The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-08-06

prises OF our cities, which have . tend
ency to make this a nation OF gamblers.
Whatever you get. young man, In such
q place "a that, without giving q proper
equivalent, Is q robbery Of your own
soul and q robbery OF the community.
Yet how we are appalled, to see men
who have failed in other enterprises 90
into gift concerts, where the chief at
traction Is not music, but b prizes
distributed among the audience. or TO
sell books where the chief attraction
IL not the book, but the package that
goes with the book Tobacco dealers
advertise that on q certain day they
win put 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 INK find they con-
tain nothing. Christian men with pic
lures on their wall COTTON in q lottery.
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-a habit
which has already destroyed "a great
multitude that no man can mbe
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 manyg 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. / have no faith
in a charity which for the sake of re-
lieving present suffering opens a gap
ing 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
honest or die.
WHERE SAFETY LIES.
1 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 responsibility, l can't re-
turn" And they go until they are ut
terly destroyed. 1 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 a
minute. Your great want-what Is it?
More salary? Higher social position?
No, no. / will tell you the great want
of every man if he has not already OBJ
tanned it. 1t is the grace Of God. Are
there any who nave fallen victims OF
the sin that I have been r~eprehending?
You are in a 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 ohter wall until
there is blood on the CRATES and blood
on your soul. You will never get out
in this way. There is only n way Of
getting out. There is a key hat can
unlock that 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 a free man in Christ Jesus. Oh,
prodigal, what a 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
al strung, and the feet free.
There are converted gamblers in
hea ven. The light of eternity flashed
upon the green balZe OF their blizzard
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 a hand from heaven toward
the head of the worst offender. 1t is a
hand, not clinched as if to smite, but
outspread as if to drop a benediction
Other seas have a shore n may be
fathomed, but the sea Of Gods love
eternity has no plummet to strike the
bottom, ana immensely no ~ironbound
shore to confine it. It's tides are lifted
by the heart of infinite compassion. It's
waves are the 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 immortal
sou on the ace, while the angels of
God keep the tally board, n after
kings and queens, and knaves, and
spades are "shuffied' and cut" and
the game is ended, lowering and i'm
pending worlds discover that he has
lost it, the faro bank of eternal dark
ness clutching down into its wallet all
the blood stained wagers.