The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1889-10-17

| ticism was the Dellah that shore his locks
, off, and all the Philistines Of doubt and
darkness and despair were upon him. He
died in very prison of unbelief, his eyes
out
Far back in the country districts-iust
where purposely omit to say-there was
born one whose fame will last as long as
| American institutions. His name was the
| terror of all enemies of free government,
He stood, the admired of millions; the ma.
| ton uncovered in his presence and when he.
| spoke Senates sat breathless under the
spell. The plotters against good goverlk
| ment attempted to bind him with green
withes and weavehis locks in web, yet he;
walked forth from the enthrallment, not
| knowing he had burst bond. But from
the wine cup there arose destroying spirit
that came forth to capture his soul. He
drank until his eyes grew dim and his knees
| knocked together and his strength failed.
| Exhausted with lifelong dissipations, he.
went home to die Ministers pronounced
| eloquent eulogums, and poets sung, and,
| painters sketched, and sculptors chiseled the
majestic form into marble, and the world
wept, but everywhere it was known that it
was strong drink that came like the Infamous
Delilah and his locks were shorn.
From the Island of Corsica there started
| forth nature charged with unparalleled
energies to make thrones tremble and con-
vulse the earth. Piedmont, Naples, Ba-
varia, Germany, Italy, Austria and England
rose up to crush the rising man. At the,
| plunge of his bayonets bastiles burst open.
| The earth groaned with the agonies Of
| Rivoli, Austerlitz, Saragossa, and Eylau.,
Five million men slain in his wars. Crowns
were showered at his feet and Kingdoms
hoisted triumphal arches to let him pass
| under, :. and Europe was lighted up
at the confagration Of consuming
| cities He could almost have made
| a causeway of human benes between
| Lisbon and Moscow. No power short
| of omnipotent God could arrest him. But
| a spirit in which the cOnqueror found more
| than match. The very ambition that had
| rocked the world was now to be his de-
stroyer II grasped for too much, and in its
effort lost all He reached up after the
sceptsr of universal dominion, but slipped
| and fell back into desolation and banish7
ment. The American ship, damaged Of the
| storm, today puts up in st. Helena, and
| the crew go to see the spot where the French
| exile expired in loneliness and disgrace, the
| mightiest of all Samsons shorn Of his locks
| by ambition, that most merciless of all De-
| lilahs.
/ have not time to .enumerate Evil as so
| Citations, sudden successes, spendthrift
| habits, miserly rroclivities, and dissipations
are the names oil some Of the shears with
which men are every day made powerlcss.
| They have strewn the earth with the car
| casses Of giants and filled the prison house
with destroyed Samsons, who sit grinding
the mills of despair, their locks shorn and
| their eyes out. If parents only knew to
hot inY thair rhilirpn JlSern Snh-
jected they would be more earnest in their
PRAYERS and more careful about their eX
ample. No young man escapes having the
pathway of sin pictured in bright colors be
fore him.
The first time l ever saw city-it was
the city of Philadelphia was mere lad,
stopped at hotel, and remember in The
eventide a corrupt man piled ME with his
Internal art He saw / was green. He
wanted to show me the sights of the town.
He painted the path of sin until 1t looked
like emerald, but was afraid of him. J.
showed back from the basilisk ! made up
my mind he was basilisk. | remember
how he reeled his chair round in front Of
me and with a concentrated and diabolcal
effort attempted to destroy my soul; but
there were good angels in the air that night.
1t was no good resolution on my part, but 1t
was the all-encompassing grace Of good
God that delivered me-. Bewarel beware
U young man.
There is way that seer'eth right unto a
man. but the end thereof is death. If all the
victims of an impure life in all lands and
| ages could be gathered together, they would
I make host vaster than that which AerXes
| led across the HelIespOnt, Jnau IllIiOur leo
| across India than William the Conqueror
| led across England, than Abou-Bekr led
across Syria; and If they could be stretched
out in single file across this continent,
| think the vanguard Of the host would stand
on the beach Of the Pacific while yet the
| rear guard stood on the beach of the Allan
| tic.
l say this not because I expect to reclaim
any one that has gone astray in this fearful
path, but because | want to utter warning
| for those who still maintain their integrity.
| The cases of reclamation of those who have
given themselves fully up TO an impure life
are so few, probably you do not know one
of them. have seen good many start out
| on that road. How many have seen come
| back! Not one that l now think of. 1t
seems as if the spell of death is on them and
no human voice or the voice Of God can
break the spell. Their feet are hoppled.
| their wrists are handcuffcd They have
around them girdle of reptiles punched at
| the waist, fastening them TO an iron doom;
every time they breathe the forked tongues
strike them and they strain TO break away
until the tendons snap and the blood cxudeS,
and amidst their contOrtions they cry out:
Take me back to my father house Where
| is mother! Take me home! Take me home"
Do stand before man to-day the locks
| of whose strenghth are being toyed with,
| let ME tell you to escape lest the shears Of
destruction take your moral and your
! spiritual integrity. Do you not see your
sandals beginning to curl on that red hot
| path! This day III the name of Almighty
| God tear off the beautifying veil and the
embroidered mantle of this old hag Of
| iniquity, and show you the ulcers and the
| bloody ichor and the cancered lip and part
| ing Joints and the macerated limbs and the
| wriggling putrefaction, and ery out, .,
| horror of horrors In the stiffness OF this
| Sabbath hour lift warning. Remember
| it is much easier to form bad habits than to
get clear of them; in one minute of time
| you may get into Il sin from which all
eternity can not get you out.
o, that the voice Of Gods truth might
| drown the voice of Dclilah. Come into the
ways of pleasantness and the paths Of peace,
| and by the grace OF pardoning God start
| for thrones of honor and dominion upon
| which you may reign, rather than travel
| the road to a dungeon where the destroyed
| grind in the mills of despair, their locks
| shorn and their eyes out.