HENRY WARD BEECHER.Gamblers and
Gambling
By Rev. Henry
Ward
Beecher
Philadelphia
Henry Altemus
Copyrighted, 1896, by Henry Altemus.
Henry Altemus, Manufacturer,
Philadelphia.
GAMBLERS AND GAMBLING
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took hisgarments and made four parts, to every soldier a part, and alsohis coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the topthroughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rendit, but cast lots far it, whose it shall be. These thingstherefore the soldiers did.
I have condensed into one account theseparate parts of this gambling transactionas narrated by each evangelist.How marked in every age is a Gambler'scharacter! The enraged priesthood offerocious sects taunted Christ's dyingagonies; the bewildered multitude, accustomedto cruelty, could shout; but noearthly creature, but a Gambler, could be solost to all feeling as to sit down coollyunder a dying man to wrangle for his garments,and arbitrate their avaricious differencesby casting dice for his tunic, withhands spotted with his spattered blood,warm and yet undried upon them. Thedescendants of these patriarchs of gambling,[Pg 4]however, have taught us that there is nothingpossible to hell, uncongenial to these,its elect saints. In this lecture it is mydisagreeable task to lead your steps downthe dark path to their cruel haunts, there toexhibit their infernal passions, their awfulruin, and their ghastly memorials. In thishouse of darkness, amid fierce faces gleamingwith the fire of fiercer hearts, amid oathsand groans and fiendish orgies, ending inmurders and strewn with swelteringcorpses,—do not mistake, and supposeyourself in Hell,—you are only in its precinctsand vestibule.
Gambling is the staking or winning ofproperty upon mere hazard. The husbandmanrenders produce for his gains; themechanic renders the product of labor andskill for his gains; the gambler renders forhis gain the sleights of useless skill, ormore often, downright cheating. Bettingis gambling; there is no honest equivalentto its gains. Dealings in fancy-stocks areoftentimes sheer gambling, with all itsworst evils. Profits so earned are no betterthan the profits of dice, cards, or hazard.When skill returns for its earnings a usefulservice, as knowledge, beneficial amuse[Pg 5]ments,or profitable labor, it is honest commerce.The skill of a pilot in threading anarrow channel, the skill of a lawyer inthreading a still more intricate one, are