The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-10-05
TALMAGE.
Continued from 1st Page.)

CONTINUED from 1St Hage.)
chief attraction is not the book, but the
package that goes with the bOOkl To-
bacco dealers advertise that on GER
tain day they will put money into their
papers, so that the purchaser OF this to-
bacco in Cincinnati or New YORK may
Unexpectedly come upon magnlncenJ
gratuity. BOYS hawking through the
cars packages containing nobody knows
what until you open them and find they
contain nothing. Christian men with
pictures on their walls, gotten In lot
terry, and the brain of the community
taxed to find out some new way OF get
ting things without paying for them.
When a Young man consents to these
practices he is being bound hand ana
foot by habit which has already de-
strOyed a great multitude that no man
can number" Sometimes these gift
enterprises are carried on in the name
of charity, and you remember at the
close of the late war how many gift en-
terprises were on foot, the proceeds TO
go to the orphans and widows OF the
soldiers and sailors. What did the men
who had charge Of those gift enterprises
care for the orphans and the w1dOwsp
Why, they would have allowed them to
freeze to death upon their steps. Ihave
no faith in charity which for the sake
Of relieving present suffering opens
gaping Jaw that has swallowed down so
much of the virtue and good principle
Of communities. Young man, have
nothing to do with these things. They
only sharpen your appetite for games
of chance. Do one of two things-be
honest or die.
have accomplished my object if put
the men in my audience on the lookout.
1t is a great deal easier to fall than 1T is
to get up again. The trouble is when
men begin to go astray from the path OF
duty they are apt to say: There's no
use of my trying to get back, I've sacri-
feed my respectability, l can't return
and they 90 on until they are utterly
destroyed. / tell you, my friends, that
God this moment by His Holy Spirit can
change your entire nature so that you
will go out of this Tabernacle far diff
ferent man from what you were when
you came in. Your great want--what
Is itP More salaryp Higher social posi-
tiOn? No, no; will tell you the great
want of every man in this house, If he
haH not already obtained 1t. 1t is the
Grace of God. Are there any here who
have fallen victims to the sin that Ihave
been representingP You are in prison.
Yvu q b against the wall of this prison
and try to get out. and you fail, and you
turn around and dash against the other
wall until there is blood on the CRATES
and blood on your soul. You will never
get out in this way. There is only one
way of getting out. There is key that
can unlock that prison house. 1t is the
Key of the House of David. 1t is the key
that Christ wears at His girdle. If you
will allow him this morning to put that
KEY to the lock the bolt will shoot back
and the door will swing open, and you
will be free man in Christ Jesus. Oh,
prOdigaI, what business this is for you,
feeding swine, when your father stands
in the front door, straining His eyesight
to catch the first glimpse of your return,
and the calf is as fat as it will be, and
the harps of heaven are all strung and
the feet free. There are converted gam
blers in heaven. The light Of eternity
flashed upon the green baize of their
billiard saloon. In the favor of Gods
forgiveness they washed off all their
sin. They quit trying for earthly stakes.
They tried for heaven, and won 1t. There
stretches a hand from heaven toward
the head of the worst man in all this
audience. 1t is hand not clenched as
if to smite, but outspread as if to drop
benediction. Other seas have a shore,
and may be fathOmed, but the sea OF
Gods --Eternity-has no plummet
to strike the bottom, and immensity no
irOn-bOund shore to cOnfine it. It's tides
are lifted by the heart of infinite COM
passion. It's waves are the hOsannas Of
the redeemed. The argOsies that sail on
it drop anchor at last, amid the thunder
ing salvOs of eternal victory. But alasl
for that man who sits down to the final
game of life and puts his immortal soul
on the ace, while the angels of life keep
the tally-bOsTd, and after the kings and
queens and knaves and spades are
"shuffled" and "cut" and the game is
ended, lowering and impending worlds
discover that he has lost it, the faro
bank of eternal darkness clutching
down into its wallet all the blood
stained wages.