The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1878-09-26
Our Young People
BY REV. R. II. RIVERS, D. d.
TEMPTATIONS.
The Means Of conquering-A Sketch
for Young Men.
LESSON 3O-PARr FIRST.

(Continued.)
come now to consider the mean.
by which temptation may be over
come. First, we must have a fixed
alma settled purpose to do the
right. The path of duty is Otter
through dangers and difficulties. L
is like the ascent of Alpine heights
1t is up the steepest activities aEd
over deep chasms. 1t is fearfuliy
rugged, and demands lofty courage
and lndomitsble energy and perse
verance. browning cliffs must moi
appall us, and deep chasms mus
not brighten US. The roar of noun
tain torrents, angry and swift, must
not turn US from the path of duty
We must push our way over snow
and ice, over abrupt precipices and
perpendicular heights, until we
reach our goal. No man with fal
tering nerve or quailing courage Oh
wavering will can conquer tempta
ton. No cowardly man can resist
the tide OF evil infuence-the ava
lanche of temptations which sweep
along every path of human life. A
man may have towering genius and
glowing imagination; he may boast
of proud ancestry and vast wealth
he may have elegant manners and
deep and tender sympathies, but
without the power TO say mo-" he
will be borne along the flood oil
evils until he sinks beneath the wave
to rise no more. Many a young
man has been brought up by pious
parents, amid the purest associa
tiOns of a well-ordered home. He
has come to the ci y with fearful
eyes looking after him, and anxious
loving hearts thrObbing for him.
He faltered at the threshold. He
failed to declare himself Christian.
He hesItated when solicited to
wrong. He blushed when the sheer
of the tempter expressed contempt
for his hesitancy. The path of duty
became too rugged. He frequented
haunts OF pleasure. He plunged
into extravaganza. He fell into
the hands Of sharpers. He became
embarrassed by debt. At last a
false entry is made, forgery is COM
mitted, crime Is perpetrated and
the poor young man is engulfed in
irretrievable ruin. He had no set
tied purpose, no fixed principles, no
lofty aim, and consequently was
without moral power to say "no" to
the solicitations of the tempter.
1t was my privilege a few years
ago to become acquainted with the
character of one, whose sun set at
noon because he had no strength of
will. He was genius of the high
est order. He wrote the most beau
tiful poetry. He swayed multitudes
by the most commanding and pow
erful eloquence. He stood in the
ontsranks of popular orators. At
the bar and at the hustings he con-
manded an influence rarely equaled
by one of his age. He possessed
many of the noblest qualities. He
was brave and chivalrous, generous
and warm hearted. His wit and
humor seemed inexhaustible, and
made him the life of the social cir
Gle. He was the idol of his party,
and was regarded as the peer of the
ablest statesman; and yet his life
was a failure. He yielded to temp
tation. He mingled in the lowest
society. He frequented the most
disgusting dens of infamy. With
suicidal folly he quenched the light
of his own great intellect amid the
flames OF alcohol; and he, that
might have walked the earth Clay
or a Webster, or might have en-
lightened the church with the ge-
MUS of a Bascom, or might have
adorned it with a minstrelsy as
sweet as that OF Watts or Charles
Wesley, buried all in the cell of a
maniac, and died with all the pow
ers of a mighty intellect dethroned.
Let me then urge my young coun-
trymen to have a fixed purpose. Let
your aim be high. Look to it with
an eye that never winks, a resolu
ton that never wavers. Pursue
that one great aim of life with an
integrity which nothing can corrupt,
and a firmness which no temptation
Can weaken.
2. You must shun the first evil
influence, you must avoid the first
false step. 1t is the first false step
that ruins Caesar paused at the
brink of the Rubicon. 1t was but
for one moment. The step was
taken, the plunge was made, the die
was cast. Rome lost her liberty,
and the great captain fell the vic
,im of an unbridled ambition. So
It has been with thousands. They
nave paused but a moment at the
brink OF the moral Rubicon which
separated them from forbidden
ields. They have made the plunge
md ruin has followed. A dissolute
ife is sure to end in ruin. The
comes from every quarter.
4 premature grave opens for all the |
Of appetite and passion
seduction ends in misery. MoGer-
tie drinking terminates in drunken
less. Gambling finishes its miser-
bile career in degradation and hell;
md still the brothel is crowded, the
hell is thronged and the
thinking saloon counts it's patrons
" the thousands. 1t is the first
alse step that breaks through the
estraints of virtue, and makes the
to vice complete and per
etual. That step meyer taken, the
urrender is never made. / do net
ay that it will be impossible TO re-
race that step, to overcome an evil
abit. but l do say it will be much
asier not to begin an evil course
han to turn from it when once be-
un. 1t is much easier fer the bird
OF to enter the snare of the fowler
ian to release itself after it has
cen caught. Even If the first step
sin could be retraced, its conse- ,
lences could never be recalled. :
hey must remain forever. A few
ears ago an old man was seen in