The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-07-06

men go out with mineralOgists' ham
mer, and biologists pry, and botanists'
knife, and OrnithOlOgists' gun, and
storm the kingdom of nature in her bar
red castles Of cave and grove and forest:
and If thereis any heaven ON earth it is
that with your eyes prepared for all
beautiful sights, and your ears for
all sweet sounds, and your soul
for all great thoughts, if you go
forth in the place where God breathes in
the aroma of flowers, and talks in the
winds rustling, and sings in the roar of
the forest and mountain cataract, then
you know why Linn8us spent his life
among plants and CUvier found intelli-
gent converse among beasts, and Werner
grew eXhilarant among minerals, and
Audubon reveled among birds, and
AgasSiZ found untrayeled worlds of
thought in fish. But every man who
has testified, after trying the learning
and science of the world for a sOlace.
that it is an insufficient portion. The
philosopher has often wept in astrOnOm-
er's observatory, and chemists labOTa-
tory, and bOtOnist's heTbaTium. There
are times when the soul dives deeper
than the fish, and scars higher than the
bird, and though it may be enraptured
with the beauties of the natural world
1T will long after trees of life, that never
witheT, and fountains that never dry
up, and stars that shall shine after the
glOries of our earthly nights have gone
out forever Oh, what discOntents,
what jealOusies, what uncomfortable
hate has sprung up among those who
depended upon their literary success!
How often have writers plunged their
pens into the hearts of their rivals, pens
sharper than cimeters, striking deeper
than bayOnets!
VOltaiTe hated Rousseau. Charles
Lamb could not endure COleridge. Waller
warTed against COwley. The hatred of
Plato and XeL OphOn is as immortal as
their works. COrneille had an utter
contempt for Racine. Have you ever
been in Westminster Abbey? In the
poets corner in Westminster Abbey sleep
DraytOn, the poet, and little way off
GOldie, who said the former was not a
poet. There sleep Dryden, and a little
way off poor Shadwell, who pursued
him with fiend's fury. There is Pope,
and little way off is John Dennis, his
implacable enemy. They never before
came so near together without quarrel
ing. Byron had all that genius could
give man, and that sympathy with ma
ture could give man, and that literary
applause could give man, and yet he
died of wretchedness.
| come to learn one more lesson from
my subject and that is that there is no
comfort in the life of a vOluptuaTy. l
dare not draw aside the curtain that
hides the eXcesses into which SOlOmOn'S
dissOlutiOns plunged him. Though he
waved scepter over others, there arose
in his own soul tyrant that mastered
him. With mandate that none dare
disObey he laid the whole land under
tribute to his iniQuity. Delilah sheared
the locks of that Samson. From that
pTincely seTagliO there went through a
TuinOus blight on the whole Nations
chastity. But after awhile TemOTse,
with feet of fire, leaped upon his soul,
and with body exhausted, and lOath-
some ,sand dropping apart with putre-
faction, he staggeTs out from the hell of
his own iniquity to give warning to
others. Oh, how many have ventured
out on that wild sea of sensuality, driven
by fierce winds of passion hurled against
rocks, swallowed in the whirl of heIl's
maelstTOms, that was the last of them.
No, that was not the last of them. Ever
lastingly ruined, with their passions
unsubdued, and burning on the soul
fercer than unquenchable fire, they
shall writhe in a torture that shall
make the cheek of darkness pale and
utter blasphemy that shall shock de-
wills damned. Oh, how many young men
have gone on that path of sin because it
seemed blooming with tropical splendOr,
and the sky was bright and the air was
balm, and from the castles that stood on
the shore of glittering seas there came
ringing up laughter as merry as the
waves that dashed on the crags beneath.
By some Internal spell their eye was
blinded and their ear was stopped, or
they would have heard the clank of
chains and the howl of woe, and across
their vision would have come spectators
of the dead, with shrouds gathered up
about faces blistered with pain and eyes
starting from their sockets in agony.
But they saw it not, they heard it not,
until from the slippery places, the long,
lean skeleton hands of despair reached
up and snatched them down, DESTROYED
without despair! Has this sOTcerer cast
it's eyes on you? o, young man, have
you been once and again to the places
where the pure never go? Have you
lOlled your back upon mothers prayer
and sisters love, and, while l speak,
does your conscience begin to toll dis
mally the burial of your purity and
honor? Put back now OF never! Put
backl The shadow that falls upon your
soul is from no passing cloud, but from
a night deep, staTlesS, eternal. Gods
eye watcheth thy footsteps. A little
further on and no tears can wash out
thy sin and no prayer will bring par
don. Put back now or never! tear off
lu6 RdIlduuS ulu6 LulS ubdGu
head and hold before you the reeking
skull of sinful pleasure. Nations have
gone down under this sin. Exhumed
cities on broken pillars and on temple
walls have preserved in infamous sculp-
tuTe the memory of scenes before which
the antiquarian turns his head and asks
if there be God where so long has slept
His vengeance? The world still trem-
bles under the weight of this behemOth
of iniquity, and from the myriad graves
in which it holds the sacred carcasses
of the slain lifts up its hands crying:
How long, o Lord, how lOngp From
Christian circles, from the very altaTs
of God, the ranks of ruin are made up.
They march on with scOrched feet over
| a pathway of fire, the ground trembling
with earthquake, and the air hot with
the breath Of woe and sulphurOus with
the fleet lightnings of Gods wrath.
Scorpions strike out at evey step, and
the worm that never dies lifts its awful
crest with hOTrid folds to crush the de-
bauched. Oh, there is no peace in the
life of a vOluptuary. Solomon, answer:
None! Nonep But, my friends, If there
is no complete satisfaction in worldly
in