PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4086, 11 April 1892, Page 3

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Tli o Public Souso and Gambling-

A speoiul lecture to young mon was delivered last night in the Presbyterian Church, Masterton, by tbe Kev. Eobert Wood. There mis a yery large attendance. The minister took for bis text Matt. 27-85,"They crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots." In the course of a three quarters of an hour address the preacher saidTheCross of Jesus Christ divides the world of beings. On tbe one side at e and on the other side are the haters of God and the foes of mankind. In the awful crime of the crucifixion we see nearly every vice manifested, Superstition,lnfidelity and Secularism as represented by the. Pharisees, Sadducees, and Horod and Pilate form an unholy alliance to crucify Jesus. The Gambling demon is also there and plays the part of the leading Oiiminal. The gamblers nailed him to tbe Cross and then sat down to gamble for the seamless robe that the Saviour wore. The attitude' of thoso gamblers on Calvary to Christ is typical of the relation of Christianity to one of tbe giant vices of our age. Gambling is a giant vice that in our day crucifies every virtue that pleases God and ennobles man. This day within the dound of tbe church going bells tbe crime, of the cross has been repealed, "They crucified him and parted his garments. casting lots." The wide extent of this demoralising vioe has lend Magistrates and Judges to speak of the evil as " terrifio" and tho greatest cause of ("misery and ruin in" families," wraplains of jails testily that gamb < nng incited by drinking cause 90 per cent of the crime. First let us look at the Anti-Christian and anti-human oharacter of this vioe. It is essentially cruel. The successful gambler finds pleasure but it is the pleasure of the savage or the cannibal. It is tbe pleasure' won at the expense of another's pain, It is dishonest. The successful thief obtains money at the cost of another's loss, So with the gambler, He wins at the cost of another's loss, The fact that tbe unsuccessful gamhler was equally desirous of robbing his opponent does not make the transaction pure Thiß vice acts like a cancer and eats the moral goodness out of a man. Sons, through this evil, become unnatural—a father's sorrow and a . mother's shame, Husbands become inhuman husbands, Society is filled with horror as they read of the crimes - > of the reputed murderer in Melbourne. Xgreat sorrow is felt for the victims (flti he slew. But tbe suffering of some of these victims waß light compared with long years of misery and horror experienced by the wives and children of the gambler. There are wiin this community whose exis tence.means the bearing of an awful cross: that cross is the life of a debauched husband—yoked to. man whose manhood the gambling demon bas destroyed. And then lost of all it makes criminals and suicides. Second—Look at the forces in operation in our midst that, lead to the spread of this social plague. 1 We live in a materialistic age. War was the madness of. England once, now r it is gain. The atmosphere of avarice is congonial to tho growth of this vice. Then a large number of our newspapers spread this evil. They spare no pains' to stimulate and excite the gambling spirit,. A degraded Ecclesiasticism is also stained with this vice, In. church bazaars now and again the service of the gambling demon has been called in to extract money from the wdrldly and profane. Brft'tbe great engine of moral detraction is tho liquor traffic. In tho public house we have the great training school of the gambler. There ho graduated. There ho studied the rudiments of his diabolic art. Social reformers who have studied the , gambler's career have learned that in nine cases out of ten it began in the public house, There are hotelkeopers whose aim is to accommodate the travelling public and who loathe the idea of their business degrading their follows, but unfortunately they form gjfby far the minority. On the other hand, there are those whose mission seems to he to degrade and debauch our fellows. In these man traps the youth is enticed, from his father's home, and the husband from his wife's side and a career begins that leads to misery and moral ruin and may end in a suicide's grive. In the last place look at the remedy. The remedy lies iu Christianity. Christ is the King that should govern our social life. Vj£ gospel of Christ, therefore, defwmds tho overthrow of oyery traffic that degrades men, The Christian preacher is: : ..i ... Not to peddle creeds like wares, Not to mutter hireling prayers, But to point to this individual and , social salvation that Christianity con-j tains. In the holy warfare the i gambler's training school- must be crushed. The haunts of the midnight gamblers are places, it is said, in whioli Christian citizens have a money interest, The licoiiße fees pavo our streets. If so, our : streets are stained with thebloodof ihemorallife $f gamblers and the drunkard. The

time surely has c6me wli'eu tlio drink scourge hius l cease sarjo* tibii of the ..citizens, Bo,much for social Christianity!! But the Gospel hits a message for the" individual, To (lie victims of the gambling vice pro font, tlie Divine Saviour is here. Surrender to Him and He will stay the'demon of avarice and cruelty and make you sons of God,