The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1906-08-31
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A s E r M o N
Written Especially For
t H E ooA L A
B A N N E r
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cards are used by gamblers In their
poker games and familiarity with
them may lead to the gaming table,
and it is best to keep the young peo-
pie from using them at home, as be-
coming used to them they be tempted
to the gaming dens! Oh! We blind lead
ers of the blind! Know We not that
which is forbidden is the very thing
that human nature desires the most?
Eden was full of all that heart could
wish-nothing was needed to make
the happiness of the pair complete,
and If the fruit of ,the tree in the
midst of the garden had not been for
hidden, Adam and Eve might have
gazed around and gazed upon 1t until
now, and perhaps have never tasted
of its fruit, but the moment the thou
shalt not" was cast about 1t, they de-
sired above all things else to taste of
that which was forbidden. So it is
today. The moment the young are
forbidden to do this or that, at once
the desire is awakened to do it, and
IL not permitted to satisfy the desire
at home and under home influence,
then it will be done secretly, and, in
the very fact that it has to be done
secretly, we have sure enough sin of
deception and perhaps of falsehood.
The figured pieces of pastboard are
innocent enough in themselves, but
it is what you fear will result from
the use of them, is it? Then the best
way to prevent bad results is to let
the young become familiar under the
wholesome influences of home sur
roundings and in the harmless use of
them, and you at once remove the
mysterious evils which you attach to
them and do away, or rather never
arouse the longing, and almost ire
sistable desire, to indulge in the for
hidden. Give them pleasant and
harmless amusements at home for
their evenings and they will have no
desire to go out under the gas light
to seek past time for idle hours. They
will have no desire to go out in search
for the hidden poison which you have
taught them to believe lies somewhere
concealed in pack of innocent past
boards. And all the while you will
then be planting in his heart the
wholesome truths which will give him
strength to overcome the temptation
to do evil. Sooner or later he must
meet with them, and find that after
all he must stand or fall as an in
dividual unit. Then turn all of your
powers to equip him to resist. Do
not attempt this by trying to hide
from him the evils and sins which
exist, and which he sometimes must
meet up with, but teach him how to
fight his battles so as to overcome.
The first enemy he or she must con-
quer is himself or herself. With his
or her own heart right-with the
Kingdom of God within-they may
then bid defiance to all of the wiles of
the Devil.
If the sin lay in the cards ortheir
innocent use, then ii would be equally
true of checkers, dominoes, chess,
base ball. the race horse, the yacht
and hundreds of other delightful and
useful things, for the gamblers bet on
all of these. What folly it is to de-
prive ourselves of the pleasures and
derived from any or all
of these. simply because some peo-
pie use them for harmful purposes.
Oh! We gnat killers! turn your ar
tillery on the sin ana not on the
harmless instruments made use of by
the wicked to work sin! Lay the AK
at the root of the tree"-the heads of
men! Condemn sin but not the sin
ner. God loves him: Tell him so.
Press it upon him. Lead him unto
the light by all the mighty powers of
love. Tell him that God says LET
the wicked forsake his ways and the
man his thoughts, and
turn unto me, and | will have mercy
and abundantly pardon and that
Gods 10th willing and able to serve
all who come unto him. That He
has said, Seek We first the Kingdom
Of Heaven" and that once in the
in the heart-that it is
further said, "Our God shall supply
al of our needs"
Go out we ambassadors of the Lord
and teach and preach the everlasting
owe of God to fellow mani Quit strain
ng at gnats and swallowing camels,
md go and preach unto fellow men
he great and Unreasonable love of
God for them. and His sure promises
o all who repent and come unto Him,
Go We and learn what that meaneth,
will have mercy, and not sacrifice for
am not come to call the righteous,
'ut sinners to repentance"
A Mystery Solved.