The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-09-09
NO. %.

1t would be unfair to some of the play
ers! In these gaming houses of our
cities, men have their property wrung
away from them, and then they go out.
some of them to drown their grief in
strong drink, some to ply the counter
feiter's pen, and SO restore their for
tunes, some resort to the suicides re-
volver, 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 twistedP
l arraign before God the gift enter
prises of our cities, which have a ten
dency to make this nation of gam
blers. Whatever you get, voung man,
in such place as that, without giving
proper equivalent, is a robbery of
your own soul and robbery of the
community. Yet, how we are appalled,
to see men who have failed in other en-
terprises go into gift concerts, where
the chief attraction is not music, but
the prizes distributed among the
audience: or to sell books where
the chief attraction is not the book.
but the package that goes with
the book. Tobacco dealers ad-
vertise that on certain day they will
put money into their papers, so that
the purchaser of this tobacco in Cincin-
natl or New York may unexpectedly
come upon magnificent gratuity.
Boys hawking through the cars pack
ages, containing nobody knows what
hau
contain nothing. Christian men with
pictures on their wall gotten in a lot
terry, and the brain of the 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,
and when a young man consents to
these practices, he is being bound hand
and foot by habit which has already
destroyed "a great multitude that no
man can number" Sometimes these
gift enterprises are carried on in the
name Of charity; and some of you re-
member at the close of our civil war
how many gift enterprises 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 widows9
Why, they would have allowed them
to freeze to death upon their steps. L
have no faith in charity which, for the
sake of relieving present suffering,
opens a 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 ap-
petite for games of chance. Do one of
two thiDgs-be honest or die.
| l have accomplished my object if l
put you on the lookout. 1t is a great
deal easier to fall than it is to get up
again. The trouble is that 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
sacrificed my respecta bility, | can't re-
turn" and they go on until they are
utterly destroyed. l tell you, my
friends, that God this moment, by
His Holy Spirit, can change your
entire nature, so that you will be a
different man in Il minute. Your great
want-what is it? More salary? High
er social position? No; no. l will tell
you the great want of every man, if he
has not already obtained it. 1t is the
grace of God. Are they any who have
fallen victims to the sin that l have
been reprehending? You are IN a pris-
on, 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 the prison house.
1t 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 free man in Christ
Jesus. Oh, prodigal, what busines
this is for you, feeding swine, when
your Father stands in the front door
: straining His eyesight to catch the frs
glimpse of your return; and the calf il
as fat as it will be, and the harps o:
- Heaven are all strung and the fee
. free. There are converted gamblers il
y Heaven. The light of eternit.
- flashed upon the green baize O
4 their billiard saloon. In the lave
= of Gods forgiveness they washe'
~ off all their sin. They qui
- trying for earthly stakes. The.
. tried for Heaven and won it. Their
= stretches hand from Heaven towar
:. the head of the worst offender 1t is
- hand, not clenched as il to smite, bu
y. outspread as if to drop benedictior
~ Other seas have a shore and may b
D., fathomed, but the sea of Gods love
~ eternity has not plummet to strike tn
:. bottom, and immensity no iron boun
~ shore to confne it. Its tides are lifte
70 by the heart of infinite compassion
Its waves are the hos4nnahs of the r
- deemed. The argosies that sail on
" drop anchor at last amid the thunde
"A ing salvo of eternal victory. But ali
~ for that man who sits down to Il
- final game of life and puts his immo
- tai soul on the ace, while the angels
~. God keep the tally-board; and aft
. kings and queens, and knaveS, ar