The Yale expositor., 1899-02-24

back to the hotel Now comes the
mighty tug for the commercial trav-
eler. Tell me where he spends his
evenings. and ! will tell you where he
will spend eternity, and / will tell
you what will be his earthly prospects.
There is an abundance of choice. There
Is your room with the books. There
are the Young Mems Christian Asso-
citation rooms. There are the week
night services of the Christian
churches There is the gambling sa-
loon. There is the theater. There Is
the house of infamy. Plenty of places
to go. But which, o immortal man,
which? Oh, God, which? We'll" you
say, Il guess / will guess | Will go
to the theater." Do you think the
tarrying in that place until IL o'clock
at night will improve your bodily
health, or your financial prospects, or
your eternal fortune? No man ever
found the path to usefulness, or honor,
or happiness, or commercial success,
or heaven through the American thea
ter Well" you say, II guess then |
will go to- guess I will go to the
gambling saloon" You will first go
to look; then you will go to play.
You will make 500, you will make
$500, you will make $1,000. you VIII
make $1,500-then you will lose all.
Then you will borrow some money so
as to start anew. You will make $50,
you will make 500, you will make
$600-then you will lose all. These
wretches of the gambling saloon know
how to tempt you. But mark this;
All gamblers die poor. They may
make fortunes-great fortunes-but
they lose them.
But now the question is still open:
Where will you spend your evening?
Oh. commercial travellers, how much
will you give me to put you on the
right track? Without charging you a
farthing, l will prescribe for you a
plan which will save you for this
world and the next. if you will take
it. Go, before you leave home, to
the Young Mems Christian Association
of the city where you live. Get from
them letters Of introduction. Carry
them out to the towns and cities
where you go. II there be no such
association in the place you visit, then
present them at the door of Christian
churches and hand them over to the
pastors. BE not slow to arise in the
devotional meeting and say: Il am
commercial traveller; l am far away
from home. and l come in here to-
night to seek Christian society" The
best houses and the highest style of
amusement will open before you, and
instead Of your being dependent upon
the leprous crew who hang around the
hotels, wanting to show you all the
slums of the city. on the one condi-
ton that you will pay their expenses,
you will get the benefit of God in every
town you visit. Remember this, that
whatever place you visit, bad infiu-
ences will seek you out; good influ-
ences you must seek out.
White l stand here, l bethink my
self OF q commercial traveller who was
a member of my church in Philadel-
phia. He was a splendid young man,
the pride of his widowed mother and
of his sisters. 1t was his JOY to sup
port them, and for that purpose he
postponed his own marriage day. He
thrived in business. and after while
set up his own household. Leaving
that city for another city, | had no
opportunity for three or four years OF
making inquiry in regard to him.
When l made such inquiry, l was told
that he was dead. The story was, he
was generous, and kind-hearted, and
genial. and social, and he got into the
habit of treating" customers and OF
showing them all the sights Of the
town, and he began rapidly to go
down, and he lost his position in the
church of which he was a member and
he lost his position in the commercial
house, of which he was the best agent;
and his beautiful young wife, and his
sick old mother, and his sisters, went
lulO UtSlllullOis li4N AANt 40 a. 1919
of his designations, died in Kirkbride
insane asylum.
Oh. commercial travellers, l pray for
YOU the all-sustaining grace of God.
There are two kinds of days when you
are especially in need of divine grace.
The one. the day when you have no
success-when you fail to make a sale,
and you are very much disappointed,
and you go back to your hotel dis
comfted That night you will be tempt
ed to go to strong drink and rush into
bad surroundings The other day,
when you will especially need divine
grace, will be when you have had a
day of great success, and the devil |
tells you you must go and celebrate
that success. Then you will want tho
grace of God to sustain you from roll
licking indulgences. Yes, there will
be a third day when you will need to
be Christians, and that will be the last
day of your life. do not know where
you will spend it. Perhaps in your
house or more probably in a rail car