Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-04-08
THE FIELD OF BLOOD.
AN EFFECTIVE SERMON ON GAMBLING
eY Or. TALMAGE.
The Downward Path OF the Gamester
Pointed Ont with Startling Fidelity.
The Church Not Guilsless-The Betting
Habit-Modern Gift Enterprises.


WASHINGTON, April 3.-The spirit of
hazard in this sermon is arraigned by
DR.. Talmage, and the downward path
of the gamester is plainly pointed out;
text, Acts i, 10, "Aceldama-that is to
say, the field of blood. "
The money that Judas gave for sur
rendering Christ was used to purchase
q graveyard. AS the money was blood
money the ground bought by it was
called in the Syriac tongue "Aceldama, "
meaning "the field Of blood " Well,
there is one word | want to write today
over every race course where wagers
are staked, and every poolroom, and
every gambling saloon, and every table,
public or private, where men and wom-
en- bet for sums of money, large or
small. and that is a word incarnadined
with the life Of innumerable victims -
Aceldama.
The gambling spirit, which is at all
times a stupendous evil, ever and anon
sweeps over the country like an cpl
demic, prostrating uncounted thou
sands. There has never been a worse
attack than that from which all the
villages, towns and cities are now suf-
fering.
While among my hearers and readers
are those who have passed on into the
afternoon Of life, and the shadows are
lengthening, and the sky orimsons with
the glow Of the setting sun, "a large
number Of them are in early life, and
the morning is coming down out Of the
clear sky upon them, and the bright air
is redolent with spring blossoms, and
the stream Of life, cleaning and glanc-
ing. rushes on between fiowery banks
making music as il goes Some Of you
are engaged in mercantile concerns as
clerks and bookkeepers and your whole
life is to be passed in the exciting
world of traffic. The sound Of busy life
stirs you as the drum stlrs the fiery
war horse. Others are in the mechanical
arts to BANNER and chisel your way
through life, and success awaits you.
Some are preparing for professional
life, and grand opportunities are before
you-nay, some Of you already have
buckled on the armor. But, whatever
your age and calling, the subject Of
gambling about which l speak today Is
pertinent.
Some years ago, when an association
for the suppression Of gambling was or
ganized, on agent Of the association
came to a prominent citizen and asked
him TO patronize the society. He said
"No. | can have 10 interest in such al
organization. / am in nowise affected
bv the evil" At that very time his son.
who was his partner in business wa'
one Of the heaviest players in famous
gambling establishment. Another re
fused his patronage on the same ground
not knowing that his first bookkeeper
though receiving salary Of only 81, OOO
was losing from $50 to 500 per night
The president Of railroad company re
fused to patronize the institution say
ing. THAT society is good for the de
fense of merchants, but we railroad pee
ple are not injured by this evil, no
knowing that at that very time two O
his conductors were spending thre'
nights Of each week at faro tables Il
New York. Directly or indirectly TIM
evil strikes at the whole world.
what Is Gambling?
Gambling is the risking Of something
mora or less valuable in the hope o
winning more than you hazard. Th'
instruments of gaming may differ, hu
the principle is the same. The shuiillnl
and dealing cards, however full o
temptation, is not gambling unles
stakes are put up; while, on the othe
hand. gambling may be carried OF
without cards or dice or billiards or
tenpin alley. The man who bets Of
horses or elections, on battles, the MAJ
who deals in fancy" stocks or conduct
q business which hazards extra capita
or goes into transactions without 1oun
dation. but dependent upon what mel
call "luck, " is a gambler
Whatever you expect to get iron
YOUR neighbor without offering al
eouiyalent in money or time or skill l
either the product Of theft or gaming
Lottery tickets and lottery policies com
into the same category. Bazaars for III
founding of hospitals, schools AM
churches, conducted on the railing sys
tenn. come under the same denomlna
tion. Do not. therefore, associate gam
bling necessarily with any instrumen
or game or time or place or think tn
principle depends upon whether yo
nlay for q glass Of wine or 100 shares
railroad stock. Whether you patroniz
"auction pools, French mutuals o
"bookmaking, whether you emplo
faro or billiards, rordo and keno, card
or bagatellc, the very idea Of the thin
is dishonest; for it processes to bestoN
upon you good for which you give ii
equivalent. :.
This crime is no newborn sprite, bu
O hasgard transgression that comes stag
/
Qering down under mantle OF curs'
through many centuries. All nations
barbarous and civilized, have been ao
dicted to it,
But now the laws of the whole civ
lized world denounce the system. Enac
ments have been passed, but only pal
=. tally enforced and az times not el
forced at all. The men interested
gaming houses and in jockey clubs WEI
such influence by their mum oers an
efflueuco that the judge, the jury an
the police officer must be bold mace
who would array themselves again
these infamous establishments. III
house of commons of England actuaii
adiourns on Derby day that member
NAV attend the races, and in the pe
circles of society in this country toda
nre many hundreds Of protessediy It
,pectable men who are acknowledge
gamblers. ,r
Hundreds Of thousands of dollars
This land are every day being won an
lost through sheer gambling. says
traveller through the west, 81 have 'ra'
eled /. 600 miles at a time upon u
western waters and seen gambling
: every waking moment from the con
,ooncement TO the termination OF u
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