The Monitor-register., 1897-08-06
THE SIN OF GAMBLING
iOR. TALMAGE SAYS 1T is OF CART
ROPE STRENGTH.

iOR. TALMAGE SAYS 1T is OF CART
ROPE STRENGTH.
Once the Habit Is Contracted 1t Is Hard
to Break Away-There Is but One Way
to Be Cured and That Is by the Grace
of God-Hope For the Prodigal.
WASHINGTON, Aug 1.-Dr. Talmage
in his sermon depicts the insidious
modes by which evil habit gains su-
premacy and shows how splendid men
are cheated into ruin. Text, Isiah v, 18,
"Woe unto them that sin, as it were
with cart rope. "
There are some iniquities that only
nibble at the heart. After a lifetime of
their work the man still stands upright,
respected and honored. These vermin
have not strength enough to gnaw
through a mans character. But there
are other transgressions that lift them
selves up to gigantic proportions and
seize hold of a man and bind him with
thongs forever There are some iniqui-
ties that have such great emphasis OF
evil that he who commits them may be
said to sin as with a cart rope. l sup
pose you know how they make great
rope. The stuff out of which it is fash
ioned is nothing but tow which you
pull apart without any exertion of your
fingers. This is spun into threads, any
of which you could easily snap, but a
great many of these threads are inter
wound-then you have a rope strong
enough to bind an OK or hold ship in
a tempest
speak to you of the sin of gambling
A cart rope in strength is that sin, and
yet l wish more especially to draw your
attention to the small threads of influ-
ence out of which that mighty iniquity
is twisted. This crime is on the ad
vance, so that it is well not only that
fathers and brothers and sons be inter-
ested in such a discussion, but that
wives and mothers and sisters and
daughters look out lest their present
home be sacrificed or their intended
home be blasted No man, no woman,
can stand aloof from such subject as
this and say, SIT has no practical bear
ing upon my life," for there may be in
a short time in your history an expert
ence in which you will find that the
discussion involved three worlds-earth,
heaven, hell. There are gambling estab-
lishments by the thousands.
Thousands of Gamblers.
There are about $500 professional
gamblers Out of all the gambling es-
Establishments how many of them do you
suppose profess to be honest? Ten
these ten protesting to be honest be-
cause they are merely the antechamber
to those that are acknowledged fraudu-
lent. There are first class establish
ments. You step little way out of
Broadway, New York. You go up the
marble stairs You ring the bell. The
liveried servant introduces you. The
walls are lavender tinted. The mantels
are of Vermont marble. The pictures
are "Jephthah's Daughter" and Dore's
Dante" and Virgil's Frozen Region
of He'll, " most appropriate selection,
this last, for the place. There is the
roulette table, the finest, costliest, most
exquisite piece of furniture in the Unit
ed States There is the banqueting room,
where, free of charge to the guests, you
may find the plate and viands and wines
and cigars. sumptuous beyond parallel.
Then yCu come to the second class
gambling establishment. To it you are
introduced by card through some
"roper in" Having entered, you must
either gamble or fight. Sanded cards,
dice loaded with quicksilver, poor
drinks mixed with more poor drinks
will soon help you to get rid of all your
money to a tune in short meter with
staccato passages. You wanted to see.
You saw. The low villains of that place
watch you as you come in. Does not
the panther, squat i'll the grass, know a
calf when she sees it? Wrangle not for
your rights in that place, or your body
will be thrown bloody into the street or
dead into the river.
An Appropriate Door.
You go along little farther and find
the policy establishment. In that place
you bet on numbers. Betting on two
numbers is called saddle; betting
on three numbers is called gig" bet
ting on four numbers is called a
horse, and there are thousands of
our young men leaping into that sad
die" and mounting that "gig" and be-
hind that "horse" riding to perdition.
There is always one kind of sign on the
door, Exchange, most appropriate
title for the door, for there in that
room man exchanges health, peace
and heaven for loss of health, loss of
home, loss of family, loss of immortal
soul. Exchange sure enough and in
finite enough.
Now you acknowledge that is cart
rope of evil, but you want to know
what are the small threads out of which
it is made There is in many DISPOSE
tion to hazard. They feel delight in
walking near precipice because of the
sense of danger. There are people who
go upon Jungfrau, not for the largeness
of the prospect, but for the feeling that
they have of thinking, "What would
happen if l should fall Off" There are
persons who have their blood filliped
and accelerated by skating very near an
airilole. There are men who find
positive delight in driving within two
inches of the edge of bridge. 1t is this
disposition to hazard that finds develop
ment in gaming practices. Here are
$500. | may stake them. If l stake
them, l may lose them, but may win
$4,000. Whichever way it turns I have
the excitement Shuttle the cards. Lost!
Heart thumps. Head dizzy. At it again
just to crafty this desire for hazard.
The Desire For Gain.
Then there are others who go into
this sin through sheer desire for gain.
1t is especially so with professional
gamblers. They always keep cool. They
never drink enough to unbalance their
Judgment. They do not see the dice so
much as they see the dollar beyond the
dice, and for that they watch as the
spider in the web, looking as if dead
until the fly passes Thousands of young
men in the hope of gain go into these
practices. They say: well, my salary
is not enough to allow this luxury. I
don't get enough from my store, office
or shop. I ought to have finer apart
ments. / ought to have better wines. l
ought to have more richly favored ci-
gars. ought to be able to entertain my
friends more oxponsivoly. Iwon't stand
this anJ longer can with one bril-
liant stroke make fortune. Now, here
goes, principle or no principle, heaven
or hell. Who cares?"
When young man makes up his
mind to live beyond his income, satan
has bought him out and out, and it is
only a question of time when the goods
are to be delivered. The thing is done.
You may plant in the way all the bat
teries of truth and righteousness; that