Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-03-06
REV. DR.. TAlMAGe.
THE BROoKIyx DIvINE's SUM-
DAY SERMON.

SUBJECT, rTHHGAMBLISG EVIL"
Txxr, "Let Nv people 90 that they may
serve lie; for I gtl az this time send all Ny
pldsass. .S-Ex. H., u, IA.
Egypt, l saw tbs mummy or embalmed
body OF Pharaoh, the oppressor Of the an
cient Israelites. ViAible are the very teeth
that he gnashed against the Iraelitish
bricknaakers, the sockets Of the mercileS
syos With which he looked upon the overbur-
d1ned people of God, the hair that fioatsd In
the breeze of the Red Sea, the very lips with
which he commanded them TO make bricks
without straw. Thousands OF years
after, when s,,., the wraPpipgs ,Ss Of ,,ths the
up his arm as il In imploration, but his
skinny bones cannot again clutch his shat.
tered scepter 1t was TO compel that tyrant
to let the oppressed go free that the memora-
bic ten plaques weTS' 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 10
Gusts sounded their rattle IN the other, and
the cattle bore no sign of the murrain, and
the pyramids no destroying angel swept his
wing. But there are ten plaques still sting
ing and befouling and cursing our cities, and
like angels OF wrath shifting not only the
first born but the last born.
Brooklyn, New York and Jersey City,
though called three, are practically ons.
The bridge already fastening two of them
together will bs followed by other bridges
and by tunnels from both New Jersey and
Long Island shores until what is true now
will, as the years go by, become more en-
phatically true. The average condition OF
public morals in this cluster Of cities Is as
good il not better than in any other part OF
the world. Pride Of city is natural TO men
in all times, II they live or have lived in a
metropolis noted for dignity or prowess.
Cesar boasted OF his native Rome, Lycurgus
Of Sparta, Virgil Of Andes, Demosthenes OF
Athens, Archimedes Of Syracuse, and Paul
of Tarsus. should suspect a man Of base
heaYtedness who carried about with him no
feeling OF complacency in regard to the
place Of his residence; who gloried not in Its
arts or arms or behavior; who looked with
no exultation upon its evidences Of pros
perity, its artistic embellishments and scien-
uflc attainments
i have noticed that men never like place
where they have not behaved we'll Men
who have free rides in prison vans never
likes the city that furnishes the vehicle.
When see in history Argos, Rhodes, Smyr-
na, Chios, Colophon and several other cities
claiming Homer, conclude that Homer be-
havej we'll. Let us not war against this
prideof city, nor expect TO build up ourselves
by pulling others down. Let Boston have
its comm uns, Its Faneuil Hall and its magni-
hcent scientific and educational institutions
Let Philadelphia talk about Its mint, and In-
dependence Hall, and Girard College, and its
old families, as virtuous as venerable. When
l find man living In one Of those places who
has nothing to say in favor OF them, feel
like asking him, What mean thing did you
do that you do not like your native cityr
New York is 4 goodly city, and when l say
that mean the region between Spuyten
Duyvil Creek and Jamaica IN one direction
aud Newark fats in the other direction.
Tnat which tends to elevate a part elevates
all. That which blasts part blasts all. Sin
is giant, and he comes to the Hudson or
Connecticut River and passes it as easily as
we step across a figure in the carpet. The
blessing of God is an angel, and when it
stretches out its two wings one Of them
hovers over that and the other over this.
In infancy the great metropolis was laid
down by the banks of the Hudson. It's In
fancy was as feeble as that OF Moses sleep
ing in the bulrushes by the Nile; and, like
Miriam, there our fathers stood and watched
it. The royal spirit OF American commerce
came down to the water to bathe, and there
she found 1t. She took it IN her arms, and
the child grew and waxed strong, and the
ships OF foreign lands brought gold and
spices TO its feet, and stretching itself up
into the proportions of a metropolis. II has
looked up to the mountains and of upon the
seattle mightiest of the energies of Ameri-
can civilization. The character of the
foundar NJ q nttv will ha era,, for N, nv vaa ru
in its inhabitants. Romulus impressed his
life upon Rome. The Pilgrims relaxednot
their hold upon the cities OF New England.
William Penn has left Philadelphia an in
heritance OF integrity and fair dealing and
on any day in that city you NAV see In the
manners customs and principles of its people
his tastes his coat, his hat, his wife's bonnet
and his plain meeting house. The Holland
ers still WELD an influence over New York.
Grand old New York; What southern
tboroughfare was ever smitten by pestilence,
when our physicians did potxhrow them
selves upon the sacrificed What distant land
has cried out In the agony OF famine, and
our ships have not put out with breadstuffsi !
What street OF Damascus or Beyrout or
Madras that has not heard the step OF our
Missionaries What struggle for national
life In which, our citizens have not poured
their blood into the trenchesl. What gallery
of exquisite art In which ouv painters have
not hung their picsuresl What department
of literature or sciencs to which our scholars
have not contributedi / need not speak OF
our public schools where the children of the
cordwainer and milkman aud glassblower
stand by the side Of the hattered SONS Of
merchant princes; or Of the insane asylums
on all these islands where they who went
cutting themselves among the tombs, now
sit clothed and in their right minds; or Of
the Magdalen asylums, where the lost one
of the street comes to lathe tho Saviour's
feet with her tears, and wipe them with the
hairs Of her head-confding in the pardon OF
Him who said: LET him who is without sin
cast the first stone at her." l need not
speak Of the institutions for the blind, the
lame, the deaf and the dumb, for the incur
ables, the widow, the orphan, and the out
cast; or of the thousand armed machinery
that sends streaming down from the reser
voirs the clear, bright, sparkling, God given
water that rushes through our equeducts,
and dashes out OF the hydrants, and tosses
up In our fountains, and Kisses in our steam
engines and showers out the conflagration,
and sprinkles from the baptismal font Of our
churches; and with silver note, and golden
sparkle, and crystalline chime, says 10 hun
dreds Of thousands Of our population, In ths
authentic words of Him who said: ~ will; !;
be thou cleanr'
All this promise in opening this course Of
sermons on the ten plaques OF these three
cities, lest some stupid man might say am
dcprecating the place of my residence. I
speak to you to-day concerning the plague
OF gambling Every mau and woman in
this house ought to be interested In this
theme.
Some years ago, when an association for
the suppression Of gambling was organized,
an agent of the association came to a prom
inent citizen and asked him to patronisa the
society. He said, "No. can have no inter.
est In such an organization. lam in no wise
affected by that evil" At that very time
his son, who was his partner In business was
one Of the heaviest players In Hsarnes IA
NOUS gambling establishments Another re-
fused his patronage ON the same ground, not
knowing that his FIRST bookkeeper, thoughre-
csiving salary Of only thousand dollars,
ives lodng from 6fty 70 ono hundrs dollars
pr night The presidento OF railroad COM
r,nuv refuand m ratrnuiza the fvatifxrf5os,