The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1903-03-20
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
GAMBLING"
There IL No such rhinE az ChaHce-al
That There IL, 10 subjective tncer
tsinty - science Has Chased Chance
Out Of the Universe.

Y
Concerning the Practice OF Gambling lie
selected enc OF the Ten Commandments
for has text: Exodus xx. Is. Thou shalt
not steal
4 direct pdlpt address upon practical
every day mocallty Is exposed 20 one very
obvious embarrassment. IL Is tins. Many
persons .eel, and with 4 great deal OF rea-
son. that sunday sermon, and especially
IA the morning ot the Lords Day, should
be broad setting forth OF religious truth
IN general terms, CH~thed m form suth-
cIently elaborate and sufficiently artistic
10 be intellectually attractive aside from
any particular application. \ most striking
illustration, perhaps, OF such a sermon
devoted 10 the exposition ot one great
phase OF religious truth and OF the divine
character was that delivered. as | gather,
from ,his pulpit last Sunday morning. 10y
our bonored friend, DR.. Herr,ck, OF Bos-
ton. We come to church, one might say,
10 worship and 10 hear the Scripture eN-
planned, and We do not care TO hear our
minister made a dead set, a. n might
be called. upon certain tolble or wee
which we are almost all entirely against.
Ny feeling is that there Is A deep proprlety
In TIN, sentiment. Preaching, Ike PRAYER,
should be Tor all On the other hand. a
Christian minister - Christian pastor
who Is pastor more than he Is preachers
watcher for souls. not IN the mass, but
for individual sous. lie stands as the
trinity of watchers-teaCher. pastor, watch
er f,f individual human lives ST Paul at
Ephesus said he had warned every one
night and day with tearS-every one.
i 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 80 by some q. our young men
| Within the last fortnight various echoes
have reached me OF the address which tins
pulpit ventured 10 make IN favor of
high morality and especially moral free
tVht mn a
the freedom TO hold as well As the freedom
to give way. Amoug those echoes there
have been some references 20 the practice
OF gambling Young men have said 20 me
that most people have no idea OF the tN'
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 10 paying Tor nigh
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, 'Og example, and
stakes at card All had an equal chance.
In the same spirit, therefore, as that IN
which ] tried To speak two weeks ago, trust
ing 70 your sympathy IN my effort 20 reach
our young people, | wish TO say word or
two this morning on ethical illusions con.
ceTnlng gambling. / am most ANXIOUS %
all that whatever | say shall be sand fairly
and not from preJudiccd or bIgoted point
Of view. | do not wish 10 confuse things
which IN themselves differ or produce upon
any young friend an impression OF mere
intolerant antIpathy IL may occasion sur
prise that 50 severe a text has been chosen,
for you will say: Gambling Is not steal
ing and vet ! cannot help thlnNlng-aud
the more | think about II the more con-
vinced am-that the text does 1T the sub
lect There are some differences between
gambling and stealing, and they ought u
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
-",ited and vehement denunclatICn, but IN
the sober brothery fashion as though we
were talking at homey
Frs, then. the difference between gam.
bling and stealing. Stealing Is without tue
knowledge of the person stolen from; gam.
! bling l. 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
! 1t Is taking something for which no return
| is given-Bo return at all In legitimate
! speculation the seller receives something
which at the time he believes % be the
| equivalent of what he sells. Otherwise the
| transaction Is unjust. But IN gambling
ninetv-nn, men sell out 10 the hundredth
man and get nothing for what they sell. !
have sometimes fanCIed that a moral parl.-
| lei may be run between gambling and duel
| ing. Gambling like duchng, Is moral
! hybrid That ~, cross between Gear
wrong and what may be right. For cN-
ample. murder Is wrong, war may be right
! Gambling l. cross between murder and
war. so stealing T. a clear wrong and spec.
ulatlOn may be right Gambling * a cross
between stealing and speculation. But
both gambling and ducing dwell IN a moral
| twilight and are absolutely a immoral and
dangerous to s)clety "a the very baclness
of midnight itself. Now, YOU VIII notice
that IN both gambling aud ducling a third
factor Is supposed TO enter, which neutral
izes the moral wrong. I'm gambling the Gle
meut IL chance; IN due!ng II IS honor. IT,
however. we look AZ the matter we shall ]
think, find out that chance IN the ore case
and honor IN the other ~ not a reality but
a Chmcra-but an illusion. That ls what
] mean hy the illusion OF gambling. There
j. no such thing az chance. really, and that
! Is whore the illusion comes IN. Let Us
look al this
There Is an amount OF mental juggling
haze over mems eyes, a wItchs maze, IN
which the idea Is that chance u an ObJeC
tive fact. Now there Is no such thing. All
that there -, ls "a subjective uncertainty,
no objective chance at all There u no
. such thing az chance. Once travelling
along the Connecticut River Valley I asked
a German who was with me 90 tell mc
something about German metaphysics. Ic
pointed o soDe holes IN the banks OF the
river, In which the ground swallows had
built tncIr heats and said. You sec that
bank Yes" you see those hole. M
which are the swallows ncsts:' YES.
said l. Now said he take away the
bank end leave nothing bat the holes and
YOU viii have an exact definition of Gng-
man uo,3physIcs' And 50 IT is with th
idea OF chance; there - no such thing On.
Jectiyciy as chance One hundred men each
have q chance. No such thing The act.
ull fact rs that Just one man Is certain 20
get q DTIZe-Ii he ls certain-and the 9th
ers are certain not % get u Therefore
they have no chance. One man has a GER
taiaty and the others have no chance
They al have simply uncertainty az 10
which man has a certainty. Suppose that
some Judge who s distributing the prizes
had sufficient foresight 20 know exactly
which way the ball would roll lie knows
that and the corresponding number u
every mans hand Science has chased
chance out Of the universe. To the eyes
OF the intelligent chance has ceased % be
There u no such thing iu all this word.
There s what we call a law, but there s
no chrnce IN the case. ~ u al law.
Beside. taking your own ground, even n
there u such a thing there u only one
chance out Of = whO,e hundred which will
become a certainty. We'll" YOU - 81
IL a good chance Yes, that Is good
chance As chance - good them"
Yes. but B's chance - poor In other
words. one mans chance neutralizes an.
other, therefore. there are no hundred
chanee then nInety-nlne have paid for a
a..