Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-02-27
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun,
day Sermon.
Subject, "The Gambling Evil"

Last winter In the museum at Cairo,
Egypt | saw the mummy or embalmed
body of Pharaoh, the oppressor OF the an
Gent Israelites Visible are the very teeth
that he gnashed against the Israelitish
taickmakerS, the sockets of the wrrciless
eyes with which he looked upon The overbur
dened people of God, ehe hair that fioated in
the breeze OF the Red Sea, the very lips with
which he commanded them to make hrieks
after. when the wrarpings Of the
mummy were unrsled, Did Pharaoh lifted
up his ara, IS if in imploration, but his
skinny bones cannot again clutch his shat
Sered scepter. 1t was to compel that tyrant
TO let the oppressed 60 free that the memora-
bic ten plaques were sent. Sailing the Nile
and walking amid the rains of Egyptian
cities, l saw no remains CT those plaques
that smote the water or the air. None of
the frogs eroakel in the one, none of the 10.
Gusts sounded their rattle IN the other and
the cattle bore no sign of the murra,ls eno
through the starry nights hevering about
the pyramids no Destroying angel swept his
wing But there ale ten plaques still sting
ing and bef5dling and cursing our cities, and
Ike angels of wrath shifting not only the
FIRST born but the last born.
Brooklyn. New York and Jersey City,
though called three, are practically one.
The bridge already fastening two OF them
together viii be followed by other bridges
and BY tunnels from both New Jersey and
Long Island shores. until what is true now
will. as tho wears 20 by, become more EN-.
phaticallv true The average condition OF
public morals in this cluster of cities Is as
good if not better than III any other part OF
the world Fiide of city is natural TO men
IA ala times, If they live or have lived IN a
&,
Caesar boosted of his native Rome L'ycGrgus
of Sparta. Virgil OF Andes pemosthenes of
Athens, Archimedes Of Syracuse, and Paul
of Tarsus, should suspect d man Of base
heartedness who carried about with him no
feeling Of cOmplacency "a regard TO the
place of his residence who gloried not IN lts
arts or arms or behavior; who looked WITH
ne exultatiOn upon its evidences Of pros
peritv. its artistic embellishments and scien-
tifc attachments
have acticed that man never like placs
where they have not behaved well Men
who have free rides in prison vart never
likes the city that fprnisHes the vehicle
When | see in his4cty Argos, Rhodes, Smyr-
ma, Chies Tolophon and several other cities
clas,alng Homer. | conclude that Homer be-
havel well. Let us not war against this
pride of city. nor expect to build up ourselves
by pulling others down. Let Boston have
its commons its Faneuii Hak and Its magni-
ficent scientific and educational Institutions
Let Philadelphia talk about its mint, and In
dependence Hail, End Girard College, and its
old families as virtuous as venerable. When
find mHn 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 city,
New York is a goodly city, and when | say
that | mean the region between Spuyten
Duyvn Greek and Jamaica in one direction
and Newark flats in the other direction.
That which tends to elevate a part elevateS
all That which blasts part blasts all, Sin
is a giant and he comes to the Hudson or
Connecticut River and passes it as easily az
we step across figure i'll the carpet The
blessing of God is an angel, and when it
stretches out its two wings one of them
bowers over that aud the other over this.
In infancy the great metropolis was laid
down by the banks Of the Hudson. Its 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 10 the water to bathe and there
she found il. She took it in her arms aud
the child grew and waved strong, and the
ships of foreign lands brought gold and
spices tc - feet and stretching itself up
into the proportions of metropolis. it has
looked up to the mountains and off upon the
seattle mightiest Of the energies Of Aiheri-
can civilization. The character Of the
founder Of a city viii be seen for many years
in its inhabitants. Romulus impressed his
life upon Rome. The Pilgrims relaxed not
their hold upon the cities of New England.
William Penn has left Philadelphia an in
heritance at Integrity and fair dealing, and
on any day in that city you may see in the
manners customs and principles Of its people
his tastes his coat, his hat, his wifes bonnet
and his plain meeting house. The Holland
ers stu WELD an influence over New York,
Grand old New York What southern
tbOrOughfare was ever smitten by peslilence
when our physicians did not throw them
selves upon the Stcrifcel What distant land
has cried out in the agony of famine, and
our ships have not put out with brssdstuffsi
What street OF Damascus or Revreut 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 trenches What gallery
of exquisite art in which our painters have
not hung their picturesl What department
Ofliterature or science TO which our scholars
have not contributed | need not speak of
our public schools, where the children of the
cordwainer and milkman and glassblower
stand 10y 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 10 battle the Saviour's
feet with her tears, and wipe them with the
hairs Of her head-cOnfding in the pardon Of
1 a l..
cast the first stone at her." / 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 PUSHES through our aqueducts,
end dashes out Of the hydrantS and losses
up in our fountains and Kisses in our steam
engines, and showers out the conhagration,
and sprinklss from the baptismal font of our
churches: and with silver note, and golden
sparkle, and crystalline chime, says to hun
Greds OF thousands Of our population, in the
authentic words Of Him who said: Il will;
be thou clean"
All this promise in opening this course Of
sermons on the ten plaques Of these three
cities, lest some STUPID man might say | am
NC. hNNANAhE VIZ btttN- VI my AtNlA|HNGs
SPEAK to You today concerning the plague
Of gambling. Every man AMI 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 asSel him to pGtronize the
society. lie said, mo, l can have nc inter
est in such an organization. am in no wise
affected by that evil At that very time
his son, who was his partner in business, was
one oft heaviest players in Hearne's ia
nous gambling establishment Another re-
fused his patronage on the same ground, not
knowing that his first bookkeeper, though re-
ceiving a salary Of only thousand dollars
was losing from fifty TO one hundred dollars
per night. The president of railroad COM
pany refused 10 patronize the institution
saying, That society is good for the defense
OF merchants, but the railroad people are not
injured by this evil" not knowing that, at
that very time, two OF his conductors were
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
OF less valuable in the hope Of winning more
than you hazard. The INSTRUMENT OF gaming
may differ but the principle is the same. The
Shuffiing and dealing cards however iull Of