The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-11-10
"ACELDAMA.r
OR. TALMAGE's SERMON AT THE
BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.

The Great Preacher DeBounees Cam
bling in All Its Forms-church Rallies
Come Under the Same Denomination.
The Great Extent of the Evil.
BROOKLYN, Nov THE Rev. T. Dewitt
Talmage, d D., presc he'd in the Brooklyn
Tabenacle this morfing on the subject
@AcelCsma.7 The opening hymn was:
Ny soul, be thy guard.
Ten thousand foes arise
After exponnding the Epistle Of james con-
corning the nature Of temptation, DR. Tai
mage announced tho text, Acts i, 10: @Acel-
DANA, that's 70 say the field Of blood Fol-
lowing Is the sermon in fun:
The money that Judas gave for surrender
ing Christ was used 10 purchase a graveyard
NJ the money was blood money, the ground
bought by il was called in the Syriac tongue
Aceldama, meaning 'the field OF blood"
Wen, there is one word / want to write TO
day over every racecourse where wagers are
staked, and every poolroom, and every
gambling saloon, and every table, pub or
private, where men and women bet for sums
" money, large or small, and that is a word
5ncanadned with the life OF innuInersble
victims lfcedama The gambling spirit,
which l. at al times "a stupendous evil, ever
and anon sweeIa over the country Ike an cpl
deInic. prostrating uncountsd thousands
There has never bees a worse attack than
that from which all the villages, towns and
cities arc now suffering The farces recently
enacted in our Brooklyn courtroom, by
which it was proved that in the City OF
Churches there IS not enough moral force TO
put into the penitentiary the gambling
jockeys who bolong there, Is only q specimen
OF the power gained by this abomination,
which is brazen. sanguinary, transcontinental
and hemisphcric
Wbse anong my hearers are those who
have passed on into the afternoon Of life and
the shadows frightening, and the sky
criupsons with the glow Of the setting sun, a
large number Of them are in early life, and
the morning is coming down out Of the clear
sky upon shem, and the brightair is redolent
with spring blossoms, and the stream Of life,
cleaning and glancng, rlshee on between
iowery banks, making music as il goes.
Some Of You are engaged in mercantile CON
Germs, as clerks and bookkeepeFs, and your
whole life is 10 be passed in.the exciting world
Of traffic. The sound Of busy life stirs you az
the drum stirs the fiery warhorse. hers
are in the mechanical arts, to hamm and
chise your way through life, and success
awaits you. Some are preparing for profes-
sional life, and grand opportunities "a be-
fore you; nay, some Of you already have
buclled on the arnOr.
But whatever your age or calling, the sub
Ject Of gambling, about which speak to-day,
Is pertinent. Some years ago, when an asso-
citation for the suppression OF gambling was
organized an agent Of the association came
toa prominent citizen and asked him to pa
tronize the society He said: "No. ! can have
no Interest in such an organization am in
nowise affected by that evil" At that very
time his son, who was his partner in business,
was one of the heaviest players Ia Herne's ia
nous gambling establishment. Another re-
fused his patronage on the same ground, not
knowing that his first bookkeeper, though re-
ceiyiDg a salary OF only 81 600 was losing
from $50 10 500 per night. The president OF
railroad company refused TO patronize the
institution, saying: THAT society is good for
the defense Of merchants, but we railroad
people are not injured by this evil" not
knowing that at that very time two Of his
conductors We're spending three nights of each
week at faro tables in New York. Directly
or indirectly this evil strikes at the whole
world
Gambling is the risking Of something more
or less valuable in the hope Of winning more
than You hazard. The instruments of gam
ing may differ, but the principle is the same.
The shuffng and dealing of cards, however
full Of temptation, is not gambling unless
stakes are put up; while, on the other hand.
gambling may be carried ON without cards,
on dice, on billiards, a tenpin alley. The
man who bets on horses, on elections, on bat
tfes-the man who deals in ''fancyp stocks.
or conducts business which hazards extra
capital, goes into transactions without
foundation but dependent upon what men
call luck, is n gambler
Ii is estimated that one-fourth of the bust
ness in London is done dishonesty What
ever you expect to get from your neighbor
without offering equivalent in money or
time or skill, IS either the product of theft
OF gaming. Lottery tickets and lottery pol
icies come into tire same category. Fairs for
the founding Of hospitals schools and
churches conducted on tho rafting system,
come under the same denomination. Do not,
therefore, associate gambling necessarily
with any instrument, game, or time, or
place, or think the principle depends upon
whether you play for glass of wine or 100
shares Of railroad stock. Whether YOU pat
ronize auction POOLS French mutualsn or
'boolmaldngT whether you employ faro or
billiards, rondo and keno, cards or bagatelle,
the very idea Of the thing is dishonest, for it
PROCESSES 10 hestow upon you good for
which you give equivalent
This crime is no newborn sprite but a
haggard transgression that comes staggering
down under mantle of curses through many
centuries, All nations, barbarous and civil
lied, have been addicted TO it. Before 1888
the French government received revenue
from gaming houses In 1861 England, for
the Improvement OF her harboTs, instituted a
lottery 10 be held at the front door of st.
Paul'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 would sometimes put
up themselves and families as prizes, and
suffer themselves 10 be bound, though
stronger than the persons who won them
But now the laws of the whole civilized
world denounce the system. Enactmentx
have been passed, but only partially enforced,
and at times not enforced at all. The men
interested in gaming houses and in lockay
clubs WELD such Influence by their numbers
and afiluence that the judge, the jury aad
the police officer must be bold indeed who
would array themselves against these in
famous establishments The house of COM
mons OF England actually adjourns ON Derby
day to so out and bet on the races; and IN
the best circles of society in this country 20
Gay are many hundreds OF professedly re-
spectacle men who are acknowledged gam
blers
Hundreds Of thousands of dollars in this
land are every day being won and lost through
sheer gambling. Says traveller through the
west; II have Travelled 1000 miles Mt a
time upon the western waters. and seen gam
bling at every waking moment from the
commencement TO the termination of the
journey The southwest of this country
reeks with this sin In some OF those cities
every third or fourth house in many Of the
streets is a gaming place, and il may be
fr-1fhftfilV az hat ,Fc ..st, -
cursed with this evil
In themselves, most of the games employed
In gambling are without harm Billiard
tables are as harmless as tea tables and a
pack Of cards as pack of letter envelopes,
unless stakes be put up. But by their use
for gambling purposes they have become sig
nificant Of an infinity of wretchedness-G0
gambling saloons in New York city when last
counted
Men wishing to gamble win find places Just
suited TO their capacity not only in the I'M
foreground oyster cellar, or at the table back
OF the curtain, covered with greasy cards, or
in the steamboat smoking cabin, where the
hloated wretch with rings in his ears deals
out his pack, and winks in the unsuspecting
'traveler-providing free drinks all around
but in gilded parlors and amid gorgeous
surroundings.
AHAs SIN NoAh> rum ilESts by unneaktnIui
stimulants Excitement is pleasurable Under
every sky and in every age men have sought
il The Chinaman gets it by smoking his
opium. the Persian by chewing hashish, the
trapper in a buffalo hunt. the sailor in a
squall, the inebriate in the bottle and the
avaricious at the gaming table. We must at
times have excitement A thousand voices in
our nature demand it. 1t Is right. 1t is health
ftn. 1t Is inspiritfng 1t is desire God
given But anything that first gratifles this
appetite and hurls il back in terrific