Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-10-22
TALMAGE
SERMON
BY Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMACE. DID,.
y Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby.
terrain Church. Chicago

lut DGc'rtutl CAROoCS anu
denounccs the national evil of gam
bling, which has spread to all classes
and conditions of men. He uttcrs n
wholesome and timely protest against
those forms of the mania which are
corrupting our social and business life.
The text h Genesis iii, 10, "In the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread"
Some years ago l was walking In
beautiful Paramount park, Philadel-
phia, with my father. lie suddenly
turned and said to me: Frank, next
week l am going to write a sermon
upon the question Is life worth living?'
| am going to show that the solution
of that question is conditional. Wheth-
or life is or is not worth living de-
ponds upon how you live 1t. If man
lives in this world with the idea that
he Is only to receive and not to give,
if he is cursed with the enervating
conviction that he must be carried
around on litter and if he does not
want to be a worker, laborer, doer
i'l ihdHNIui, lu'il iII' II ilpt WI III
living. The sooner that man is dead
the better. But if man goes through
this world realizing the glorious Op-
portunities of Christian usefulness and
If he is willing TO spend and be spent
for others, then life Is worth living
happier we shall be and the more we
shall make others happy"
But, though at the Edenic expulsion
the divine command was given. by
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread" yet from time inmemorial
sands of men and women who have
tried to shirk the obligations of labor
which God has placed at every hearth
stone. They have been seeking q means
whereby through the opened door of
the Roman temple erected to Fortuna,
the goddess of chance, they could pos
sess Il fortune without working for 1t or
without contributing anything to the
world in return for it, They would be
wreckcrs pure and simple. They
would become vampires upon the social
organism, sucking out the life's blood
Of others, as the Australian bats fasten
themselves upon the backs of the
horses, cattle and sheep until they have
drunk their fill. or as the European
cuckoo lays her eggs in the nests of
other birds, or like a parasitical plant,
which absorbs the nourishment of
other plants. They would drink, yet
never themselves become fountains of
water at whose sparkling springs 9TH
ers might quench their parchng thirst.
WOrshipers of II Blind Goddess.
In every age there have been thou
sands upon thousands of devotees at
shippers Of blind goddess. The an
cient Romans showed their wisdom In
picturing her with eyes shut and large
wings on her feet She sees nothing
of the sacrifices Of her worshipers, and
she cares nothing for the heartbreak of
those who have given her their all
She cares not whose fortune she
snatches away. When she gathers up
the gold in her arms those wings on
her feet can make her and her treas
urcd burden disappear as quickly as q
roulette wheel can whirl, as quickly as
mans deed for his house can change
hands at the turning of q card, as
quickly rs n race horse can travel
about the track Of derby. The god
dess OF chance can fly away so quickly
that in an instant n man can be ruined
for time and for eternity.
My theme is defiant gambling. De
fiant, yea. The gambler deties God
and in utter recklessness stakes his
fortune In this world and his hopes OF
the next. This accursed evil Is a VIC
lation Of Gods laws as we'll as man
Defiant because when the winnings
and losings of a gamblers lifetime are
balanced 1t will inevitably be found
that the demon Fortuna has robbed her
victim both Of his soul and his pocket.
book. The smile of this evil genius is
more 10 be dreaded than her frown.
The smile allures, but 1t hides the
scowl which might warn the devotee
of the ruthlessness with which she in
tends completely and eternally to de-
stroy him. The hanGman's suavities
do not make the ropes grip less fatal;
neither did the politeness and Difference
with which the Partisan executioner
welcomed Louis XVI. TO the guillotine
blunt the keen edge of the descending
knife.
Gambling Is Robbery.
Gambling is robbery. 1t takes wealth
and gives nothing in return. 1t puts
not one copper into the worlds treas,
ury 1t plants no seed. 1t digs no gold
from the mine. 1t grows no wool upon
the sleeps back. 1t builds no steam.
ship lines. 1t manufactures no goods
and 1t retails no finished products. II
does nothing for national or social de-
vclopment, 1t had no more to do with
the marvellous development of the
twentieth century than the vast riches
do with creating the wealth OF the four
teenth and the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries. Its mission Is always ruin
ons Ever does it raise black flag of
death and never the white flag which
should always be carried by the ''he-
roes of peace"
Gambling cannot even lay claim to
the indirect advantages which a legitl
mate business provides for the com.
lnunity. Every legitimate business IL
benefit to mankind. When a man
like old Commodore Vanderbilt started
n In, DO