The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-03-19
gambling"
Sunday Sermon By Rev. Albert j.
Lyman, D. D.
There Is No Such Thing as Chanee-Ai
That There Is, Is Subjective
Uncertainty.


Concerning the Practice OF Gambling HI
selected one OF the Ten Commandment.
for his text. Exodus Sx: Is. Thou shal
not steal
\ direct pulpit address upon practica
every day morality is exposed to one very
obvious embarrassment. 1t Is this: Many
persons iecl, and with 4 great deal OF rea
son, that q sunday sermon, and especially
IN the morning oi the Lords Day, should
be a broad setting forth OF religious truth
IN general terms, clothed IN form sufii
cientIy elaborate and sufficiently artistic
TO be intellectually attractive aside from
any particular Application. y most striking
illustration, perhaps, Of such 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 houored friend, DIR. Herrick, OF Bos.
ton. We come 10 church, one might say.
TO worship and 10 hear the Scripture ex.
planned. and we do not care to hear our
minister made u dead set" as it might
be called, upon q 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 preacher--is
n watcher for souls, not in the mass but
trinity OF watchers-teachcr, pastor, watch
er fIr individual human lives. ST. Paul at
Ephesus said he had warned every one
night and day with tears-every one.
/ need make no apology Tor continuing
in the strain OF ethical appeal taken up
two weeks ago, for | have been asked and
urged to do so by some OF our young men
Within the last fortnight various echoes
have reached me OF the address which this
pulpit ventured to make in favor of
high morality and especially moral free
dom, which makes al.round preaching
the freedom to hold as well as the freedom
to give way. Among 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 for 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, anC
stakes at card. All had an equal chance.
In the same spirit, therefore, as that II
which ! tried to speak two weeks ago, trust
ing to your sympathy in my effort to reach
our young people, ! wish to say a word oi
two this morning on ethical illusions con
corning gambling. 1 am most anxious OF
1
and not from a prejudced or bigoted point
of view. / do not wish to confuse thing
which in themselves differ or produce upor
any young friend an impression OF mere
intolerant antipathy. 1t may occasion sur
prise that so severe a text has been chosen
for you will say: Gambling is not steal
ing and vet ! cannot help thinking-anC
the more | think about it the more con
vinced ! am-that the text does fit the sub
ject. There are some differences between
gambling and stealing and they ought tc
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 o.
excited and vehement denunciation, but il
the sober, brOther,y fashion as though w
were talking at home!
Firs., then. the difference between gam
bling and stealing. Stealing Is without the
knowledge Oi the person stolen from; gam
bling i with the knowledge OF both per
sons. Gambling lnvokes the presence OF
third party, namely, chance, whose pres
snce Is supposed to change the moral ma
ture Of the transaction On the other
hand. gambling resembles stealing because
Il Is taking something for which no return
Is giv-n-nO return al all. In legitimate
speculation the seller receives something
which at the time he believes to be the
equivalent OF what he sells Otherwise the
transaction Is unjust. But in gambling
man and get nothing Tor what they sell.
have sometimes taucled that a moral paral
cl may be run between gambling and due.
ing Gambling like duehng, is n mora
hybrid. That is, n cross between eleai
wrong and what may be right. For ex
ample; murder Is wrong; war may be right
Gambling ls 4 cross between murder and
war. 50 stealing is a clear wrong and spec
nlatloa may be right. Gambling is cross
between stealing and speculation. But
both gambling and dueling dwell in a mora
twilight and are absolutely as immoral and
dangerous to slciety as the very b,acines;
ot midnight Itself Now. YOU will notice
that in both gambling and dueling third
factor Is supposed TO enter, which neutral.
zes the moral wrong. In gambling the ele
ment is chance; in duellng it is honor. II,
however, we look at the matter we shall ]
think, ind out that chance in the one case
and honor in the other is not a reality but
chimera-but an illusion. That is what
! mean by the illusion OF gambling. There
g no such thing as chance, really, and that
e where the Illusion comes in Let US
look at this.
There Is an amount OF mental juggling,
haze over mems eyes, witch's maze, in
which the idea Is that chance is an objec,
tive TACT. Now there is no such thing All
that there Is, Is subjective uncertainty
no objective chance at all There is nc
along the Connecticut River Valley asked
German who was with me to tell me
something aboJt German metaphysics. He
pointed to some holes in the banks Of the
river, N which the ground swallows had
built their nests, and said: You see that
which are the swallows nests:" Yes
said /. Now said he, take away the
bank and leave nothing but the holes and
yoI VIII have an exact definition OF Ger
man metaphysics" And so IL is with thi,
idea OF chance; there is no such thing OBJ
lectively as chance. One hundred men each
have chance. No such thing. The act
ual fact Is that Just one man is certain tc
get prize-it he is eertain-and the 9th
ers a.e certain not to get il. Therefore
they have no chance. One man has A Ger
tailty and the others have no chance
They all have simply uncertainty as te
which man has certainty. Suppose that
some Judge who Is distributing the prizes
had sufficient foresight to know exactly
which way the ball would roll. lie know,
that and the corresponding number in
every mans hand. Science has chased
chance out of the universe TO the evei
Of the intelligent chance has ceased to be
There is no such thing in all this world
There is what we call a law, but there b
no ehf nee in the case; It Is all law
Beside, taking your own ground, even i
there is such a thing, there is only on,
chance out OF whole hundred which vii
become certainty. "Well," YOU saw. ~
is a good chance Yes, that is a goot
chance. AS chance is good, then?
Yes. but Bs chance is poor. In othei
words, one mans chance neutralizes an
other; therefore, there are no hundred
chances II you have bought one goot
chance, then ninety-nine have paid for
poor chance. What equality Is there IL
that thus, even on your own grounC
there ,s 10 such thing as chance. And