Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-08-06


history Of that gaming house has there
been one word Of sympathy uttered for
the losers at The game.
Sir Horace Walpole said that a man
dropped dead in one Of the clubhouses
Of London His body was carried into
the clubhouse, and the members Of the
club began Immediately TO bet as to
whether he were dead or alive, and
when it was proposed to test the matter
by bleeding him, it was only hindered
by the suggestion that it would be un-
fair TO some Of the players. In these
gaming houses of our cities men have
their property wrung away from them,
and then they 90 out, some Of them to
drown their grief in strong drink, some
to ply the counterfeiter's pen, and so
restore their fortunes, some resort TO
the suicides revolver, but all going
down. and that work proceeds day by
day and night by night. THAT cart
rope" says some young man, "has
never been wound around my soul. "
But have not some threads of that cart
rope been twisted:
Gift Enterprises Arraigned.
arraign before God the gift enter
prises Of our cities, which have tend
ency to make this a nation Of gamblers
Whatever you get, young man, in such
a place as that, without giving a proper
equivalent, is a robbery Of your own
soul ard a robbery Of the community.
Yet how we are appalled, TO see men
who have failed in other enterprises 60
into gift concerts, where the chief at
traction is not music, but the prizes
distributed among the audience, or to
scll bcCks where the chief attraction
is not the book, but the package that
gees with the book. Tobacco dealers
advertise that on a certain day they
Will pat money into their papers, so
that the purchaser Of this tobacco in
Cincinnati or New York may unexpect-
edly come upon a magnificent gratuity.
Boys hawking through the cars pack
ages containing nobody knows what,
until You open them and find they con-
tain nothing Christian men with pic
lures on their wall gotten in lottery,
and the brain of community taxed TO
find out some new way Of getting things
without paying for them. Oh, young
men, these are the threads that make
the cart rope, aud when young man
consents to these practices he is being
bound hand and foot by habit which
has already destroyed "a great multi
tude that no man can number.
Sometimes these gift enterprises are
carried on in the name Of charity, and
some of you remember at the close Of
our civil war how many gift enterprises
were on foot the proceeds TO 60 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 aud widows; Why, they
would have allowed them to freeze 10
death upon their steps | have no faith
in a charity which for the sake Of re-
lieving present suffering opens gaping
Jaw that has swallowed down so much
Of the virtue and good principle Of the
community. Young man, have nothing
to do with these things They only
sharpen your appetite for games OF
chance. Do one OF two things-be hon
est or die.
Where safety Lies.
1 have accomplished my object if
put you Oh the lookout IL is a great
deal easier to fall than it is TO get up
again. The trouble is that when men
begin TO 90 astray from the path Of duty
they are apt to say, "There's no use OF
my trying to get back I've sacrificed
my respectability. can't return. And
they 90 on until they are utterly de-
stroyed | tell you, my friends, that
God this moment, by his Holy Spirit,
can change your entire nature so that
you will be different man in a min
ute. Your great want-what is 1t! More
salary? Higher social position: No, no.
| will tell yeu the great want Of every
man if he has not already obtained It.
It is the grace of God. Are there any
who have fallen victims TO the sin that
have been reprehending? You are in
prison. You rush 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 a key that can unlock
that prison house. 1t is the key OF the
house Of David. II is the key that
Christ wears at his girdle. If you Will
allow him to put that key TO the lock,
the bolt will shoot back, and the door
will swing open and you will be a free
man in Christ Jesus Oh, prodigal,
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 gamblers in
heaven. The light Of eternity flashed
upon the green baize Of their billiard
saloon. In the laver Of Gods forgive
ness they washed off all their sin. They
quit trying for earthly stakes. They
tried for heaven and won It, There
stretches hand from heaven toward
the head of the worst offender. 1t Is
hand. not clinched as if TO smite, but
outspread as if to drop a benediction-
Other seas have a shore and may be
fathomed. but the sea of Gods love
eternity has no plummet to strike the
bottom, and immensity no ironbound
shore 10 confine it, Its tides are lifted
by the heart of infinite compassion. It's
waves are the hosannas Of the re-
deemed. The argosies that sail ON It
drop anchor at last amid the thunder
ing salyo Of eternal victory. But alas
for that man who sits down to the final
game Of life and puts his immortal soul
on the ace, while the angels OF God
keep the tally board, and after kings
ard queens, and knaves, and spades are
"shuffied" and "cut," and the game Is
ended, lowering and impending worlds
a;-,oro,. tbat ba has lost IT, the faro