The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1897-08-13


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 twistedS
1 srraign before God the gift enter
prises of our cities, which have a ten
dency to make this a nation of gam
| blers. Whatever you get, Young man,
in such place as that. without giving
a 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 hook,
but the package that goes with
the book. Tobacco dealers ad-
vertise that on a 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 a magnificent gratuity.
Boys hawking through the cars pack
ages, containing nobody knows what
until you open them, and find they
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 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 widows?
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 Wit tue and good
principle of the community. Young
man, have nothing to do with these
things They only sharpen your APP
petite for games of chance. Do Que of
two thiDgs-be honest or die.
have accomplished my object if I
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 respectability, L 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 viii be
different man in minute. Your great
want-what is it? More salary? High
er social positiOn2 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 experimenting? You are IN 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 il
a 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 a bushes
this is for you, feeding swine, when
your Father stands IN the front door,
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 Iaver
of Gods forgiveness they washed
off all their sia. 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 clenched as if to smite, but
as if to drop benediction.
Other seas have a shore and may be
fathomed, but the sea OF Gods love
eternity has not plummet to strike the
bottom, and immensely no iron bound
shore to confine it. Its tides are lifted
by the heart of infinite compassion.
It's waves are the hOSannahs of the re-
deemed. The argosies that sail on it
drop anchor at last amid the thunder
ing salvo of eternal victory. But alas
for that man who sits down to the |
final game of life and puts his immor-
tai soul on the ace, while the angels of |
God keep the tally-bo2~d; and after
kings and queens, and knayes, and |
spades are ''shuffied' and "cut," and |
the game is ended, lowering ard inn |
pending worlds discover that lie has |
lost it, the faro-bank Of eternal dark |
ness clutching down into it's wallet all |
-he bloOd-stained wagers.