The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-11-24
DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
THE EVILS OF GAMBLING.

The money that Judas got for surrenderinl
Christ was used to buy a burying ground
The money being blood money, the grounG
that was purchased was called in the Syriat
tongue Aceldama, the field of blood. Well
i would like to write over all the race codrse:
where wagers are staked, and over all poo
rooms, and over all gambling saloons, ano
over oil tables, public or private
where men and women bet sums oi
money large or small. word incarnadned
with the life of millions-Aceldama The
Sgamb' ing practice is a sturendous evil, oil
{ ways existing, but sometimes it sweeps over
the land in tie shape of an epidemic, and
never has the world been worse cursed with
1t than Just now; all the reighborhoods, and
towns, AMI villages and cities. 1t is an evil
bra en-, sanguinary, transcont:nental,, hemi-
the afternoon of life, and the shadows begiu
to lengthen, ard the sky close with the
glory of the setting sun. But others
OF you are in the early period Of life, and the
morning comes down out Of clear sky, and
the bright air is. redolent with spring bios
SONS, and the stream Of life rolling between
full banks CLEANS and glistens and makes
music as it gees. Some Of you are in COM
mercial establishments, and your lie will
Some of you are in mechanical arts
to hammer and chisel your way through
life. and great opportunities are open before
yon. Others of you are putting on profess
sional life-the armor is already buckled on.
But in whatever business, trade or profess
sion you are engaged, or you are to be en-
gagged. in, the subject I present this morn
Is not man, woman nor child
in this a:semblage but has been touched
by this evil, or wi be touched by it, or will
in some way he called to battle it. Gambling
is the risk ng Of something more or less valu-
able, in hope OF winning more than you haz-
ard. The implements may lie different, but
the principle is always the same. The deal
ing and shuffling of cards are not gambling
unless stakes be put up, while on the other
hand, without dice, without cards, with
out billiards, without ten pin alley, you
may practice gambling. A man who lets
on horses, bets on elections, bets on
ball playing. bets on anything-a man
who deals in what are called fancy stocks, q
man who goes into any transaction where
there Is no real foundation, but everything
depends upon what men call luck, is gam
bier. An English writersays that one.fourth Of
the business of London is dishonesty, and
suppost that is true of all our cities. Anything
you propc So to get without giving an eauiva-
lent, in money, time, or skill, you get either
by fraud or by gaming, by theft OF by GAM
ing. DO not associate gambling with some
game, or with some time. or with sore place,
or think it makes any difference in the prin-
ciple whether it is glass of wine or hun
dred shares Of railroad stock. Whether you
patronize auction POOLS or French Mutuals,
or book-naking, or whether you employ faro,
or billiard, or roulette or cards, the very thing
Is dishonest because you propose to get a good
for which you give no equivalent. All lot
teries, all lottery tickets come in the same
category All fairs for the building of
schools, or hospitals, or churches. conducted
on the rattle system come under the same
category. This is not a new sorite that has
appeared in the world. 1t is haggard trans
grt ssion that. wrapped in curses, comes stag
geling down through the centuries; Before
1sSS the French Govern ment received large
amounts Of money every year from gaming
tables. England to improve her harbors at
one time instituted a lottery at the door of
St Paul's Cathed; al. The Brit 'sh Museum,
the Westminster bridge. were partially paid
for by such procedure. The ancient Germans
sometimes actually put themselves up, and
their families, as prizes. and \having lost the
game they were bound by those weaker than
themselves On Derby Day the House of
Commons ad ,ourns, and most of them go out
to bet and gamble. There are parts Of this
country thatreek with this evil A traveller
at the West said that in a thousand miles Of
travelling in Western States, thers was n ot
waking moment in whi he was not in the
presence ofgambling. You can find something
just suited to your taste and your caracity;
not me:ey in the underground oyster
cellar, or on q table covered with
greasy cards behind a curtain, or
In the smoking cabin Of the steamer where
men with rings in their ears instead of their
noses wink in unsusrecting travellers; free
drinks all around; but i'll splendid parlor, in
gorgeous club room, amid artistic and arch
ttectured glory this evil goes on, and wherever
1t reigns, Aceldama, the field of blood.
This sin works evil in the first place in un-
healthy stimulation. Excitement is pleasura-
BILE: a thousand voicesin our nature cry out for
excitement. The Chinamau finds it in smok-
ing opium: the Persian in chewing hash
heesh; the trap:er in a buffalo hunt; the
sailor in sluall: the inebi late in the bottle
the avariciouS at the gaming table. While
excitement is pleasurable and many kinds Of
excitement are healthful and rig hteous, look
out for an agitation which hurls you back
into terrific reaction, and which, like a
rapt musician, in trying to bring out
the tune, breaks down the instrument pllyel
on. God never male man with nerves or
brain strong enough to endure undamaged
the excitement OF a gamblers life. No wonder
30 often men at the close of play where
they have been unfortunate have trie to
shove imaginary gold OF Of the table. They
sat down sharp III intellect. they rose up
maniacs. Generally those who own
gambling establishments are rollcking
and obese but the eambler-look at
him-thin, pale, nervous, exhausted. In.
temperance puts its stigma upon the man,
kicking him slavering fool into the ditch,
or sending him up the street where his fam
lily live with drunkard's hiccough. But
gambling does not so soon hang out its sig
nal. You can only see the habit Of the man
In the greed Of eye, in the hardness of fea-
ture, in the nervous reStlessness, in the
threadbare coat in the squandered
fortune. But he is on the road to
no startling alarm, aud no wife's entreaty
will stop him in his hea1long career. The
Internal spell is on him, giant is aroused
within him. and if you wind around him
snip capIe IL Will lart like threat, aud n
you wind around him chain seven times IL
will snap like rusted wire, and if you pile up
In his pathway all Bibles, all sermons, oil
communion tables, and put on the top Of
them the cross of the Son of God, he will like
Aceldama, the fed Of bload.
This sin ais, works ruin in the fact that it
Is killing to all industries You never saw a
confirmed gambler who was Industrious.
The time not actually employed in gaming is
spent in idleness or in dissiration, or in
stroping i'm other victims Wh.l man is
accustomed to gathering scores and hundreds
Of dollars in little while he will not have
much patience with tame, honest, work:
ssWhy,h said a merchant, "why should
bother myself here in su hard, tedious
and annoying way to make $50 when l can
maks twice that in one night down at Bill
ies?' Ahl how this crime has dulled the
carpenters saw, and cut the bands Of the
factory wheel, and broken the teeth Of the
farmers harrow, and shattered with
strange lighting the batteries of the philoso-
pher. What dull work blowing corn when
In one evening in the village saloon the
farmer makes and loses the price OF a harvest: