Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-10-19
TALMAGE
SERMON
BY Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMACE. DID,.
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church. Chicago

the preacher scathingly exposes and
denounces the national evil of gam
bling, which has spread to all classes
and conditions OF men. lie utters a
wholesome and timely protest against
those forms OF the mania which are
corrupting our social and business life.
The text Is Genesis iii. 10. ''In the
sweat OF thy face shalt thou eat
bread"
Some years ago I was walking In
beautiful Fairmount park. Philadel-
phia. with my father. lie suddenly
turned and said to me: Frank, next
week | am going TO write a sermon
upon the question is life worth livingT
| am going TO show that the solution
OF that question is conditional. Wheth-
er life Is or is not worth living de-
ponds upon how you live 1t. II man
lives In this world with the idea that
he Is only to receive and not to give.
IL he is cursed with the enervating
conviction that he must be carried
around on a litter and II he does not
want TO be a worker. n laborer. a doer
for mankind, then life is not worth
living. The sooner that man is dead
the better. But II man goes through
this world realizing the glorious op-
pOrtunities Of Christian usefulness and
IL he is willing to spend and be spent
for others, then life is worth living.
Then the longer we live on earth the
happier we shall be and the more we
shall make others happy"
But, though at the Edenic expulsion
the divine command was giAn. by
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread" yet from time immemorial
there have been thousands upon thou
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 a means
whereby through the opened door of
the Roman temple erected to Fortuna,
the goddess of chance. they could pos
sess fortune without working for ii or
without contributing anything to the
world In return for II. They would be
wreckers pure and simple They
would become vampires upon the social
organism, sucking out the lifes blood
VI ptltAHs Us SAuSlIdlldn DdlS LdSleu
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 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 parching thirst.
worshipers of IA Blind Goddess.
In every age there have been thou
sands upon thousands of devotees at
Fortuna's shrine. They are blind wor-
shippers OF a 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
ured burden disappear as quickly as a
roulette wheel can whirl, as quickly as
mans deed for his house can change
hands at the turning of a card, as
quickly as race horse can travel
about the track of derby. The god
dess of chance can fly away so quickly
that in an instant man can be ruined
for time and for eternity
My theme is defiant gambling. De-
fiant. yea! The gambler defies God
and in utter recklessness stakes his
fortune in this world and his hopes of
the next. This accursed evil is vio-
lation of Gods laws as well as mans.
Defiant because when the winnings
and losings of gamblers lifetime are
balanced ii will inevitably be found
that the demon Fortuna has robbed heI
victim both of his soul and his pocket
book. The smile OF this evil genius is
more to be dreaded than her frown
The smile allures. but ii hides the
scowl which might warn the devotet
of the ruthlessness with which she in
tends completely and eternally to de
stroy him. The hangman's suavitie:
do not make the ropes grip less fatal
neither did the politeness and Difference
with which the Partisan eXecutiOne
welcomed Louis XVI. to the guillotin
blunt the keen edge of the descending
knife.
Gambling Is Robbery.
Gambling is robbery. 1t takes wealtl
and gives nothing in return. 1t put
not one copper into the worlds treas
ury. Ii plants no seed. Ii digs no gol'
from the mine. 1t grows no wool upol
the sleeps back. 1t builds no steaE
ship lines Ii manufactures no goods
and II retails no finished products.
does nothing for national or social do
velopment. 1t had no more TO do wit
the marvellous development of tn
twentieth century than the vast richie
OF the piratical buccaneers of old had
do with creating the wealth OF the foul
teenth and the fifteenth and sixteent