284
T h e K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
June 1932
book, What Jesus Said, by Col. Chas. W . Lamed, for sale at Biola Book Room, price $1.75. This book contains the sayings of Christ topically arranged. JULY 24, 1932 W H A T IS GAMBLING? W H Y IS IT WRONG ? P roverbs 13:5-11 Suggestions fo r the Meeting Hymn—“ Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus.” Hymn—“ Trust and Obey.” Prayer by Chairman o f Lookout Com mittee. Scripture Lesson (read in unison). Sentence Prayers. (Emphasize the need o f praying to be kept from evils o f the world.) Hymn— “Yield not to Temptation. Benediction. Meditation on the Lesson “ Gambling is an agreement between two parties by which the transfer o f something of value is made dependent on chance in such a way that the whole gain o f the pne is equal to the whole loss o f the other.” Here we have a good definition o f gam bling. The question then arises: “Why is it wrong to gamble?” Gambling, primarily, is o f the evil one, who is ever seeking to en gage the time of people in such pursuits as will keep them from confessing their lost condition and their need o f a Saviour. In 1 John 2:15, we are exhorted to “ love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any may love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Certainly gambling is of the world. All other reasons why it is wrong to gamble—because o f its social effects, because it leads to obtain ing that which rightfully belong to another, etc.—are based upon the main reason given above. “ Better is a little with righteous ness than great revenues without right” (Prov. 16:8). “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked” (Psa. 37:16). A gentleman was to travel from Cam bridge to York. Before he started, he furnished himself with a pocketful of tracts; and as the train glided out o f Cam bridge station, he began to hand them around. One o f the passengers refused to accept the proffered leaflet, and taking a race card out o f his pocket, he held it up, saying: “You see this; that’s my religion.” “ I suppose you have a good many o f those cards.” “ Oh, yes, I have them pinned all over my mantel piece.” “Well, then, go on and collect as many more as you can. Pin them all around your room, and when the doctor tells you that you have only ten minutes to live, take them all down, count them over, and see what your religion is worth.” The men sat quietly, the one in silent prayer, and the other in anxious thought. When the gentleman with the tracts opened the door to alight, the other man said, “ I say, you can give me one o f those papers, Illustration A rresting a G ambler ’ s A ttention Hymn— “ Faith is the Victory.” Announcements and Offering. Solo or Duet. Leader’s Remarks.
The very air seems loaded with suspense as the crowds, strangely quiet, flow in and out and around, watching the players. Some win impassively, some smile, others grow flushed. Side by side, touching el bows, are people o f all ranks and countries, “reduced to a common level by a common vice.” Here may be seen sorrow and fo lly ; hope, wild-eyed and haggard; the mock ery o f money which lightly comes and goes; a despair, too, lurking in the dark shadows o f self-destruction, where the last ray o f hope has gone out. The money lost in gambling in Monte Carlo, or elsewhere, is nothing compared with the loss of character. TT7T V 31 103? PROBLEMS OF YOUTH ON MISSION HELDS 1 T hessalonians 1 :l-8 Suggestions fo r the Meeting Hymn— “ From Greenland’s Icy Moun tains.” Hymn— “The Morning Light is Break- ing.” Prayer by Chairman o f Missionary Com mittee. Missionary Nuggets. (Cut paragraphs from the material given below, paste on cardboard, and hand out to different mem bers before the meeting, to be read at this point). Special Missionary Number in Song. Address by Missionary on Furlough (on the subject, if possible). Special Offering for Missions. Quiet Hour (prayers by members of the society for known and unknown mis sionaries on the field). Prayer and Benediction by the Pastor. A young missionary said :“ When a child, I used to walk through a certain church yard. One of the gravestones bore this in scription to the memory o f a little boy, eight years old: ‘Mother, when I grow to be a man, I should like to be a missionary ; but if I die while I am still a little boy, will you put it on my tomb, so that some one passing by may read it and go instead o f me?’ Through reading this inscription so often, there grew up in my mind the thought that I must go in place o f that little boy.” II. W hat M issions H ave D one Christian missions have introduced into non-Christian lands schools and colleges which have now a total membership o f over 2,500,000 pupils. They have been the first to establish phil anthropic agencies to care for orphans, lepers, and the blind and the deaf, where today over 27,000 such unfortunates are provided for. They have reduced thousands o f lang uages and dialects to writing, have pre pared dictionaries and grammars, and have translated the Bible, in whole or in part, in to over 800 languages and dialects, distri buting over twenty million copies in a sin gle year. They have trained thousands of Chris tians in non-Christian lands to take leader ship in their own churches, so as to make Christianity and its institutions indigenous in these lands.— S elected . M issionary Nuggets I. T aking A nother ’ s P lace
Tomorrow “ Tomorrow,” he promised his con science, “tomorrow I mean to be g o o d ; Tomorrow I’ll think as I ought to; tomorrow I’ll do as I should; Tomorrow I’ll conquer the habit that holds me from heaven away.” But ever his conscience repeated one word, and one only, “ T o day.” Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, thus day after day it went o n ; Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, till youth like a vision was gone; Till age and passion had written the message o f fate on his brow, And forth from the shadow came death with the pitiless sylla ble, “Now.” —J ustin M c C arthy .
if you will.” The tract was immediately given, but the result is known only to Him who will not let His W ord return void, but will make it accomplish His purpose.
D iscussion Material I. G ambling E qual to R obbery
Some one has said that gambling bears the same relation to robbery that dueling does to murder. One man will meet another in a dark alley and take his life at the point o f a pistol, and you call that mur der; two men will meet each other in an alley and agree to shoot at each other un til one or both fall dead, and you call that dueling. But the only difference is that in the first case there is one murdered, and in the second case, there are two. One man will meet another in a dark alley and take his money at the point o f a pistol, and you call that robbery; two men will meet each other around a table and agree to take each other’s money with dice or cards, and you call that gambling. But the only difference is that, in the first case, there is one robber, and in the second case, there are two. II. Q uotations Curst is the wretch enslaved to such a vice, Who ventures life and soul upon the dice. —H orace . There is but one good throw upon the dice, which is to throw them away. —C hatfield . Gambling with cards, or dice, or stocks, is all one thing—it is getting money with out giving an equivalent for it. —H enry W ard B eecher . III. G reat S uicide F actory Although the population of Monte Carlo, the famous gambling resort, is only about four thousand, suicides are so common that they attract but little attention. Many who go there and lose everything they possess prefer death to poverty and disgrace. Within a few months, sixty-five bodies of those who had taken their lives were car ried out o f the gardens connected with the great Casino. It is estimated that four hundred thou sand persons annually visit there. From the walls o f the brilliantly lighted rooms look down costly paintings by French artists.
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