The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-24
HONEY COATED PILLS OF HELL
TALMAGE SHOWS UP THE HIDDEN
DANGERS OF TEMPTATION.

Temptation the Forbidden Honey
of the Earth-DeliciOus and At
tractive But Damaging and De-
structive.
WASHINGTON. Jan. 23.-Rev. DR.. Talmase
did not preach here to-day, but the
sermon which he was to deliver
starts with an oriental scene, from which
he draws practical lessons as 10 the al
lurements which entrap the unwary, and
the discourse will put many on their
guard. The text is I Samuel II; as: Il
did but taste a little honey with the end
of the rod that was in my hand, and, 10,
/ must die"
The honey-bee is a most ingenious archl-
tect, a Christopher Wren among insects;
Eeometer drawing heXagons and penta-
CONS. a freebooter robbing the fields OF
pollen and aroma, wondrous creature OF
God whose biography, written by Huber
and Swammerdam, is an enchantment Tor
any lover of nature. Virgil celebrated the
bee in his label of Aristaeus; and Noses
and Samuel, and David, and Solomon, and
jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and st. John used
the deiicacies of bee-manulacture as
Bible symbol. A miracle of formation is
the bee; five eyes, two tongues. the outer
having a sheath of protection, hairs on all
sides of it's tiny body to brush up the par
tIcles of flowers, its flight so straight that
eli the world knows of the Decline The
honey-comb is a palace such as no one
but God could plan and the honey-bee
construct; its cells, sometimes dormitory
and sometimes a storehouse, and some
times a cemetery. These winged toilers
FIRST make eight strips of wax, and by
their antennae, which are to them ham
mer and chisel, and square, and plumb
line, fashion them for use. Two and two
these workers shape the wall. If an ac-
cident happens, they put up buttresses of
extra beams to remedy the damage. When
about the year 1776 an insect before I'M
known, in the night time attacked the bee
hives all over Europe and the men who
owned them were in vain trying to plan
something to keep out the invader that
was the terror of the bee-hives of the
continnt it was found that everywhere
the bees had arranged for their own pro-
lection, and built before their honey-combs
an especial wall of wax with portfolios
through which the bees might go to and
fro, but not large enough to admit the
Atropos
Do you know that the swarming of the
bees is divinely directed? The mother bee
starts for a new home, and because of this
the other bees of the hive get into an ex-
citement which raises the heat Of the hive
some four degrees, and they must die I'M
less they leave their heated apartments,
and they follow the mother bee and alight
on the branch of a tree, and cling to each
other and hold on until committee of two
or three. bees have explored the region and
found the hollow Of a tree or rock not far
off from a stream of water, and they here
set up a new colony and ply their aro-
matte industries. and give themselves to
the manufacture of the saccharine edible.
But who can tell the chemistry of that
mixture of sweetness, part of it the very
life of the bee. and part of it the life of
the fields?
Plenty of this luscious product was
hanging in the woods of Bethaven during
the time of Saul and Jonathan. Their army
was in pursuit of an enemy that by Gods
command must be eXtermina ted. The SOL
diery were positively forbidden to stop to
eat anything until the work was done. If
they disobeyed they were accused. Com
ing through the woods they found place
where the bees had been busy-a great
honey mandatory Honey gathered in
the hollow of the trees until it had over
flowed upon the ground in great profusion
of sweetness. All the army Obeyed orders
and touched il not save Jonathan and he
not knowing the military order about alb
stinence dipped the end of a stick he had
in his hand into the candied liquid, and as
yellow, and tempting il glowed on the end
of the stick, he put it to his mouth and ate
the honey. Judgment fell upon him, and
but for special Intervention he would have
been slain. In my text Jonathan announces
his awful mistake: 81 did but taste little
honey with the end of the rod that was in
my hand. and, 10, l must die" Alas, what
multitudes of people in all ages have been
damaged by forbidden honey, by which 1
mean temptation, delicious and attractive,
but damaging and destructive!
Corrupt literature, fascinating but death
full, comes in this category. Where one
good, honest, healthful book is read now,
there is a hundred made up of rhetorical
trash consumed with avidity. When the
boys on the cars come through with pile
of publications, look over the titles and
notice that nine out of ten of the books are
injurious. All the way from here to Chic
go or New Orleans notice that objectiona-
bic books dominate. Taste for pure litera-
ture is poisoned by this scum of the pub
fishing house. Every book in which sin
triumphs over virtue, or in which "a CLAM
our is thrown over dissipation, or which
leaves you at It's last line with less respect
for the marriage institution and less abhOr-
renee Tor the paramOur, as a depression OF
your own moral character The bookbind-
cry may be attractive and the plot dram
attic and startling, and the style of writ
ing sweet as the honey that Jonathan took
up with his rod but your best interests
forbid il, your moral safety forbids it,
your God forbids it, and one taste of it may
lead to such bad results that you may have
10 aeay at the close of the experiment, or
al the close Of a misimproved lifetime: Il
did but taste a little honey with the rod
that was in my hand, an, 10, ] must die -
Corrupt literature Is doing more to-day
for the disruption Of domestic life than any
other cause. ElOpements, marital intrigues,
sly CORES pondence, fictitious names given
at postoffice windows, ciandestine meetings
in parks, and a ferry gates. and in hotel
paTlors, and conjugal perjuries are among
the ruinous results. When a woman, young
or old, gets her head thoroughly stuffed
with the modern novel she IS IN appalling
peril. But some one win say: THE heroes
are so adroitly kuavish and the heroines
so bewitchingly untrue. and the turn Of
the story 50 exquisite and all the charac-
tiers so enrapturng. / cannot quit them"
My brother. my sister. you can find styles
of literature just as charming that will
elevate, and purify, and ennoble, and
Cbristianize while they please. The devil