The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-08-18
DR.. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

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 q mans character.
But there are other transgressions that lift
themselves up to gigantic proportions and
seize hold OF a man and bind him with
thongs forever. There are some iniquities
that have such great emphasis OF evil that
he who commits them may be said to sin
as with a cart rope. I suppose you know
how they make a great rope. The stuff out
OF which 1t 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 a
great many Of these threads are inter-
w~ound-then you have q rope strong
enough to bind an OK or hold a ship in a
tempest.
Ispeak to you OF the sin OF gambling. A
cart rope in strength Is that sin, and yet I
wish more especially to draw your atten-
ton to the small threads of influence out
Of which that mighty ~iniquity is twisted.
This crime is or the advance, 80 that it is
we'll not only that fathers and brothers and
sons be interested 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 a subject as this and say,
at has no practical bearing upon my life,"
for there may be In q short time in your
history an experience in which o will
find that the discussion involved three
worlds-earth, heaven, hell. There are
gambling establishments by the thousands.
There are about $500 professional gamb-
lers. Out Of all the gambling establish
ments how many OF them do you suppose
profess to be honest? Ten-these ten pro-
Tossing to be honest because they are merely
the antechamber to those that are acknowl-
edged fraudulent. There are flrst-class es-
Establishments. You step a little way out OF
Broadway, New York. You 90 up the mar
BILE stairs. You ring the bell. The liveried
servant introduces you. The walls are Law
ender tinted. The mantels are of Vermont
marble. The pictures are "Jephthah's
Daughter and Dore's I'D Dante" q Virgils
Frozen Region Of He'll" q most appro-
There Is the roulette table, the finest, cost
Hest, most exquisite piece OF furniture In
the United States. There is the banquet
ing room, where, free Of charge to the
guests, you may find the plate and viands
and wines and cigars s~umptuous beyond
parallel. Then you come to the second
class gambling establishment. To 1t you
are introduced by a 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 In the grass,
knowa calf when she sees it2 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 farther and find the
policy establishment. In that place you
bet on numbers. Betting on two numbers
Is called q ~"saddle;" betting on three num-
bers is called a "gig;" betting on four
numbers is called a "horse," and there are
thousands Of our young men leaping into
that Saddle" and mounting that "gig"
and behind that "horse" riding to perdi-
ton. There is always n kind Of sign on
the door, ~"Exchange,"a 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 fam
lily, loss OF immortal soul. Exchange sure
enough and infinite enough.
Now you acknowledge that is a cart
rope Of evil, but you want to know what
are the small threads out OF which it Is
made. There is In many a disposition to
hazard. They feel a delight in walking
near q precipice because OF the sense OF
danger. There are people who go upon
Jungfrau, not for the largeness Of THE pros
pect, but for the feeling that they have OF
thinking, what would happen II I should
fall of?" There are persons who have
their blood flliped and accelerated by
skating very near an airhole. There are
nen who find a positive delight in driving
within two inches Of the edge OF q bridge.
1t Is this disposition to hazard that finds
development in gaming practices. Here
are $500. I may stake them. II I stake
them, I may lose them, but I may win
$4,000. Whichever way it turnsI have the
excitement. Shuttle the cads. Lost! Heart
thumps. Head dizzy. At it ~again-just
to crafty this desire for hazard.
Then there are others who go into this
sin through sheer desire for gain. 1t is es-
pecially 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
II dead until the fly passes. Thousands Of
these practices. They say: "Well, my SAL
Oily Il " CAOuhA W oilN" Ohio koAoh -
don't get enough from my store, Office or
shop. I ought to have finer apartments.
I ought to have better wines. I ought to
have more richly favored cigars. I ought
to be able to entertain my friends more ex-
pensively. I won't stand this any longer.
I car with one brilliant stroke make a for
tune. Now, here goes, principle or no
principle, heaven or hell. Who cares2"
When a young man makes up his mind to
live beyond his income, satan has bought
him out and out, and 1t 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 batteries Of truth and right
%eousness; but man is bound to 60 on. When
a man makes $1,000 O year and spends
$1,000, when a young man makes $500 and
spends S170O, all the harpies OF darknes
cry out, "Ha! hal we have him. And
they have. How to get the extra $500 or
the extra $4,000 Is the question. He says:
Here Is my friend who started out the
other day with but little money, n In one
night, so great was his luck, he rolled up
hundreds and thousands of dollars. II he
got it, why not I? 1t Is such dull work,
this adding up OF long lines OF figures In
the counting house, this pulling down of'a
hundred yards OF goods and selling a rem
nant, this always waiting upon somebody
else when I could put 500 on the ace and
pick up $1,000"
This sin works very insidiously. Other
sins sound the drum, and Haunt the flag,
and gather their recruits with wild huzza,
but this marches its procession Of pale vic
tins in dead Of night, in silence, and when
they drop into the grave there is not so
much sound as the click OF dice. Oh, how
many lave gone down under it! Look at
those men who were once highly pros
pered. Now their forehead is licked by a
tongue of fame that will never so out. In
their souls are plunged the beaks which
will never be lifted. Swing open the door of
that mans heart and you see a coil OF ad-
ders ~wriggling their indescribable horror