The National tribune., 1897-08-05
HIDDEN INIQuITY.


Generally the money leaks silently from
| the merchants till into the gamester's wal
| let | believe that one of the main pipes
leading to this sewer of iniquity is the ex-
| element of business life. Is it not signif-
| cant fact that the majority of the day gam
| bling houses in New York are in proximity
! to Wall street? Men go into the excitement
of stock gambling, and from that they
| plunge into the gambling houses, as, when
men are intoxicated they 60 into liquor
saloon to get more drink.
The making or losing of thousands of
dollars by one operation units man to 60
home, up he goes up the flight OF stairs,
| amid business offices, to the darkly-cur
tanned, wooden-shuttered room, gayly fur
nished inside, and takes his place at the
roulette or the faro table But | cannot tell
| all the process by which men get into this
evil.
| Many years ago, for sermonc purposes,
and in company with the Chief of Police OF
New York, | visited one of the most brill
liant gam bling-houses in that city. 1t was
night, and as we came up in front all seemed
| dark. The blinds were down; the door was
| guarded; but after whispering OF the ofhcer
with the guard Mt the door we were admitted
into the hall, and thence into the parlors
around one table finding eight or ten men In
mid-lile well dressed-all the work going on
in silence, save the noise of the rafting
chips on the gaming-table in one parlor,
| and the revolving ball Of the roulette-table
in the other parlor
On, there was something awfully solemn
in the silence-the intense gaze the sup
pressed emotions Of the players. No one
looked up They all had money in the
rapids, and / have no doubt some saw, as
they sat there, horses and carriages, and
houses and lands, and home and family
rushing down into the vortex.
A mans life would not have been worth q
| farthing in that presence, had he not been
accompanied by the police, if he had been
supposed to be on a Christian errand of OBJ
servation. Some of these men went by pTi-
vate key some went in by careful introduce
| ton, some were taken in by the patrons of
| the establishment.
SAD SCENE.
While we were there young man came
in, put his money down On the roulette
table, and lost put more money down on
the roulette-iable, and lost; put more money
| down on the roulette table, and lost; then,
| feeling in his pockets for more money, find
ing none, in severe silence he turned his
we stood there men lost their property and
| lost their souls.
Oh, merciless place! Not once in all the
history of that gaming house has there been
one word of sympathy for the losers at the
| game.
In these gaming houses Of our cities men
have their property wrung away from them,
| and then they 60 out, some of them, TO
| drown their grief in strong drink, some to
ply the counterfeiters pen and so restore
| their fortunes, some resort to the suicides
revolver, but all going down, and that work
proceeds day by day and night by night.
That cart-rope," says some young man,
has never been wound around my soul"
| But have not some threads of that cart-rope
| been twisted?
! arragn before God the gift enterprises
Of our cities, which have tendency to make
| this Nation of gamblers. Whatever you
get, young man, in such place as that,
without giving proper equivalent, is rob
| berry of your own soul and q robbery of the
community.
Tobacco dealers advertise that on a GER
tain day they Will put money into their
papers so that the purchaser of certain to-
bacco in Cincinnati or New York may un-
expectedly come upon magnificent gratu-
ity Boys hawking through the railroad
cars packages containing nobody knows
what until you open them and find they
contain nothing. Christian men with pic
lures on their wall gotten in lottery, and
the brain of community taxed TO find out
some new way of getting things without
paying for them.
Oh, young men, these are the threads that
make the cart-rope, and when young man
consents TO these practices he Is being bound
hand and foot by habit which has already
destroyed "a great multitude that no man
can number"
Sometimes these gift enterprises are car
ried Oh in the name of charity; and some of
you remember at the close of our civil war
how many gift enterprises were on foot, the
proceeds to go to the orphans and widows of
the soldiers and sailors. What did the men
who had charge of those gift enterprises
care for the orphans and widows? Why,
they would have allowed them to freeze to
death upon their steps.
EASY TO FALL PREY.
I have accomplished my object if l put
you on the lookout 1t is great deal
easier to fail than it is to get up again.
The trouble is that when men begin to 90
astray from the path of duty, they are apt
to say, There's no use of my trying to get
back. I've sacrificed my responsibility, l
can't return; and they 90 on until they
are utterly destroyed.
tell you, my friends, that God this mo-
ment, by his Holy Spirit, can change your
| entire nature, SO that you will be a different
man in minute. Your great want-what
| is it? More salary? Higher social posi-
| ton? No; no. will tell you the great
want of every man, if he has not already OBJ
| tanned it. 1t is the grace of God.
! Are there any who have fallen victims to
the sin that ! have been reprehending
You are in prison. You rush against the
wall OF this prison, and try to get out, and
you fail and you turn around and dash
against the other wall until there is blood
on the CRATES, and blood on your soul. You
will never get out in this way. There is only
one way of getting out There is a key that
can unlock that prison-hOnse. 1t is the key
of the house of David. 1t is the key that
Christ wears at his girdle. If you will al
low him to put that key to the lock, the
bolt will shoot back, and the door will
swing open, and you will be free man in
Christ Jesus. a
Oh, prodigal, what business this is for
you, feeding swine, when your father stands