The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-06-30

rOck, SlDDerlQR Will CuISoS VI BioonihS
effectual prayer. By all means encourage
healthful inquisitiveness, by all means dis
courage ill regulated curiosity.
This subject also impresses me with the
fact that fruits hat are sweet to the taste
may afterward produce great agony. For
hidden fruit for Eve was so pleasant she
invited her husband also to take OF it, put
her Punishment from paradise and SOU
| years Of sorrow, and w~retchedness, ana
war, and woe paid for that luxury. Sin
may be very sweet at the start, n II may
induce great wretchedness afterward. Inc
cup OF sin is sparkling at the top. but there
is death at the bottom. I~ntoxication has
great exhilaration for awhile, and 1t hllips
the blood, and it makes a man see five stars
where others can see only one star, and II
makes the poor man rich, and turns cheeks
which are white red as roses; but what
about the dreams that come after, when ne
seems falling from great heights, or Is pros
trated by other fancied disasters. n the
perspiration stands on the f~orehead-the
night dew Of everlasting darkness-and
he Is ground under the horrible hoot or
Nightmares shrieking with lips that crackle
with all consuming torture? "Rejoice, y
young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart
cheer thee in the days Of thy youth, but
know thee that for all these things God
will bring thee into Judgment" Sweet at
the start, horrible at the last. Go into that
hall of revelry, where ungodly mirth stag
gers and blasphemes. Listen to the sense
less gable. See the last trace Of intellt-
gence dashed out from faces made in Gods
own image. "Aha. aha!" says the royster-
ing inebriate. "This is Joy for you. Fill
high your cups, my boys. drink to my
wife's misery and my children's rags and
nv Gods defiance" And he knows not
that a fend stirs the goblet in his hand and
hat addsrs uncoil from the dregs and
thrust their forked tongues Kissing through
the froth on the rim. The Philistines
ieered and laughed and shouted at Sam
son. Oh, they wanted him to max sport
for them. How bright and gay was the
scene for a little while. After awhile the
giant puts one hand against this pillar and
the other hand against that pillar and bows
himself, and 5000 merrymakers are mashed
like grapes in a wine press. Sin rapturous
at the start, awful at the last.
That one Edenic transgression did not
seem to be much, but it struck a blow
which to this day makes the earth stagger.
To find out the consequences OF that one
sin YOU would have to compel the world to
throw open all its prison doors and display
the crime, and throw open all its hospitals
and display the disease. and throw open all
the insane asylums and show the wretch
edness, and open oil the sepulchers and
show the dead, and open all the doors OF
the lost world and show the damned. That
one Edenic ~transgression stretched chords
of misery across the heart OF the world and
struck them with dolorous wailing, and 1t
has seated the plaques upon the air and the
shipwrecks upon the tempest and fastened,
like q leech, famine to the heart OF the sick
and diving nations. Beautiful at the start,
horrible at the last. Oh, how many have
experienced It'll
Are there here those who are votaries OF
pleasure? Let me warn you, my brother,
your pleasure boat Is far from shore, and
your summer day Is ending roughly,
for the winds and the waves are loud
voiced, and the overcoming clouds are all
awrithe and agleam with terror. You are
past the Narrows and almost outside the
Hook, and II the Atlantic take thee, frail
mortal, thou shalt never get to shore
again. Put back; row swiftly, swifter,
swifter! Jesus from the shore casteth a
rope. Clasp it quickly, now or never. oh,
are there not some of you who are freight
ing all your loves and joys and hopes upon
q vessel which shall never reach the port
OF heaven? Thou nearest the breakers, n
heave upon the rocks. Oh, what an awful
crash was that! Another lunge may crush
thee beneath the spars or grind thy bones
to powder amid the torn timbers. Over
board for your life, overheard! Trust not
that loose plank nor attempt the wave, but
quickly clasp the feet Of Jesus walking on
the watery pavement, shouting until he
hear thee, Lord, saw me or I perlshl"
Sin beautiful at the start-oh, how sad,
how distressful, at the last! The ground
over which it leads you Is hollow. The
fruit it offers to your taste is poison. The
promise it makes to you is a lie. Over that
ungodly banquet the keen sword OF Gods
judgment hangs, and there are ominous
handwritings on the walls.
Observe also in this subject how repellfng
sin Is when appended to great attractive
ness. Since EYES death there has been no
such perfection of w~omanhood. You could
not suggest an attractiveness to the body
or suggest n refinement to the manner.
You could add no gracefulness to the gait,
no luster to the eye, no sweetness to the
voice. A perfect God made her a perfect
woman, to be the companion OF q perfect
nan in a perfect home, and her entire ma
ture vibrated in accord with the beauty and
sons OF paradise. But she rebelled against
Gods government, and with the same hand
with which she plucked the fruit she
launched upon the world the crimes, the
wars, the tumults that have set the universe
awaiting.
A terrible offset to all her attractiveness.
We are not surprised when we find men
and women naturally vulgar going into
transgression. We expect that people who
live in the ditch shall have the manners Of
the ditch, but how shocking when we find
sin appended to superior education and to
the reinements of social life. The accom-
plishments OF Mary Queen OF Scots make
her patronage Of Darnley, the profigate,
the more appalling. The genius OF Gather
inc TT ~ PuSsia nn1u Gpfc forth in mora
powerful contrast her indispensable ambi-
ton. The TRANSACTIONS from the Greek and
the Latin by Elizabeth, and her wonderful
qualifications for a queen, make the more
disgusting her capriciousness Of affection
and her holiness of temper. The greatness
of Byron's mind makes the more alarming
Byron's ~sensuality.
My subject also 1mpreSses me with The
regal influence of woman. When I see Eve
with this powerful influence over Adam
and over the generations that have fol-
lowed, it suggests to me the great power all
women have for good or for evil. l have
no sympathy, nor have you, with the hol-
low batteries showered upon women from
the platform and the stage. They mean
nothing; they are accepted as nothing.
Woman's nobility consists in the exercise
Of a Christian influence, and when 1 see
this powerful influence Of Eve upon her
husband and upon the whole human race I
make up my mind that the frail arm OF
woman can strike a blow which will resound
through all eternity, down among the dun
geons or up among the thrones.
OF course I am not speaking Of rspresen-
tative w~omen-of Eve, who ruined the race
by one fruit picking; Of Jael, who drove a
spike through the head Of Sisera, the war
rior; OF Esther, who overcame royalty; Of
Abigail, who stopped a host by her "
beautiful prowess; Of Mary, who nursed
the worlds Saviour; Of Grandmother Lois.
lm~mortalized in her grandson Timothy; Of
Charlotte Corday, who drove the dagger
.h-a..nh tha haart Of tho aeoaalin Of hnr