The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-04-01

reaction. SO. there il q constant play ana
int, rpiay between taking more and more
and more of the intellectual poison with
the reaction. God help the man, for the
undertow has got him!
Nv dear friends. there is something to
me absolutely appalling about getting IN.
der the power without knowing 1t ot that
kind Of intellectual poison. l speak ear:
pestly because I have known and loved
gifted men who have yielded to it and gone
down. The mental unreason that is in
vol ed in gambling unhinges mems brains.
INDUCING in gambling becomes something
that a nan can hardly himself stop. You
know men never stop doing a thing unless
a motive comes which is stronger than the
motive that leads them to do it. The man
goes on and goes On until the impulse and
motive to do the thing becomes stronger
than the motive that comes in to stop 1t.
str niger than the constraining motive. then
it is goodbye. it is goodbye. BOYS begin
by betting OF marbles or putting up stakes
at cards lust to make the game more in.
tcresting." 1t makes the game more inter.
csting 20 the devil. Then comes the race
track. The more refined the man and the
frcr the intellect the more surely the dis.
ease. Nothing ~ 10 CHASTITY as the craving
for gambling which gets hold OF a fine
fbered man. A few days ago a young man.
a church worker. tod me Of q man who
confessed to him that he had crept up-
stairs in the dead Of winter to his little
that covered her and the shoes which she
wore, nut them under his coat and skunk
off and pawned them for rum-the demon
curse. Now. with gambling the frightful
monomania is still worse. If there IS any
young nan here this morning who has any
suspicion that the serpent is getting that
coil around him. then quick. quick. or you
are a lost man! You are q lost boy!
Quick. Get out Of it now. You had bet
ter lock Yourself in your room and live on
bread and water. You had better hold
your hands in the fire until the veins burst
than 60 on with the fend Of gambling. Am
pnlpit? Let the dignity of the pulpit 90.
Go home. mothers. and look on your own
boys face and thank God that your boy
is safe. Then prav for another whose boy
is gone, or whom she thinks is gone: Gods
grace is great and she has come to her pas.
tor and spoken OF this matter.
Bv your kind indulgence ] want to refer
to lust one more point. It is sometimes
said that gambling is the product OF bust.
ness speculation. ] do not believe it. Spec.
~ulation. as its. Latin origin implies. is es-
sentia:ly a foresight. It is an endsavor to
look ahead and determine values. 1t is not
an appeal to chance. We see the same root
to the word inspection. or the word re-
spectable or the noun specular, which 10
the same Latin word. Some forms OF BUSH
ness speculation are, Of course: unfair. but
in a large business sense speculation IS not
guessing in advance. hut looking in advance
and ] do not believe the two 90 together.
In new. strong countries speculation is al.
most always the arcompaniment OF bnsi.
ne7s opportunity. But in dead countries,
such az SDain was fifteen years ago. / have
poticed that while business speculation 10
almost dead. gambling is far more preva-
lent even than here. See the higher Eng.
lish society in Queen Anne's time. minis.
tiers. everybody gambled. but there was not
much business speculation. No. my friends.
it Is idleness craving for excitement. illu-
sion, bad comnany, %rorruDting morals.
These are the forces that lead men into
gambling. All gambling. even the least, un:
der all circumstances. is like seduction and
slavery - eternally unjust and ~eternally
wrong. It is taking something for nothing.
Il makes everv nan his %neighbors foe. 1t
corruDts societv and undermines the fab
rio Of the American state. II is nnpatriotic
and against tn. eternal Sinai. II divorces
contract and it's equivalent. IL there one
here this mornino. I wonder. who wants
his dearest friend. his young brother, to
stop gambling II so, in Gods name, let
him stop himself.