Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1903-03-19
gambling"
Sunday Sermon By Rev. Albert j
Lyman, D. D.
There Is No Such Thing as Chancc-A
That There Is, Is Subjective
Uncertainty.

NEW YORK CITY-At the South Con
gregational Church, Brooklyn, the pastor
the Rev. Albert j. Lyman, d. d., preached
sermon on Common Ethical Illusion,
Concerning the Practice OF Gambling" Ht
selected one OF the Ten Commandment;
for his text: Exodus xx: 10: Thou shall
not steal.'
A direct pulpit address upon practical
every day morality is exposed to one very
obvious embarrassment. 1t is this Many
persons feel, and with = great deal OF rea
son, that sunday sermon, and especially
in the morning of the Lords Day. should
be broad setting forth OF religious truth
in general terms, clothed in form sutii
GENTLY elaborate and sufficiently artistic
to be Intellectually attractive aside from
my particular application. A most striking
illustration, perhaps, OF such 4 sermon
devoted to the exposition of one great
| phase of religious truth and OF the divine
character was that delivered, as | gather
from his pulpit last Sunday morning, by
our bonored friend, DR.. Herrick, of Bos'
ton. We come to church, one might say,
to worship and to hear the Scripture ex.
| planned, and we do not care to hear our
minister made dead Set as it might
be called, upon certain foible or vice
which we are almost all entirely against.
My feeling is that there is a deep propriety
in this sentiment. Preaching, like prayer,
should be for all. On the other hand, a
Christian minister Christian pastor
who is pastor more than he is preacnsr---is
a watcher for souls, not in the mass, but
for individual souls. He stands as the
trinity of watchers-teacher.p pastor watch
er for individual human lives. St. Paul at
| Ephesus said he had warned every one
night and day with tears-every one.
/ need make no apology for continuing
in the strain of ethical appeal taken up
! two weeks ago, for | have been asked and
urged to do so by some oil our young men
Within the last fortnight various echoes
! have reached me of the address which this
pulpit ventured to make in favor OF a
high morality and especially, moral free
| dom, which makes all-round preaching;
the freedom to hold az well as the freedom
to give way. Amoug those echoes there
have been some references to the practice
| of gambling. Young men have said to me
that most people have no idea OF the eX-
tent to which certain forms OF gambling
are prevalent in this great city, extend.
ing all the way from the boyish practice OF
matching pennies up to playing Tor high
! stakes in the gaming house. On the other
hand. others have said they did not see
where the real wrong came in by buying
chances. on the races. for example. and
stakes at card. All had an equal chance.
In the same spirit, therefore, as that IN
which tried to speak two weeks ago, trust
! ing to your sympathy IN my effort to reach
| our young people, | wish to say word or
two this morning on ethical illusions con:
corning gambling. | am most anxious OF
all that whatever | say shall be SAID ialriy
! and not from a prelndlced or blgoted point
/ of view. | do not wish to confuse things
which in themselves differ OF produce upon
! any young friend an impression OF mere
/ into,erant antipathy. 1t may occasion sur
/ prise that so severe text has been chosen,
/ Tor you will say: Gambling is not steal,
| ing" and yet cannot help thinking
the more | think about 1t the more con
vinced am-that the text does tit the sub
! ject. There ATE some differences between
| gambling and stealing. and they ought to
be admitted but. at the heart the two are
very much the same, very alike. Shall we
then look at this matter, not in the way or
excited and vehement dcnunciatlon. but IN
| the sober, brother,y fashion as though we
were talking at home?
| First, then. the difference between gam
| bling and stealing. Stealing Is without the
| knowledge of the person stolen from; gam
bling is with the knowledge OF botA per,
/ sons Gambling invokes the presence OF a
| third party. namely, chance, whose pres
, ence is supposed to change the mora ma
ture of the transaction. Ga the other
) hand, gambling resembles stealing because
I it is taking something for which no return
| il sivSn-no return at all. In legitimate
speculation the seller receives something
which at the time he believes to be the
! equivalent OF what ne sells. Otherwise the
! transaction Is unjust. But in gambling
| ninetv.nnc men sell ont to the hundredth
man and get nothing for what they sell, |
! have sometimes fancied that moral para!
! lei nav be run between gambling and due
! ing, Gambling like dueling, is moral
hybrid That is, a cross between a clear
wrong and what may be right. for. eex-
ample, murder Is wrong; war may he right;
Gambling is a cross between murder and
war. SO stealing is clear wrong and spec
uation may be right Gambling is cross
between stealing and speculation. But
both gambling and dueling dwell in moral
twilight and are absolutely as immoral and
dangerous to society as the very h,ackness
of midnight itself Now. YOU will notice
that in both gambling and dueling laird
. factor is supposed to enter, which neutral
| izes the moral wrong. In gambling the e!e'
ment is chance: in dueling it Ia honor. III,
however, we look at the matter VIC shall, l
think, find out that chance in the one case
and honor in the other is not reality but
chimera-but an illusion. That Is what
mean by the illusion of gambling. There
is no such thing as chance, really. ana that
is where the illusion comes in Let lis
look at this.
There is an amount OF mental juggling. a
haze over mems eyes, a witch,s maze. III
which the idea IS that chance Is an oo]eeGm,
tive fact Now there is no such thing. All
that there is, is a subjective uncertainty
no objective chance at all. There Is no
such thing as chance. Once travelling
along the Connecticut River Valley asked
German who was with me to tell me
something about German metaphysics. he
pointed to sorle holes in the banks OF the
river, in which the ground swallows had
built their nests, aud said "fou see that
which are the swallows nests!' Yes,
said /. Now" said he, TIA Ike away the
bank and leave nothing but the holes and
ycr will have an exact definition OF Ger
man metaphysics" And so it is with tins
idea of chance; there is no such thing oh
jectively as chance. One hundred men cacf
have a chance. No such thing. The act
ual fact is that just one man Is certain u
get a prize-if he is certain--and the oth
Crs are certain not to get it. Therefore
they have no chance. One man has a Ger
taiity and the Others have no chance
They all have simply uncertainty as tt
which man has a certainty. Suppose thai
some Judge who is distributing the prIze'
had sufficient foresight to know exactly
which way the ball would roll. He knows
that and the corresponding number il
every mans hand. Science has chased
chance out of the universe. To the eye'
of the intelligent chance has ceased to &c
There is no such thing in all this world
There is what we call a law, but there II
no chance in the case; it is all law.
Beside, taking Your own ground, even
there is such a thing. there Is only on,
chance out of a whole hundred which vii
become a certainty. Well You say, Il
is a good chance" Yes, that is a, goo:
chance. CAS- chance is good, them
Yes. but BIS chance is poor. In othe
words, one mans chance neutralizes an
other; therefore, there are no hundred
chances IL YOU have bought one goot
chance, then ninety nine have paid for
poor chance What equality is there ii
that? Thus, even on your own groun,,
L. 4 L. nlan nd