Year: 1873

more important to record than the weight


of said hair when it was cut. He drove


the fastest horses in the realm. He made


himself personally popular with all. His
judgment of the perfumes of Araby was


quoted in all the ranks of young Jerusa-


lem. But his dreadful death was the ap-


propriate end of all lives devoted to
pleasure. He was cast into a pit and


covered with stones, and for three thous-
and years men have eXecrated his mem


ory.


But let us consider why such life is


necessarily so destructive.


First of all, it narrows the mind. 1t


makes one individual man the center of


all things. Turns the gaze inward upon
him, and not outward to inhnity. He can


have no large views. He is doomed to
lttleness. What man can appreciate
plan for general improvement who has
only sought personal enjoyment? He
has no conception of the comparative


merits of Belgian blocks and wood pave
ments for Broad street; he only sees the
side that puts out the most money to buy


men to vote them the job. Such a man
has no conception of the ends of justice
to be subserved by the Imprisonment of
desperadoes, no idea of danger to morals
and lives by pardoning out the most ras-
Gals; he only sees personal profit to be
gained. The Judases and Arnolds that


have sold their Lord or country for mon
ey have had no conception of the mean
ness of the business they engaged in
They had dwarfed their souls till the
glitter of the coin was all they saw-the
music of its chink all they heard.
And when you contemplate the condi-
ton of these men in reference to the


vaster things of eternity, their case is


even more pitiable. An endless future
beckons, but they cannot see so far. No
tives big with eternity present them
selves, but they only swayed by motives
| to present pleasure. Sinai thunders
| threats, but their ears have been trained
to take in only sweet and dulcet sounds.
| God denounces murder, but they have no


room for feeling but revenge for a fancied


wrong. Pitiable little wretches, who


cannot see that if some one brbes a bad


woman from thems that one is doing
! them a real service.


Secondly, pleasure-seeking is destruc-.
| tive because SO facilitating. / have moth
! ing to say against recreation e., re-crea-
| ton. But l have much to say, and more
! to mean than l say, against pleasure


seeking as an end of life. Minds and
| morals need gymnastics as we'll as bodies,


and minds and morals are doomed to a
| bondaged existence in every one who


makes pleasure his end of life. Suppose


a man to take care of his body, and is
! strong, but takes no care of his mind or


morals; he is necessarily weakling.-
| Such man is never sought when the
! great struggles of ideas take place You


never count on the Morrisseys and Nam
dy Woods at such times. But how sell
dom do men take care of the body who


make pleasure the end of their life? Its
| senses are sooner reached most easily


gratifed. Such men are almost sure to


turn to those pleasures that are destruc-
tive first to mind and morals and then to
the body.


There is no vice in the whole long cat


alogue that man has made so weakening


to manhood as Righteousness 1t de-
ludes with the most tempting proffers of


delight, but it sold its helpless victim, so


that the Bible declares "that none that go


unto the strange woman return again,


neither take they hold on the paths of
life" That is, so few are saved that they


only make exceptions to the rule There


is no single sin against which the Bible
so persistently warns men; lying and
stealing are respectable compared to it.


1t says: "Her house is the way to hell,


going down to the chamber of DEATH
Let not thy heart incline to her ways,


lest thou mourn at last when thy flesh and
thy body are consumed"


God has not branded his curse into the


body Of man so deeply for any sin as for
this. There can be conceived no such


blight on every power of body and soul.


No wonder God says of her house
avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it,
and pass away" Do not be found in the
street where these houses are, except in


broad daylight; never go where these
creatures walk at night. Many a one
has gone from idle curiosity, bantered
few seemingly innocent words, and then,
= H.. i
says again: "He goeth after her straight
way, as an OK goeth to the slaughter, or
as fool goeth to the correction of the
stock, and knoo0eth not that 1t a0aS for Hfe.
Joseph knew when to stand firm, and
equally when to flee. For, in the midst
Of his temptation, he broke away and


fed, leaving part of his robe behind.
Flight is bravery under such circumstan-
ces; dallying is death. Avoid it, pass
not by it, turn from it. and pass away"


What fearful congerie of crimes fol-
lows on the one weakness of indulgence
Love of luxury makes way for eager
greed. Sensuality blots out all concep-
tions of the pure and holy unbrdled
lust follows close after. In some mo:
ment of madness a murderous deed is
done, and the poor blind-mole calls him
claims himself as martyr to his respect |
ability. Give pity and tears for the |
blinded passion-blurred soul Gods i'm
age has been smoothed out by foulness |
He has touched pitch and been detiled. |
And though l hold him up for men to
shudder at tonight, it is not with one
thought of bitterness toward him. 1t is |
that all men may take warming that |
these are the ways of death. Nothing |
else could be expected among such class
of people! Passion blinded and passion
led, it must be expected that passion will
burst forth. Oh take care that it has no
hold on thy body or soul


This man was not always what he is
to-day. There was time when he would
have smitten you on the mouth if you
had suggested the possibility that he
could become the tenth or twentieth
hanger-on in the train of depraved wo-
man. He had too large soul, too clean
a taste, was too near his mother. But
the dwarhng process sets in. His purity
of taste is touled, his holy love of woman
destroyed Base fires were lighted to
burn and smoke where the holy flames
had illumined The fearful change goes
on till impossibilities become possible
and possibilities become actualities-
Once he could not have been interested in
the rivalries of such baseness; such COM
panions would have nauseated him. But
his taste changed, till he could struggle
with the meaneSt man for the meanest