The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1903-03-19
THERE IS NO CHANCE
AN EXCELLENT SUNDAY SERMON
The Subject of Gambling Is Treated OF
In an Entertaining and Vigorous


gregational Church, Brooklyn, the pastor,
the Rev. Albert j. Lyman, d. D., preached
q sermon on Common Ethical illusions
Concerning the Practice of Gambling" He
selected one of the Ten Commandments
for his text: Exodus k: 10: Thou shalt
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 sutf-
ciently elaborate and sufficiently artistic
to be Intellectually attractive aside from
any particular application. A 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 l gather,
from his pulpit last Sunday morning, by
our honorcd friend, DR. Herriek,. 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 1t might
be called, upon a certain foible or vice
which we are almost al entirely against.
Nv feeling is that there is deep propriety
in this sentiment. Preaching, like prayer,
should be for all. On the other hand, a
Christian minister - Christian pastor
wlo is pastor more than he is preacher-is
a watcher for souls, not in the mass, but
for individual souls. He stands as the
trinity of watchers-teacher, pastor, watch
er for individual human lives. st. Paul at
Ephesus said he had warned every one
night and day with tears-every one.
1 need make no apology for continuing
in the strain of ethical appeal taken un
two weeks ago, for have been asked snd
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 a
high morality and especially moral free
dom, which makes all-rolnd preaching;
the freedom to hold as we'll as the freedom
10 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 huyln2
cnanc.s. on the races. for example. and
stakes al card. All had al equal chance.
IN the same spirit. therefore, as tnat IN
which / trisd 10 speak Two weeks ago, trust
ing to yolr sympathy III my effort to reach
our young peop.e, | wish to say word or
two this morning on ethical illusions con.
cerning gambling I am most anxious or
all that whatever I say shall be said fairly
and not :rom prejuiic2d or bigotcd point
of view. | do not wish TO confuse things
which in themselves differ or produce upon
any young friend an impression OF mere
intocraEt antipathy. 1t may occasion sur
prise that 20 severe a text has been chosen,
Tor YOU will say: Gambling is not steal;
ing and yet | cannot help thinking-and
the more [ think about 1t the more con-
vnced | an-that the text does st the SUBJ
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 Genunciation, but IN
the sober, bro.hery fashion as though we
were talking al home:
FRS, 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 both per
sons. Gambling invoiics the presence of a
third parry, namely, chance, whose pres
ence is supposed to change the moral ma
ture. Of the transaction. On the other
hand, gambling resembles stealing because
it is taking something for which no return
is giv:r-ao 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-nin, men sell out to the hundredth
man and get nothing for what they sell. |
have sor rctiE,es faIcied thas moral paraI-
lei NAV be run between gambling aad duel-
ing. Gambling, like dueling, is moral
hybrid. That is, a cross between clear
wrong and what may be right. For ex-
ample; murder is wrong; war may 1e right;
Gambling is cross between murder and
war so stealing is clear wrong and spec
ulation may be right. Gambling is cross
between stealing and speculation. But
both gambling and duciing dwell in moral
twilight and are absolutely as immoral and
dangerous to society as the very blackness
OF midnight itself. Now. you will notice
that in both gambling and dueling third
factor is supposed to enter, which neutral
ICES the moral wrong. In gambling the ele-
ment is chance; in dueling it is honor. II,
however, we .ook at the matter we shall,
think, find out that chance in thc orc case
and honor in the other is not n reality hut
a chimera-but an illusion. That is what
I mean by the illusion OF gambling. There
is no such thing as chance, really, and that
is where the illusion comes in. Let Us
look at this.
There is an amount of mental juggling. a
haze over mems eyes, a witch $ maze, III
which the idea is that chance is an obje2.
tive fact. Now there is no such thing. All
that there is, is subjective uncertainty,
no objective chance at all. There IS no
such thing as chance. Once travelling
along the Connecticut River Valley asked
a German who was with me to tell me
something about German metaphysics. He
pointed to some holes IN the banks Of the
river, in which the ground swallows had
built their nests, and said: You see that
bank% Eyes" "You see those holes in
which are the swallows nests" "Yes,"
said /. "Now," said he, take away the
bank and leave nothing but the holes and
you will have an exact definition of Ger
man metaphysics" And SO it is with this
idea of chance; there is no such thing OBJ
jectively as chance. One hundred men each
have a chance. No such thing. The act
ual fact is that just one man Is certain to
get a prize-if be is certain-and the 9th
ers are certain not to get it. Therefore
they have no chance. One man has GER
taiaty and the others have no chance.
TLa,, oil boya ciuplv uncertainty IN