Year: 1869

A Lesson from Wall street Gambling


On Sunday last Mr. Beecher preached. in


Plymouth Church, a sermon bearing on the


recent gambling operations in Wall Street.


He read his text from Matthew, 9th chap.


ter, 18th and 2Oth verses:


LAY not up for yourselves treasures


upon earth, where moth and rust doth cor.


rupt, and where thieves break through and


steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures


in heaven, where neither moth nor rust


doth corrupt nor thieves break through


and steai." f n.


The desire to lay up property is dis.


tinguishing difference between the human


and animal nature. Up to certain. point


the pursuit of wealth is made by Provi-


dence a means for obtaining happiness and


prosperity. There is a general impression


among men that riches can make one per.


fectly happy if they are not misused. 9th


ers think that they alone are not capable


of making man truly happy So they


are beginning to think over the way lin


Wall street). Some of the best men on this
continent are found in New York, Bos-
ton, Philadelphia, end in Washington.
The nearer good man lives to hell, if he is
good, the better he is. There are as good
men in Wall street as ever breathed,
but they don't walk in platoons. 1t means
something for virtuous man to be upright
in the midst of temptation. Many of you
are here while the banks are closed, and
you agree with the gospel that riches are
good while they do not 60 higher than the
pocket People listen tn sermons with
great interest on Sunday, but the next day
they ridicule them, and not unfrequently
they say, "My minister told me that riches
make men unhappy; well, think that l
can bear great many troubles for half a
million. l know that the pursuit of wealth
is dangerous, but 1 like danger" The
Lord does not teach that to seek
riches is wicked, bat that the low
ers of truth and of happiness cannot
be filed by riches alone. The divine COM
mandent is: First seek the Kingdom of
Heaven, and all the rest shall be added.
The treasures spoken of by Christ are not
such treasures as men run after in Wall
street. They are not left behind when we
leave this world, but they always 60 with
us. Death is great strainer, and all of
the riches of men are left at the grave
Neither gold nor the appetites can be
carried through. Men walk as kings
down to the dust, but as beggars thereafter
Reason is part of immortality, and it will
extend beyond the portals of death. As
we have trained the mind here, so we shall
begin with it in the other life No person
who has ever made his higher nature re-
splendent here will ever lose it in the world
to come. 1t is impossible for man to
hide his good works, even on earth, He
might as well attempt to pat the sun in q
dark lantern. Aspiration is vital. 1t is
that which tends to make thought larger,
to lead man higher, and it is eternal
Love, however, is the great treasure-house
of God and man. 1t fills the universe.
There is no hell that can hold love. and
even God himself cannot make love misera-
BILE. Wherever love exists there is heaven.
No thieves get there, and where there are
no thieves there is certainly heaven. Those
who seek the baseness of this earth have
no room for heaven.


Ihey give the noblest part of their ma
iure for the things which are corrupt You
abhor the men who have the Orphans por-
ton In trust and sell it for their own ag-
grandizement Yet you do things Just as
bad. When you sell the noblest part of
your nature you are Judas. When You var
nish man with smiles, that you may en-
rlch yourself at his expense, you sell your
self for thirty pieces OF silver What can
q man gain that exchanges the purity of
his own soul for gold? Large bells are al
ways poorly cast, and sooner or later they
crack. Our overgrown rich men are like
these big bells, full of flaws. and they soon
lose all the sweetness they ever possessed.
Death is Gods bankrupt court, where men
are cleared Of their debts and of their
riches, and when they go through the gate
opening into the other life they have not
enough to pay their ferriage over. In
closing, Mr.. Beecher said: II do not saw
these things professionally, nor do I preach
because it is my business. 1 do it because
want to-for the reason that the birds
want to sing. would preach, salary or no
salary, whether the audience was large or
small. Ispeak to you as friend of these
things that intimately concern your hap
piness here and hereafter"