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SIN'S BY-PATHS
By Jerry Miles Humphrey

A Vivid Description
For Young People

Messenger Publishing Co.

Chicago, Illinois
1918

Copyright 1916
By J. M. Humphrey
Messenger Pub. Co. Owners

* * * * * * *

Digital Edition 09/13/2002

By Holiness Data Ministry

* * * * * * *

CONTENTS

Foreword
Dedication

01 -- Disobedient To Parents
02 -- Telling Lies
03 -- Playing In The Streets After Dark
04 -- Carrying Beer For The Neighbors
05 -- Playing Truant From School
06 -- Petty Stealing
07 -- Deserting Home
08 -- Reading Novels
09 -- The Nickel Shows
10 -- Neglecting The Sabbath School
11 -- Smoking Cigarettes
12 -- Carrying A Revolver
13 -- Swearing
14 -- Dancing
15 -- Disturbing Religious Meetings
16 -- Fearing The People
17 -- Procrastination
18 -- Infidelity
19 -- Card Playing And Gambling
20 -- Selling Out Too Cheap
21 -- How To Become A Christian
22 -- How To Retain Christianity

* * * * * * *

A FOREWORD

"What shall it profit America if it become the greatest country on the globe and lose its
boys and girls?" This is the great problem that confronts us today on every side. Satan seems to be
making a special effort these days to destroy the coming generation. The reform schools of almost
every city are over-run with wayward, disobedient boys and girls.

Now, since the writer was once a wayward, disobedient, homeless lad, besides, has
visited nearly every large city in this country and has associated with wayward boys and girls of
various nationalities, he wishes in a simple, childlike way to point out to the young people
everywhere the most prominent by-paths leading from innocence to guilt, from purity to rank
defilement, from light to darkness and from life to death.

If it may please God to make this little printed message a preventive to the downfall of
even one boy or girl, it will be the answer to my prayers.

Yours in His Service,

March 1916
J. M. H.

* * * * * * *

DEDICATION

As An Appreciation Of Their Godly

Lives, This Little Volume Is Dedicated
To Miss Grace Ann Stewart And Miss
Carrie Craig Of Saint Louis, Mo.

* * * * * * *

01 -- DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS

"Disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy" (2 Tim. 3:2).

 There is no surer way to the downfall and ruin of a young person than that of disobeying
their parents. It was disobedience which made it necessary for the establishment of every reform
school, prison and gallows in existence. Every thug, thief, gambler and drunkard in the world, no
doubt, began their career by repeatedly disobeying their parents.

Reader, by all means give the strictest attention to the advice and admonition of your
parents; carefully obeying them on all lines. It is quite difficult for anyone to keep an employment,
who has not been trained to obey at home.

A disobedient boy or girl is avoided by almost every one. It is much more difficult for them
to make their way through the world than for those who have been trained to respect and obey their
parents. They may not realize the folly of their disobedience until they have grown up to man and
womanhood which, of course, will be too late to be rectified. Their bad reputation will pursue
them like a sleuth-hound as long as they live in the world, besides, will send them halting to the
grave.

While the writer continues his sojourn upon earth, he will never forget the following words
which were spoken to him by his dying mother a few moments before departing this life. "You will
not obey!" Thirty-one long years of chance and changes have not been able to efface from his
memory, those sorrowful, accusing eyes, hollow cheeks, and stammering words. It is true, the
writer has in later years learned the value of obedience, but the information came far too late to
staunch mother's midnight tears or mend her broken heart.

On early days when but a boy,

How oft I did mother annoy;
I'd like to beg her pardon!

And o'er and o'er I from her stray'd,

And all her council disobeyed;
I'd like to beg her pardon!

That morning in the "Sunny Land",

When 'round her casket we did stand;
I yearn'd to beg her pardon.

When visiting the old churchyard,

Where lies her form beneath the sward,
I weep to beg her pardon.

* * * * * * *

02 -- TELLING LIES

"He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight" (Psa. 101:7).
 The next by-path that leads millions of young people down to endless woe, is
misrepresenting matters and telling lies. Oh, how difficult it is to uproot this awful habit when
once it has gained admittance into one's life! Its beginning may be small, but when indulged,
becomes an almost resistless foe. Oh, boys and girls whatever you do or leave undone, please do
not yield to the temptation to lie. Always tell the truth, no matter what the results may be. It is not
only a sin to lie, but it is unmanly, cowardly and degrading. No business man or merchant ever
cares to employ a person whose word can not be relied on. The person who is given to lying will
eventually be found stealing.

Absalom, king David's son, told his father a lie regarding a vow he had made, and that one
little lie finally led to his being killed. Notice how the record reads. "Then said Joab, I may not
tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of
Absalom" (2 Sam. 18:14).

Gehazi, like many today, told a lie in order to obtain some money and clothing which did
not belong to him and as a result was smitten with the leprosy. Notice how it reads. "Elisha said
unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said Thy servant went no whither. And he said
unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee?
Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive yards, and vineyards, and sheep,
and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto
thee, and unto thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow" (2
Kings 5:25-27).

Ananias and Sapphira told a lie regarding some real estate they had sold, thinking, like
many today, that it would never be found out. "But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine
heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied
unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost." God
struck both he and his wife dead for lying. Reader, be careful!

We once heard of a man, who, while holding up his hand to confirm a false statement
which he was declaring to be true, was struck dead right in the act. Think reader, what an awful
thing it is to tell a lie. Now dear ones, no matter how it may disadvantage you, or what degree of
punishment it may cause you to undergo, always speak the truth and nothing but the truth both at
home and abroad; and by so doing you will be honored by God and man.

"Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all." He who tells a lie is not
sensible how great a task he undertakes; for he must be forced to invent twenty more to maintain
that one. No villainy or flagitious action was ever yet committed but, upon a due inquiry into the
cause of it, it will be found that a lie was first or last the principle engine to effect it."

* * * * * * *

03 -- PLAYING IN THE STREETS AFTER DARK

"Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19). The
next apparent innocent by-path which has led many a pure boy and girl to destruction, is playing in
the streets and yards after dark. We frankly admit, that at first sight this by-path has no visible sign
of danger, however, we feel safe in saying, we know of no other which is more destructive to
young people. This hideous monster has left a stream of blood and tears along the highway of life,
almost as long as time.

Let us now direct our attention to some of the dire effects outdoor playing after dark has
upon our sons and daughters. It destroys their refinement and self-respect, and makes them coarse,
rowdy, boisterous and uncouth. So many times, we have seen modest, refined and angel-like girls
transformed into coarse wreckless, noisy "Tom-Boys", as a result of keeping late hours and
romping the street after dark. The mother who gives her daughter such liberties is very unwise,
besides, is paving the way for a tidal wave of shame and disgrace which has no bottom or shore.

A second effect it has upon young people is, it makes them destructive and lawless. Where
are the people and where is the community that has not suffered great damage and loss from the
hands of a gang of rough, half-grown boys, who frequently lurked on the street corners and in
vacant lots. As little as there is being said about them, they are the coming generation of foot-pads,
pickpockets, holdups, drunkards and gamblers. Many an upright, well-meaning boy, has been
defiled and taught to lie and steal by these nocturnal groups of infant bandits.

Oh boys, take heed and shun this lawless crowd as you would a den of hissing vipers!

The next effect which playing in the streets at night has upon young people is, it tends to
forgetfulness and ignorance. Those who keep best informed on the helpful topics of the day and on
educational lines are those who spend their evenings perusing and studying good books. The ones
who grow dull and gradually forget what they did know are those who spend their evenings
running the streets.

Reader, if you desire to be a refined, honorable and highly esteemed young person now and
in after years, avoid going in the street after dark unless you are accompanied by some elder
person.

* * * * * * *

04 -- CARRYING BEER FOR THE NEIGHBORS

"Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink" (Habakkuk 2:15).

One of Satan's most unique ways of sowing the seed of drunkenness into the heart of
children and young people, is through people hiring them to go to the saloon for beer. These
innocent ones, of course, do not realize their danger, but are only anxious to obtain the reward. It
will take nothing less than eternity and the books of the judgment to reveal the number of drunkards
that have been manufactured through this medium.

At this point we shall attempt to give the young people a few words of precaution. They are
as follows:
 1. Never go for beer or strong drink for anyone, but kindly and firmly refuse, God will help
you.

2. Never, under any conditions, enter a saloon or make it a hang out place. This has caused
many a man to be in a drunkard's grave, while today his poor widow and orphans are hunger-bitten
and chased almost out of the world by the rapacious wolf of want.

3. Never touch or taste strong drink in any form. Many a young man has been trapped by
thinking that he must take an occasional social glass to appear friendly, manly and free from
mother's apron string, so to speak. Solomon, the famous wise man, asked the following questions:
"Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contention? who hath babbling? who hath wounds
without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek
mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when
it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." (Prov.
23:29-32).

4. Never use strong drink at home on Christmas and holidays; this too has paved the way to
many a young man's downfall. You must learn to say" No." Solomon said, "If sinners entice thee,
consent thou not" (Prov. 1:10). "Tell me," said a gentleman to a poor drunkard when urging him to
give up the intoxicating cup, "Where it was you took your first step in this intemperate curse"? "At
my father's table," replied the unhappy man. "Before I left home to become a clerk, I had learned to
love the drink that has ruined me. The first drop I ever tasted was handed me by my now
heartbroken mother." "There is no sin which doth more deface God's image than drunkenness: it
disguises a person, and doth even unman him. Drunkenness, figuratively speaking, makes him have
the throat of a fish, the belly of a swine and the head of a donkey. Drunkenness is the shame of
nature, the extinguisher of reason, the shipwreck of chastity, and the murderer of conscience.
Drunkenness is hurtful to the body. The cup kills more than the cannon. It causes dropsies, catarrhs,
apoplexies; it fills the eye with fire, and the legs with water and turns the body into a hospital."
Reader, beware!

"The saloon is sometimes called BAR ...... that's true.

A BAR to heaven, a door to hell;

Whoever named it, named it well.
A BAR to manliness and wealth;
A door to want and broken health.
A BAR to honor, pride and fame;
A door to grief and sin and shame.
A BAR to home, a BAR to prayer;
A door to darkness and despair.
A BAR to honored, useful life;
A door to brawling, senseless strife.
A BAR to all that's true and brave;
A door to every drunkard's grave.
A BAR to joys that home imparts;
A door to tears and aching hearts.
A BAR to heaven, a door to hell;
Whoever named it, named it well."

* * * * * * *

05 -- PLAYING TRUANT FROM SCHOOL

"How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof, and have not obeyed the
voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me" (Prov. 5:12, 13).

Among the many by-paths that span the fields of night and wind their way to the adamantine
gates of hell, there are none more frequently traversed than the one bearing the above title. The
youth, who plays truant from school, does not feel that he is committing any great crime, but rather
congratulates himself, glorying in the fact that he has a good time playing in the commons, or
loitering in the parks with the waifs and city urchins. I am sure, however, that he would feel quite
differently if he could be made to realize the following facts.

1. That he by playing truant takes his first step toward becoming a violent, heartless,
blood-thirsty anarchist.

2. That this, is the first lesson in the school where tramps, vagabonds and highwaymen are
trained.

3. That through this one act he shows his parents enough ingratitude to dishearten and
discourage them the balance of their life time. Perhaps they are toiling, sacrificing and going
against great odds to send him to school. Perhaps his mother has denied herself of a winter wrap
for several years in order to furnish him with books, clothing and food. It may be that his father is
wearing a faded coat, patched trousers and badly worn shoes so as to have sufficient means to
keep him in school. And despite all of this sacrifice on the part of his parents, lo, and behold, he is
deceiving them and not attending school, but spending his golden moments and an irredeemable
opportunity in the byways, parks and pleasure halls.

4. It would also be of great benefit if he could realize the fact, that the evil influence arising
from his four-fold sin, may drag a score of his schoolmates into lawlessness, sin and hell.

The Bible says, "He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be
destroyed and that without remedy" (Prov. 29:1).

* * * * * * *

06 -- PETTY STEALING

"Thou shalt not steal." (Exodus. 20:15). "Among the Alleghenies there is a spring, so small
that a single ox could drain it dry on a Summer's day. It steals its unobserved way among the hills,
till it spreads out into the beautiful Ohio; thence it stretches away a thousand miles, leaving on its
banks more than a hundred villages, and cities, and many thousand cultivated farms, and bearing on
its bosom more than half a thousand steamboats; then joining the Mississippi, it stretches away
some twelve hundred miles, or more, until it falls into the great emblem of eternity, the ocean."

Just as that little spring in the Allegheny mountains forms the great Ohio river, so does
small, petty stealing make notorious pickpockets, burglars and bandits. Reader, always keep this
thought in mind as long as you live in the world. It is just as wrong in the sight of God to steal a
penny as it is to steal a million dollars. It is just as wrong to steal an apple as it is to steal an
automobile. It is just as wrong to steal a pocket-knife as it is a railroad engine. Therefore, take
heed and beware of all shades of dishonesty. Never steal anything, feeling that no one sees you, for
the All-Wise God is looking at you night and day. He not only sees your actions but hears your
thoughts and reads your intentions. Do you know God considers it stealing when you flip the street
cars, hang onto wagons, take fruit from the neighbor's orchard and garden without obtaining their
consent. If you have stolen anything, or wronged any person, you will have to confess it to them,
and ask their forgiveness (if they can be found) before you can go to heaven.

We once knew a lady who at some point during the earlier part of her life had stolen a
darning needle and when she began to pray to get right with the Lord, He informed her that she
must return the stolen needle, that she must go to the one she had stolen it from and confess that she
had taken it and pay for it.

Dear young people, the safer and most honorable way is to never touch that which belongs
to someone else. It is far more honorable to beg than it is to steal: for stealing is an awful habit
when once it has gotten hold of an individual.

In the beginning of this article we told you how the great Ohio river is formed from a small
spring and is daily supplied and enlarged by other small streams along the way. In the following
list will be found some of the small streams that lead to stealing. Making more bills than your
income will take care of; carelessly borrowing money; trying to keep up with custom and fashion;
living above your means; buying expensive clothing; buying expensive presents for girls; trying to
keep company with three or four girls at the same time, playing cards, checkers, lotto, pool and
billiards. These things are the small streams that transform innocent boys into gamblers, tramps
and thieves.

We will never know in this world how many thousand innocent, upright boys were swept
into the whirlpool of sin through these seemingly innocent things. It is true, many of them have a
harmless appearance, nevertheless, they sweep the soul on and on until it goes over the falls of
eternal death.

"The thief that by dishonest means obtains,

The sum he cannot raise by honest gains,
Next, thief found out, murder must then conceal,
The crime, his victim else would soon reveal
Beyond all these, the dreary future shows,
The hangman's gibbet is the fearful CLOSE."

* * * * * * *
07 -- DESERTING HOME

"A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the
portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after
the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his
substance with riotous living" (Luke 15:11-13).

Another by-path which has led many a young person through the quagmire of sin and
disgrace and landed them in the regions of the lost, is deserting home. There is hope for the most
reckless ones while they remain under the guardianship of their parents but whenever they launch
out into the cold world, to paddle their own canoe, they are almost sure to be wrecked on the cruel
rocks of sin and shame.

The principle cause for most young people leaving home is an unwillingness to obey their
parents. They have not awakened to the fact that it is just as necessary for them to remain under the
discipline and government of their parents for a certain number of years to become true
self-protecting and well established characters as it is for brick to be placed in the molds and
furnace before they are fit for building purposes. If they should be removed from the mold or fire
too soon, it would spoil them and thus make them unserviceable. Just so will it spoil young people
to release them too quickly from parental authority and oversight.

At this point it might be well to relate to the reader the sad experience of two young people
we once knew who took the sad, disastrous step of leaving home. Many years ago in the hills of
Tennessee there lived a man, his wife and eight children in lowly but comfortable circumstances.
Five of the children were boys and three girls.

As time passed by, J____, the oldest daughter, who was then about sixteen years of age,
became dissatisfied and wanted to leave home and thus become her own boss. She thought by
doing so, she could earn more money and have a better time with her young friends. She did not
tell her parents but stole away unobserved. Her influence in taking this step soon affected her
brother J____, who, within about a year's time took a similar step, being then about the age of
sixteen.

Let the reader take special notice of their career after leaving home and following their
own inclinations. J____, the young lady, failed to catch the butterfly of pleasure and good time
which flitted before her vision and induced her to leave home, but instead, fell into bad company
and thus went from bad to worse until she reached the bottom round of the ladder. She became a
mother at about the age of eighteen and her first baby was born on the roadside in an old, empty
shed, upon the ground. All of her good time friends deserted her and left her to die alone. But her
pious compassionate father on hearing of her misfortune and amid all of her shame and disgrace,
had compassion upon her and took her in. This kind act everlastingly convinced her of the fact that
her parents were her best friends after all. Reader, have you made this discovery?
 Her wayward brother had smoother sailing for the first few years but finally rounded up on
the "pig-pen". He became a cigarette fiend, a thief, a vermin infested tramp, a railroad bum, a
beggar and a convict.

Oh, young readers, do accept a word of advice from a friend and remain at home with
father and mother until you become of age!

* * * * * * *

08 -- READING NOVELS

"Keep thyself pure" (1 Tim. 5:22). Many years ago .one of the writer's playmates was sent
by his mother to a neighbor who lived about a quarter of a mile into the forest, to borrow bluing.
On the boy's return he passed a pool of beautiful clear water, and immediately the thought flashed
into his mind to pour the bluing into the water and see how it would look. Therefore, without a
moment's reflection, he knelt by the side of the pool and began pouring the dark fluid into the
water. The water did not instantly become blue, but turned gradually, until within a few moments
the whole was blue.

Just as the bluing polluted and colored the pool of clear water, so do novels and
sensational papers, pollute and poison the pure minds of boys and girls. The downfall of many a
young person has originated from fascinating novels and story papers. "A few weeks ago, a boy
was charged with stealing an article of small value, and one such as boys would scarcely begin to
take. The little fellow was bright and intelligent. There was a natural ingenuousness in him which
was engaging. Yet he stood at the bar of the police court a thief. The boy had been a diligent
student in the annals of crime. Lives of pirates, thieves, foot-pads and highwaymen, had kindled in
his breast a fiery admiration of their deeds; and he was beginning to imitate the heroes whose
adventures he had studied, when, fortunately, the law stepped in, just as he had passed across the
threshold of crime."

These poisonous books are like the large serpent we once read of, that crawled through a
window into a dwelling house and wrapped its scaly form around the housewife and crushed her
to death.

Some young people may not be allowed to attend theaters and shows, yet, if permitted to
bury themselves for hours in novels and story papers, they will be equally polluted and ruined.
There is no preacher or public speaker upon earth to whom young people will give the undivided
attention that they will a novel or story paper. The novel holds them spell-bound for hours, while it
engraves upon their minds, vain air-castles and foul pictures which all the cycles of eternity can
never efface.

"About twenty-five years ago," said one, "I formed a most intimate acquaintance with a
young man of fine education and commanding talents; and we soon became bosom friends.

One morning, after school, at a street corner, he handed me a book, which he said he could
lend to me for only one-quarter of an hour. We stood at that corner a few moments, while I looked
at the obscene pictures, and read a few pages in that polluting volume. I handed it back to him, and
never saw it again; but the poison took effect, 'the sin left its mark'. I can not erase the effects of the
impure thoughts which in that quarter of an hour that vile book lodged in my heart, and which (may
God forgive me!) I harbored there. I can and do pray against the sin, and for God's grace to enable
me to resist it, yet it causes me great bitterness and anguish. Young men, as a lover of your souls, I
tell you in all sincerity that there is nothing which I would not willingly give to have the veil of
oblivion cast over the scenes and the sentiments of that corrupt volume."

Again, novels and sensational story papers hold no small rivalry with the Bible and
Sabbath schools. Many a young person has remained shut up in a room all day Sunday, while an
enchanting novel like the boy's bluing proceeded to poison their mind.

Novel reading also when frequently indulged, becomes a habit similar to that of tobacco
and strong drink. Who is it that has not beheld a novel fiend at midnight leaning over his printed
lies, while his eyes glared with unhallowed fire?

"With vigilance and fasting, worn to skin

And bones, and wrapped in most debasing rags
Thou might'st have seen him lounging on a cot
And holding strange communion with a book."

* * * * * * *

09 -- THE NICKEL SHOW

"The heart of fools is in the house of mirth" (Ecc. 7:4).

In the southern part of the state of Mississippi and Louisiana there are several small rivers,
lakes and creeks, whose waters are of a muddy, reddish color. Among the many reptiles found
therein, such as frogs, turtles, crawfish, snakes and fish, there are a number of creatures, belonging
to the crocodile family, called alligators. Their weight ranges from about one to four hundred
pounds. It is said that in the summertime when these large alligators get hungry they will swim to
the edge of the creek or river and lie for hours with their heads out of the water and their mouths
wide open. This of course attracts the attention of thousands of flies, as they are quite numerous in
that part of the country. When a large number of flies have settled in the mouth of one of these
monstrous creatures, it will close it quickly, swallow down the flies and then open it for another
supply. It will keep this up until its hunger is satisfied. Sometimes numbers of these alligators can
be seen lying along the riverbank in this position.

What these large crocodiles are to the innocent flies in the Southland, the five and ten cent
shows have become to our young people throughout the land. In almost every community there is
one of these death-traps. It is true, they are beautifully painted and dazzled with light and splendor,
and sending out waves of enchanting music upon the air, yet, they, like the alligators are devouring
hundreds of victims alive and dragging them to death and hell. Chicago will doubtless never forget
the rueful December afternoon when hundreds of her thoughtless sons and daughters were
suffocated and ruined forever by one of these deadly alligators. It is simply appalling when we
think of the damning effect they make upon our sons and daughters.

Nowadays the young people have well nigh deserted the Sunday-school, young people's
meeting, and the church, and can be seen on Sunday by the hundreds in these awful death-traps.

Let us notice some of the damning effects theaters and shows have upon the young people
of today.

1. They transform pure, innocent modest girls into flirts, street-walkers and fashion slaves.

2. The theater instills an all-consuming desire in their hearts to become actresses and
public women.

3. The theater undermines the faithfulness, contentedness and simplicity of the young
housewife, and causes her to become unsettled, dissatisfied and wayward.

4. These playhouses with the exception of the ballroom, have transformed more pure,
virtuous girls into foul harlots than anything we could mention.

Let us also turn our attention to some of the ways these death-traps affect our young men.
They undermine business qualities and love of work. Through the play seen there the young man
learns how other men have gotten through and lived on easy street without working, therefore he
arrives at the conclusion that he will pursue the same course. Many a young man after he spends an
evening at the theater has come out with all of his home training blighted and the whole course of
his plans and future prospects altered.

2. The theater not only destroys the love of work and makes young men lazy, but also makes
them shiftless, aimless fops, who care for nothing but dress and flirting on the streets. There are
hundreds of these shiftless fellows lurking on the street corners in large cities, wearing high
collars, fashionable cut clothing and stiff hats, who have not a dollar in the world.

All of their possessions are on their person. It is true, they were once industrious,
ambitious, young men, but by frequenting these hellholes and coming in touch with the fashion
fiends found therein, they have completely lost their equilibrium and become as much intoxicated
with fashion as the drunkards are with rum.

3. The next powerful effect these places have upon our sons is, they instill in them a
tendency and secret desire to become notorious bandits, crooks and outlaws. On attending the
theater and seeing the lives of Jessie James, Bob Ford, Arizona Peat, Buffalo Bill and such
characters produced, they return home incensed and deeply impressed to pursue a similar course.

These gilded death-traps are almost as destructive to the young people as the saloons. They
give rise to numberless crimes and awful deeds. No sensible parent, say nothing about
Christianity, should ever allow their sons and daughters to enter such a place. And all sensational,
misleading books, story papers and pictures, distributed at the door of our homes, should be
speedily committed to the flames. "These things possess a peculiar facility to deceive. They allure
that they may betray and destroy. They meet the youth with a pleasant smile that they may more
securely thrust a dart through his heart."

"Ye sons of Adam, vain and young,

Indulge your eyes, indulge your tongue;
Taste the delights your souls desire,
And give a loose to all your fire.
Pursue the pleasures you design,
And cheer your hearts with song and wine;
Enjoy the day of mirth; but know,
There is a day of judgment too."

* * * * * * *

10 -- NEGLECTING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

"And, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for
to read" (Luke 4:16).

Still another one of Satan's successful ways of destroying the young people, is to allure
them away from the Sunday school. It is rather difficult for him to destroy them while they are kept
under the influence of the church and Sunday school, therefore, he uses every conceivable method
possible to prevent their being instructed in the Word and ways of the Lord. He reminds us of how
the country farmers use to do when they wanted to butcher a certain hog. They would first have to
devise a plan to get it separated from the other hogs so they could successfully strike it the
death-blow. Sometimes in order to get it separated they would have to drop a few grains of corn
here and there and thus toll it away and slay it. We can see now with our mind's eye, the axe, the
keen razor-edged butcher-knife, and the pool of blood upon the ground. So many times Satan has
used a similar method to lead precious boys and girls away from the Sunday-school to strike the
death blow and stick them to the heart with his dagger. Now, since the farmer used corn in trapping
the hogs, let us notice some of the things used by Satan in luring the young people from the
Sunday-school. They are as follows: Baseball games, park going, social visiting, auto riding, the
ice-cream parlor and lawn-tennis games. All of these things and many others, seem perfectly
harmless to the thoughtless youth, but like the farmer's corn, they lead down to death and woe.

Every young person should deem it their indispensable duty to attend the Sunday-school
regularly without fail. Seventy-five per cent of the boys who are arrested and brought into the
various police courts weekly, are those who do not attend Sunday-school. "A poor man hung
sometime ago for the crime of murder, said the first step to his getting into crime was breaking the
Sabbath."

"A world without a Sabbath would be like a man without a smile, like a Summer without
flowers, and like a homestead without a garden.
 Through the week, we go down into the valley of care and shadows. Our Sabbath should be
hills of light and joy in God's presence; and so, as time rolls by, we should go on from mountain
top to mountain top, till at last we catch the glory of the gate, and enter in to go out no more
forever."

* * * * * * *

11 -- SMOKING CIGARETTES

"I will take away his... abominations from between his teeth" (Zech 9:7). It is marvelous
the sagacity Satan used in constructing his instruments with which to destroy the human race. All of
his temptations, snares and entanglements are made to run parallel with the likes and dislikes of
mankind and are highly flavored to appease their taste. His bill of fare contains just what sinner's
fallen natures crave, hence, for this reason they are not willing to believe that the many practices
forbidden in the Bible are wrong. Satan has succeeded in giving tobacco a prominent place among
the artificial appetites of millions of men and boys. Therefore, because their appetites demand it,
they will not be convinced that it is unhealthy, hurtful and sinful. There is a great deal being said
these days from both the pulpit and press against strong drink and we heartily say "Amen", yet we
are convinced of the fact that the cigarette habit is almost as destructive to young men as strong
drink. We admit, however, that it does not meet the same degree of opposition from the church or
public, and for this very reason, it flourishes almost everywhere; even among the refined and
well-bred. Yes, people who would look upon a drunkard with disdain, will cheerfully receive a
cigarette fiend into their home and society. The apparently innocent cigarette undermines the
constitution and drags a young man down to a premature grave almost as quickly as strong drink.

At this point we feel impressed to briefly relate our own experience as a cigarette smoker,
slave and fiend, and then leave the reader to decide as to whether he cares to be caught in a similar
snare.

When we first began to use cigarettes, we had no relish for them whatever but simply used
them because we saw other young men doing so. We thought it made one appear smart, manly and
important. After continuing the unpleasant effort for sometime we awoke to the fact that there was a
growing fondness for these deadly things arising in our breast. It continued to increase rapidly and
within the space of three years we had become a perfect slave and were as helpless in their power
as a lamb in the paws of a lion.

At times when we happened to be out of cigarettes and away from the store, or out of
money with which to purchase them, the appetite that heaved within would send us to and fro
through the streets in search of at least a cigarette stub. It mattered not where it lay whether in the
mud, spittle or among the garbage, we seized it with as much delight as if we had found a silver
dollar.

A second way in which we were affected by cigarette smoking was as follows: Whenever
our supply was exhausted and we were compelled to be without them for a few hours, our whole
being was agitated and quivered from head to foot. We were also restless, disagreeable, peevish
and hard to please. During these times we would have cheerfully given a hundred dollars if
possible for a single cigarette. We were in such complete bondage to them that we sometimes
purchased two packages the same day. To smoke a cigarette was the last thing we did before going
to bed at night, the first thing we did on awaking in the night and the first thing when we awoke in
the morning.

We discovered finally that they were badly affecting our bronchial tubes and resolved to
give them up forever but found ourselves as helpless in their grasp as a timid hare would be in the
coils of a monstrous serpent.

We continued in this helpless condition for upward of fifteen years. In the year of 1895 we
gave our heart to Jesus Christ and He came into our life and broke every fetter and let the long
imprisoned captive go free. Praise His name! We can truthfully say today we have no desire
whatever for a cigarette.

"The Safeguard" says: "One of the devil's worst devices is the cigarette curse. A man
smokes a cigar, but a boy tackles a cigarette. The cigar is bad enough to debase, injure and finally
kill the man, or perhaps start a cancer growing in his mouth to finish him up; but the cigarette is
worse, and makes short work of the boy, who grows pale, feeble, nervous, sickly, and before he is
aware of his danger is beyond deliverance."

Says Prof. Laflin, "To be healthy the cigarette must be thrown away. It is very injurious,
and sure death to those who smoke them habitually. Tobacco in any form is bad. In a cigarette there
are five poisons, in a good cigar only one. In a cigarette there is the oil in the paper, the oil of
nicotine, saltpeter to preserve the tobacco, and opium to make it mild, and the oil in the flavoring.
The trouble with the cigarette is the inhaling of the smoke. If you blow a mouthful of smoke through
a handkerchief you will find it leaves a brown stain. Inhale the smoke or blow it through the
nostril, and all this stain will disappear. The oil and poison remains in the head or body.
Cigarettes create a thirst for rum. There should be anti-cigarette societies. Teachers ought to watch
and see that their pupils do not smoke. In 1879, 900,000 cigarettes were manufactured. A quarter
of a century later, in spite of laws passed to limit their sale, the number manufactured had
increased a thousand-fold."

Reader, please take a word of advice in time, and flee this deadly habit as you would flee
from the teeth of a dragon. Remember, the only successful way of accomplishing this, is never to
touch one.

* * * * * * *

12 -- CARRYING A REVOLVER

"He shall flee from the iron weapon" (Job. 20:24).

It is true, Satan does not shoot any aimless arrows, or spend time beating the air. He
always shoots to kill. He is planning to ruin every man, and woman, boy and girl in the world. If
men's spiritual eyes were opened and they could fully realize how untiringly Satan is pursuing
them they could not sleep day or night.
 Notwithstanding, however, his power and wisdom in his present condition, he cannot
personally harm a soul in the world. The only way he can get men into his power and dominion is
to deceive them and cause them to destroy themselves. He cannot kill us but can put an instrument
in our hand and then deceive us and cause us to kill ourselves. He cannot force us into trouble but
will induce us to perform some act that will bring ourselves into trouble. We feel safe in saying he
has no surer way of getting young men into trouble than that of carrying a revolver.

No doubt if tonight we would mount the wings of thought and visit every murderer's cell in
the world and ask each occupant what was the first thing they did that headed them towards a
murderer's fate, likely seventy-five per cent of them would exclaim with tear bathed cheeks:
"Carrying a revolver!" If it were possible to send a delegate to every gallows and electric chair in
the world and inquire of its terror-stricken victims why they were there, no doubt seventy-five
percent of them would exclaim with shame and regret: "It was carrying a revolver." If tonight we
would harness up the zigzag lightening and fly through the adamantine gates of hell and down
through the countless caverns of despair until we reached the spot where murderers lay, wrapped
in winding sheets of fire and ask those tormented beings how it came about that they who were
once pure and innocent boys, should turn out to be murderers and come to such a place of torment,
no doubt the dark empire would sound and resound with these regretful words, "Carrying a
revolver."

There is hardly anything that will get a young man into trouble more quickly than carrying a
revolver, for the following reasons: 1. When he has a revolver on his person he does not avoid
trouble as at other times, but puts himself in the way of it. 2. He is more easily insulted when he
has a revolver than when he has not. He will resent the slightest insult or smallest offense, simply
because he is depending on the revolver to protect him. Many a young man has flashed a revolver
simply for a bluff, but after doing so found himself compelled to use it or lose his life.

Reader, do not cultivate this dangerous habit. Strictly speaking, it is not wise for boys to
carry any kind of a concealed weapon, not even a jackknife. For just as soon as someone mistreats
you, your temper is likely to get the better of you and cause you to do some awful thing and thus get
into trouble for life.

There is no telling what you might be tempted to do while in a fit of anger. It is far better to
be a coward enjoying liberty than to be a hero behind the prison bars.

* * * * * * *

13 -- SWEARING

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" (Exodus. 20:7).

The next dark, disastrous by-path which leads the youth's unwary feet from the way of
virtue, happiness and heaven, is swearing. This too, like many other giant sins has a fascinating
appearance at the commencement. It causes the youth to think that he is unmanly, babyish and a
back number unless he, like the other bad boys in the community, can rip out dark foul oaths.
 Once upon a time there lived in the country a young man, whom Satan had succeeded in
making believe that he was a back number unless he could swear and fluently wield profanity and
slang. This thought, of course, set so heavily upon him from day to day that he finally arrived at the
conclusion that he would learn the various swearwords and also how to smoothly and unfalteringly
speak them. So he decided to go to the back side of an old field where he could not be seen or
heard and there take and practice his first lesson in swearing. His first sentence, if we remember
correctly, was, that God should damn some one. However, as these foul words rolled off of his
once pure and innocent lips, God caused him to feel as if tons of black molted pitch, (so to speak)
were rolling out of his mouth and caused the grasses, the shrubs, the trees, and all nature to look
upon him with a frown. This, of course, frightened him almost out of his wits, and he started for
home, at what we sometimes call "break-neck speed." While bounding over the field in his
homeward flight he felt as though a great, unseen hand was closely pursuing and reaching for him.
This, of course, added to his fright as well as increased the motion of his flight. On arriving home,
frightened and all but out of breath, he there and then resolved to never swear again, no matter how
much his playmates teased or criticized him.

Reader, would this not be a good resolution for you to make? I am sure you would be loved
and respected more, both by God and man. Did the thought ever enter your mired, reader, that a
person who is given to swearing and the use of profane language, is not wanted in good society,
besides, is rather a repulsive character almost everywhere? A man who has gotten into the habit of
swearing will invariably forget himself and use some of his dark, foul profanity in the presence of
ladies. His conversation becomes so honey-combed with it, that he will find it almost impossible
to use a half-dozen words without ripping out an oath. Oh, dear ones, do avoid this degrading,
blighting evil.

Let us now reflect for a moment and see what it would mean should God answer your
thoughtless, anger-be-gotten petition and "damn" the person who called forth your displeasure. It
would mean that He should instantly strike them dead, and then cast their soul into that awful place
the Bible calls hell where lost spirits are tormented day and night with fire and brimstone. Now be
honest, would you really want God to send such a great evil upon anyone? No doubt it would seem
immensely cruel to you to see someone throw a live cat into a furnace of fire. Well then, how
could you wish a fellow creature so ill a fate?

You may say, "I did not mean that it should actually come to pass but was using it for a
byword." Well, can you afford to use bywords in the face of that awful statement made by the
Savior which reads as follows:

"But I say unto you, that every idle word that man shall speak they shall give account
thereof in the day of judgment: for by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt
be condemned." (Matt. 12:36-37).

* * * * * * *

14 -- DANCING
 "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31).

In the foreword of this little booklet we promised to point out to the young people some of
Satan's most prominent by-paths found along the great highway of life. Therefore, for us to fail to
mention the one bearing the above title would be doing no small injury to both the cause of Jesus
Christ and the human race. It is utterly impossible for a finite mind to conceive or a human's pen
describe the sorrow, disgrace and woe that has come to the sons and daughters of Adam through
this legalized, subtle and almost unparalleled evil. We have read in both ancient and modern
history of great battlefields where some of the noblest and bravest warriors the world ever knew
fell and were numbered with the countless dead. Ah, reader! there is another great battlefield
within a stone's throw of many of our doors where a greater battle is being waged. The strife is not
with military arms for power or place, but is between virtue and vice, purity and pollution,
sagacious reason and maddened passion, innocent maids and incarnated fiends.

Now since it is impossible to give the reader an accurate description of the awful evils
propagated by the dance, we will simply give in brief, a pen picture of a pure, innocent girl on her
first evening at a ball, and then leave the matter for sane persons to decide for themselves as to
whether dancing is right or wrong.

"See her in the embrace of a gallant young man, a thing which at any other place but the
dance hall would be considered indecent and vulgar. Let us observe her more narrowly still. See
her head resting upon his shoulder, her face upturned to his, her bare arms almost around his neck,
her partly nude swelling breast heaving tumultuously against his; face to face they whirl on, his
limbs interwoven with hers, his strong right arm around her yielded form.

He presses her to him until every curve in the contour of her body thrills with the amorous
contact." Reader, do you think such a practice is right and decent, say nothing about Christianity?

"It is three o'clock A. M. now the ball is over, so let us take a hurried glance at her. as she
leaves for home accompanied by the same gallant young man. "Her blood is hot from the exertion
and her every carnal sense is aroused and aflame. She is led to the ever waiting carriage, where
she sinks exhausted on the cushioned seat. Oh! if we could picture to you the fiendish look that
comes into her suitor's eyes as he sees his helpless victim before him. Now is his golden
opportunity. He must not miss it, and he does not, and that beautiful girl who entered the ballroom
as pure and innocent as an angel (so to speak) a few hours before, returns to her home that night
robbed of that most precious jewel of womanhood... virtue! She has no longer any claim to purity;
her self-respect is lost; she sinks lower and lower; society shuns her, and she is finally forced into
the brothel where she becomes a toy and plaything for the libertines and drunkards." Let us here
drop the black curtain and hide this awful picture of sorrow and disgrace!

"Once upon a time a revival was in progress in New York City in which a young lady was
deeply convicted. From its solemn scenes she turned to the ballroom with its frivolity and fashion.
Conscience was outraged, but not slain. Again she was found at the meeting, and urged to decide
for God. An invitation to another ball turned her feet from the house of God. She went to the ball,
and returned home only to die without hope.
 Two short weeks saw her among seekers of religion, then in the ballroom again in the
place of prayer, again in the ballroom, and then in her coffin."

As the druggists cover their pills with some sweet substance to make them more palatable,
so the devil, under the sport of pleasure and dances maketh souls to swallow shame, disgrace,
death and hell. Where wildness and disorder are visible in the dance, there Satan, death, and all
kinds of mischief, are likewise upon the floor. For this reason, I could wish that "The dance of
death" were painted on the walls of all ballrooms, in order to warn the dancers, not by the levity of
their deportment, to provoke the God of righteousness to visit them with a sudden judgment."

Reader, do take warning in time, remember, an after-remedy will be too late.

* * * * * * *

15 -- DISTURBING RELIGIOUS MEETINGS

"Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give
the sacrifice of fools" (Ecc. 5:1).

Satan seems to take special delight in stirring up young people to disturb religious
meetings. There are those, who when attending parties, shows, entertainments, etc. are as orderly
and well behaved as any one, but the same people when attending a religious meeting will act
more like uncivilized heathens than refined, up to date, high-school graduates. No doubt multiplied
thousands of young people have in this way grieved away the Spirit of God for ever and sealed
their eternal doom. Satan is well aware of the fact that this is one of the most awful sins that a
human spirit can commit, therefore, he pushes them as far as he can on this line so as to make them
seal their own doom.

It may be profitable at this point to call the reader's attention to some of the reasons why
Satan takes such delight in prompting young people to disturb religious meetings. You rarely ever
see an old person, that is, an elderly sinner disturbing a meeting for the simple reason Satan has
him almost securely bound and tied down with the viewless fetters of habit, unbelief and rebellion.
Hence, eight chances out of ten, they will never be saved any way so does not waste any time on
them.

Satan's first reason for stirring up and prompting young people to disturb religious meetings
is to prevent the Gospel from settling upon them and duly impressing them. Just as one has to be
quiet when getting a photograph taken, equally so does one have to be attentive to be properly
impressed by the Gospel. Hence, if Satan can succeed in making the young people frivolous, funny
and inattentive, he has accomplished his purpose and headed off conviction. He is well aware of
the fact that it is easier for them to get saved while young and tender than at any other point in life.
If he can succeed in running them through the various revival meetings without giving their hearts
to God, his chances are far better for ruining them forever. Every revival meeting that sinners pass
through without yielding to God, the harder their hearts become and the more likely they are to be
lost in the end.
 There are multitudes in hell today who once flocked to revival and campmeetings but the
reason they did not get saved was, they allowed Satan to catch away the truth by making them
restless, jolly and disinterested. They did not awake to this fact, however, until they lifted up their
eyes in hell.

A second reason why Satan prompts young people to disturb religious services is because
it detracts and hinders other earnest souls from hearing and accepting the glad tidings of the cross.
The Lord Jesus spoke of a class of people who would not enter the Gospel gate themselves and
hindered those who were endeavoring to enter.

Reader, permit me to offer a few suggestions on how you should conduct yourself when
attending a religious meeting even though you may not be a Christian.

1. Never sit with a noisy talkative crowd, but take a seat beside some quiet, well-behaved
person and be as orderly and attentive as if you were a Christian. For you owe this degree of
respect to both God and man.

2. Never do or say anything that will attract attention or interrupt the speaker in any way.

3. Be extremely careful not to run in and out of the door during the service. The young
people are greatly at fault on this point. As far as possible, always remain in your seat until after
the benediction has been pronounced. If in any case duty requires you to leave before the
benediction has been pronounced, go out quietly and with as little disturbance as possible.

4. Do not under any circumstances smoke within the bounds of the church premises. It is an
irreverent act, besides displays your ignorance and poor training.

5. Never take a dog to a religious meeting, it is no place for dogs. It has a tendency to
undermine the seriousness of a congregation, besides, disturbs the speaker.

6. Avoid standing in groups around the churchyard or door. Either go in and sit down or go
home. The churchyard is no place for loafers and flirts to congregate.

7. When the altar call is being given, if you do not feel disposed to go up, very well, but do
not act light or frivolous, neither try in any way to hinder those who may wish to go. You could
hardly engage in a more dangerous act. During such circumstances it would be well to keep the
following thought in mind, it is not simply the preacher and church members that you are there
dealing with but the Great God, the maker of heaven and earth, the one who burned Aaron's sons
alive for profaning the altar, the one who caused the earth to open its mouth and swallow Korah,
Dathan and Abiram alive, because they trifled with sacred things.

This same God holds the reins of your life in His hands, hence all He need to do is to
lightly breathe upon your frail spirit and life's flickering lamp will immediately go out and you
will pass down to moonless, mornless, sunless gloom, where souls forever weep.

* * * * * * *
16 -- FEARING THE PEOPLE

"I have transgressed the commandments of the Lord... because I feared the people, and
obeyed their voice" (1 Sam. 15:24).

Likely, in the final reckoning day when the labyrinth of Satan's by-paths is seen beneath the
meridian blaze of truth, we will then discover that the "Fear of man" held no small place among the
chief ones in leading millions of souls to the flames.

Fear is the chief instrument used by the arch enemy in destroying timid, backward people.
There are thousands of this class in the world who are convinced that they should serve the Lord,
but for fear of what husband, wife, neighbor or friend may say or think, they still ignore their
convictions and better judgment and remain in sin.

People do not realize how tightly they are bound by the chain of public sentiment, however,
until duty summons them in a direction which crosses the fashion and custom of the people. The
Bible says, "The customs of the people are vain" (Jer. 10:3). Those who will be followers of the
Lord Jesus Christ and live with him in heaven must live right and obey their convictions no matter
if it cause them to lose every friend in the world. Jesus said, "If any man will come after me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matt. 16:24).

Many a person has failed to go forward and give their heart to God, during special
meetings for no other reason than that they were ashamed and afraid of the people. It is quite
evident, however, that they have never properly considered the following passage: "Whosoever
therefore shall be ashamed of me and my words in this, adulterous and sinful generation, of him
also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy
angels" (Mark 8:38).

"A young man by the name of Smith was seen standing looking on with interest during the
exercises of a prayermeeting at camp-meeting in Rootstown Ohio. One of the ministers observing
him addressed him on the subject of religion. His eyes filled with tears and he seemed inclined to
seek religion. One of his wicked companions perceiving it stepped up and looking him in the face
remarked, "Smith, I would not be a fool." Poor Smith could not resist such influences and dashing
the tears from his eyes turned on his heel and went away. He fingered about the camp-ground until
the meeting closed for the evening and went off with his company. They bantered him on the
subject of his feelings. To show to them that he had not the feelings they supposed he commenced
cursing and blaspheming in a most awful manner and making all imaginable sport of religious
things when a large limb from a tree fell on him and he, with a curse on his tongue was forced into
the presence of God without one moment's warning."

"Shall I for fear of feeble man,

The Spirit's course in me restrain?
Or undismayed in deed and word,
Be a true witness of my Lord,
What then is he whose scorn I dread?
Whose wrath or hate makes me afraid
A man! an heir of death! a slave
To sin! A bubble on the wave!"

* * * * * * *

17 -- PROCRASTINATION

"Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth" (Prov.
27:1).

Satan is by no means a novice and unskilled in the soul deceiving business, but is wide
awake and on the alert. He is well aware of the fact that it requires different methods and new
tactics to reach various classes of people.

There is a class of easy-going, respectable, moral sinners that he cannot reach with strong
drink, card playing, dancing and such like things. Therefore, in order to run them down and wreck
them forever, he has to adopt another method different from that of sin and vice. He has one,
however, in reserve that he uses especially on kid-gloved, respectable sinners. That method is,
"Procrastination". Where all other forms of sin and unrighteousness have slain their thousands,
procrastination has slain its tens of thousands. It readily agrees with sinners that they should give
their hearts to God and get ready for the judgment but tells them, "there is no special need of being
in a hurry or getting excited over the matter there is time enough yet."

Nearly every sinner in Christendom, no doubt, intends to give his heart to God and be a
Christian some day, but says "not now." Sinners do not seem to have awakened to the fact that
tomorrow is not promised to a man on earth. Today is all the time we can claim. We are all within
one heartbeat of heaven or hell, a sea of glass or a lake of fire and brimstone, endless bliss or
endless torment.

Tomorrow may find our bodies upon the cooling board and our spirits trying the awful
realities of a never ending eternity. He who expects to be saved and gain a home in heaven must
act today.

Bewitching word, the germ of woe,

Indulged so oft by friend and foe,
On land and sea wher'er we go,
O fickle, false "Tomorrow!"

Her path is paved with pain and grief,

And ruined hopes so vain and brief,
Which faded like a blasted leaf;
O blighting bane, "Tomorrow!"

Her hands are stained with human gore,

Her council fraught with Satan's lore,
Which sinks the soul to rise no more;
O viewless foe, "Tomorrow!"

To all the past we're dead and gone,

And to the future yet unborn...
And on the verge of "Judgment morn."
We dare not trust "Tomorrow."

* * * * * * *

18 -- INFIDELITY

"He that believeth not, shall be damned" (Mark 16:16)

Satan's most successful methods of ruining people nowadays, are either to make them wise
above what is written, wiser than God the Creator of the universe, so to speak, or disbelieving
what God has said in His written Word. This snare, no doubt, has caused the down fall of more
than a billion people. Satan knows that man's only hope of escaping the lake of fire, and gaining a
home in heaven, is believing and accepting the Word of God. If he can succeed in getting them to
doubt it, there remains no other hope for them. He has a unique way of accomplishing this,
however. He does not generally begin the difficult task with grown-up men and women, but begins
with the children at school. He well knows that a child usually has more confidence in what the
teacher tells it, than in any other person in the world.

Therefore, if he can succeed in getting an infidel for a school teacher, he has gained a great
victory. It matters not what the preacher may say on Sunday or what the Sunday-school teacher may
tell the child about Christ and God, it is all contradicted and driven out of its mind during the other
five days which it spends under the instruction of the school-teacher. If the school-teacher says
there is no God, no Christ and no hell, why the child is led to believe it in preference to what
anyone else says. The child has not yet learned that it must believe the Bible, preferable to any man
or woman in the world, no matter if they are deans and college professors. God has been on both
sides of the question. He sees both time and eternity and knows all the things contained therein.

He knows the names and numbers of all the stars. He knows both where heaven and hell
are located. He knows just the information to give us, that will help us to escape hell and gain a
home in heaven. The school-teacher has only traveled through a small portion of this world,
besides has been upon earth less than a century. But the all-wise God has always existed and is
without beginning or end. Now, reader, in the face of these indisputable facts who ought we to
believe, God or man? Which of the two would be safer to rely on and to trust our immortal souls
with? Man will die and his thoughts perish, God will live always. Man cannot help us in death,
God will help and hold us up beyond the grave.

"A gentleman eminent in the literary world had his mind in early life deeply imbued with
infidel sentiments. He and one of his companions often carried on their conversation in the hearing
of a religious but illiterate countryman. The gentleman, having afterwards become a serious
Christian, was concerned for the countryman, lest his faith in the Christian religion should have
been shaken by their remarks. One day, he asked him whether what had been so frequently
advanced in his hearing had not produced this effect upon him. "By no means," answered the
countryman: "It never made the least impression upon me." "No impression on you!" said the
gentleman: "Why you must know that we had read and thought on these things much more than you
have an opportunity of doing." "Oh, yes!" said the other; "but your conversation plainly showed me
that you had never read nor thought much on your Bible. And besides, I know, also, your manner of
living: I knew, that to maintain such a course of conduct, you found it necessary to renounce
Christianity."

Reader, no matter what men may say, let us believe what God has said in the Bible. It is
true, we may not understand all it says, yet, we can understand enough of it to repent, get
converted, live a godly life and go to heaven when we die. This is all that is necessary. "For the
grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us, that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present
world" (Tit. 2: 11, 12).

"Col. Ethan Allen, leader of the Green-Mountain Boys, was a notorious infidel. His wife
was a pious woman, and taught her daughter the Gospel. This daughter sickened; her father was
sent for, to hear her dying words. "Father," she said, "I am about to die: shall I believe the
principles which you have taught me, or shall I believe what my mother has taught me?" After
waiting a few moments to calm his extreme agitation, he answered, "Believe what your mother has
taught you."

"On the bed in his last illness, lay an infidel. The door opened; and a companion, who had
first led him into the path of vice, entered. The dying infidel, recovering himself for a moment
recognized him with a bitter smile, saying, "Behold thy work: thou hast done this!" The wretch
approached and began to pour into his ear his sophistic arguments. Turning a face, pale with rage,
he cried, "Leave me, be gone! you have poisoned my existence; you have directed my soul to hell;
and dare you in this hour, torture your victim?" The man slunk away rebuked, and left the room,
perhaps, in his turn, to die the same miserable death. The poor infidel raved, swore, and
blasphemed, till the nurse, unable to bear the horrible scene, fled, and left him to die alone."

Reader, beware of this awful misleading by-path.

* * * * * * *

19 -- CARD PLAYING AND GAMBLING

"They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots." (John 19:24)

There are but few parents nowadays, say nothing about young people, whose eyes are fully
opened to the hidden danger that lurks beneath what the world calls "Innocent games," such as
checkers, dice, pool, and card playing. It is true, these games seem perfectly harmless when
engaged in by the thoughtless youth around the fireside, and yet, in many instances, that has proven
to be the hot-bed from which sprung some of the most notorious gamblers that the world ever
knew.

Our advice to young people, one and all, is never engage in any of the above mentioned
games, under any circumstances, for the following reasons First -- because they are wrong. Second
-- because they, in some unknown way, throw an alluring, bewitching spell over the thoughtless
youth, which destroys his will-power, blinds his reason, and brings him into perfect bondage.

One day in the city of Chicago a young man who had been brought under the bewitching
influence of gambling, was on his way to the depot to leave the city, having already sent his trunk
to the station. Having some spare time he strolled into a gambling room for a few moments to see
what was going on. On entering, he decided to play a few games, and in doing so he became so
overpowered by its bewitching influence that he remained right there until he lost his railroad fare
and every dollar besides. After losing his money he was so controlled by its magic power, that he
pawned his watch, coat, and everything possible, lost them all and was thus stranded.

When the writer was learning to play cards around the fireside, he did not realize, that
what then appeared to be an innocent game, contained a hidden power that in after years would
gradually drag him away from the pure and innocent, to the saloon and gambling hell, and besides
would eventually cause him to cheat, lie, and steal.

There is hardly a practice to be engaged in that will bring a person into a fit of temporary
insanity more quickly than gambling. One of the writer's first lessons in gambling was with a boy,
much larger than himself, one day out in the open forest beneath a large tree. If memory serves him
rightly, the first stake that was put down by the large boy was a nickel, which was quickly won,
then he threw down nickel after nickel until all of his money was exhausted. Then he proceeded to
throw down his jack knife which was also taken from him, and lastly he threw down his cuff
buttons, which the writer quickly won. But lo, at this point there came a sudden pause in the
performance, and also a blankness and confusion in each of our memories, for all of a sudden the
boy flew into a fit of temporary insanity and knocked the writer down, stamped and ran all over
him within a few seconds of time, while nickels, cuff buttons, and jack knife flew in various
directions. During that time the writer did not know whether he was dead or alive.

One day in the state of Ohio, while a company of young men were engaged in gambling,
one of the company, who had lost his money, flew into a fit of anger, drew a revolver and shot one
of his comrades five times, killing him on the spot.

Some years ago one of the writer's young men acquaintances won a large purse at
gambling, but in a few days (which is generally the case) lost it all. He became so wrought up over
the fact that he lost his mind and in a few months died and went to eternity to share a gambler's
hell. Oh boys and girls, beware!

Gambling will not only cause people to fly into a fit of temporary insanity and lose their
reason, but will also cause them to gamble away other people's money, a thing which is equally as
wrong as burglarizing a bank. We once knew a young man who drove for a Laundry Company in a
certain city, who while collecting one day, stopped in a gambling room and lost every dollar of the
company's money.

About ten years ago as the writer was traveling north from the city of New Orleans, La., a
company of hearty, jolly men boarded the train about fifty miles out of the city and took seats in the
smoking car where they soon became engaged in a lively card game. After some little time, we
heard the discharge of a revolver and on making an investigation, discovered that two of the men
had been engaged in a quarrel, and while one was attempting to shoot the other, he drew a large
knife and cut his throat almost from ear to ear. Hence, as we gazed upon the lifeless young man and
the pool of curdled blood upon the car floor, we then and there realized to some extent, the awful
danger that lurked beneath what the world called "an innocent game".

Gambling has been the cause of many young men lying, stealing, cheating, dying in the
poorhouse, and landing in hell.

The human life at best is held by a slender cord, but if there be such a thing as a person
living continually within one heart's beat of eternity, it is the gambler. His days are swifter than a
weaver's shuttle and his life more uncertain than the evening clouds that fly over his head. He is
here today and gone today.

* * * * * * *

20 -- SELLING OUT TOO CHEAP

"What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:37).

The next by-path which is draped in funeral blackness and paved with regret, leading down
to a world where Hope and Mercy are strangers is selling out to Satan too cheap. Truthfully
speaking there is nothing in this world that we can call our own but our souls. No matter how much
of this world's wealth, knowledge and grandeur we may get together, some day within a few brief
months or years we will leave it all behind and go into eternity empty handed. Satan is well aware
of the fact that the soul of man is the only thing of value in this world. Not only that, but he is also
aware of the fact, that God has given men full charge of their souls, to do with them as they choose.
They can meet God's requirements and go to heaven if they wish, or serve the world, sin and the
devil and make their beds in hell.

The Word of God tells us of a man who while in this world, made ample provision for
everything but his soul. Let us hurriedly read the story. "And he spake a parable unto them, saying,
the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought within himself, saying,
what shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said this I will do: I
will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat,
drink and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required of thee:
then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?"
 This vain man, notwithstanding his having made every provision for the comforts of this
life, failed to make arrangements with God for a home in heaven. All he seemed to care for was
eating, drinking and pleasure. O that this man was the only one that made this foolish choice! O that
he was the only one who bartered his soul for earth's fading toys!

Let us briefly retrospect the path of finished time, and observe a young lady along the way,
who also made a similar choice, and sold out too cheap. In the city of New York some years ago
there lived a wealthy family who had two daughters who were beautiful society belles. They had
almost everything that heart could wish, such as fashionable clothing, diamonds, fancy head-gear
etc. They went abroad and were favorites almost everywhere. Their whole time and attention was
given to parties, suppers, entertainments, matinees, clubs, dances and such like things. They gave
religion and their souls welfare no consideration whatever. As they went on in the busy whirl of
New York society life year in and year out, one of them was stricken with that dreadful malady,
consumption. Everything was done for her that medical skill dictated. She was taken to various
health resorts, but all to no avail. In a short time her beauty faded and that once lovely form
dwindled down to a mere skeleton. All human efforts failed and that beautiful, society-butterfly
was doomed to die. One gloomy morning it was quite evident to every one present that the final
hour had arrived. A pall of blackness (so to speak) settled upon the gilded mansion, while horror
and suspense fettered every heart. As her lungs were well nigh gone, and breathing almost
impossible, she felt a strange sensation creeping over the body, and saw the dear loved ones
around the bedside rapidly fading from her vision, and awoke to the awful fact, that she was dying
and commenced to scream, "Pa, don't let me die! pa don't let me die! O mamma I cannot die! I
cannot die! O pray for me and don't let me die!" But all of this was of no avail, for in a few
moments, amid the shrieks and screaming of loved ones, her spirit passed into the great eternity.
She had sold her immortal soul to the devil for the transitory things of this life.

"Earth, with its waves, and woods, and winds,

Its stars, and suns, and streams,
Its joyous air, and gentle skies,
Filled with all happy melodies,
Has passed, or, with dark memories,
Comes back in torturing dreams.
Never again shalt thou behold,
As when a bounding girl,
The fresh buds of the fragrant spring,
Its song-birds on their April wing,
And all its vales a-blossoming,
Or summer's rosy whirl."

* * * * * * *

21 -- HOW TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN

"Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Act. 2:37).

 We feel that it would be doing the young people an injustice to close this little message
without first informing them how to come to Christ and be saved. We will not attempt, however, to
tell them everything contained in the Bible, but in a brief way, outline the essentials.

1. The first step toward becoming a Christian is to forsake sin and evil habits. The word
says, "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto
the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon" (Isa.
55:7).

2. It will not only be necessary to repent and turn from sin and evil habits but also to
forsake evil associates, if not, they will lure you back into the paths of sin. The Word of God gives
the following exhortation. "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not into the way of evil
men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away. For they sleep not, except they have done
mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall."

3. Confession is the next step toward becoming a Christian. The Word says, "He that
covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whosoever confesseth and forsaketh them shall have
mercy" (Prov. 28:12). This confession is threefold. First, we are to confess the sins and misdeeds
of our past and present life to God, humbly. 2. If we have wronged anyone, we are to go or write
to them and confess it and meekly ask their forgiveness. 3. If we have committed a public offense
we are to confess it publicly, and ask forgiveness of the public.

4. A fourth step toward becoming a Christian is restitution; which means if we have stolen
goods in our possession we are to take them back to the owner, and, ask his forgiveness and pay
the damage. If we should remember any bills that we have neglected we are to pay them as soon as
possible. Of course, if we remember some person that we wronged years ago, and are unable to
find them, God will not hold it against us, since we are willing to rectify it providing we find the
parties.

5. The next step necessary, is to begin to seek with earnest prayer and faith. The question
may here arise, what are we to seek? We are to seek forgiveness of sin, the new birth. The Word
says, "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon him while He is near" (Isa. 55:6).
The question may also arise, how are we to seek? The Word says, "Ye shall seek me and find me,
when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jet. 29:13). You may say, "I thought it was to be
obtained by naked faith, why is it then necessary to seek?" Certainly it is by faith, but remember, it
is that faith that prompts us to seek. When the hungry school boy goes in to ask his mother for a
slice of bread and butter he has faith to believe she will give it to him but this belief is not the
bread, it only helps him to obtain the bread. So it is with faith. We are not to stop and think we
have the blessing, simply because God had promised it in His Word, nor because we believe the
Word to be true, but we are to carry the promise to God on our knees, and there contend and hold
on until we receive the blessing. This is the way the disciples did in Act. 1:14. "These all
continued with one accord in prayer and supplication." If they were going to take the promise for
the blessing rather than hold on and plead the promise until the blessing came, there would have
been no need of "continuing in prayer." That would only be time wasted.
 Reader, do not grow discouraged and stop short of the blessing, but hold on until it comes.
You will not need anyone to tell you when it comes, for you will be the first one to know it.

The apostle John said, "Here b y know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He
hath given us of His Spirit" (1 John 4:13).

* * * * * * *

22 -- HOW TO RETAIN CHRISTIANITY

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Col. 2:6).

Since it is just as necessary for young people to keep saved as older ones, we here suggest
in brief a few rules which, if complied with will greatly assist them in doing so. They are as
follows:

1. No matter how busily engaged you may be always take time to pray in secret at least
three times a day (Dan. 6:10).

2. Be sure to keep as fully surrendered to Jesus every day as you were the first day you
started in the Christian life. (Heb. 10:38).

3. You must also take time to read a portion of the Word of God each day. It is always
more profitable to perform this pious duty in the morning before your mind becomes filled with the
duties and cares of life. (Act. 17:11).

4. As far as possible, be a regular attendant of the religious meetings. It is just as necessary

for you to do this in order to retain the grace of God as it is for the older people, if not more so.
(Heb. 10:25)

5. Be careful and do not run around from church to church, if so it will cause you to
become confused and mixed up in your experience. As soon as you become a Christian, go and
unite with the cleanest and most spiritual church and people that you can find. (Heb. 13:9)

6. When rudely assailed by the devil and tempted to do wrong, you must lift your heart to
God, in silent prayer, asking Him for strength and grace to resist the temptation. (1 Cor. 10:13)

7. Do not grow discouraged and give up simply because you make a few mistakes or speak
a careless, hasty word. (Psa. 103:13)

8. You must continue to testify and speak for Jesus whenever the opportunity presents
itself. Even the smallest streams of water must have outlets to remain fresh and prevent stagnation.
(Isa. 43:10)

9. When teased and picked at by your playmates or unsaved brothers and sisters at home,
do not contend or talk back. This is a unique way Satan has of getting at you. At times he will stir
them up to be unusually contentious and disagreeable; but during such times the way to keep
victory, is to hold your peace. (Isa. 53:7)

10. Lose no opportunity of doing good, such as handing out tracts, inviting some one to
church, visiting the sick, or even giving some thirsty souls a cup of cold water in the name of the
Lord. This is something we all can do. You will find that these small religious acts along the way
will help you to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth.

* * * * * * *

THE END