St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-03-09
PROFANITY, GAMBLiNG AND IN
TEMPERANCE DISCUSSED BY
REV. e. p. INGERSOLL.
STEER AWAY FROM THEM ALL.
fI0 fsttF as sEaA
HIS ADVICE TO THE YOUNG MEN IN
THE INTEREST OF
SAFETY.
NOTHING MANLY ABOUT THEM.
IS = 4. p .ts e.
Each Responsible for Its Share Of
the Worlds Shame, and Alike
to Be Stunned.

Rev. Edward P. Ingersoll, D. D., pas
tor of Park Congregational church, de-
l1vered a very able sermon yesterday
morning, taking his text from Matthew
", "a: But 1 say unto you, swear
not at ALL" Proverbs xiii. ,31-32; Look
not upon the wine when it is red;
when it giyeth his color in the cup;
when it moveth itself Alright. At last
1t biteth like a serpent and stingeth
like an adder"
Among other things, Mr.. Ingersoil
said:
Aside from the benefits that society
bestoWs upon us, we are bound by
every blessing which lifts above the
hermit to seek it's good. If we have
not squandered our virtue good society
has place for us. It is just as foolish
for us to sit down and pine or grum-
bic because we are not taken under
somebody's protection and "led out"
as to complain that somebody does not
teach us astronomy or set us up in
business. Some men yield help to So
ciety as an old pump yields water.
You pour down it more than you get out
OF it. Others are like mountain springs.
Into social life must we go if we
are to meet the demands Of our nature.
But as you look at the surface Of this
demand 1t seems almost wicked to
press young man into hearty COM
panlonSh1p and then, as he yields, to
warn him that he is in the midst Of
fearful dangers. But while the danger
lies there the blessings which are best
are Wrested from the grip of danger.
mo battle, no victories! No victories,
no CROWN And there are always
more dangers toward degradation right
where there are the best opportuni-
ties for noble life The deepest, dark
est abysses are hard by the Hottest
mountains. The richest opportunities
or blessings, when perverted, make the
direst curses. A temple Of gold, when
desecrated, becomes more debased than
a temple of clay. So our social natures,
which ally us to the heavenly will-if
perverted-drag us down to infamy.
And now--to enumerate all the false
lights and siren voices would be as i'm
possible as to picture all the changes
Of the kaleidoscope. Permit me to
speak Of three habits that press and
insinuate themselves with cursing de-
fusion. The first name is profanity.
Did I now know to the contrary, I
should say that a man who has self
respect enough to attend church would
never swear. The grand old English
language, the richest OF all tongues,
has poverty when we ask her for
words to express our contempt for pro-
family. What a terrible evidence that
God is in the thoughts of men when
blasphemy is the witness. Who makes
plea for it? Gambling has its friends,
the social glass it's champions, but who
lifts the gauntlet when profanity claims
innocently? I know the secret of it's
hold upon young men. Ills thought to
be manly. Manly. indeed! Swear,
then, upon all occasions! Take the lit
tie sweet boy upon your knee (your
brother or perhaps your sem and teach
him to curse. Let all your words be
pure. Give us no excuses for oaths,
but the rather round pure speech,
which is "like apples of gold in pict-
ures of silver"
The second habit I name and warn
you against is betting. Betting is
gambling In remote antiquity it had
it's hold. upon men, and it loses none
civilized people. On the contrary, the
habit of taking fierce stimulants; the
jaded appetite for luxury, the inability
of wealth to give keen pleasure, seem
to invite this lordly excitement.
Our country, behind other lands in
neither good nor evil, is blackened by
every form of gambling. High circles
and low circles are cursed with betting.
The skill Of a pilot in threading a
channel, the skill Of a surgeon in prob
ing a deep and dangerous wound, are
the giving of substantial benefits, are
an equivalent for price paid; but
the gaming man, though he be a re-
spectacle citizen who bets a hat upon
an election, is tampering with integrity
and debasing the dignity of labor He
is risking property upon which others
have a claim. He is breaking Gods
law, which. beginning with Gin the
sweat OF thy face shalt thou eat
bread" receives new expressions and
longer sanctions in the ever unfolding
word Of God. Young men, let alone
this evil. 'Touch not, taste not, han
die not"
The mariner studies his chart and
then steers his good ship away from
the reefs on which ships have been
stranded. ' 7' '"'
"a harmless amusement" He who
DeneVeS tnlS IN regard to any form
of betting is sojourning in the valley
of deceit"
Another warning, and I then leave
the subject Of social abuses. Not be-
cause there are no other rocks where
ruin turks, but because God has given
to every one of us an unfailing test.
Keep to the channel, young man.
Keep to the channel! 1t isn't neces-
sary for you to run around and touch
all the rocks of ruin in order to know
where the safe way lies.
And now for the warning 1t is
against intemperance, so cunning in
its arts, so enticing in it's claims. Ev-
cry year in this land an army of
more than fifty thousand drunkards
march into their graves. They come
from the brightest talent and are
lured to death by the poison of the
harmless social glass;"
Such power does this appetite. for
drink at length assume that all the
better aspirations are torn down. The
passion for drink burns down self-re-
spect, natural affection, and love to
God and man.. The statistics show