The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-10-14

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moner of the:heavenly bounty. It is not
for you alone. It is for mankind. It is
the most beautiful thing that God let
down to earth. A living specimen of the
heavenly excellence. Gods witness in
sinful world. You must not put an es-
toppal upon its testimony. Christian
modesty is not injured by Christian zeal.
The sun does moi, destroy the stars. Nay
they are shining in other parts Of Gods
creation when that sun isshining in his
strength upon US. And when the sun
goes down below the horizon, all the
modest stars again illumine our heavens.
They shone with him in fact during the
day, but his superior light outsbone theirs.
Modesty and zeal work harmoniously TO-
gether. You may be both Jealous
Christian and modest one. But observe
that timidity is not modesty. A Christian
afraid to refuse, when invited to 60 to q
ball or to game of cards is a timid
Christian. he is afraid to let his Chris
tianity radiate it's light. He puts it un-
der bushel just when he should put it
on a candlestick. Why that is just your
opportunity, Christian, when the light OF
q Christian example would be beauti-
full obedience to the exhortation of
the Great Teacher, "Let your light SO
shine"
But, it may be said I do not see why
my Christianity may not shine in the
ball room and at the card table. I pro-
pose to engage in no other than decent
dancing and decent card playing. Well,
but decent card playing is o very dim
form of Christianity, if any at all: DO you
propose to submit your Christianity to
an obscuration. If you begin to dimiu-
ish your light, may you not extinguish it!
But Jesus exhorts, Let it shine. And
how are you going to shine your light if
YOU let it down into an atmosphere
which first obscures then extinguishes it.
The modern ball room and card table
Just as certainly puts out the light OF
Christianity, as the choke damp in q
coal pit puts out lamp. You cannot
think of Jeaus Christ being in ball
room or seated at a card table. It
shocks your moral sensibilities. And
you cannot think of any one aiming to
be like Jesus Christ carrying his Christi
anity safely into such atmospheres.
What then, it is asked, are.we to forego
all earthly pleasures and become race
of demure and miserable beings? Any
one can become demure and miserable
being7 Any one can become demnre
and will become demure who undertakes
to be q Christian soldier but has not
courage to fight its battles. He will be
demure because he, "condemeth himself
in that thing which he alloweth." Those
are the truly miserable people who are
constantly at war with themselves en-
deavoring to reconcile their consciences
and their conduct. Christianity propos..
es to us a higher order Of pleasures-the
pleasures of selfvictory of a manly
courage in the moment of temptation
of The noble independence which rises
to the pleasures of animal ex.
citement. And it Happens that the
pleasures of the card table and the ball
room are just that class of pleasures
which you can refuse yourself without
any injury to your moral intellectual or
corporeal nature.
"Let your light shine before men," my
brethren, whenever you are:solicited to
the horse race or drinking saloon. Show
yourself strong man, the light Of whose
Christianity is not blown out BY a puff.
What rational sport can there be in wit
Messing FIVE minutes struggle between
horses and jockeys? ssThe very life and
soul of the turf" says the. Canadian In
dependent, "is betting" Take that away
and there would be total collapse.
Yet betting is livelihood. Thousands
Of lazy men in this and other countries
make their bread and 'broadcloth by this
method of "preying upon society" The
philosophy of betting is that you may
get something for nothing, that you may
win money without working for it.: 1t
is attempting to- get money in some other
way than by honest industry. The gam
bier and betting man in those places
where the institution of the horse race
and the cock-fght have been set up reap
rich harvest at these periodical Satur.
MALTA, and they reap by trickery and
cunning, a harvestof money which some
body's honest toll has made. All Chris.
tians and good men ought to withhold
their countenance and encouragement
from work of this kind. Let your light
so shine, my brethren, as to expose BY
your pure example, the moral ugliness
of betting. But it may be said there is no
wrong in betting, if We lay no wager.
We answer no one is wronged but your
self and Cod. YOURSELF, by jumping
into the deceitful fascination of lottery;
a fascination which grew into such a
monstrous evil in our socia. economy
that Legislatures had 10 stamp it out by
force. Some years ago the Political
Lottery at Rome was drawn every Satur.
day morning. LIDO not know that it
exists now. A great glass barrel with
crank was turned rapidly for time to
shuttle the tickets together, and, then
drawn and announced to crowd OF
almost breathless spectators below the
balcony, until ninety tickets were sold
out. The profits to the government at
one time for each drawing was $4,000
scudi, nearly $4,000. And it has been
stated, as fact, that the greater the pub.
lie. distress and poverty, the greater the
yield of the Lottery to the public ex-
chequer.
Misery makes the people desperate and
they venture more recklessly ywith the
little they possess. Think of poor widow
ed mother venturing her last weeks
earnings by putting it in the shape of a
lottery ticket in the hope of getting more
by chance and then turning away from
the accursed affair in utter despair, having
lost all. Yet betting is lottery, and lot
terry wrongs God by denying his Provi.
dence and government, by seeking to
escape his appointment of lawful indus
try for a living; by abetting the infa-
NOUS doctrine ofchance. O! l hope my
fellow Christians will be strong enough
to refuse outright all appreciation and
encouragement Of betting, card playing,
horse racing and cock lighting, and so
shine out their Christianity as to expose
these immoral practices. You might
put gloss of decency over these things
by surrounding them with the inery oi
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