The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-09-26

fore 80 or 40 years of sge; now he cal
get the madness by the time he is is
Let him play cards, enough money pu
up always to add interest to the game
IF the father and mother will play witt
him that will help by way of counter
ancing the habit. Have membership
in some club where ibertines go ane
tell about their victorious sins, anc
laugh as loud IS any of them in derisior
of those who belong to the same sex a.
your sister and mother.
s'Pitch your Bible overheard as old
fashioned and fit only for women and
children. Read all the magazine article:
that put Christianity at disadvantage,
and 80 to hear all the lectures that
malign Christ, who, they say, instead Of
being the Mighty One he pretended to
be, was an imposter and the implanter
of great delEsion. Go, at first out OF
curiosity, to see all the houses of dissi-
patton, and then go because you have
felt the thrall of their fascination. Get
ting along spleudidly now. Become
more defiant of all decency, more loud
mouthed in your atheism, more thor
oughly alcoholized, and instead OF the
small stakes that will do well enough for
games Of chance in a ladies' parlor, put
up something worthy, put up more, put
up all you have. Well done. You have
succeeded.
stYou have made a chsin-the tobacco
habit one link, the rum habit one link,
the impure club another link, infdelity
another link, Sabbath desecration anoth-
or link, uncleanliness another link, and
altogether they make a chain. And SO
there is chain on your hand, and a
chain on your foot, and chain on your
tongue, and chain on your eye, and q
chain on your brain, and a chain on
your property, and chain on your
soul. Some day you wake up and you
say, 4 am tired OF this, and | am going
to get loose from this shackle. You
pound away with the hammer of good
resolution, but cannot break the thrall.
Your friends join you IN a conspiracy OF
help, but fall exhausted in the unavall-
ing attempt.
sNow you begin, and with the writh-
ing OF LAGOON, to try to break away,
and the muscles are distended, and the
great beads of perspiration dot your
forehead, and the eyes stand out from
their sockets, and with all the concen-
trated energies of body, mind and soul
you attempt to get loose, but have only
made the chain sink deeper. All the
devils that encamp in the wine flask and
the rum Jug and the decanter-for each
one has a devil of its own-come out
and sit around you and chatter. In some
you spring from your couch
and cry: I am fast. o God, let me
loose! o ye powers of darkness, let me
loose! Father and mother and brothers
and sisters, help me to get loose' And
you turn your prayer to blasphemy, and
then blasphemy into prayer, and to all
the din and upFoar there Is played an
accompaniment, not an accompaniment
by key and pedal, but the accompani-
ment is rattle, and the rattle is that of
q chain. For five years, for ten years,
for twenty years you have been making
8 chain.
s.Is there drunkard here?" asked
DR.. Talmage. ''You may, by the
Saviour's grace, have that fire Of thirst
utterly eStinguished. Is there de-
frauder here? You may be made q
saint. Is there ibertine here? You
may be made as pure SIS the light. When
8 minister in an outdoor meeting in
Scotland was eulogizing goodness there
were hanging around the edge of the
audience some of the most depraved
men and women, and the minister said
nothing about mercy for prodigals. And
q depraved woman cried out: your rope
is not long enough for the like of u.s.
Blessed be God, our Gospel can fathom
the deepest depths and reach to the
farthest wanderings, and here is q rope
that is long enough to rescue the worst:
sWhosoever will.
ssBut why take extreme cases when
we all have been or are now the captlves
of sin and death? Aud we may, through
the great Emsncipator, drop our
shackles and take throne. You have
looked at your hand and arm only as
being useful now and curious piece of
anatomy, but there is something about
your Land and arm that makes me think
they are an undeveloped wing. And if
you would know what possibilities are
suggested by that, ask the eagle that has
looked close into the eye of the noon
dav sun. or ask the albatross that has
struck its claw into the black locks of
the tempest, or ask the condor that this
morning is descending to the highest
peak of Chimborazo. Your right hand
and arm and your left hand and arm,
two undeveloped wings, better get ready
for the empyrean.
s.Gise. my soul, and stretch thy wing;
Thy better portion trace"