Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-01-21
SERMON ON GAMBLING.
4 STRONG DISCOURSE DELIVERED
BY REV. DIR. ID. ID. CUNNING
HAM LIST NIGHT
AT PRESBYTERIAN RICH
The Danger Lurking in Card Playing
at Home for Amusement-TheT Ten
denotes to immortality Due to the
Excitement of the Gaming Table.
Some Examples Given.

Some Examples Given.
A number of clergymen last night
preached sermons upon gambling.
Among the number was the Rev. D. A.
Cunningham, D. D.. pastor of the First
Presbyterian church, who selected
gambling as his theme, by request.
The Rev. Mr.. Cunningham said in part:
Prov. 1877. There is that maketh
himself rich, yet hath nothing"
Ill gotten gains, whether large or
small, can never permanently enrich
the possessor. Wealth gotten by
vanity shall be diminished; but he that
gathereth by labor shall increase"
I'll W There is lawful, and an I'M
lawful way Of earning a living; there
is Scriptural and an un-Scriptural
method OF doing business, and accumu-
lating wealth. There is that maketh
himself rich, yet hath nothing" I'm
der this text may be classed all those
who seek to obtain money in unlawful
ways, such as by betting, fraud, games
of chance, in other words gambling.
Ny subject to-day growing out of the
text is, Gambling" Doubtless, men
take different views, of the subject.
One man sees lawful amusement in
gambling; another, justifiable excite
ment; a third, defensible means of
gain; but we behold in it imminent
danger and positive transgression of
God law. Instead of being like
R1l1 WI oh
safely lie down, 1t is a path by the
side of precipice, threatening death
at every step. AS we find the victims
of gambling in the courts of insol-
vency and of bankruptcy, in the Gel
lars and garrets of poverty, in the
dark dens of crime and infamy in the
cells of our prisons, and at the gal
lows itself, we see in it nothing but
sin, danger and ruin.
Gaming, or gambling, is playing a
game of hazard for property; or the
risking Of property, as in the case of
betting upon a die or chance. Two
conditions appear to be essential to
gaming-hazard and the absence of
an equivalent for that which may be
gained That kind of play which rem
uSlS oil VI EMIL VI vi idOOi
for what may be gained. is not gam
ing. | am aware that upon the point
of hazard, it may be said there is risk
in commerce and trade, and that the
chances of gambling transactions
may be made matter of mathematical
consideration. | am also aware that
on the point of an equivalent it may
he said that the results of lawful trade
and honest labor are unequal-sOme-
times rendering more than an equiva-
lent and sometimes less. But we reply
that, while the characteristic of gam
ing is hazard the feature of labor for
wages and of all mercantile transac-
tions, is not hazard, but gain for gain.
And here let me remark, that the
principles of gaming are sometimes
acted upon, where there is neither bet
ting nor play. Men may gamble with
capital instead Of cards; with other
peoples money, in reckless specula-
ton, instead of with their own cash
and dice; in me boardroom of some
joint stock company instead of the sa-
looms of gaming house.
Gaming denies, or at least ignores
the government and the providence Of
the one true God. The gambler may
or may not be an atheist, a deist, or
skeptic in opinion. But certainly, so
far as his gaming is concerned, he
says either that there is no God, or
that with the world, God has nothing
to do. The god of the gambler is
chance. Whatever may be his Opin-
ions or creed, the gambler in his gam
ing denies God, and exalts blind pow
erless chance to the Divine throne. All
this appears harmless to the men in
whose thoughts God is not but to
those of us who believe in God-who
love, trust and serve hint appears
a fearful mischief and a monstrous in
iquity.
Gaining. so far as gain is the object,
and so far as all its gains are concern
ed, is contrary to two Divine arrange
ments which have existed from the be-
ginning, and which are not likely to
be revoked, namely, gain by labor and
gain from our fellowmen, with mutual
advantage. Gods ordinance is, that
in the sweat of our brow we shall eat
bread. We are to work in order to
eat Profit must be acquired by labor.
This arrangement was made for man
in his unfallen state, but it is Of great
er Importance to us in our moral and
spiritual degradation. 1t tends to keep
us out of the horrible pit of Incidence,
to extricate us from the miry clay Of
low animal indulgence and to save us
from some of the worst forms of sell
tlshness.
1t may be that by the multitude,
gaining is practiced rather for excite
ment than for gain. l remark there
fore that the kind of excitement which
gambling produces is most dangerous
and injurious, but that, if it were
healthful, the end does not justify the
means. There can be no doubt that
most men thirst for excitement, and
that many seek it in the practice of
gaming. The hope of success, the fear
of failure, the pleasure of gain, the
pain of loss, and the sudden changes
from one emotion to another, involve
intense excitement. And the man who
finds leisure dull, and business or pro-
fessional labor very prosaic, whose
necessity for excitement Is not met by
the risks and competitions of business
or by the pleasure of ordinary recrea-
ton, seeks the kind and degree of
stimululus he thinks he needs in the
risks and uncertainties of gaming.
Now we assert upon the foundation
of the acknowledged experience of the
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