The Russellville Democrat., 1889-10-10
PRICE FIVE CENTS.

| ena. temptations lurk ABOUT tne bTlBnt~
est domestic circles. 1t was no unmean-
ing thing when God set up amidst the
splendors Of His word the character OF
the infamous Delilah.
Again, this strange story Of the text
leads me to consider some of the ways
! in which strong men get their locks
shorn. God, for some reason best
| known to Himself, made the strength Of
Samson to depend on the length Of his
hair; when the shears clipped 1t his
strength was gone. The strength OF man
4 is variosly distributed. Sometimes il
lies in physical development sometimes
| in intellectual attainments, sometimes in
heart force, sometimes in social position,
sometimes in financial accumulation;
and there is always sharp shears ready
! to destroy it Every day there are
| Samsons ungianted. / saw q young
man start in life under the
| most cheering advantages. His
acute mind was at home in all
scientific dominions. He reached note
only all rugged attainments, but by deli
cate appreciation he could catch the
| tinge of the cloud and the sparkle Of the
wave and the diapason OF the thunders.
| He walked forth in life head and shoul-
ders above others in mental stature. He
| could wrestle with giants in opposing
systems of philosophy, and carry off the
gates of opposing schools, and smite the
enemies Of truth hip and thigh with
great slaughter. But he began TO tamper
with brilliant free thinking. Modern
theories of the soul threw over him their
Establishments. Skepticism was the
Delilah 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 thu country districts-just
where I purposely omit to say-there
was born one whose fame will last as
| long as American institutions. His
name was a terror to all enemies of free
government. He stood the admired Of
millions; the Nation uncovered in his
presence, and when he spoke senates sat
breathless under the spell. The plot
ters against good government attempted
to bind him with green withes and weave
his locks in a web, yet he walked forth
from the enthrallment not knowing he
had burst q bond. But from the wine cup
there arose q destroying spirit that eame
forth to capture his soul. He drank until
his eyes grew dim and his knees knocked
together and his strength failed. Ex-
hausted with life long dissipations, he
went home to die. Ministers pronounced
eloquent eulogiums, and poets sung, and
painters sketched, and sculptors chiseled
the majestic form into marble, and tho
world wept; but everywhere it was known
that it was strong drink that came liks
the infamous Delilah, and his locks wero
shorn.
From the Island of Corsica there start.
ed forth nature charged with unparale
leled energies to make thrones tremble
and convulse the earth. Piedmont Ma.
Piles, Bavaria, 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 tri-
umphal arches to let him pass nnder.
and Europe was lighted up at
the condagration of consuming cities,
He could almost have made d causes
way of human bones between Lis.
bon and Moscow, No power short OF
Omnipotent God could arrest him. But
out of the ocean of human blood there
arose a spirit in which the conqueror
found more tnan a match. The very am
bition that rocked the world was now to
be his destroyer. 1t grasped for too
much, and in its. effort lost all. He
reached up after the scepter Of universal
dominion, but slipped and fell back into
desolation and banishment. The Amer
lean ship, damaged of the storm, to-day
puts up in st. Helena, and the crew goup
to see the spot where the French exile
expired in loneliness and disgrace, tho
mightiest of all Sans ons shorn Of his
locks by ambition, that most merciless
of all Delilahs.
The first time | ever saw city-it was
the City of Philadelphia was mere
lad. i stopped at hotel, aud / remem-
ber in the eventide 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 it looked like emerald; but l was
afraid of him. / showed back from the
basilisk. / made up my mind he was o
basiisk. remember how he reeled his
CHAIR around in front of me and with
concentrated and diabolical effort at
tempted to destroy my soul; but there
were good angels in the air that night
1t was no good resolution on my part
bat il was the all -eneompassing grace OF
good God that delivered me. Bewarei
beware o young man.
lnere Is way tn0t betu1elu fl2ut uulp
a man, but the end thereof is death. II
all the victims Of an impure life in all
lands and ages could be gathered to.
gether, they would make a host vastef
than that which Xerxes led across tho
Hellespont than Timour led across India,
than William the Conqueror led aoross
England, than Abou Bskr led across
Syria; and il they could be stretched out
in single flo 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 At
lantic.
say this not because l expect to re.
claim any Que that has gone astray 10
this fearful path, but because l want TO
utter a warning for those who still main-
tain their integrity. The cases OF re-
clamation OF those who have given them.
selves fully up to an impure life are SO
few, probably you do not now 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. II seems as il 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 handeuffed.
They have around them girdle Of rep
tiles Duncheu at lue waist lasteulnB
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 exudes; aud
amidst their contortiOns they cry out:
"Take me back to my fathers house.
Where is my mother? Take me hnme
Take mo home"
D. stand before man to-day, the
- 49, xNltA Oh frfh hair
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 beautify-
ing vail and the embroidered mantle Of
This old hao OF ininnitY. and l show Won