The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1901-07-19

N b'N"V Poct lOSI ~, ali m
earnings, in short tour to see tn,
world. Gibbon, the author of 9TH,
; Decline and Fall of the Roman En-
pre-, came to his own decline anC
fall through gaming practices anc
IN O letter in 1776 said: Il have un
done myself, and it is to no purpose
to conceal from you my abominable
madness and folly. have never lost
so much in five days as | have to.
night, and l am in debt to the house
for the whole"
But while you are hotly indignant
against the crime, how do you feel
about those who were feeced and
slain? They did not know that their
small boat was so near the maelstrom.
Some Of them were born with a tend
ency to recklessness and experiment
and hazard. They inherited a disposi-
ton to tempt chance. Do not heap
on them additional discouragements:
do not deride their losses. Help them
to start again. Show them that there
are more fortunes yet to be gained
than have yet been gathered and that
with God for their friend they will be
provided for her and through the Sa-
viour's mercy they may reign forever
in the land where there are no losses
and infinite gains. While you may red
den in the face at the fact that gam
bling is the disgraceful mother Of
multitudinous crimes, of envies, ieal-
ousies, revenge, quarrels, cruelties,
falsehoods, forgeries, suicides. MUIR
ders and despair, be careful what you
say of the victim of the vice and what
you do. He needs more sympathy than
the man who came up from inebriety
and debauch and assassination, for
many such repent and are saved, but
confirmed gamblers hardly ever re-
form.
During the course ola prolonged min
istry have seen thousands redeemed. /
many of them who were clear gone in /
sin, by Almighty grace rescued. In +
all parts Of this land and i'm some parts /
of other lands l have seen those who |
were given up as incorrigible and lost
recovered for God and Heaven. but
how many confirmed gamblers have
seen converted from their evil ways?
A thousand? No. Five hundred? No.
Fifty? No. Two? No. One? No.
] read in a book of one such rescued.
] have no doubt there have been other
cases, but no evil does its work so
thoroughly and eternally as gambling.
Such almost hopeless of reformation
ought TO call forth from you deeper
sympathy than you feel for any other
Pity by all means. for
those who, shipwreclSed and bruised
among the timbers, have nevertheless
climbed up TO the fshermans cabin
and found warmth and shelter. but
more pity for those who never reach
shore, but are dashed to death in the
breakers. BE angry at the sin, but
with its victims
One act of fraud told of in big head
ines in the morning papers rightfully
rouses the nations wrath. 1t is the
interest of every good man and good 2
woman who reads of the crime 10 have $
{ exposed and punished. Let it 90 un- J
cathed, and you put a premium on '
raud, you depress public morals. you Q
induce those who are on the fence be- I
ween right and wrong to get down on n
he wrong side, and you put the bust n
ess of the world on a down grade. c
he constabulary and penitentiary n
lust do their work. But while the
ierciless and the goddess cry: Good e
or him!" 81 am glad he is within the h
rison doorsl" be it your work to find II
Mt if that man is worth saving and ST
hat were the causes of his moral (,
7erthrow. Perhaps he started in in
lsiness life under tricky firm, who e'
ave him wrong notions of business a,
tegrity; perhaps there was a combi- OF
alton of circumstances almost un-
lralleled for temptation; perhaps n
Iere were alleviations; perhaps he q
as born wrong and never got over IT; IN
rhaps he did not realize what he was N
ing, and if you are a merciful man m
u will think of other perhapses of
lich, though they may not excuse, III
ii extenuate. Perhaps he has al he
Cn
bod Of the Lamb, and is as sure Of "b
aven as you are. What an oppOrtu- %
" you have for obeying my text. in,
u were angry al the misdemanor, al,
{ you are hopeful for the recovery te,
the recalctrant. Blessed all prison te,
'ormersl Blessed are those gov val
lors and presidents who are glad inf
EN- they have a chance to pardonl mr.,
'ssed the forgiving father who well ula
mes home the prodigall Blessed gel
dying thief whom the Lord took car
h Him TO glory. saying: "This day loo
IL thou be with Me in Paradsel" mes
here is another evil that we ought not
abhor, while we try to help the spc
Tim, and that is infdelity. 1t Lon
tches the life preserver from the wei
n afloat and affords not so much a I
a spar or a plank as substitute. 1t doy
nd extinguish the only light that 1t
ever been kindled for the troubled see
the lost. Let the spirit Of inf sue
ty take hold of a neighborhood. any
in that town the marriage rela- sue
is farce and good morals give wro
e to all styles Of immorals. Let it wro
e possession of this earth. and Hea
e will be no virtue left in all the eth
Ids circumference. All the sins Hea
iked in the Ten Commandments =;
Id be dominant. The torch that