The Penn's Grove record., 1897-08-06
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE eY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

sauds>NAy be Saved by Grace Of God,
Text. twoe unto them that sin, rs 1t wers
with a cart ~rope."-Isaiah ", Is.
There are some iniquities that only nibblt
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 iii
themselves up to gigantic proportions and
seize hold oil a mar and bind him will
thongs forever, There afe some ~fniquities
that a such great emphasis OF evil that
he who commits them may be said to sin
as with a cart rope. l suppose you know
how they make a great rope. The stuff GU
Of which II Is fashioned is nothing but TOW
which you pull apart without any exertion
Of your fingers. This is spun into threads
my OF which you could easily snap, but i
great many of these threads are inter
wound-then you have a rope strong
enough to bind An OK or hold q ship Ia /
tempest.
Ispeak to You OF the sin Of gambling. A
cart rope In strength is that sin, and yet ]
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 on the advance, SO that 1t Il
we'll not only that fathers and brothers and
sons DO interested In such a discussion, hui
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 q subject as this and say,
ut has no practical bearing upon my life,'
Tor there may BIO In a short time in your
history IN experience in which you will
find that the discussion involved three
worlds-earthi heaven, hell. There are
gambling establishments blythe 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 honest1 TenAthese ten pro-
Tossing to be honest becansethey are merely
the antechamber to those that are acknowl-
edged fraudulent, There arc flrst-class es-
Establishments. You stop a little way out OF
Broadway, New York. You go up the mar
BILE stairs. You ring the bell. Tho Inverted
servant introduces you. The walls are law
ender tinted. The mantels are Of Vermont
marble. The pictures are "Jephthah'e
Daughter" and Dore's 81 Dante" and Virgils
Frozen Region OF He'll" O most appro.
pirate selection, 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 banquet
Ing room, where, Tree of charge, to the
guests. you may find the plate and yiands
and wines and cigars sumptuous 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 rs you como In.
Does not the panther, squat In the grass,
know a 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 60 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
number Is called a "horse," and there are
thousands Of our young mon leaping into
that saddle" md mounting that 'gig''
and behind that "horsep riding to perdi-
ton. THERE'S always n kind OF sign on
the door, Exchange d most appropriate
title for the door, for there in that room a
man exchanges health, peace and HEAVIER
Tor loss Of health, loss of home, loss OF Tam
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 1t Is
made. There is In many q disposition TO
hazard. They feel a delight In walking
near o 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 ofY?h There are persons who have
their blood tllliped and accelerated by
skating very near an airhole. There are
men who find a positive delight In driving
within two inches of the edge Of a bridge.
1t Is this disposition to hazard that finds
development in gaming practices. Here
are $500. l may stake them. II / stake
them, l may lose them, but I may win
$4,000. Whichever way it turnsI have the
excitement. Shufie the cads. LOST Heart
thumps. Head dizzy. At 1t 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 50 with professional gamblers.
enough to unbalance their Judgment. They
do not see the dice so much as they see the
dollar beyond tho dice, and for that they
watch us h spider In the web, looking as
II dead until the fly passes. Thousands Of
young men in b hope Of gain go into
these practices. They say: well, my sal
airy is not enough to allow this luxury. l
don't get enough from my store, office or
shop. fought to have liner apartments.
l 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. l won't stand this any longer.
| can with one brilliant stroke make a for
tune. Now, hers goes, principle or no
principle, heaven or hell. Who caresp"
When a young man makes up his mind to
live beyond his income, satan has bought
him out and out, and 1t is only q question
OF tim when the goods are to be delivered.
The thing is done. You may plant In the
way all the batteries Of truth and right
e%ousness; but man is bound to go on. When
a man makes $1,000 a year and spends
$1,000, when a young man makes $500 and
spends $1700, all the harpies OF darkness
cry out, Hal hal we have himl'' 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 and in one
night, SO great was his luck, he rolled up
hundreds and thousands Of dollars. II he
got 1t, why not II 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 / 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 tho grave there Is not so
much sound ms the click of dice. Oh, how
many have gone down under It'll Look at
those men who were nee highly pros
pered. Now their forehead is licked by a
tongue Of fame that will never go 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
until you turn away and hide your face and
ask God to help you to forget it. The
most of this evil is unadvertised. The
community does not hear Of it. Men de-
frauded in gambling establishments
are not fools enough to tell of it.
Once In awhile, however, there Is an
exposure, as when In Boston the police
swooped upon q gaming establishment and
found In 1t the representatives OF all classes
Of citizens. from the first merchants on
State street to the low Ann street gambler;
as when Bullock, the cashier of the Central
Railroad OF Georgia, was found to have
stolen clos, 900 for the purpose of carrying
on gambling practices, as when q young
man in one ofthe savings banks of Brook
lyn many years ago was found to have
stolen $40, 900 to carry on gaming practices;
as when a mar connected witha Wall street
Insurance company was found TO have
stolen S108, 600 to carry on his gaming prac-
tees. But that is exceptional.
49,