The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1903-03-26
! SERMON FOR SUNDAY
sAh ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
,CAMBLlNC-a
1nere Is No Such Thing as Chance--AIl
That There is, is Subjective Uncer-
tainty -- Science Has Chased Chance
Gut of the Universe

tainty - Science Has Chased Chance
Gut of the Universe.
New YORK CETY.--At the Sorth Con-
Eregational Church, Brooklyn, the pastor,
The Rev. Alberto. Lyman, ID. d., preached
sermon on Common Ethical Illusions
Goncerning the Practice of Gambling. lie
selected one of the Ten Commandments
Tor his text; Exodus Xxx: Is: Thou shalt
not steal"
IA direct pulpit address upon practical
every day morality is exposed to one very
obvious embarrassment. 1t is this: Many
persons feel, end with a great deal or rea-
son. that a Sunday sermon, and especially
IN the morning of the Lords Day, shonld
sbe a broad setting forth of religious truth
an general terms, clothed IN form sutif-
GENTLY elaborate and sufficiently artistic
to be intellectually attractive aside from
\ any particular application. A most striking
illustration, perhaps, OF such sermon
Gevoted to the exposition of one great
phase of religious truth and OF the divine
character was that delivered, as 4 gather,
from this pulpit last Sunday morning, by
our honored friend, DR.. Herrick, OF ,Bos-
ton. We come to church, one might say,
ITO worship and to hear the Scripture Sex-
planned, and we do not care to hear our
minister made dead set" as 1t might
be called upon a certain folble or vice,
which we are almost all entirely against.
in this sentiment. Preaching, Like prayer,
should be for ALL On the other hand, "a
! Christian minister "a Christian pastor
who is pastor more than he is preacher-is
watcher for souls, not In the mass, but
for individual souls. He stands as the
trinity of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., pastor, watch
er for individual human lives st. Paul at
Ephesus said he had warned every one
Knight 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 of our young men.
Within the last fortnight various echoes
have reached me of the address which this
pulpit ventured to make in favor tof a
high morality and especially moral free
\ dom, which makes all-round preaching;
the freedom to hold as we'll as the freedom
to give way. Among those echoes there
u have been some references to the practice,
or gambling. Young men have said to me
that most people have no idea tof the OK
tent to which certain forms of gambling
are prevalent in this great city, extend
ing all the way from the boylsh 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, and
ystakes at card. All had an equal chance.
! Y In the same spirit, therefore, as that IN
(which tried to speak two weeks ago, trust
Ping TO your sympathy In my effort to reach
our young people, L wish to say word or
two this morning on ethical illusions con,
81 corning gambling. | am most anxious of
q all that whatever [ say shall be said fairly
and not from prejudiced or bigoted point
of view. | do not wish to confuse things
which in themselves differ or produce upon
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 yet | cannot help thinking-and
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 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 of
excited and vehement denunciation, but in
the sober, brotherly fashion as though we
were talking at home?
First, then. the difference between gam
bling and stealing. Stealing rs without the
knowledge of the person stolen from; gam
bling is with the knowledge of both per-
sons Gambling invokes the presence of
third party, namely, chance, whose pres
ence is supposed to change the moral ma.
ture of the transaction. On the other
hand, gambling resembles stealing because
lit Is taking something for which no return
lis given-no return at 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
ninety-ninc men sell out to the hundredth
man and get nothing for what they sell. [
oave sometimes fancied that moral paral-
ell may be run between gambling and duel
ing. Gambling, like dueling, is a moral
hybrid. That is, a cross between a clear
Nrong and what may be right For ex-
AHnple, murder is wrong; war may be right.
sGRambling is a cross between murder and
WAR. so stealing is a clear wrong and spec
llation may be right. Gambling is a 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 blackness
BIZ midnight itself. Now, you will notice
HAT in both gambling and dueling a third
actor IS supposed to enter, which neutral
yes the moral wrong. In gambling the sele-
cent is chance; in dueling it is honor IF,
However, we look at the matter we shall, /
hink, find out that chance in the one case
nd >honor in the other is not reality but
chimera-but an illusion. That is what
mean by the illusion of gambling. There
mo such thing as chance, really, and that
where the illusion comes in. Let us
box at this.
There is an amount of mental juggling, a
&hich the idea is that chance is an objec-
We fact. Now there is no such thing. All
at there is, is subjective uncertainty,
objective chance at all. There is no
ch thing as chance. Once travelling
ng the Connecticut River Valley asked
Norman who was with me to tell me
#nething about German metaphysics He
inted to some holes in the banks of the
nr, in which the ground swallows had
lit their nests, and said: ''You see that
ok?" Yes" You see those holes in
ich are the swallows nests" "Yes,"
/. Now" said he, ''take away the
k and leave nothing but the holes and
will have an exact definition of Ger
Ia metaphysics" And so it is with this
ca of chance; there is no such thing OBJ
lively as chance. One hundred men each
We a chance. No such thing. The act
fact is that just one man is certain to
a prize-if he is certain-and the 9th
are certain not to get it. Therefore
by have no chance. One man has GER
ATTY and the Others have no chance
ley all have simply uncertainty as to
ich man has a certainty. Suppose that
lie Judge who is distributing the prizes
sufficient foresight to know exactly