The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-06-23
The Fatal Church Ra me.

WORK 1nOu upon the SOULS
With whom have to deal,
The Fatal Church Rnffle.
The Golden Censer gives o story on
this subject as follows: As the heavy
prison bolts tur. ed on the minister, he
looked sadly on the prisoners in their
strange garments, and thought with
more and more anXiey of his errand.
He had come to see young man of his
congregation, convicted of forgery. The
heart broken parents had begged him to
visit the prison, hoping the peace of the
gospel mi ght reach even his gloomy cell.
As the minister kindly greeted him the
youth scarcely replied, but gazed with a
sort of defiance. He began giving the
mothers tender message, with the inter-
est all the church felt in
his welfare. At last the boy
broke out. "Did you know you was
what did it2" What have DONE" re-
piled the pastor, striving to understand
the strange language. 81 began the bus
iness," returned the youth, speaking
very loud, Sin your Sunday school fair,
when they first set up rafting, and hid a
gold ring in loaf of cake. Just for 20
cents, too, got whole box of books.
was pleased with my luck, and went in
afterwards for chance. Sometimes l
gained and sometimes l lost. Money l
must have for lotteries. was half mad
with excitement, so I used other folks
names, and here I am. Don't let the
church come blubbering around me.
They may thank themselves, Their
rafting is what did it! 1t ruined me"
For some time past men of large spirit
ual outlook have been expressing great
faith that the fullness of the times is at
hand, in which the conquest of the
world for Christ is to be speedy. The
following extract from DR.. Arthur Pier
son, in The Gospel in Au Lands, is an
emphatic uttcrance of this hope:
The tullness Of the times has surely como
for the last great crusade aginst the poaoer
of darkness. Everything is providen-
tally ripe and ready. Nearly fourscore
missionary societies inclose the globe in
their golden network. The walls of ma
tions lie fiat, and challenge us to move
from every quarter, and move together
and at once, and take the very capitals
ard centres of Satan's dominion. The
Word of God may be had in every lead
ing tongue, and the miracle of Babel is
reversed, and the miracle of Pen
tecost crystalizcd into permanence!
The Golfers of disciples contain wealth
so vast that 1.-THE of it would furnish
all the funds for worlds evangelical
ton; and the numbers of disciples are so
vast that tithe of them would give one
missionary to every one hundred of the
population of the globe. Time and
space are practically annihilated, and all
nations are neighbors. And, in addi-
ton to all, from out the shining pillar Of
luminous AMI leading Providence rings
out the trumpet voice of God, bidding
us "go forward"
What opportunity and what inspira.
ton! We need only organization and
conservation to carry dismay and defeat
to the allied powers of hell. William
Carey's grand motto of 1902 should be
emblazoned on the banners of a church
that gathers all her hosts for one final,
resolute and overwhelming charge: "Ex-
pect great things from God; attempt
great things for Cod" All around the
SIGNS are appearing which indicate, to
him who watches, that more momcn-
tous era is at hand than historic pen ever
chronicled, or artistic pencil ever illus
tratcd.
When sobricty ends and drunkenness
begins, in the legal aspect, is an inter-
esting but somewhat difficult point to
determine. A writer in the Albany Lao
Journal, in a very interesting article up
on the legal Aspects of drinks, Drink
ers, and Drinking" says: "a court,
being called upon to define in an insur-
ance case what was meant by saying
that q man had always been sober and
temperate, very wisely concluded that
such a thing could not be said of one
who, although usually sober and temper
ate in his habits, yet occasionally in
dulgcs in drunken dcbauchcs which
sometimes end in delirum trcmens. "
He added that 'to say that a man is 'in-
temperate does not necessarily i'm
ply that he is in the habit of get
ting drunk" One OF the reforms which,
in the interest Of good government,
should be iuauguratcd in this country,
and which was proposed not LONG aGo in
the Italian Parliament, IS that drunken
electors should forfeit by drunkenness
the right to vote and hold Office. Pre-
liminary to this it is very important to
settle very definitely what consti-
tutcs intcmpcran C. A drunken en-
pinecr, pilot, or stagc-drivcr is quite un-
fit to be trusted with the responsibility
which attaches to his position. Drunken
electors, in whose incompetent hands
may rest the destiny of state or nation,
arc yet moro dangerous. In such civil
service and electoral reform total abstain
ers, at least, need have no fear of being
deprived of their votcs.-Nat. Tenn.
ado.
Prof. TTilkens, Superintendent Of the
Washington Home, Chicago, says: "Thls
year the liquor drank by the victims
seems to have been more adulterated than