Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-11-08
SINS FIELDS OF BLOOD.
REV. TALMAGE POINTS OUT THE
SHORT CUTS TO RUIN.

Gambling One of the Most Flagrant
Curses OF the Dsy-The EviI n Hag-
gard Transgrrssi0n That Comes Stag
gering Down Through Many Centuries
-Muttituhinous Miseries That Follow
in the Wake OF the Evil.
BROOKLYN, N. Y, Nov. THE Rev.
I. Dewitt Talmage, D. D., preached in
the Brooklyn Tabernacle this morning on
the subject "Aceldama." The opening
hymn was:
MY soul, be on thy guard!
Ten thousand foes arise"
After eXpounding the epistle OF James,
concerning the nature of temptation, DR..
Talmage announced the text, Acts l., 19:
"Aceldama, that is to say, the field OF
blood" Following is the sermon In full
The money that Judas gave for surrend-
erlng Christ was used to purchase a
graveyard. AS the monev was blood
money, the ground bought by it was
called in the Syriac tongue Aceldama,
meaning ca The field of blood" Well,
tnere is one word ! want to write today
over every race course where wagers are
staked, and every pool room and every
gambling saloon, and every table, public
or private, where men and women bet for
sumo OF money, large or small, and that
is a word incarDa adined with the life OF
! innumerabie victims-Aceldama. The
gambling spirits which Is at all times q
stupendous evil, ever and anon sweeps
over the country like an epidemic, pros
| trating uncourted thousands. There has
never been worse attack than tnat from
which all the villages, towns and cities
are now suffering. The farces recently
enacted in our Brooklyn court room, by
which 1t was proved that Ia the City OF
| Churches there is not enough moral force
| to put into the penitentiary the gambling
| jockeys who belong there, Is only a speci-
men OF the power gained by this abomina-
| tiOn, w1ich is brazen, sanguinary, trans
| continental, and hemisphere.
While among my hearers are those who
| have passed on into the afternoon of life,
and the shadows are lengthening. and the
| SKY crImsOns with the glow of the setting
| sun, large number of them are in early
| life, and the morning is coming down out
OF the clear sky upon them, and the bright
air IL redOlent with spring blossoms, and
the stream OF life, cleaning and glanc.
| ing, rushes on between f1owery banks,
making music as it goes. Some of you
! are engaged in mercantile concerns, as
clerks and bookkeepers, and your whole
| lite is to be passed in the exciting world
| of traffic. The sound of busy life stirs
you as the drum stdrs the fiery war-horse
Others are in the mechanical arts, tC
hammer and chisel your way through
life, and success awaits you. Some are
preparing Tor professional life, and grand
opportunities are before you; nay, some
of you already have buckled on the
| armOr.
But, whatever your age or calling, the
subject of gambling about which | speak
to-day is pertinent. Some years ago
| when an association tor the suppression
of gambling was organized, an agent oil
the association came to a prominent citi.
! zen and asked hun to patronize the so.
ciety. He said; "No. | can have no in.
| terest in such an organization. ! am in
no wise affected by that evil" At thai
| very time his son, who was his partner In
business, was one of the heaviest PLAYERS
! in "HerD IS" famous gambling establish
ment. Another refused his patronage on
| the same ground, not knowing that his
| first bookEeeper, though receiving @
| salary OF only a thousand dollars, was
| losing from fifty to one hundred dollars
per night. The president OF railroad
company refused TO patrOnize the institu-
tion, saying: THAT society is good for the
defense OF merchants, but we railroad peO
pie are not injured by this evll;" moi
knowing that, at that very time, two OF
his conductors were spending three nights
of each week at faro Ia bles in New York
Directly or indirectly this evil strikes al
| the whole world.
Gambling is the risKiug OF omethin 2
| more or less valuable IN the hope of win
ming more than you hazard. The instru
ments of gaming may differ. but the prin
| ciDle Is the same. The shufiiing and deal.
ing cards, however full of temptation. IL
| not gambling unless stakes are put up
| vuh 10 m I no n Oa m hk
carried on without cards, or dice, or bill
lizards, or a ten-pin alley. The man who
| bets on horses, on elections, on battles
the man who deals In "fancy" stocks, oil
| conducts a business which hazards extra
| capital, or goes into transactions without
foundation but dependent upon what meu
call "luck," is gambler.
1t is estimated that one-fourth OF the
business IN London is done dishonesty
Whatever YOU expect To get from your
neighbor without Offering an equivalent
In money, or time, or skill, is either the
| product OF t'eft or gaming. Lottery tick.
| cts and lottery policies come into the
same category. Fairs Tor the founding OF
! hospitals, schools and churches, conduct
ed on the rafting system, come under the
same denomination. Do not, therefore,
ass0cIate gambling necessarily with any
instrument, or game, or time, or place, OF
| lDluh Tue hSpShuS hpph
you play for a glass of wine or one bun
dred shares Of railroad stocK. Whether
YOU patronize "auctiOn pools" "French
mutuals" or "bOOk- making" whether
YOU employ faro or billiards, rondO and
keno, cards or bagatelle, the very idea ot
the thing is dishonest, for IL processes 10
bestOw upon you good for which you
| give no equivalent.
| This crime Is no new born sprite, but a
haggard transgression that comes stag
gerng down under mantle OF curses
through many centuries. All nations
barbarous and civilized, have been ad
dicted 10 IL. Before 1888 the French gov
ernment received revenue from gaming
houses. In 1867 England for the improve
ment of her baTbOrs instituted n lottery
10 be held at the front door of st. Pau's
Cathedral. -Four hundred thousand
tickets were sold at ten shillings each
The British Museum and Westminster
Bridge were partially built by similar
procedures. The ancient Germans wOu q
sometimes put up themselves and fami
lies as prizes, and suffer themselves TO bt
bound. though stronger than the persons
who won them.
But now the laws OF the whole civil zee
world denounce the system. Ennctment'
have been passed, but only partially en-
forced. and at times not enforced at all
The men interested In gaming houses anC
IN Jockey clubs WELD such influence by
their numbers and efiiuence that tho
Judge, the Jury and the police officer mus
be bold indeed who would array them