; but had it not been for what l saw or
Monday after the sermon, it would have beer
e long since erased from my memory. W.
b had the precept on Sunday let us also hav'
the Example on Monday IL was ridin,
through the neighborhood where the distille
n hved-the father of the young man that wa
l. killed-in company with two otheA youn|
IS .men, when passing blythe heuseofthis"em1s
1t safv of the DEVIL we saw-O! hellish sight
ot the preacher turning to his lips a glass G
brandy. One of our company rememberin
!? the text of the day before, cried out, There
ia death in the pot" The preacher SCENE
H. COMPOUNDED, but said not a word but locke
~ like he vas inwardly saying like Naamar
IS. the Syrian, 1.-THE Lord pardon thy servar
in this thing"
or Many of the relatives of this preacher, an
,er of the distiller, are lying in drunkard's graves
rs men who might have been living and film
honorable stations among their kindred b,
"A. their parents and the preacher pointed whe
so 'there is death in the pot" and said, sg
Der drink, there is no harm in the pot'"-al
of thus undermining every redeeming princip'
les plunged them down, down to the innermc
ski depths of a raging and roaring hell! If t
Ter Preachers would "cry aloud and spare not
es- and 'show the people their sins"-if tn
10 would keep all dram-drinkers out of t
asst church, itwould rob the grave o fmany drur
ards, and hell of many victims.
the 1 have seen-and who is there that |
nav not?-church members of oil denomination
ces at public gatherings, drinking with
ore Misunderstanding to-day the cup of the d
it il, and tomorrow sitting down with the D
,ars pie of God, and drinking domination to til
Oon souls"
Church members be wary, I'VE cam
serve God and Mammon. Ye cannot DIR
of the cup of the Lord and the emp of
DEVIL
O. Young man., be wary, "there is death
the pot" 7. G. VII
am tSwannanoa, N. G..