The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-03-04
GOSPEL THUNDER,
DR.. TALMAGE THINKS GAMBLING TIE
CURSE OFTHE AGE.

Billions of Money Lost Annually and
Millions of Souls Swept Into the Etsi-
ons of the Damned Through the Cursed
Vice.
New YORK, Feb. pa decided sen
sation was produced in this city and in
Brooklyn, to-day, by DR.. Talmage'S an
nouncement of a series Of sermons
which he proposes TO preach on The
Ten Plaques Of these Three Cities" In
this sermon, which is tue first OF the
series, he pays his attention to the pre-
valent curse Of gambling. lie preach
ed it III the Academy OF Music IN
Brooklyn, in the morning, and again
this evening at the Christian Herald
service in this city. His text was taken
from Exodus tx, Is, IA: Let my peo-
pie 60, that they may serve me; for l
will at this time send all my plaques.
Last winter in the museum at Cairo,
Egypt, saw the mummy or emhalmed
body Of Pharaoh, the oppTeSsOr OF the
ancient Israelites. Visible are the very
teeth that he CRASHED against the lSrae-
htish brick.makels. tee sockets Of the
merciless eyes with which he looked
upon the overburdened people OF COD.
the hair that tloatedin the breeze cff
the Red sea, the very lips with which
he commanded them to make bricks
without straw. Thousands of years
after, when the wrappingS Of the mum
my were unrolled, old Pharaoh lifted
up his arm as if in imploration; but his
skinny bones cannot again clutch his
shattered sceptre. It was to compel
that tyrant to let the oppressed go tree
that the memorable Ten Plaques We're
sent. Sailing the Nile and walking
amid the ruins Of Egyptian cities. |
saw no remains of those plaques that
smote the water or the air. None OF
the frogs croaked IN the one, none OF
the locusts sounded their rattle IN the
other, and the cattle bore no sign OF the
murrain, and through the starry nights
hovering about the pyramids no de-
st-oyiDg angel swept his wing. But
there are ten plaques still singing and
befouliDg and cursing our cities, and
like angels of wrath shifting not only
the first born but the last born. l
speak to you to-day concerning the
Plague of Gambling. Every man and
woman in this house ought to be inter
ested in this theme Some years ago,
when an association for the supp :esslon
of gambling was organized, an agent
of the association cameto prominent
citizen and asked him to patronize the
society. He said, No, can have no
interest in such an organization. am
in no wise affected by that evil" At
that very time, his SOD. who was ms
partner in business, was one OF the
heaviest players in Hearne'S famous
gaming establishment. Another re-
fused his patronage on the same ground
not knowing that his first bookheeper.
though receiving salary OF only $1,000
was losing from $50 to 500 per night.
The president of railroad company
refused to patroliZe the institution,
saying: sThat sccie.y is good Tor the
defense of merchants; but we railroad
people are not injured by this evli;D
not 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 lndl-
rectly, this evil strikes at the Whole
world.
Gambling is the risking Of something
more or less valuable in the hope OF
winning more than your hazard. The
instruments of gaming may differ, but
the principle is the same. The SHUT
fling and dealing of cards, however full
Of temptation. is not gambling, unless
stakes are put up: while on the other
hard, gambling may be carried on with
out cards, or dice, or billiards, or ten
pin alley. The man who bets on horses,
elessiess1 1ap- bat Ies-sA a. ~ 2 . -Uhn
deals in "fancy" stocks, or conducts a
business which hazards extra capital,
or goes into transactions without toun-
datiop, but dependent upon what men
call luck" is a gambler. Whatever
you expect to get from your nelghbor
without offering an equivalent IN mon
ey or time or skill, is either the product
of theft or gaming. Lottery tickets
and lottery policies come into the same
category. Fairs for the founding Of
hospitals, schools and churches, con-
Quoted on the rafting system come un-
Ger the same denomination. Do not.
therefore, associate gambling necessa-
rily with any instrument, or game. or
time, or place, or think the principle
depends upon whether you play for a
glass of VINE, or one hundred shares Of
railroad stock. Whether you patronlZe
auction pools" French mutualS,' or
.book-making;;" whether you employ
faro or billiards, rondo or keno, cards
or bagatelle, the very idea of the thing
is dishonest; for it processes to bestow
upon you good for which you give no
equivalent.
It is estimated that every day in
Christendom eighty million dollars
pass from hand to hand through gamb-
ling practices, and every year in Christ
endom one hundred and twenty-three
billion one hundred million dollars
change hands in that way. There are in
s New York, Brooklyn and Newark about
eight hundred CO lfessed gambling es-
tabhshments. There are about
three thousand five hundred pro-
fessional gamblers. Out of the
eight hundred gambling establish
ments. low many of them do yol
suppose profess to be honest? Ten.
These ten processing to be honest be-
cause they are merely the ante-chamber
to the seven hundred and ninety that
are acknowledged fraudulent. There
are frst-class gambling establishments.
You 90 up the marble stairs. YOU ring
the bell. The liyeried servant intro
duces you. The walls are lavender
tinted. The mantels are of Vermont
marble. The pictures are "Jephthah's
Daughter" and Dore's ''Dante's and
VirgiPs Frozen Region Of Hell, a
most appropriate selection, this last,
for the place. There is the roulette
table, the finest, the costliest, most ex-
quisite piece Of furniture IN the United
States. There is the banquettlng room
where, free OF charge to the G lests, Oh
may find the plate. and viands, ard
wines and cigars, sumptUous beyond
parallel.