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I I ■■I .»^' o - . /^NE oi the greatest hindrances to good ^-"^ advice offered to young men is the oft- repeated declaration, "There is plenty of time," "I can stop when I please." Men do not seem to realize that, even it this were true, "Turning over a new leai" in the ledger does not blot out the bad entry, nor does ceasing to "sow wild oats" pre- vent God's law from being carried out. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap " There will be a harvest after every sowing. But the saying, "lean stop when I please," is as if a man should say, "I shall go on in my wrong course till I find I am not able to stop it." — ^^Siarely this is not the saying of a wise man t Y ou a^' know about the Niagara River I lived nea# it for a number of vears. Almost every summer the people there are tiorri- i fied by the report that a man has gone over il- _ Z*-!!- . __,- J.1 au:_ a_1 1 1^-^=^ the carelessness of men who have beeeme »u familiar with crossing the river some dis- tance above the falls. Strong, expert boatmen they are. who find it possible, generally, to pull through the current and into the quieter waters. So long, so often, as the man can do this his life is safe, of course, but it sometimes happens that fam- iliarity with the placid and seemingly harm- less ripple leads to over-confidence, and the man is thrilled with horror to find that his boat is beyond his control. The su- preme effort only holds him stationary for a few moments in the deadly current. The vaunting declaration, "I can easily pull out of it" is now changed, once for all, m a moment, into the awful conviction "It is too late; I cannot pull out of it; the cur- rent is too strong for me! A few more efforts and my strength will give out,— the river never grows tired !" Young men,when you cannot stop it will be too late. Keep out of the deadly cur- rent or pull out of it.if you are in it, now! Do not drift easily upon the foam-flecked rapids—when you cannot stop it will be all over with you and your smiling indifter- I 8 ence will be turned into the strugglet* of despair. My subject this afternoon has been given to me,-printed traps" and it is my purpose in the few words I shall speak to you to reveal these snares and to warn you against them while revelation or warning may still be of value to you. And first let me say a few words about traps in general. Traps are instruments used to catch living things, with the inten- tion of depriving them of their life or their liberty. Trappers are sharp-eyed, keen, resource- ful men, who know more about the habits of their victims than a professional naturalist. Satan,the old trapper of men.has studied his prey for many a century. Indeed he seems to have been acquainted with our nature from the beginning. And with won- derful persistency ^-ough his agents he is following up his victims with a terrible success. Once he failed ;-when he met the Son of God in the wilderness. Traps may be classed under two heads ; concealed traps and baited traps ; concealed I raps are placed where the victims are I'kely to fall into them unsusp^-ctingly. Baited traps are usually concealed as well but their danger lies chiefly in the attrac- tive ba.t- the fur trapper understands the food that will attract his victim, the angler knows well the kind of ily to use for the fish he ,s atter. And we may be sure one 80 skilled in the capture ot souls as our great enemy.understands well what tempta- tion to use in order to allure men and get them into his power. Young men! The danger lie. within youvselves, in your nature and your habits. If the way of danger is avoided, the snare or the pitfall will not be for you. It the appetite or the desire be watched with prayerful interest, the bait will not allure you into the trapper's power. The hook will float harmlessly beside yon in the stream. One thing must be remembered : Jtwas God and not Satan who made you , and he who gave you your being is able to I guide you in the safe and lawful and pure use of these faculties which he has planted { E t f b r ■? Printed TrHpg. And now as to our special theme, printed traps. When printing was discovered *in Europe (It was known centuries before in China and Japan.) When Gutenburg and Faust re- vealed the use of types there was put into the hand of man the most potent instrument that has ever been discovered. The printing press, however, does not create except indirectly. Its function and glory are in its limitless power in multi- pl^-mg or sowing the thoughts of men. And the good it has done and is doing in this IS beyond all computation. To take an example of its highest use the Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society for the past year tells oi the work of that society alone in the printing of God^s word in 313 languages and dialects, and the issue of over four millions of copies or portions of the word of God. This in a single year. Does not this suggest to us the river of Ezekiel's vision, which issuing from the Temnlft inoroaac^A ;« i ^v .. became a river that could not be crossed ■ 6 over? What a eighty stream of the water ofhfe ,8 here which ha« increased through Chan. , the 8.ni.le. Are we not reminded o the words in Revelation. " The leaves e tree were for the healing of the r tions as we see in fancy the ceaseless ly, silently.bke the snowflakes on a Christ- mas eve and not merely to hide the dark, ana its sorrows coi^s'ofr.-""". *'' '"""'P'-^'°g of the cop.es of God's thoughts we see the multi- Plyng of the thoughts of men and women suggested, stimulated, born ofTod'^ forth in every torm-in book and magazine .nd^ newspaper, day and night. oShe The Dark Side. But-the dark side of this magnificent development is at hand. Satan has „" I faded to ,ee and to appreciate the signifi • I cance of aH fK;- rr. v , . - o'gnin- ( I " ""' ^^^ "»o iaid his band I I I I I upon the pre«B. He has appeale.i to the greed and lust of its managers. He wh'ch IS wuhm tUe grasp of him who will use,h.smignt,instra™enttoappealtoI pa.,onsandtheseoret,ustandvLo,.:n th,s beneficent invention to become the in »trument of incalculable evil by the drffus- ■on Of mental and moral poison darlTr^^'V" ''''' '•'■''°"; ""Wntbe dark shadow and silence o. this deadly in- fluence that the traps are opened for he destruction of men I„ .i^^e and in secret they are hidden in the printed pag Ailurmgly and temptingly the; are bait' d w'th appeals to the passions of the human heart. Like Cl.opatra's asp. they are |«o„vevedinabasket of fruit or flowers and enter silently into the home, th bed' chamber the midnight thoughts Of the „n wary vicim. with their deadly poison. Ihese traps may be conveniently classed >n a general way under two heads : Or those directed again.t our faith and a 8 O those which are intended to destroy mor- ality or the practice of a pure life. Traps of Infidelity. Of the first, I shall only say a word or t«ro. The chief danger today is not so ni;'ch from the metaphysical and avowed m- fi^ielity of writers like Hume, or even Voltaire or Paine, as from the infused and diluted agnosticism which permeates so iiiuch ot the literature from the pens of eiever but superficial writers, who masquer- ade in the worn out and cast off clothes of the giants of inductive science. The insinuations and covert sneers made and scattered broadcast by these creatures against the Word of God, the church of Christ and the preaching of the Gospel would be unworthy ot notice, but from the j fact that so many of those who are unable to detect their falseness and superficiality are captured by them. I would challenge any man to tell me of a single church in this city in which the <1octrine8 so much spoken and written against as belonging to religion are nreach- ed or believed ; one where any attempt is V m pr de pa cu yo hai wh O — oy mor- ivord or I not 80 5wed in- >r even sed and iates 80 pens of asquer- )the8 of a made eatures rch of Gospel om the unable iciality me of ih the i^ritten reach- mpt is O !■ 9 made to deprive men of their freedom of thought ; where their personal responsibili- ty to God is denied ; any one in which men are fettered in the chains of a creed or are told that salvation in Christ is not freely and blessedly communicated through the faith of the Son of God. Surely the cause is weak which builds its walls on a falsp foundation. Let us know in plain fact the church or minister or christian who holds any such narrow or unchristlike doctrme. Trapg of Impure Literature. And now a word about tbe traps of im- pure literature. Perhaps you do not know that tons ot obscene printed matter of a character held to be as contraband and miurious as would be the entrance of a plague stricken ship, are issued from the press every year. Pages calculated with a devilish ingenuity to kindle the impure passions of the human heart. Suppose a cup of sparkling water were presented to you when you were thirsty by some fair hand accompanied with a bewitching smiFe what would be your fedings after you had I til 10 drunk it if you were told "You had drunk water from the drainage of a leprou, hospi- tal!- That. ,f ,t were possible, you had drunk into your blood the seed of inevi- table death, of death in its most awful and loathsome form! Well, God who knows what sin is, wrote it in the language ot leprosy in the body where men could see It and know its hideousness. Moral im- punty though clothed in fine garments and i bedecked with jewels is, in the soul, what leprosy is in the body-foul, incurable by (human skill-horrible, deadly. So God I has written it, and the seed of this soul I lepro. is in the pages of the literature which IS being scattered in countless num- bers over the land. Remember ! God has given you in your very being faculties in the possession and proper use of whicu lie the possibility of the tenderest and the strongest impulses of your life. Impulses of tremendous potency. Impulses which lead to the foun- dation of home, to unselfish devotion, to limiltess. almost infin.'f^ ^ • . without which you would not be what you -o Ld drunk is hospf- you had f inevi- vful and knows uage ol >uld see ral im- nts and 1, what ible by God 8 soul Jrature num- n your n and ity of pulses ndous foun- 3n, to jiilMes you 11 are in r aracter or strength. And herein m the very completeness of vour nature lies the possibility of your 'misery and destruction. As Bunyan put. it, an open- ing to the place of woe beside the very gate of heaven. The glory and crown of your manhood your strength turned into the mstrument of your slavery and debase- ment. Young man! Let me counsel you, avoid the very appearance of this evil as you would contact with the most loathe- some disease ! But some one will say, "You bind me- you appeal to fear. A young man cannot be held in bondage. He must be free. He must not be afraid" A true man is not free to do what is unmanly. An honourable man will say ••! hold my- self incapable of doing what is wrong." I am not free to steal or to lie or to do murder." Let it be so here. Say -with the help of Him who is able to keen you from falling, your Friend and Redeemer How then can I do this great wickedness and sm against God." T -6