The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1897-08-14
TALMAGE's SERMON.
Tho Insidious Modes by Which Evil
Habits Become Fixed.
Tho Making of the Rope That Binds the
Gamblers Soui-How tho Threads Are
spun and Twisted Into tho
Hateful Coll

Rev. L. Dewitt Ialmage, In the 1oi-
lowing sermon, shows how splendid
men are lured to tn cir ruin. 1t 1t
based on the text:
Woe unto them that sin as II were with car;
rops.-Isaiah W, 10
There are some iniquities that only
nibble at the heart. After lifetime
of their work. the man still stands up
right, respected and honored. These
verInin have not strength enough TO
gnaw through a mans character But
there are other transgressions that lift
themselves up to gigantic proportions,
and seize hold of a man and bind him
with throngs forever. There are some
iniquities that have such great en-
phasis of evil that he who commits
them may be said TO sin as with
a cart rope, suppose you know how
they make a great rope. The stuff out
of which it is fashioned 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 great many OF
these threads are interwound-then
you have a rope strong enough to bind
an OK or hold a ship in tempest. speak
20 you of the sin of gambling. A cart
rope in strength is that sin, and yet
/ wish more especially to draw your
attention to the small threads of in
6ueuce out of which that mighty in
EQUITY is twisted. This crime is on the
advance, so that it is well not only
that fathers, and brothers, and sons
be interested in such 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 a subject as this and say: at has
no practical bearing upon my life;" for
there may be for a short time in your
history an experience in which you will
find that the discussion involved three
worlds-earth, Heaven, hell. There are
gambling establishments by the thou
sands. There are about $500 profess
si1nal gamblers Out of all the gam
bling ablishments, how many of
them do you suppose profess to
be honest? Ten. Then ten pro-
Tossing TO be honest because
they are merely the ante-chamber
to those that are acknowledged fraud
ulent There are frst-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 man
tells are of Vermont marble. The pic
lures are "Jephthah's Daughter" and
Dore's "Dante's and Virgirs Frozen
Region of He'll" a most appropriate Sc
lection, this last, for the place. There
Is the roulette table, the finest, cost
Hest, most exquisite piece of furniture
in the United States. There is the
banqueting room, where, free of charge
to the guests, you may find the plate,
and viands, and wines, and ci-
gars, sumptous beyond parallel
Then you come to the Sec
ond-class gambling establishment.
To it you are introduced by card
through some roper in" Having en-
tered, you must either gamble or fight.
Sanded cards, dice loaded with quicksil-
yer, poor drinks mixed with more poor
drinks, will soon help you to get rid of
all your money to 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 in the
grass, know calf when he 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.
You go along a little further and
find the policy establishment. In that
place you bet on numbers. Betting on
two numbers is called a ''saddle;" bet
ting on three numbers is called 'gig;"
betting on four numbers is called
-horse;" and there are thousanes of
young men leaping into that Saddle"
and mounting that gig" and behind
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, a
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 a cart
rope OF evil, Dut you want to know
what are the small threads out of
which it is made. There is, in many,
u disposition to hazard. They feel
delight in walking near the 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 IL 1
should fall off?' There are persons
who have their blood filliped and &c
celebrated b, skating very near an air
hole. There are men who find posi-
tive delight in driving within two
inches of the edge of bridge. 1t Is
this disposition to hazard that finds
development in gaming practices.
Here are $3.50. 1 may stake. them IN. IL
stake them may lose them; but l
may wiD 5000. Whichever it turns l
have che excitement. Shu file the
cards Lost! Heart thumps. Head
dizyy. AT 1t again-just to crafty this
de.ire for hazard.
Then there are others who 90 into