Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1873-03-05
Play, versus the Church.

N'"' l'''"''' qua 'i"'"' ''"'' NV "" "
in vain.
Play, versus the Church.
We noticed, two weeks ago, the fact that
the church IN Norwich had called a coun.
c.l TO settle some difficulties which had
grown up in 10 on the question Of blind
mans luT One Of the members took ex.
c.p'iou 90 the pastor because he counte.
naaccl tba, gone, with others equally
harmless. Of a church sociab.e. The mat.
ier grow in his mind 90 .iurondous dimcu.
.ous, until be made IL SO uncomfortable FIR
his minister that the minister preferred to
retreat from his official position, rather
than be pcrsecuied with petty aunoyances
aud criticism. We learn that the council,
to which the matter was submitted, adj
vised against the resignation OF the pastor,
viudlcatci his character aud his course in
the promises, informed the church that the
causes Of difficulty were Of too trivial a
character to demand any notice, and coun.
sciied the recalcitraut members not to
attempt again to bind their notions on un.
essential points upon the consciences Of
others
We think the council treated the ques
ton fairly and wisely. They sustained the
minister aud referred the question Of games
and plays to the consciencos and judgment
Of individuals We arc not aware that
the gospel has indicated the precise kind
Of play iu which its adhereuts may indulge.
They can, therefore, please themselves in
the choice Of their amusements. Every
man, even if he is a member of the church,
knows what sports aud games will best
suit him. One enjoys what another dis
likes, but it is the law Of play that the
sport chosen shall be the pleasure of the
one choosing it, else his play becomes the
hardest kind Of work. If in anything
man has a right Of choice, it is in what
gives him pleasure. And SO long as his
pleasure iuyados no other mans rights
or adyantoge, aud oifends no law Of right
or Of love, interference with him is both
absurd and cruel The council did well
then TO advise that no Christian man has a
right to bind unessential aud trivial things
on the conscience of his brother
There are mary things to be said on
the subject Of Play in its relation to the
Home aud the Cnurch that ought to be
said somewhere and at some time. But
there are a good many games from which
the traditional veto is justly being taken.
They are slowly working out from their
bad associations and winning way into good
society, and are lending their influence to
guard our youth from vice and dissipation,
and furnishing rest aud the charm Of inno-
cent play to tired aud exhausted men. 1t
is a good thing thus to recruit the forces
Of virtue, and turn the recreations of men
iuto helpers Of their growth and culture.
And whenever the Church or the Home de.
ny to their members the meretricious and
dangerous pleasures Of society, because Of
their wild or dissipatng accessories, they
are bound to furnish or countenance those
that are harmless and useful aud exhiler-
ating. They must allow to them in their
purity the enjoymeuts which elsewhere are
offered to them in their wilduess aud aban.
doumont They must permit to their lips
the sweet chalico Of pure pleasures, lest
they take the lraught that shall run through
their veins like poison.
The sauctimonious denouncers Of amuse
ments think they have reached the climax
of condemnation when they call them
" 'eorldiy" They spit out that word
against them just as if a man could not be
worldly except in his pleasures as if the
fact Of his enjoying anything in this world
made him damnaby worldly. But this
word Is dreadiully abused. There is a
woridliness Of the counting house as fatal
as the wordliness of the ball room. There
are more people whose souls are ruined by
coyetousness than by blindmans buff
There are games Of bindmans buff, such
as Congressman play when they seek and
hide Credit MobiIicr stock such rs NOR.
chants play when they put false brands on
their goods; such as shippers play when
they try to cheat common carriers out of
their full freightage : such as politicians
play when they take men by the beard and
stab them under the ribs, that no upright
man, be he Of tho world or the church, can
approve. 1t is a pity when a church per.
mits this sort of blndman's buff, and spends
all its Indignation on the other We are
glad to see that in this case at Norwich
tho Council has acted both according to
the Gospel Of common sense and the Gospel
Of TIE Scriptures.