The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-10-09

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. l showed back from the basilisk.
l made up my mind he was a basilisk. l
remember how he reeled his chair around
in front of me and with concentrated
and diabolical effort attempted TO destroy
my soul; but there were good angels IN
the air that night. 1t was no good resolu-
ton on my part, but it was the all-encom-
passing grace of God that delivered me.
Beware bewarel o young man!
There is way that seemeth right unto
a man, but the end thereof is death. Ii
all the victims OF an impure life in all
lands and ages could be gathered together
they would make a host vaster than that
which Xerxes led across the Hellespont,
than Timour led across India, than Will
lam the COnqueror led across England,
than AbOu-Bekr led across Syria; and if
they could be stretched out in single file
across this continent, 1 think the vanguard
OF the host would stand on the beach of
the Pacific while vet the rear guard stood
on the beach of the Atlantic.
l say this not because ] expect to re-
claim any one that has gone astray in this
fearful path, but because l 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 a
good many start out on that road. How
many have l seen come back? Not one
that / now think of. It seems as if the
spell OF death is on them and no human
voice nor the voice of God can break the
spell. Their feet are hoppled. their
wrists are handcuted 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 10
break away until the tendOns snap and
the blood exudes, and amidst their con-
tortions they cry out: take me back to
my fathers house. Where is mother?
Take me home! Take me homew
Do stand before a man to-day the
locks of whose strength 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 in the name of
Almighty God | tear off the beautifying
veil and the embroidered mantle of this
old bag of iniquity, and l show you the
ulcers and the bloody ichor and the can
cered lip and the parting joints and the
macerated limbs and the wriggling putre-
faction, and cry out, oh, horror of hor-
rorsl In the stiffness of this Sabbath
hour l lift a warning. Remember it is
much easier to form bad habits than to
get clear of them; il one minute OF time
you may get into a sin from which all
eternity cannot get you out.
Oh, that the voice of Gods truth might
drown the voice of Delilah Come into
the ways of pleasantness and the paths of
peace, and by the grace of pardoning
God start for thrones of honor and domin-
ion 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 ewes out.