Connecticut western news., 1893-05-04
EVILS OF GAMBLING.
REV. THOMAS DIXON ON THE "GATES OF HELL IN MODERN BABYLON"

REV. THOMAS DIXON ON THE "GATEs
 OF HELL IN MODERN BABYLON" Appalling Facts on the Prevalence of This
 Particular vice-The Prince of Wales
 Clssses In New York Infected.
 NEW YORK, April 8O.-One of a4ser1es of sermons on the Shadows of the City; or, the Gates of Hell In Modern Baby lon," was delivered this morning in As sociation hall to the great congregation which packs the building to it's utmost capacity. Extraordinary interest has been manifested in the series from the first. When the hall is filled, the ushers are compelled to close the doors, and hundreds are turned away. The text chosen this morning was from Matthew xvii, 85, 'They parted his garments among them, casting lots."
 Gambling may be defined as the art of securing the property of another with out giving him anything in return. It b to get something for nothing or the at tempt to get something for nothing. When this is done by game or trick in an artistic way, it is called gambling. When 1t is done by force or in clumsy, inartistic way, it is called thieving. There is practically no difference be- tween stealing and gambling. The prin- ciple involved is precisely the same. 1t b the violation of the fundamental law of nature, the law of compensation and just exchange. Any man who gambles steadily for 12 months will steal Men may deny it, but those who know the facts in gambling life know that 1t is true. If the gambler does not actually steal, in the vulgar sense of the word, it b simply because he has not yet met the opportunity or the crisis demanding 1t.
 Gambling is the total debauchery of the whole man. It is the debauchery of his body as we'll as his soul. The body ls debauched because the conditions sur rounding gambling imply it of necessity. lt means the indulgence of every pas sion that clamors for the destruction of the body. There is no fascination like it. The spell it throws over the whole personality of man is simply resistless. No serpent ever charmed it's victim with greater power. No fowler ever set his onare with surer results. tis an appeal to the pride and to the skill of man. It Is an appeal to his love of superiority, to his desire for power, to the heroism of his nature, to his greed and lust for gain. Above all. it is delusion of his religious faculties. It is playing with the world of chance, which becomes finally confused with the world of spirit. Hence tho debauchery of the gambler is complete and the wreck of character to- tai. When the spiritual nature is burned out, there is nothing on which to build. Body and soul of necessity collapse. The gambler becomes the victim of g hopeless mental disease.
 THE SURVIVAL OF THE BRUTE.
 Gambling is nothing short of 8 mania, lunatic asylums with just as good req con as that which requires that other funatics be isolated from society. This disease of the mind when once fixed is utterly hopeless. The victim follows his will-o'-the-wisp as the weary traveller follows the fatal mirage. A man recent ly set out from Juarez, Mexico, to go to Palomas in New Mexico and nearly lost his life from . mirage delusion. He was driving his wagon when he saw short distance off in the deserta beautiful lake shadowed by trees. Both he and his team were thirsty, so he turned out of his course to get water. After travelling several miles the lake seemed as far off as ct first, but it was there, clear, dis tinct, before him. He continued in the direction of the lake and fancied he could feel on his face the fresh breeze from the water, but as the distance did not diminish at last the idea dawned on him, and he turned back toward the road. But the night overcame him. He lost his way. On the morrow he could not recognize any indication of his course. All his efforts to find the road were unavailing At last, after terri ble struggle of four days, wrestling with heat, and with hunger, and with thirst, he succeeded in reaching the road, more dead than alive. Such is the experience of the man whose being is in the grasp of this relentless demon. It is a craze, 1t is 8 madness.
 Mazarin was so fascinated with gam bling that he played as he lay on his deathbed until he became too weak, and then he got some one to play for him. Walpole tells of certain Lord Stavor- dale, who, when under 21 years of age lost $65, GOO in one night, but recovered it by single great stake, whereupon he swore great oath, adding, "Now, if had been playing deep, knight have won millions" It is said that two men were found by the police in Hamstead road in 1872, one on a wall and the other hang ing by his neck from lamppost, just ''shoved off" They had tossed all day first for money, then for their clothes and lastly to decide which of the two should hang the other. It was a logical con clusion to the days work. It is the in evitable conclusion to the gamblers day sn earth.
 Gambling Is not an evil that has de veloped primarily in modern times un der modern conditions. It is as old a. human depravity. It is as old as theft It is as old as superstition. Savages ani tribes in the most primitive conditioni
 
 cred, addicted to gambling. And thil leeds us to the inevitable inference tha gambling is survival of the brute in heritance. Tacitus tells us that the Ger mans, whom he studied and reported entered so heartily into gambling tha they even staked their own persons, tn, one becoming the slave and absolut property of the other. Herodotus relate that certain king of Egypt gamblet with Demeter in the internal regions Plutsrch says that Hermes gamblet with the moon. The old Greek mission ary, Patroclus, Homer tells us, ''los his temper over dice"
 Parysatis, the mother of Cyrus, whel one of her sons had been killed by slave, played with the king, her husband for that slave, and by her skill won him Cards were known In China long year